Although I have to be careful about over doing things we had a rather busy week. On Friday the 23rd we went to Klerksdorp for District Meeting. Elder Kelem, the DL, has asked different elders to conduct the meetings – something I can not remember happening before in any district where we have served. At the 30th DM elder Harris conducted.

Elder Rogers conducts District Meeting. Elder Perkins leads the music while elder Harris sings. Elder Harris says that everyone thinks he is Afrikaans because he is built like them.

Elder Perkins did his best to lead the music for DM. Elders Flynn and Ryan – the ZLs in the Vaal Zone got into the music! I really should have taken a video because the single picture does not do their singing justice.

      Elders Ryan and Flynn are the zone leaders. Elder Flynn is from St George via Alpine and elder Ryan is from England. As I mentioned before hey did a very good job with zone training a week ago.

 

On Monday we down to Parys for our monthly visit with sister Bobbi. She is a lifelong member and we always come away with lots of good stories about the church in Africa. Sister Kujane is our RS president. We met her at the school where we have our offices and church. She was waiting for us next to this painting on the wall and I could not pass up taking her picture. She is doing a great job as President and loves serving the sisters of the branch.

Yesterday we had the first baptisms since we came here. Two wonderful sisters entered into the gate and started down the path to Eternal life.

Sister Louisa on the left is 72 years old and since the second time the elders came to teach her she has wanted to be baptized.

  

The last three weeks has been a trial for me – Bill – and because of that it has also been a trial for Mary, Two weeks of headaches and shingles, one day of just feeling tired and then a week of severe double vision caused by an infection in my left eye. It has been bad enough that I can not drive so Mary became the designated driver.

I have to confess that when I woke up with double vision on Monday I had a moment where I felt like I was suffering more than my share of bad health. But then I remembered President Uchtdorf’s talk in conference about having gratitude under any circumstance.

I then weighed my problems against all the blessings we have in our lives. Basically other than the shingles and double vision I am very healthy and Mary is feeling fine. As the pictures in the post before this shows we have been blessed with wonderful children and grandchildren who we love. We have friends from all over the world who care about us. We have plenty to eat – I am gaining weight because I am not exercising enough – money for our needs – and we have the blessing of being able to serve this mission in South Africa, and lots of other things to be grateful for. A little tender mercy was discovered this afternoon when Mary found that KFC here does sell her favorite bowl – little things means a lot.

On Thursday night President Omer and other PH leaders in the area gave me a wonderful health blessing promising me that this would all pass. I went to the optometrist today and she found that I have an infection and she gave me a prescription that should clear it up in a couple of weeks. She thinks this will take care of my double vision problem.

Of Friday we went up to the Vereeniging Chapel for the first meeting of the new Vaal Zone. We were able to participate in a great two plus hours of learning and sharing where our experiences from other missions came in very useful. The Vereeniging chapel (Stake Center?) is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. It was interesting for another reason. Our daughter-in-law (I really would rather write just daughter because that is how we think of her) Shauna went there some 30 years ago when she was in South Africa for study abroad.

On Friday evening we had dinner with E/S Dummer who are serving as a temporary office couple until the two new couples arrive in June and July. They were passing through on their way to the Klerksdorp/Jouberton area where they hope to go back to serving as their temporary duties.

The Vereeniging chapel is beautiful inside and out. The landscaping is both beautiful and mature. They do not build chapels like this anymore and it is less than an hour from our flat. We are hoping that they will hold the multi-zone conference here in June.

The Vaal Zone – name of course for the Vaal River that skirts the West side of the zone – was formed at the time of the last transfer. We will get to know the missionaries better when we do flat inspections sometime this month.

On the way home from our meeting over in Klerksdorp Thursday night we drove along a major grass fire on the South side of the N12. Grass fires and trash fires are always burning here but this one was the largest we have seen. They do not try to control it and there was only one fire truck protecting some structure but other than that it is just burn baby, burn. The villa we live in has lots of white rose bushes – this one is in our backyard. Right now it is especially beautiful for me because I see two versions of it…

We have finished our 5th puzzle – 1500 pieces. When it was done Mary said that she would like to buy a simple 500 piece puzzle that she could just enjoy putting together rather quickly.

Browsing the web this morning I came across these pictures. The first if from an LA Times article about the 9 wildfires that are burning out of control in the San Diego area. I went looking for the story when our grandson, Tyler Mitchell, wrote that he could not go to work because of the fires.

 

The next three pictures are of some of our grandchildren – Kelli Pier who is growing up much to fast, Sierra Pier who loves to ham it up, and Olivia, Charlotte and Colin Pier in their Easter finery.

The last two are from the Tembe Elephant park website and makes us jealous of those who live near game parks and get to see these beautiful animals in person.

Not a very productive missionary week for us. I was diagnosed as having the shingles on Friday May 2nd and the doctor immediately started me on anti-biotics and pain pills. The shingles themselves were just annoying but for some reason I have had headaches since conference and that was the reason for the pain medicine. So for most of the week I did nothing but lay around our flat reading but also doing a lot of sleeping.

Mary did go to Church on the 4th so she could play for all the meetings. By the middle of the week I felt good enough to go out and drive Mary so she could hold some piano lessons. On Saturday we had another missionary street display set up. About all I did was to do transportation and give encouragement. It went well and the elders are filled up with appointments for the next 10 days or so.

Sunday as we were getting ready for Church Mary noticed a rash she had not seen before and we were sure it was the outset of shingles – talk about a unwanted Mother’s Day present. She decided it was not a good idea for her to go and expose everyone so although she was to speak during Sacrament she stayed home.  She was really missed because we are not really good at singing with out the keyboard. I got to speak in her place and for 15 minutes preparation it was pretty good. I count it as a real tender mercy.

After Church the branch held a Mother’s Day/Farewell luncheon. Sister Florence Tsunke is leaving the branch after being a leader here since she was baptized in 2008. By the time I got home I was completely wiped out and slept for about 12 of the next 16 hours.

This morning it looks like Mary does not have shingles because she has no headache and the rash has started to fade. We will see how it is in a couple of days.

The sisters in the branch gave sister Florence this beautiful purple comforter to take with her as a memory. She looks good in it!

Sister Kujane was one of those who spoke about how Sister Florence was like a mother to her when she joined the Church. Most of the members stayed after the meeting to honor mothes and sister Florence.

This is what Autumn looks like in our backyard. I felt after sleeping so much I needed to take a walk so I decided to visit the memorial to those who died in the British concentration camp set up here in Potchefstroom during the Boer’s War. All told some 26,000 Boer women and children dies in various camps set up to try and stop their men from fighting.

As I walked around the memorial – there are two the first is just in honor of those who died and the other lists all the deaths in the camp. As I walked around reading the names I came across 18 Swanepoels and I immediately thought of our own sister Bobbi Swanepoel. I called her and told her of my find. She did not know about this but she did tell me that her genealogy goes back to the original Dutch settlers in the 15th century. I told her I would take pictures of the name so she could check them against her genealogy. There is a beautiful Dutch Reform Church  on the same grounds. BTW the green roofs you see in the background are those of our compound – we are just two houses away from this memorial but I had to walk around the block to get there.

This post is about the missionaries in Ikageng District which we are a part of, some missionaries we got to meet when we did housing inspections, and a few more pictures of members. I am getting close to catching up with my picture taking and pretty much what I will write about the last two months.

The first three pictures are the missionaries in the district when we first got here. Elders Bird and Rogers can be seen further down the blog. From left to right – elders Perkins, Compton, Rogers, Browning, Harris and the DL elder Bird. Elder Perkins with a very strange looking elder Compton.

Elders Browning with Harris rounded out the district. When we went apartment inspecting we met elders Kairu and Sipiri – one of them is from Papua New Guinea. I need to take better notes in the future.

Elders Kolditz and Mwaba with elders Whitesides and Iairo

Member service for elders Rogers and Bird as they help paint some rooms in the Williams home.

Transfers came and elder Rogers and the Ikageng area got a new companion – elder Kelem. The district before last transfer – elders Mdletshe, Harris, Kelem, Rogers, Perkins and Compton.

Everyone loves a crazy picture…well almost everyone. Sister Thato Kujane walks 45 minutes to church and then back again. Usually with her pink umbrella that she seems to have left home when this picture was taken.

Brother Njabulo is a student at the local college and a counselor in the elder’s quoum. Sister Macy is our Primary president. On a recent Sunday three generations of Tlotleng men showed up for conference.

Mary with our friend Nomsa who cleans our chapel each Saturday – she is not yet a member. My counselor Bongani Buti with his mother.

This post spans much of our mission so far. Sister Bobbi Swanepoel lives about 50K from Potchefstroom. Due to her health and lack of transportation she is not able to attend any meetings so once a month we travel up to Parys to visit with her and to bring her the sacrament. She is a lifetime member and was one of the 6 members present when the Soweto branch was formed soon after the revelation of the Priesthood. She is rich source of stores about the early days of the church there. For instance she was told by PH leaders that she could not visit in Soweto at night with a PH member as a companion. So she took her 12 year old deacon with her on all her visits.

Parys is a ranching and tourist town with the Vaal river running on the outskirts. The Vaal is one of the largest rivers in South Africa and is the largest tributary to the Orange river. We first saw it as we crossed over the highway bridge and both remarked how it was a real river. Sister Bobbi later pointed out that it was approaching winter and that it was actually quite low. In the Spring it often overflows it’s banks and floods parts of Parys.

Mary posed on a bridge over a small side stream of the river. Unfortunately the door on the other side it kept locked so we could not explore the island which is mainly a golf course.

This is a downstream shot and then an upstream shot from the bridge but neither can take in more that about 1/2 the width of the river at this point.

One of the wonderful experience of going to Parys is the kilometer after kilometer of cosmos that line the road. It stands about 4 feet high and reminded us of how much we enjoy cosmos when we are at home. It is mostly pink and white with only a few of the deep purple blooms we love so much. By the middle of April the cosmos has pretty much died out so we are glad elder Knowles took this picture when we went out in March.

It has been said that a new bishop/branch president will have a funeral and a wedding in the first few months of their call. Unfortunately it proved true as I had the sad experience of presiding over a funeral for the 38 year old son of a faithful couple in our branch. Samuel Tlotleng died of massive kidney failure just hours after visiting his father.

I presided, my counselor Bongani Buti conducted – he needed the experience, Mary played the keyboard and lots of members helped with the meal afterwards. Funerals are big and expensive in South Africa. The family and friends cook most of the morning in preparation of the 100-150 family and friends who will attend. However brother Tlotleng had funeral insurance for all of his family so the cost of the service, plot, and tombstone was taken care of.

One positive note was that another of the Tlotleng’s sons said that he liked what he saw about the church, the members and the service that he wants to know more.

 

When we went to the couple’s conference we had a full day off to do sightseeing. The Meldrums suggested that instead of doing the bus tour of Johannesburg that most couples chose, that we could go to the Monkey Sanctuary that was about 90 minutes away. The Taylors volunteered to drive and we made a day of it.

While seeing the monkeys was fun, the best part of the adventure was walking on a raised walkway though the forest with a stream running under us.

 

Some of the monkeys were not afraid of us and others got away as fast as they could. The picture on the right above is a mother with a little one on her back. Below one came up and seemed to be begging from sister Taylor. The monkey on the right below was about the ugliest one in the park that we saw – he really looks like he is mad at us for invading his space.

The guide told us that the monkeys eat at set times each day and then curl up in the trees and sleep. The one on the right above seems to be annoyed that he can not eat his lunch without someone taking a picture. The one on the right is sleeping off lunch.

Other than monkeys and birds the only animal we saw was a small red duiker – we had seen a number of them on our last mission but only got one picture so I was surprised to see this one in a monkey sanctuary!

As I mentioned the most striking part of the experience was the beauty of the landscape. Flowing water, rock paths, suspension bridge and a very long raised wood pathway through the trees.

Our faithful guide with Mary who brought out a bushbaby for us to see. Since bushbabies are nocturnal he had to wake this one up. The only other time we saw a bushbaby is when we went on a couples retreat to Tembe Elephant Park on our last mission to South Africa. Somewhere in this blog is some pictures of them in a tree at night – their eyes are huge!

After we were finished at the sanctuary the Taylors took us a craft market where there are hundreds of booths all will to sell the tourist something. They are very familiar with our badges so they call out Elder – Sister. We ended buying a nativity set made of banana leaves that is assembled in a beautifully decorated gourd, a red ball gourd with guinea fowl feathers painted on it and a beautiful table runner. As we were getting ready to leave a band set up and Mary and sister Taylor joined in the music making!

One of the great blessing we have had on this mission was the fact that elder and sister Knowles were serving here before we came. They are a great couple who served as branch president and relief society president. They had the daunting task of finding a new place for the branch to meet and then getting it in shape for meetings, storage and offices. I am sure the Lord knew that this was not something we would do very well so sent the Knowles here first.

They lived in Johannesburg to be near her ailing mother and so they drove about 4 hours each day to work in Potchefstroom and Ikageng. In working with them for about a month before they went home, it was easy to see how much they loved the members and how the members loved them. They are truly a hard act to follow but we will try our best.

The Knowles with elder Bird who served here as district leader. Then with Lolo who is the humble woman who runs an orphanage with 13 orphans. I will write more about this a little later.

One of the last activities the Knowles organized was a temple trip where 6 members received their endowments and a couple was sealed for time and all eternity. Before they left the branch planned a farewell party.  It was all done by the branch with almost no help from us.

At the party members of the branch expressed their thanks and gave them presents for them to remember the branch. You could tell the expressions of thanks came right from their heart. Just a couple of weeks before they were scheduled to be released sister Knowle’s mother passed away. It was a tender blessing for sister Knowles since her mother had been ill so long.

The first time we came to South Africa we arrived two days before a wonderful couples conference was held in Swaziland – which happened to be where we were to serve our first 2 1/2 months. So we got to meet and share experiences with all the couples in the mission. This time we had to wait a month before we attended one. As always it was a great experience as we got to know each of the couples and introduce ourselves to them.

The first day we all met near the mission office and spent the morning getting to know each other. There was a very informative presentation by President Mbletke of the mission presidency who talked about living under apartheid and how he came to join the church. Joining the church completely changed his life by opening up educational opportunities that he had not dreamed of. We were thrilled to hear his name announced as a new area 70 at conference. He will be a wonderful one.

Our good friend elder Taylor looked at the camera as I took a picture of setting up for the conference. Elder and Sister Davie serve in the Randburg

The Brummers serve in Mokopane and the Clowards serve as S&I missionaries.

 

E/S Harwood serve in Seshego as MLS missionaries.

After the morning meeting we all met at the temple for a session. The Johannesburg temple is a small one and there were enough of us that we not only filled the seats but they had to bring in chairs. It was very special to share this experience with all of our fellow senior couples.

After the meeting we all gathered at Mike’s Kitchen for a meal where the conversation was more important than the food – but the food was also very good. I got to eat Kingsklip for the first time in over 3 years!