June 24, 2012

 Our new elder, Elder Dale is having a hard time with the township….the dirtiness, mud, garbage, rats and everything.  

It is hard to take at first, but we know he will get used to it because he has a great desire to serve the Lord wherever he is called to serve.  He is a greenie and will weather through it, it will just take time.

Okay, I admit… I am still not feeling that comfortable there either. It has taken me a while to accept the township living conditions.  I know the people really don’t know any other way to live, but it is hard for me to understand how they can live with all of the garbage around them. 

 Then there is the mud, the cold dark homes, the dim lighting, cows, chickens, goats, pigs just wandering around wherever they want.  Oh and watch out for the do-do stuff it’s everywhere!!  

 It seems like I am always cold.  We layer our clothes but it would be nice to just be warm. We have a small propane heater but you can’t heat the house with it, you just have to sit up close and personal if it’s going to do you any good. I sure miss our wood stove.  It is such a different world here than I am used to.

There have been a couple of times I have been particularly desirous to just go home.  I got over it when I remembered why we are here and who we are serving, but nevertheless they did come. The first time was when I was the teacher in Jr. Primary. I only had 4 children to deal with, but it was overwhelming for me.  Two of them were off the wall…throwing things, hitting each other, climbing (or trying to climb) the shelves and running around.  One of the other boys doesn’t speak or understand any English…he just looks at you and does whatever he wants.  All I could do at that point was call it “the nursery from my worst nightmare” and try to survive!!!  

Enough of the whining. Now for the good stuff.

As hard as it can be some days to go into the townships, it is also wonderful. To visit with the members and share in their joy of the gospel is amazing and so fulfilling.  When we visited the Nteyi family, Patrick Nteyi who was asked to do a lesson in Elders Quorum, wanted to know how he did. He was so grateful for a chance to teach and felt pleased to be of service. He was also glad to know that Rick felt he did a good job.  Sister Priscilla Tunye, the Primary President, is so happy to serve. When asked by Rick to teach the primary children the Articles of Faith, she went at it full speed ahead. Three weeks later the children sang a song in Sacrament Meeting and from memory gave the first three articles of faith, afterwards bearing testimony about what they just gave. They are now set every third Sunday to do the same, sing a song and have children give from memory four or more articles of faith. Now that is magnifying your calling.  They did very well, and brought a wonderful spirit into the meeting with the testimonies they bore.  Sister Tunye is eager to do all she can to serve and welcomes any helpful suggestions we offer.  There is the Mgadi family, who open their home once a week so seminary can meet there and they always join us as well. Then there is Sister Dell, who would give the shirt off her back, and did give the shoes she was wearing to young sister she saw who’s shoes were falling apart. She walked away in just her socks but had a smile on her face.  Brother Nobebe loves to go fellowshipping with the missionaries whenever asked and is always doing something for his neighbors.  The list can go on and on of those who are helping others and are so grateful for any help given to them.  We are very humbled every day at the wonderful spirit these people have about them and the kindness they have toward others and us. 

You never know what you are going to get on Sunday at church but today was great.  The Sacrament Meeting went better than it has since we have been here and the speakers were excellent. The Spirit was very much in attendance today.  Last testimony meeting was also amazing. It is so humbling to hear people who have so little, and struggle so much to just provide food for their families, testify about the love in their hearts for our Heavenly Father and the Savior and how blessed they feel.

This is what mission is all about. There are hard things to endure, but the blessings are so great.

June 23, 2012

 Today is the two month mark for being out on mission. Just a note… a couple of days ago Rick took me to the store and purchased a pair of fleece pajamas…..much warmer now. 

This morning I once again baking cookies for another baptism. This one was for Tanisha Denston.  Her family was baptized last week, however, she turned 8 two days after their baptism so she had to wait until today.   Yesterday Rick interviewed her for baptism and she requested that Elder Stumm baptize her.  That was a big surprise.  We thought she would certainly want Elder Scicluna, who taught the family the gospel, to baptize her and we asked her three times just to make sure.  Nope….Elder Stumm!  

While I was baking cookies for the baptism, Rick and the missionaries were back at the investigators home with the big bad tree and with the new chainsaw Rick got this last Tuesday. They made short order of the project.  RRRRR….more power!!!!!

The Elders did all the work teaching Tanisha but Rick had the privilege at 2pm today of baptizing his first person in South Africa.

The baptismal font is outside and was quite cold.  It took her breath away as it did with her family last week.

 We forgot to bring Rick’s baptismal clothes to the church, so he would just wear something from the church….a jumpsuit. He didn’t have dry garments to wear so he simply dried them as best he could with a towel and went on with the rest of the program.  She will be confirmed tomorrow at church. 

June 21, 2012

 This is just some notes on interesting things and happenings around here, typical of South Africa.

This isn’t really typical of all of South Africa, but here in Port Alfred we are not to drink the water from the tap.  It is bad, smell and otherwise, so we buy bottled water to drink.

Shortening does not exist in South Africa, so it is only margarine or butter for cookies.  Actually, that is what I always used anyway, however, I wanted to make biscuits once and all I could use was butter, which I did.  I thought they were great; however, Rick was not impressed.  They were not the ones he liked with his beans, therefore, not okay.  I fed some to Elder Scicluna and Elder Moangare and they inhaled them, especially Elder Scicluna.  Guess I will make more of them before he leaves.

Brown sugar is definitely not the same.  Their brown sugar looks like a lightly colored white sugar, except maybe the granules are a little larger.  Doesn’t have much brown sugar flavor. They do have treacle sugar which has a molasses flavor. I now use it in cookies to give them better taste and is really quite good.  Brown sugar as we know it does not exist here. 

There is absolutely no central heat or air conditioning here, either.  Most people have portable heaters of some kind.  We have a propane gas heater which I often cling to in the “winter” nights. 

 Now winter isn’t quite like our winter.  They think it is cold, we think it is just spring weather, but it is chilly here in the evening.  Often times it is warmer outside than it is inside.  I should have brought more warm clothes.

Mail is delivered by a man on a bicycle.  

 We also have a PO Box where mail, mostly for the branch, comes. I am not sure how they decide which mail comes to our home address and what goes to the PO Box because it all has the same address on it.  It’s just weird.  We get packages both ways.  Mail from the states still needs to come through the mission home and they post it to us.  The mail to our home address is delivered to the guard at the gate and they give it to us when we go through.  There are a number of different guards, and it is amazing how they all know who we are when we come through.  

They are now painting the buildings in our complex.  All of them are 4 stories tall and they use ladders to reach the top.  

 The ladders are just tied together.

 You won’t find that in the US.  It looks a bit precarious to us!!

In most parking lots, there are usually young men there eager to show you where to park and to help you back out of your spot.  Of course, you are expected to tip them.  We spend a lot of rand just tipping people, even if they don’t help.  They also seem to know which car is yours as they will stand behind it as you arrive.  Rick will tip them after we back out of the parking spot and many of them say “Thank you president” after they receive the tip.  It has kind of baffled us on how many of them call him that. How do they know? 

 While we were in town, Rick found the car and bakkie of his dreams.  The little truck (bakkie) really is kind of cute!!

Because everything here in South Africa, like electricity, internet, phone, and water cost a lot of money, most people have water tanks to hold run-off water from their roofs. 

It does rain a lot here, so filling them up is usually not a big problem.  They use the water to bathe in and do laundry, and some even drink the run-off water, even if it has wiggly things in it!!  Not us!! NO, we do not have a tank.  We are spoiled with regular shower and washing facilities. And, yes again, bottled water.  The people in the townships usually only have a small barrel size tank they use for fun-off. 

June 19, 2012

After visiting and home teaching the Barris and Kenney families we were off to Port Elizabeth and Makro’s where Rick bought a small chainsaw to be used on service projects, and a couple of other tools, since he feels out of sorts without his tools.  There are just some things he needs to have but I’m going to have to put a limit on how many tools are bought or Rick will have a complete set of South African tools before long. 

June 16, 2012

Today, Steven and Leah Moore, Levonique Denston, their granddaughter, and Mary Van Rensburg were all baptized, entering into the first of the covenants that will lead them back to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father.  They were all ready for this ordinance and the spirit was strong. Elder Scicluna and Elder Moangare baptized them while Rick presided and also welcomed them to the branch.

That evening we joined the missionaries on a much anticipated dining experience (especially by the missionaries) at Fish River Sun, a resort and very nice restaurant. 

They had a buffet with fish, prawns, beef, chicken, pork, and other many and various dishes plus a large array of desserts for R155 each person. (About $18). We paid for the evening as Elder Moangare will be leaving this transfer and it was our present to him.  We love both of them, they are a great team, have taken great care of us as we learn our job here and work very hard as missionaries.  We are sad to see Elder Moangare leave, but know that whoever is sent will be the right person to help move the Lords work along.  The evening was also in celebration of my birthday.  We had a very nice evening with them.

June 12, 2012

Another birthday has arrived!! Just getting closer to when I can sign up for Medicare!!! The Elders brought over a birthday cake for me and had fun lighting the candle.  

We have no matches but finally figured we could use the flame on our propane heater to light the candle.  It worked great. 

We were invited out to lunch by Sister Helen Dell who is a great lady in our branch.  She has very little money, but wanted to do something special for me.  Very Sweet. We went to Guidos, where I think it was more than she expected to pay.  However, Rick paid the bill, and I think she was grateful.

We then went to help teach Sister Van Rensburg, her last lesson. She will be baptized on Saturday .  

Elder and Sister Van Sickle who are another senior couple serving in Port Elizabeth came by our flat on their way to East London.  They are in charge of employment and were helpful to Rick with guidance in that area for the branch.  Unemployment is very high in Port Alfred. 

Next we visited the Kondile’s and the Nteyi families, both are great families. 

Brother Nteyi has been struggling a little lately so we wanted to visit with them.  They are the family who just recently went to the temple and were sealed together for all eternity, the first and only family from our branch to be sealed.

Brother & Sister Kondile and Elder Moangare

The Kondiles’ live in Port Alfred, but their families live in Port Elizabeth where they go most weekends and attend church. 

We could sure use them here as they are both talented and strong in the gospel. Our visit went well with them and they said they would attend here on Sunday.  

It was a great day!  

June 11, 2012

Today was P-day.  We picked up our missionaries and headed to Grahamstown to meet up with the Elders there and the Nye’s, the senior couple to go to an elephant sanctuary. 

The cost was R85 each, which is around $10 in our money.  There we “met” four female elephants that were rescued from another game park where they were destined to be destroyed to keep the population down so the reserve would not be over grazed. 

 

We were given a short lesson on elephants and had them perform for us by following a number of voice instructions given by the trainer.   We then were able to feed them, pat them and feel their tusks.  It was interesting and fun feeding then both in the trunk and right into their mouths.  Everybody got goobered on, at least a little bit!! 

We then went back to Grahamstown for lunch and ate at a Steers restaurant where they were having a two for one burger day!  Anyone who knows us, as the tightwads we are, can guess what we had. That’s right, two for one. 

What a deal.

June 10, 2012

Sunday always brings new adventures.  Because of the bad weather, a lot of people didn’t make it to church.  One of those who didn’t make it was a scheduled speaker. No problem, this lesson was learned earlier and President Stumm was prepared “just in case of” and filled the time.  The bad part for me was the speaker is also the chorister, so guess who ended up leading the music.  Yep…me.  That is all well and fine I can do that, except here, the chorister sings the first line of the hymn to give the pitch for people to start on (no one plays the piano here) and then the congregation sings the song.  Well that’s not going to work. I’m probably the most pitch challenged singer around and me getting them off on the correct pitch just ain’t gonna happen, plus I am just plain chicken. President Stumm saw the pure terror in my eyes, was filled with compassion and sang the first line for me.  I love that man!!! 

Our favorite beggar/drunk must have over slept because we made it all the way through Sacrament meeting before he blessed us with his presence. When he came, I was in primary and didn’t know about it until later, but he was extra drunk this time and obnoxious. He was again escorted out after a number of loud verbal exchanges colored the air. About 10 minutes later he was back, so this time the police were called and they hauled him off in a paddy wagon.  We really feel sad for him and would like to help but all he wants to do is beg for money and if he doesn’t get any he just causes trouble.

June 8, 2012

Our first zone conference, thank goodness for the GPS or we never would have found this place.  It was held in the stake center, a real church building with all the things we took for granted back home and miss so much where we serve. 

A Real Relief Society Room

The conference was very good, right on par with other regional conferences we have attended. President Wood, his wife and the AP’s taught on the need to better teach everyone about and how important repentance is and what repentance really entails. There were about 50 missionaries there along with 4 senior couples and President Wood and his wife. After the conference lunch was provided and one thing I am learning is the Elders don't leave until all the food is gone no mater how much there is.

June 3, 2012

Today was fast Sunday. Interesting Sundays seem to be the norm since we arrived here and this one was no exception.  First of all about 8:45 am the missionaries SMS us (text) and said that they are walking with some investigators to church and were running late.  Rick looked around to find only one other priesthood holder present, and since the full time missionaries constitute about 1/3 of the priesthood in the branch, he thought it a good idea that I should call them, find out where they were and go pick them up. My thoughts were why are they out in the township walking, what happened to their car and how I’m I ever going to find them. Sister Cockbain, the RS president extended a tender little mercy and volunteered to come with me, which I was grateful for.  We finally found the missionaries – they were walking with a family of investigators and had gotten a late start. I picked up one Elder (so at least they would have enough Priesthood to administer the Sacrament), loaded as many others as I could in the car and drove them to church, then went back and picked up the rest of them.  When we finally got to church, they were just starting to pass the sacrament. You would think that would be enough excitement for one day, but the best was yet to come. After a few testimonies had been borne, Alfred, our friendly professional neighborhood beggar and alcoholic decided that he should add something to our meeting. Now he had been to church before and had been told that he was welcome as long as he sat quietly and didn’t go around hitting people up for money during church. Rick thought they had an understanding so when he had come in late and had taken a seat without his usual begging he thought things would be alright. He was wrong.

As Alfred was walking up to say something, Brother Hola, Ricks 2^nd councilor, stopped him.  Unknown to us he had come up during testimony time in a previous testimony meeting and started cursing at everybody so Brother Hola was not going to let that happen again. They tussled a bit and after physical exchanges and some bad language by our friendly drop in we were able to help him outside where Rick stayed and talked with him. Rick and Alfred were out there awhile during which time we inside were having an adventure also.  First, I will tell you about Ricks adventure with Alfred and then ours.

Friday when we were at the church Alfred had dropped by begging and saying that he was so hungry and please didn’t we have something for him. We told him that we didn’t have anything to give him at that time. Rick decided after that to always carry something to eat with us that we could give he because we were not going to give him money which he would spend on alcohol. As Rick and he were talking Alfred said that he was very upset that we would not let him go up and tell people about Jesus. To make this short, he was told again that he needed to not be under the effects of alcohol and needed to be respectful of how we worship. He asked for money and was told that he would not be given money but Rick did have some food for him if he was hungry. That did it. He went off like a wild man cussing’ telling Rick that he had plenty and should give some money to him. He said Rick was judging him and had disrespected him by offering him food and he wouldn’t take it. He went away, but not happy.

Now for the inside story.  After Rick went out with Alfred, Elder Moangare went up and bore his testimony followed by an investigator named Pumbla. We have talked about her before and thought that maybe she really wasn’t all there. Today she helped confirm that belief. She started by saying my name is Pumbla “Viva la” something – I couldn’t really understand what she was saying.  She spoke really loud and not understandable and ended by raising her fist in the air and shouting “Viva la” something again. Strange lady.  Seeing that Rick was still outside with our friend, Elder Scicluna got up and bore his testimony and tried to set things right. He let the investigators know that this was not the way testimony meeting is and shared what it should be. I also bore my testimony.  It is amazing how many times a week we now bear our testimony.  It is really kind of neat!  The meeting ended well, then on to the rest of the meetings.  I spent my time with the only two children in junior primary.  It is not easy filling two hours when the children are very young and do not speak English and I don’t speak Xhosa.  It has been an interesting Sunday!!

I successfully made lasagna for dinner tonight from scratch.  It was pretty good.  I put some of this and some of that in until it tasted really good. Mozzarella cheese here is similar but not the same as at home. It's firmer in texture and has a slightly different flavor.  It was good.  Success number one and hopefully not the last.