Dear Offspring, Relatives & Friends:
I arrived back in Westville last night, after the final zone conference and a district conference in Swaziland. The people in Swazi are a lot of fun! The district president's wife gave a talk in the women's session that began with Matthew 20:30-34 (the two blind men by the road who called out to Jesus, were rebuked by the crowd, and cried all the louder). She encouraged the sisters not to be silenced when it came to speaking the truth. (You need to know that in Swazi, as in South Africa, the women have a very low standing, and are not allowed to speak out much.) She told how when she was first married, and they were not yet members, she wanted her husband to come to Church with her, but he preferred to play soccer. The fight went on for some time, then he finally agreed to come home on Sundays by 1 o'clock. Well, 1 o'clock came, then 2, then 3... and he got home late.
The next week she said "You had better be home by 1:00 or I will do something." (I wish you could have seen and heard her: she gestures like crazy, and is so fun to hear!) So when 1:00 rolled around and he wasn't home, she put on her tracksuit and took a pocket knife and headed to the soccer field. The game stopped as she came on the field, and she proceeded to destroy the ball, amid loud cries of dismay.
Her husband stayed home for a few Sundays, then begged to go play soccer. He agreed to be back at 1:00. Ten minutes later he came home. As soon as his friends saw him coming, they ran away, in fear of his wife! Fortunately, for the two of them, this worked. She hurried to remind the sisters that she was not advocating taking a pocket knife to their husband's hobbies, but encouraged them VERY strongly to stand up for themselves and the truth. She would have made a great women's libber. (Actually, I guess in Swazi she is!)
Elder and Sister Bricknell are wonderful. They brought a great spirit to every meeting, and had us all teary - elders too - over some of their stories of their own missionaries. (He was president of the Idaho Pocatello Mission.) Elder and Sister Johnson (of the Pocatello Mission), who just arrived a week earlier, were delighted to see them: the Johnsons said they could never have come to South Africa if they hadn't known about it from the Bricknells.
We had 4 zone conferences in Newcastle, Hillcrest, Berea and Swaziland. They went longer than we usually hod them, so I am missing from 2 of the pictures because of picking up the boys from school, and taking Hunter to physical therapy. Longer, but better! I learned a lot about mission mom-ing from Sister Bricknell as we traveled for hours in the Vito. It's nice to hear the different ways things operate in different missions.
Elder Sessions talked to the missionaries about safety, and told a story of when he was a California highway patrolman near Barstow. It was the midnight shift, and he and his partner pulled over a suspicious vehicle. His partner was driving, and stepped out to check the driver's licence and registration. Elder Sessions stepped down off the embankment, behind the headlights, and the driver didn't know he was there.
The driver was giving a little trouble, so Elder Sessions radioed in the license plate number, and learned (in police code) that the car was a stolen vehicle. His partner finally got the driver spread-eagled with his hands on the trunk, and Elder Sessions saw the driver's hands flexing, in anticipation of thrusting off to "take" the officer. Just as the driver was about to push off, Elder Sessions, in his deep voice, said deliberately "I wouldn't do that, if I were you." The guy instantly deflated, and they got him handcuffed and took him in.
It was a great story for pointing out the need for companions to be aware of their surroundings, and to watch out for each other. But my favorite part was "I wouldn't do that, if I were you." We've all been practicing saying it in a really deep, deliberate voice, so we can use it whenever possible!
The Swaziland District Choir sang in conference, and we liked them so well we're going to have them record a few hymns for use as background in our mission movie. The members generally learn the songs by ear, although they had 4 parts, so someone must read music in the group. They also usually sing a cappella, and it is really nice. We also have a song we might use from a family who were filming with Parker and the crew, then wanted to have a prayer with them, but always sing before they pray. It's in Zulu.
And lest you think my life is all Mary and no Martha (see Luke 10:38-42), I came home from this terrific week of zone and district conferences to do laundry, clean the house, and defrost the fridge. So there you go.
Love you!
Mom/Grandma/Sue/Susan/Sister President Mann
ps There's going to be a Boot Sale at the Anglican Church around the corner - but before you check your shoe size, I think that means selling things out of the trunks of cars. Sort of a Tailgate Flea Market!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
2008 08 03 - Living on a Movie Set
Hello, You Wonderful People Out There! (That's how we movie people talk)
I'm sorry to be so long updating, but I guess I was caught up in our glamorous new lifestyle. Not really - although it's been very interesting watching our member missionary movie being put together.
First step was Steve (screen writer) plotting it all out: the kinds of scenes, the training segments, the order of events. Then the Assistants (casting directors) found people all over the mission who could play parts in scenes, or be interviewed and tell their story of coming into the Church through a friend, or how they share the gospel. We have some members who are absolutely phenomenal at reaching out to their nonmember neighbors.
Once Parker got here we picked up our hired (rented) lights and set up a set in our living room. It was to be the home of a nonmember family, so we took down all the Church pictures, and redecorated. Parker moved the furniture around and set up his lights and reflector and microphone and camera, and we got going!
After a morning of filming the father reading the Book of Mormon, and pondering, and praying and the missionaries arriving with the member friends to teach lessons, the filming crew moved on to the Pinetown chapel for shots of the family in baptismal clothes.
Next was Brother Patrick's office, for scene 1, when the member friend gives the Book of Mormon to the nonmember friend. And a later scene, where Brother Patrick in turn gives a Book of Mormon to his secretary.
I won't take you through the whole two weeks, but the crew filmed in and around Durban, in Newcastle, Swaziland, Pietermaritzburg and back to Durban again. (Sorry, Richards Bay - you can be in the sequel.)
I watched some of the "dailies" (what was shot that day) and it's going to be good - but it's also going to take an enormous amount of editing and cleaning up by the film and sound editors (Justin and Parker). No wonder they have closed sets with controlled sound...and professional actors! But it's going to be good, and the people in the mission will love having something about them, instead of a Wasatch Front production.
In and around the filming, Parker has been able to:
go hiking and ziplining in the Drakensbergs; visit a cultural village and performance in Swaziland; go on a game drive in HluHluwe; go with me to uShaka to see the dolphin show and aquarium; take me to WALL E; take Steve to Dark Knight; have dinner with the mission presidency; watch Morgan play rugby; shop at Victoria Market; check out both Gateway and Pavilion malls; feed apples to the monkeys in our back yard; make Marilyn's ice cream balls; drive randomly around downtown Durban as I tried to find my way to various places; put in lightbulbs and reach for high things for his short mom, and generally make the mission home feel more like our real house! (Hayley made it feel more real, too. The more of our kids are here, the more homelike it feels.)
There is still a little filming going on, then tomorrow Elder Bricknell and his wife arrive for a mission tour/zone conferences. He's a new Area Seventy, and former Idaho Pocatello Mission president. They come in at 10:00, then after lunch we head up to Newcastle, leaving Parker to the mercy of his brothers and the office elders. Parker leaves Tuesday at noon so he can stop off in Johannesburg and take some footage of people around the temple. I feel bad I don't get to take him to the airport, but we're all being stoic about it.
In the meantime, Hunter is having therapy twice a week, and Morgan played his last rugby game of the season - he's back on the A team. There next "adventure" will be off-campus leadership camps. Morgan and his rugby crowd signed up for Port Elizabeth, which is actually in the Capetown mission, and Hunter and his "crew" chose Seula Zimbili, which I need to find on a map. Their camps are the exact 3 days we have our Couples Seminar in Pumula Beach, so that takes care of organizing wake-up calls and drivers! Very convenient.
We were delighted, in the midst of all the activities, to welcome our newest couple, Elder and Sister Johnson. They will be working with Umlazi BB and Umlazi W wards, and it will be wonderful. Elder Johnson was a seminary teacher, and Sister Johnson has served just about everywhere, so they will be perfect as trainers, and guides in Umlazi. In our latest "small world" moment, they also know Elder Bricknell, as they were in his mission, and Elder Johnson was in a stake presidency.
Also, hot off the presses, we have our new booklet "Here's How We Do It!" to hand out at zone conferences. It's a compilation of the comments elders have made in interviews answering questions like: What are you doing to improve you ability to teach people, not just lessons? What do you do to help your companion be the best missionary he can be? What do you do each day to make it a great day? What do you do to listen more closely to and follow the Spirit? The answers are wonderful - of course, the missionaries are wonderful, so that makes sense!
The lessons and visuals for the Neighborhood Walkabout are done, and heading out to the wards and branches. It is so fun to be in the middle of all this - I imagine the only thing that makes it possible for a mission president to give up his mission is that after 3 years of this, he is so exhausted he can hardly function. It certainly gets to Steve...but he told me (again!) this morning that "One more week, and we'll be back to normal." Whatever that is!
Love you - share the gospel this week!
Mom/Grandma/Sue/Susan/Sister President Mann/Theatrical Consultant
ps I totally forgot! The weekend Parker came in, Steve went to the rugby game, as I had driven Hunter and 4 other boys (in my 5-seater car) to the Drakensbergs for a stake youth convention (conference). They stayed at a youth camp (with buildings) for two nights while I stayed at a bed & breakfast down the road. Hunter mostly had to watch the sports and the dance, but he had a good time. Jubz was there, too - I'm calling his mom Nonhlanhle today to set up a teaching time for the Assistants, hopefully with his whole family.
I'm sorry to be so long updating, but I guess I was caught up in our glamorous new lifestyle. Not really - although it's been very interesting watching our member missionary movie being put together.
First step was Steve (screen writer) plotting it all out: the kinds of scenes, the training segments, the order of events. Then the Assistants (casting directors) found people all over the mission who could play parts in scenes, or be interviewed and tell their story of coming into the Church through a friend, or how they share the gospel. We have some members who are absolutely phenomenal at reaching out to their nonmember neighbors.
Once Parker got here we picked up our hired (rented) lights and set up a set in our living room. It was to be the home of a nonmember family, so we took down all the Church pictures, and redecorated. Parker moved the furniture around and set up his lights and reflector and microphone and camera, and we got going!
After a morning of filming the father reading the Book of Mormon, and pondering, and praying and the missionaries arriving with the member friends to teach lessons, the filming crew moved on to the Pinetown chapel for shots of the family in baptismal clothes.
Next was Brother Patrick's office, for scene 1, when the member friend gives the Book of Mormon to the nonmember friend. And a later scene, where Brother Patrick in turn gives a Book of Mormon to his secretary.
I won't take you through the whole two weeks, but the crew filmed in and around Durban, in Newcastle, Swaziland, Pietermaritzburg and back to Durban again. (Sorry, Richards Bay - you can be in the sequel.)
I watched some of the "dailies" (what was shot that day) and it's going to be good - but it's also going to take an enormous amount of editing and cleaning up by the film and sound editors (Justin and Parker). No wonder they have closed sets with controlled sound...and professional actors! But it's going to be good, and the people in the mission will love having something about them, instead of a Wasatch Front production.
In and around the filming, Parker has been able to:
go hiking and ziplining in the Drakensbergs; visit a cultural village and performance in Swaziland; go on a game drive in HluHluwe; go with me to uShaka to see the dolphin show and aquarium; take me to WALL E; take Steve to Dark Knight; have dinner with the mission presidency; watch Morgan play rugby; shop at Victoria Market; check out both Gateway and Pavilion malls; feed apples to the monkeys in our back yard; make Marilyn's ice cream balls; drive randomly around downtown Durban as I tried to find my way to various places; put in lightbulbs and reach for high things for his short mom, and generally make the mission home feel more like our real house! (Hayley made it feel more real, too. The more of our kids are here, the more homelike it feels.)
There is still a little filming going on, then tomorrow Elder Bricknell and his wife arrive for a mission tour/zone conferences. He's a new Area Seventy, and former Idaho Pocatello Mission president. They come in at 10:00, then after lunch we head up to Newcastle, leaving Parker to the mercy of his brothers and the office elders. Parker leaves Tuesday at noon so he can stop off in Johannesburg and take some footage of people around the temple. I feel bad I don't get to take him to the airport, but we're all being stoic about it.
In the meantime, Hunter is having therapy twice a week, and Morgan played his last rugby game of the season - he's back on the A team. There next "adventure" will be off-campus leadership camps. Morgan and his rugby crowd signed up for Port Elizabeth, which is actually in the Capetown mission, and Hunter and his "crew" chose Seula Zimbili, which I need to find on a map. Their camps are the exact 3 days we have our Couples Seminar in Pumula Beach, so that takes care of organizing wake-up calls and drivers! Very convenient.
We were delighted, in the midst of all the activities, to welcome our newest couple, Elder and Sister Johnson. They will be working with Umlazi BB and Umlazi W wards, and it will be wonderful. Elder Johnson was a seminary teacher, and Sister Johnson has served just about everywhere, so they will be perfect as trainers, and guides in Umlazi. In our latest "small world" moment, they also know Elder Bricknell, as they were in his mission, and Elder Johnson was in a stake presidency.
Also, hot off the presses, we have our new booklet "Here's How We Do It!" to hand out at zone conferences. It's a compilation of the comments elders have made in interviews answering questions like: What are you doing to improve you ability to teach people, not just lessons? What do you do to help your companion be the best missionary he can be? What do you do each day to make it a great day? What do you do to listen more closely to and follow the Spirit? The answers are wonderful - of course, the missionaries are wonderful, so that makes sense!
The lessons and visuals for the Neighborhood Walkabout are done, and heading out to the wards and branches. It is so fun to be in the middle of all this - I imagine the only thing that makes it possible for a mission president to give up his mission is that after 3 years of this, he is so exhausted he can hardly function. It certainly gets to Steve...but he told me (again!) this morning that "One more week, and we'll be back to normal." Whatever that is!
Love you - share the gospel this week!
Mom/Grandma/Sue/Susan/Sister President Mann/Theatrical Consultant
ps I totally forgot! The weekend Parker came in, Steve went to the rugby game, as I had driven Hunter and 4 other boys (in my 5-seater car) to the Drakensbergs for a stake youth convention (conference). They stayed at a youth camp (with buildings) for two nights while I stayed at a bed & breakfast down the road. Hunter mostly had to watch the sports and the dance, but he had a good time. Jubz was there, too - I'm calling his mom Nonhlanhle today to set up a teaching time for the Assistants, hopefully with his whole family.
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