October 21, 2013

It's a live Hippo, Should I???

YES, I'm kissing a Hippo

Ed Petting a Cheetah

Magnificent Beast and so close!

Camouflaged, but look closely. 

The Water truck just arrived, how will they get it back??

Pictures with the Mayor's Rep, but Ed did present the award

Just visiting at a members home.  Love those kids!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

We watched the first session of General Conference yesterday.  Yes, we are a bit behind, but. . . .  this is Africa.  Remember the story that Elder Soares told about Moses, the South African man who found a Book of Mormon, read it, knew it was true, but couldn't go inside the church because he was black and the laws of the land forbade it during apartheid.  When the story ended I  looked around the room where we were meeting.  There were 32 of us crowded into a tiny area around a tiny TV screen. We of course were the only whites in the room. The floor was cold cement, it was drizzling outside, the ceiling was a sheet of tin,  I was sitting on a broken plastic chair that ripped my skirt . . . but none of that mattered. The spirit was strong and we were worshiping "inside" together.  Africa has come a long ways, but we still have a long ways to go especially in the villages where the members now are persecuted for belonging to a "white" peoples church.  One sister said to me when I asked how it was going with her neighbors, "I just don't listen to them and I know I will be blessed."   

A few of our experiences this past month have been planning and speaking at the funeral of Lindelani, a 16 year old young man who died in his sleep and we don't even know why.  The funeral was in his Aunt's front yard, and he was buried in the back yard.  The community and funeral attendees helped dig and cover up the grave.  Since there were about 300 villagers there, we hoped hearing us talk, pray and sing about Jesus Christ would help the community to see that we are Christians. Perhaps it softened a few hearts.  We will see in time.  We've also provided marriage counseling,  been offered a child to take home with us, discussed the gospel in homes of members and non-members, kissed a hippo, petted a Cheetah, presented a Family Values Award to the orphanage administrator, hosted a banquet where we shared religious and community ideals with Pastors, Businessmen and Women, and government officials from our little area, and Met with the Chief Counsels of two different villages to discuss religious and community issues.  It's definitely not what we expected but we never get bored.  Knowing that we are doing the Lord's work and feeling the support and prayers of loved ones at home keeps us strong.  Thank you.   

We love you,

Ed and Jolene, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa and happily Elder and Sister Smith

Greetings from Africa 9/1/13

Just beginning the orphanage play ground

16 "Mormon Helping Hands" arrived in this little truck

We were just a few of the window crew

Couldn't wait to try out the new equipment

She loves the swing.

Lunch time at the orphanage

Wrist Band with a Purpose

Dearest family and friends,

We are alive, well, and busy. Missionary work has taught us a new skill.  Ed and I have taken up "braiding".  Along with the young Elders, we are making braided wrist bands for all our members.  The purpose of the wrist band is to encourage "missionary" work.  The idea is that when people ask about the band, the member can say, "Oh, that is to remind me to talk about my church. Do you have any questions for me?"  We experimented on Bongani, our student body president in Motupa that has been called a "Satanist" among other things simply because of being a Mormon. Fortunately the wrist band has been a wonderful success for him.  Last Sunday he was asked to speak in District conference, and holding up his wrist to show it he said, "Instead of calling me a Satanist at school, they now call me the Apostle Paul." (The wrist band idea is unique to our branch but we might have others willing to follow after last Sunday)  In the meantime, Ed with his numb fingers and me with my arthritic hands (sad picture I know) braided for a very worthwhile cause. We also finished our project at the orphanage.  We have several sisters, including me, who can replace broken windows.  We did 43 of them.  But the highlight of our project was building the play area for the kids.  Above are just a few pictures.  We have gone back 3 times in the past week to finish a few things and mostly to watch the kids play.  They are thrilled and so is the staff.  We even got a little write up in the newspaper.  One of our investigators, who knows many of the business people in Tzaneen, worked tirelessly with Ed to get donations for the play ground.  One day he called us up and said, "This is Elder Minnie Reporting."  We can only thank him and many others for donations that exceeded R12,000. (About $1,500)  Maybe not a ton at home, but it's huge here.  My favorite comment from one of the sponsors was, "It's for God, Right?"  Happy and grateful to be in His service. We hope all is well at home.  We miss you and send our love.      

Ed and Jolene, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa and happily Elder and Sister Smith

July 26, 2013

"First" Homemaking meeting

Everyone KNITTING, the red scarf WAS mine

Picking flowers on our morning walk - Still winter

WHO NEEDS TOYS!

Ed, Matome (the Motupa group leader) and Bongani

NATURAL ROAD BLOCK ON THE WAY TO HENDRICK'S HOME

 Dearest Family and Friends,

It appears that we are not as good about updating our blog as we planned to be.  As we told our children, we sent our love everyday with smoke signals.  Hopefully you got it.  Our internet was down for 10 days when we learned that it would be another week or so before it would be fixed.  Come to find out the wiring had been stolen, so we went out and bought a wireless plan.

A few night's ago Ed and I visited the Ndlovu family.  Brother Ndlovu is our Elder's Quorum President and Sister Ndlovu is the Relief Society President.  Last Sunday they were both scheduled to teach and they did not show up.  We visited with plans to help them understand the importance of being dependable and calling in an emergency.  (This is a very common problem here.)  However, after hearing a touching story about their last minute rush on Sunday to gather all their food and deliver it to a contact who was traveling to Zimbabwe and was willing to take it to Brother Ndlovu's elderly parents who were in desperate need, we decided to save the "teaching" for another time.

Highlights of this month are that we had a First Ever Homemaking meeting for the sisters. ( At least they say it was the first.) Pauline and I taught them how to knit scarves.  When two sisters showed up Sunday with proudly completed scarves I couldn't help but feel pleased.  The night before Adelaide and Judith from Motupa stayed at our flat.  They helped us make chicken pot pies for the meeting, but I think the highlight of their stay was the warm running water in the bathroom and our morning walk around town.  Their giggles were priceless.  We had another meeting this week with the principal of the elementary school where Motupa meets on Sundays.  It's clear that we have to find another place.  The local church in Motupa is aggressively preaching false doctrine about our church and the effects are far reaching.  Bongani, one of my seminary students, told me that his school teacher called him a Satan worshipper in front of the whole class.  He's 16, well liked, and the president of his little school.  I think he handled the false accusation with respect, but it pains my "teacher heart".  On the very bright side, we have 5 baptisms this Sunday.  Three of them from Motupa.  Getting them into Tzaneen for the baptism is of course a challenge because of transportation.  No cars!  No money!  That means that only a few people will be able to come.  We dream of having the whole "ward" there like we do at home.  We actually met this week to see about locating a baptismal font in Motupa.  It was suggested that there might be a "make shift" font, but then we were reminded that water is only delivered every 7 to 10 days and we might not be able to fill it.  Such are the challenges, but we find joy in helping with solutions.  For you senior couples thinking of serving missions, we would just like to tell you that the elders here say that they can hardly wait to get married and grow OLD so they can come back with their wives.  They think we have all the fun.  We do have more privileges, more freedoms, and maybe a little more fun.  All BECAUSE THE gospel is true and we love being able to serve the Lord.   

Take care.  We truly do send out love.

Ed and Jolene, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa and happily Elder and Sister Smith

June 25, 2013

We walk in the mornings with all the maids going to work



Promise and her children



"Our Hawaii" and it's winter time here



A special baptism - Of course they all are!



Cooking dinner.



I love my English class!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Recently we received an email from a long-time friend who said that life is full of "little bits of amazing in the middle of a lot of exhausting/challenging/discouraging moments."  So true.  How did she know what we are experiencing?  Just yesterday for example we woke up hoping to go on our normal walk, but my plugged up ear had become painful in the night time.  It's been going on for a while so we decided it was time to brave the local health clinic.  The doctor was pleasant and professional and diagnosed me with an inner-ear infection.  No problem, we decided to just keep our existing appointments so that I could rest otherwise.  We then hurried out to Motupa to pick up Sister Tiny who has recently separated from her husband and is living with her children and elderly mom.  They have no food, so we brought Sister Tiny into town to go shopping.  We purchased the normal staples which includes a huge bag of Mille-maize (for pap).  When we told her that she could buy a few cans of beans to go with it she was so thrilled that you would have thought we provided Christmas for her whole family.  Next we picked up Kuda so that he didn't have to pay for the taxi (not the kind your thinking of) going home since he lives close to Tiny.  We visited with Tiny's mom and she too was very thankful for the food.  After a quick stop back home for a bit of lunch, we hurried out to Nkowankowa to visit Promise and her family.  They appeared to be doing fine.  While we were giving the message from President Uchtdorf about having "spiritual landmarks" in our lives, I noticed that Mighty (8 months old) was chewing on her arm.  I asked if he was teething and Promise said, "No, he's hungry.  I ran out of formula and I don't have any money."  We had picked up a few bananas just outside the village at a little tuck shop.  I went out to the car and brought in some.  Mighty loved his first banana.  We left with the name of his formula and a promise to bring some back.  We then hurried over to the hospital to visit Sister Mama and her new baby.  The baby's dad, Max, was there.  We had a wonderful visit.  We invited Max out to church and he accepted.  I held baby Lulamile the whole time we visited.  When we left Max asked Ed to say a pray for them.  He offered a beautiful blessing on the "soon to be family", we hope.  We arrived home from our shortened day a little after 6:00 pm.  We fixed a little dinner and my ear said that I was DONE, and so we were.  Our days are filled with those normal/exhausting moments, but with hopes of miracles, and a prayer that we might touch lives along the way. 

In the meantime we continue to love and think of you all the time,

Ed and Jolene, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, AKA Elder and Sister Smith