Out of Africa

Greetings to All,

The past 6 days have been a roller coaster of emotions and events.  I will start with today because it was fantastic.   We picked up the missionaries assigned to the Enselini Branch and drove them 25 minutes to church.   These elders bike or walk, so the Zone Leaders need to drive them to church each Sunday, then turn around and drive back to their own branch.   We were so grateful we could help with "transport" (as they call it).  The branch was welcoming and uplifting.    The only drawback is that we cannot understand most of their English...about 1 out of 10 words.    We try to at least get the gist of the conversation but it is challenging.   This is compounded by the fact that their first language is Zulu.   We were told everyone spoke English but that hasn't turned out to be the case.   In church meetings they go back and forth between Zulu and English.   Today in Sacrament Meeting the speaker said I am going to speak in Zulu because that is my native language.    He began speaking but every 5 minutes or so he would speak a sentence or two in English...then back to Zulu.

When it was time for church to begin (RS/Priesthood), there were only 9 people there and 4 of them were the missionaries and 2 more were the Branch Pres. and his wife, so we combined RS/Priesthood meeting.   A returned missionary taught it right from the Ezra Taft Benson manual and it was powerful.     Next came Sunday School and the same man taught the Sunday School lesson also.   I went to Primary to see if I could help.    In Primary there were 18 children 8 years and under.   I couldn't tell if it was sharing time or class time.    We were in a tiny room with the Branch President's wife teaching from the Children's Book of Mormon stories.    She said to the children:  You are a Child of God.   Then she asked:    Who are you a child of?    and they replied,, God.    We did this 5 or 6 times.   Then she asked the same question in Zulu (the younger kids only speak Zulu and the older kids are learning English at school).    We all sang, I am a Child of God.    She talked about how God loved them.   We sang, The Wise Man/Foolish Man.   Then we played Musical Chairs (the music was the kids singing).    Each child ate a bag of chips for a snack and we went to Sacrament Meeting. 

We went into Sacrament Meeting and sang without any piano or CD.    A missionary elder with a great voice, started us off.   

They asked Larry and I to bear out testimonies, then there were 2 speakers (one was the same man who taught Priesthood and Sunday School!!!)

Afterwards we stacked the chairs, swept the floor,. boxed up the hymnals, Sacrament trays and sacrament tablecloths and left.    They meet in a Day Care Center for children with AIDS so they only have the building on Sunday.

Then we went to the Branch President's home for dinner.   They live in a tiny place...the entire home could fit into my living room/dining room.    I helped a little with dinner...it was awkward because I didn't know how they do things.    They asked me to make a salad and handed me a head of lettuce and a bowl....do I wash it or do they just tear it up?   how?    The tiny sink was piled high with dirty dishes. I couldn't see a faucet.  I asked if I should wash the lettuce and they said, yes.   I took out the core and tried to get the lettuce under some running water when they told me that I must wash each leaf (iceberg lettuce) one at a time and lay it in the bowl.    I tried to dry or shake off the water but it was very wet.   I am not fussy or worried about germs, but even I was taken aback when they sat the raw chicken  on the clean lettuce and the juice from the raw chicken was all over the raw veggies.   I silently prayed for the samonella germs (or whatever) to take a vacation.   We ate outside because there was no where to sit inside AND because it was cooler outside. We sat in plastic chairs under a mango tree!!!!    It was perfect although there was poverty and dirt all around us.  

The chicken was so spicy hot that I could hardly swallow and we had nothing to drink and no liquids in sight.   They gave me 2 pieces of chicken and I managed to eat them both, although my mouth was on fire.    I ate the beans and the green salad...I made a huge salad but they only gave us each 2 small pieces of lettuce (did I make way too much, did I do something wrong???)  But they gave me a huge plate of rice...I tried to eat it...but I couldn't.    They said I must eat everything...I was feeling sick.   Finally I said, I couldn't eat any more...    I said no thank you to any dessert (in advance), but they brought so much anyway.     The Branch President said he made it just for us.......I ate and ate and felt terrible.   But I said it was good.....so now they invited us over for Friday night where he is going to make it again for us..   Politely, I said, just one desser on Friday night would be great...but no deal....lots more is coming on Friday.

We stayed and visited for 4 1/2 hours.   We had a marvelous time.   They are an outstanding family.   They have only been members for 5 years.    They are filled with humility and the spirit.   We felt such love for them.    We knew they were doing everything to please us, to spoil us, to honor us.   We know they had worked so hard on the dinner etc.   Over and over they repeated that this was our home now (meaning their home).   Usually the senior couple covers 4-5 branches, but they asked us to come to their branch mainly.   We felt very,very honored.

I love these people.   I love being with them and learning about their ways.   I love seeing how they live the gospel.  A huge challenge for me is that I cannot say one person's name.    I love to call people by name.....but these names are sounds I have never hear.   Even the missionaries from Ghana say the Zulu names are very difficult.   How can I serve them if I can't call them by name?    I will have to learn them.

Friday we felt like "real missionaries".  I am in charge of the missionary boarding (apartments) so I did the cleanliness checks...won't even discuss that.   But we were able to meet all 10 missionaries we are responsible for.

Saturday night we had the elders to dinner and they announced the transfers for this week.   They arrived 1 hour late after Larry called and asked if we had the right night.  They were still at their apartment and didn't seem to be concerned about coming.  Then we did missionary work with them for 45 minutes and then we ate a reheated dinner.   We are very impressed with these zone leaders.   They were very discouraged and we did our best to "pump them up" and show lots of love.    Missionary work here seems to be very very difficult.

We have tried to make friends at the grocery store and everywhere we go.    I love that part.   In the grocery store a clerk pointed at our name tag and said "Jesus!"    I said, "Yes, we love Jesus!"

Not quite as good as news:

Monday, was the first time Larry used our debit card.    We went to the ATM and then drove 2 1/2 hours to our new home.   We stopped to eat dinner and he discovered the card was missing.     Our cell phone, given by the mission, only works 50% of the time...(our phone is a missionary phone and just calls and texts..not a smart phone.)   The phone wouldn't work.    The next day we tried to get our home internet working and "minutes" added to our phone so we could make calls.   Long story.   No internet until Saturday...phone still sporadic.   We finally got our debit card cancelled......but how will we get a new one?   Our missionary phone will not make phone calls to the USA--not even toll free numbers.  Luckily Larry had another card. 

Then we came out and discovered someone had mashed in the front side of our car.   After that we bought $200 of groceries for our small frig/freezer....but the next day the frig was hot and the food yucky.   We finally discovered that a switch on the wall that looks like a light switch, turns the frig off and on, and we had flipped the switch and turned the refrigerator off!    Then we looked at a box that looked like the electricity box and discovered it was about to run out.    We drove to the store and bought more electricity and thought all was well.   However, the meter still registered that we were in trouble.   We went and got our landlady and she showed us how we had to enter it into our own meter box.  WHEW...just in time.

Larry has been incredible in hanging in there to get the internet.    He called and waited on hold for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.   Then they asked his information and said they would transfer him.   You guessed it...they disconnected him.    He called again and the process repeated.    After one morning of this we jumped in the car and drove to the office.   After waiting 30 minutes, they told us to go home and call.   We explained what had happened and they nodded and said, "That is how it is."   Larry did this Tuesday-Friday for hours at a time.

Larry has been a great driver and it has been challenging.

I have not told you anything about Africa...but I will if you decide to read another word from me another time.