A Saturday full of Missionary Activities

We met at the Elohim Church in Soweto where the Humanitarian
Missionaries had arranged for the presentation of this sewing machine.
This lady will teach other women to sew and in return they keep the sewing
machine.  The church program is to provide training along with the machine so
that the ladies might develop a business for profit.

These are some samples of the types
of products they might make to sell.
Purses, dresses, skirts, etc.

Elder and Sister Pederson are the
Humanitarian Missionaries that
arranged for the sewing machine
hand-over.  The church had a huge
celebration--decorations, food, newspaper coverage, etc. They were
very appreciative for the machine.
Pastor Sauls is in the colored shirt at
the back.

I took their picture and then gave each one a sucker.  Within
minutes the car was surrounded with the neighborhood kids
wanting suckers.  

Grandpa is teaching the children
how to wink. . .

Here is Grandpa doing his Missionary Calling--talking to
the newspaper reporter about the event.

We met at the Missionary Training Center Saturday morning to do a "Prayer Project."  An artist from
Cape Town has been going to different parts of the world to bring awareness of God through prayer.
He enlists the aid of different churches to record a prayer and then the exhibit is simply people listening
to the recorded prayers.  He asked us to participate so we went to the MTC and enlisted the aid of the
missionaries there.  We had  fifteen prayers in twelve different African dialects, English, Afrikaans, and German.
We spoke with the artist when he had finished recording and he said, "This was a very different kind 
of experience for me.  Usually the prayers are memorized and very loud.  Today I felt a gentleness 
and a calmness in the room.  Even though I could not understand the words they said, 
 I felt a quiet confidence.  I felt secure and connected to something important.  
It was a wonderful spiritual experience for me."

This is the finished product with the artist James Webb.

You could hear the prayers very easily.  You could really tell a difference with our prayers.
They were soft and simple.  Many of the others were loud and more like singing.

Welcome to The BYU Young Ambassadors 2012

The BYU Young Ambassadors arrive.  Africa has been preparing for this event for over a year.  So much planning and organizing!

Friends from the Area Office came to celebrate, and they really put on a show.  They danced and
sang, and did the African trill which delighted our American friends.  Red sweater is Moiponi Tshabalala and she is married to the Yellow tie guy, Dominic.  He is the National Public Affairs Director for South Africa.  Front and center is his Mom really decked out in African costume and beside her is Thoba Karl-Halla, an assistant in our office.

One very important part of the YA tour is to do outreaches every-
where they went.  The first one was in Roodopoort at the
Sparrow's Nest Orphanage.  The parents have aids so the children are
soon left behind.  These pods house a family unit of adults and
children.  As the parents die, the adults assume the role as a
parent and care for the children left behind.

The teens joined together and came to the center area singing with
some YA's close behind.

The BYU students spread out into small groups to talk and
play with the children.

They put on a short program everywhere they went.

The children are happy, clean, and it was very evident that they
were well cared for.  The is a lot of love for the children in Africa.

Then they passed out a bag of toys and treats to every child.
They were so excited and appreciative.  

This young man was deaf but he responded to Elder Grandpa's
love and friendship.

The first show was at a small theater in Roodoport.  This is Eric
and he is an incredible dancer which often included back flips.
As he landed one of the first back-flips, he bounced right off the
wall at the edge of the stage.  The audience gasped as it was
painful to watch.  But, the show must go on.  They took him to
the ER, stitched him up, and he performed in the next show.

They would interact with the college kids and Young Single Adults. 
This workshop was run at the University of Johannesburg.

Go Grandpa!!

Another outreach--a private housing unit for children that had been
burned (often from riots or unrest in their countries) and they had
no money for treatments.  This lady started her own facility
and has helped hundreds of children who were suffering.

Some of the children that have been helped and the multiple countries that they have serviced.

Pretoria, South Africa--the seat of government

Part of our responsibility as Public Affairs was to help host the VIP Receptions that were held before the Young Ambassador's Performance.  The Stakes would invite city and government leaders so that we could develop friendships.  Next to Lon is Brother Vusi Mavimbela (our dear friend Thoba's brother) and a member of the government farm initiative, and Elder Bricknell an area seventy.

The Reception in full swing.  The beautiful girl in yellow is Alexis Flake, a cousin of Lina Hatch and
one of the entertainers with Young Ambassadors.  The YA's were so out-going and friendly.  They were a real asset at the Receptions and after each show they went into the audience to shake hands, sign autographs, and take pictures.

Here they are performing with the SABC Choir at the Pretoria Theater.

Limpopo Area and Tzaneen, South Africa

Way up in the hills of Limpopo was a little school, ages 5-15.
The Young Ambassadors came to entertain and interact with
the children.

Elder Grandpa getting is "grandkid" fix.  We really miss
our "Kids."  All of them.

The Young Ambassadors first entertained the students.

I found this very interesting.  Most behavior charts in America
look a little different from this one in Africa.  Priorities are quite
different don't you think.

Each YA brought a new, favorite book and then read it to the
students.  Even though their English was limited, they were
all spellbound.  Several choose Dr. Seuss, "O the Places You'll Go."
One of my favorites, too.

There were several groups outside as well.  I kept bringing in
children that were looking through the fence with their big brown
eyes.  So the longer they read, the more students filtered in.

We passed out suckers at the end and that made a huge hit.

Grandma and her grandson as we were leaving the school.

The small branch in the hills of Tzaneen.

Tzaneen is the Hawaii of Africa.  It's really green and beautiful.

And it's the citrus fruit capital of South Africa.  I've never seen
such HUGE Avocados.

This giant tree is supposedly 6000 years old.  Really?!

A Side Trip to Kruger Park with the YA's

On the way from Tzaneen to Durban we drove right past Kruger Wild Animal Park 
so we spent the night there and went on a game drive.  As we were driving 
to our destination, look what was   crossing right in front of us.  
Finally, we saw a herd of elephants.  We were very excited to 
say the least.

    We drove for awhile and saw a variety of other animals and then the most wonderful
 sight of all--this herd of elephants playing in the water.  We watched them for 
about 15 minutes and the great thing was there were no other cars at that time 
so no one scared them off.  It was truly an incredible sight watching them play 
and splash and roll in the mud.

There were several baby elephants which was really fun.  I quite like this picture.

This looks like a mom, a junior, and a baby.

I probably took 30 pictures of these two play-fighting in the water.  

And then it ended--so sad.  What a treat for us.

Endangered species but unfortunately can't remember its name.

So far the best hippo picture we've been able to get.  We were quite far away.  They kill the most people of all the animals--quite vicious.  That's why no one learns to swim over here and they don't seem to have many public swimming pools either.  Between the crocodiles and the hippos, you do not venture into the local waters.  We often see "Watch for hippo" signs along the road.

The party animal at work with Grandma hiding behind the camera.