SWAZILAND IS ON FIRE April 22–28, 2013

This weekend Swaziland was ablaze with the spirit.

“Fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who "arose like fire" and whose "word burned like a torch," brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. This event was a "figure" of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches.

John the Baptist proclaims Christ as the one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus will say of the Spirit: "I came to cast fire upon the earth." The spiritual symbolism of fire is one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit's actions.”  This is the kind of spirit that penetrated Swaziland this weekend.

Ten were baptized on Saturday in the Mbabane branch.  TEN!  We think that is a record for the most baptized at the same time in a single branch here in Swaziland.  It was a powerful ceremony and their testimonies after were simple but given from the heart.   Then the following day, Sunday, they were all confirmed.  Elders Condie and Holmes gave the most amazing blessings.  They each took turns and with every person confirmed different blessings were given.  The spirit talked personally to these young and not so young people.  Phrases like “guarded by the spirit”; “strength to share your testimony”; “spirit will fill your soul”; “eager to serve in the church”; “confidence in the things that you know”; “fill more fully God’s love in your life”; “keep the promises that you have made at baptism alive”.  I was truly impressed with the maturity these young men exemplified during those 25 minutes of being the “spokesman for the Lord”.

Boysie Dlamini (a returned missionary) and some of our newest members

Two more were baptized on Sunday in the Ezulwini branch.  Two sweet young single adults that will add strength and power to this branch.  Their testimonies after were again given with conviction and humbleness.

Lungile Nkambula (baptized), Elder Norbert, Mbongiseni, Sifiso (baptized), Elder Kiwumi

During all this, Bro. Courtney, our patriarch, was here giving 13 patriarchal blessings to members in the Ezulwini Branch.  He gave 3 Friday night, 8 Saturday and 2 Sunday.  After Saturday’s marathon, he came home and went into his room.  He told us later that after entering his room, he knelt down and asked Heavenly Father to give him strength to finish the evening.  He said he stayed on his knees for about 5 minutes and during that time felt strength enter his body.  He came out, said he was now ready and we went to dinner with 3 other couples.  What an amazing man Bro. Courtney is.  It is a privilege to have him in our home.

Patricia and Patriarch Courtney after her blessing

After the baptisms on Sunday, we had a fireside for all the Seminary and Institute students in the district.  Sofiso Madela from the area office in Johannesburg who is over CES, came and gave 50 young people a marvelous talk on the importance of education and faithfulness to get out of poverty.  He told his story which is very similar to what a lot of these young people are facing.  He was raised by his gogo in Durban with 8 other boys in a two room building where they cooked and slept.  He found the gospel at 18. He went the route of education and faithfulness while others in his family did not.  They are still wandering while he has a good job, a beautiful family, is bishop and finds happiness in doing what is right.  He then proceeded to tell them that they, too, could find themselves able to provide for a family without having too fight for the necessities of life if they are willing to fight hard for their education and remain faithful to the covenants they have made with the Lord.  He told them that going to church is never an option on Sunday.  You do it!  I appreciated every word he told them.  Now if they just take what was given and add the “spirit that was on fire” and move forward, they will succeed.

Sofiso Madela and his sweet wife and daughter

Some of our amazing Swazi youth

Yes, it was an incredible weekend.  Swaziland was on “fire” with the spirit.  I pray that that spirit will continue to burn within all of us!

Monday, April 22nd, was really hard for me to get up.  I was definitely not on “fire”.  Actually kind of bummed out because of the no electricity thing and not being able to talk to Trina.  We had to leave before the electricity was back on.  We went hunting for furnishings for the new boarding; food shopping for dinner tonight, met up with Nathi in Mbabane.  When we arrived home around 3:00, I was able to call Trina.  I woke her up but so relieved that I was able to talk to her.  That night at our Lobamba boys FHE, one of the new members asked us about the rules for hair in the church.  He has dreads and said that he has been getting comments from members that he can’t have them being a priesthood holder.  He was concerned and asked us about it.  We told him that there is no policy in the church about your hair.  He can be a faithful priesthood holder and have dreads (they really are not that long).  Then we proceeded to tell him that when he serves a mission, his dreads will have to go. 

Marcos – what do you think about his dreads? 

Remember last week about my frustrations with modern technology….it was like deja vu this week.  We woke Tuesday morning with our internet down but it came on a little later.  But when it was time for Dennis’ presidency meeting over Web Ex in the afternoon, it was out again.  He had to miss his meeting.  Quite disappointing for him.  Then earlier in the day he went to the SRA to register the bakkis and said they needed a different tax number since last time.  They change their minds as often as women do.  Eish.  So we met up with Nathi in Mbabance just to find that we need something else before we can get the something else we need.  Now you may be confused and I may be evasive, but seriously, that is about my level of understanding. That night Dennis went home teaching with Senzo to the Shongwe’s and had a great visit.  Senzo, a recent baptized member, gave a great lesson on obedience.  Dennis gave our nightly prayers that night and told the Lord that he was tired of these technological and changing of procedure problems and asked him if he could please stop them – we both burst out laughing.  It lightened our spirits and I am sure  Heavenly Father was laughing right along with us.

I thought Pace would get a kick out of this

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were days all blended into each other.  Such things as boarding checks – they are doing so much better and I have noticed that they are staying that way; attending DDMs with fabulous lessons; went to Mbabane Motors numerous times to complete papers for our new bakki; baking brownies, cookies to make sure I have on hand when needed; buying frig, beds, couches and chairs, supplies for the new boarding in Nhlangano; Dennis attending District and Branch Presidency meetings; going to the government offices numerous times to get tax numbers for the new bakki (Nathi is a life saver – we do not know what we would do without his help); visiting members; visits to our home from Nathi and Masisi – they got a wedding ring!!!!!; Xolani proposed to Futhi and she said yes!!!  Busy and enjoyable.

This little girl lives next door to the elders in Nhlangano.  She was outside doing her wash right next to our bakki.  You’ve got to love these children.

When Koy was here, he mentioned that he did not realize Swaziland was so mountainous.  I guess I have not included enough pictures of the beauty of the mountains here. This was taken on our way to Nhlangano and it was overcast and hazy but still beautiful.

Saturday, April 29th I already mentioned the 10 baptisms.  A highlight of mission.  We also picked up a new bakki!  The area office is frustrated with buying South Africa bakkis and Swaziland giving us hassle.  So they bought one in Swaziland….  an Isuzu.  It also has 4-wheel drive which the other one did not.  But this bakki is truly gutless.  We cannot go up the slightest incline without having to shift and even then it barely makes it.  I just mentioned that Swaziland has lots of mountains and getting to Mbabane from Ezulwini is a huge climb and we take it almost daily.  I guess we do not have to worry about getting a speeding ticket….we can’t even go the speed limit.

Ended our glorious day with these wonderful couples and Patriarch Courtney

That was our week.  A week with routine missionary responsibilities but a weekend that was powerful and “fire that was brought down from heaven”.  The Lord blesses us daily and I am so much grateful for his love and comfort and guidance daily.  Weekends like this one are tender mercies that he offers me.  I accept them as a gift and hope and pray that they make me a better person for having them. 

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”  Matt. 3:11

THERE ARE NO SPIRITUAL ORPHANS April 16–21, 2013

We had the opportunity to watch conference this weekend.  What a glorious experience it was.  To sit and listen to the prophet’s and apostles words from the Lord was inspiring.  It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord answers my needs and concerns through his mouthpieces here on earth.  He did not fail me, yet again.

“…He is our Heavenly Father who knows us ,loves us, and wants us to return to Him.  Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer, who through the Atonement made it certain we will overcome death and live again and possible for us to be exalted and have eternal life.  The Holy Ghost is our comforter, revelator, teacher, testifier and guide.  Think of it, brothers and sisters—we are not spiritual orphans!  We are not alone.”  Elder Stanley G. Ellis.

“We are not spiritual orphans.  We are not alone.”  That statement pierced my heart.  Living amongst so many earthly orphans, I never thought of all of us having  “spiritual parents and family” and no matter what happens here on earth, we will never be spiritual orphans.  We will always have a father, mother, siblings that will love us, comfort us, protect us, and desire for us to come home.  The young man that wrote that letter last week, may be an earthly orphan, but he is not a spiritual orphan.  He has a loving Heavenly Father and Mother that is watching over him.  Like any loving parent, our Heavenly Father has shown him the “way back” through the gospel and is looking forward to him returning back to his Heavenly home.

Earthly orphans but NOT SPIRITUAL ORPHANS

Care Point

Bulembu Orphange

Sunday, April 21, 2013 at 8:18 a.m. a little boy left his Heavenly Father and Mother to come down to earth to join this earthly parents, Brian and Trina Wiseman  – Liam Brian Wiseman weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.  A perfect little body who has already shown his sweet personality.  Mother, baby and father are all doing well but grandma is having a difficult time not being able to love and caress this sweet spirit.  Grandmas just need to be part of this earthly family and it literally “hurts” to be so far away.  But we are so blessed that everything is well and little Liam is in the “hands of a loving God”.

Tuesday we arose real early and started our journey to South Africa to visit the quaint city of Barberton to register our bakkis.  I love the drive through this part of Heavenly Father’s kingdom – it is beautiful and Barberton is a peaceful, delightful little city.  This time  Elders Holmes and Condie joined us.  I mentioned that it was a peaceful city but just after arriving we heard  noise of running feet and voices chanting something we did not understand.  We looked around and there were numerous students running up the street holding banners.  We migrated over and found out that they were protesting their principal and sat in front of some government office until they were heard.  You have got to love students taking a stand.  Later, we found out that the vehicle registration department was on vacation for a week, so we had to go to Nelspruit (I have been trying to find a reason to go there and someone else found one for me!) to get an inspection registration.  Of course, it couldn’t run smoothly.  Their computers were done so we had to wait for a couple of hours – shame!  We called a couple that we had known in Sandy that was serving there and they joined us at McDonalds for lunch.  It was so fun to see them and spend some time in this beautiful city.  We drove back to Barberton and then to the border where we spent two hours, arriving home at 8:00 that night.  I enjoy these little excursions.

Students protest

Beautiful city of Barberton – reminds me of Park City

In Nelspruit enjoying our time with the elders, eating.

Elder and Sister Hunt ~~ fellow Sandians serving in Nelspruit, South Africa

What a crazy Wednesday.  For those of you that know me, you know that I am a total modern technology spaz.  And apparently a lot of people here in Swaziland can be put in my category, because seriously their computers are always down.  So that makes me think no one knows how to run them or fix them, just like myself!  So, why do I mention this.  First of all, Tuesday we spent hours waiting for their computers to work in Nelspruit.  And then again today we spent hours waiting for computers to work.  Dennis was in a long line at the government offices to pay for work permits for the elders.  He noticed that no one was coming out or going in.  So he asked if the computers were working.  The answer, “No and we don’t know if they will be up in a hour or even tomorrow.”  Seriously, were they not going to tell anyone?  So Dennis came home not having accomplished anything.  We attended Mbabane’s DDM with Elder Stengile, who is the new District Leader, giving the lesson.  It was fabulous!  These elders put so much time and effort into their training lessons….I am so impressed.  Elder Stengile took Elder Nielsen’s talk from last conference…”Ask the Missionaries”… developed it and then added Alma 43 & 49 which produced an amazing hour of instruction and learning.  Loved it!  We then searched for furnishings for our new elders that are coming and discovered that we really need a DI here.  Their second hand stores are very few and very expensive.  We called to see if the computers were up and they said yes.  Hooray!  So off to the offices we went just to find out that they close at 3:00 p.m.!!!!!  What great hours.  That is the place to work if you can find a job. While we were eating dinner, we received a phone call from the Misibi’s.  We kind of got from the conversation that the babe had hurt his foot and they needed help.  We called Jerome Shongwe to have him call them to find out exactly what they needed.  In the meantime, Den went to his District presidency meeting but was only there for 1/2 hour because Bro. Msibi needed someone to take him to the hospital. He picked up Jerome to be the interpreter, then Bro. and Sister Msibi and went to the government hospital in Mbabane.  That is really an experience there.  After 4 hours, they said it was not broken but they put a cast on anyway.  He finally arrived home at midnight.  In the meantime, I spent the night at home working on the modern technology that I am always complaining about….but when it works it is great!

Mbabane’s DDM

Elder Stengile

Thursday was spent giving thank you notes and brownies to all those who have helped us recently with our projects – Mbabane Motors for their help with our bakkis and Swaki Construction for the donation towards the paint for our zone activity.  I made a collage for them of some of the pictures of that marvelous day – something I have learned to do and enjoying using this knowledge.  We ran other errands and Dennis attend the Ezulwini’s branch presidency meeting. 

I got a new stamp in my passport on Friday, April 19 – Mozambique!!  We joined some of the members of the Manzini branch on a one-day trip to Maputo, Mozambique.  We met at the chapel at 6:00 a.m., loaded up a kombi with eventually 24 of us and drove to the border.  We had tried to get our visas before we left for Mozambique but had difficulties, so they told us we could get it at the border but for a much increased price.  But we figured it was worth it.  My first experience with Mozambicans was not positive.  After filling out the papers needed we went back to the desk.  We might as well had been invisible.  They would not acknowledge us, ignored our questions and kept helping other people.  We probably stood there for 20 minutes with our irritation increasing.  We told them that we were holding up a whole kombi full of people to which they finally got someone to help us.  But she either does not like her job or was put out that she had to help us, because she was extremely ornery.  She had to take our picture and was rather rude about the whole thing.  After an hour we finally finished and our passports were stamped!!!!  We later found out that they probably wanted “extra money” – that is why they ignored us.  How were we to know that and phooey, they got enough of our money just to visit for a day!  Every country has its beauty and Mozambique is no exception.  The homes are built differently than the ones here in Swaziland.  We tried to get pictures but we were moving too fast in the kombi.  They are not built with wood, rocks and mud but with reeds layered perpendicular – don’t know how to explain.  It was quite interesting.  They speak Portuguese in Mozambique and all the signs are written in the language also.  Here in Swaziland, they speak siSwati but all the billboards, adds, etc. are in English.  Boy am I thankful for that simple fact.  Downtown Maputo is crazy. The traffic is unreal with pedestrians and cars going every which way.  We stopped to exchange our money which was quite an experience.  While there I was taking some pictures of our members on the streets and some men started yelling at me telling me that I can’t do that.  (Again, later they said that they probably wanted money for their picture) After the border experience, I was thinking that all Mozambicans needed a lesson on how to be kind and cordial.  I was standing in the kombi’s door a little disheartened, when I looked over at a lady sitting on the ground by the curb with wares that she was selling and she looked up and SMILED.  You cannot imagine what that smile did for me at that moment.  It softened my feelings and helped me remember -  first of all, that I was a missionary and secondly, that I should never judge a whole group of people by a few experiences.  We are all children of God and he loves us all.  I jumped off the kombi, went over to her and gave her a hug.  She had made my day with a smile.  Of course, I then ran back to the kombi, got out my container with cookies and offered her and her children and friends some sweets for their kindness.  I was ready for the rest of the day.  We drove to a very large market that sales second-hand wares.  It was chaos with people and stuff all over including on the ground where we were walking.   The members discovered some great buys and then we were off to the beach.  It will never really hit me that I have seen and been in the Indian Ocean.  Amazing!  We took a boat ride across the bay to another section of Maputo.  A drunk man attached himself to Dennis and I and followed us all around the beach.  He was telling everyone that he was with us and when we told him he had to leave, he said that we were suppose to pay for his way back.  The fare was granted and he left.  We arrived back just at dusk and the beach front was a myriad of lights.  The drive back home was peaceful and relaxing after spending a day with such wonderful people in another amazing country in Africa.

Our group headed off to Mozambique

Vuzi Mamba

Our drive to Maputo

Arriving in Maputo

Dennis and Solomon Mahlalela

The lady with the black and white sweater is the one that brightened my day

Playing foosball on the streets

We saw these carts everywhere with all kinds of fruits

Second-hand market

Another lady that was smiling at us when we were in the kombi waiting for the others  Look how wrong I was with my first impression.  She is beautiful and radiates love!

It was a windy day at the beach

These “wraps” used for skirts were sold all over.  Every young and old women were wearing them.

Our traveling buddies from Manzini

Futhi and Xolani

Our boat ride

Maputo skyline

They were selling these fish on the wharf.  Look at that eel.

Mahlalela’s and Lombardi’s

Saturday, April 20th was spent being instructed by our prophet and apostles at our watching of general conference.  We  spent Saturday’s sessions in Nhlangano with only 8 other people.  It was a small group but we all enjoyed being spiritually fed and also enjoyed being physically fed with barbecue chicken sandwiches and brownies.  After the sessions we went to visit the Mabuza sisters but only found Nombendulo, the oldest.  We talked to Trina and Cameo on skype but it made me cry seeing my two pregnant daughters together.  How I miss my family. 

Elders Armstrong and Awalla setting up for conference in Nhlangano

Nombendulo (in the middle) and her friends

Conference for me has always been a special time and this was no exception.  Sunday’s session lightened my spirits.  Pres. Monson’s talk on Obedience was super.  I am so grateful to be taught by a prophet who speaks for our Heavenly Father and shows us the way to return to Him.  I enjoyed all the talks.  We came home after Elder Holland’s talk during the second session so we could call Trina before she left for the hospital.  We waited impatiently for their call informing us of his birth at 8:18 a.m. (4:18 p.m. our time).  We were thrilled.  We were able to skype and see him when he was about 40 minutes old.  These are the times that I love technology but just a few hours later, I truly hated it.  After we talked to her, we told her we would call back in a few hours.  Well, a few hours later our electricity went out and never came back on until noon the following day – 15 hours of no connection with home.  Poor Dennis, his wife was a mess.  I stayed up most of the night, hoping the electricity would come back on and then I could call, but it never did.  I was so sad that I had missed most of her first day as a mom.  But then again, Heavenly Father sent us a blessing.  Sifiso and Nhlanhla came over to visit.  I fixed them some food and they shared their struggles with us.  These young men are in such need of just the basic of life – food.  The only food they have is one meal at school and the weekends they have nothing.  Sifiso shares what little he has with Nhlanhla.  By the way, Sifiso is being baptized this coming Sunday.  He is already attending church weekly and also institute every Saturday and is doing home teaching.  We are among some amazing young men.  We need to find a way to sustain them.

Well, another week in Swaziland has passed us by.  They are passing very quickly.  Most of the time we love being here.  But at times when important events are happening at home, my heart aches to be there.  But I guess that is what a parent does – longs to be with their children during the good and the bad times to buoy them up and share in their joys and sorrows.  For a great many of the people here, they do not have an earthly parent that longs to be with them to share their experiences so we put them in the hands of their Heavenly parents because there are no “spiritual orphans” and they will be their source of strength.