It is always a race to get ready for church each Sunday. We have to be out of the house by 7:30 because we are 20 mins away from church and Elder Hind needs to be to the branch in time for meetings at 8:00am. Our branch starts at nine. We MUST eat some kind of breakfast because we never know when we will be able to eat again. We often have meetings and home visits after church so lunch can end up being more like dinner.

On this Sunday we had to get up even earlier because there are four of us to shower and get ready for the day. Elder and Sister Clayton spent the night in our spare bedroom. I got my shower in about 5:30am. Normally when I have company overnight I like to make something special for breakfast. Today everyone just had to settle for cereal and toast. I put a pot roast in the slow cooker. We found this nice rump roast at a butchery near our home so we bought it and put it in the freezer for a special occasion. The Clayton’s visit qualifies as a special occasion.

President Zackrison spoke in our Sacrament Meeting, along with Elder Ngulube one of our Madadeni missionaries. He is from Uganda. Elder Ngulube’s name means “little pig” so he starts his talk out with a folk tale about why pigs are dirty and will eat anything. That makes everyone laugh. He then ties that story into a gospel principal and quotes scriptures and references entirely from memory. President Z was amazed. Elder Ngulube just finished training and so he is still new but I think I see an apostle in the making.

During Sacrament Meeting Elder Clayton and Elder Hind met with the two branch presidents to teach them about branch finances and budgets. President Zackrison had interviews all day. We tried to get him and Sister Z to come to our house to eat but as soon as he was through with interviews he had to drive about 200 miles to another city to straighten out a problem there and then drive back to Newcastle tomorrow. He did ask us to feed the APs so we were happy to do that.

When we got home from church we put dinner together and had a nice visit over pot roast and mashed potatoes. Then the Claytons indicated that they love to play games. We brought out our Jenga game and had a couple of rounds of that. Then the Claytons brought out their Rumicube game. I think they came looking for victims and Elder Hind and I were lambs to the slaughter. We had fun anyway.

On Monday morning we hit the road early to join some other senior couples for a hike in the Drakensberg Mountains and lunch at the Witsieshoek Lodge. We haven’t seen most of these people since the couple’s retreat at the end of March. We met Elder and Sister Taylor in Ladysmith and then drove with them to Phuthaditijhaba, about two hours from Ladysmith. There we met up with Elder and Sister Woolston, (we flew over with them), Elder and Sister  Huls, and Elder and Sister Bird.

As we drove there it became apparent that we might not be able to do the hike we wanted. The weather was cold, cloudy and windy. The hike begins at a point that is 8200 ft above sea level. So we knew it was going to be cold but the wind and the possibility of rain was a concern.As we drove over a pass on the way to Phuthaditijahba the clouds were so low and dense the visibility was not good. When we met up with the other couples we followed them up the mountain.

I couldn't resist buying this wall hanging and having my picture taken with the artist who created it.

The artist's name is Merriam. Here are some more of her rugs and wall hangings.

We stopped at a couple of places to enjoy the view and talk with the people selling things on the roadside. When we got to the lodge we walked around and enjoyed the various viewpoints. However it was decided that the day was not good for this kind of hike. Most of the time the weather is nice here so it was bad luck to have a day like this come up when we wanted to hike.

Sentinel Peak on a clear day.

Sentinel Peak on the day we were there.

These chain ladders are part of the hike we were going to take. When I say "we" I really
mean Elder Hind. There is no way I would climb those ladders.

Some of our fellow senior missionaries

We are told that in the summer this all looks like a green carpet. We will have to come back.

We looked at the rooms they have there at the lodge in case we want to do an over nighter there sometime. We had a good lunch and some fun conversation. I get hungry for good conversation with someone above the age of 19. We love our missionaries but they are kids. We enjoy our visits with the members here but they don’t always understand us and we don’t always understand them. Anyway we had fun just talking. Elder Hind was very disappointed about not hiking so we will probably come back another time.

I am standing in front of some of the rooms in the lodge.

A shallow cave on the side of the road

These kids were selling bottles of colored sand and pretty rocks
We didn't buy anything but we gave them our snacks and some money

On Tuesday we finally had our delayed training from President Z. He also was able to finish up the interviews with the missionaries. We were in charge of lunch so we went to Nandos and bought everyone, chicken and chips.

On Wednesday we taught our first Preparing for Eternal Marriage Institute class. We only had two students but we hope to have more next week. We had a good time teaching the class because the small numbers made for a fun and informal atmosphere.

Saturday we went to help give the chapel a good cleaning.

Elder Ghartey photo bombing a picture of Elder Hind vacuuming

Young Women cleaning the chapel windows

The elders cleaning the classroom windows

A gogo scrubbing the trash cans

Elder Hind picking up trash

There are no pictures of Sister Hind working but she cleaned the kitchen. After she had one of the young men sweep the dead cockroaches out of the cupboards.

Saturday evening all the missionaries came to our house for a BBQ and transfer news. There was some interesting stuff. We lost 4 elders and are only getting two back because they decided to take out a companionship. Now Osizweni will only have two elders working there instead of 4. We are losing Elder Menze, Elder Ghartey, Elder Ochaya and our mini missionary. 

We had to scrape frost off our windshield on Sunday morning. We have had to do that several times this winter.  Kind of reminded us of home. Only we usually did not have to do that in August.  We went to the YSA Sunday School class today in order to drum up business for our Institute class, 

“Preparing for Eternal Marriage”. A lot of people signed up but whether they will actually come is a big question. They are all so busy with school and jobs. Time will tell.

We were sad to hear that a member in our branch had passed away. We drove her home from church just last week. She was an elderly lady and she died in her sleep during the week. She is a pioneer church member, and beloved in the community. She will be missed.

On Monday we met with some people from the Area office in Johannesburg that are in charge of construction of the church buildings. They want to build a chapel in Osizweni. The branch out there currently meets in a school on Sundays. The chapel they will build is called a Speed Space because it is made up of portable buildings. It is quick to put up and relatively inexpensive. The area people want us to be involved because they need someone local to help with the project. It is going to be an interesting experience because the people from the Area Office have been trying to call and email the Osizweni municipality for weeks to talk about electricity and water hook ups and no one answers the phone or responds to the emails. We went out there with them and met with the principal of the school the church is leasing the land from. The principal gave us the name and number of a council member that can help us. The Area Office has been trying to reach her and can’t get a hold of her. I have a feeling this is not going to be a fun project.

Elder Hind with some Osizweni school children

The practice here is to have memorials or “mournings”, every day after someone dies, until the funeral. These usually consist of visits to the family by small groups of people or a large more formal gathering at the church or mortuary. One night we went to the house of the sister in law of the woman from our branch who had passed away. There were about 15 of us from the branch including a couple of the young missionaries. These “mournings” consist of condolences, prayers, songs and testimonies or sometimes periods of complete silence. It was really a sweet experience. Of course our favorite part was the singing. And “Nearer, My God to Thee” sung in Zulu was the highlight.

I have been trying my hand at some Indian food. I really like it and I want to get good at making a couple of different dishes. The problem is they use so many different spices in just one dish. So when I decided I wanted to make “Butter Chicken” I found a spice mix for it. That way I didn’t have to buy a half a dozen different spices. Good idea, right?? Wrong!!! I forgot to take into account that Indian curry can be very hot. So when I made up this recipe I found it way too hot. Even Elder Hind who can tolerate spicy foods better than me, found his nose and eyes running about half way through his bowl of curry. The next day I had some missionaries come by and I offered to feed them my left over curry. I warned them it was spicy.  Two said it was just right, one ate it and suffered because he was either too polite or too hungry to pass it up, and one couldn’t eat it at all. Oh, well! Back to the drawing board.

Missionaries eating my too hot curry. Notice the pitcher of water.

We had to run our mini missionary (a young man serving temporarily until his official mission) to his nearby home town so that he can get his temple recommend from his branch president so it can be signed by President Z while he is town this week end. Any way, we have never been to Ezakheni, the Taylors usually look after things there. So we were happy to go and have a look around. Ezakheni is a township just outside Ladysmith. It is about 120ks from Newcastle. We think the chapel there is the best one in the district. Of course we haven’t seen the Dundee chapel yet so we could be wrong.

Ezakheni Chapel and Flowers in the garden there.

The Ezakheni threesome with our mini missionary. He is the one in the jacket.

We didn't actually eat here so we can't say if the food was first class or not.

The residents of Ezakheni were not happy when they found out the taxi (mini bus) drivers wanted to
raise their rates for a ride from Ezakheni to Ladysmith so they filled the streets of the town
with large rocks and boulders. They were cleared away by the time we got there.

We met with a brother in Madadeni who is helping the family of the woman that passed away. This sister had left specific instructions that she have a strict Mormon funeral  Sometimes non member families will change things to suit them. Fortunately this woman has a lot of members in her family so there is no resistance to her wishes.  He just wanted to make sure that they were in line with the handbook. It sounded like everything is good to go. There will still be a giant feast after the funeral because that is a tradition here and the family pays for the food. It does not come out of the branch budget. I was invited to go with some of the Relief Society to wash and dress the body. That is also a tradition. They all sang hymns as they lovingly served this good sister one last time. They were so anxious that the funeral home attendants not see her in her temple robes that they even insisted on lifting the body into the casket themselves. I explained that it was ok to let the attendants help but they wanted to do it themselves. There is more than one viewing and they are all done before she is dressed in her robes. When they were finished they sealed the coffin and no one views the body again.

We went to another memorial on Friday evening. There were several speakers and more music. I brought some cake and sandwiches to be served after the meeting. I was amazed when I walked into the church kitchen and it was filled with food and huge cooking pots. They have begun preparing the funeral feast. When I walked outside a huge tent had been erected on the church lawn. The chapel is too small to accommodate the number of people they will be feeding afterward. Even people who didn’t know her will show up for the feast.

We were not able to attend the funeral and I feel really bad about that but it simply couldn’t be helped. The mission president had scheduled meetings and interviews for Saturday and the rest of the week end and his schedule simple couldn’t be changed. He is on the road constantly in order to visit with the missionaries and spend some time teaching them. He also has ecclesiastical responsibilities (for the two districts in the mission) as well as missionary responsibilities, so he has a very heavy load. 

Elder and Sister Clayton from the Africa Southeast Area Office came down from Johannesburg on Saturday to meet with President Z and to train some of the branch presidents and Elder Hind on branch budgeting and finances. We all went out to dinner that night and had some interesting discussions and a good time. The Claytons came to our boarding and spent two nights in our spare bedroom.

I had to buy new bedding for our spare bedroom. I bought new pillows after I took this picture.
The old ones were just too flat.

Us with the Claytons who are missionaries from the Area Office in Johannesburg.
He is an auditor for the area.

We were glad to fall into bed Saturday night. It has been a crazy, busy week.

This week we attended Sacrament Meeting at the Newcastle Branch. There was a very good turn out this week. That made the Newcastle elders happy. After Sacrament Meeting we met with the Branch President and asked him if there was anything we could do to help the branch. We can’t take callings in the branch because we have callings in Madadeni 1 Branch but we can help in other ways. He asked us to help with an upcoming branch activity, teach a temple prep class, and create a branch Facebook page. Can do.

After our meeting with the Branch President we drove out to Madadeni so I could attend the YW meeting and give the girls a handout I had prepared. We were able to visit with Elder and Sister Taylor because they were in Madadeni for a meeting and were also carrying a mission call for a young man serving a mini mission here. A mini mission is a six week call to work as a missionary while waiting for the official call. A mini mission helps a young man know what he is getting into and it also helps the mission when they come up a little short on missionaries like they did this last transfer.

This young man was excited to get his call. We were excited for him. He is going to the Johannesburg Mission. He won’t be far from home.

Monday we went out to inspect the Meadowlands flat before turning the keys into the manager. The elders had done a pretty good job of cleaning so we just had to do a little bit. We did a walk through with the manager and she commented on some marks on the walls. They use the cheapest flat paint they can find so when you wash the walls the paint comes off, so yeah, the walls didn’t look great but that was not the missionaries fault. Anyway we are glad to put the whole Meadowlands episode behind us.

Some of the missionaries came to our house and played “Settlers of Zarahemla” for their P day activity. The winning elder was so happy he treated the other elders to McDonalds. I know he didn’t have any allotment left so he must have dipped into his personal funds. That shows how happy he was.

One day this week we went out visiting with our Branch President. He is really a sweet, meek and gentle guy. We visited a very old lady, and a young less active lady and then we went to visit a man who is active but evidently does not pay tithing. The president asked Elder Hind to ask him why he does not pay tithing. So Elder Hind was thinking about how to approach the subject. Meanwhile the president and this member were talking in Zulu and we heard him say the word ‘offering’. We realized that the president had asked him about tithing. I looked at the president’s face and he had a kindly but firm look on his face so different from his usual expression. I felt like he was feeling the authority of his calling. I was really impressed. The man we were visiting was not at all offended but just smiled and said that he struggled with the temptation to not pay his tithing but now he will begin to pay tithing. It was actually a really powerful moment.

A young mother in Madadeni

Cattle run free in Madadeni. (So do goats, sheep and chickens) The cattle can be a nuisance. They think they own the roads. They also help themselves to the garbage sacks set out for the trash man. They make a huge mess. However I laugh every time I see a cow shaking a plastic garbage sack until it falls apart. We also found a bunch of cow feasting on oranges that had been put out for them.

In the US we have dogs, raccoon, and bears that get in our garbage
In Madadeni it is the cattle

I think this one was afraid we were going to steal her bag of garbage

Cows eating oranges. In case you ever wondered where creamcicles come from.

The Madadeni District Development meeting was held in our home again this week. The District Leader gave us a great lesson on the Christ-like attributes of faith, hope and patience. One elder told us about being teamed up with a companion that no one else wanted because he had a bad temper. During companion ship study they decided they were companions because they both needed to control their tempers and vowed to help each other do better. A few days after that they were teaching in a home and heard a fight going on outside. They tried to ignore it but soon a large rock came flying into the room. They went outside to see what the trouble was and had more rocks thrown at them. His companion tried to grab the trouble maker and our elder held him back and reminded him of their vow to help each other control their tempers. Then a rock hit our elder and he got mad and his companion had to hold him back. Anyway they ended up not fighting but having a good talk with the troublemaker and teaching him missionary lessons. I thought that was a great story.

On Friday we found ourselves with a little time on our hands so we drove to Memel, a little farm town about 50ks Northwest of Newcastle.  In some ways it reminded me of some Southern Utah towns. There is a fundraising run from Memel to Newcastle on Saturday. Elder Hind wants to run it so badly. He was offended when I reminded him he is almost 70 and too old to be running 30 miles. He runs about 5k every morning and hopes to increase his speed and distance. I content myself with walking about 1k.

A beautiful old church in Memel

We saw a flock of these at a lodge just outside Newcastle

Saturday we went to a Seminary and Institute Training class. The Taylors always do a great job. Elder Taylor is a Seminary teacher by profession and you can tell he knows what he is doing. Sister Taylor is a good teacher and organizer too. Their duties take them all over the Eastern part of the mission and they are very busy. They are the senior couple that live about 98ks from us so we see them regularly.  We have been asked to teach Institute. We are teaching the Preparing for Eternal Marriage class. It should be fun. We just need to find a time that most students can come.

Saturday night we went visiting with the Newcastle elders. We love to do that. We taught a family to play Go Fish. Who would believe that old game would be so much fun?

Flowers from my garden

We went to church on Sunday and it was so nice, because the Madadeni elders have their bakkie back they were able to get themselves to church. Always before Elder Hind would drop me at church and then go pick them up. It is nice not to worry about that anymore. When we got home that afternoon we were taking a nap when the Newcastle elders dropped by. Don’t they know that Sunday afternoons are for naps?

Elder Hind had to go to a meeting with the Branch President on Tuesday. They decided to do some visiting. They visited an old man that can't get out any more. This man is a former professional soccer player. He has had an interesting life. He has been a member for along time since before apartheid ended. This man had two old cars in his yard. One was an old Jaguar (1964) and an old BMW from the 60s. He told Elder Hind that the Jaguar still runs. Those of you that know Elder Hind know that he wanted to buy that car right then and there. Won't happen.

I stayed home to work on lessons and some other things. A young man came to our door and asked for money. This young man used to wash the former senior couples car and Elder Hind has paid him to wash our car a couple of times. I am usually a pretty soft touch for people wanting money but I didn’t want this kid to think if he came around when Elder Hind is not home that I would give him money. I asked him to come back when Elder Hind was home. He was very persistent and got a little angry because I wouldn’t give him anything. I finally had to shut and lock the door. It left me feeling a little uneasy. I called the Newcastle elders and asked them if they would like me to feed them lunch. They were just heading to their boarding so they were happy to come to my house instead. I called Elder Hind and he headed home also. From now on I will lock the gate when I am home alone.

We moved the Madadeni elders into their new flats this week. They did most of the work themselves using both of the bakkies. Elder Hind went with them for some of the work and I went over to supervise the hanging of the curtains. These elders went from tiny little apartments to great big spacious apartments. They are happy. I warned them that big apartments are more work to keep clean. Some of them don’t clean so it probably does not matter if the apartment is large or small. But they are enjoying having hot showers again.

We had Zone Training Meeting this week. The Zone Leaders introduced new Standards of Excellence for the elders. There is going to be more focus on families and on getting people to the temple. We made lunch for the 16 elders in our zone.

Those brownie looking things on the pan are Pioneer Woman's Texas Sheet Cake.
They turned out darker and more chocolaty because of the cocoa I use here.
They were still really good.

On Thursday we went out to Osizweni with the elders. They drove us around and we taught the lesson. The branch president asked us to help some members prepare for the temple. So we showed a video and went over some material from the Sunday School temple prep class. The president gave us a list of names to visit.  It was great. We did the same thing on Friday with the other Osizweni elders. What fun and wonderful days! 

This is an Osizweni kitten. He is named after an elder that recently went home.
His name is Tibbitts. 

While we were driving around Osizweni we saw a group of men tossing a huge piece of meat in the air with a tarp. I asked the elders what was going on. They told me it was part of ancestor worship. They were offering the animal to their ancestors. It was a giant piece of meat so it must have been a cow.

After a dry spell that lasted a couple of months we finally got rain this week. It really thundered and and the rain poured down. It kept us awake on Thursday night. It brought some cold temperatures with it but it also cleaned the air and dampened down the dust.

After teaching on Friday everyone came to our house for a 24^th of July braai. It was late because the elders don’t take dinner breaks, they eat dinner at the end of the day. But we fired up our grill and had a good meal.

Our pioneer celebration

We went out to teach a family on Saturday night and when we got there the house was dark because the power was out. (load shedding) We started the lesson and eventually the lights came on so we were able to finish up with light.  I am so grateful for our tablets. They not only have all the church publications on them but they have light. So many times the homes we visit are very dimly lit or there is load shedding going on. We can always read because we have our tablets. Best investment we have made.

Family Home Evening by candlelight. That is Elder Welling doing the spooky face.

We went to two Sacrament Meetings on Sunday. Our own and then to Madadeni 2 because they were getting a new branch president. After church Elder Hind took me home because I really needed a nap after not sleeping well the night before. He drove back out to Madadeni to go visiting with the elders.

Boyd K. Packer

We dedicated our Family Home Evening to President Packer who passed away last week. We watched the video, “Spiritual Crocodiles” that is based on a talk he gave back in the 70s. Then we played Jenga. I had numbers on some of the blocks that corresponded with parts of a talk given by Elder Packer. So if they removed that block they had to read a section of his talk. Everyone really liked it and had fun. I made fry bread for refreshments. The elder from New Mexico especially appreciated that.

Some of our Family Home Evening YSAs

We had our DDM in our home this week so I could make lunch for the elders in the Madadeni District. After we had our meeting I was just serving lunch when the Newcastle District elders all showed up. Some were polite enough to leave after taking care of what ever made them come by. But some were bold enough to stay and eat even if they were not invited.

Before

After

We finally, after 3 months, got the bakkie back. I can’t believe how long the repairs took. However it does look great. This will change our mission. Having another car in our area will save some wear and tear on our car and lower our gasoline expenditures. Gas costs around $5 a gallon here. Elder Hind drove the bakkie out to pick up the Madadeni elders. They were not expecting it. They were like little kids at Christmas. Elder Hind made the driving elder drive around so he could see how good he is. He passed the test. Now they can move into the Newcastle flats.

Some very happy young men

A couple of weeks ago when we were out in Osisweni I notice some signs with a hand painted picture of a chicken on them. These were usually hanging on the gate or fence of the house. I asked the elders what the sign said and they told me it said “We sell chickens”. I told the elders that I wanted one. They are just such great examples of the local folk art. One of the elders told me that I could probably have one made for me. I told him I didn’t want a new one made for me. I wanted one that was actually used to sell chickens and that had hung on a fence in the weather and was a little beat up. Well guess what, they bought one for me! A member had one and they weren’t selling chickens anymore. I am going to hang it on the wall here and then it is going to hang on the wall of my kitchen when I get home. I am so excited.

I love this!

On the same day I got the chicken sign I bought a big tea pot I saw in a shop down town. We were picking up a little more fabric for the crazy quilts and I spotted this big yellow enamel wear tea pot in a shop window. I told Elder Hind that it would make a great hot chocolate pot when we go camping. So we bought it. Now that I have it I am not sure I can bring myself to take it camping. It may just have a life of leisure sitting on my kitchen counter, brightening up my day and reminding me of Africa.

The Osisweni Branch is planning a temple trip in August. The temple is a 4 hour drive from here. The branches here hire a van to drive them to the temple. We want to go but the mission president will be in town that day and we have meetings. Anyway we have been asked by the Osisweni Branch President to visit everyone that has signed up to go and give them a temple preparation lesson and answer their questions. Most of them are not going for the first time but they don’t go often so they need all the training and preparation we can give them. The elders will take us around in the township because we wouldn’t be able to find these people on our own.

I had a Young Women's activity on Saturday. We are still working on our crazy quilts. They are coming along nicely.

The crazy quilts are getting crazier!

I think mine is done.

 On Saturday night we went out to visit one of our favorite families.We had a nice Family Home Evening. We had a lesson and played a game and then they served us Rooibos and cake. One of the little girls painted a picture for me.

The little girl in the pink is the one that painted the picture for me