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.