Greetings from Africa

This past week reminded us of the many blessings that come from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the goals of our mission is to assist African young men and woman to serve full time missions.     This includes strengthening their testimonies, providing opportunities for them to work with full time missionaries, filling out missionary applications, obtaining police clearances, passports and medical/dental exams.   In the past 3 months we have done all those things.  We have a young woman and a young man with their mission calls!   I can't tell you how exciting that is for us.

  Larry realized that they did not have their patriarchal blessings.   He immediately began trying to make that happen.   Because we are not in a stake, there is no patriarch.  Things got a little complicated because each person needed to be interviewed by the mission president but he was not available.   The mission president called and authorized Larry to give the final interviews instead of him.    We contacted a patriarch from Durban (about 2 hours away) and he agreed to come up.   He said he could do 9 blessings for us....3 Friday afternoon, 3 Saturday morning and 3 Saturday afternoon. (That is a LOT of blessings!)   Larry contacted the 5 branches we work with and found out who else would like a blessing besides our 2 missionaries.   Friday afternoon we were at the chapel with the three members waiting for blessings.  As each person came out from their blessing, they were radiant.    They were not able to speak for quite awhile.   Then they began to express how the blessing had opened their eyes, or had changed them, or had taught them, etc.    Each blessing took an hour, and because transportation is such a problem, we all come together and go home together.  So we all sat together and basked in that wonderful spirit for over 3 hours.    Their lives were changed and our appreciation for these blessings was rekindled. 

That night we were blessed to have the patriarch stay at our home.   He spoke freely about his experiences for 2 hours.    Just one thought he shared:  " Heavenly Father has billions of children on the earth, yet he takes the time to stop what He is doing, and speak to one person and give him/her a very special message.   This message shows that he knows us individually, loves us, and has specific things just for us.  Isn't that incredible?"

  Saturday morning we picked up the next group for their blessings, and continued to feel this outpouring of love from Heavenly Father for these people.   Elder Todd and I felt so blessed to be a part of this.

As the blessings finished, we couldn't decide whether to drive people home (45 minutes each way) or give them the taxi money.   Suddenly Larry said, let's take them home.   After we dropped them off, Larry said "Should we stop by the Young Adult Activity?"   We were both tired and didn't really want to go, but we thought we would stop for 20 minutes.    To make a long story short, we helped set up, get food ready and then began to leave when the person in charge said:  " Thanks for speaking today."  We both looked at each other in confusion.   She said:   This is the spiritual part of the activity and that is why we asked you each to speak.  (Neither of us remember EVER hearing anything about this.   we hadn't even planned on attending this event.   Why would she think we were speaking?)   But 5 minutes later Larry spoke and did a great job.  I was grateful he had to go first because I had no idea what to say.   I wanted to run away and hide.  When it was my turn,  I didn't feel words flow from my mouth, but things that I had studied and read the week before, came to my mind and I shared them.    It might not have been a spiritual experience for them, but it was for me.

 We ended up staying and helping for 2 hours and then rushing to our appointment for the night.   During this appointment, the inactive brother committed to attend church the next day.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the path to happiness.   I am amazed at His love for each of us.

We count your friendship as one of those blessings in our life!  We read the RS and High Priest newsletter and enjoy hearing about the wonderful things you are doing.   We are especially grateful for the missionary work you are doing and the lives you are blessing.  We are grateful to join in fasting and prayer for Page, Abbey and Brad.  

Love, Elder and Sister Todd

Greetings from Zululand!

Hello All,

Thank you for your emails.   We love hearing how you are doing.    We care very much about what is going on in your lives....the great stuff, the good stuff, and the not so good stuff.  

We have had a very busy week .   We hope we are doing the MOST important things.   We still struggle to decide where to spend our time and efforts.  It seems like each week we discover another need or another concern that we care about.   Before we arrived, I had preconceived ideas about what was most important, what would benefit the people and what I wanted to do.    All those notions have flown out the window.    I was wrong on most accounts.

CONFESSIONS OF AN INFERIOR STUDENT

When Larry and I were in college taking a geography class together, I crammed the few nights before the final exam while he studied faithfully a little bit each night the entire semester.   When the final exam came, I always scored higher than he did.   I would tell him NOT to study so hard.    However, a few years later when we were reading about world events, he always knew exactly where the countries were and knew a great deal of information about them, their leaders etc.    I, on the other hand, have forgotten almost everything!     In fact, both the African and Afrikaans people are amazed at Larry's knowledge of the history of Africa.   He knows about the revolutions, colonization, present leaders and unrest/peace of most African nations.  He knows about their present leaders and political issues happening now.

Today, I am being reminded again of my "cramming" habits.   While teaching third grade, we briefly studied the metric system.   I dutifully learned the equivalents for meters, yards, centimeters, kilograms, kilometers etc. I thought, "When will I ever use this?"  But TODAY I am making dinner for 12 hungry missionaries and I CAN'T remember any metric equivalents.    I have a kilogram of sugar.....how much is that?  I need 7.5 ml of salt...how much is that?  I need a cookie sheet 11 inches by 17 inches.....there is nothing in my flat that looks anything like that size and I don't have anything that measures in inches.   I remembered there were 30 cm in a foot and 100 centimeters in a meter...but that is all.     I would look it up on the internet but it is load shedding---and the power is out.      Larry is shaking his finger at me and saying "I told you so."

DINNER

Before our mission I said "I don't want to spend my time feeding the missionaries."   Well, I still don't like all the cooking.   But they are SO appreciative of a big home cooked meal with homemade rolls, cake, roast or chicken, etc.    I have 3 crockpots going and the oven will be full when the power comes back on.   (The oven is very small).   However, at 11:30 AM the power went off.....so I am here typing.    It will come on in 2 hours and I hope that the food will be done by 6:30 PM.  It looks completely raw so maybe we won't eat until 8:00!  Right now, the crockpot seems like a very bad idea.

SCHOOL DAYS

I love seeing the kids going to school here.   EVERYONE in  every grade wears a uniform. Each school has their own colors for their uniform:   blue, green, maroon, gold, red or a combination.  So you always know what school a child attends by his/her uniform.   Our neighbors say that they do this so if you see any child walking around town or the neighborhood during school hours you know where they belong.   The public can call the police and they pick up the student and drop them back at their school!!   Girls wear skirts or jumpers, a white shirt and a tie (like a man's tie).   The boys wear long pants, white shirt, and tie.   Both boys and girls have a vest or a long sleeved sweater they wear when it is colder.   These students always look neat and clean when we see them.  How do they do it???  Dirt is everywhere.    Clean white shirts (they always look IRONED) on every student.   When I see the condition of their homes, I don't know how a clean white shirt could possibly come from there!!!  And do they really iron them??? Looks like it.     Remember how hot it is here????   And how humid????   The students are wearing these uniforms with ties all day in oppressive heat.   Most of them wear long sleeved shirts for some reason.

All students must have uniforms, regardless of their financial situation, and they get the money somehow or they can't attend school.   It costs $20 (USA) a year to attend school per child for government/public schools (the lowest quality education).

I am familiar with 2 first grade classes.  They are both similar so I will describe Mrs. Gezane's.   She has 70 first graders in a room smaller than my room at Field.   

They have very narrow TINY tables that seat 3 students.    They have 9 students in a row... touching.  They have no where to store any books or supplies...everything sits right on top of the desk.   Each student has 4 workbooks, stacked on top of each other.    They work in their math workbook and then put it on the bottom of the stack.    Then they do writing in the next notebook and then put it underneath, etc.   They sit elbow to elbow.   There is no room on the floor to put workbooks or supplies not being used at that moment.

The desks take up the entire room from front to back.   When the teacher wants to have the entire class "come and sit on the floor together", they push all the desks together towards the back of the room and then sit in the empty space.
   

There is no air conditioning and NO FANS.  

They have a nice chalkboard and alphabet letters and pictures on the wall just like the US..only in Zulu.
  

There are NO books anywhere except their reading workbooks, math workbooks, etc.

Since I have been here, I have not seen one child from K-12 with any kind of a book besides a textbook.    Again and again I ask students, "What books do you like to read? "   Or "Do you have a favorite author?"   I always get a puzzled look.   I am discovering that no one (that we work with) ever reads anything "for fun"...even at school! They only do reading instruction at school.  Breaks my heart.   But they say:   We don't have time to read....because after school we need to watch TV and play video games.

Most students walk to school and many walk long distances..you can't miss them in their sharp uniforms.   But those with some money hire trucks to pick up their children and drive them to and from school.   They are VERY small pickup trucks.   They pack between 11 and 14 kids in the back.  I am enclosing a picture but their faces all blur together and you can't see how crowded it is.   

They do have testing at the end of every grade K-12 but my teachers tell me, that everyone cheats (teachers and students) because no one can pass.  I don't know about that yet.    The end of the school year is December. 

I will say, that every child seems happy in school  that I assist....very happy.

Yesterday, I helped a high school girl with her homework.   She was supposed to write an essay on "The Most Important Things in Life."   She had no trouble identifying the most important things (she was right on!) but her essay filled an entire page and was only ONE huge run on sentence.  It contained many phrases all connected by the word "and".    The thoughts were jumbled and repetitive.  It was deja-vue from my third grade writing class.  Mary Finch, where are you????    This would have challenged even your editing ability.  (Mary is a great writing teacher.)    Well, we finished that essay and did a rough draft of  an "interview" writing assignment.  I ask if there is anything else.   She pulls out her science notebook with chemistry questions.   Yikes.  They do not have textbooks.  The teacher photocopies a few paragraphs from each unit for each student.    If the question could be answered from the paragraph, I was fine.   But otherwise, I was in over my head.   So what did I do?????   I emailed my children the questions and hoped they would check their email in time!  

SPECIAL FAMILY

Friday night as we drove home from Enseleni (a township), I was overcome with love for the people we are working with.   I can't describe the feeling.   I truly know  "we are brothers and sisters"....it is not just a phrase.   They call us "their family".   We are treated exactly like their family--we have complete access to their home, food and meager belongs.

The Alvana family hosts all youth in the area that would like to come for a lesson, games, etc., every Friday night from 6-9 PM.    It is dark by 6 PM (it is fall), so Larry makes so many trips driving around to pick up kids and then driving them home afterwards.   They cannot be outside after dark because of the crime and violence--even to walk a 1/2 block.  We are inside a locked metal gate at the Alvana home.  We still sit outside in the pitch black for our lessons/activities because there is no room inside.   I have purchased several flashlights and they have one light by the back door.   The teens are learning to lead a game, sing a song and teach a song, tell a story, give a 2 minute uplifting thought.   These are HUGE steps.

Gugu Alvana (the mother) just told us Friday night that her cancer is back.   She had cancer 4 years ago.    She has asked us to be with her at her doctor appointment on Monday.   She said, "You are my family.   I need you to be with me."

We love serving God's children in Africa.   We know that Jesus Christ lives today.   We know he has a plan for each of us.  

The Todds

Help with Science!

Hi!

I am helping a girl with homework.    I have been doing fine but then she brought out this science worksheet (but no textbook where I could read about it, because I had no idea)

If you break down each of the following, how many different substances would you recover?
Mercury
Sodium chloride
Water.....I guessed hydrogen and oxygen
Carbon dioxide
Oxygen
The questions were all about elements versus atoms and the element table. 

Love,
Mom

Sent from my iPad

P.S.    Suzi did send me the answers!

For My Grandchildren

Hello to our Future Church Leaders and Missionaries!

1.  Once a month all 12 missionaries in our zone (including us) meet together.    During this time, the zone leaders teach us a lesson.   We count on them to share a powerful gospel message with us----and they always do.   One of our zone leaders is only 18 years old and the other one is 19 years old.   They have the responsibility to teach missionaries from 18 years to 69 years old!  It is a big job to instruct us for 1 hour.   We love being taught by them.   So as you attend Young Women, Young Men, Seminary and Sunday School, try to discover what touches your spirit and what inspires you.   You will need that knowledge on your mission as you teach others.

2.  At our last meeting, our zone leader read an announcement from the Mission President to all missionaries.    It concerned new guidelines for how they spent their lunch time.    The new guidelines were very challenging and would require creativity on the part of the elders.    After the announcement was made, several elders complained.   A few other elders said that the new guidelines couldn't work.  One elder said, "It can't work in our zone, the President doesn't understand how it is here."   

Then one elder raised his hand and said, "This is a chance for me to be obedient.   I know I can make it work if the president asks us to do it.   I want to be obedient."  Suddenly the room was quiet.   Two elders remained kind of grumpy, but the others all began to say things like:   Well, maybe it can work."   The atmosphere became optimistic again.  We could actually feel the change.

I LOVE this elder----he wanted to be obedient.    Just by saying, "I will obey the president" he blessed HIS life and the entire group.

I WANT YOU TO KNOW, THAT IF YOU DECIDE TO BE OBEDIENT, NO MATTER WHAT, YOU WILL BE BLESSED.  

Remember, the power of ONE person. 

I love you so much.    I know the gospel is true.   I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only true church.   I KNOW that trying to follow the commandments makes us happy.   

Love,

Sister and Elder Todd

Wasn't Conference Wonderful?????

Wasn't conference wonderful?   We were so disappointed because we wouldn't be able to watch conference for a month or so.   Then Saturday we had an appointment in a township 45 minutes away.   On our way home, about 9:00 pm we stopped to get gas.  After the gas tank was filled, Larry went to turn on the car and it wouldn't start.   In fact, it wouldn't make a peep.    He tried several things but nothing worked.    We finally found someone who would jump us (we had jumper cables in the trunk).   Eventually the car started, and we drove straight home.   We planned to make a stop, but we were afraid to turn off the car until we reached home.   It is definitely not a good idea to be out at night here, unless you are in your locked car and moving.   We arrived safely home.    The next morning (Sunday) we went out to start the car to go to church and it wouldn't turn over.   So we went inside and waited for general conference to start.    We are able to get conference on our computer because we have the internet.   But the chapel and members don't have internet, so we planned to wait for the DVD from Salt lake to come, and attend regular meetings with our branch until it arrives.    We would have called our zone leaders to come and pick us up, but their car also broke down and had to be towed to the car dealership.  (In fact, we spent the afternoon getting their car towed and running them places).   So neither of us had cars.

So Sunday, we sat and watched 3 sessions of conference (2 sessions from Saturday and one from Sunday---- because we are 9 hours ahead of you.)  What a blessing it was!       I loved every talk, but 3 of them tied for my favorite!

Whitney Clayton (story of the 7 year old girl who survives the crash)

We need to see the light and fight toward it.   We will have to endure our own spiritual wilderness and fight to live......Each day we face a test----will we believe?  We must actively choose to believe...we won't actively discover the truth anymore than we will accidentally pay tithing.     I noticed his use of the word "fight for it".   Usually we don't hear such strong words in their talks.

Wilford Anderson

"I can teach you to dance.   But you have to hear the music."    We can teach our children the gospel but they must hear the music."  Invite our kids to sing with us.  If they can't her the music....keep practicing!"   I love that part....keep practicing.    I am still practicing.

Dale Renlund

*****A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying!   I love that.   

If we don't repent, we are latter day sinners.

If we quit, we are just latter day quitters.

The church is like a big hospital.  We are all sick in our own way.   We come to church to be helped.

What was your favorite part of conference?

Friday night we had a very special experience at FHE.   We were at President Alvana's home and the nonmembers didn't show up.   However, we went ahead with FHE for their family.   I showed pictures of all the stages of Christ's death/resurrection.   We discussed them and then put them into the proper sequence.  By now it was pitch black in their back yard.    I had wanted to read the actual scriptures about his death/resurrection, but I didn't think anyone could see to read.   When I asked them, they said they could.    We read from Luke 23 and 24 in round robin style.   We discussed the topic even more, and then Larry said we would sing the closing song.  Sister Alvana hesitantly asked if she could bear her testimony before we closed.  She proceeded to bear the sweetest testimony.   She repeated over and over how blessed  she feels that their family found the gospel.   The spirit was so strong.    She and her husband are trying so very hard to live the commandments and follow the church teachings.   We can  feel that every time we are around them.   Yet everything is so hard for them.....trying to figure out how to teach a primary lesson (either the  primary kids sit in rows and listen to someone read scriptures for 1 hour OR they pass out bags of chips and they eat non-stop for 1 hour), teaching seminary is so confusing for them AND filling out the attendance forms and registration forms are IMPOSSIBLE for them (inspite of one on one helping); AND recording tithing properly is overwhelming.     It makes us stop and think about how easy we have it because we have been raised in the church and have seen what a well functioning ward looks like.   They have NO IDEA what it should look like in spite of 6 years of senior couples.   I have a renewed testimony of how much Heavenly Father loves each one of us despite our weaknesses and strengths.    I desperately want this family to be able to stay strong and enjoy all the blessings of the gospel.    It also shows me that if we have a strong testimony of the BASICS, we can feel the Savior's love.   

Two weeks ago we were in charge of a district/stake young adult fireside.   It was held at a building on the other side of the district.   We were to show a CES Broadcast.   Larry had been trying to download it for a week but because of power outages and inconsistent internet at our home, he hadn't been able to do it.   Two days before, he finally succeeded.   We picked up the projector from the district president and Larry did a run through to make sure everything worked and the program was completely downloaded.   That day was one of the hottest days we have had.   We arrived at the building about 1:00 and no one was there to unlock it, we found someone to unlock it and went inside.   It was soooo hot.....and there is no air conditioning.   The chapel is one of those large portables.   We were all sweating and sticky but we settled in to watch the broadcast.   Two minutes into the broadcast, the projector quit so we couldn't project the video onto the wall.   After a half dozen futile attempts to fix the projector, everyone gathered around the laptop and tried to see it.   But mostly they just listened and tried to fan themselves.   After it was over we served fried chicken (that's right-----greasy, hot chicken).   Remember how I said the district president wants people to get something substantial to eat at every event.    We had enough money to buy chicken but no sides or anything else.    They LOVE Kentucky Fried Chicken and it is in every town (almost). When we served it, the first two people grabbed a drumstick.   Every single person wanted a drumstick but there were only two.   Now we know.......only serve drumsticks!  And...don't count on the church projector!

This week we have secured a police report for a missionary application (it took a half day), fed the missionaries twice, gone on teaching appointments, trained branch leaders, looked for property for a church building, talked to inactives, found glow sticks for the missionaries for their branch activity, passed out a half dozen church cards, and given the elders an Easter Egg Hunt and more.   The Easter Egg hUNT WAS A HUGE HIT WITH THE ELDERS.

We feel so blessed to be serving a mission.  It is  discouraging, work, but we love it.  

THERE IS NO PLACE WE WOULD RATHER BE.  The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored.   Thomas Monson is a living prophet..    We love you!!

The Todds

To the Most Wonderful Family

To the Most Wonderful Family,

I know this is late....sorry.     The days blur together and I forgot it was conference weekend.

PLEASE PREPARE YOURSELF AND YOUR CHILDREN FOR CONFERENCE.    They have so many ways to make it interesting for kids....for one session or maybe two.   I wanted to send some ideas but I couldn't get the link to email to you.    

But also, prepare yourself for conference.   Please listen to conference with at least one question or concern you would like help with.    That makes conference so much more meaningful and helpful 

We are focused on the Church Easter initiative ,"Because He Lives", in our mission.   We are trying to share the video and website, but so few of the people we see have internet.    Very few in the townships have smartphones...but some do.     The elders try to take the smart phone from the person and go to the video and then hand back the phone so they can watch it.    I am not afraid to grab the phone but I am not fast enough to find the video before they call the police.  

Please share the true meaning of Easter with your kids.   Hopefully the Easter bunny can come Saturday and the egg hunts be on Saturday.

Today was District Meetings for every district (2) in our zone.   We met at the same chapel but in different rooms.    We got there early and I hid 40 chocolate eggs and 10 bags of Easter Candy in the classrooms and kitchen of the church.    I really put them in difficult places.   Then before the training we had an egg hunt.    Each elder could take 4 big chocolate eggs and 1 bag of candy and then they had to quit looking so every elder got the same amount.    I had to look hard for Easter candy around here......none of it was exactly like the stuff at home, but it was fairly close.   Larry said the jelly beans were OK.     We looked in 4 cities for jelly beans.

The elders really "got into" the hunt and had fun.

We love you.   

Mom