Lots of Changes Around Here

Last week brought some noticeable changes for us. We went for a walk one day at lunch time up the hill to the bench by the temple and SURPRISE! Flowers were blooming all along the path. The sun warmed us and the flowers brought hope for the end of the cool weather.

These days it is feeling much like it did when we arrived a year ago, July 21st. We know we can handle the rest - we know what to expect. Weather-wise at least.

The next big change came when we arrived at the office one morning and found a new car parked in our parking spot. We really have liked our little blue Kia, but it was time, I guess, for the trade in, so here we are, suffering with a brand new Nissan Tiida. It is larger than the Kia, though, and somewhat of a challenge to park in the office parking terrace. But Elder Wells is doing great and beginning to like the new wheels. (I'm still not driving. Call me chicken if you want to.)

Here we are as we picked up the car from the washing bay. The next picture is in our parking garage at Dukes Court. I don't know if I told you that we were given a new parking stall that is so easy to get in and out of. We are very grateful. The first one was so tight!

Check out the license plate. Y Jr. I may be able to remember this one. Go BYU! The GP stants for Gauteng Provence

Prayer, Faith, and Endurance

Dad wrote about the Sacrament meeting at the Joburg Ward last week and I wanted to share a portion of the Sunday School lesson that impressed me from that day. Our teacher was a sister from Zimbabwe. The lesson was from D&C 101. She had been teaching about the persecution and trials and faith of the early saints. The African saints are very inspired by the pioneers. They know the stories and have deep regard for them and the hardships they endured.

Then she shared a personal experience. She said that as a child in Zimbabwe her family believed in God, although they were not members of the LDS church. When she was about 17, word came that soldiers were coming to her village to burn and destroy it and kill all the people. The frightened villagers fled their homes immediately. She and her family walked through the night and were aware that the soldiers were following them. They decided to hide in the brush and pray for protection. The soldiers stopped and made a little camp right where she and her family were hiding. The soldiers sat and ate, talking together for some time. She said that one man even came to relieve himself just feet from where she was hiding. He did not see her. After a time the soldiers left and the family remained in hiding until morning. When they left their hiding places they looked around at how open the area was and how easily they could have been seen but they not been discovered. They believed that they had been protected by God so that the soldiers could not find them.

She reminded us of the story of the little girls who saved the pages from the Book of Commandments and hid in the corn field. She asked, “Do you think that it would really be possible to hide a corn field and not be found when someone was searching for you?” Just as those little girls were protected by God, she believes that she and her family were protected from being discovered by the soldiers.

Then she then shared her admiration for the early Saints and the trials they had to endure. “We have trials but nothing like they had. We must be as faithful as they were.”

I thought again how little I can comprehend what these good people have endured in the past and even though I think they have difficult lives (certainly compared to my own) they frequently express sorrow for those who are experiencing hardships.

A meaningful Sunday School lesson for me and once again a reminder of the admiration I feel for those who are members here and throughout Africa.

Durban Trip and JoBurg 2nd Ward (19 July 2009)

THOUGHTS FROM ELDER WELLS

This week we traveled to Durban again for an all-zone conference with the 125 or so missionaries of the South Africa Durban Mission. Sister Wells and I presented a workshop on coping with stress, and I visited with six missionaries to touch base on how they are coming along.

Fourteen of the total missionary group (7 couples) are senior missionaries, retired men and women from Seattle or Laramie or Indianapolis or St. George, who work in the far flung branches and “twigs” of the Durban Mission. Some are “employment” missionaries whose entire time is spend helping people learn how to get—and keep—jobs, some in PEF (Perpetual Education Fund) where they qualify and then make loans to young people to be able to afford an advanced education (you and I have donated to that fund to make it possible), some in Humanitarian Services where they seek out projects simply to bless people’s lives with wheel chairs, measles inoculation projects, or funding of drilling of wells in rural areas. And some are proselyting missionaries who work with the young missionaries and growing Church membership in townships and villages.

The remainder of the missionaries are, of course, young men ages 19 to 26 from the US, other parts of Africa, or other parts of the world. It is so fascinating to see these young men from so many different countries and cultures so glad to see each other, slapping backs, hugging each other, wanting to put their arms around just about everyone there.
They have a great love for their peer leaders, black and white. When we were here last, Elder Schlenker was the assistant; he is going home next week. The assistant this time is Elder Nan’gilla, a handsome reserved missionary from Kenya. A year ago, about 80% of the young missionaries were white; now 80% are black elders, many of whom have been in the Church for just a few years. They are all great young men, and one can sense that the leadership training they receive here will be just a first step in a life of service in the Church in Africa. I counseled with a young elder from Madagascar earlier in the day. I had such a strong feeling that his struggles were being watched over by the Lord because he is to prepare to be a lifelong servant of the Lord among his people. I felt like a patriarch as I counseled with him, trying to tell him of the promises I could feel in him.


NOTES FROM OUR SUNDAY MEETING
We returned home to Johannesburg quite late; consequently, by the time we were up it was too late to attend the Tembisa ward, our township ward about 40 minutes drive away. (If I understand correctly, townships are communities that have come into being because people have simply squatted on the land, beginning as shanty towns made of corrugated tin and salvaged wood.

Over time people have built houses there, but corners of the community continue to grow up from shanty towns because there are so many thousands of refugees who have fled their own war torn countries.)

The homes around the Tembisa Ward are mostly on this order. After the rough bricking, they are covered with stucco and painted. Many never quite get to that completed stage.

So, we went with Elder and Sister Wright back to the Johannesburg 2nd Ward, a ward we served in until January of this year. The Johannesburg ward (recently divided into JoBurg 1st and 2nd) is the central city ward area, probably the oldest ward in the city and has a large number of refugees from other countries.

Today the young missionaries and the bishop spoke.
Elder Mashashishi, a quiet unprepossessing elder by looks gave one of the best missionary talks I have ever heard.

My notes: Brothers and Sisters, I congratulate you for being here this morning so early. How many who should be here are still sleeping? They say, “We have to work every other day. It is our only day to catch up on our sleep, do our laundry, go shopping, etc." That may all be true. But when are they going to worship the Lord? What will their lives be like if they only work and sleep and do laundry and never learn to know God? Jeremiah 16 tells us that he will choose fishers of men and hunters of men who will gather them to Him. I am here to hunt people, to help them know the truth. Where are the Lord’s hunters? You, too, are to be His hunters and fishers. How are people going to learn the truth if you don’t share it? If you learn the truth and then preserve it only for yourself, you will be as the servant given the one talent who buried it in the ground. The Lord will take away that which you have and give it to someone else who will magnify his talents.

My Brothers and Sisters, I urge you to do your part. If you invite only one person a week to come to church with you, you will see how God will strengthen your life. I am here to say the truth. I don’t say what I want to say, and I don’t do what I want to do. I say what the Lord wants me to say. You, too, can say what He wants you to say.

Next, Elder Wendt from Wisconsin introduced himself, a missionary new to the ward. He talked about how, following the feeding of the five thousand, the Savior sent the disciples to cross the sea of Galilee while he remained by himself to pray. Part of what I took from the talk was the reminder that even the Savior needed time to rest, to be refreshed by his communion with the Father.

Then, in the night, the disciples who were on the water were struggling. The Savior was on the hillside and saw that they were in need of help. They couldn't see him and didn't know he was watching. But he left the mountain and went to them to give them aid and comfort. He walked upon the sea to reach them. In other words, our Savior’s eyes are always upon us. He can see our struggles and will come to us when it is expedient. And when he comes to us, he can come in ways we would not imagine. When he came to them, the wind ceased. When he comes to us the storm ceases. I believe with Elder Wendt that the Savior is watching over us. He knows when we need him, and he will come to succor us, often in ways we do not expect, and often in ways we may not recognize.

Bishop Thlothlo, a young bishop with two small children, talked of the atonement and the grace of the Savior.

(Bishop Thlotho, left, JoBurg 2nd Ward, and Bishop Mulombo, 1st Ward)

(From Alma 7) The Savior has suffered the pains and sicknesses of His people. He has felt it. He has taken upon Himself all our afflictions that He might know how to comfort you and me. The Savior is calling for us to come to Him. Go to the Savior with your pains, Brothers and Sisters.

He told a story of a sister missionary who served with him who sent a letter to their mission president, her usual weekly letter. She told of how she and her companion, in complete obedience, prepared for a day of searching out inactive sisters. They worked and walked all day and found no one. Appointment after appointment fell through. At the end of the day, she felt that they had accomplished absolutely nothing. She was so discouraged and exhausted, she felt that she just couldn’t do what she knew she was supposed to do. And she knew they had planned to walk a long way out to another township to do the same thing the next day. As they walked home, she began to cry. She quietly told the Lord that she loved Him but that she just couldn’t do what He wanted her to do. As she walked and prayed, she suddenly saw herself kneeling before God telling Him of her love, but also of her lack of strength and ability. Then suddenly she saw and felt the Savior kneeling next to her. He said to Father in Heaven, “Father, I love her so much. I will make up for all that she can’t do.” With that strength she knew that she could do all things in Christ (Phillipians 4: 13).

Once more I have been taught in this great land by His Saints of this latter day. 2 Nephi 25:23 is true. I hope that I and each of you will have ears to hear.
Love, Dad

A Change in the Bishopric

We were pleased today to have our Fredrick sustained as a counselor in the Tembisa Ward bishopric. The first counselor in his testimony said that Fredrick had been the missionary who converted him while serving as a missionary here in Johannesburg. He had attended Fredrick’s wedding and now was glad to be serving with him in the bishopric. Several others, including the bishop, spoke kind words supporting and sustaining Fredrick. Over the past months the ward clerk and the 2nd counselor have both been released and neither one replaced. Fredrick has been clerking, as well as serving as ward executive secretary. (And from our observation, just about everything else that needs to be done on any given Sunday.) He has been out of work since December, although has had part time temporary work with a member of our stake presidency this past month.

In his sweet testimony Fredrick said, “Sometimes when we feel we can’t do any more -- that our backs are against the wall and we feel like giving up -- Father in Heaven gives us even more. Others may think, ‘he is qualified for this calling. It is right for him to be given this calling since he was the executive secretary.’ But I only think of myself, that Heavenly Father needs to teach me more. This is just a change of responsibilities. Heavenly Father looks at the desires of our hearts in each calling. He only asks for a willing mind and a willing heart. . . . (He then testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the Church and the atonement of Christ ).
“. . . Heavenly Father knows each of us and what we go through. We are preparing ourselves to live with Him again. He is shaping and molding us to live in a celestial realm. As we live righteously the Lord will extend his hand and meet us half way. He knows and loves each one of us. . . .”

We were able to attend his setting apart and took some pictures afterwards. This is President Matsusso of the stake presidency, Fredrick and Olga Owour, Bishop Obed Nkambule, and the first counselor Brother Ungunta in front of Tembisa Ward, July 5, 2009.




Elder and Sister Wells with our favorite African son and his wife (our good Relief Society president) on this special day.

The Fourth of July in Johannesburg

Yes, there is a 4th of July in Africa, but only the Americans celebrate it. We gathered for a barbeque at 3:00 but it was too cold to be outside so we met in the patron housing canteen. Here we are with our neighbors and friends, Dawn and Mike Wright.

The decorations were festive and the food great! Barbecued chicken, baked beans, a variety of salads, zucchini casserole (my contribution) and brownies, cookies, and apple and pecan pie. I was shocked to find some Campbells cream of chicken soup that morning at our little store and bought every can! (They were about $3 each and there weren't many. It was worth it to have that old home flavor!)
Later 10 of us met for a rousing evening of Mexican train (dominoes). Then, best of all, we were able to talk to Stef and Matt and Anita and some of the grandkids before we went to bed. Wow, what a day. Hope you all enjoyed your 4th as well.