ToddsinSouthAfrica: "Party" for Orphans, Southeast Africa Broadcast from SLC

November 30, 2015

Dear Family,

You probably did not want to hear from me again so soon. It is P-Day, Larry is not feeling great (he has allergies and sinus problems), the laundry is done (but the house is not clean). I have sprayed the shower walls and floor with bleach, sprayed for cockroaches, sprinkled poison for ants (usual Monday chores), cleaned the bathroom and eaten 1/3 of a chocolate sheet cake (no exaggeration). It is too hot to go for a walk, so I decided to write.

Saturday we left home at 7:30 am to work at a Christmas Party for an orphanage. One of the branch presidents heard about the chance to help out 100 orphans in the township where he lives. He asked if all 10 elders could attend so we received permission from the mission president. We arrived at the meeting place at 8:00 but the branch president wasn't there. In fact we were the first to arrive. In the next 30 minutes a few branch members (2) and all the missionaries arrived...but still no branch president. We called Pres. Nyawo and he said he was at the store waiting for the donuts. He had ordered 150 donuts for the orphans---he was paying $15 of his personal money and the mission was paying $15. President Nyawo works, goes to night school studying law, has 4 small children and is supporting his wife's 2 sisters. This was a big sacrifice for his family. The donuts were supposed to be done at 8:00 and he arrived at 7:00 to pick them up. Good thing.....the donuts were not being made even though he had paid for them in advance. Pres. Nyawo does not have a car so we wondered how he could manage to get 150 donuts to the orphans. We went to pick him up and we waited until 9:45 for the donuts to be finished. Then we headed back to see who needed "transport". We were all disappointed that only one more branch member had arrived. We headed to the orphanage (it is now 10:15) with our car packed and the missionaries cars full. We could not find the place and kept driving around. Pres. Nyawo had lost his phone with all his "contact numbers" , so he couldn't call for more directions to the orphanage. We did find 2 orphanages, but neither one was the right one!! Finally we arrived at the correct destination, and only a few people were there. At 12:00 the orphans finally arrived. We had planned to do some games and I had bought face paints so the youth from the branch could do face painting.

Instead, the organizers had the orphans sit in plastic chairs under the tent. It was hot and the tent cover was sitting on a cement pad, in the middle of a barren gravel field....desolate. I began trying to think how we could adapt our games to work in this area...rocks and cement. The organizers had rented a small blow-up jump house----very small---for 4-5 kids, but I was excited for that.

But it didn't matter, the kids sat on the chairs and listened to speeches from the mayor, orphanage founders, and event organizers. They sat there the entire afternoon. A few times, they ran off to get their face painted and stood in huge lines, but they got called back for more speeches. Luckily, they did have a good MC between each speech and he sang and involved the kids and got them to sing.

But we stood there, most of the time. After awhile, we pulled out all of our hula hoops, ring toss and other activities and invited the kids over. For 15 minutes they had a ball. The one young woman from the branch and Elder Pinkston (who loves art) painted faces. At the same time, 50 kids piled on the jump house and it kept falling over. I wondered why we hadn't been doing these things all afternoon?

At 2:45 we had to leave for another appointment and so did the elders (they were tired of just standing around most of the time). We had to leave before the donuts were passed out (and other food we brought). We really wanted to be able to greet each child and give them the food. When we left, the speeches were going strong again!!! Poor kids....this was THEIR CHRISTMAS PARTY!!!!!!

This is the first time we have felt that our efforts were wasted. However, the branch president felt that the church had shown great support for the community so he felt good. It was a longgggggg day of standing.

Sunday we drove to Ngwelesane where we showed a DVD of the broadcast from SLC for the Africa Southeast Area. Actually, the branch presidents are supposed to download it from SLC but the internet connection is weak and inconsistent so they couldn't do it. Also they need a projector to show the video and we have to bring them a projector from the district.

The message was fabulous. There were 2 Quorum of the 12 (Quentin Cook and Renlund--new apostle), a member of the primary general presidency and our area authority, Elder Cook. Two of these men have lived in Africa for several years and have a good understanding of the people and a love for them. I thought that was wonderful....because even though the gospel is the same, circumstances are so very different.

They talked on: Paying tithing (very few members pay), keeping the sabbath day holy, using the sacrament to change your life and the power/equality of African women.

After the video concluded, Larry, asked the congregation what they learned or remembered, or what touched them. Complete silence. He waited and rephrased the question. Silence. Finally a 13 year old girl stood and boldly shared what she learned. It was so powerful!! Elder Todd asked for more comments and eventually got 2 others to comment. We don't know if they don't understand the broadcast or if they are reluctant to speak out. But this young woman was an example to everyone....she is going to be a leader in the church!

The talk on the power and equality of women was very good. Zulu women do 95% of all the work, but they are always in the background and don't seem to be valued. They don't speak up much. They are faithful and hard working.

We left right after showing the broadcast, and drove like crazy to another branch that was having a "bring and share" (pot luck) after their meeting. However, when we arrived, there were 30 primary children, 2 grandmas and 5 teens. All the adults left because there wasn't much food! We brought out our food and what the elders brought (an individual bag of chips and a package of cookies that had 8 cookies). The people who went home had brought bottles of soda pop and they left them. There was plenty to drink. We were so disappointed that the adults had not stayed to visit or participate. But those that were there loved it! We brought a huge watermelon and 2 loaves of french bread. Sure wish I had brought more.

We love each of you. Thank you so much for your emails and prayers. We can't adequately express our love and appreciation for each of you. We pray that you will have the Lord's choicest blessings.

Each day, we realize more how blessed we are to have the gospel of Jesus Christ.