Kasane

Now we can show pictures of Kasane. Kasane is up on the very top of Botswana. It is on the Chobe River across from Namibia. (Just down the road a bit is the place where four countries touch each other, it's the only place in the world that this happens) Kasane is also the place where animals (elephants etc.) roam the streets and is 5 hours and on horrid roads from Francis Town. We have a group of 14 members there. After painting and prepping the house they used for a meeting house, they held an Open House for the community on Saturday, Mar. 9. Sunday, 47 people were in attendance (again FORTY-SEVEN people attended church that day) Amazing! We were able to take the picture of Christ up for them to have in the hallway. 

Abrahams, Taylors, Cornellia, Gublers (This was after a lovely game drive that did great things to our hair)

Cornellia is an amazing young woman. She is from Zimbabwe. Her family had a farm there but it was taken away. Her parents now live in Maun, Botswana (the very bottom of the Okevango Delta). Cornellia works putting tours together and such for people who come to town; she works for one of the hotels there. Cornellia flew back to Zimbabwe for a visit, was taught the gospel and was baptized there. For several years, she flew back several times a year so that she could attend church. Slowly, more people who were members came to Kasane and a "group" was formed. If they get one more priesthood holder, they can have a Branch! (We senior couples have all volunteered to go and open Kasane to missionaries, we'll see if there happens). Cornellia and several of her friends have come to the USA to visit and tour the temple there. I believe she received her endowments in Utah. Anyway, she is truly amazing and a really strong member of the church.

We did our part for the open house. We were leaving Saturday morning, after the game drive, we kind of got side tracked. After deciding we should have lunch, KFC, Elder Gubler thought we should eat on the KFC patio instead of the car. The Taylors and I were pretty surprised because we knew that Elder Gubler was concerned about the 10 hour drive home. While we were eating, a nice young man with an earring in one ear came up to us and asked us where the church building was. He wanted to go to church the next day. After many phone calls (most of them dropped because of the lousy cell service) we were able to get him to the church that Saturday for the open house. He is from Francis Town but is living with his uncle and looking for a job in Kasane. He even helped pass the Sacrament Sunday because he is a priest. Just think, he wouldn't have found the church if we hadn't taken time to eat where we could be seen.

Transfers

Transfers

Just so you don't think all we do is play, I'm updating our blog before we leave for the Senior Couples retreat in South Africa.

Sister Tu (new) Sister Banda, Sister Gillis (new)

March 5th was Transfer Day. We received 5 brand new sisters and 8 new elders. The Taylors, the Sisters already here and we picked up the new sister missionaries. Because there were so many people moving around and leaving Gaborone for Francis Town, the Senior Missionaries fed and housed them. March 6th we started the immigration process. When the new missionaries come in we have to do all the immigration stuff, get packets with the new missionaries' passport copies, birth certificates, pictures, physicals and a wide variety of things ready for immigration. Most of this can't be finished until the new missionaries arrive. The Elders and Sisters spent the entire day with us getting this process completed. The 2 of the USA Sisters have African companions and got to start driving without much guidance. They are doing well but were scared to death!

Sister Pierce (new) and Sister Wiscome

 March 7th, we left bright and early (about 1:00pm) with two cars of sisters and a kingcab bakki holding the Taylors and us (and supplies for Francis Town). About halfway up to Francis Town, we realized that none of us had thought about phone for the new sets of Sisters.Oops!. (We found this out when we tried to call one of the companionships in the car and got Sister Joseph in Gaborone). Anyway, we all arrived safe and sound after a 5 hour trip on questionable roads that turned out to be much better than the roads a bit further on towards Kasane.

Sister Vuki and Sister N

Sister Joseph and Sister Anderson

 We had a lovely dinner with the Senior Couples and the new to the area Sister missionaries. We now have 2 sets of Sisters and 4 sets of Elders in Francis Town. (In addition to the 3 sets of Senior Couples) The Woolfs are going home April 1st and a new couple is coming May 5th. We are so sad to be losing the Woolfs but look forward to meeting the new couple that will replace them. After a lovely dinner, we stayed at Elder and Sister Abraham's home. I'm very jealous of their over head fan in the bedroom. (The Abrahams are from St George.)

Elder Brown (new) Elder Hansen (Trainer)

Elder Balmforth and Elder Fraga (new to area)

Look what we saw today!

Today for our prep day, we went with a district of missionaries to see the animals at the Botswana Army Base here in Gaborone. These animals are used for training the soldiers on how to handle animals in the wild. These were beautiful animals and we got to see them up close and personal! There weren't too many but it was fun to see them.

The only thing that was separating us from each other was the chain link fence. We could have pet him, but didn't want to worry about missing fingers and massive amounts of blood.

This kitty just wanted to be loved. Luckily the guide with us was willing to do that. Ahhhhh.

The guide also gave the kitty a soccer ball to play with. Of course, she immediately bit the ball but she had fun rolling around and playing with the ball corpse.

This Hyena was pretty docile and the Hyena in with her kept sticking it's nose into the camera. But,I was really happy to have a fence in between us.

Wild Dog cowering in it's corner. Didn't like us at all!

This is picture of the same wild dog standing in it's water. Hmmmm.

This is a Leopard! The lighting was dark and we were fairly far away. This darling animal actually jumped into the fence and scared us pretty good.

These are pretty laid back cheetahs. Leopards are much more aggressive than cheetahs. Cheetahs are often in groups but leopards are always alone unless it's mating season.

What trip would complete without a monkey? Kind of a cute little thing.

This is the district we toured with. Tomorrow are transfers and we'll be losing 1/2 the group. We got to the park a big late and missed the snake area. Snakes are gathered from around botswana when someone calls to tell the army they have a snake. The last snake they picked up was a boa that had just eaten a farmers dog. Apparently, it's still a very bloated snake! Two of the girls got to hold a snake, the two on the left. The one in the blue blouse held the front end, the one in the purple held the back. Everyone found out that snakes can hold quite a bit of liquid....probably a pint. Poor Sister Banda. No one wanted to shake hands with her after that. (Our guide is in the army clothing.)

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!