There are many ways of being fed. Physically here we do very well. My first response to living here was we would be eating peanut butter and jam for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, I have learned to adapt and found foods to substitute with and consequently, we eat way too well. And we feast often with elders right next door.
But this week was a spiritual feast!!! My spirit was fed to the point of bursting.
Tuesday was a day for me to be by myself and enjoy a beautiful walk around the nursery that we live next too and then around the area. The many Swazi birds were singing, the flowers were budding even though it is winter here, the cows were grazing, the people so friendly and life felt good. I made bread from scratch with my own human muscles!!! I wanted to surprise Dennis with something when he returned from his overnighter with the Mbabane branch and I figured the best surprise would be homemade bread. I was so thrilled that it actually looked like bread and tasted good! Portia, an Ezulwini young single adult, came over to try on her wedding dress that Sister Blackburn shipped over and we had a photo shoot! She was radiant. She is getting married in September in the Johannesburg Temple. (Her mother died when she was one week old leaving her and her twin brother, motherless) Dennis came home in the late afternoon and shared all the wonderful experiences he had with the Priesthood holders in the Mbabane Branch. What a strong group of leaders desiring to run the branch the way the Lord wants it done.
Dennis’ retreat with the Mbabane Branch PEC Committee
Woke up early Wednesday morning and made brownies for Zone Conference. We left around 11:00 a.m. for Newcastle where the conference was going to be held. It took us four hours to get there. (No cow incident on this trip). While traveling we entered a city in South Africa called Ermelo. It was like a US city with paved roads, houses on the side of a street, stores, stop lights. I felt like I was home. As we left the city Dennis and I both realized an amazing fact. We no longer see skin color. We are all just people living life the best we know how. A great realization for us. We stayed the night with the senior couple from Newcastle, Craig and Marvel Miller. We had a great time with them – shopping, eating, the men attended meetings, visiting and sleeping.
Thursday was a feast! We began our day being fed physically with breakfast casserole by Sister Miller. Couldn’t get any better!! Then on our way to the Newcastle chapel where we were treated spiritually by President and Sister Von Stetten and Brother Evans from the first quorum of the seventies and his wife. We were surround by 34 handsome elders all in white shirts, ties and suits. Really a nice group of young men. We met Elder Hilton who is our Stake President’s nephew and Elder Menlove whose “aunt” was a great friend growing up.
We were spiritually hand fed by a servant of God for 4 hours! And when he finished, I was still hungry for more. He told us that we may not have been there when Joseph Smith saw God, or with the pioneers when they crossed the plains, but we are having a pioneer experience here preparing the continent of Africa for the coming of the Savior. It is our duty to rescue the African souls, to bring them to Christ and then assist them in enduring to the end. Then he spent an hour talking about emphasizing our Heavenly Father as we teach the doctrines of Christ. We need to make sure we give appropriate credit to our Heavenly Father and making sure our investigators and members understand and know their Father in Heaven. (Within four days I was able to use this remembrance to a group of Young Women in a branch) Now remember we had a room full of young men and he talked about the first line of the Young Women’s Motto—“We are daughters (sons) of a Heavenly Father who loves us and we love him…..” My love for my Heavenly Father grew leaps and bounds in that hour realizing that I really do not remember and approach my Father as I should. We were taught of Christ. A statement that pierced my soul..”how many drops did He shed for me..”? Serving others is what missionaries do the best. We were told that we needed to “lengthen our stride” as Pres. Kimball admonished and reminded that it is usually through another person that the Lord answers prayers and Pres. Monson’s plea to “never delay a prompting”. It was a delicious feeding, one that I wished you all could have enjoyed! I really did not want it to end.
Brother Evans and his wife
While on our walk Friday morning we met seven ladies carrying saws and machetes. We inquired where they were going and they said that they were going to cut wood for their homesteads. It was just really strange seeing women carrying equipment like that. Later that day while driving we saw again a group of women at a river bed washing clothes together, laying them along the rocks to dry and their children having a great time splashing in the river with little or no clothes. How many of us take the time or opportunity to enjoy the company of other people while we are doing our daily household duties and the children enjoying nature while we are doing it? Life is simple here.
On our long drive to Durban a few weeks ago, Dennis and I made a list of things that we felt we needed to accomplish here on our mission. One of them was to get to know those who were recently baptized to make them feel welcomed. So we invited the wonderful couple that was baptized on Easter in the Mbabane Branch over for dinner Friday night. He is a bodyguard for the Prime Minister and she works for that branch also – not sure what it was called. They were Robert and Delisa Hlatshwako. What an amazing addition to the church. They will some day be prominent leaders. We asked how they were introduced to the church. Their story was incredible. They were almost through building their dream home when they discovered their foundation was faulty so it had to be demolished. They were sitting on their front steps of their now demolished home, trying to console each other by saying that the Lord had a purpose for all this, when two young men with white shirts and ties came walking by, saw them and approached them sensing they needed some TLC. The rest is history. They bore testimony that they know that if they were not sitting there at that time and in the state of mind they were in, they might not have found the church. Sister Delisa also said that she had been praying that she would find the church that would give her guidance in this life until she would again see Him. I might have fixed the physical food for them but they provided me with spiritual food. So much more important. We also had the Petersen’s from Durban for dinner. They were in town and we wanted to see them and this was the only time. We all had an enjoyable evening together. (Can’t believe I forgot to take a picture.)
Robert and Delisa are the 2nd and 4th from the left
Michael and Arlene Petersen
Saturday started very early with a long drive to Nhlangano. There was suppose to be a baptism but it was postponed at the last minute but we went anyway because it was Elder Cauble’s birthday and everyone needs a party for their special day. I made a chocolate cake and brought left overs from dinner the night before and we had a great lunch and birthday celebration. Then we went over to the chapel for a young single adult party. The Young Single Adults in Swaziland are an amazing group of youth. They love to get together, they are strong, they are committed to the gospel and they are continually feeding their testimonies. In the future Swaziland will be in good hands. We had such a great time. I want my grandsons to know that basketball is being taught in Swaziland!
Once a coach, always a coach!!!
Thulani Mabusa – he is leaving for his mission in June.
We hurried home because we had planned another dinner party at our home. Sister Sebe Shongwe is going to the temple for the first time and she had asked me to go as her escort. She had some questions and was frightened, so I invited them over so she would be in an informal setting for answering questions. Now, their branch, Ezulwini, was scheduled for May 10 – 12 to attend the temple but someone at the Joburg temple messed up and their reservations were cancelled. Her husband, the branch president, insisted that they were coming anyway so they had better make room. They have 24 members going and they have been planning and saving since September to go. After days of working it out they rescheduled them for May 17 – 19. But this made it so Dennis and I can no longer go because we have our senior couple retreat that same time. We were so sad. But the dinner was still on, questions answered, excitement kindled and we made plans to attend the temple together in the recent future. They are an amazing couple. He has been a member for a long time but her family are Zionists – a very strong religion around here. In fact, her father is a minister but she said they were supportive of her decision to join. But she has not told them about the temple yet. Not sure how they will react to that. How I would have loved to have gone to the temple with this amazing group from Ezulwini. Jon and Ann Smith also joined us for dinner. They are leaving in a week to return to Utah and we wanted them over before they left. We had a great time. We are surrounded with incredible people.
Sebe and Thokozani Shongwe
Ann and Jon Smith
Sundays was a time for feasting on the testimonies of those in the Manzini Branch. There was never a pause during the bearing of testimonies and most of them were again the young single adults. One young man got up and said that he has been investigating the church now for 3 weeks and the Book of Mormon is bringing him so much joy. He continued with he has learned to be a better person and he is happy and loves the truth. Seriously, he was beaming with happiness. I felt such a love for that young man. His name is Simon and he has a baptism date of June 2nd. Another young man told his story of how he didn’t get funded to go to college and was asking why. But now he knows that it was a blessing because he met the missionaries right after and he wouldn’t have been here if he had gone away to college. Then he said a profound statement….Heavenly Father always finds a way for us to keep the commandments. What a simple truth. Not sure about his baptism. Then I went to Primary and was able to teach the song “Baptism” to the children – impromptu and sure needed Cassie there. The last hour I went to Young Womens. Their president was not there so they had testimony bearing. After I was able to bear my testimony of the love their Heavenly Father has for them. After one of the young women stated that she did not realize that she had a Savior and a Father in Heaven. The Lord is always a step ahead of us – preparing us for opportunities in our future. I was so grateful that I had been prompted to share what I had been reminded of in Zone Conference. Later that evening the elders came over for dinner and birthday cake. It was Elder Ntombela’s birthday and again we celebrated!
Today was an end of a wonderful week. We drove to Manzini, then to Mbabane, then back to Ezulwini on Young Ambassador business (five hours of running around). They are coming tomorrow, performing on Wednesday and Swaziland is excited! We went to visit Nombulelo but she is on an educational leave until Wednesday. Hope she makes it back to see the Young Ambassadors. We have a ticket for her. Sbu came over to wash our car then we had a great conversation over dinner. He is a strong, humble young man that deserves all the blessings that the gospel has to offer. I pray that he will receive the desires of his heart. We took him home and was able to visit with his mother and his sister who had a baby on Saturday. I wish I could do justice to what that experience was like. I would have loved to have taken a picture but that is intruding on their life. His sister and her two other children were staying with them because of the birth of the baby. In this small room was three teenage boys, four little children sitting on the floor eating dinner, Sbu’s mom sitting on the floor with her grandchildren, another sister and of course, this three day old beautiful little boy. It was humbling to me and such a message of what is really necessary in life. You have four little children just sitting, enjoying their food, smiling and so cute, a grandmother being blessed with having her children and grandchildren surrounding her, teenagers sitting on the floor enjoying the moment and a brand new baby having the blessing of being a part of this family. It was a Kodak moment that will be engraved in the achieves of my mind forever. But that was not all. We ended the day by visiting a couple in the clinic (hospital) who had just had a baby girl yesterday. There were complications and she had a C-section. The elders had told us about them and the clinic is really close to us. So we went to see her. Again, I think I am doing service but I am the one that is blessed. What a sweet couple. They told us that this was their second child. Their first had died at 8 months. Then they proceeded to express their gratefulness to their Heavenly Father for blessing them with another child. What faith and understanding of the gospel. They also, expressed their excitement in attending our marriage class. I can’t wait to get to know them better. We need to visit them again before she goes home!
It is late (2:00 a.m.) and Dennis is already in bed. We have a HUGE day tomorrow but my heart was so full of the wonderful experiences this week, I needed to write. I cannot believe how lucky I am to be here and to be spiritually fed by these amazing people and my Heavenly Father. The Lord has truly blessed me with so much and I will never be able to come close to thanking him. But I know I can show him how much I love Him by keeping his commandments and serving Him in a pleasing way. I pray that I will be able to accomplish the things he desires of me here in Swaziland. There are so many that need this gospel of love. I know Heavenly Father loves me and watches over me constantly….”I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” His promise is felt constantly. I love reading the scriptures daily with my husband. I love waking up in the morning knowing that we are going to serve Him in this beautiful land. I love knowing I have the support of family and friends at home. You are a constant in my life – I know you are there for me. Thanks!! I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!
Enjoy another good day. Take time to be fed spiritually. It is amazing what we can learn!!! Good night!
What a great post! I wish I were with you; you'll probably hear me say that a lot in the next 16 months. Heavenly Father loves us all so much, and we do need to bear witness of that as well. Love you and pray for you multiple times a day!
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