This is a picture of a traditional woman in Botswana. She has cataracts on her eyes that make them look pale blue. She doesn't speak English and is not a member of the Church. She has a beautiful spirit and many are willing to translate the lessons for her in class.

Lobatse

Lobatse is the ward we attend every Sunday and where we serve as teachers, YSA leaders, Primary leaders etc. Lobatse is a beautiful town in the hills about 80K (50 Miles) away from Mogoditshane where we live. Towns are differentiated from villages by having tar roads on more than just the main thoroughfare as well as having businesses, not just a couple of grocery stores. Towns are normally bigger and the villages are where the ancestral homes are. Villages can be as large as town but don't have the infrastructure. Many homes in villages don't have power and cooking is done outside over a fire.Molepolole and Mochudi are very large villages.

We travel a two lane highway to Lobatse (Low-bought-see) or as our Garmin says "La-bats" several times in a week. Normally during the day we see baboons in several locations and lots of cows, goats and donkeys by the side of the road. Usually, day trips are pretty uneventful and it takes us about 50 minutes to get to Lobatse. It is customary when an animal is passing in front of you or is really close to the road to slow down and put on your hazard lights so that people behind you know there is a danger; Night time driving is another story!

We have YSA Friday nights from 6-7:30pm. Actually, we leave about 8 or so when it's pitch black outside. The drive home takes us about 1 1/4 hrs. Traffic has it's own interesting ways of moving. If there is a back up of cars it's not uncommon for cars to pass. They just don't care if there are cars coming the other direction. We had a heart thumping experience this week when a one-headlight car passed another car while we were coming towards it. Luckily, Elder Gubler had pulled far enough over to the edge of the road for that car to go between us and the car is was passing. We had no idea how wide the vehicle was that was passing because the light was out on the side closest to us. Yowzers! Remember when your "mom" used to say, "keep your arm in the car, not out the window or you'll get your arm cut off." Well, here it's not an idle threat. When we pray to travel in safety every day, it isn't a rote request! We're always grateful to get home safe and sound. Today on the way to church we saw 7 vehicles, including buses and combies that were off to the side of the road because of flat tires and mechanical problems.

Another "fun" thing we have here are "Green Guys". They are actually police, but they have on fluorescent green vests to identify them when they are out and about in traffic. We see the "Green Guys" directing traffic in the morning and late afternoon to help "speed" us all along. (Sometimes it's not very helpful). Another thing they do is take pictures of speeders (like Phoenix used to do with speed cams) or one will use a radar gun to identify a speeder and another will motion the speeder to the side for a ticket. I guess this works better than patrol cars chasing down speeders. We have learned to identify the "Green Guys" and where they are usually located. Another thing they do is during the holidays when people are traveling, they set up traffic stops to check registrations on cars and look for illegal aliens and stolen vehicles. They are usually pretty nice guys, and gals.

Lobatse is one of the first towns that was settled in Botswana and is just over the border from South Africa. Mafakeng, just over the border, is the site of one of Baden Powell's military victories. He held a fort using strategy against overwhelming odds. (Baden Powell started the Boy Scouts). We have a branch in Mafakeng and 4 elders serve there. One of the big border crossings, Pioneer, is about 20K outside of Lobatse. One of the High Courts of Botswana is located here just as you enter Lobatse. Just down the street on the right is our Church facility while across the street from the church is a huge mental health facility. I'm not sure what that says. Anyway, Lobatse has the first branch of the Church when the Church was brought to Botswana.

This was a picture taken after the baptism of the wonderful woman in the white jacket and black dress. Our RS Pres is standing next to her. The young adults around here are from Lobatse and Mochudi. The woman in the blue dress on the left with the white scarf if the mother of the woman who was baptized. 

This is our Primary. They are such beautiful children. The woman in the picture is our Bishop's wife and I just love her. We are definitely kindred spirits. She and I are managing the Primary right now by default. The Primary leaders and teacher haven't been to Primary for awhile so we teach, sing and do sharing time. Sister Moapare normally teaches the older half and I take the younger children and then meet back for sharing time and music. Sis Moapare teaches English to Middle Schoolers in Lobatse.

Kitchen Curtains

I forgot to update my kitchen picture! I made new curtains and spruced things up a little. Here is the before picture:

Here is the after picture:

It makes me happy!

First!

Firsts!

1st Animal we Hit: Does it count if it hit us? We were driving to Lobatse today and out of no where a bird hit our windshield. So, does that count as the animal we have to hit while living here?  (No I did not stage the feather, that's where it landed)


Another first was playing the piano for Sacrament meeting today. (See mom, all that money you spent on lessons for me paid off...I'm practicing without being told!) But this is the first time I've played for anyone to sing since I played during Seminary when I was 17. Quite an experience. After Church I had 2 young single adult ladies ask if I would please teach them piano. They had take some lessons in Gaborone but hadn't been able to continue. Some of the YW would like to take lessons as well. So not only was it a first to play as an accompanist but now I get to be a piano teacher. Who would have ever thought. Now I need to contact the Area people to find out where I can get a hold of some key boards for these ladies to be able to practice. The church really would like to have accompanists in every ward. The church piano course has the students playing very simplified hymns on the first lesson. The idea is to get them to be able to play the 80 hymns in the Hymns made Easy and then to teach the next group coming along. (So all of you who are taking piano lessons or have taken piano lesson, practice, practice, practice. You are definitely needed in the mission field)

A week ago we held out first YSA party. We played games and ate refreshments. Their very favorite game was Fruit Basket. They loved it. We had about 16 members and 4 investigators there. We deemed the activity a success. This coming Friday we are having a movie night. The ward has a projector and screen. The Taylors brought videos with them and have said we can borrow what we need. I think we'll be showing The Other Side of Heaven. Our Bishop is very concerned that there is no entertainment for the YSA or the Youth and suggested the movie night. We'll make popcorn and such. When we handed out invitations this week, the YSA we gave them to were pretty excited. I hope we'll have as many in attendance this week.

Yesterday, Sister Taylor had a project in Mochudi she needed help with. Sister Rands and I packed up the sewing machines we have access to and helped her out. The sisters were going to learn how to sew. We made some nice scripture bags. The RS activity sounds just like a home, lots of talking and laughter but it was it Setswanan so I didn't understand any of it. But the whole RS activity was definitely fun. Here's what the sisters made. Don't those funny looking white people look out of place? The part that was the very best was that the sisters were thrilled with their finished

bags. Not one of them whined about the stitching not being perfect. Nobody complained that someone else did a nicer job. Or that another bag was a prettier color. When the project was all over, EVERYONE wanted a picture. Sister Taylor printed out a picture and put it on the bulletin board and even the young children were trying to find their mothers in the picture. One of the ladies told me that she was so excited to learn how to make a bag that she could now make more of them and sell them. I'm making a note to pat myself on the back more often for my little successes.

Our Stake President was at church today and asked Elder Gubler and myself to help with training the Stake leaders, especially helping train the YM and YW leaders. This is really comfortable territory for Elder Gubler but I'm going to be playing catchup. We will specifically be working with Duty to God and Young Women's Personal Progress.  The Stake Counselor over us would like to communicate with emails to get things set up. That's just great with us, because we can't understand them most of the time when they speak! (And it goes the other way too).

We are loving Botswana. Wish that we had water everyday and power all the time, but I guess that's life in the rest of the world. Most of these women in Mochudi don't have electricity and cook over open fires. Today when Elder Gubler and I taught the Youth Sunday school class, I was so impressed with how much these kids love the gospel. Very few of them have support from home. Another wonderful thing, a woman who is getting baptized in a week just had a Second Interview from our Mission president. When I've seen her before she's been very standoffish but today, she just glowed. She is so excited to have the gospel in her life. She brought her brother to church with her today. Her son, who lives in Mochudi, will be baptizing her before he leaves on his mission.

Oh we do love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We love how it changes lives.

Still in Gaborone and Lobastse

This past 2 weeks has gone by quickly. So much has happened, I don't know where to start. This will be all over the place but I better start. We've been busy in Lobatse as well as dealing with cars and sick elders. Plus we went on a trip with the other senior couples to see the David Livingstone Memorial.

This is a termite hill we see on the way to Lobatse. It's actually one of hundreds. You can see how tall it is next to the cow.

In November the termites were swarming and we found lots of termite wings and dead termites around. These termite hills are sacred.


Elder Gubler thinks that most of the cars are about finished. We have a few that need minor repairs and service. The Lobatse car (beer truck car and car with the "rims") only needs shocks and a service. Yippee. We still have one major accident repair we need to take care of. The sisters car that broadsided "Albert" still needs fixing. Luckily Albert has his car and is very happy. We get to drive the Lobatse car for a few days. Let's just say that there is now a "David Livingstone Memorial Car" and the foundation of the memorial has been moved back a few inches. The car will be fixed for free because we send our panel beaters so much business. (OK, it's a fairly minor repair but it makes for a good story.) But we're not telling who was driving.

David Livingstone was a doctor and clergyman who came to Africa in the mid-1800's. Part of the time he was in Botswana. The memorial is about 20k from Gaborone so we went to see it. The weather was about 100 and there wasn't much shade. The guide we had was very knowledgeble and told us quite a bit about the placement of buildings and such. The chapel is here on a small rise. It is part way between a river (well there used to be a river) and a bigger hill. The people with Livingstone could get water easily when they needed it but could also run to the hill if there were enemies coming. (chapel, top right)

This next picture shows where the house was placed. Here he did his doctoring and his dentistry. The view was wonderful here.

This is the cemetery that was used by the Livingstone group. His 6 week old baby and several other people were buried here. The baby was wrapped in a calf skin as a casket. Adults were wrapped in regular cow hide. There were mounds that you can't seen here where rocks and such were placed to keep the animals away from the graves. If you want to know more about David Livingstone you should look him up on Wikipedia. He didn't spend a lot of time in Botswana but the people here are very proud of the time he did spend.

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When you're hot and tired, somethings just look funny to you. Look at the top right corner, "Icecold Bodies"

Sunday we attended Ward Council meeting. The air conditioning was broken so it was mighty hot but we all survived. The meeting was pretty much like every ward council meeting we've been to in the past. There was also a discussion of ward soccer and the pluses and minuses of using soccer and as missionary tool because of the injuries. (Does this sound like ward basketball?) Our Relief Society President could be the president of any ward I've ever been in. She's a wonder. She knows the sisters and their needs and she likes to keep busy. I suggested that the primary, in addition to having a president and counselor, they should have 2 teachers for the children. We'll work some more on what else needs to happen. These ward leaders really want to have a great ward. Small as this ward is, their goal is to become another ward. I can see budding greatness here. Except for the RS Pres, the leadership is very young. 

Friday night we are having a Young Single Adult party. We are taking refreshments and games and hopefully some of the YSAs will show up. Saturday, we are going to Lobatse for a baptism and then again on Sunday for our meetings. I'm baking brownies and cookies for treats for Fri and Sat. I think baking is my contribution to missionary work.

Elder and Sister Abraham, from St. George, are serving now in Botswana. They stayed with us Friday night before they drove up to Francistown. They are going to be a wonderful addition up there. It was fun to have them visit and tell us all about St George and their stay at the MTC.

Note: Sister Blunck, I have discovered cake flour. Yes, I know, you did long ago. But here, there is bread flour and cake flour. Boy, cakes and cookies really are nicer with cake flour!

Most important note: We just want to say how sad we are for dear friends of ours who lost their son this past week. We can only imagine how hard it is for the Sevy family. Alec was a special man who brought so much joy into their lives. We are so grateful for the gospel that gives us the knowledge that Alec was welcomed into the presence of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. While its so difficult right now, I know that this knowledge the Sevys have will support and sustain them. Thank heavens for testimonies!

Christmas Week

Christmas in Botswana was pretty low-key. The several of the children in the apartment complex received water guns. Pretty snazzy water guns at that. (It was close to 100). In the stores there wasn't much Christmas music and people didn't seem to be buying lots of gifts. Of course, not many people have much extra money to spend but it's also not as commercialized here.

On Christmas, we had the East Bots and West Bots Zones as well as the senior couples at our house for a devotional (We had almost 40 people here.) We had a lot of fun listening to music, watching skits and reading the scriptures. After, we went to the Taylor's flat for our Mexican Feast. Yummy food. Lots of good company. Then off to skype with our children. (But first, the missionaries used our computers to visit with their families.)

We also had "snow" for Christmas. OK, at 100 degrees, it wasn't snow but thousands of small white butterflies. They were gorgeous! It did make our holidays happy.

Topping of the holidays was getting the stomach yuck." What's a good holiday with out it? One of our elders got sick during the feast and one that night. When I had chatted with the second sick elder for the 4th time and he was still ill, I prescribed "Medicine Coke". He was pretty surprised and I don't know if he got any, but the next day he was out working even though he was still throwing up.  Elder Gubler got "it" next so we missed the trip the SA. On Thursday, noon, we had lunch with another senior couple who was up from SA on business. We had actually flown out of SLC together. Anyway, after hugs and lots of hand shaking, we found out they had the "stomach yuck". *sigh* The next day I got "it". Good thing we stayed home.

Not too much exciting to tell this week, so I'm going to post pictures that have needed posting for quite awhile. *Note: the day of transfers, the elders took pictures with the Lobatse car wearing their shades and pointing out the rims.

Lobatse Church Building, in front, the chapel and in the back are the classrooms 

The is the building we meet in for church every Sunday. The main chapel (a double wide on concrete) does have two air conditioning units and several fans. The electric piano doesn't work because the power box is broken. We are going to try and replace that this week. In the classroom area, the Primary room is next to the RS room and the only thing between the two are bars (where the windows should be) and curtains. Not too sounds proof. The Bishop did say that there is another keyboard that we can use for Primary. Yea! Our facilities are much better than Molepolole, it only has a concrete rectangle with a couple of classroom and Mochudi has a tent with classroom in a back building.

Here is the infamous Lobatse car. Oh how Elder Stamp, the Zone Leader hated them but oh how the other elders loved them. We weren't too surprised to find out that everyone in the mission had heard about them. Elder Verde says that because of the rims, more non-members have noticed the missionaries and they have been able to teach more people. (I guess we'll find out what the Mission President thinks about them this week when he's down for Zone Interviews.) Greenie Mistake. What more can be said?

Elder Gubler with Pres. and Sister Omer overlooking Jo-burg

Here is Elder Gubler with the Omers. We were at the Johannesburg Temple grounds. Jo-burg is in the background. The temple is a beautiful but small building. The parking is underground and there is a security guard as you drive into the parking area. There grounds are quite small but beautiful. Here is Africa, a couple is married civilly first and then goes to the temple shortly there after to be sealed. 

Elder Gubler walking off the plane in Gabs

We arrived in Gaborone Nov 23, just a day after Thanksgiving. We had a very short flight.

Taylors, Rands and Kimballs

This is a picture of the other senior couples in Gabs.We are taking the place of Elder and Sister Kimball. They ended up leaving a bit early because of some health issues Sister Kimball has. Here we are saying goodbye at the airport. Oh wait, you can't see us because we're taking pictures!

Saw this Ence truck at Game Mall

Who would have thought we could find an Ence Truck in Gaborone? I just had to take a picture of it. Don't have any idea what they were hauling but really? An Ence Truck!

This picture is for you, Nate. The Gaborone College of Law, situated over a petrol station. Just had to take a picture for you.

Here is our all-country picture we had taken when our Mission President and Area Authority came to visit. If you look closely to the left back row, those two white heads are ours. Great photography wouldn't you say?

Our Living Room

Our Kitchen

 

Our Dining Area

Me at the computer blogging today!

Things we have learned in Gaborone

1. Pula isn't Monopoly Money.  It is pretty and colorful just like play money. Even though 1 Pula equals  13 cents, and there are 100 Thebes (te-bees) in a Pula. nothing costs 1 Pula. Most of the time the prices aren't much different from the US in cost. Food is pretty comparable. Gas is sold by the litre. It's interesting to go to KFC and order a 2 piece meal for P54.00. We are getting pretty good at dividing all prices by 8 to give us an approximate amount.

2. If you read the book, No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, the places talked about in the book are real. Kgale (Call-ee) Hill is by the Game City Mall. Kgale Hill is where the missionaries take the greenies after transfer day to climb to the top of the hill. Yes, they have been known to anger the baboons and been chased by them.

3. Everything closes for the Christmas Holidays. Specialized Panel Beaters, the Doctors and most everyone closes for the holidays. There are only a few places that stay open. Everyone returns to their village to be with their families. Several of the grocery stores stay open, but that's about it. (The senior couples in Botswana are going to take a road trip because there isn't any work to be done here for the next couple of weeks)

4.  I can remember how to cook after all, and from scratch even! On Christmas Day, we are having all of the missionaries in the Bots East and Bots West Zones over for dinner and a devotional. We are having Mexican food. Several of the Senior Sisters are making chicken enchiladas (pretty easy to find the stuff). I'm making Beef Enchiladas (making corn tortillas, enchilada sauce from scratch). I'm also making the refried beans. I made a batch of enchiladas for us this week and they were yummy!

5. Botswana doesn't believe in mechanizing everything. For instance, the streets needs sweeping, so the people who are on welfare sweep the roads. It's a win-win for everyone. People have jobs and the streets are swept.

5. It's virtually impossible to find everything you need at one grocery store. Two or more stores are normally needed to find everything needed. For instance, I went to 3 stores to find sour cream. The other thing you need to know, is if you find something you need, buy as many as you can because you don't know when you'll find it again!

6. There really is other animals in Botswana in addition to goats, cows, donkeys, etc. Sunday on our way home from Lobatse, this is what we saw:

Apparently at this time of year we will be seeing Baboons on the way to and from Lobatse. There were about 20 or more.

7.  No those pretty little "leaves" aren't leaves. They're termite wings. We wake up most morning with wings having blown in under the door. The buildings here are made of cement because of the termites.

8.   The Cemeteries are different here than in the states. The grave is dug, the deceased buried, covered by dirt and stones. Then, a canopy is placed over the grave to keep the deceased shaded from the heat. Apparently another custom in the villages is to ask if the deceased had cows. If they did, it means a huge feast for anyone who comes to the funeral. (So before anyone asks how the person died or if they even knew them, the question is "Did he have cows?")

We love it here in Botswana. The weather have been warm but we have had rain that cools everything off. Sunday we attended church in Lobatse. The youth are amazing. They taught their Sunday School class and the laurels are the YM presidency. I was very impressed. The Bishop told us that there wouldn't be many people at church for the next couple of weeks, but in January when we have a full congregation again, he wants us to help with the youth and the young adults. We also need to see what we can do to help the Primary.

When I think of all of the capable people I know back in the states, I want to wrap you all up and bring you to Gabs to help strengthen the church here. There is so much leadership training that needs to happen. If any of you want to come, I'll put in a good word for you with the Mission President!

Fun Story:
Today while we were at a fabric store, a young clerk asked where our church building was. She wants to attend and asked if we had church every Sunday. She got directions and I'm sure she'll be there.

Our moving day! We are using the zone leaders bakki and trailer to move our things, and yes, that is a decorated
 Christmas tree in the back!!



 Elder Gubler driving to our apartment, notice the goats on the right side.
It was a herd of about 25 goats

We Moved!

Monday we moved into our new flat. We now have a place to call home. It's been fun to hang the curtains and to bring everything over from the Kimball's home. We have everything we need. To all our children who served missions: we have air conditioning, a washer and dryer, internet connection, 2 showers, and water and power most days. (The water is good and clean so we don't have to purify it. The food is good and we don't have to treat it either.) Life is good. It's just nice to have our own apartment.

This is our washer and dryer area. As you can see, it's utilizing the storage space under the stairs. The dryer is on wheels and pulls out (with a long extension cord) so I can use the washer and to dry the clothes. A load takes about 3 hours, 1 to wash and 2 to dry. Normally I could hang the clothes out but it's been really rainy and humid lately so the dryer it is today. If you look closely at the dryer, there are a bunch of holes in the front. That is where the air vents and deposits the lint.

Lest you think we are heathens and not doing missionary work, let me assure you that there are a few minutes here and there that we do work with the people.

We went to G-West 1 Ward this week. This is a well established ward and we needed to meet with the Stake President (our Mission Pres. asked us to talk to the SP) to find out which wards and branches he wanted help in. We got to bear our testimonies. After Sacrament Meeting we were stopped by a couple from Sweden. The 4 of us had the only white faces in the place. Oh how we have grown to love these Botswana people already, they are so eager to shake our hands and get to know us. They have beautiful children. The testimonies I have heard here are real testimonies of our Savior and the gospel. Botswana is a truly a remarkable place.

Our Stake President has asked us to work with a branch, Kanye (Con-yea) and Lobatse (La-bot-see) or as our Garmin says, Labats. Lobatse was just barely made a ward and he hopes that Kanye can be a ward in a year to 18 months.