We have had another wonderful week in Swaziland and South Africa. But as you read through this post, you will find that President Mann told us that we would be soon transferred to another part of the mission. We knew this was probably going to happen, but until this week we did not know exactly when or where.

Monday was P-day and it was filled with running errands and shopping. It may be strange to talk about the Lord’s tender mercies when relating running errands, but I feel we really did have them today. We had a long list of things we needed to do, including getting some of my pants altered, finding batteries for my hearing aid, cashing a check – due to fraud this is not an easy task in Swaziland – and finding some buttons for Mary. We managed to get each task done with minimum problems – my batteries took the most effort but through the help of the gracious people here, it was accomplished.

I should mention here that parking on the street in Mbabane is very difficult – especially if, like my self, you are reluctant to parallel park. I think the problem is that it is free to park on the street so everyone owning a car that works in a shop parks on the street all day. Thankfully, because it costs to park there, there is usually plenty of parking at the mall. However on Monday some of the errands were in the city itself so I dropped Mary off near the shops and then later came back to pick her up.

Once we were through with our shopping, we came home and loaned our car to the elders so they could do what they needed to do and to go to a FHE. They were gone longer than expected but when they returned they showed up at the door with a beautiful Black Forest chocolate cake to share. We contributed some ice cream and we had a good time eating and talking about missionary work.

Tuesday I again went slashing at two homesteads with the elders. I held my own at the first place and because of our sharp slashers, we got the work done quickly. The second project was a very long driveway and after about 15 minutes I decided I was done for the day. One of the problems was that I had an older and duller slasher. But the real reason is that I am just not in as good of shape as I should be. What ever the reasons I stopped and sat in the car while they finished up the job.

In the evening we went up to Mbabane for couple’s night. As the elders were finishing the slashing it had started raining and by the time we got to Mbabane it had been pouring for a long time. This really cut into the attendance and there were only two couples who braved the storm. But the meeting went really well because both couples got a chance to participate and comment as much as they wanted. In some ways the smaller group was better than a large one. Elder and Sister Wilson are always well prepared so the meeting flows right along.

Wednesday was busy because there was a Zone Development Meeting at the Wilson’s in the morning and we drove to Newcastle in South Africa in the afternoon. Before the ZDM we fed 12 hungry elders breakfast. They ate dozens of eggs and pancakes, toast, fruit, and cinnamon rolls. Sister Wilson said that for the first time there was actually a little food left over.

We caravanned to Newcastle and everything went great until we got near Newcastle and the GPS got us lost twice. The first time elder Dygert, who had served in Newcastle got us back on track and the second time the guard at a gate told us that the terrible road we were traveling on had been closed for years. But we finally made it safely to the Uffen’s boarding where the elders put on their new soccer uniforms and headed off to play the other zone. We sat and talked with the Uffens about missionary work and what they are going to do when their mission ends in a month. We found out that Sister Uffen’s brother, Carl Wrigley, lives down the street from us and used to be in our Stake Presidency.

We had dinner with the couples from the two zones – the Ladysmith Wilsons, the Uffens, the Swaziland Wilsons, the Klingers and ourselves – and President and Sister Mann. The food was OK but the best part of the evening was sitting around a large round table and talking about missionary work, the elders, and our families. There is a special comradery among the couples that is different from the one you have with friends at home. I am sure it is because of the special experience we share as couples serving in a foreign land. Since we do not get together too often, we did not want the evening to end but of course it did.

On Thursday we had a two Zone conference with the emphasis being on becoming consecrated missionaries. To dedicate ourselves to working more diligently by being more obedient to the mission rules outlined in the handbook. To put aside the habits that keep us attached to the world. While the work has really picked up, President Mann wants it to move to the next level. It reminded me of the talks by Elder Maxwell about committing completely to the Lord that I had read before we came on the mission.

President and Sister Mann are perfect companions. They are serious about the work but also want to make it enjoyable. They can be firm but you can always feel their great love for the Lord, the missionaries and the members. They can be folksy but always with a purpose. Thinking about their style brings the song “A spoon full of sugar” to mind. We are blessed to be serving almost all our mission under their guidance.

After the conference president Mann talked us and told us that we would be going to Richard’s Bay to replace the Hafens when they leave in April. I must confess that I was hoping that we would go to Newcastle and replace the Uffens but if the Lord needs us in Richard’s Bay we are ready to serve there. We hear that it is a new district and there is a lot of work to do in training leadership and strengthening some very small twigs – they are hardly big enough to be branches.

We again caravanned home and this time we took another route that led us through some of the most beautiful country I have seen since being here. Mainly it was emerald colored, rolling, high country plains that was broken by mountain tops and tabled mesas. For the first time we saw large herds of cattle and sheep and along parts of the road were masses of white and pink cosmos in full bloom. These are growing wild and in some places there were acres of them. It is truly a marvelous country to drive through. I would like to go back some time when we are not in any hurry so we could stop and take pictures.

Friday morning I took the elders up to Manzini to get their bakkie back. We had to make the trip twice because they forgot their credit card and since the cards are vehicle specific we could not use ours. It gave me a good chance to get to know Elder Murch better and talk about how they felt about their mission experiences.

Later in the afternoon the elders pulled a prank on us – well actually more on me. They showed up at our boarding and said that they had just driven around the corner from the garage when the bakkie broke down again and they had to ride a Kombi home. Without any comment I tossed them the keys to our car and we talked about the inefficiency of the repairs here. After about 15 minutes of this they confessed it was a prank and that bakkie was parked up at the Wilsons. We thought this was really funny and it showed that they think enough of us to come up with something like that.

Friday night the Ezulwini elders invited us to their boarding for a braai – that is an African BBQ. They supplied the dinner and Mary baked brownies. They fixed a typical Afrikaan meal of grilled  borworst and pap – a corn based food that looked much like mashed potatoes. The borworst was great and the pap was different. I think I would like the pap if it had some kind of seasoning or gravy. We were touched that they felt close enough to us to do this. We are certainly going to miss elders Eddy and Murch – as well as the other elders in the zone – when we leave for Richard’s Bay.

Saturday Mary had a Relief Society Anniversary meeting to go to in Mbabane. It was to start at noon and I figured it would run until about 2:30. On the way there we turned off the highway and went to see what Mvubu Falls was like. We had seen the sign for it any time we went up to Mbabane but either we did not have time or it was raining so we did not stop. But this time we left early enough and it was a beautiful day so we were able to stop.

The falls was more a series of riffles that ran over rocks and down a long slope. We were able to park in an area that was covered with trees and walk along the banks for about 100-150 yards. The sound was much more impressive than the falls but the beautiful location made it well worth our time.

When we got to Mbabane chapel we were surprised to find Elder and Sister Markum, the CES couple, holding a training meeting. We did not realize they were in Swaziland. They were busy so we did not have time to talk but made tentative plans to have dinner together with them and the Wilsons.

While Mary went to her meeting, I went to the mall to check our e-mail and then I had lunch at KFC. KFC was packed with people. Many were just having an ice cream break but still I was surprised at the number of customers they had on a Saturday.

The meeting lasted until 3:15 and then the Markums picked us up to go to dinner at Summerfields. I guess the Mickelsen’s raved about the wonderful dinner they had when they were up here a couple of weeks ago. From now on any couples coming to Swaziland will probably want to go there and eat out over the water. It is a nice experience but we have eaten there enough that some of the mystique of the experience has gone. Good food, good service, and good friends – that does make for a nice dinner.

I continue to enjoy going to the PEC meetings at Mbabane. The president keeps them focused on people and when they talk about programs it is in relationship to how it will help the members. They were especially concerned today about fellowshipping new members and investigators. They discussed the importance of having a home teacher already called when someone is being baptized.

The sacrament theme was Relief Society. The first sister spoke about how Relief Society helped her feel welcome when she joined the church. The last speaker gave an excellent talk about the Relief Society and charity. She was both funny and serious so her talk was interesting and yet informative.

Mary taught the literacy course to our three students. Since we only have 3 more weeks to get them ready to take over we tried to find a time when we could hold a second lesson each week but nothing seemed to fit each schedule. Mary assigned one of the ladies to teach the lesson next week.

Mary also taught Relief Society. The lesson was on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. When I asked her how she had done, she said that she felt it was about 80% good.

Elder Nkele taught the priesthood lesson and challenged the men to live so that God would bless the branch. I am rather worried that there is so much talk about home teaching and missionary work that the people have stopped listening. I think sometimes less is better but will support the effort to increase member participation in missionary work.

The best news of the day was that Mbabane has started to clear up the ordination problem. With Manzini and Ezulwini done, if we could get Mbabane done, we could leave Swaziland feeling like we had accomplished what we were sent here to do. Once there are computers linked to Johannesburg in two of the chapels, the problem will hopefully be solved once and for all.

This Sunday was especially long for the Wilsons. They left at 6:30 to go Nhlangano for their meetings and then on a terrible 35K road to Ge-Ge (pronounced gay-gay) to meet with a family that includes the first person to be baptized in Swaziland. They have been holding prayer and singing meetings at their homestead and said they had up to 50 people coming to them. The Wilsons went out to see if a small branch could be started and to share the sacrament. After meeting with the couple, they decided the missionaries would come out once a month to hold a meeting and teach, but only if they had complete families and not just the gogos in the area. Hopefully some day there will be a strong branch or ward of the church there.

When we started to fix dinner we called the Wilsons and asked if they would like to share it with us. We were pretty sure they would not have had any time to eat much during the day and we were right. We had an excellent spaghetti dinner and talked about the events of the day. We are going to miss the Wilsons when we leave.

After they left we called the elders and invited them for ice cream when they were finished with their teaching for the evening. They were happy to come by and were able to give us the information about Nathi’s ordination. So for once we are ahead of the curve in getting information to Johannesburg.

So ends another week in paradise. It is hard to think of our mission as any kind of sacrifice. The blessings that we receive each day, the wonderful elders and couples we serve with, the chance to help in service projects, going to meetings and sharing the spirit, and all the other things that come with serving a mission far outweighs being away from home and family. We probably think about our family more when we are on missions than we do when we are at home. We include them individually each day in our prayers. We include things that they tell us in their letters that are important in their lives. We know that the Lord will bless them and us as we serve here in South Africa. Missions are truly one of God’s tender mercies that he makes available to all who desire to serve.

As we say in the South Africa Durban mission — Hard Work + Exact Obedience + Faith = Miracles — and we see this coming true here every day.

 

Picture on left Mary and Elder Kona as well as young man who was out with the elders and got invited to party. Right hand picture L-R Elders Katende, Eddy, and Makono.

Random pictures – Our faithful guard dog Jumbo enjoying the coolness of the concrete on our veranda during the heat of the day. The two horses that are often in the pastures that are on the road into our boarding. This is the same pastures where the monkeys come to snatch my apples. The full moon over the Eastern mountains as seen from the Shongwe’s boarding. The picture of course does not do it justice. (Note added later – Some people tried to steal things from the nursery and when Jumbo tried to stop them they killed him! A great loss of a good friend.)

Pictures from our afternoon doing a service project and eating roasted corn for lunch. Mary gave us moral support and even sat out in the sun with her folding Indonesian hat. Notice the way the corn is leaning agains the burning sticks to roast. Elder Eddy and Nahti sharing an roasted ear. We thought the rooster was worth a picture. He is big and fat – we never saw that in Indonesia – and may someday join some corn for roasting.

The one on the right has just grabbed the apple I left on the post. The middle one is the most I have seen on the fence since the first day when every post had one on it. The left may be a repeat. It is a picture of the alpha monkey watching me to make sure his family is safe.

In Indonesia it was motorcycle loads. Here in Swazilands they do not have many motorcycles but the women carry a large assortment of loads on their heads. It is harder to get them because I tend to be past them before I can get my camera ready. I feel strange stopping and asking the women if I can take their picture but they do not seem to mind so maybe by the time we go home I will have a good collection.

Well we got to spend another week in Heavenly Valley. The temperature continues to get cooler – which is wonderful – and the rains came down – which is OK too except they came right after I got the car washed on Friday and by Friday night it was covered in mud.

Monday we had a wonderful P-day. We got our time in at the internet café so we could read all the letters we got from family and friends and answer some of them. In the afternoon we went with elders Katende and Kona to the Mlilwane nature preserve that is only about 15 minutes from our boarding. Elder Kona really wanted to see it before he got transferred on Wednesday and we gave him a reason for going. We saw a hippo, a crocodile, many warthogs, a buffalo, zebras, and many different antelopes. For a preserve that sits in the midst of lots of homesteads it is pretty good but we look forward to seeing other preserves before our mission is up. President Mann encourages the couples to see the mission and enjoy the wonderful scenery and animals.

Tuesday the Wilsons headed for Durban for a mission presidency meeting so we were the only couple in Swaziland. Since it was the last full day in the area for elder Kona and our own elder Makono, we told the district that we would treat them to lunch at KFC. We had no trouble getting them to agree. In the evening we invited elders Eddy and Makono over for ice cream and introduced them to The Great Dalmuti. Elder Makono said goodbye for the last time – the only time we know we will see him is at the All Zone Conferences but we will always remember his smiling face.

Wednesday half the elders in the zone headed off to Durban for transfer day. We went out with elders Eddy and Katende to see if we could track down any of the Ezulwini ordinations that are missing. We got to travel the back roads and visit some of the homesteads we have been to before. We found out that most of the men had certificates and they would bring them on Sunday. We also found that president Shongwe kept good records so we are hoping that will help us clear up the rest.

During the day we bought a couple of new slashers – manual weed whips – and then went to Manzini to get a file so elder Eddy could sharpen them. I felt that we wasted a lot of energy trying to cut the tough grasses with dull slashers and was more than happy to pay the $4 US to find out if I was right.

In the evening we went to the Shongwe homestead where the elders taught a Preach My Gospel lesson to about 10 young people. It was wonderful to sit there and see all these young men and women gather together to talk about a gospel subject. Most of them had a PMG and it was obvious that they have been reading in them.

As we left Elder Eddy told us that when they started these lessons a few weeks ago, it was more of a social gathering and they had a hard time getting the youth to stop talking to each other long enough to teach them anything. But now they are quiet, pay attention and most of them join in the discussion. It is something that would be good to have in every branch and ward in the church.

Thusday was an interesting day because we got to go do some slashing at our newest Ezulwini convert’s homestead. As I have mentioned before Nathi is one of the most spiritual men that I have met and is very serious about learning what he needs to do to keep the commandments. The sharpened slashers were a great success. We were able to clear in about 30 minutes an area that would have taken a couple of hours with the normal slashers.

After we finished slashing Nathi got the makings of a fire and then picked some fresh corn – this is not the kind of corn we are use to at home – so we could have cooked corn for lunch. The way they cook it would not pass health standards in the US but it works and our first fully Swaziland meal turned out pretty good.  

After lunch Nathi wanted to discuss fasting and fast offerings. He had read the pamphlet on tithing and fast offerings and wanted to make sure he understood what he needed to pay. He directed most of his questions to me and I was happy to answer them. As we talked about offerings and tithing, he committed himself to paying both because they were commandments.

He also wanted to discuss making a business plan so he could get a loan – he needs to borrow about $70 US – to expand his small business. I told him I would get a couple of books and then we could have a good discussion and I would help him with his plan.

In the evening we got to meet the new missionaries who will be serving in Ezulwini and Nhlangano. I should mention that Nhlangano is pronounced kind of like it was spelled Shlangano with the Sh sound made by sticking your tongue against the top of your mouth and blowing air out both sides of your tongue.

Elder Murch, who will be serving with elder Eddy here in Ezulwini was trained by our own elder Katende. He is from Issaquah, Washington and has been out about four months. He seems well trained and willing to work.

On Friday Portia – a young women who is trying to get enough money to pay for her boarding at school –  came over and cleaned the house. While she was doing that I took the car up to get it cleaned. While I was waiting the 90 minutes it takes to get a car cleaned here, I struck up a conversation with another customer. He turned out to be a major in the army, is married and has five children – four sons and a daughter. We had a good talk about military life, the guarding of bridges, and other things. As we were talking I realized I did not have a single piece of literature to give him. So as soon as my car was finished I rushed back to the boarding, got a pamphlet about the plan of salvation and took it back to him. I really must remember to be better prepared for the times the Lord puts good contacts in my path.

We were supposed to go out and visit with the elders but once again their bakkie broke down and since the Wilsons were busy with piano lessons way down in Nhlangano we got to help the elders get it to Manzini to try and get it fixed for the third time. I think that bakkie could guide itself to the garage. When we got back to Ezulwini we volunteered our car to the elders so they could get some work done. We did not want elder Murch’s first full day in Swaziland to be a complete bust.

Most of Saturday was spent in Mbabane helping elder and sister Uffens put on a training program about family health, HIV/AIDS and unwed mothers for the district RS leaders. The sisters had a light lunch – it also allowed those who had a long ways to come to make it here so the actual training could start on time. I set up the electronics, Mary played the piano, and we both handed out the pamphlets as they were needed. The best guess is that 4 out of 10 people in Swaziland are HIV positive. Elder Uffens said that due to the AIDS the population in Swaziland has fallen from 1.2 million to under 900,000 in the last decade. Hopefully our youth will learn to be chaste and thereby avoid this terrible disease.

On Sunday we attended the Mbabane branch meetings. The PEC meeting was very good as they talked about people more than programs. It was missionary Sunday and I got to speak in sacrament. I had an outline of some scriptures I wanted to talk about but I also put my trust in the Lord’s promise to provide the words that I needed to speak. As I spoke I felt the spirit helping me fill in the ideas I had outlined. One part of my talk I had not even thought of was testifying about the need to read the Book of Mormon as a family each day. I guess that some of the members needed to hear this today. The Lord does watch over his missionaries.

Mary taught the literacy course in Sunday School (three students this week) and I worked on trying to get some more information about ordinations. I just hope that we can get this cleaned up by the time we have to leave. I had a chance to talk to the Elders quorum president, Brother Sampson, about home teaching. In PEC I could tell he was pretty discouraged about it and so I gave him some counsel about how he might approach it. I told him not to be discouraged but to make sure that he and his counselors and the other leaders did theirs so they could lead instead of push the rest of the brethren. He thanked me and said that he really needed to hear what I had to say.

After the meetings there was a baptism of a young man. President Mtshalintshali was worried because he had deadlocks and did not want to cut them off. I said as far as I knew this does not disqualify him from being baptized. I then told them the story of Fritz Schmutz and how he went from looking like a hippie when he was baptized to being one of the most spiritual men I have ever known. Now I hope this young man will prove me correct.

So we had a wonderful week of serving in Swaziland. Some days are more spiritual than others but each day the Lord seems to provide us with some experience that makes us know we are where we should be and doing what we should be doing. We would not mind staying in Swaziland for our whole mission but I am pretty sure that we will be re-assigned about the middle of April. We will of course go where the president wants us to go and know that we will have opportunities to change lives – including our own – and receive many blessings.

How wonderful it is to be called to serve here in the South Africa Durban mission. It is an experience too few members get or take the opportunity to do. I just wish we had started serving missions sooner so we could have experienced more countries, met more great people, and received more blessings.

 

 

 

The famous Ezulwini – Mababane soccer matches that are held whenever they feel like it. This is the Ezulwini field much more beautiful than the Mbabane. In the middle picture the young man on the right is elder Katende jumping for joy. This is before the match but he scored 2 goals and Mbabane won 4-2. The last picture is elder Nare. Not only is he a great defensive player but he also has a beautiful voice. He is hoping to get into BYU Provo and as soon as we get some books from the US we are going to help him prepare for the TOEFL test. I should mention that they play when the temperature is in the high 80’s.

Taken at the Ezulwini Market – note how African women carry their children with their legs spread on each side of their back.

Just a little of the unbelieveable scenes we see each day. From L-R – Small homestead on the border between Swaziland and SA. A field of sunflowers on the way to Johannesburg. The main river in Ezulwini valley as it crosses under the Tea Road. A double rainbow on the way to Manzini.