Dear Everyone at Home Enjoying Traditional Christmas-y Weather:
The malls are all decorated for Christmas, and I’ve even seen 5 or 6 houses with Christmas lights on them. The tree is up in the office, with the ornaments I brought from home, and I’ve got a few of my nativity sets, including a new one from Swaziland, and even a tiny Dickens Village – by my standards -lit by battery operated candles, in the mission home. One of our missionaries (from the States!) had never seen an advent calendar before. What’s this younger generation coming too???
It’s 5:30 am and I’m sitting in the dining room of Elder & Sister Hafen’s boarding in Richards Bay. It’s incredibly green outside – we have had SO much rain the last few months! And just this week! It’s a good thing our missionaries are wash-and-wear! We’re in Richards Bay so Steve can interview priesthood leaders for the new branches that will be organized next week. Currently, groups of members in the Richards Bay Ward meet in 4 different locations on a Sunday. Next week the ward will become a mission district, and each of these groups will become a separate branch: Richards Bay, Nseleni, Ngwelezana, and eZakhawini. (Try saying those five times fast! In fact, try saying them once!) This is the first of the three new districts being organized.
This was transfer week, and Elder Larsen, who has been a terrific Assistant the whole time we’ve been here, left on Friday with Hunter and Morgan in tow. They should actually be landing in Salt Lake just about now, after about 36 hours of travel. The boys have been so manic about going home for Christmas that we could hardly live with them…but having them gone is decidedly odd. We haven’t been empty nesters (even temporarily) for 27 years! I guess it’s good practice for the future…
On the way to Hafens we took a detour to the beach town of Saint Lucia. Actually, town is a little misleading. The “downtown” is about a half mile long, with restaurants and a grocery store, and vendors with their curios spread out on the sidewalk, a few outfits that offer whale watching, fishing expeditions, and crocodile/hippo cruises on the river, and bed-and-breakfasts galore. The town is on the edge of a GIANT wetlands park that stretches up to the border with Mozambique. You have to be careful about mosquitos (mozzies) here, because it can be a malaria area. We went down to the beach, which would be a great vacation place with kids – long wide sandy beach, dunes, nice views of hills along the coast in either direction – the only drawback was the water. I don’t know what causes it, but the waves carry in sand, and the water is brown almost as far as you can see. I’m not sure I’d want to go in it! And sadly, no shells, which are my personal favorite.
On the other hand, you see signs like “Hippo Crossing” and “No Fencing!” (which means all kinds of wildlife may be crossing the road at any time) and “Keep our monkeys healthy: Please don’t feed them”. (There’s another sign I see on the exit I take for Pinetown Ward: “SLEGGS ONLY”. No one seems to know what a SLEG is, but I must be driving one, because I always exit there, and no one has ever stopped me.) We also have a sign in construction zones: “Please Don’t Kill Us”. Short, and straight to the point.
Last week we were in Umlazi for Church. It’s the 2nd largest township in South Africa (Soweto is the largest). The ward has very little priesthood (at the moment!) and lots of youth. We have been told that it takes about 3 generations to really establish the Church solidly, so these youth (many the only members in their families) are going to be the ones who raise the leaders who will run it. And they are really great. You can see how crucial it is to start teaching the gospel at a very young age, when you visit a branch where 14 of the 18 young single adult women either have, or are about to have, a child. This is totally acceptable in their traditional culture – so we have a long way to go.
Thursday and Friday will be the December Zone Conference. Thank you again for all the things you have sent out for the missionaries: ties, candy, Christmas packages… And also for the contributions to the youth temple trips. You’re wonderful! I am going shopping on Tuesday for groceries for the Christmas feast – Sister Margie from Hillcrest Ward, who does the transfer dinners for us, is going to put together the dinner on Thursday – for 125! – and for the 2 lunches we’re doing “make-you-own” deli sandwiches, and good old hot dogs. With missionaries, you have to tell them how many slices of bread, meat, and cheese they each get, or all the food vanishes into one zone. They are truly a bottomless pit!
I had a funny experience with one of our new group of missionaries this week: there were only 4 of them, so I got some ham and cheese quiches, and put a knife for cutting slices, and a “pie slice lifter outer” (what ARE those called, anyway?) and told them there was a whole quiche for each of them, though of course they didn’t have to eat the whole thing. When I came back out (they were eating outside on the patio) they had ignored the utensils, put the whole quiche on their plate, and were eating right out of the pie tins. And yes, they finished them, at least the 3 Americans did -our African elders don’t eat as much. THAT’S the picture I should have sent home to their mothers!
This week’s scripture lesson is (as usual) aimed at potential couple missionaries: everyone read Matthew 25:14-28 . Let’s pretend the talents (which the Lord treasures) are testimonies: our own, and those we have helped to establish. I know a good place you can increase talents… and it only takes 36 hours to get here!
Well, everyone have a wonderful week – enjoy the snow if you have any – go see all the Christmas lights – eat candy canes (we don’t have them here, apparently) – and think of us. And thankyouthankyouthankyou to those who are helping with Hunter and Morgan’s visit!
Love,
Mom/Grandma/Sue/Susan/Sister President Mann
xoxoxoxmas
PS Morgan and Hunter: Behave yourselves!!!
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