Summer Winter Mystery Series: Chapter 30? Maybe 31? I dunno?

Chapter 30? Maybe 31?

I was curious about Christine’s claim about being from a tribe professing direct descendantcy from Abraham so I looked the up the Lemba tribe on good old Google. Sure enough! She is correct. She is one of 800,000 Lemba people from Zimbabwe who not only can trace their oral history back to Moses and beyond but they have DNA evidence to prove it.

It’s certainly worth a check yourself. Pretty amazing that once again, the scriptures are proven to be more than a myth. They even have a replica of the Ark of the Covenant. Try it on for size. Pretty interesting stuff. And I know one! And she’s learning about the church! Yeah. Father Abraham is probably encouraging her to do so. Another of President Butler’s blessings coming to past. He told ES that he would teach people from the lost tribes of Israel. Talk about prophetic. Cool. Very cool indeed.

The week is over and it’s now Monday. Sunday was a hallmark day as we not only witnessed Calisto being confirmed a member of the church, and another of Nbvuela’s children being baptized but we had a record attendance at our Sacrament meeting. 76 people which included 8 investigators. Most of them were from Lydenburg. We so want a group/cluster out there. But really, we’ll settle for a Branch. That would be major cool.

On the Friday before we took an excursion along with the Swans to Tzaneen. The “T” is silent so it is pronounced Za Neen. It is very far north of us by about 3 ½ hours in a provenance called Limpopo. The drive was nice and scenic and afforded us a stop at a place called Potholes. Super amazing. I have snaps! But, I know it is kinda like seeing pictures of the Grand Canyon.

The purpose of our visit to Tzaneen was to attend the North East Zone Conference. We were just looking for a change of pace. We stayed in a delightful Guest House. They have very few hotels and instead have B&B’s or as they call them Guest Houses. We met some of the other Sr. Couples for dinner and honestly, I can say without exception, we had the worst dinner in the history of the world. They actually forgot my dinner order and one other in our table of 10. When it did come it was not what I had ordered! The other one didn’t ever get his food and the funny thing is they put it on his bill! By the time I was eating my really unacceptable meal, the others were eating their desserts. We decided not to make a big deal out of anything and we were glad we did as one of our waiters was a less-active member of the church. Had we complained too much he would have lost his job. We just smiled and said all was well.

Then at night, I had forgotten my sleeping meds so I didn’t sleep until nearly 5 am and then had to get up at 7. Such a treat to have 2 hours sleep and sit through 6 hours of meetings.

The meetings were very good and really it was enjoyable. Then, lucky me, I got to drive the 3 + hours home. Yay! We made it in one piece. I was starving when I got home so I unpacked, ate some food and took my sleeping meds. Even then, I didn’t get to sleep until nearly 11 pm. Long two days. Enjoyable but LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG.

Well, another week has past. It is Saturday and I haven’t written in this since last week. We’ve had some down time as I got sick on Monday all the way to Wed. I’m much better now—in fact, back to normal but it really cuts into the work. I did teach institute and then on Friday taught 2 lessons out in Lydenburg—one to Christine and the other to Margaret. Both are extremely committed and will soon be asked if they will commit to being baptized. I’m sure they will both be as they read and keep the commitments they are challenged to do. Christine is Calisto’s wife and of the Lembo tribe. She asks great, intelligent questions and seems to understand the answers and accept them. She told us yesterday that she had prayed about the Prophet Joseph Smith and knew he was a prophet. She also said that she knew the Book of Mormon was the word of God. Margaret, who is a referral from the Sigauke’s as she is their nanny so to speak, bore a similar testimony. She has been to church for over a month now and has a strong understanding of the gospel. In fact, I thought she was a member the way she was expressing her feelings during one lesson about the Holy Ghost.

Today is Saturday. I taught Seminary this morning and even had the Ncosi sisters in my class which makes 6 now. I hope they continue to attend. Laherie and Catsewei are really ready to be baptized but Charity is a bit flighty and focused on things 15 year olds are generally focused on. Catsewei was looking at the baptismal font and said, “How will I do this, Sister Scott. I am terrified of water?” I told her that her faith would overcome her fear. She agreed that she would be able to do it.

The girls must still talk to their father and explain to him what they would like to do. He is the one who is the polygamist. He used to have 9 wives but now he only has 3. I don’t know what happened to the other wives. But he has 40 children, 5 of them have passed away. We know 4 and are teaching 3.

It is very warm today and is supposed to be 90 tomorrow. Our A/C has died in the church building so I can hardly wait until church tomorrow. It is supposed to be cooling down but we have only had a smattering of cool days. We are so looking forward to winter when the temperatures drop into the 70s. Yay!

I have just finished baking 35 cupcakes for Sunday School tomorrow. Some chocolate and some red velvet. They are for those who read their assigned Gospel Doctrine reading. I will also grab some for my class. It is too hot to bake so this is really a labor of love as the sweat was pouring down my face. Yuk!

I’m hoping to get back on schedule with this blog but you know what they say about best intentions. I can try anyway.

Still no monkeys. I didn’t even see any on the road to Lydenburg. Maybe next time.