Monday we drove over to Joburg so we could attend E/S Dummer’s farewell social. Before we drove  to the mission home, we stopped at the mission office to take care of some business and pick up supplies from the physical facilities folks. When we got there we found a number of the Vaal Zone elders having a good time playing on the field. So I got a picture of elders T and Stomp in their p-day clothes and also of them with sister Dunn who was on her way home to get ready for tonights festivities. Mary said hello to elder Stomps companion elder Andritiana.

 

We drove from the office to the mall so I could make a couple of purchases before we went to the mission home where President and Sister Dunn was kind enough to offer us a room for the night so we did not have to drive back to Potch late at night or get a B&B room. I thought this long feathery plant was very interesting and also loved the African decor on the beds.

After everyone went home, we and the Dunns had a last game of 5 Crowns which was won by sister Dummer who came from behind to win.

These pictures were taken the Dunns at the airport as they wished a last goodbye to these two wonderful missionaries. We will miss them greatly as will the two branches they so faithfully served for most of their mission.

This morning Mary finished our latest puzzle. The subject was ‘Trapped’ and is darker than most of those we do but it looked both interesting and challenging and it proved to be true. As usual the last 100-120 pieces were among the hardest to put in but if it was easy it would not be much of a puzzle.

While on the subject of puzzles, you may remember that we finish one that had beautiful roses in a vase. On Friday we were on our way to district meeting and stopped in at a small gift/flower shop and I saw this arrangement of roses on a table. As soon as I saw it I thought about the puzzle and how it would be fun to show the pictures side by side. While the roses in the puzzle were very pretty, they could not hold a candle to the real thing – especially the wonderful scent. 

It poured rain all this Sabbath morning but that did not dampen the spirits of the 40 plus members of the branch who weathered the storm to partake of the sacrament and the fellowship of their fellow Saints.

As part of the sacrament meeting the RS choir sang and it was beautiful. Sister Kujane, the RS president spoke about the history of RS whose anniversary was being celebrated. As I looked at the pictures I took today, I realized that there is not a single male in any of them – that was not on purpose but it seems fitting. Sisters Ratema, Williams, Kruger and Kujane are stalwarts in the branch. As are sister Mogapi and Mothibi below.

A new branch YW presidency was sustained and set apart today – you can see from the pictures that they were readily welcomed by the wonderful YW we have in the branch!

On Saturday the Potchefstroom, Klerksdorp and Jouberton branches youth got together at our building and had a wonderful dinner dance. What made it unusual was that the YM were responsible for everything – the food, decorations, serving and clean-up. The YW got to watch “Meet the Mormons” while the room was getting made ready. Then they were escorted by the YM and seated at the tables. The three courses and drinks were served by the YM and all enjoyed the meal. After dinner was finished, the YW were able to go out and take lots of Selfies while the YM took down the tables and chairs and made the room ready for the dance.

As you can see from the pictures not all those who enjoyed dancing were quite YM or YW age but they all had great fun and worked up a nice sweat. I think everyone had a great time and there are plans being made for future tri-branch youth gatherings over the year.

I will write more about the pictures below when I have a little more time.

            lace Marker for lots of pictures…

Today I get to post about two of the beautiful women in my life…Last night while we were visiting a family this young lady fell asleep in Mary’s arms. She knew a grandmother when she saw one. Also yesterday we found out that our daughter Cindy Mitchell was chosen as the UELMA Teacher Librarian of the year. When I went looking for a picture of Cindy I came across this one with her, Mary and our granddaughter Gentry Bartholomew who will soon be giving birth to another of our great-grandsons!

    

I know that I post about our district and zone development meetings every Friday and that there is little new to write about , but it gives me a reason to post pictures of the missionaries in our district and zone so that their parents can see their sons and learn a little more about what they are doing. This week was rather special because it was elder and sister Dummer’s last Friday and therefore their last DM in South Africa. They are going to leave the mission next Tuesday and the two branches they have been so diligently serving, the missionaries in Klerksdorp and Jouberton, and ourselves will greatly miss them and their talents.

One funny thing happened before the meeting started. Our Ikageng elders were late getting to the meeting and so everyone started calling and texting them to find out where they were. We all got in the action so they received calls from the other elders and the senior missionaries.

   

 

We got a surprise today when along with the replacement for our stolen computer, Syd from physical facilities also brought us a replacement for our digital piano that we managed to somehow destroy a few months ago. Mary read the side of the box for the piano and saw that it was made in Indonesia and of course that got our attention. We served there from late 2006 to 2008.

It was good to get the computer but it turned out that there was no driver for our printer. Also a after Syd had left we found out that the passwords for MLS no longer worked so while we had a computer there was not much we could do with it except browse the web. I had space for one more picture so I put this screenshot of a large herd of elephants at Tembe Elephant Park.  

The RS sisters are scheduled to sing in sacrament meeting next week so they took this opportunity to get in a good practice. Once they had finished going through the song they have chosen to sing, they just kept sining other songs together. It was lovely to stand and listen to their beautiful voices as they sang with the same spirit that I hear when I listen to the Tab Choir.

Mary played and sister Thulo led the music.

The YSA sisters stood in the back as did brothers Lebona and Mhike…I just noticed Jacque Kruger was also back there. I think from looking at the picture below the YSA sister took a couple of seconds away from singing to pose for my picture.

 

Last year, soon after we arrived in Potch, elder Knowles drove with us out to Parys. Along the way he had us stop along the road so he could take pictures of us among the large field of cosmos blooming along the road.

Since we dropped one of our riders off only a couple of kilometers from that field we decided to duplicate the experience . We found that the area we were in last year was almost barren of blooms but just a few hundred feet down the road there was another field. Since elder Knowles was not along only Mary got in these pictures – I call it my beautiful rose among the cosmos.

Due to an election that was supposed to be held today during our normal block time, we held just a sacrament meeting in the Relief Society/branch president’s office area. We were able to put seating for between 45-50 people in the main area and another 14-15 in what became the over flow area. By the time the last person had come to our meeting, there were 71 in attendance. By small children sitting two on a chair and elders Alvial and Liera standing, we managed to get every seated for the hour meeting.

Sister Disney Thulo just got a new job that will take her out of the branch and up to Johannesburg – the Florida area. We will miss her as she has been our diligent YW president for over a year. Brother Tinashe Mikhe joins the lovely Disney for a photo.

Two of our beautiful young primary sisters. Lorato is one of Mary’s best piano students.

Two of our lovely YSA sisters. Elder Alvial has no trouble lifting Joshua Gerber. It is nice to see that Joshua has the cast off his foot and is again playing cricket. He wants to be a professional cricket player.

Antoinette and Simon Tlotleng (pronounced something like klukling) are one of the great couples in the branch. Brothers Adam Lebona and David Rampai with sister Meisie Ratema – I see brother Simon smiling in the background.

 

We have great youth in our branch. Papa Thulo – his actual given name is Keamogetse but I can not get my tongue around that and everyone calls him Papa – among a group of the YW. Jacque Kruger is the teachers quorum president and my home teaching companion. He is another of Mary’s piano students.

 

Shavonne Kruger, Nasi (Nthabeleng) Williams and Millicent Tloteng pose for a picture. As does sister Thulo in another of her beautiful dresses.

       

As I was going out to the car I saw sisters Bummer and Mothobi are discussing RS business. Neither seem happy when they notice I am taking pictures…sorry sisters I am a candid camera type.