More Cheetahs

Dad and I had a great time at the Cheetah Game Reserve. We went with the missionary couples and had a great time. The cheetahs are magnificent animals and we loved seeing about a dozen up close and personal.

Relief Society Stickers

A few weeks ago, Bill and I attended a branch here in Joberg. I can't remember the name, but it was about 45 minutes away and a very small, humble branch it was. They are meeting in a temporary building which is reminiscent of a trailer.....a triple wide trailer. Anyway that morning the attendance was low, because in December people travel home to there villages to for the holidays and many places simply close down. This particular morning I was really touched by what happened in Relief Society. There were 8-10 women there and they passed out the new David O. MacKay manuals. You'd have thought they passed out the crown jewels. Those women were exclaiming, touching the manuals like they were gold, hugging them and even kissing them. They were SO THRILLED TO HAVE THIS BOOK OF THEIR OWN TO READ. THEN the RS president passed out once RS sticker to each woman there. Again, they went into spasms of joy....touching and trying to decide what to do with this precious addition to their lives. Finally, they decided they would put them on the new manual. Again, they touched and loved and really caressed their new possessions...all the time exclaiming and expressing joy and laughter. it was quite a sight.

Soooo, when I went to train in Zimbabwe, I took RS stickers. They are easy to carry and have no weight. The weight restrictions are tough between countries. Anyway, I cut them up and had someone give each woman in the training session a sticker as they left. I gave about 125 stickers. I didn't see much of a reaction because they were leaving and I was answering individual questions. Well, low and behold the next morning at District Conference we were sitting on the stand and all of a sudden it came to me that the women were wearing them on their dresses. At least half of the sisters had come adorned in their RS stickers. Quite a fun sight and very humbling to see that so little could bring such joy.

Zambia and Zimbabwe

Dear Family,

We had a wonderful trip to Zimbabwe and Zambia. We were busy every minute and it was sooooo hot that you can't believe it, but we loved it. There was not any air conditioning in any church or hotel, or even the mission home and it was very humid, so often my whole head was wringing wet, but we still loved it. We traveled the entire time with the mission president and his wife and they were great fun and great leaders and that was good. It was hard to see the terrible things happening in Zimbabwe. Mugabe is a cruel and wicked man and he is ruining the country. The situation of white Africans that were killed or run off their farms is soooo sad and the black people who took their lands don't know how to farm so that beautiful fertile land is going to weed and is being ruined. The people are hungry and out of work. The unemployed is 80% so you can see the problems. It is beautiful country and we drove many hours going from conference to conference so we really saw the land. It is beautiful.. some parts are green and hilly and the acacia trees are magnificent. Other parts are very much what you think the land in Africa should look like.....very open and many thorn trees and bushes. It isn't too dense in those places, but we loved that landscape. In some parts we were very high and had to climb. We didn't know the elevation as there were no markings, but there was tremendous beauty. There were many flowering trees....tulip trees, flame lilies, jacaranda, plumeria, and many we couldn't identify. It is a beautiful part of the world. There was one area that had huge balancing rocks that were fascinating and beautiful at the same time. We were reminded a little of the boulders used in Cuzco in Peru, but these were not man placed and it was intriguing. The landscape was wonderful. My favorite part were the rondeval villages. I hope I have spelled that right. Anyway, they are round houses made of mud with thatched roofs. The inside wall were smeared with cow dung as were the floors. This hardens and they are able to sweep and clean it. The roofs have to be replaced every few years as do the floors. There is a bench all around the inside of the house and there is a fireplace in the middle. They sleep on the floor on mats if they have them and roll them up during the day. There are often smaller square buildings close to the round one and that is for food storage....mostly the maize which they grind and eat at every meal. If they have it they add chard and a few other vegetables.. If they are really well off they will add the protein of chicken or snake or whatever. (Grandpa ordered crocodile for dinner the other night and loved it. He said it tasted a little like chicken) We often saw women bending from the waist sweeping the dirt around their little round house. It is red dirt and they sweep about 4 or 5 feet away from the home. We thought it was crazy to sweep the dirt, but we found out why. If a snake comes crawling into their house they know it because the snake leaves a trail in the newly swept dirt. Oh me!

The people are wonderful. They are happy. They smile and wave and love it when you smile and wave back. The church members are so happy to have the Gospel in their lives and they love anything we teach. They are the pioneers of Africa. Almost all are first generation members and have much to learn about the government of the church, but they try so hard and are doing well. We are always absolutely amazed with the depth of their understanding and the knowledge of the scriptures and the testimonies that they share. The baptisms are astounding in that area. There are wonderful missionaries, and there is a spirit here that is almost touchable.

They love and believe what they hear. The church is doing great things there with humanitarian services and CES is there and Employment help is on its' way. A new missionary couple will be there in a week to help with that. In Johannesburg that program was implemented last year and 2000 members either started their own business, or found employment or improved their employment because of that education and help. That means 2000 families were impacted, which means thousands more because they care for their own here so well, so that means many more mouths were fed. The church is doing much with teaching keyboard skills, health training, and oh so much more. There are sad cases and happy ones. We choose to focus on the good we see. Of course AIDS is an unbelievable problem, and we are helping with orphanages, etc, but it rages on. In Uganda where the president of the country said, "abstinence before marriage and fidelity after marriage" has helped make incredible progress. The rate of AIDS has gone from 35-40% of the population to 15-17%. In the other countries they teach "use condoms", so we wish the presidents of those countries would change their slogan. Those that join the church are changing their lives and that is going to make a difference on a small scale, but many of course were infected before they became members. It is a tragedy to behold, but one by one lives are being changed. It is the next generation that will have a big impact as children are taught correct principles. Oh I have just gone on and on. I do want to add another Mugabe has done.......he is cracking down on the church and the missionary effort. The church has been red flagged, which means visas are not being extended for more than 30 days at a time and in some cases missionaries are being kicked out. While we were there 8 were sent to Zambia and a missionary couple who has done great things teaching gardening were given 48 hours to leave. We all have faith that as soon as the elections are over things will settle back down to normal. That man really is evil.

Now, I want to tell our grandchildren about Noreen. Noreen is a little black girl who is 5 years old and she lives in the mission home because her father is the gardener. He takes care of the big, big yard, and cleans the mission home once and week and does all the handy work that needs to be done. She was the cutest little girl. She had beautiful big, brown eyes, and short kinky hair that often had lint or leaves in it. She was lonely because there wasn't anyone else to play with. We would wake up to her singing outside our bedroom window some mornings. She would always run and greet us when we came there. One time we were sitting in the living room talking. It was very hot outside and her mother had given her a squirt bottle to keep cool. She decided to cool us, I guess and she sprayed through the window and really shocked him. She got in a little trouble but we thought it was funny and Grandpa thought it felt good. The very cutest thing was how she played with her doll. President and Sister Jenkins gave her a white little doll for Christmas. She had never had a doll. She doesn't have very much at all. There is only one bed in their tiny house so she sleeps with her parents. She follows her daddy around as he gardens and works. Anyway, she loves this doll. She carries it. She sings to it. She talks to it. We saw her out the window, AND the cutest part is she has her mother tie her dolly on her back like all the African mothers do and she would carry that doll for hours as she danced on the lawn and followed her dad and sang and jumped. One day as we left she had her back to us and did see us and she was just jumping and jumping with that dolly on her back. The thing that was so cute......Noreen is very very black and her dolly is very very white. We loved her. More nest time. We love you and miss you.