Chapter 40.

Saturday, August 29, 2015. Got up at 2:30 A.M.

Picked up Nkosi girls at 3:40

Drove 4+ hours to Johannesburg

Spent 5+ hours in the Temple

BEST DAY EVER!

Well, one of the best days ever anyway! Right up there with my own children’s special events! Especially when they were sealed to their spouses and made their own covenants with Heavenly Father.

The girls did proxy baptisms along with ES helping in the baptismal area. I did the big kid stuff for a relative of ES’s. I sat between my friends in a small session. The session rooms hold about 24 people. We were short a few men so ours was even smaller. It was truly an amazing day.

All the way home the girls talked about how excited they were to have been in the temple. Khetsiwe vowed she would only marry in the temple. They were so excited from feeling the spirit they got into the car and almost instantly fell asleep.

Calisto, Christine, Lindi, Steven, and the Nkosi sisters—Laheri, Charity, Khetsiwe—were only recently baptized themselves and to have them all in the temple was truly an amazing experience.  I am so proud and happy to know these amazing people who really have sacrificed a lot to be members of the church. I love them all so very much.

We drove back to Nelspruit with a stop for lunch and a break. We really had a great time but if I never had to sit behind the wheel of a car again it would be ok…. Only its wishful thinking as I’ll be driving to church tomorrow and then on Monday it will be driving in Kruger!

Tonight, however, I am tired. I am going to frog on the couch and watch NCIS season 7 on Netflix…

Can I get an AMEN!

This entire week has been one long drive. First we went to Zone Conference in Joburg, then we drove back to Joburg for our temple trip and then on Monday we drove 2 hours to get into Kruger National Park and 8 hours in the park.

We took the Elders as one of the Tongan Elders goes home in September. This was a dream of his to see Kruger and so we and the Swans took all the Jrs. with us. Only one Elder had seen Kruger before so it was super exciting for all of them.

I took pictures. We saw some different animals than ever before. We got really lost and had to make a dash for the exit gates as we were afraid we would get locked in… scary thought… or fined for being tardy…another scary thought. But we made it out and lived to tell about it.

Wednesday, we went to Lydenburg to celebrate Kwazie “Esther’s” 1 year old birthday. We got there while Christine was cooking lunch for everyone who came—mostly neighborhood friends. It was a great day. We had to leave early so I could get home to teach Institute and ES teach with the missionaries. All good plans, however… We hit fog so dense that we had a line of about 50 cars driving 5 miles an hour. Took us 2 ½ hours to get home. I had to cancel class but ES made it in time to teach Portia who is supposed to come to church this Sunday. (she did)

Today, Thursday, ES is back in Lydenburg with the Jrs. teaching and passing out flyers for the upcoming Bears and Prayers event on Saturday. The response so far just from advertising has been positive. We are expecting a large crowd to hear President Dunn’s presentation on what he learned from his bear attack and recovery. I am looking forward to it. I spent all day making cookies…4 batches should be enough…well, I guess it will have to be as that is what I have made. Chocolate Chip, Cowboy cookies, and a Rice Krispy cookie called Chocolate Scotch-a-Roos.  They taste like a candy bar made in South Africa called a Lunch Bar—it’s a cross between a Crunch bar, a Twix and a Snickers. And it seems to be everyone’s favorite.

Friday was district meeting at the Swans. We had pancakes and a great lesson from Elder Pickup. He is a very effective teacher. Our lesson was on using the Book of Mormon when we teach. A favorite subject of mine. Friday afternoon, I spent preparing my Seminary lesson. It feels like I haven’t taught Seminary for forever but it has only been one week. But, Saturday is the big day! The day we have all been preparing for! For one month we have been working on Bears and Prayers with President Dunn. I have a lot of photos so I’ll let them tell the story but the coolest part besides the event itself was the news reporter who showed up at the end. She took a lot of photos and did a long interview with President Dunn about what the even was all about.

Sunday was Sunday and Bears and Prayers was replayed in KaNyamazane for that Branch. Sometime in the future we will invite President and Sister Dunn back again to do a repeat for Nelspruit when we open our new building. Hopefully, that will be soon.

So, today is Monday, September 7, 2015. We relaxed, ran errands, bought groceries and took in a movie. Fantastic 4 this time. It was good… somethings I didn’t like but I’d still give it a 7 out of 10. It was nice to kick back.

Still no monkeys and the weather has been cool. In fact, I wore my winter coat on Saturday for the first time since I have been in Nelspruit. You’ll see my red coat in some of the snaps. Bye and lots and lots of love… from Africa!

 OK so I have some pix but some are sideways, upside down and blurry! I only posted a few of the photos I have due to this problem. Sorry, don't know why and I don't know how to fix it. Either turn your head or your computer... Ooops....

 

we stopped at Burger King in Joburg after our Zone Meeting! It was great!

Calisto and Christine in the garden at the Temple. Beautiful grounds. They did baptisms. I wish we could be here for their sealing but we will be home by several months. Glad we were with them on their first temple trip!

Christine on left and Lindi on the right.

many of our branch members who attended the temple. We missed some and added a few more who were just there

a few more

Doesn't Dad look great!

Me and my girls... from left to front: Khetsiwe, Me, Charity, Laheri, Sara, Zama, Lindi

Yep, a giraffe! We are now in Kruger National Park

These birds are Hornbills... they are as large as BIG turkeys

This is a rhino. We saw 4 of these big boys and girls this trip

Just to show that we are not in a zoo. These bones were along side a watering hole. His hind parts were missing and what a souvenir  those horns would have made but we'd have been arrested and thrown in jail for a million years... so we left it there...

We are now in Lydenburg at Kwazie's B'day party.

G'pa is assembling her b'day present

how cute!

Lunch

present time

a duck lap top and a Sunday dress

Bears and Prayers! President Dunn was attacked by a Grizzly bear while running in the Grand Tetons sometime in the 90s. He survived and does an entire presentation which includes a move Hollywood made about the attack. He talks about the BEARS in our lives and how we can survive them using prayer and by listening to the Holy Ghost. It is very impressive and maybe once they return from their mission our Stake can ask them to do a fireside for us!

Our newest investigator, Cecil.

Sister Dunn along with some of the others. We had 51 in attendance and only 17 members. All the rest were non-members. Sweet!

This is the blurry one but next to me is the reporter. And it was really cold regardless of the elders without jackets