The Kingdom of Swaziland

We are back from The Kingdom of Swaziland!  Swaziland is a small country (about the size of Wales) that borders South Africa and Mozambique.  It is about a 4.5 hour drive from Joburg.  The King of Swaziland has 15 wives!  As is the case in most African countries, including South Africa, it is legal to have as many wives as you can afford.  Of course most men can only afford one and many cannot afford to marry at all.  In Swaziland a virgin costs 17 cows!  A non-virgin's price is negotiable.  Women marry around age 18 but the men can't usually afford to marry until sometime in their 30's.

As you can imagine, it makes traditional missionary work interesting.   You can't be a member of the church if you have more than one wife so the missionaries are not allowed to teach anyone the gospel if that is the situation.  But...truth be told, they don't really run into that problem...mostly just a problem of couples living together and unable to afford marriage.

Elder & Sister Clayton road to Swazi with us and we really enjoyed their company.  We also ran into four couples who serve in the Johannesburg Temple.  They were in Swazi for the weekend because the temple was closed on Saturday for the South African holiday "Woman's Day" (which is kind of like Mothers Day). We work with these wonderful temple couples each Tuesday when we serve in the Temple together.  We all had a great time.

Clayton, Moyer, King, Christensen, Cox

Solomon Mahlalela waiting for us by the church sign

On Saturday we met with members of the District Audit Committee.  Wonderful brethren committed to the Lord and to their callings!

Our meeting went until about 1:30 and then we enjoyed the rest of the day with the Claytons.

Lunch at Summerfield with the Claytons

On Sunday we attended church in the Manzini Branch and then met with the District Clerk, Branch Clerk and Assistant Clerk.  We are grateful for their sincerity, their eagerness to learn and to be taught and their big smiles and cheery dispositions.


 


We stayed in the beautiful Summerfield Inn.  The church has an account there so we get a good rate.  It's in a botanical garden and is very peaceful and so beautiful!!

Huge rubbery blooms with buds the size of your fist,
open up like a cartoon flower every morning.

This plant was trying to talk to us! ha ha
I wanted to glue wiggly eyes on it.

Beautiful peacocks wandered the grounds.  

The Mantanga Cultural Village was another fun thing we all did together.

On the way home we stopped at the Ngwenya Glass Factory and watched them blow the glass and shape it into a bowl.

    Back in South Africa we stopped at a rest stop and were surprised to find this watering hole right next it!

I didn't get the best picture but there were a bunch of rhino,
zebra, Cape Buffalo, and ostriches.  Two of the ostriches were
chasing each other around the pond! 

We have been blessed throughout our mission to meet people from many lands.  Everyone is striving and ...marching ever marching.  Life is not easy for anyone but it doesn't have to be easy or filled with material goods to feel joy and peace in our hearts.  It has been said "Joy is the fruit of the Spirit".

I like this quote from Elder Uchtdorf, an apostle of God: "You don't have to wait to cross the finish line to receive God's blessings. In fact, the blessings of heaven begin to distill upon us with the very first steps we take toward the light."