Preparation for Transfer

Dear Family:

At the moment, much of our time is spent in the temporal world getting ready to leave for Namibia, but we have also had some refreshing spiritual moments also.

Since there will not be a replacement couple here when we leave, the senior couple in Queenstown (2 hours up the road), Elder and Sister Searle, will cover our area as well as their own. They are quite active in proselyting and need to be in Queenstown to follow through with their investigators and new converts as well as support for their 12 elders. They will spend 1 day a week here in EL [East London] and stay in our apartment. Obviously, that's not enough time to do much for our 34 elders, so we are trying to leave things in good order so they will not have to finish any projects we left undone. We are also trying to prepare our elders to be self reliant when there is no senior couple here. So, a couple of weeks ago we invited the EL and MD [Mdantsane] Zone Leaders for lunch on their planning day. After enjoying a tasty lunch (we asume it was "tasty" since we didn't have anything left!) we all sat down in the living room and we told them we are being transferred and no replacements will be here for 6-8 weeks and they will need to assume our elders support role. Their first response was one of unbelief! We could not have scripted a more shocked reaction! By the time they left they realized that they really would need to pick up the slack and even joked about being the "senior couple". They are very capable and willing and will do a great job. We began by dividing up all of the printed materials Books of Mormon, pamphlets and DVDs that we have stored in our garage. It is now their responsibility to give these to their elders as needed, as well as order these materials from the mission office when supplies run low. We have also make arrangements to have the Zone Leaders pick up the post at the airport each week.

As you know, another of our responsibilities relates to doctor's appointments and prescriptions needed by the elders. We are not sure what they are going to do when a large co-pay is required when seeing a specialist. We have been paying for these and then getting reimbursed by the mission office. But the elders don't have access to enough money for some of these specialists. We have found out, which we didn't know before, that one of the pharmacies has an account with the church, so the elders can get their prescriptions filled there and charge them.

Another of our elders support activities is to provide cleaning supplies for their flats, so we have gathered together 16 bags of supplies--one for each flat. We placed in the bag enough supplies for approximately 2 months. This coming week during our last round of car and flat inspections we will leave the bags . Depending upon when the new couple arrives, the Zone Leaders may need to do 1 round of inspections.

Some of the elders support activities are totally unpredictable. For example, one evening about 7:00, one of our companionships from MD Zone called us and said that their car quit on them while in their area. MD is not a place we want our elders stranded at night (it is dangerous after dark), nor do we want to abandon a car there overnight (there will be nothing left in the morning). We made arrangements for a tow truck which is operated by one of the bishops here in EL to go out to MD and rescue the car and the elders. The next day he towed the car into a dealership and they found that the housing over the thermostat had come loose resulting in loss of coolant. As it turned out everything got fixed and the elders were back on their way with only 1-day loss of a car. Dad said that he has never heard of the thermostat housing coming loose on a vehicle, but we've never seen roads quite as bumpy (to put it mildly!) as there are in MD. Some places make the roads in Hansel Valley seem like interstate highway!

About 2 weeks ago in our monthly mission newsletter, we were informed that there would be 15 new elders come to the mission on June 11 and 6 would be going home. Of these 15 new elders, 9 are from the US, 2 from South Africa, and 1 each from Kenya, Madagascar, Ethiopia, and Lesotho. That means several new flats would be needed across the mission. We were assigned to find an additional flat for a new set of elders to serve in MD. (By the way, the couple we are replacing in Namibia were asked to find 2 additional apartments. We hope they are able to accomplish this before we arrive.) With so little time and so many other things needing to be done, we prayed earnestly for help in finding a suitable apartment. The Lord truly answered our prayers and we were able to find an unfurnished flat through one of our current landladies. It will be available June 1. We have spend a considerable amount of time and money buying used furniture and new kitchen items for this flat. The bakkee (buckie--pickup truck) has been traded in for a car, so we no longer have its services to move furniture. We obtained approval to get a tow bar (hitch) installed on our car. We will rent a trailer to move the furniture. We will be done with this project on Saturday, May 31, if all goes well.

Without going into detail, the rest of our "temporal" to do list includes finding, purchasing, and delivering 4 bikes for 2 sets of elders (1 in EL and the other in King William's Town, 45 minutes up the road), installing security bars on the windows on one of the flats where the widowed landlady just can't seem to get it done, cleaning our house, doing laundry, and packing.
Lest you think we are totally consumed with temporal affairs, we also want to share with you some special spiritual highlights of the last couple of weeks--with a few temporal details! The day before Mother's Day, all of the elders had the opportunity to call their mothers.

Arrangements were made with the bishops to use the phones in each of the 2 chapels in EL. The elders were to call their homes using an international calling card, which we arranged for, to tell their parents the number to call them back. The parents would then call the number and pay for the call. The elders were limited to 40 minutes each. For those black African elders who are on missionary support because their families cannot afford to pay for their missions, the calling card was used for their entire call. On Mother's Day, Mom taught the lesson in RS.

The highly anticipated wedding day finally arrived for our Institute student, Thobeka [Toe-beck-ah). The civil ceremony was to be held in the Belgravia EL church at 6:00pm. We were planning on going to the ceremony, extending our congrats, eating a few refreshments, visiting a bit, and that was it--or so we thought! About noon we were downtown shopping for the new flat when we got a call from Thobeka needing our help. She was in MD but her wedding gown was in EL. She asked us if we could pick up her dress and deliver it and the woman who made it to MD to help her get ready. It seems big deal to dress the bride, which also includes hair and makeup, because it is a cultural thing that the bride must leave her family's home in her wedding gown. Luckily, we did not have any "appointments", although much to do, so we agreed to help. We went to the apartment where the dress was, only to find that it was not quite finished--an hour and a half, the seamstress said--so we went about our business and returned later. We waited there for another hour and then took the dress and the seamstress to MD. We waited there to see if we would be needed for transport (which we were), and after much coming out of the house and going back in with this and that, FINALLY the bride emerged and 2 carloads of family and friends were off for EL (20-25 minutes away). It was a like a church service. After the bride and her attendants came down the aisle to meet the groom and best man, they all sat down and the ceremony began with a prayer. There were hymns, a couple of really good talks and then the marriage officer, who is also a member of the church, gave a few remarks and performed the marriage. He made an interesting comparison between what he would say, "as long as you both shall live", which is quite negative, to the sealing ceremony in the temple "for time and all eternity" which is very positive. Because Thobeka and her husband were leaving the next morning for the Johannesburg temple, a lot was said in the talks about the temple. The meeting closed with prayer and then very American-type refreshments were served. A lot of people came to support the young couple and it was a very lovely evening.

We feel blessed to have been able to finish teaching our classes this week before we leave. At the close of Institute the students sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" to us. It was so heart-felt and beautifully done it brought tears to our eyes. These are such wonderful young people, the leaders of tomorrow if they will stay strong and faithful. We think most of the members of the temple preparation class are planning to receive their endowments this summer when the ward is planning a temple trip. Two of the 3 families in the class are also planning to be sealed; we're not sure about the other family.

Zone Conference was also a spiritual highlight. President and Sister Egan always have very insightful, scripture and Preach My Gospel-based messages. One part that was especially good was about the 5 stages of conversion: converted to (1 )people--"my" missionary, family members, fiance, etc; (2)the church--programs, benefits; (3)the gospel--teachings, principles, doctrines--the message; (4)Jesus Christ--the messenger whose life is central to the message; (5)the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is only when we are converted to the Atonement that true conversion, a mighty change of heart, can result. Food for thought, huh?

This is w-a-y long, but may have to do for a while because we're not sure what internet services are available in Namibia. We'll keep in touch as best as we can.

We love you and pray for you daily. We bear testimony that this is the Lord's work. We have felt his hand guiding us in our missionary efforts. We are safe, healthy, and very, very happy.

Lots of love from South Africa,
MOM and DAD/Grandma and Grandpa, Karen and Stan

Transfer Day

Dear Family:

We have had a whirlwind week! We purchased 4 bicycles for 2 sets of elders and delivered 2 of those bicycles to King William's Town about 40 miles up the road. We fininshed purchasing and moving furnishings into a new mission flat for 2 additional elders who will be assigned to MD Zone June 10. On Thursday we inspected 14 apartments and 10 cars. It took from 8am until 2:30 in the afternoon, non-stop. We thought it was important to impress upon the elders to take personal responsibility for their apartments when there won't be a senior couple "watching over them". So we committed them to "leave your apartment as clean as you would want to move into after transfers". We have been packing and re-packing trying to get our luggage down to the weight affowed by the airlines. It will most likely cost an additional $120 to get our stuff to Namibia. On our flight from Utah we were allowed 2 bags each plus a carry-on, but now we have been cut back to 1 bag each plus a carry-on so we will just have to end up paying for the extra weight.

Saturday afternoon the MD 1st Ward held a farewell party for us, and today in Fast and Testimony Meeting, a number of people expressed personal thanks to us for our efforts here. It's hard to believe the bond of love which has developed between us and the members in just less than 5 months. We feel blessed to have been able to complete the Institute course and the temple preparation class. They both were very well attended and successful. All in all, we have had a wonderful experience and will remember South Africa with much love.

Neither one of us has had a single day of sickness since we left home, which we are very grateful for.

Tomorrow we fly to Namibia and will email you as soon as we can. Thanks very much for your emails this week. It was good to hear from you.

We pray for you every day and appreciate your prayers in our behalf.
Love, MOM and DAD/Grandma and Grandpa/Stan and Karen

The Wild and Unique Land of Africa

Dear Family:

What a past couple of weeks it has been--everything from feeding 50 elders to the electricity going off to seeing elephants and lions! A week and a half ago was Zone Conference. These take up 3 days. On the first day President/Sister Egan and the APs fly into town. In the late afternoon the Queenstown Zone comes to East London for a workshop under the direction of the APs and Zone Leaders. Sister Egan also gives a presentation. While the workshop goes on, the President interviews the elders. These elders then stay overniht at the local elders' flats (boardings). On the second day all 3 zones (Queenstown, East London, Mdantsane) meet in a morning session, have lunch together which we are in charge of, and meet for an afternoon session. In the late afternoon and evening the Queenstown elders travel home and the EL Zone have their workshop and interviews. On the third day the MD Zone has their workshops and interviews and by noon the President, Sister Egan, and the APs fly to their next Zone Coference venue and it all begins again for them.

This Zone Conference focused on Chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel, "Use Time Wisely", ie daily, weekly, and back-up plans. We were given an unplanned real-life lesson on back-up planning! Here in South Africa there is a shortage of electricity so the different areas in the different cities have their power turned off for a scheduled 2-hour block of time at least 3 days a week Since the outages are not all the same, one area in a city may be OK but another without power. When the Queenstown Zone at the EL Haven Hills chapel, the power was supposed to be on but went off just before their workshop/interviews began. (We were involved because we had the keys to open the building.) It was an unscheduled outage. So we all went to the Belgravia chapel in EL. The time travel between the 2 EL buildings is about 15 minutes. The next day's meetings went without problems. The MD workshops/interviews on the third day were changed from EL Haven Hills chapel to EL Belgravia chapel to avoid scheduled outages. We were just 5 minutes into the meeting when the power went off--unscheduled power outage. We all trooped to the Haven Hills chapel, and guess what? No power--unscheduled outage! We all drove to the MD chapel, about 30 minutes away, where there was power. All in all, it was a real circus. Sometimes even back-up plans have to be backed up!

On Saturday the young single adults of the 3 MD wards planned an activity at the church for all afternoon. If you expect them to walk for miles and miles, you better have something that lasts a long time! As a result, our Institute class was shortened to one hour and was held at the conclusion of the YSA activity at the church since the class members were already there. The MD building was really utilized that Saturday. There was a baptism, a ward council meeting, a primary-aged boys activity, as well as the YSA activity and our Institute class. These were all between noon and 6pm.

Sunday we helped transport a family being taught by Elders Pappoe and Magaia. There was a father, mother, and 3 children--all in the back seat of our small car. They stayed for all 3 meetings and told us that they enjoyed the meetings and would be back next week.
On Monday, the 21st we asked the EL Zone Leaders to bring the bakee (pronounced buckie, meaning pick up truck) which they drive, to help us move the furniture being stored in our garage to the new boarding. It took 3 loads. It takes quite a bit of work to round up everything needed for a new boarding which is brand new and totally unfurnished.

With our anticipated transfer to Namibia which could last for the rest of our mission, we decided to see as many of the SA animals as we can. We took the opportunity of time off for Couples Conference to visit some wild animal parks both here in the EL area and on our way to the conference in Knysna (nighz-nah). We visited Inkwenkwewzi just a few miles up the coast from Gonubie, Addo Elephant National Park, Kragga Kamma Game Park in Port Elizabeth, and the Pettenberg Bay Game Reserve. We have now seen 4 of the Big 5 animals of SA: elephants, lions, water buffalo, and rhinos. We have not yet seen a leopard, but since they are nocturnal we probably won't. The reason they are called the Big 5 is because they are considered to be the most dangerous African animals to hunt. We also saw monkeys, zebras, giraffes, hippos, warthogs, ostriches, and NUMEROUS members of the antelope/deer family including the blue (really black) hartebeest, red hartebeest, eland, springbok. They have really interesting horns--curved, twisted, or circular like a corkscrew. We even saw a black-backed jackal and a huge lizard which are hard to find and, of course, we cannot forget the flightless dung beetle (an endangered species probably because it gets squashed on the road!)

OIA would you see a roadsign which says "Dung beetles have right of way" or a hippo on a yellow caution sign or a sign along a freeway which reads "Feeding of baboons is prohibited"! We also went to a bird sanctuary called Birds of Eden where they have hundreds of species of beautiful SA birds. In our next few letters we will include some of our favorite photos of the wild life we observed. Over and over we said, "We really are in Africa" as we looked at elephants and monkeys and lions up close and personal! Sometimes it is still hard to believe that we are here in this wild, unique, and beautiful land God created.

On our way to Couples Conference we stoped at Bloukrans Bridge which boasts as having the world's highest bungy jump--218 meters (just over 2,000 feet high) and they drop head first towards a huge river! We stopped at the viewpoint just in time to see someone jump. It must be exciting for them, but we question the sanity of such an activity!

Couples Conference was held in Knysna, a coastal resort town about 1/2 way from here to Cape Town. There are currently 9 couples serving in the South Africa Cape Town mission--2 office couples, 1 employment, 1 CES, 1 Branch President, 1 Mission Presidency (2nd Counselor), and 3 similar to what we are doing. We had 2 sessions, each lasting 3 hours where we discussed couple's responsibilities and mission organization, church humanitarian activities in SA, auxiliary training assignmens in the various branches, and discussions on temporal things such as the purchase of approved items for elders' flats, first aid kits to go in automobiles, and rechargable electric lanterns to be used during power outages. Each of the couples gave a short report on their area and responsibilities. The conference ended with a testimony meeting of all couples who will be leaving within the next 6 months which includes President and Sister Egan.

There was also time provided for socializing. We won the opening night game because no one could guess our courting days experience! (Dad was dating Mom's roommate and she was always late so she asked Mom to entertain her date while she finished getting ready. So Mom did and we ended up getting married! One night while we were dating, Mom thought Dad smelled especially nice, and wanting to make a good impression, she complimented him on his after shave lotion. Dad had to admit it was his deoderant!) Everyone got quite a chuckle out of that. We enjoyed very much getting acquainted with President and Sister Bos who are currently serving in Namibia. They told us how much they have enjoyed their assignment there, and assured us that we would love it as well. We attended the Knysna Branch Sacrament Meeting and then drove home. It took us 6 1/2 hours.

The day after arriving home we began transfers which is always a busy time. We had 1 elder go home, lost 5 more to other areas, had 1 interzone tansfer and got 8 new including 2 greenies. To make it even more complicated we received 3 new cars from Johannesburg and Dad drove another one from Couples Conference which originated in Cape Town and the cars needed to be traded for ones we already have. We try to put the older cars with the MD elders because the roads are absolutely terrible--can we say POT HOLES! Some of the roads are as bad or worse than those out at the farm, and only about 1/3 of the roads are paved. It's not uncommon to scrape the bottom of the car as you are picking your way around pot holes. Speaking of pot holes, we have even seen permanent signs on secondary paved roads which read "Caution, Pot Holes next 10 kilometers" and they are not kidding!

We think about you and pray for you every day that you are in good health, safe, have the Lord's Spirit with you, and are living the gospel (which we know you are). Stay connected to each other! We love your emails and blogs. We bear testimony that this is the Lord's work and He needs us here.

Lots of South Africa Love,
MOM/DAD, Grandma/Grandpa, Stan/Karen

Couples Conference and Namibia

Dear Family:

Sorry we did not write you a family letter last week, but we just ran out of time. The new boarding was just finished last Saturday, we did a little cleaning and moved furniture in on Monday, then had another missionary couple here on Tuesday, then left early Wednesday morning for Couples Conference which was held in Knysna, a resort town 6 1/2 hours' drive west toward Cape Town. It was a great conference. Tell you more--with pictures--next letter. We had to have the boarding somewhat ready because transfers are this Tuesday and Wednesday, and we still have to do inspections.

We just want you to know that we are alive and well!

Do you remember a few letters ago when we said our plans for the day depend on the first call we get in the morning? W-e-l-l-l-l, we received a call from our Mission President which will change the course of more than just a day--how about the course of our whole mission!!! President Egan has given us a new assignment which will begin in early June. We will be transferred to Windhoek (pronounced vindhook) Namibia, but we won't have to live in a hut! In fact, our apartment has air conditioning which we don't have here! Windhoek is the only area where there are missionaries in Namibia. There are 16 elders in 2 branches. Windhoek is about 1,000 miles north of Cape Town and in a completely different country. Because of this distance, Dad will be 2nd Counselor to the Mission President and oversee the missionary work and the 2 branches. As far as we know, Dad will be the only High Priest in the entire country. Mom will probably do a lot of leadership training with Primary, RS, and YW leaders. We will tell you more about it as we learn more.

We appreciate your emails and blogs. Keep them coming.
Love you all, MOM and DAD/Grandma and Grandpa/Stan and Karen

Xhosa Culture

Dear Family:

April showers may bring May flowers in your part of the world, but here they bring signs of fall. Since the native vegetation is of the jungle variety, leaves do not change color, but the wild grasses have seeded out and become a golden yellow. The greens are not quite as vibrant either. Although some flowers are still blooming, most are not. The nights are actually cool enough to sleep under a blanket and most of the days are comfortable, but we still can have hot days too. It is really kind of funny, on the days that we think are MARVELOUS, the native Africans think it is cold and you see them in sweaters and hats. Ah well, guess it is just what you're used to.
Elders' support can be summed up in one word, transport!

One more bike story--Elders Hadley and Cobia picked up their bikes from the shop, were in the process of riding them home when the front wheel came off Elder Hadley's bike and he tumbled over the handle bars to the ground! Luckily, he wasn't hurt. At the same time Elder Cobia's handle bars fell off his bike! Somehow they got their bikes home and threw them in a heap on the floor of the shed. So ends the life of a bike! Another car story--one companionship was in their car on the way to church when they turned on the defroster, smelled smoke, and then their back window completely shattered. They took care of it themselves. All we have to do is pay the repair bill!

Participation in our classes just keep getting better and better! The temple preparation class had 2 new people come, both young adults. One will be getting married in the Johannesburg temple in 5 weeks, and the other one just wants to learn about the temple. The Insitute class also had 2 new students come this week. John (obviously his English name) is the Elders Quorum President and learned about our class from another class member who rides the train to work with him. The other new student, Siviwe is investigating the church and says that she wants to continue coming. We have a couple of missionary companionships that are on fire about sending their young adult investigators to our class! Mawanda (Mah-wand-aw), Thando (tan-doe), Mzingisi (mm-zin-hard gee-see), and Siviwe (see-vee-way) have all found our class thanks to the missionaries. It's great because when they join the church they already have a social group. Mawanda and Mzingisi are baptized and Thando is getting baptized this week.

This year marks the 35th annivsary of CES in Africa--of course for the first 5 years only the whites could come. The CES director in our area decided that to celebrate this milestone, the teachers should set a goal of 35% increase in enrollment and 35% increase in completion. Since NU 1(Mdantsane is divided into Native Units, kind of like zones) did not have Institute last year, only 4 students would have met and exceeded our enrollment goal, and we have 11! The completion percentage may not be as high because the students can only miss 4 classes, but we should have at least 6 complete the required attentance.

We had quite the Xhosa cultural experience this week. On our Monday P-day we took a tour of a Xhosa village. A village is different than a township in that it is where people chose to live and had it origins generations ago. Townships like Mdantsane came about when the people were forced off their land by the whites to work in the cities, but could not live in the cities so they built the townships. They are relatively new compared to the age of the villages. Anyway, one of the families or clans in the village we visited decided to live according to the traditional ways and to teach others. The head of the family and village guide is a 90+ "mama" (title of respect) who talked to us (using good English) about Xhosa traditions, superstitions, religious practices, family structure, clothing, social mores, etc. Some young girls did many dances while a young boy beat the drum and young adult and middle-aged women sang. They really boogied down! It was obvious that they were having a good time, and so did we. We were served an authentic Xhosa meal of lamb stew, beans, maize meal, butternut squash, and cabbage. It was yummy. The women of the family showed us their hand-made Xhosa crafts, mostly beaded necklaces and cloth bags, for sale. We learned a lot and can see how some of the "traditions of their fathers" are alive and well in the modern Xhosa.

Another Xhosa cultural experience was when we participated in a "memorial meeting" at the home of a member, Florence, who had died last week. She was older, has had diabetes and other ills for a number of years. Since we had visited her and her husband, Baldwin, a couple of times in our getting-acquained-with-part-member-families effort, we wanted to give our condolences to him. It is Xhosa tradition it have a "prayer or (memorial) meeting" every day from the time the person died to the formal funeral--even when the deceased is a Christian. When we went to the home, we had no idea who or how many people would be there or what we should do. But Dad had prepared a short "service" about the resurrection using Book of Mormon passages just in case that would be appropriate to do. Five members of the ward went with us. When we arrived, we were greeted by Florence's sister, her sister-in-law, and 4 various other female family members. They just sat on the couches and looked at us. Baldwin was not home, but we decided to go ahead with the message Dad had prepared. We sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives", had a prayer, read from Alma 11:39-46 about the resurrection through Jesus Christ, bore testimony regarding the Atonement and closed with another song and prayer. Florence's sister-in-law thanked us for our message and said it brought comfort to them. She asked Dad if the Book of Mormon is the Bible. He explained to her that it is another Testament of Jesus Christ. We were using a copy of the missionary edition and he gave it to her. She requested representatives of the church come to her home to tell her more. We will give her name to the elders whose area she is in. The family served us refreshments and we left, intending to go back sometime when Baldwin is there. Florence was buried on Saturday.

What a contrast that family's perception of death, resurrection, and post mortal life is from that of our family who also experienced a death recently. Bev emailed saying that she is doing fine, feels a real sense of preace and comfort. So do we, which comes through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lots of love from Africa,
MOM and DAD/Grandma and Grandpa

Highs and Lows

Dear Family:

We experienced the highs and lows of proselyting work this week! We were disappointed when a new convert failed to meet us for an appointment to discuss being confirmed. She was baptized shortly after we got here and bore a sincere testimony at the baptismal service. The next day (Sunday) she was sick and could not come to church to be confirmed in Sacrament Meeting. She has not been back to church since. Apparently she is not listening to her mother who was baptized on the same day and has remained faithful. The missionaries have talked to her when they happen to catch her because she seems to be avoiding them. The Bishop was going to talk with her, but we're not sure if he has or not. So the elders asked for our help. We dropped by the house last week and she was there. When we mentioned we needed to talk to her about her confirmation, she said yes she would like to have a conversation with us because she has "fallen off the wagon, so to speak"--whatever that means. We made an appointment to come back a few days later and were hopeful that we could teach her the importance of being confirmed and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We want to help her understand how much the Holy Ghost can help her be strong to deal with and overcome her problems that are stopping her from progressing in the gospel. But she stood us up. Undoubtedly all of you had similar experiences on your missions. Anyway, we will keep trying, and Dad did have the opportunity to teach her mom the beginnings of family history work, which she is extremely interested in doing.

General Conference was outstanding! What a privilege to participate in a Solumn Assembly to sustain a new Prophet and President of the Church. It was interesting to contemplate that while you were watching the Saturday morning session live, half way around the world we were watching the Saturday morning session live at 6:00 in the evening via the church's satellite system! That's all the conference we had on Saturday. Our Sunday schedule was: 11am - 1pm, General Priesthood session (delayed broadcast) in East London. Mom sat in the RS room and worked on the Institute lesson for next week. 2-4pm, Saturday afternoon session (delayed broadcast) in Mdantsane. 5:30-6pm, Music and the Spoken Word then 6-8pm Sunday morning session live back in East London. 10-midnight Sunday afternoon session live--we did not stay for this one! We'll have to read all about it in the Ensign! All the broadcasts were in both EL and MD but we rotated between the two buildings so we could spend time with the elders from both zones.

We had our own little humanitarian aid effort going on in Mdantsane. The last time we visited Preacher Cecil, of the outdoor church, he told us that he was "suffering" and was praying to God three and four times a day but felt God was not listening to him nor answering his prayers and he didn't know why. We later learned that his suffering was because he had no food at all in his house. We decided to take him a box of food which included maize meal, rice, cooking oil, canned beans, canned milk, canned fruit, and canned meat. We don't think he has a frig so we didn't take anything perishable. He was very, very appreciative. Maybe he will think we were the answer to his prayers, but whether so or not, we felt it was the right thing to do.

Except for another bike issue, not much else has happened in the elders' support part of our work. No sooner had the Elders Hadley and Cobia rode their bikes home, luckily not far from the bike shop, than they had trouble with them again. They called us, Dad said to take the bikes back to the shop and we would meet them there when they were fixed to pay the bill. We did, they rode the bikes home, all was well we thought. Next morning they called again and said that the brakes went out even before they got to their boarding. Dad said that the bike shop should fix the brakes for free since they were just in the day before for a brake job. As of now, the bikes are still in the shop. The bicycle saga is coming to an end, however, because either the bikes are fixed and can be used or they are beyond permanent fixing and will be put back in the shed never to see the light of day again! After all, four visits to the bike shop is enough, already! What seemed like a good thing has turned out to be a money pit! One blessing of this whole bike ordeal is that while the elders were waiting for their bikes to be fixed the second to last time, they went tracting to the few houses that were in the area of the bike shop. Since it is mostly just businesses there, they didn't realize there were some homes, too, and would never have thought to tract there. They found a father-led family who has been taking the lessons, reading everything the elders leave for them, and keeping commitments. What would be called a golden family in the "old days". God does move in mysterious ways!

We appreciate your letters and blogs. Thank you for going to Uncle Lynn's memorial and burial services in Lewiston in our stead and for the all the other things you did in regard to his passing.

We love you all very much.
MOM/DAD, Grandma/Grandpa

Green Houses

Combination = 1830

Dear Family:

"Busy" seems to be a word that investigators use often when the missionaries try to make appointments. We have the feeling that it can mean everything from "I'm not interested" to "I really do have something else at that time and can't meet". Anyway, our past week has been BUSY with elder support, visits to less active members, and studying/preparing for teaching assignments.

Elder support mostly had to do with transportation and medical issues. A couple of weeks ago one of the elders was getting out of his car and the window just shattered as he opened the door. It was finally replaced with some additional repairs done on the internal workings that operates the window up and down. We took the elders to the repair shop, inspected the car to make sure everything was in working order, paid the bill and went our way. One of the companionships, who does not have their own car but are dropped off in their area by other elders, found 2 bikes in a shed behind their boarding. Asking around, they found out that these are missionary bikes but hadn't been used by the previous several sets of elders. The bikes looked almost new, so they decided to use them but needed 1 more helmet because they could find only 1 with the bikes. They called us, and luckily, we had a helmet in our garage with the other surplus stuff we have stored there. Off we went to take it to their boarding. The helmet was too small for either elder so, of course, that necessitated a trip to a bike shop. The elders had also found a bike lock which was a cable with a combination link to put it together. It was locked and the sales person at the bike shop there was no way to "detect" what the combination would be. The shop sold the same kind of lock so we were going to buy 2. The instructions said to decide on the combination and set it yourself. Elder Hadley, who was holding the old lock began turning the numbers and--lo and behold--the lock opened! He said that when he heard that the missionaries had selected the combination themselves, he just knew it must be 1830, and it was! We ended up buying only 1 new bike lock. We took the elders back home and left to do our own thing. The next day Elder Hadley called again and said that when they took their bikes to the "garage" (service station) to get air put in their tyres (note the spelling), the attendant put too much in and blew a big hole in the tyre and the inner tube. The force was so powerful that it bent the rim also. We got a small tyre pump that the mission office had sent us, unsolicited, a few posts back (divine inspiration, maybe?) from our garage, picked up the elders, and went back to the same bike shop and purchased a new inner tube, tyre, rim and a repair kit. We took the elders back home and went about our business. The next day Elder Hadley called again and said that when they went to take their bikes to their area the brakes didn't work. We told them to get them fixed, let us know where and when they would be done, and we would meet them to pay the bill. We jokingly told them that if we see their phone number when our phone rings, we won't answer! They were very appreciative of our help, and assured us that they will use the bikes to good advantage to help them be more effecient in their missionary work. Elder Hadley is a hard-working missionary and, before the bike episode, asked for so little from us. He is a good trainer for a greenie, Elder Cobia, from Idaho.

Our medical issues have moved from the physical (although we still get the ocassional call concerning those) to the mental health/depression problems. On Friday, President Egan called about one of our elders who is feeling that others are picking on him and he is discouraged to the point of wanting to go home (He's been out 18 months). Apparently he has had these kinds of feelings since high school. The President advised Dad to talk with the elder and try to give him some help until Monday evening when President Egan has arranged for him to talk via phone to a counselor in SLC. Dad spent the whole District Meeting time (1 and 1/2 hours) talking with the elder, then we invited him and his companion to lunch at our place. After lunch Dad talked to both of them while Mom was invited to go into the other room and study for awhile. When asked how we could help, the elder asked Dad to call him each morning around 8:00, which Dad has done. He has appreciated that, but Dad agrees with the President that he needs professional help.

Sunday began by picking up Cecil (can't pronounce his last name), the preacher of the outdoor church, to take him to church. We thought it best to take him to just a Sacrament Meeting instead of the whole block for his first time. We decided to take him to the MD 2nd Ward so we could focus our entire attention on him instead of being distracted by our concern for the temple prep class in our Ward. Cecil's wife could not come because she was working, but her friend did come with Cecil. Although the entire meeting was in English (which is unusual), they both said that they understood what was said. They speak Xhosa, very little English. She commented on how nice the building is and how beautiful the singing was, and said "They (those who bore testimonies) really believe in God". It was a great meeting to take investigators to0! A newly baptized convert was confirmed and a baby was blessed, so they were able to see 2 ordinances take place. It was a testimony meeting and everything that was said was just right. There was a very good spirit present. The elders from our ward who cover the area where Cecil and the friend live met them after the meeting and made an appointment to go to his house this week. We'll see if anything comes of it.

We were invited to our first DA (dinner appointment) on Sunday evening. We went to the home of former Stake President Van Heerden who is now Ward Mission Leader in the EL 1st Ward, which is the ward where our boarding is. His entire family was there also and we had a nice time. We left an inspirational thought and a prayer before returning home.

This week ended with a shock when we read our email from Bev about Lynn's sudden and unexpected death. Sadness mixed with shock (no other word describes it) are still what we are feeling. Our Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation, which we teach of and talk of so much as missionaries, has certainly taken on a personal dimension for us. We are grateful and we feel blessed for our knowledge and testimonies of the Atonement and life after this. It is comforting to know that Lynn is having a wonderful reunion with Sharon and Jeff and Grandma and Grandpa Tanner.

So long for now. We enjoy reading your emails and blogs.

Love, MOM and DAD/Grandma and Grandpa A./Stan and Karen

Week 11--March 17-23

Monday, March 27th: Today Elders Robinson (St. George, UT), Bond (Las Vegas, Nev.), Ballamis (Kayesville, UT), and Buthelezi (Johannesburg, SA) left East London and went to Cape Town to have a farewell dinner at the mission home before flying home tomorrow. We FedEx'ed to the mission office an auto accident report, Elder Kuome's medical papers, and Elder Pappoe's passport. Because tomorrow is such a big transfer day, we decided to purchase additional duvet inserts so we could do a complete exchange without doing laundry in between exchanges. We took a couple of hours of diversion and visited the East London Acquarium. We saw for the first time the penguins of South Africa which inhabit the coast around Cape Town. Then we went to MD and tried to find Yo, as well as some less actives. Tobeli helped us find the houses, but none of them were home.

Tuesday, March 18th: Within mission transfer day. We had elders departing from the airport at 8:00am(2) and incoming elders arriving at 11:30am(4). At 11:25am 2 arrived on the bus, and at 1:45pm 4 departed by bus. It was an extremely busy day. We met all the incoming elders and took their photos with their new companions. We make 3 copies--one for us and one for each of the elders. We also delivered clean duvet inserts to all incoming elders and picked up inserts that were used by departing elders, which we will launder.

Wednesday, March 19th: The day started with a 8:30 phone call from the King William's Town elders who were in EL doing a puppet show at a local mall on eating healthy and The Word of Wisdom. The call to us was that the elders needed food storage containers for their boardings. We also received 7 cases of Books of Mormon from Joburg which we had previously ordered. At 10 am the Searle's came and we spent a few hours with them. We drove up the coast and made reservations to visit a wild animal park with them next month. We treated them to lunch at Lavendar Blue. The Searle's were down from Queenstown for a doctor's appointment at 2pm. In the evening we met the Aprils and home taught 2 families. In one house, Sis April ended up sitting on 2 pillows on the floor because of lack of furniture. At the other home, we met with a yw-age girl who is the only person in her family who is a member. We met outside under a tree just as it was getting dark because their house was too small to accommodate 4 additional people.

Thursday, March 20th: Elders Cobia and Lyman, fresh from the Provo MTC, arrived at the EL airport at 10:45am. We met them about noon at the Pic 'n Pay grocery store. One of the MD elders' cars is in the shop getting the window fixed and so we took Elders Burke and Warren with us to MD. We showed them the new church that is being built, visited the Mgitidi family and invited them to the temple preparation class, and went with the elders to their appointment. We also dropped by the Bishop's home to get a clarification on Karen's speaking assignment in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Sometimes these good African folks do not communicate very well, even when we can understand their English!

Friday, March 21st: Made a quick trip to the airport to pick up the mail. At 10:30 was District Meeting after which we made a few deliveries to Elders and then came home to work on Institute class, temple prep class, and Karen's Sacrament Meeting talk. The majority of the elders in one of our districts are suffering from what appears to be a mild case of food poisoning--diarrhea and vomiting. We bought all the elders chocolate covered marshmellow Easter eggs as a treat. We were quite surprised to find that here in South Africa Good Friday is a major holiday as well as the Monday that follows Easter, giving them a 4-day weekend. School is on a 3-week vacation after having been in session for only 2 months. The new school year begins the middle of January. We saw a lot of people dressed up and going to church on Good Friday.

Saturday, March 22nd: The EL elders had their District Meeting today. We had to get a slow leak in our tire fixed so did not attend their meeting. After we locked up the building we went out to MD where the MD elders were holding a free car wash in the church parking lot. They told us that it was rather slow in the morning, but in the afternoon they were somewhat overwhelmed. While the patrons' cars were being washed, they were invited to come into the chapel where some of our elders explained some of the doctrines of the church and gave out Books of Mormon if the people wanted one. We stayed just a few minutes.

Earlier in the day we met an older gentleman whose name the Bishop had given us to contact. Before we even got out of the car, he came up to Stan's window and indicated that he was a member of the church. He invited us into his home where he told us about his conversion. He was told about the church by someone he knew and respected--President Jadda who is now a counselor in the Stake Presidency. He was taught by the elders and joined the church. He went into a back room and brought out a letter dated about a year ago from President Egan to "prove" to us that he is, indeed, a baptized member of the church. He is a man of about 70 years of age, in good health, has never married, and lives with his older sister. He said that the reason he doesn't come to church is that he doesn't have money for taxi fare and it is too far to walk--a story we have heard many times before.

We also visited with Bro Lubelwana about coming to the temple prep class. He shared with us the moving story of his conversion to the church. He has been a member for about a year. He said that about 5 years ago he had a great job and things were going very well for him. He said that if he had met the elders at that time, he would not have been interested at all. But then he lost his job, his 2 cars and most of the furniture in his house was repossessed, they were expecting another child, and he and his wife were fighting all the time because of money matters and his depression. She asked him for a divorce and he responded by saying that he would go to his family for 3 weeks and then they would talk about it. When he came back he said that he wanted the family to stay together, but it was her decision. They decided to work it out. It was at that time, when he was working on the roof of a neighbor's house, when he saw 2 young men in white shirts and black name tags walking up the road. They greeted him and asked him if he lived there which started a conversation that resulted in him inviting them to his home. He said that these circumstances made him humble and teachable. He attended church with his wife who was active in another denomination. She asked her preacher for a leave of absence for that first day. He said that after the 3-hour block of church he wanted to stay longer and learn more. The next week his wife asked her minister for a few weeks' absence. As you might guess, they were baptized a short time later and have been very active in the church ever since.

Our Institute class today went well, but our numbers were small. A sister from the ward just returned from her mision to London, England and most of the Institute class was at the party at her house. Today was a perfect day weather wise--very comfortable all day.

Sundy, March 23rd: The temple prep class went very well, 11 attended. The lesson was "The Temple Teaches the Plan of Salvation". There were many comments and a few questions were asked. Karen's talk in Sacrament Meeting went very well also. She was assigned the topic of "Christ's Betrayal by Judas Iscariot".

Hope all is well with you and your family. Love to all.

Elder/Sister Allen; Karen/Stan, MOM and DAD; Grandma/Grandpa

Same But Different

Dear Family:
We are beginning to think there is no such thing as "same ole, same ole" in our mission.
Even the weather is sometimes different from morning to afternoon and day to day. While you are enjoying the change from winter to spring, we are enjoying the change from summer to the winter season. We have not heard the locals here use the term "fall" or "autumn", just that it is getting "cold". They are in wool caps and scarfs, sweaters and coats, and we are still in short sleeves! It has cooled down considerably, though, especially at night and early mornings. One day will be alternating between rainy and misty, another will be torrential rain storms with strong winds, and another will be sunny and very pleasant.

Our missionary service also is different each day even while doing the same things--if that makes sense! Our Institute study is the same but the subject is different each week and we try to vary our presentation and activities. We are having much success with building attendance. What started out as a class of 6 has increased to 14. The newest member came for the first time last week even before his baptism this week. Most of our class members were there to support him. While he (and 4 others) were being baptized inside the church, the heavens outside decided to baptize us by complete immersion! It was like a mild hurricane with the wind whipping the rain around. Since it was close to the time for Institute and the Bishop's house is far from the church (like 15 minutes away), and no one had transport except walking, we decided to give the kids a ride to class. Problem was, our car only holds 3 others besides the driver, so Dad went back and forth 3 times to get us all there! Actually, the weather could have been partly responsible for 3 new members! We had talked to them before and they committed to come for sure this week. Getting a ride instead of having to walk maybe encouraged them to really come! We had a good discussion, the spirit was there, and everyone enjoyed it. Most of them are very strong in the gospel while some are less so, but they all are such good young people. We pray they can overcome their challenges of living the commandments in spite of being the only member of their family in the church, cultural traditions that are contrary to church practices, and peer pressure to live contrary to church standards.

Another "same but different" is our new teaching assignment, Temple Preparation, which began on Sunday--s0me diligent study is required but 7 different topics. All the members of the class have only been baptized within the last couple of years so are very inexperienced in the gospel. We will have to go slow, and be very thorough to make sure they understand, which means we will probably spend more than one week per topic. A ward temple trip to the Johannesburg temple is scheduled for June or July, so we are very excited to be able to teach and make ready these wonderful people to receive the blessings of the temple.

Missionary support continues to add spice to our lives. We received a "thanks, but no thanks" email from President Egan regarding our efficiency in finding a boarding for 2 new missionaries from the States who are coming to East London. Unfortunatley, their South Arican visas have not arrived so they are not expected until April 29. We immediately went to Sister VanToner's (the landlady who is building on to her garage to make a granny flat) and explained the situation. She actually was relieved to have the extra time so she can get all the little details done instead of leaving some things until after the missionaries move in. The contractor was there working and he, too, was glad because the hurry-up time frame did not allow for unexpected complications. All in all, it is a blessing for all involved--except for the missionaries who want to be here, but can't!

It is the policy of the mission to pay for the medical needs of the missionaries. Payments for office visits are put on the church's account which the mission office pays, but whenever a missionary needs a prescription filled, we pay for it and then the office reimburses us. It seemed like such a simple task--meet the missionary companionship at the pharmacy, pay, come back home. But it was not to be! A second set of elders were also there with the glass from their car window shattered in pieces on the front seat and on the ground. It seems that there was some sort of a malfunction and when they opened the door to get out, the glass shattered. Since they are the ride for another set of elders, we were greeted by 6 elders, standing around, looking at the glass all over the place, and acting like "What do we do now?" After Dad went in and paid for the prescription, he told one elder to clean up the glass and helped the other one fill out the Auto Damage Report, (several copies of which are in the glove compartments of all missionary cars) and the rest of us just stood around! We brought the damage report back to our place and faxed it to the mission office.

Monday through Wednesday are transfers, so we spent a good part of Thursday inspecting missionary boardings and cars. We left our house by 7:30am and, taking about 20 minutes per boarding, finsihed at 2:00pm. We drove to King William's Town on Friday morning (45 min away) and did our last 2 inspections, then drove back to attend our District Meeting.

A new mission president, another feeding-the-elders activity, "I'm not less active", "detective Tobeli", and an outdoor church are all adventures we will save for next time! We are especially grateful for the Atonement of the Savior at this Easter time and hope this is a significant event in your lives also. We are happy, healthy, and loving the work.

Love, MOM and DAD/Grandma and Grandpa

Week 9--March 3-9, 2008

Dear Family:
We have decided to have our letter this week exerpts from our weekly diary.


Monday, March 3rd

Spent most of the day communicating via email to family, and Elder Johnson and President Egan regarding the new boarding we have located. We faxed various forms to the office for Elder Kuome who arrived this week from the Joburg MTC and before that the Ivory Coast. He is a delightful elder. One of the things that is unusual about the South African phone systems is that you have to buy minutes. You go to a store and buy, for example, 200 minutes and they give you a voucher with a numbered code. You dial a special number on the phone the minutes are for and key in the voucher code. When we tried to use our fax (which uses the same line as our land line phone) this morning, but we couldn't because the machine said we were out of minutes. So we had to go to the store and buy some. A lot of things are just not that quick and easy to do! As a diversion, we spent about an hour this evening driving down to one of the beach areas of the Indian Ocean in East London.


Tuesday, March 4th

We were requested by the office to have one of the elders sign 2 documents for his South African visa extension because it expires just a couple of days before the date of his release. The office faxed us the forms, we drove to his boarding about 5 miles (20 minutes) away, had him sign his name twice(!) because the Home Affairs Office won't accept faxed signatures (we already tried that with another elder), then went downtown East London to the FedEx (another 15 minutes away) office to send the forms back to the Mission Office by "fast mail", then back to our boarding (another 15-20 minutes away). As we said, a lot of things are just not that quick and easy to do!



While we were in the area, we also went to St. Dominic's Hospital where our elders go for immunizations they didn't complete before coming and TB test before going home or for their Namibia visa if this isn't done before they come. We wanted to locate their pathology and radiology departments so we can direct the elders where to go.



On hot days--which is most every day right now--we like to open our windows to cool our boarding off. The problem arises, however, in the evening after dark when bugs, especially moths, are attracted to light and invade the place because we don't have screens for the windows. Stan decided to make some screens so we went to the store called Build It and purchased some insect screening material and some wood. Total money spent was approximately 20 U.S. dollars. The screens are not pretty, but they work, so on hot evenings we can keep the windows open and have the fans on and not be invaded by flying critters!



During the evening we went with the East London Elders Dinkle and Power and visited 3 member families here in Gonubie. It was an enjoyable and productive evening. Earlier today we received a telephone call from our Zone Leader that the Area Presidency wanted all church owned vehicles filled with gas before midnight. Here in South Africa the price of petrol is controlled by the government and price increases are announced in the media. All stations sell gas at the same price, so their only competition is on service. At the station which we use, attendants run to your car, politely fill your tank, wash your windshield, check the oil and water as well as the air pressure in the tyres if requested. They do, however, expect a tip of about R3 (40 cents American). There are also official and unofficial attendants in many car parks (parking lots) at the shops (stores). They usher you into parking spaces, give you directions for backing out, take your shopping carts back to the grocery store, and some even say "I've been watching your car and there are no dents"! They also expect a tip of a few R.


Wednesday, March 5th

Today it rained off and on all day--the rainest day thus far on our mission. We received permission from the Mission Office to make an offer to Sister VanTonder to rent her boarding for the new elders. We met her before she left for work this morning and she accepted the offer and is delighted to have missionaries occupy the boarding. We visited with the contractor and he feels that he can have it finished by the 15th. We spent the middle portion of the day preparing for our Institute class. At about 5:00 we headed out to MD to visit with Tobeli's friend. Unfortunately he did not show up. Tobeli, however, had a back-up plan so he took us around to visit 3 member families. Sister Maluka is an old widow in her 70s or 80s. She has been a member of the church for 12 years. She has 8 children, but the one she told us about is a son in Joburg who is living with a woman and they have 2 children. Sis Maluka explained to us that in their culture (Lesoto, the independent country right in the middle of SA) the parents of the bride require a payment, called bola (sp?) from the groom's family before they can get married. They have already paid R11,000 but the family still wants more. Apparently, with each additional child the price goes up. Since they cannot afford to pay more, the couple is living together as though they are married, but they are not.


Thursday, March 6th

Today for lunch we had 6 elders in our home, including a set of Zone Leaders and APs. It all started when we asked Elder Maramela, who is famous for his "pop" to make us an authentic African dinner. He and his companion, Elder LaPorte, share a car with the Zone Leaders, so they came along. Then they found that they had a training meeting with the APs that same day, so they came along too. What began as a simple invitation to 2 elders turned out to be a group of 6. Pop is a white corn meal which is boiled, similar to grits in the U.S., but is served rather dry and pasty. It is covered with a "gravy" made up of baked beans in a tomato sauce to which has been added grated tomatoes and carrots, diced onions and then boiled. It was served with fried chicken. We bought all the ingredients Elder Maramela asked for and he and Elder Senne (ZL) were the cooks. They cooked up 5 lbs.of dry Pop, 1260 grams (3 cans) of the beans, 1/2 doz medium tomatoes, 3 onions, 2 or 3 carrots, 14 chicken breasts (the expensive chicken, the elders said), 3 doz chocolate cookies, ice cream--and they ate it all! We had a very modest serving. It was our first real African food experience. It was a fun time. In the evening we went to MD and visited with Brother Silmuko (saw-loom-ko) Siwisa (see-we-saw) who is about 45 years old, a convert of several months. We've heard that he had been offended by someone in the ward who ignored him, so he quit going. We had a nice visit with him and asked him to come to church on Sunday. He said he would. PS: He did attend church on Sunday, all 3 hours of the block, had a short visit with the Bishop in which they agreed that the Bishop would stop by his house this week and talk things over. He appears to be a very intelligent man who could make a real contribution in the ward. He told us that he is currently a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. We are going to drop by next week and see him again. We also visited Brother Thwani and his family. He is a high councilman in the stake and lives in the MD 3rd Ward, but is on special assignment to strengthen and build leadership in the 1st Ward as a counselor in the Bishopric. He has previously served as a Bishop himself.


Friday, March 7th

Went to the airport and picked up the mail then went to District Meeting. Stan, using an alphabetical ward list, divided it into several lists by proselyting areas to aid the missionaries in identifying part-member families and less actives. This was passed out at District Meeting. The afternoon and evening was spent working on our Institute class.


Saturday, March 8th

Today's Institute class went very well. We had 10 in attendance, which is the highest number so far. Last week we assigned out portions of the lesson to each student and they came well prepared and contributed significantly to the discussion. We continue to be impressed by their depth of understanding of gospel principles, their faith, and their sincerity.


Sunday, March 9th

Our day started with a 10:00 meeting with the missionary correlation meeting of the East London 1st Ward. The former Stake President is now the ward mission leader and has asked for our help with visiting less actives in his ward. We then went to our own ward in MD in which they announced that we will be teaching the temple preparation class begining next week.



At 5:00 we attended the CES fireside broadcast in which Sister Julie Beck, RS General President, was the guest speaker. Her message included encouraging the young adults to

(1)get involved in serving others;

(2)share the gospel;

(3)participate in temple and family history work;

(4)prepare for the future.

She said that if you focus your life in these 4 areas, you will be associating with other latter-day saints with similar standards and finding a mate will be a natural consequence.


Love you all,

MOM and DAD; GRANDMA and GRANDPA

Depends on the First Phone Call in the Morning

Dear Family:

Hey, Christie, Jordan, Katy, Savannah, and Claire (we think Stella could care less!)--guess what? WE SAW A MONKEY IN OUR BACK YARD!! It was not close enough to get a picture, but we did see one! We were so excited! We have seen some other African animals, too! We went to a wild animal park and we were driving around and some zebras and some giraffes crossed the road right in front of us--wow! And do you know what? They look just exactly like their pictures in books. How cool is that! Grandpa mailed some pictures of the animals for the blog.

Another Senior Couple was asked what their schedule was like and they replied, "It depends on the first call in the morning". We have certainly found that to be true this week. At 5:00 in the morning on Tuesday we were awakened by a call from the Mdantsane Zone Leaders who said one of their elders was really sick. This is the same elder who spent some time, including overnight, with us becase of illness last week. After some discussion it was decided that he should go to the emergency room. The physician prescribed some medication, and he came home with us for the rest of the day. A couple of days later he went to the dentist because of a severe pain in his mouth and a tooth was extracted and another one filled. He has also experienced some stomach pain. He spent part of yesterday and overnight with us. But we think he is finally, really, on the road to recovery. He is a very dedicated missionary and wants very much to return to the work.

We had a wonderful Saturday where 5 additional investigators were baptized and became members of the church. One of them is an older gentlemen about 70 years of age--it's never too late! It is the procedure here to hold baptisms on Saturday and confirm the newly baptized in Sacrament Meeting the next day. Also on Saturday we taught our Institute class at which 7 attended. The subject was "Revelation: Avenue of Truth." It went very well. One of those who attended is an investigator who was told about the class from the missionaries who are teaching her. She participated and seemed to enjoy the class.

Sunday (yesterday) we attended church in King William's Town. Except for visitors from East London and the elders, there was only 1 sister who was not a native African. The meeting was very reverent and the talks were excellent. It was all done in English, yea! While waiting for the meeting to begin, instead of listening to the prelude music of hymns, the congregation began softly singing with the organ. It sounded beautiful. Sunday evening we received a call from the Mission President who has decided to assign 2 additional elders to the EL Zone. This will necessitate finding housing for them and he asked us to do it. So we are off on another adventure!

We are really looking forward to fall because it has been extremely hot these last few days. January and February are the hottest months of summer, and it should start cooling off a bit in March--"should" being the operative word!

An interesting O in A:

• This week we saw a man carrying a car battery on his head--maybe they don't know the fluid in the battery is acid! Heads are often used as another arm/hand by the blacks.

We are healthy, happy, and enjoying doing the Lord's work. We know this is where we should be. Our prayers are with you every day.

Love, MOM and DAD/Grandma and Grandpa

You can't schedule everything

Dear Family:
We have had another busy week and have come to understand two very important concepts: (1)We should not schedule things too closely together because it always takes longer than you think, and (2)It is best to leave some open time to take care of the unexpected.

Every morning we wake up and wonder what new "adventure" we will have. For example, we thought the only thing we had scheduled Thursday was picking up the post (mail) from the airport where we get the boxes of post which are flown here from the mission office in Cape Town once a week. We had just gotten home when the Zone Leaders called to say that Elder Xaba, one of the 10 black elders of the 30 we are responsible for, was very ill and Sister Egan (Mission Mom) thought we should meet them at the doctor's office, which we did. The doctor diagnosed a sinus infection as well as chronic malnutrition. He wrote 4 prescriptions and told us that the best thing for Elder Xaba would be bed rest. Because Sister Egan was so concerned, we decided to have the elder stay with us and have his companion work in a threesome for the rest of the day. So Thursday and Friday we had an unexpected house guest who slept a lot, except when Dad got him up, gave him his pills and encouraged him to eat. By Saturday morning he was looking and acting better so we went to our Zone Conference Workshop/Interviews and Elder Xaba went back with his companion. This is a young man from South Africa who, prior to his mission was a high school biology teacher. His goal is to become the Minister of Education for South Africa. He is bright and has a wonderful knowledge of the gospel.

One of our other elders who is a native of Ghana, Elder Pappoe (pap-oh), prior to his mission was on the Jr. National Soccer Team for Ghana. He was being groomed for the 2010 World Cup to play on the national squad. When he made the decision to go on a mission, the Ghana Soccer Association expelled him for 7 years. Since his cousin was also a member of the national team, he is currently boycotting the team because of the way Elder Pappoe was treated. Mike, do a search for a soccer player in Ghana named Pappoe and see what you can find. Apparently he is a highly publized sports figure in Ghana.

Another adventure came Wednesday night. Home teaching does not come easily in Mdantsane. Brother and Sister April, who do not have a car, asked us to go home teaching with them so we could provide transport. Brother April is the 2nd Counselor in the MD 1st Ward Bishopric and Sister April is a Primary and Institute class teacher. Brother April works in East London which is about a 20 minute drive to the east of MD. He rides a taxi (mini van with 10 other riders). He told us that it costs him about 25% of his wages in transportation costs. Sister April works in King William's Town, about 40 minutes to the west of MD. She rides with a co-worker. They leave their baby daughter with Sister April's mother from early Monday until Friday afternoon. This is very common, that is, when the grandparents take care of the grandkids. Anyway, since Brother April had never been to the home of the family we were to home teach, Dad thought we had better try to find how to get there before we picked up the Aprils. So we started down the road about 45 minutes early. It's a good thing we did. The dirt "road" had been severely damaged by a downpour of rain the day before. The last 200 yards was worse than farm roads at Grandpa's farm. We scrapped bottom a couple of times and were bounced around pretty good. But we found the place. We then went back and picked up the Aprils and headed there again. This family of older parents plus 3 children were anxiously awaiting our visit with their scriptures ready, and were so welcoming. Brother and Sister April gave a wonderful lesson from the November 07 Liahona about the power to change written by President Faust before his death. Brother Mgidi (m-hard g-ee-dee) told us that when he reads the Book of Mormon he feels its POWER! And he says it just like that--POWER! He was presented to be advanced to the office of an elder in Stake Conference today.

We learned from [mission] President Egan yesterday that of the 3600 members of the East London Stake, only 120 are white. Nearly all of those presented for priesthood advancement were blacks. During Stake Conference yesterday and today there was a women's and men's choir and each one was 95% black. Boy, do they know how to sing! Such harmony and enthusiasm, it made tears come to your eyes! During Stake Conference the Presidency was reorganized. For the first time, the conference was televised from the EL Haven Hills building to the Queenstown chapel and the MD chapel. We were in the Haven Hills building where, we would guess, there were between 800-900 people. We heard from some of our missionaries this evening who were in the MD chapel that the quality of the picture and sound were not the best. Mike, they needed your techie help!! But it was a very good meeting.

We love hearing from you. Love to all, MOM and DAD/Grandma and Grandpa

One Month Milestone

Dear Family:

Yesterday was a milestone in our mission! One month ago we set foot in South Africa and have been going full steam ahead ever since! We are not counting the days, really, but just took note of the day because it does not seem possible to have learned so much in so little time. Dad is quite the expert in driving on the left side of the road and we have had only a few "American moments"--only one of which left a little rubber on the road as the other driver stopped for us; nothing serious. We are continuing to get acquainted with the area.

We leave our boarding each morning armed with a map, and now can easily find our way to all the supply stops for missionary supplies, the grocery stores (we patronize 3), the mall and all 15 missionary boardings. Most of them are pretty nice, but there is one real "hole in the wall" but the elders don't seem to mind! The mission office "boarding czar" will not replace it because it is the cheapest boarding rent wise. We found the doctor's office that services the missionaries and the hospital where they go for immunizations that they didn't get before coming "on mission" as they call it. Upon leaving for home they must get a TB test which is also at the hospital.

Our next challenge is finding our way around Mdantsane. The roads are not marked with names, most of the houses do not have numbers, and according to the map the elders gave us, the numbering system doesn't make sense anyway! But if we are to look for inactive members, we need to know more than how to get to the church, the Bishop's house for Institute (past the open market from last week's letter), and the new church. We have also done a little exploring along the tourist route by the Indian Ocean in this area. There is a wild animal reserve about 20 minutes out of Gonubie which we haven't been to yet, but part of it is visible from the road and we saw zebras, wildebeasts, and springbok. Check out their website at www.inkwenkwezi.com.
We didn't get any good pictures because the animals were too far away for our camera.

This week we had the opportunity to be laundress, mail carrier, and physician! It was transfer week, our first one, and it was a big one. Monday was homeward bound day--we had one missionary returning home. Tuesday was transfers between areas and also within areas. We had 12 missionaries transfer in from other areas and 3 transfer between East London, Mdantsane, and King William's Town. Wednesday new missionaries arrive and spend the day/night in Cape Town with President and Sister Egan in the mission home and go to their area on Thursday. We had 1 new elder come. Interestingly, he is from the states but went to the Johannesburg MTC. Sister Egan feels strongly that new elders and those changing areas should have a clean duvet insert which meant that we had to go to the boardings and gather up the used ones and leave clean ones. Since we only had 5 in reserve at our place, it meant leaving them and picking up the used ones and laundering them, and doing the same process the next day and the next. Our little washing machine can only wash 2 at a time and the dryer only 1 at a time, so it was quite the process to do 15!

As for the mail carrier part, we were one our way to the airport with the Queenstown post (mail) because it was sent to us by mistake and we were to meet the zone leaders from there who were bringing their elders who were transferring by airplane and give them their post. We received a cell phone call from the elders in the mission office saying that they faxed some immigration forms for one of our elders who was flying to Namiba and needed them before he boarded his plane. We didn't have time to go back home to get the fax and still meet the elders with their post at the appointed time. So we continued on to the airport, Dad dropped me and the post off, and went back home (takes 1/2 hour), picked up the fax and drove back to the airport (another 1/2 hour) with 10 minutes to spare before Elder Armstrong boarded his plane!

This is our list of elder's ills call to Dr. Allen, DVM: broken glasses, chicken pox-like skin outbreak, epilepsy meds, pain behind the eyes, lack of energy on Fast Sunday (duh), foot fungus, eye strain on bright days (again, duh), vomiting and upset stomach after eating half-cooked meat and old pizza, both out of the fridge, flea bites, as well as immunizations and homeward TB tests. The list will undoubtedly get longer!

Only in Africa (OiA)-- (continued)

• ...do you see so much hitchhiking. It is the blacks that hitch. It is not against the law, and in fact, it is the only source of rides for some people because they are too poor to own a car or to afford bus or taxi fare. People of all ages hitchhike on city roads and freeways. They do not hold up their thumbs like at home, but they have different hand signals meaning different things, which we do not know. Or they hold out a little sign with the initials of their destination on it. For example, a sign with KWT means they are looking for a ride to King William's Town.
• ...do you see individuals with shopping carts from supermarkets going along the highways gathering up anything that can be recycled and sold, from plastic bottles to metal of all kinds. Last week a guy was pushing a cart along with an old rusty refrigerator in it.
• ...do you see "informal shops"--tables set up on the side of roads or on the sidewalks in town with someone selling a few plastic bags of homemade breads or a small quantity of homegrown veggies--anything to earn a little money. They do not worry about business licenses or such.

We miss you all, but we have a testimony that the Lord needs us here and has a work for us to do. We know that President Monson has been chosen and called by the Lord at this time, and that this is His true church.

Love to all,
MOM and DAD

Only in Africa (OIA)

Dear Family:

This has been an eventful week! The news of President Hinckley's death came on Monday rather by happenstance. We received a phone call from the senior sisters companionship about another matter, and in the course of the conversation told us the news which they heard from Utah emails. The news coverage here on President Hinckley was zero. We are saddened by his death, but recognize that his life has been very productive--all 97 years of it! Saturday evening we watched the funeral over the church satellite system at the East London Ward.

We enjoyed reading your comments on your family's blog, Scott. You asked for our mailing addresses: for letters send them to us in care of South Africa Cape Town Mission, P.O. Box 181, Observatory 7935, SOUTH AFRICA For mailing packages send them to us in care of South Africa Cape Town Mission, 2 Liesbeek Avenue, off Liesbeek Parkway, Observatory 7925, SOUTH AFRICA

During the week we made preparations for our Institute class which we taught for the first time on Saturday. Five students enrolled, and there were two students on summer break from college and the Bishop's wife who sat in as well. We introduced the course which is Doctrines of the Gospel, and then had each person present share with the class something meaningful which they remember about President Hinckley. We felt the spirit as each student bore testimony that they know President Hinckley was the Lord's Prophet and they felt such love by and for him. Here are the first names of our students: Vuyo, Mthobel, Methembukazi, Sipha, Thobeka, Avis, and Nomfundo. Besides pronouncing their names, would you like to guess which are boys and which are girls? OiA=Only in Africa!

Also on Saturday we attended the baptism of four individuals--a mother and her young adult daughter, a middle aged woman, and a young adult male. They will be members of the ward we are attending (Mdantsane 1st.) The young adult daughter has asthma which caused her to inhale the water as soon as it covered her face and she came up out of the water before being completely immersed. It took 4 tries before she was baptized. At the conclusion of the baptism all four shared wonderful testimonies with those who attended. The young sister must have swallowed quite a bit of water because she was ill today and was not able to be confirmed in Sacrament Meeting.

Another special event on Sunday was the two wards in East London were realigned into three wards. The Stake President said that it was 17 years ago when the very first ward was organized in EL. It is our understanding that nearly all the growth of the church in recent years has been by the conversion and baptisms of native Africans. We have met quite a few of them now. They are faithful, they understand the gospel, and will be a great strength to the church in the future. There are several teachers in our ward who are returned missionaries of about 22-26 years of age and they give VERY, VERY doctrinally sound lessons.

The highlight of our week, however, did not occur in Africa! We were delighted to hear from both Julie and Scott early Thursday morning our time that Stella had arrived in good health. We are also thankful that it was an easier delivery for Julie than Claire was. We wish we could have seen her, but Matt sent some wonderful picture, 4 of which we made into 8x10s which now adorn the bookcase in our livingroom. Thanks so much, Matt, for emailing them to us. We hope Stella's jaundice can be managed without serious consequences.

We have been busy this week providing elder support including buying and assembling fans for several of the missionary boardings. Some days here are unbearably hot and humid, some are hot, humid, and windy and are quite nice, but the best of all are the overcast breezy days. Life is tough in the palm tree zones of the world in December! The African sun is especially intense, but the orange sunsets are remarkably beautiful.

In the movie "The Wizard of Oz", Dorothy say, "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore". Daily, we are reminded that we're not in Utah anymore--OiA=Only in Africa---

• would you see a sign in a residential area which reads "Caution Childrens, Dogs, and Bunnies at Play" or "Children Roaming" [could this mean "Caution Children at Play"?]
• do you see ant hills about 3-4 feet tall and 3-4 feet in diameter. Some fields will have dozens of them, but we don't have giant ants at our house.
• would you see an open market where fresh pineapples and fruits of every kind are being sold next to a booth with piles of meat, whole chickens with claws, and intestines with the seller waving a mop-like thing over the fresh??? meat to keep the flies off, sometimes unsuccessfully. We will pass on the meat, but the fruits look great!

But we love it here. We are healthy, very busy, and we are enjoying the work. It's great to hear from you. Love to all, MOM and DAD

The Mobile Shopping Center

Dear Family:

Computer hard drive crashed, got fixed, blue tooth on cell phone won't interface with blue tooth on computer, not fixed, so we're still using the internet cafe! Please bear with us until we get this figured out!

Thank you, Mike, for your email of 14 January. We hope you enjoy working with the new bishopric as much as you did with Bishop Anderson. They certainly gave you some valuable leadership training. Congratulations on reaching the 1-year milestone at work. You should feel a real sense of accomplishment. Having new responsibilities and projects should be rewarding and enjoyable.

Regarding your questions about our mission assignment, first the logistics. We live in Gonubie which is an area of East London, like the Island is an area of Logan, but it is big with several schools, strip malls, petrol stations, etc. There are two wards, soon to be three, in East London, which have a mix of black and white. The township of Mdantsane has three wards, and is a 20-minute trip out of town on the interstate, and there is one ward in King William's Town, which is maybe an hour or so out of town. The four elders there are pretty much on their own except for when we visit for boarding (apartment) and car inspections, zone conference when they come into town, and whenever we will feel that we should go out there just to check on them to let them know they are not forgotten. These 3 areas make up our stake.

Our instructions when we first met with our mission president was to visit both East London and Mdantsane wards and decide where we thought we could be the most help. But even before we did that, it seemed that we were being led to the Mdantsane 1st Ward because when we told people what our instructions were, the response was always the same--"that would be the Mdantsane 1st Ward"! Even the people in that ward said they needed the most help. It is the smallest and most economically challenged of the Mdantsane wards. We will be attending all of their block meetings on Sunday as well as the Ward Missionary Correlation Meeting. We have received official word that we will be teaching an Institute class to the young adults of the ward. We thought we would be teaching Old Testament, but we received word that we will teach "Doctrines of the Gospel". We will teach 6-8 people (hopefully) in the Bishop's home, how often and which day/time is yet to be decided. We intend to talk with the bishop tomorrow to let him know that we are available to receive a calling in the ward. We also help the elders with teaching appointments when called upon to do so. There is one set of elders that ave asked for our help in teaching a husband and wife who are having a little marital discord and they did not feel qualified to handle that part of the teaching. We have met with the family twice and they came to church last week. The 1st Ward will be moving into a new chapel in a few months which is in the ward area. This should increase activity immensely because distance from housing to the church has been a challenge. Most of the ward members do not have cars so to get to church they either walk (for some at least an hour, maybe two) or take a taxi which they don't all have the money to pay. The mission has a policy to focus proselyting efforts within a 40-minute walking distance to the church or, for those few who have cars, up to a reasonable driving time. Once the church is completed, we see where a lot of our effort will be toward finding inactives, reactivation, and fellowshipping in addition to Institute and ward callings.

The other major part of our responsibility is missionary support, including dispensing their post (mail) to the zone leaders who give it to the district leaders to give to individual elders, and supplying the elders with anything they need other than personal items. The boot (trunk) of our car is a mobile shopping center! At district meeting every Friday morning, we just open it up and the missionaries can take whatever they need in the way of cleaning supplies, flea and bug spray, dish cloths and towels, etc. We also fill special requests that they give us ahead of time such as new pillows, clothes drying racks, new fans, frying pans, potato peelers, etc. The inventory really becomes depleted, especially just before boarding inspections, which means going to the Pick 'n Pay (a WalMart-type store without the clothes--not a special store, I just like to say the name!) to load up again.

We are so impressed with the quality of all our missionaries, and especially the zone and district leaders as far as their knowledge of the gospel and leadership skills are concerned.

This week was spent with Sister Nilsson and Sister Johnson (the Sistersons) orienting us more about how to do inspections, where to buy different supplies, and getting to know the area better. We also learned how to put on a luncheon for Zone Conference (52 people). It was a very inspirational, motivational, and spiritual conference. We learned to love and respect President and Sister Egan even more in just that one day! But this is a long enough email for now. More details next time.

It was fun to talk to you, Scott, Julie, and Mike via the international calling card. Sorry we missed you, Swains, but we enjoyed reading your family blog. We did make note of your new phone number. We love reading the Allen Family Blog with everyone's comments. Let us know what's happening in your lives.

We are expecting THE CALL from Matt and Julie any day now! Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. Kisses to Christie, Jordan, Katy, Savannah, and Claire. Bye for now.

Love, MOM and DAD, GRANDMA and GRANDPA

Planting our feet in the mission field

Dear Friends:

The new year has certainly brought new changes for us! We entered the MTC on December 31st and experienced seven days of intense motivational and highly spiritual instruction. Our lessons were from Preach My Gospel and then we had the opportunity to teach the principles to church service volunteers who played the roles of investigators, less actives, and recently baptized converts. We were given so little time to prepare that we had to rely on the Spirit, which was what they were really trying to teach us.

In our group there were four senior couples called to serve in South Africa--2 in Johannesburg, 1 in Durbin, and us in the Cape Town Mission. One of the most fun parts of the MTC was being around the young Elders and Sisters. They were always so polite to the senior couples and their enthusiasm was very infectious. In a devotional and fireside, we had the opportunity to hear Brother and Sister Douglas L. Callister of the Seventy, and Bruce D. Harper of the Missionary Department.

On Monday, January 7th we departed the MTC and arrived in Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday, January 9th via Chicago and London after 22 hours in the air. We spent one day with our Mission President, Richard Egan, and his wife. They are wonderful leaders and they were so kind to us. He gave us the assignment to provide missionary support for 30 elders in the East London area. We will also be working with leadership development for one of the wards in Mdantsane, a black township. After just 24 hours with the Mission President, we boarded a "puddle jumper" commuter plane to go to East London which is further east from Cape Town along the coast on the Indian Ocean.

The weather here has been hot and humid for some days and rainy for the others. The countryside is incredibly lush and green. We have been told that sometimes there are monkeys playing in trees in our back yard! We are living in a house that is part of a retirement community with a beautiful view of the Gonubie River and Valley. It is not a hut in the desert!!! It is as nice as we could have ever dreamed of. Our home serves as a Bread and Breakfast when other couples come to the area for conferences or training having to do with their special assignments such as church employment or CES.

We were busy from the time we stepped off the plane getting oriented to driving on the opposite side of the road, finding key businesses and shopping locations, and locating the four chapels in our area. There are 5 functioning wards and 1 branch in our assigned area. All wards have members of European decent, primarily English or Dutch, and also of the native African Xhosa tribe. We have found that the members are very warm and welcoming, especially the Xhosa. Seven of the 30 young elders are black, from various areas of Africa. They speak excellent English as well as their own native tongue. We have never heard so many variations of the English language as there is here!

So far we have attended our district meeting, an LDS/Xhosa funeral, and Sunday services in two wards. Elder Allen was called on to speak at a memorial service at the home of the deceased prior to the formal funeral, and we both were called up from the congregation to bear our testimonies on Sunday.

It appears that we will be teaching the Old Testament Institute class once a week in the black township, in addition to our missionary support efforts.

It is hard to believe we have been here barely a week--so much has happened! But already we love the people and the land. We know this is the Lord's work and bear testimony of God, Our Father; Jesus, the Christ; Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Restoration; and President Hinckley, the Prophet of today.

Love to all,
Elder and Sister Allen