MY HAPPY PLACE - September 1–13, 2015

Everyone needs a place where they can be totally and completely happy, where they feel loved, where all tension disappears, where everything looks brighter.  I visited one of my HAPPY PLACEs last weekend in Swaziland – the Lobamba Care Point!

 

When I stepped out of the car and these sweet orphans ran to us, I had an overwhelming feeling of love and joy that is indescribable.  MY HAPPY PLACE!  I had come home.    We had spent two years visiting this group of children.  When we left in 2014 there were 72 and now there is 105!  I felt like I had never left.  A HAPPY PLACE is never forgotten because it is built on memories, experiences and feelings that are forever implanted in the soul.  I was surrounded by those that loved unconditionally and found joy in hugs and suckers.

Amidst the joy, we heard some sad news.  Abigail, the lady that started this Care Point and ran it for 13 years (a Care Point runs totally on a volunteer basis and has to find its own source of funds to care and feed the children) passed away in June 2014.  This broke my heart.  She was such a grand lady with such love for these children.  Also, Nonitu, the teacher that had assisted Abigail for all these years, is not feeling well.  She was not there when we first arrived and I was heart sick.  But I know through my Heavenly Father’s tender mercy, we saw her slowly making her way to the care point.  I ran to her and helped her the rest of the way.  She sat down and had a hard time speaking.  When we left a year ago, she was vibrant and full of life but now every movement was full of pain.  She told us that she had been very sick but will get better.  That is all we know.  I love this woman.  She has been an inspiration to me and taught me what true volunteer work is.  She has given her life for 13 years to these children.  My two year service in Swaziland was just a drop in the bucket next to hers.  Nonitu, we pray for your quick recovery.  We love you.

Nonitu and Abigail just before we left.  At this time, Abigail was having trouble walking and sat most of the time.

Nonitu leading the children when she was feeling better.  How they love her!

Reunion of dear friends…..Nonitu

OUR VISIT TO THE LOBAMBA CARE POINT  -  OUR HAPPY PLACE

I love these kids…..they make me HAPPY

This little boy is the grandson of one of the teachers that live on the premises.  We saw him as a newborn.

He immediately fell in love with Sibusiso.

The week from Monday, 31 August to Sunday, 6 September was filled with getting the Church History Center organized with the vision of our new director, Leon Holmes.  There are a lot of secretarial responsibilities that are expected of me that I have no training or knowledge of what to do.  But I am attempting to learn and fulfill what the Lord has called me here to do.  I know that inspite of my lack of capabilities, His work will go on and He will succeed in making sure that His history is collected and recorded.  In between the working at the center I get to tend children waiting to be sealed to their parents at the Gatehouse – a separate building next to the temple that is used to house the children.  A lot of the children are from the DRC where they speak French so it is really scary for them to be away from their parents and all they hear is this strange language.  I feel for them.  Thursday, we had the first amazing lightening/thunder storm of the season.  It was magnificent!  I wish that I could take a picture and record the thunder so you can get an inkling of what the storms are like here.  The heavens open and send their fury.  Saturday we went to Soweto’s Adult session of Stake Conference and then the Davis’ had us over for dinner and games.  We had a great time.  I didn’t take a picture so I wanted to mention it.  Sunday we went to the Benoni Ward where Dominic Tshabalala is bishop.  His son, Minenhle,  who just turned 12, invited us to watch him pass the sacrament for the first time.  It was quite an experience because his father passed the sacrament along with him.  A memory that the both of them will cherish for a lifetime.  We also trained the ward’s historian on annual histories, Denise Young.  She is a long-time member with such a strong spirit.  It was a pleasure to be in her presence.  Then, it was time for the Walton’s to come over for dinner and to record their oral history.  He was a stake president and they were mission presidents in Portugal and Angola.  It was a great interview….they are a great couple.  He now serves as the ASEA Executive Secretary.  Again, I feel so blessed to be associated with such good people.  The week in pictures now follows:

This is Cecil Wood, the one that keeps everything working in the offices and in our flats, and his son, Kirsten, who leaves on his mission 16 September to Ghana.  He was so proud of his boy.  So glad to meet him. You can sure tell they are related.

On Thursday, 3 September, we went to a township called Atteridgeville and did an oral history with Flora Kolwane and Grace Modiba, her daughter…..members since 7 April, 1984.  Flora had 8 children and was raising them by herself.  She had a dream that she needed to make sure that her children were spiritually fed as well as physically.  So the next morning she woke and found a church. The pastor was Thomas Mokgokolo (I will find it out later).  According to the scriptures,  Thomas knew that the Lord’s church should be called by His name.  So he went to register his church as The Church of Jesus Christ but they told him that there was already a church by that name.  So he went searching for this church.  Later, while changing light bulbs on the streets, he came across the Sunnyside chapel in Pretoria and saw the name…The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (no coincidence).  So he went in.  There was a member inside that taught him some of the principles.  So the next Sunday in his congregation, he asked how many of them would follow him to this new church the following Sunday.  They started yelling at him, throwing empty cans and walked out.  Only 4 families remained.  Flora and her children were one of those families.  They were baptized a few months later.  Flora and Grace were great missionary warriors and the force for many joining in Atteridgeville.  They attended at the Sunnyside Chapel for a while but it was so far for these members to go.  They started attending in homes.  Flora was the Primary President, counselor, teacher, chorister for many years.  She was told in a blessing that because of her faithfulness, she would live by a chapel so she could always attend.  Years later, the church was built just a short distance from her home.  Now at 93, she says she can walk every Sunday.  No matter how she feels, the moment she steps onto the church grounds, she feels better.  There was a great story about how they obtained land for the chapel and many more that I do not have time or place to share.  Just know that there are the most incredible people here in South Africa, that have sacrificed so much for the gospel and is why the church is so strong.  I am humbled to be in their midst.

Flora Kolwane, turned 93 on 7 September,  and Grace Modiba.  I told them that we needed to have a birthday party with chocolate cake!  So the plans were made.

Their home that they have lived in since the 60’s.

On our way to take Grace home, we stopped to visit her sister – who was just called as the Stake Relief Society President.

Grace is a seamstress.  Her bedspreads and curtains were incredible.  Her house was this small room with material everywhere.  Look at that smile.  Quite a lady.

She told us that the past Sunday she had no money for transport to church.  So she walked for over an hour (and had to walk over the train tracks that frightens here) to get there and had to walk back.  Then proceeded to say….”I couldn’t miss church”.  It is hard for so many of us to drive down the street to go to church

We have been asked to help with the celebration the area is having to commemorate 30 years since the Johannesburg Temple was dedicated. It has been great fun to be part of the committees.  One of our assignments is to gather some pictures of the building process and get them copied onto canvas and then framing them.  This man was such a great help to us in stretching the canvas onto frames. He did a super job! (Our camera was going bad)

I went to take a picture on Sunday in the Benoni Ward and it was broken!  These are the only ones that took from Den’s camera.  I feel horrible about the lose of pictures.

Sister Denise Young – Benoni’s Historian

Elder Sifiso Ndwandwe who is assigned to this ward and his companion

HAPPY BIRTHDAY –  ASIA…. Miss  Asia is an amazing young girl.  Her smile can warm your heart and her feistiness keeps you on your toes.  She is one special girl.  Wish we were there to celebrate with you.

The week of 7 September thru 13 had 180 degree switch-a-roo on Tuesday morning.  We received a phone call early that morning from Elder Egan, the ASEA IFR representative, asking if Dennis could fly to Malawi at 10:30 a.m. to go pick up Elder Sibusiso Dlamini, one of our Lobamba boys, from his mission.  We knew that he was having some medical problems but was surprised when Dennis was asked to be his escort back to Johannesburg.  But it was immediately testified to us that this was what the Lord wanted.  We both looked at each other and expressed our thoughts that this was one of the reasons why we were back in South Africa.  Sibusiso has no one in Swaziland to return to except his gospel family and this would give us time to prepare his return and make sure that he had a place to stay and people to look after him.  We went into the center to get some things done and told Bro. Holmes that Dennis was leaving (he was not notified and was slightly irritated) .  We drove to the airport and I drove back all by myself.  My first time driving in South Africa.  I was shocked that I was not too frightened and made it back to the center uneventful.  I worked late at the center and then back to the flat to cook and get ready for Swaziland.  We were returning to our beloved Swazi home finally!  I had to go prepared with brownies and treats.  I baked until late. We were suppose to go to Flora’s home on Tuesday night for the birthday party that I planned with Grace.  They had all the family coming with dinner prepared for us all.  I felt so bad that I had to call her and tell her that we could not come.  I had baked a chocolate cake for everyone.  But it is an hour drive when traffic is good but in the afternoon, the traffic is horrific.   They celebrated without us and the cake.  But I told them we would return another day with a cake for Flora’s 93rd birthday.  On Wednesday at 11:00 I drove back to the airport to pick up Dennis and Sibusiso.  What a joy to see him again after so long.  He had grown so much.  He said that there were too many surprises for him in the last 24 hours.  He wished he was back on mission but I know things will work out for him.  We drove back to our flat.  Dennis and I decided that we could not go to Swaziland without a camera, so he went to fetch one while Sibusiso and I talked.  Mission accomplished with a new camera and then Dennis and Sibusiso went to a temple session while I got ready for our trip to Swaziland.  We ate and then off to Swaziland.  About 45 minutes into the drive we realized that both Dennis and I did not have our passports. So back to the flat.  By that time, it was dark so we decided it would be too late to start again, so we stayed and spent the night in our home.  But we were up at 4:30a.m. and off we went arriving at 9:00.  We had made plans with Pres. Siko Ntshalintshali and Nathi Dlamini to stay in our former home in Swaziland.  The senior couple has been gone since March and there has been no replacement.  So the mission president was so kind to let us stay there.  I was truly home again.  I am going to tell you about our experiences there with pictures which I am sure will be much more meaningful.  I discovered my HAPPY PLACE is not only the Lobamba Care Point but all the sights, smells, sounds, memories and amazing people of the entire Kingdom of Swaziland!  It was inexplicable joy to be back.

I need to tell you a story that I think you will enjoy and bring a smile to your face.  Dennis’ destination in Malawi was Lilongwe but was not told that there would be a stop in Blantyre.  When the plane landed he thought he was in Lilongwe, got off the plane, went to Avis to pick up his car, filled out the papers and then asked for a GPS.  He was told that there were only GPS’ in Lilongwe.  He exclaimed, “I’m not in Lilongwe?”  He hurried through customs again and managed to get back on the plane just before it took off.  We have no idea what would have happened if he had missed it.  Those kind of stories  you only hear about in movies.  But Dennis lived it.  I laughed uncontrollably and so did he after the fact.  Sibusiso was brought to Dennis (which was a surprise to him that Elder Lombardi was fetching him) by a senior couple in Malawi, Elder and Sister Birrell.  They had dinner and then back to the hotel for some basketball on TV.  We do not have television in our flat, so Dennis was psyched to be able to watch some sports.  But Sibusiso told me later that Elder Lombardi was not a very good companion because he made him break mission rules by watching television. 

Elder Sibusiso Dlamini

I had missed that smile

Playing games in our flat on Wednesday night

Sunrise was breath-taking

Border into Swaziland……Home again!

This sign with the cities made me smile – this young man posed for the picture

Shame….it was a hazy day..

Our first stop was in Mbabane to see Constance where she works…..it was quite a surprise for her to see us.  We were trying to get hold of Nathi to get into our home but our phone did not work in Swaziland

The sights of Swaziland that I have missed

We made a stop at the Ezulwini Chapel where Sibusiso was baptized and served as Branch Mission Leader

The car wash that greeted us every day

Execution Mountain

The US embassy in Ezulwini that they had just started building when we left

The entrance to our dirt road that leads us home

Our home sweet home

Lunch at Spurs in Gables

Mark – son of the owner of the Silver Smith

Owner of the Silver Smith – never can remember his name.  He made me a mother’s ring before we left to return to America

They enjoyed their brownies

Sister Mayala – we were at her baptism in Ezulwini.  She runs a craft market and is a great seamstress

On our way to Manzini

We drove to the Manzini chapel to see Tip Top but it was locked up

Tip Top had written us on Monday and told us that his brother had died and that he was sad.  We found him at his home where his family had gathered.  Tip Top has no children.  They introduced themselves as Tip Top being their uncle.  We made plans to attend the funeral on Friday night.

We found these elders.  The one on the right has been in the mission field for 2 days!  How green does he look?

We visited Futhi at work in Manzini – Xolani happened to come along when we were getting into our car

Then off to see the Mahlalela’s new home but we only found their daughter!

Our final stop for the day was with the Msibi family.  Masabandze, the oldest boy, told me that Thandazile had gotten married this year.  Their mother had still not come home.  Because of their father’s illness, AIDS, Masabandze, 17, was trying to provide for the family.  We found the 3 younger ones selling their avocadoes.  We bought the last 3 so they could accompany us back to their home so we could visit.  This family was our first love in Swaziland.  Their family dynamics has sure changed since we first met them. I love this family.

We ended our day with Sibusiso meeting with Pres. Siko Ntshalintshali.  They talked for an hour and President released him as a missionary.  Many plans were made for his future.  President Siko is a good man!  I know that Sibusiso will be in good hands. 

Friday started out with me making two batches of brownies.  Then off to more adventures.

In Joburg, my brownies are not working out at all.  So I brought all my ingredients to Swaziland with me to see if the recipe still works.  Success here in Swaziland.  Have no idea what is going on in Joburg.

Gone Rural was our first stop.  Sibusiso kept saying if he had known all these wonderful things were happening in Swaziland, he would have been more proud!

Brownies for all the ladies.

Another HAPPY PLACE – Baobab Batik

When Dennis stepped out of the car and these women saw him, they screamed, took off their gloves that protects their hands against the dye and charged for us.

Rice krispie treats for these young ladies.

These women work with the wax

Sibusiso wanted to show us where he grew up until he was 8 when his gogo moved to Lobamba.  So off we went to another part of Swaziland that we hadn’t seen.  Introducing Luyengo….

Women selling on the school grounds

This was the homestead where he grew up. 

I could tell that this was his HAPPY PLACE…..

We dropped Sibusiso off in Manzini to visit a friend and we went to see John & Sizar at Manzini Market, Busi Mahlalela at the meat market and our skirt lady was not there today.

John – the creator of most of our African craft at home

Sizar – the young man that did our nativity sets

Tip Top brother’s funeral. It was too dark for pictures.  But we saw so many of our wonderful Manzini friends.  Too bad our reunion was possible because of a sad situation. 

We took Futhi and Xolani home after so we could see their new flat.

Saturday, we had to say good-bye to our Swazi home.  It holds incredible memories for us.  It will always be a special part of our life.

We drove to the Manzini chapel where the Mozambique Mission president wanted to meet Sibusiso.  They were having a meeting with all the district/branch leaders…again wonderful to see all our friends.  We handed Sibusiso off to Pres. Siko but not before tears were shed.

Sibusiso had learned on mission to play one number on the piano.

Solomon Mahlalela and Xolani Sithole

Some Swazi leadership

Bheki Dlamini, Jubilani Motsa, Solomon, Mthethwe, Xolani

Same but with additions of Pres. Koch – Pres. Mozambique Mission, and Pres. Siko Ntshalintshali

Sibusiso met a young man that he knew while on mission in Malawi that was now serving his mission in Swaziland.  It is a small world in the gospel.

Before we headed home, we still had people to see.  Our first stop was Lobamba.  We saw Nhlanhla washing cars.

Above the car wash is where Mbongiseni lived – he is now serving a mission in Uganda.  We went to see his family.

This little boy is a spitten image of Mbongiseni.

This is Simphiwe Dlamini.  I always called her Zama’s mom.  I got to know her just before we left.  I always felt cheated that I didn’t know her longer because we connected immediately.  Love, love this grand lady.  She was baptized shortly after we left Swaziland and is now a counselor in the Ezulwini Relief Society.  The gospel changes lives!

Zama, Simphiwe and Dennis

We want to see Bowers and Lenhle Kanyembo before we left because we had not met their little girl, Victoria.  We met them at the Mbabane chapel.  There just happened to be a fireside that afternoon, so others arrived.

Little Victoria Kanyembo

Me, Lenhle, Bowers, Victoria, Mabel and Constance

We wanted to go see where Sibusiso was going to stay.  So we met Masisi who will be living across the street.

Victoria fell asleep on Dennis’ shoulder

A happened meeting with Carol Kunene

We had to leave our beloved Swaziland.  We were blessed to see so many of the people that have blessed our lives but there were so many more that we didn’t have the time to see.  My heart hurt when we crossed the border.  But we took the time to thank our Heavenly Father for sending us back.

We saw our first cape buffalo this mission at our rest stop on the way to Joburg.

We arrived home around 6:00 and went to the center for a few hours to work.  Then home to reflect on the wonderful time we had.  Sunday morning we attended church in the Orange Farm Branch and trained their branch clerk.  What a sweet branch. The Primary was practicing for their Sacrament Presentation.  Elder and Sister Taylor invited us to stay after for a YSA activity they were having.  Sister Taylor is an amazing cook, so we enjoyed a fantastic lunch with Ephraims Rescue movie after.  They had a lot of YSAs…..a fun group.  We finished the rest of the day at the center making up for the time we spent in Swaziland.

Dennis and Richard Tshuma – branch clerk

Orange Farm Primary

Their meeting house – the classes are held in the school rooms

The YSA activity after church

The Branch President – he was originally from Zimbabwe and knew some of the people that we knew from there

How they darkened the room for the movie

I was thinking about my HAPPY PLACE and I started thinking about what the Lord had to say about being happy.  Bro. Bukusa from Luputa, DRC told us when we interviewed him that all the answers to our questions and the training that we will ever need is found in the Book of Mormon.  So I went to the Book of Mormon to discover what the Lord says will make us happy because isn’t that what we are all striving for?  I found my answer…..”And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God….. neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of –ites; but they were one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.”  4 Nephi 1:15 – 17

I am so much HAPPY to be serving my Heavenly Father here on mission.  Sometimes I feel that it is a selfish thing to be searching for happiness – because that is all for me.  But I know that what I want for my children is to be happy…so I am sure that is what He wants for His children. I know that happiness comes from doing the will of the Father and obeying commandments.  This makes me HAPPY.  I have never worked so hard as I did in Swaziland.  I never served so diligently as I did in Swaziland.  I woke every morning and asked Heavenly Father where and what He wanted Dennis and I to do that day and he directed us and we followed.  We served him unconditionally.  We loved Him and His children in that part of His vineyard.  I think that is why Swaziland is MY HAPPY PLACE.