HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Today was our 2nd Thanksgiving in Africa and I was in charge of our Area Sr Missionary Thanksgiving feast again this year.  We had about 60 people.  How blessed we are to be surrounded by such wonderful people.  To have such food to eat and such a nice place to eat it.  Our blessings are many.

As we drove home from this event, the familiar tears formed as we drove past all those who are homeless and begging in the middle of the road.  We always keep granola bars or apples in the car to hand to these brethren of the street.  They take it with both hands as a sign of gratitude and then put their hands together and say "God bless you."  I smile and feel guilty that I'm not giving them more.  

Albert is our favorite.  He greets everyone with the biggest smile, always holding a trash bag, offering to accept the trash from your car hopefully in exchange for a coin or two.  Sometimes I save some garbage to give him and then we give him coins.  He bows with humble gratitude and thanks us. He looks tired but hides it behind a friendly smile.

Why is it like this?  Everyday...long hours they stand.  So many go without food.  So many here are grateful if they have just one meal in a day...usually ground corn mush.   

We have so much.  I think true happiness will one day be the knowledge that nobody is suffering or going without.  Nobody is sorrowing and struggling to just live.  I am thankful and happy for the blessings I have yet deep inside I feel sadness that there is not more equality and I  am helpless to make it so.

Thank You!

I love Thanksgiving!  At home I loved it because it meant everyone was home for a long weekend and we had yummy left overs all weekend.

I love beginning the Christmas season with a holiday for giving thanks.  I'm thankful that George Washington declared this holiday.  My blessings are too numerous to list but this year I'd like to thank my husband, my children, my siblings and my mother.  I'm grateful they are all a part of my life.  I'm thankful for my Dad and other family who has gone on ahead of us into eternity.

Dear Mom,
Thank you.
Thank you for teaching me to pray when I was small.  It has become a precious part of my life.
Thank you for sharing with me your testimony about tithing.  Tithes have blessed my life through those windows of heaven.
Thank you for Saturday nights when you put my hair in curlers, shined my shoes with vaseline and bought me and Paula pretty "Sunday dresses" with crunchy slips - all in preparation for going to church the next day.  This taught me that the Sabbath day was not an ordinary day - it was special.  It was the Lord's day.  This blesses me even today.
Thank you for waking me up in the mornings, seeing me off to school and then greeting me as we came home from school each day, knowing you were there.
Thank you for family meals - where we ate together, Family Home Evening where we learned together, and family prayer where we prayed together.
All your children have grown up active and strong in the gospel of love...the gospel of Jesus Christ. All live a life of service as has been shown them through your example.  What a great Mom and Dad we children were blessed with!

I love you!

With love,
Debbie

Bongi

This is Bongi.  Daily you will see him sweeping the walks in front of the temple.  I told him that I loved his broom.  He looked at me with such confusion like "what is great about my broom?" Ha ha.  I love these people!!

Back to Zim!

Just back from another trip to Zimbabwe!  We stayed in Bulawayo this time which was very nice. Elder Chatora, Area 70, invited us to speak for a little bit at the Bulawayo Coordinating Council. Afterwards we did some training with these brethren in the photo who are members of the audit committee.  We also got to meet with Br. Norman Kamujoma (far right) who is our Assistant Area Auditor for Bulawayo.

Sometimes newer members think the church is a business generating lots of money.  We help them understand that the church relies on the generous donations of members and the sacredness of "the widows mite".  We remind about the protection that audits provide.  Protection of the sacred funds, the brethren who are stewards, their families and the trust of the members.  Everything both good and bad has a ripple effect.  We help teach self reliance vs dependence and the importance of doing things in the Lord's way in order to receive the Lord's blessings.

On Sunday we attended "Group Conference" in the Cowdray Park Group.  They are not yet a branch or ward even though they have about 160 active members!  This group meets quite a ways out of Bulawayo in very humble circumstances.  The pulpit is a wooden music stand.  A kind brother is very good at playing their 3 octave key board which sits on two plastic chairs and is held in level balance with hymn books at each end.   They were very wonderful brothers and sisters and there was such a great spirit there.

The group leader spoke about the holy ghost as a revelator.  At baptism the Holy Ghost becomes our gift and companion and we should listen carefully to this still small voice and be receiving revelation. The Stake President reminded us that we can know the truth of ALL things as told us in Moroni chapter 10.  He said the Gospel becomes more real to us after baptism because of the Holy Ghost.  Elder Chatora spoke also of revelation and how the prophet Joseph Smith was reading in James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."  He admonished us to declare the things we know to be true.  He told of a lady who was preparing for baptism.  Everyone told her to be prepared because the devil would work very hard to tempt her and prevent her from  going through with it.  She said "To me, the devil has got NO chance!"  She declared the things she knew to be true and was not going to be shaken.

We sang "Joy to the World" again for the closing song. :)  I'm getting excited for Christmas!

Stake President and "group" members outside the temporary building

Scenes from the neighborhood:

CAMP AMALINDA

One night we decided to stay in an interesting place that is built into the rocks.  It was very flintstoney ha ha.  Quite beautiful!

Bathroom

Library

breakfast room

family room

"Howard" took us to see some ancient bushman's paintings.  This cave was shaped like you were inside of a whale and the walls were covered with amazing paintings estimated to be 6,000 years old.

Encountering many baboons & monkeys along the way, Howard told us that they are so much trouble.  They come into peoples homes and make a complete mess of the kitchen.  Baboons are not afraid of women but they are afraid of men, therefore women who are working in the kitchen with the window open will often dress up like a man so the baboons won't come in.

As we were driving by the road to the hospital Howard told us that even though they have a hospital, they have no doctors.  There is one doctor who comes once a month so if there is an emergency you are out of luck.

Last but not least...I gave away four Book of Mormon's again this week!! :)

Finished crocheted blanket

I have finished my 2nd crocheted blanket for the orphanage.  I forgot to take a picture of the first one.

I heard of crocheted blankets being referred to as knitted poems! :) 

It's a very fun project we've been doing.  The elderly from an old folks home crochet the granny squares, then a lady from the community picks up all the squares and gives them to us at the area office.  She also donates bags of yarn including these huge spools!  We crochet all the squares together, finish off all the loose ends and give the completed blankets back to her.  She then delivers them to orphanages.

                                    Here is a fun group photo of some of our blanket makers:

Knudsen, Curtis, Rose, Kraczek, DaBell
Klingler, Reber, Hoffman

Zambia

Assignments this week took us to Ndola and then Lusaka Zambia to provide three different annual audit and financial training meetings with District presidencies and audit committees.
For the most part we were pleased with the turn out and the participation.

Ndola building - In the guards station.

Lusaka building

Zambia is a lovely country.  They were having a Jubilee, celebrating 50 years and they were also mourning the death of their president, President Sata.  An early president declared Zambia a Christian nation and all of the people we met seemed very proud of that & certain that they had enjoyed peace all these years because of God's blessing them for being Christians.  People would see our name badges and say "Jesus Christ, oh I LOVE Jesus Christ!"  I ended up giving away four Book of Mormons and about a dozen pass along pages I made earlier and keep in my handbag.

On Sunday a brother spoke about how there had been war on all their borders but they were a sanctuary of peace because they were not secular, they were Christian.  He said they had been saved from catastrophes because "we claim the blood of Christ. Although we sin and have imperfections and unworthiness before His thrown, this is a holy land.  May God bless us, may God bless Zambia and may God bless His church."     

This brother also spoke of that wondrous day that changed the world when the prophet Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the sacred grove.  He said: "That day changed the whole world and that day changed me.  That is why I stand here today."

I enjoyed that we sang "Joy to the World" for our closing hymn.

Here are a few scenes we saw along the way:

The road between Ndola and Lusaka is about a four to five hour strenuous drive!  A multitude of hotfooted Tanzanian truck drivers stampede down the road and Chris, the driver, was fine but I, the passenger, was frazzled by the time we made it.  Eish!

It is kind of cool that this truck company is named
Hakuna Matata! :)

You should click this to enlarge and see the services this place offers!

Goards for sale

Beautiful Flamboyant Trees were ablaze everywhere!!

100's of people lined up for the viewing of President Sata.

Livingstone, Zimbabwe 

We had a few days between meetings and it was too expensive to fly back to Joburg and then return so with permission we saw a little more of Zambia.  Chris even got to check something off of his bucket list!!  (Victoria Falls!)  It is the end of the dry season so the waterfalls were at their lowest volume, yet still magnificient.  During the high volume you get drenched looking at the falls and you can't see the bottom due to the mist.  That would be fun to see as well.

Baboon and monkeys on the grounds.

A very big head!  I've forgotten what it is.

The Zambezi Sun was a nice place to stay.  It was beautiful and had many Zebras wandering the grounds.  Chris was getting a little sun on a lounge chair when a zebra came over and nudged his toe with its nose!! ha ha ha!  Man I wish I could have gotten a photo of that!

Strangler Fig Tree

In Chris's letter to the kids he wrote about this Strangler Fig: 

"The Strangler Fig Tree gets it start; usually from a bird or animal who has eaten the fruit of the strangler fig.  The seed is left in the fork of a tree.  The seed begins to grow and then sends roots down to the ground and branches into the air.  The tree grows very rapidly until it has overtaken the host tree.  Elder Klebengat in our last conference taught us “become really, really good at repenting thoroughly and quickly.”  This is equivalent to getting the seed out of the fork in our tree before it can take root."

Dr Livingstone I presume: 

It's hard to see but he is carrying
a broom he made out of twigs.

Bush camp on the lower Zambezi River

Next we decided to do something very African and stay in a bush camp along the Zambezi River.  We stayed in a nice tent with a stone floor.  It had a double bed in it and an enclosed outdoor toilet & shower.  The interesting thing about this is that it is a bush camp...in the wilds of the African bush...This was not Disney!  This was for real...unprotected...not fenced in...and we saw it and heard it all about us!  Five wart hogs came over to spend the night and a hippo came up from the river and joined the wart hogs in grazing.  His name is Frank. We could hear Frankie the hippo and the wart hogs munching the grass all night!  Crunch, crunch, crunch.  Quite cool!  We also could hear lions roar, thankfully from the other side of the river and a raucous territorial dispute by baboons!   

 I love the idea of boating on the Zambezi with it's elephants (ellies, they call them) along the shore, the crocodiles sunning themselves and then slithering into the water as we pass and all the hipos!!

After a couple hours on the river I start thinking too much.  I see the multitude of huge giant hipo heads all looking at us with their monster eyes like they're ready to defend their territory and run you out!  

Their heads submerge under the water as we come nearer - we could be moving over a whole pod at this minute!  What did we read?  We read that Hippos are actually the most dangerous animal in Africa and in this river there are approximately 50 hippos per kilometer! Might they rise up as we pass over, spill us out and feed us to the crocodiles? 

My cursed imagination made me feel a bit scared and since it was just Chris & I, I asked the boat driver if we could return a little early.  I do know that fear is opposite of faith but sometimes fear is wisdom speaking to keep you safe don't you think?  Also, I believe that he who has no fear has NO imagination!

Another scary thing

Chris & I also did a game drive (safari) but while Chris went on an extra drive, I decided to stay behind at camp to relax with a good book.  As I was reading ...all alone...I suddenly heard a deep growl!  Trees began snapping and breaking.  I knew the sound of trees snapping meant elephants so I took my book and went inside the tent just as five elephants sauntered over!  One was a huge mama with a little baby and a toddler.  This was very cool I know but African elephants are not as easy going as Asian elephants especially mama's with a baby!  The big mama stopped at the step of our tent, turned her head and looked at me inside.  We both stared at each other!  I was trembling as I slowly stepped to the right, trying to hide behind the door frame so that she wouldn't see me looking at her and get defensive.  I felt divinely blessed as she moved on and didn't try to eliminate me!

These 3 photos below were taken through the tent screen after they "moved on"...see how huge compared to the tent!  Hhhhhh...heart was beating fast with this!  

He's nearly as tall as the ceiling!

Oh, also just before the elephants came, I had a meter long snake slither by as I sat in the chair on the porch reading!  But I didn't see any spiders!  Because of no rains for so long- there were no bugs! Well, I did see two flies and one got gobbled up by a gecko on the screen window.  A poor dried up frog lay as a dry leaf on the path.  Very soon the rains will begin at which time everything will burst into life!  The foliage that has saved up moisture in its roots for survival during these long dry months will release it and soak up freshness and bloom lushly almost before your very eyes. Insects all in a day will become like a foreign invader, dive bombing you like a war has begun.

Here are a few other photos from the game drive:

Termite mound

This is a buffalo.
In the USA we have bison which are very different.

This poor buffalo stuck in the mud was just heart breaking to me.  I'm sure he was just trying to cross & as he did so he sunk in deeper than he was able to manage.  He had been stuck there for about 3 days and the lions hadn't yet found him.  He looked at us with sad eyes and I was feeling so so sad and heartless to move on without helping him.  The driver told us that they believe in letting nature take it's course and not to intervene so the poor guy was left there so helpless.  Hhhhhh.

This amazing marvelous world is also a very mean cruel world.  Every animal lives daily in fear and must be constantly & vigilantly on the look out for danger.  They wander about in a peaceful landscape which at any moment could be disrupted by a predator ready to kill and eat them.  I can't wait till the millennium is here!

Chris also commented about the buffalo in his letter to the kids:
"This buffalo decided to dip his toes “just a little” in sin.  Nothing bad happened to him so he waded in a little deeper to seeking a little more pleasure.  Now he is mired in sin and this will likely prove fatal.  His “friends” have all left him.  We are free to make choices, but we cannot choose the consequences of our actions. 2 Ne 28:21 “And others he will pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea Zion prospereth, and all is well – and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.”