June 12-18

We are doing the rounds of branch conferences for the next few weeks so each Sunday is a different branch. Elder Hind has been asked to speak in all the branch conferences. Sometimes they run out of time and he hasn’t been able to speak. He is fine with that. This week we were at Newcastle Branch Conference. They had a really great turn out. There were almost a 100 people there.

President and Sister Zackrison are doing their farewell tour of the mission. They are interviewing missionaries and meeting with the members. So on Monday instead of the usual FHE we had an open house for them at the Madadeni chapel. We had a few speakers and Elder Hind and I spoke briefly. We also had all the missionaries in this area sing, “The Time is Far Spent”, which is President Z’s favorite hymn. Afterwards we had some treats. Then President Z had some interviews. When he finished those he asked to speak to Elder Hind. When they came out President Zackrison told us that he had called Elder Hind to be the 2nd Counselor in the Mission Presidency. And then he set him apart right then.

President Mashego - District President

President Hind, 2nd counselor in the Mission Presidency and brownie and cookie server

We have really enjoyed working with the Zackrisons this past 15 months. They are good people. They love the missionaries and they love the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have taught us well and have strengthened our testimonies. We will miss them.

We drove to Dundee on Tuesday and taught our classes. The kids told us that it is a school holiday on Friday so they wanted the classes earlier that day. We said OK but when we went out on Friday only two kids showed up. That taught us a lesson. No Seminary and Institute classes on school holidays. It is not worth it.

We had DDM on Wednesday and then drove out to our school. We were planning on another lesson on Kickball but as we drove there we noticed a lot of the children walking home along the highway from the school. When we got there we found out that there was a bus and taxi strike so they were sending the kids home early. Those poor kids had a long walk home. We stopped and picked up a car load and drove them into town and then went back and got another car load and drove them into town.

One day we went to visit the couple that we took the family pictures of. They picked out the pictures they want enlarged. I hope the pictures are good when they are blown up.

It was Elder Hind’s and Elder Kaitoo’s birthday this week so the missionaries came over to the house on Friday evening to have cake and ice cream.

The birthday boys - there is only about a 47 year difference between them

Saturday we went to a Relief Society activity in Osizweni. They knew I had been sewing baptismal clothing and they wanted to help in some way.  Only one person in the branch had a sewing machine and nobody had scissors sharp enough to cut fabric. They were so excited to sew a pair of elastic waist pants. Most of them had never used a sewing machine or cut out a pattern. But we did manage to make two pairs of pants that day. The Relief Society President remembered a talk from the temple ground breaking ceremony. The speaker told about how he donated 20 cents to the building of the Johannesburg temple when he was a little boy and how good that made him feel. She wanted to have that feeling about the baptismal clothes used in their branch.

Laying out the fabric and pattern

Learning how to thread the needle

Learning how to control the machine

Ta Da!! Pants  They were all so pleased and excited

After the sewing lesson we had a very nice lunch. I had my first taste of tripe. I didn’t care for it. Elder Hind said it was ok but too chewy. We also had Samp for the first time. It is dried white corn that is boiled until tender and then milk and butter and seasonings are stirred into it. Not bad.

A big pot of tripe.

clock wise: chicken leg, tripe, samp, beets and jeqe (steamed bread)

'Jeqe' (Steamed Bread) Recipe

4½ cups cake flour
500ml warm water
10ml instant dry yeast
10ml salt
20ml sugar


Method:
1.     Grease an enamel dish or bowl with butter or margarine.
2.     Sift the dry ingredients and mix them into bowl.
3.     Knead until the dough is combined and does not stick to the hands.
4.     Transfer the dough into the greased bowl.
5.     Cover it up and let rise.
6.     Add some water into a big sauce pan and put the greased bowl inside.
7.    Steam for at least an hour or until cooked.
8.    Cover the sauce pan during cooking.
9.     Serve warm or cold with veggies, soup, meat etc.