PREPARING FOR THE RAGNAR June 11–17, 2012

This weekend my children, plus a few others, ran a 197.4 miles – 34 hours – relay course through the Wasatch Mountains.  They start in Logan, Utah and run through the backside of the beautiful mountains to Park City.  There were 12 of them: Ty, Cassie, Terry, Misti, Gina, Pace, Cameo, Jeremy, Trina and then Travis, a nephew, and friends – David and Candice.  In my wildest dreams, I would never have thought my children would run – let alone a day and night, 197 mile run.  Way to go kids!!!  I couldn’t be prouder.

I had a saying on my refrigerator at home that read, “You will spend eternity in the kingdom you have prepared for.  So prepare NOW!”  I thought about the preparations most of the kids did to train for this.  They prepared daily for months to run.  They had a training schedule and stuck to it.  Can you imagine how difficult it would be just showing up expecting to run this without preparing?  Impossible for me!  I was thinking about this and thought about life and this mission.  Am I prepared enough for the greatest run I will ever do – life.  And my goal is eternal life with my Heavenly Father, my family and friends.  The stakes are pretty high.  “For if you will that I give unto you a place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you.”  D & C 78:7   I am not sure I have been diligent enough to make it to the end of this life prepared to enter into His presence and hear him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of the Lord.”  Matt 25:21  This is what I am striving for and I need to stick with my schedule and plans!  It is a good thing I have years ahead to continue preparing! 

Sometimes I feel like I am preparing more physical things than spiritual things.   I just have to hope that with the physical preparations, spiritual testimony develops.  This week and next consist of a lot of physical preparations.  I hope that I am doing some good.

Monday, we woke to a beautiful morning that was calling us to enjoy.  So we did.  We took a path that we had never done before (we found out later, that it was not the place to be.  I guess there have been thieves in the woods we were in that have threatened with knives)  We were trying to get to the Ezulwini Chapel but got lost.  We ended up far from it but saw some wonderful sights and people.  We actually saw a housing development that resembled a subdivision, just like home.  On our way home, we saw an older lady lying on the ground near the road.  Another lady was standing over her.  We asked if everything was okay and we found out that she was extremely dizzy and could not walk.  The second lady happened to just be walking by and saw her also and was staying with her to figure something out.  We told them we would hurry home and get our bakki and return to help them (we had no money on us).  I bagged some oranges and banana muffins for them and returned.  They were still there.  The second lady said that she had tried to negotiate with the kombi drivers for a ride.  She had enough for herself but not the sick lady.  But they refused.  We gave them some food, Dennis gave her a blessing and we stopped and paid for a kombi, put her on where the second lady took her to the hospital.  I was so impressed with the second lady.  What an example of the Good Samaritan.  She kept saying that she could not just leave the sick lady there.  She had to help.  I am sure she had plans of her own but did what the Savior would have done!  The rest of the day was spent cooking, cleaning, entertaining the elders who were arriving for ZDM and talking with Sbu while he washed our car.  We found out that it was his birthday on Tuesday and he was turning 26.  He had said that they do not celebrate birthdays and he had only had one cake in his life.  So, of course, we set up a lunch date for tomorrow and I made a cake for him to have with his family.

Our walk in a place we shouldn’t be

A subdivision!

June 12th - Happy Birthday Oscar!!!!  I can’t believe that you are two.  We love and miss you.  So it is Tuesday and  Zone Development Meeting with the elders.  They arrived at 8:00 a.m. for breakfast.  Feeding 17 hungry elders is difficult with limited equipment.  I kept making more batches of pancake mix and scrambled eggs.  We ran out of sausage and potatoes and banana muffins.  Good thing for easy homemade pancake mix.  The meeting was marvelous.  It went for 2 1/2 hours but felt like 1.  A lot of the elders mentioned that it was the best they had ever been too.  it was well planned and then the zone leaders asked each elder to share a spiritual experience they had within the last two weeks.  Wow!  These elders had some amazing tales to share.  The spirit is here in Swaziland and being spread throughout.  Eish it was my lucky day to be there.  We then picked up Sbu and took him to lunch for his birthday.  It was delightful to just sit and visit with him.  He shared life experiences, his feelings and thoughts, his hopes and dreams, his future plans for occupation and family.  We all need to take more time to just sit, talk and listen.  It is amazing what we find out about people.  We loved it.  The restaurant brought him some ice cream with a sparkler on hit, sang and he loved it.  We then took him home with his cake and he shared it with his family.  After we got home I made some more banana muffins because they were so good and not brownies or cake!!  Elder Mokoena and Elder Maclean came over.  Elder Maclean has been having asthma problems and we have been trying to get the right prescription for an inhaler.  Hopefully, we found one in Durban that will help.  We love visiting with these two.  They make us laugh.  It is a great companionship!

Happy Birthday Oscar – 2 years old

I love these boys!

Sbu’s special day!

Days like Wednesday’s are so unproductive and I do not like them,  but I guess they are necessary.  We just ran errands – Manzini Market to get tags, the butchery, store, making flip charts for training, baking brownies and cakes (plural) – the physical preparing part of my life here in my mission.   Dennis had to participate in a council and was gone most of the afternoon and evening.

Thursday would have been the same as Wednesday, if it hadn’t been for the delightful lady we met on our walk in the morning.  Her name is Tuire Linnovi-Thatcher and she is the Honorary Consulate of Finland for Swaziland.  Along with her responsibility as consulate, which she does not get paid for, she has a shop called the Yebo Gallery and a little restaurant.  We had seen it before on our walks so decided to stop.  Boy are we glad we did.  A person with a great sense of humor is so fun to be with.  We talked long enough that her assistant brought some coffee out for us on the patio which we had to kindly decline.  There are so many wonderful people in this world.  I am so lucky to be privileged to meet just a few!  We promised we would be back.  We have had illnesses among the elders.  Four have had the flu, two congestion problems, one an ingrown toenail that is infected and then one with the asthma problems.  We have been trying to help but I don’t think we help.  We made the rounds to visit the sick elders, ran more errands and then went to dinner with the Zawacky’s – a couple from Durban.  We went to the Italian Consulates restaurant which was recommended by our new friend, Tuire.  It was so fun.  It is just in their home.  They had a soccer game on which they were passionate about and we had homemade Italian food.  A great atmosphere and fun company.  Came home and called the kids to wish them well on the Ragnar, cooked 20 lbs of mince meat (ground beef), chopped and cooked onions and green peppers, made more brownies and cakes- all in the preparations for a grand event on Saturday in Gege.  Bed late!

The phone started ringing at 6:45 Friday morning and continued most of the day.  I did laundry, cooked some more, went to see the Zawacky’s, and then drove to Nhlangano where Dennis did a baptismal interview.  We visited with the elders and Thulani, Ayanda and their family.  These two boys are leaving for their missions on Thursday and leaving behind their 3 siblings in the care of Heavenly Father.  They have been taking care of them for years now and taking a ‘leap of faith’ to serve the Lord.  What sacrifices these people make to serve their Heavenly Father.  What a testament to me.  I told them that they remind me of the brotherly love of Joseph and Hyrum.  They are incredible.  Thulani is baptizing one of his best friends on Sunday, which we will be unable to attend, Simphwe Hlope.  We got home just in time to go to Mbabana Branch President’s home for dinner – Pres. Ntshalintshali.  They live in a beautiful home with a fireplace!! The best.  They have 3 children which I enjoyed along with a wonderful meal. We had a great visit and then had chocolate cake that they asked me to bring.  Seriously, I need to get out that I can make other food items!  Came home and finished the final things for tomorrow. (Picture of their family coming)

Thulani and Ayanda Mabuza

The young man in the red and white striped shirt is Simphiwe Hlophe, being baptized

It is Misti’s birthday, June 16th, and she spent her special day running the Ragnar!!  Misti, we couldn’t be prouder of you.  The Lord truly blessed us with an amazing daughter.

We went ‘fishing for souls” on Saturday.  Sis. Malinga from Gege and I have been planning this training/township party for weeks and all week I spent preparing food.  We loaded the bakki up with food, paper products, flip charts, hygiene kits, etc, picked up some district leaders – RS President, Sis. Ntshalintshali, Primary counselor – Sis. Khumalo, Music – Sis. Dludlu, and were on our way to Gege by 8:30.   We arrived at 10:0 to kids already gathering.  I keep forgetting that I am in Africa where an event takes all day!  The elders and Dennis were entertaining the children, others were preparing food, some were trying to put up a tent, and people were gathering.  We did some training.  Most of the presidents were unable to come but we trained those who were there.  I did Young Women.  The president has gone inactive – Sis. Ntshalintshali and I went to visit her but she was not there (she lost her 33-year-old son in February in a freak soccer accident and she has not come since), so I trained her two counselors.  The 1st counselor is 18 and has been a member since December 13th – she proudly told me.  The 2nd counselor is 17 years old and been a member for just a year (her mother passed away in February leaving just her and her sister to take care of each other).  This is your YW presidency.  I did a horrible job of training.  They did not understand anything about the Personal Progress program.  They did not know what a goal was.  I couldn’t think of how to explain it to them. They have one manual which we talked about.  I gave them Strength of Youth pamphlets.  These two know the theme and are trying to teach it to the others but they do not have a poster to show it to them.  They need so much.  I am bound and determined to make sure they have the YW torch necklace, a poster of the theme, Personal Progress books and some more manuals even if I have to go to Joburg to buy them.  They are the sweetest young ladies trying to do a women’s job.  May the Lord bless them and may I be of assistance.  The children played musical chairs, sang songs, played a game that I have on video that I cannot wait to show you all and were so good.  There were over 80 children.  They had a good time without being disruptive or misbehaved.  I absolutely love them.  They are so good.  When it was time to sit and listen to the adults, they did without any problem and when it was time to eat, they waited until the adults ate and it was their turn.  The Malinga’s had prepared a braai of chicken, pop, salad and some curry beans and I served all the children with the rolls, sloppy joes and chips.  And then everyone had brownies and cake that I brought.  149 people were served!  Some members but a whole lot were not.  We had a small program with the elders bearing their testimony of the restoration, the Primary children doing a reenactment of missionaries going out to preach the gospel (so cute to see their interpretation – some families listened, some kicked them out, some did not have parents, some accepted and were baptized and some did not).  They ended with singing I Am A Child of God which I have on video.  We had a great time and pray that the fishing will reel in some new members.  Sis. Malinga had such a good time she thinks we should do these every month.  A good idea but no way I could do it.  Too expensive and too much physical preparation. We got home around 6:30 just in time for us to make it to the store before it closes (grocery stores close at 7:00 around here. I have no idea what they are thinking closing that early.) 

Sister Ntshalintshali and Sister Malinga

The young girl on the ground (YW 2nd counselor) and the one in the tan coat, are the ones that lost their mother and they are on their own.

Relief Society Training

Primary Training

Young Women’s Training

92-years young (not Dennis)

We couldn’t get the whole group in one picture

Reenactment of Missionary work

Sister Dludlu and Sister Khumalo

Going home after a wonderful day

I took 150 pictures and a lot of video of the children singing and playing.  I wish I could share all of them but no room and you would get bored.  The extreme from the very young to the very old all in one place enjoying a Saturday afternoon was a blessing to be part of.  I often pinch myself to remind me that I am in Swaziland enjoying the people in a country so foreign to mine.  How was I so blessed?  Thank you Father for the gospel that brought me here.  Nkosikhona in his farewell talk today in Sacrament meeting made a statement that “wowed” me.  This comes from a young man that does not have a family, is a convert, is 22 years old, is currently serving as Young Men’s President and leaving on his mission Thursday.  He said, “It only takes LOVE to be a family not blood.”  With this attitude, Swaziland will survive. 

FATHER’S DAY  I want to take the time to express my deepest love and appreciation for the most amazing husband and father there ever was.  I feel so blessed to have Dennis as my soul mate and I am so thankful that my children are blessed with a father as caring, thoughtful and supportive as he is.   I admire him for the love he has for his Heavenly Father and his desire to serve Him.  He is a GREAT MAN!  I know that Heavenly Father loves me because he sent Dennis to be with me for eternity.  I am a lucky woman!

We attended the Manzini Branch to hear from two of the elders that are leaving on their mission – Muzi Dube and Nkisikhona Sbandze.  What great missionaries they are going to make.  Thulani and Ayanda Mabuza and Siswe Shonge were also speaking in their branches and all at the same time.  I wish that we could have been to all of them.  In the evening the elders came over to celebrate Elder Wilcox’s birthday which was yesterday.  These young men are the best.  Heavenly Father has blessed us with the cream of the crop!

Nkosikhona Sibandze and Muzi Dube

Elder Bangerter, Elder Ntombela, Sizwe Khoza – new missionary, Elder Mokoena, Elder Maclean

Happy Birthday Elder Wilcox

“For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.” Alma 34:32  I pray that I am spending my time in preparing to meet my Heavenly Father.  Sometimes all this preparation doesn’t seem to be leading me on a spiritual path.  When I evaluate Saturday and all the time it took to prepare, I wonder if it was what my Heavenly Father would have wanted me to spend His time on.  But as I look at the pictures and remember the warm feelings of love, friendship and joy of that day, I can’t help but believe that the people in Gege will discover that those wonderful feelings comes from the spirit and the gospel of Jesus Christ and want to be part of it.  Right now I am running the missionary race and I only have 15 more months.