Fall Begins in South Africa

I remember when I was young the skies over the Salt Lake Valley would blacken on late Summer evenings and flashes of lightening would light up the sky. The lightening, which often hit Mt Olympus, would be followed by loud claps of thunder that would frighten me. My brother would shrug his shoulders and say, "ah it's just Heavenly Father moving his furniture around".

Here in Johannesburg the first day of Autumn was ushered in by the most amazing electrical storm, which went on for hours. The mansions above were being rearrange again and again, and this time there wasn't a stick of furniture left in it's original spot. The heavens open up and the waters came down, and down and down. The storm seem centers over our area of town and the electrical strikes so close there were only seconds before the thunder rolled and rolled and rolled across the sky. One strain of thunder had not even ended before another one began. It rained so much that the street became small rivers. I don't know where the run off goes because there are no rain drains on our street.

Across the street at Killarney Mall the halls were flooded because there is not a proper drain system. The water was coming in through the vents in the ceiling because the parking lot over head had no place for the water to go. The local hamburger joint in the mall was completely flooded out. Shop keepers were laying paper down at the entrance to their establishments hoping to ward off the encroaching water. I was told that while they always have some water leakage when it rains, they had never seen it this bad. All in all it was a very exciting afternoon; the whole thing was cleaned up by morning. I did wonder though, if this happens each time it rains, how long will it be before a piece of the ceiling falls? There has got to be dry rot galore in this place.

This week we learned the personal story of the head of our department, Tembinkosi. He told us he grew up in a village hut with a dirt floor in Durban. That his mother worked very hard doing laundry and house cleaning when she could get the work and that his father was absentee. When his mother would bring her pay home at the end of the week she would put it in a pile on the dirt floor, because they did not have a table. She would gather her 6 boys around her and they would count the money together. She would then give Tembinkosi the food money and tell him what she needed for the week and it was up to him to get the best price for the food they would eat. He was the oldest of her boys and was 8 years old when he began his job as shopper for the family. When they could, the children would work doing odd jobs to help contribute to the household expenses. He remembers that his mother always kept a little money even if it was just a penny, because having some money saved for emergencies was very important. She told her boys "never borrow money, never go into debt". Tembinkosi told us of his struggle to go to school. There was no one there to help support him. His mother had nothing and was still raising her other children. Tembinkosi would do anything he could to earn money for school. He washed cars, and windows; did yard work, hauled things, collected garbage and sold what he found that was usable. His mother got him a needle and thread and showed him how to repair shoes. He would fix his own shoes and then those of his family and then he would repair shoes to help with his schooling. He does not have sympathy for those who say they cannot get work. He says if one wants to work one will find work.

His mother lives in the same house and village she lived in when he was growing up. He has helped to fix up her home, and is now putting his brother through school. He still does not have a washing machine. He does all the laundry for himself and his wife by hand (and his white shirts look better than Dad's!). It is how he grew up and it is still how he does things. He has more important things to spend their hard earned money on than a washing machine or television. He is an amazing hard working hard driving man. He is a very good man. His life has given him insights and experiences we could never begin to know. There is much we will learn from him.

This is Dad. I had an experience this weekend I'd like to relate. One of the things we have determined we will do is go to a different Ward/Branch every week in order to ascertain the training level of the Bishops in Perpetual Education Funds stuff and to talk to the kids -- those in the program and those who are prospects. I got a late start for this Sunday but I did get a Bishop's name and number on Friday and called. He didn't respond, but we were going to his Ward anyway. Saturday, I decided to go into the office and while there, I called him again on one of the numbers I had been given. Turns out it was his wife's cell phone and they had just finished a session at the Temple -- which is about 100 yards from my office! He came over, we talked, and agreed to talk more today at Sacrament meeting. He is 28, wife pregnant with first child, Bishop for two months, working and going to school (not on a PEF loan). Today I met with him for about 45 minutes and he instantly saw the value of PEF to his youth: he has youth who are semi-active but who he thinks he can reactivate by telling them that this program is for them but they must be worthy to qualify. He also thought it would be great for the high school kids who see no reason to excell in school because college is not a possiblity for them. With PEF, he can show them why high school matters and give them a glimpse of a brighter tomorrow. He really has caught the vision, and I was just fortunate enough to be there when it happened! The way this whole thing happened simply couldn't have been by accident. God bless you all.

New Friends and New Experiences

Here are a few pictures of everyone helping to set up for church. As I mentioned last week, we meet in a school building and the space has to be put together and cleaned up after each meeting. It's wonderful to see everyone willing to help!

We are surrounded by good kind people in and out of the church. Our name tags seem to open doors and provide safety as well. When we go to the Mall across the street often times there will be someone who comes up to us and asks where our church is and says that they would like to go there sometime. They want to know what we are doing and why. We have also had people follow us into a store just to tell us they are "one of us"....that they belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. There is never a feeling of disdain or rudeness. People often want to talk. Keep in mind almost all the people we are meeting are Black Africans. They are Christians who believe in the power of Jesus' name. There is a gentleman who pumps gas at the local station. When he sees a missionary name tag he will ask you to pray for him. He doesn't mean when you get home he mean right now, this minute. He will stick his head in the window and listen while you pray.

This week I have met Nimrod, who helped me with my groceries. He wheeled my cart across the street and brought it up the elevator for me; unloading the groceries in my entry. I asked him about tipping and what is fair. He said even a penny is good, that he does not charge for helping. I gave him 5 Rand and he told me that was a very generous tip. I asked him to teach me what is proper for tipping. I asked him after I handed him the tip. He told me 1 or 2 Rand would be a good tip. The exchange rate is 7 Rand to 1 U.S. Dollar and this young man might make 10 Rand a day in tips if he is lucky. That is how he makes his living yet he is very mild manner and so humble never pushy. He must ride the bus from downtown Joburg to work. That is an expense he must pay out of what he earns.

There are people to watch as you back out of a parking space. We tip them. Someone opening the gate at a restaurant, who minds the parking lot while you eat...we tip them. Some gave me directions in the shopping mall today, I tipped him. It's just pennies to us, but to them it is food or not.

Other people I have met: Simon who opens the gate for us at the church office, and Courage who works in security there. Precious, Isiah, Neo, Molly, Faith, Justice, Glory and several others. I am so grateful they have Biblical name or more familiar names because their tribal names are very difficult for me to remember at this time. I expect to get much better at pronouncing them, but it will take a while. Neo, who works in our office with us, has offered to teach me some of her languages. She speaks 7. She said she lived in a mixed neighborhood as a child, where there were several languages spoken. She said when you went to visit a friend's home their tribal language was spoken so you just learned it from the beginning.

Even in primary today there were three languages spoken. They just slip in and out of a language like it is all one language. They speak English for a while, then Zulu, then Kosi and sometimes some French. The children don't seem to be put off by it for one second. The Primary president asked a three year old a question in some language I did not understand and the child answered in English. It is beautiful to see how they are teaching their children. They do not make things easier for them, because they believe they must be stronger than anyone else. Knowledge is power.
As you know, for church we met in school rooms. Look at the pictures and you might notice that there are several different languages written on the walls and black boards in the class rooms. They teach the tribal languages as well as English. Their classroom remind me of school 30-40 years ago. They concentrate on the basics. Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Language. All basic subjects.


Another thing I have noticed is that no job is too small. There are many people who sit along side the road at street corners and appear to be taking surveys. They sit with their clip boards and seem to be watching and counting something, but I have not figured out exactly what they are interested in. There is also a police man who sits with a camera pointed at the hill which takes us to and from our office and to the temple. He is there with his speed monitor and camera. He takes pictures of the cars who exceed the speed limit when they come down the hill. We learned in our devotional that the government has implemented higher fine beginning April 1. After that time the fines will be 3 times higher for those of us visiting. They have raised fines for the South Africans as well, but not as much as for Americans.

In our security briefing we were told that we should vary our route to and from work every day. That we are to put all our belongings in the trunk and never leave anything on the seat. Every intersection has people waiting to sell you a paper or beg for money; some times they look for things of value to grab. These people have a spark plug in their hand and they simple smash the window and grab what every they can. It doesn't matter if you are holding tight to your purse or what ever, they are so fast and so strong they will brake your fingers or hand and be gone.

If by chance we are approached by a would be robber we have been told to give them what ever they ask for. That means a car, a purse, rings, watch, what ever they want. There is nothing more valuable than your life. Do not try to resist. They are not interested in injuring us they just want our stuff. If one gets in they way they will simply remove the obstacle. That can mean you, your finger, whatever. There is nothing personal about this.....it is just what they do and the country lives with this threat. It is just life here in Johannesburg. There is so much poverty they do this to survive. When we travel outside Joburg, we are actually safer.

The church has given us very good information to help us stay safe. We have a wonderful community of missionaries where we live. We have dinner together often and travel to different historical and nature sights together. There are symphonies, plays, musicals, and concerts available if we can find the time. Many of us will be traveling out of the area on weekends for our assignments, but most find time for fun along the way.

We have been here less than two weeks but already find many things for which we are thankful. We express our gratitude to God daily for His tender mercies. We know he is blessing us here and our families while we are gone. We praise Him.

(This is an African buffalo from our trip last weekend to the reserve.)

Pictures from trip to Lyon Rhino Land

A Warm Welcome to South Africa

We are still a bit blurry eyed as we adjust to time zone changes and jet lag ( I awoke at 1:30 a.m. this morning) but we have felt the spirit of this amazing place everywhere we turn. The momentum of the work and the goodness of the people have kept us moving. Friday we worked in the office, which will be our main assignment here. We are to supervise all the PEF workers in the area, following up on their work and managing the reports. We will have phone contacts with all students in the program and will be supporting them in their efforts. We will travel on the weekends to different congregations throughout the Area to personally meet the young adults. We will also talk with Bishops and Branch Presidents and assist in educating them as to how the program works and how they can encourage potential applicant to move forward. It can be a scary thing, a big change in ones life.

We report to Thembinkosi who is head of the Perpetual Education Program here in the Area Office. He is a young (28) African who has been working alone since January. He gave us a warm, but hurried welcome before he headed off on a whirlwind training session with Thomas Rucckert to The DR Congo to meet with the Staggs and Nigeria to meet with the Bakers. Their work will be much harder than ours for they are remote and the living conditions are minimal compared to ours. Still there are changes in all our lives. The one thing we have in common is we are happy to serve our fellow Saints in Jesus Christ.

Yesterday the Neilson's took us on a road trip to one of the Nature Reserves about an hour outside of Joburg. We did see some amazing wild life and I will attach some pictures soon. As we drove along the countryside I was struck with the beauty of the area. The grasses on the hillside rolling in the breeze reminded me of a lion's mane in the wind. The country side is, of course, much different than the city. It is wide open space interspersed with communities. Every once in a while one we see a township. A township is actually started by squatters. One person or family will come in and build four walls and a roof of any material they can find. The next resident puts up three walls and connects his home to that of the last. Over and over this activity occurs until there is a village of sorts. Some townships are made of better materials than others and are kept in an orderly manner. All are very humble and without electricity. Today we drove by a number on our way to church, which I noticed had opened their doors to become store fronts where people sold mangos, or used clothing or whatever wares they had.

There is a law here in South Africa: If there is a piece of land that is not being used, and someone sets up residence (squatters rights) and lives there for 90 days with out complaint they do not have to leave. This also applies to old buildings. A company or church will buy a piece of property for a future building and must keep an eye on that property because if someone moves in and sets up a township it is very hard to get the authority to begin construction. All the responsibility is on the property owner. The LDS church has a couple of pieces of property they are planning for new chapels and they struggle to keep it build-able.

We left for Church with the Neilson this morning a little before 7:30 am. (No I did not go back to sleep!.....see above) We drove about a half-hour to a school complex. We cleared 3 of the class rooms which were to become our church for the day. School chairs were moved out and larger chairs were moved in. Those in the Branch Presidency arranged the chairs and we cleaned them off with dust rags. A small table was brought in for the Sacrament and one for a key board which we set up. Then a podium of sorts was set up.

About 8 am a few teenage boys began arriving for their piano lessons. Sister Neilson gives piano lessons every Sunday and her husband gives a theory lesson. It turns out that Sister Neilson can only play the right hand of the staff and has been the pianist since she arrived last October. She asked me to play for the meeting and to give one of the lessons. Fortunately, I had watched Rebecca, my daughter-in-law, give lessons to very young children and I was able to use some of what I had seen her do. Can I just say, I was so impressed with the desire of the young men to learn! Knowledge is freedom and these young people know it! The young man with whom I worked had practiced all week and was able to complete his assignment and moved forward. He was attentive, polite, gracious and very disciplined. He learns things the first time through. He addressed me as, 'yes mum, no mum, thank you mum'. The students are given keyboards and music to take home. For the most part they are responsible and bring their instruments and books with them to church. They are charming. They are the future leaders of their wards and they will be able to help take over the music assignments.

As I was playing the prelude music for church I was swept up in the warm embrace of a young women who walked into the room saw me playing and ran to me. I thought perhaps she had me mixed up with some other white face (we all look alike right?). But no, she was just so excited to hear the music that she could not contain herself. She sat very close to me the whole meeting and leaned over to sing from the book on the key board. She sat next to me in our classes as well.
The classroom was packed for Sacrament Meeting (perhaps 40 adults). All the children, who are so beautiful, were seated on the left hand side of the room first 5 rows. There were a few adults seated there but only because they ran out of larger chairs. Those children were from 3 to 10 years old and they were quiet and attentive almost the whole hour. Again I notice that discipline is very much a part of their lives. There were 3 deacons but only two could sit at the sacrament table because it was so small. The third deacon (a deacon is a 12-14 year old) actually sat next to Norriss and fell asleep during the meeting ending up leaning on Norriss the last 3rd of the meeting. I was proud of Elder Webb's warm response. The room was so warm I thought Norriss' eyes looked a little droopy and perhaps his head might lean toward the lad's and the two would enjoy the meeting in mutual slumber.

The windows were open in this schoolroom, so the air can move freely. There was also another church congregation having a meeting in the school complex. They were located across the courtyard directly opposite our position. Their music was rhythmic and grew increasing louder as the speakers from our congregation were giving their sermons. They sang in the tribal language and volume would go up and down and sway in such a way that one could not help moving with it. I thought how difficult it was to remain focused, but as I looked around these people were so intent on listening they didn't seem to have the distraction.

During Relief Society the instructor asked each person in the class to introduce herself and briefly mention a hobby or interest. I was struck by how many of the women said they loved music, to sing and to dance. I was also impressed that the instructor was trying to help me feel part of the organization by giving me a small insight to the women, plus she wanted to know a little about me with out drawing attention to or singling me out. How thoughtful! These women are very humble and shy, but very observant and supportive. Some are strikingly beautiful; their smiles are genuine and for the most part their teeth are so white and so straight one cannot help but get caught up in them. I love meeting with them and being taught by them.

We headed home after church to prepare a meal, eat and take a nap. A new week begins in the morning and I want to be full of energy to greet the day. I am told it can take a full month to adjust to jet lag. I hope I manage to convert sooner than that. Norriss is easily making the adjustment.

We Have Arrived in Johannasburg

It's been a long days night but we have finally arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa. We left Salt Lake City on Monday at 11 am Mountain Standard Time and arrived in Joburg on Wednesday at 12:15 pm (not sure what time zone we are in) after having a 5 hour stop in Chicago and a 10 hour lay over in London which actually ended up being a little over 13 hours because of a delay. We did manage to shower while in London hoping to be presentable when we arrived here. Norriss, who's hair never changes from perfect, looks the part of an executive. I on the other hand looked like I'd been caught in a rain storm during transit. Our lodgings at the airport in London (what lodgings?) had an electrical capacity for an electric razor not a curling iron; good thing to check before one commits to this activity! I did enjoy the long hot shower however, and can not complain about the Heathrow Airport. We felt quite comfortable in a lounge that allowed each of us to put our feet up and sleep for several hours.

We were met here by the Neilson's. Dr. and Mrs. Neilson or Elder and Sister as we are known. Can I just say we were so grateful to see Elder Neilson in the sea of new faces? They are serving for 2 years as the head of the Area Welfare program here in the Johannesburg office of the LDS church. They travel all over several countries; their primary job is to oversee water safety, and food and wheel chair distribution to the truly needy. I was impressed with the heavy duty wheel chairs which are for AIDS victims. These are multi-terrain chairs with a large third wheel out front of the chair for stabilization. The LDS church is certainly not cutting corners there.

Our home for the next two years is an apartment complex across the street from a mall of which we were given a tour. We were then hosted by the Neilsons to a lovely homemade meal.
After our heart felt thanks we headed back to our apartment to try to unpack a few things. We no sooner walked in than the phone rang and it was Sister Jane Howell, who delivered some fresh bake chocolate chip cookies. We visited for a bit and then Sister Howell excused herself, knowing we must be very tired. We had noticed we were becoming numb and pretty much non responsive. Just a mention about the cookies: Norriss had been looking all over for a good chocolate chip cookie....they are not available. The cookies here are biscuits. The brown sugar needed to make a good cookie is one of those treasures from the U.S.A. Sister Howell brought several bags with her when she came and she is getting down to the last of her supply. The fact that she would share this much coveted treat with us is very touching.

Sister Howell and her husband leave today for Madagascar to help train church leaders and help them organize their branches (congregations). She said these sweet people had a couple of chairs and a note pad and were trying to do the best they could to run a branch of the church. The Howells will be taking supplies as well as helping them learn the basics.

We finally went to bed at 10 and I awoke at 2:30am. I laid in bed trying to sleep until 4 and then finally just got up. I now hear a few birds beginning to greet the soon to be dawn. I am looking out the window of a small office here in our apartment to what must be the East. There is a very slight reddish glow beginning to appear, I imagine it will spread quickly now.

Good Morning South Africa. Today we will learn about our assignment and exactly what we will be doing in this part of God's very beautiful world. I love the faces of the people here. They are every color.

The ones left behind....

Note from Kath:

Victoria and I were excited to take mom and dad to the airport this morning. But after waving goodbye through airport security, we were pretty sad. Picture below....unfortunately, turns out I have a hard time looking sad for a picture. Victoria is a champ sad face maker. I was sad on the inside. :)

Love you mom and dad....we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Packing, Goodbyes...and they're off! Good luck Mom and Dad!!

Goodbye MTC Hello South Africa

The time for training and cafeteria food is over. Our brains are exhausted because of all we have been taught about computers and data, but it is saying good bye to the wonderful friends we have made at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) that causes us to feel a bit melancholy. We know we will meet them again. The Staggs and the Bakers are serving in the Congo and in Nigeria so it is possible we will meet at an area Conference some time. We hope so.

This is our new friend Elder Mthalane who is a Zulu from Durbin, South Africa. He is headed for Tallahassee, Flordia. He said he was use to humid weather and thought he would feel at home there. He showed Norriss the South African hand shake. I think he is going to be a fabulous missionary. He is full of enthusiam and a love of the Lord that is very uplifting. We hope to meet his family when we are in Durbin sometime.

I'm so tired that that's all for now. But much more to come!!!