ToddsinSouthAfrica: Blessings of a Mission, A.R.M.Y., and Retreat

November 7, 2015

Greetings to our Friends and Family,

We have been without the internet for over 2 1/2 weeks. It is now working sporadically so I will try to send a letter.

BLESSINGS OF A MISSION

I don't know where to begin. We have been blessed with so much to do and so many opportunities to grow. My desire is to share with you: the beauty of the gospel, the love Heavenly Father has for all of his children, the miracles taking place each day, the "perfectness" (is that a word??) of the plan of salvation, our love for the people of South Africa and the joy we feel on our mission. Please keep these things in mind as you read about our experiences because I don't know if I clearly convey my testimony of these things.

I have a testimony that the Lord will help us in spite of our weaknesses when we do our very best to share the gospel. If not, I would have alienated all of South Africa with my enthusiasm and lack of finesse. I definitely have NOT become more patient or more tactful.....in spite of prayers and effort.

Visiting less actives continues to be one of our favorite missionary activities. We are seeing the fruits of our labors with several people (others still need more love and teaching). Yesterday we visited Freddy and his nonmember wife again. We have developed such a strong bond with them. We can all freely speak our mind and share our feelings. We are bold as we express the urgency of the gospel message. I taught a short message on the restoration of the priesthood. Freddy asked me why I was so "bold teaching the priesthood when you don't get the priesthood". It was another chance to bear my testimony of the priesthood.

We left Freddy's and went to visit Norlene Schallies, an Afrikaans widow, who has not gone to church for 20 years. It was the first time she allowed us to come to her home. Even though we had an appointment (I had to be VERY persistent to get the appointment), she did not answer her phone when we arrived. We called her cell phone several times, yelled her name at the gate and waited. Her place looked deserted, but we continued to sit in the car trying to decide what to do. Just as we decided to leave, Norlene appeared at the gate and stared at us. Eventually, she opened the gate so we could enter. Despite the very COOL reception, she warmed up and we had a fabulous visit. Each time we stood to leave, she asked another question, so we stayed for 2 1/2 hours and learned her history. As we learn about each person we teach, we feel determined to help them come back to Christ. The Lord touches our hearts. She accepted the invitation to come and clean the church today...now that is dedication!

A.R.M.Y. .......A Righteous Mormon Youth

I copied Stephanie's idea for our District Youth Conference. For some reason, I was completely stressed and anxious about this event. Arranging for the most simple things, is sometimes overwhelming here. Very few of the youth have phones so I can't call or text them to remind them, branch leaders forget to announce things, transportation is a huge challenge, finding poster board was an obstacle, affordable pencils, marshmallows, etc. I was concerned no one would come, or we wouldn't have enough food, or it would be too long or too short,or they wouldn't be able to understand my theme, etc..........I feel such a responsibility to help the youth gain testimonies, understand their role in the gospel, live the standards and have fun. In 2 of the 5 branches there is not a YoungWoman's president or teacher and no youth Sunday School Teachers. So they are only receiving lessons on the weeks Elder Todd and I come to teach. Anyway, back to the youth conference.........They did come!!! 70 Youth came. We didhave enough food....we served breakfast, lunch and a "take away snack" for them to eat on the way home. We handed each person a bag with: drink, apple, 2 chocolate bars and a bag of chips to eat on the ride home. But they immediately opened the bag when they walked outside and ate everything!!! Before their taxi arrived to take them home, they came back in the building and asked for more food! (The answer was No.)

But technology provided the challenge......Our computer had been broken for 2 weeks and the repairs were completed the day before the conference. We checked it out that night and thought all was in order. I planned to show a video and one of the workshop leaders was going to show a video. But our computer would not connect to the overhead projector. One of the challenges here is: If there is a gliche, there is no one to help or no backup. The Lord blessed us again. there were only 2 people who had a computer that could help us...and only 1 was available. Allyson Colton drove home and got her computer. Her computer was stubborn also and it took quite some time before it was working...but it did! Whew! The youth love vidoes.

We began the day at 8:00 and finished at 4:00. We played Get to Know You Bingo, Dodge Ball African Style (eventually Brother Colton gave up trying to enforce the rules and let them just throw the ball----not one person ever got "out"!), Jeopardy--For the Strength of Youth, and a Water Balloon fight. Elder Todd and Brother Colton filled 185 water Balloons and broke an additional 50-75 balloons. It took several hours in the hot sun. I have never seen the heat bother Elder Todd but he felt so sick the rest of the day. I introduced the theme..ARMY, A Righteous Mormon Youth. We had 3 workshops (1. Know Your Enemy, 2. Follow Your Commanding Officer--the prophet, and 3. Use Your Weapons--Church Attendance, Seminary, scriptures, prayer) that were 25 minutes each. We also invited a young African couple that were married in the temple 6 months ago. As far as we could tell, they are the only young couple from the district married in the temple for 6-10 years) The bride is originally from this district and is a convert. She and her husband live 2 hours away, but they consented to come and speak. They were incredible and did much of their teaching in Zulu. This was a blessing because we had many youth that struggle with English.

One of the favorite things that day was our Testimony Wall. (I got the idea online.) Elder Todd cut out 100 "bricks" from colored paper. Each youth had an opportunity to write their testimony on a brick and tape it to the wall. They all loved this and wrote LONG testimonies on the bricks. Those that could not write English well, copied someone else's. They wouldn't eat breakfast until they posted their "brick".

We closed with a testimony meeting. Then we cleaned up, loaded everything up and went grocery shopping. We brought Zinhle and Sankile Dlomo (the young couple) home to stay with us until the next day. They wanted to visit old friends in this area.

At the end of the day, I was so relieved it was over....we didn't even look back and evaluate the activity. If no one learned anything---I didn't want to know!!!

YIPPEE!!! SENIOR RETREAT

In October we had a special treat....All twelve senior couples in our mission got together for a training/retreat at St. Lucia. Because we are the only couple in this area, this was such a welcome event for us. Couples drove 2-10 hours to be together. We were the closest and only had to travel 1 hour. We ate dinner, shared our testimonies, shared our favorite part of our mission so far, had a training by President Zachrison, went on a Game Drive, visited a Zulu village and were entertained by male Zulu dancers. Thursday and Friday went by so quickly and soon it was Saturday and we were on our way home. We were humbled by the dedication of these couples and their church experience. There is great power in meeting together as missionaries!!!

FAMILY HOME EVENING

Thursday night we were able to visit a family to teach them through a Family Home Evening lesson. However, when we arrived, they had dinner for us. Then they sent their children into another room and said they had "questions for us". They had questions on race, the blacks, and much more. We spent the evening sharing the scriptures and hopefully, providing answers/doctrine for them. For some reason, they will not allow the young elders to teach them yet. This family needs the gospel and the church needs them!!!!!!

ODDS AND ENDS

We have taken an young elder to have a tooth extracted which required surgery, visited a man in the hospital, inspected the apartments and cars for 10 elders, spoke in Sacrament Meeting, taught Young Women, taught Institute, supposed to teach seminary (we waited and waited but no one showed up), had our nonmember landlady come over for the evening, attended training with the young missionaries and delivered things to the District Clerk/Executive Secretary/Jack of all trades, etc.

My heart is filled with gratitude to Heavenly Father for his inspired missionary program. What a perfect way to bless the lives of the missionaries (young and old) and the investigators!!! What a perfect way to teach us (Missionaries) and humble us. There is not one SINGLE day, that my heart is not filled with thankfulness to the Lord for this opportunity. We continue to struggle to find the best way to serve, the best way to "find" investigators, the best way to teach and guide and the best way to spend our time.

How can we thank you for your friendship, for your prayers and for your love?? How can we thank our children and grandchildren for their love and support for us????

Pictures:

A Zulu woman weaving the mat for the floor.

Zulu homes

Zulu young men in traditional clothing getting ready to dance

HUGE elephant that walked up the road right at us......our guide put the vehicle into reverse and backed up as the elephant continued to come toward us. It was so thrilling. The elephant seemed to say: Get out of my way!

Cape Buffalo...one of the Big 5 Animals in Africa. People come from all over the world to see the "Big Five"