Our Cup Runneth Over: THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE Sept. 10

“Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God,the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” Moroni 10:3 - 5

Dennis and I just finished reading the Book of Mormon together. I want to bear testimony of the truthfulness of this amazing book. I have read and pondered the words written by prophets of old and I have felt their testimony. I know the truthfulness of their words. I know the love the Savior has for each of us. His only desire is for us to return to live with Him and our Father. He has done everything to make that possible..now the rest is up to us. The path back to our Father and elder brother is written in this book. The answers to our many questions here on earth are written in this book. Finding true happiness is found in this book. My desire is for all of us to read it again and again.

Monday, Sept. 10th was a wonderful day! I spent the morning as usual baking but then met Pres. and Sister Von Stetten at the Manzini Chapel for missionary interviews. We got things set up, put out the banana bars that I made for them and then kidnapped Sister Von Stetten (Reenie) to introduce her to the wonderful people in Swaziland. First we met the Lobamba Boys at their snak shack. They were all there waiting. Those who say that Africans are not on time do not know the people I know in Swaziland. They continually amaze me. Sister Von Stetten enjoyed meeting these wonderful young men. Then off to the Msibi family we went. She was a hit there. They loved her immediately. We brought them guacamole with the avocadoes that she gave us. They had no idea what it was and once we showed them how to eat it with chips, the entire family loved it. We told them they could put it on anything but I doubt it lasted long enough to put it on anything. We came home and the elders drifted over after interviews and they enjoyed the visit with their “mission mom”. Around 7:00 Pres. showed up for dinner. We had a great visit. What good people we have the opportunity to be lead by.

Meeting the Lobamba Boys

Checking out a “Celestial” Boarding

“I Love You” greeting to Sister Von Stetten

Discovering the wonderful taste of guacamole

Half the elders with their “mission mom”

Good to have them in our home

September 11th will always be remembered as the day the “towers came down”. The sights of that day will never be forgotten by me. But now I have something else to replace some of those horrific memories – it is the day that Zwali was baptized in the year 2011! I made him an anniversary cake and took it over to him. He was excited. I didn’t want to take my “red plate” so I made him his own plate that he hung on the outside his snak shack. The elders said that the entire cake was gone by the time they got there. We then rushed over to the Msibi family to take them some more chips and they gave us a lot more avocadoes so we can make them some more guacamole. It was so cute – Sister Msibi sent Wendy inside to get some avocadoes and she came out with a bag. Her mother sent her back because they were too small and she wanted her to get the big ones. She said only the nice ones for us. I felt bad taking her main source of food. Then it was off to Portia’s to give her the last set of temple prep classes. She has a large knowledge of the gospel and her testimony is on a strong foundation. She will do well in the temple and with her marriage. A few hours later we were on our way to our marriage class in Mbabane. Just as we got off the freeway our brakes went out. We coasted down until we could find a place to pull over. Scary!!! We called a friend, George Dlamini, and he gave us a name for a tow truck and also called the people to cancel class. We waited for an hour for the truck because they could not find us. It is hard to give directions when there are no names for streets. They hooked the bakki up but there was no room for us. So we were in the front of our bakki as they towed it away. Very interesting to be in the front seat and seeing the lights of cars approaching you at a very fast pace. It was a nervous ride for me – delightful for Dennis. The young men at the garage were so cute and fun. They enjoyed the apple cake that I had made for our marriage class! The Mbabane elders picked us up and drove us home. We were unable to drive to Nhlangano on Wednesday to help Bro. Hlope build his home. Some couples from Durban were planning to join us. We were sorely disappointed.

Smar and Zwali

Our poor bakki being towed

Enjoying the apple cake meant for the marriage class

Wednesday morning we had some unexpected visitors – some of the Shongwe family and friend. They were on there way to the clinic (hospital) because Sister Shongwe had a bad stomach ache but stopped by to get some papers for a conference in Joburg that she is going to. I offered some pancakes to them and they whole-heartedly agreed. After they ate Sister Shongwe said that she didn’t need to go to the clinic anymore because she felt better. The magical cure of pancakes. For those at home, remember that. It will cost you a lot less than a hospital visit. Later, the elders came over, Pam and Ervin Zawacky arrived, we picked up our bakki (can you believe, less than a day. If it had been Manzini Nissan motors it would have been a week), fixed dinner and than the elders came over to celebrate Elder Mokoena’s birthday (another cake!). A full but happy day!

Xolani Sithole, Sister Shongwe, Mac Shongwe

Elder Mokoena blowing out his candle – the elders do get to choose what kind of cake they want but it always seems to be “chocolate”!

Heavy, heavy hang over thy poor head….

Elders and the Zawacky’s

Elder Dickerson doing a “table dance” for Elder Mokoena

The birthday group

Thursday the troops arrived for our big career/self-employment workshop - the Gundersons from Durban and the Webb’s and Basso’s from Joburg. We drove to the Manzini Market for sight-seeing and then to the Manzini chapel to set up for the events for the next two days. We then took the Webb’s to visit the Msibi family and then met the others at Summerfield for dinner. I was up most the night preparing lunch for the following day and had just gotten into bed when I heard this racket on the roof. It was hail! I went outside to watch this amazing storm and Pam Zawacky joined me. The pictures I have do not do it justice. They were pretty big stones and the ground appeared to be covered with snow – it was white and even deep! When talking about the storm to others the following day, some told me that it was so bad that the hail killed some of their chickens. Sad but too funny!

A little girl we saw at the Manzini Market just sitting with her make who was selling her wares..isn’t she adorable!

Wendy carrying their water jug on her head. She was returning from getting water.

Thandazile, Petunia and Sister Webb

They are tending two extra little ones – Petunia’s sisters children

The boys planted this garden. They built a fence around it to try and keep the cows from destroying their work

Coming down from their home, we saw these children carrying wood on their heads

Dinner – Basso, Webb, Gunderson, Lombardi, Zawacky

Our first hail storm

The next two days were filled with wondrous people, great presenters, marvelous ideas and rain. It rained and rained but the people still came – drenched but committed. We were so excited that they came inspite of the weather. Remember they do not have cars. They came on kombi’s and foot from Mbabane, Ezulwini, Manzini and Nhlangano and they were on TIME! The presenters were 1/2 hour late because they got lost but the people were prompt – even early. I was so proud of them. We had two workshops – Career with 10 and 15 participating and Self-employment with 32 and 35 attending. On Saturday most of them returned still in the rain and we had even more that came. For lunch on Friday I fixed barbecue chicken with rolls, coleslaw, chips and Texas sheet cake and on Saturday we had spaghetti, rolls, toss salad and banana bars. It was a great event filled with so much information for the people. They soaked it up and loved every moment. Hopefully, they can go out and use this information to better their lives. There were many who had plans for a business and just needed extra help to get those plans off the paper and into the real world. Please pray for them. They need all the extra help they can get! Thanks to all that assisted in this wonderful weekend.

My new skirt and the sweet lady that sews for me from Manzini Market

Saturday night we drove to the Shongwe’s – a rutted, dirt road – in the pouring rain so we could attend institute class at the Shongwe’s. Manqoba is the teacher and has wanted us to attend so we did with Elder Zawacky (Sister Zawacky was not feeling well). What a spiritual ending to a wonderful weekend. He gave a great lesson on Amos – gratitude for our Savior and following the prophet. What spiritual giants these young people are. The Lord has a plan for them and I feel badly that I will not be here to watch it all unfold. I arrived dry with my polka-dot rain boots!

Portia leading the music

It rained for 5 straight days. A lot of the homes are built with wood and mud so you can imagine what happens when there is so much rain. We saw homes where the mud was literally washed away from the home. I thought of the song…”The wise man built his house upon the rocks” and”The foolish man built his house upon the sand” and when the rains came the house on the sand washed away. I used to think why would anyone built his home on sand? Why would anyone built his home with mud? The answer – they are not foolish, they just use what they have to work with. It is as simple as that.

Sinking outhouse

September 16th was Sunday and we attended church in Nhlangano with the Basso’s where they spoke and then did a fireside after about employment. The Gege group of 32 came and with Nhlangano’s 45, it was a full house. We arrived home late and had Basso’s and Webb’s over for dinner.

Sister Basso and some wonderful saints

They served sandwiches between church and the fireside

Inside a kombi

Monday, Sept. 17 (my mother’s birthday) we picked up Manqoba early to take him to pick up a letter from his school with his accomplishments on it. He has an interview for a job and needed this letter. We then took him and picked up the Basso’s so they could give extra employment help to those who desired it. There were 5 that showed up. They were there for 4 hours. Manqoba’s interview went well but they want him to work on Sunday and he said that was not negotiable. The employer said that all the others said they go to church but when he mentions that they have to work on Sunday, they tell him that they could work that out. He was impressed with Manqoba’s commitment. He will find out on Wednesday if that materializes to a job. We then took the Basso’s around to some of the sights – Swazi Candle, Baobab Batik, Gone Rural, Pineapple plant and then dinner. We arrived home exhausted but grateful for a full day.