Lesedi Cultural Village

This time of year is very slow for us in Gaborone because many people go to the villages to be with family for the holidays. We took advantage of this and went to South Africa to check out the Lesedi Cultural Village and surrounding area as a possible venue for an upcoming couples retreat we were asked to help plan. Elder and Sister Taylor are in charge of the retreat and they went with us. The village is about four hours from Gaborone and about an hour from Johannesburg. We spent Thursday night, 27 December, at the village.

The village is located in the Hartbeespoort Dam area of South Africa. This is a popular holiday area for South Africans so there are many things to do. On the way to the village we stopped at Chameleon Village which is a large African craft market. We had lunch there; and of course, the sisters did some shopping.

Pedi Village

 

 

Ndebele Village

 

At the village we were assigned rooms in the Pedi Village. Our rooms were very comfortable and built in the rondavel (traditional round house) style. There are five villages each with a tribal theme - Pedi, Zulu, Xhosa, Basotho, Ndebele. After settling into our room we listened to some traditional music by the craft shops, and then watched a video on the history of South Africa.

Zulu Village

 

Xhosa Village

A guide then took our group to all of the villages and told about traditions and history of each of the tribes. In the villages people demonstrated tasks and social activities of that tribe such as grinding maize, traditional healers, cooking, using cow dung to smooth and harden the dirt floor of a house, etc. Sister Rands is VERY glad she does not do her floors this way.

Guide at Basotho Village

At the end of the tour of villages they had a traditional singing and dancing program. For the last part of the program they had all the visitors get up and dance with the performers.

We then went to a buffet dinner with many African foods - squash, chard, pap ( maize meal), chicken, lamb, crocodile, kudu, bread, salads, fruits, and desserts.

In the morning we had an English breakfast buffet with many items to choose from. We then visited with the convention manager about our possible retreat and did some craft shopping. We also checked out Hartbeespoort Dam and waterfall and the cable way tram to the top of the mountain. We did not ride the tram because the wait was two hours.

We drove to Johannesburg and picked up supplies for the missionaries in Botswana before we returned home.

Botwana Christmas 2012

Christmas day has been a busy and enjoyable one for us. We got up at five o'clock, not because the children woke up early to open their presents but because we had to prepare part of the meal for the "kids" (the elders and sisters). We were responsible for chicken enchiladas, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, and punch; and needed make the enchiladas and chop the vegetables. The Gublers were responsible for beef enchiladas, refried beans, and ice cream. The Taylors were responsible for chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, and cake.

At nine o'clock we met other church members and missionaries at the SOS Children's Village, an orphanage in Tlokweng near Gaborone, to sing Christmas carols. There are currently 204 children at the orphanage, but only 55 were there today because the others had relatives they could go visit for the holiday season. The children live in homes with a "mother" and "auntie". They have a family situation with children of different ages living together and they always stay with the same "family". The children and adults joined with us in singing the carols.

Santa, Elder Jenkins, made a visit and brought the children candy. All the children enjoyed Santa's visit except one little boy who was terrified of Santa. Sister Rands can relate to that. We enjoyed being with the children; it was a delightful way to start Christmas day.

From the orphanage we had to hurry to meet with the elders and sisters for a Christmas devotional and dinner. Thirty-two young missionaries and three senior couples met in the Gubler's apartment for the devotional. Each of the districts and the senior couples contributed something spiritual to the program. There was quite a variety to the presentations.

After the devotional we had a Mexican dinner at the Taylor's apartment which is in the same complex as the Gubler's apartment. At the conclusion of dinner the missionaries were each given a personalized Christmas stocking prepared by the senior couples. The devotional and dinner went from eleven o'clock until one o'clock so the missionaries would have the rest of the day to make phone calls to their families. Most of them will use the Internet because it is much cheaper.

Broadhurst Ward Christmas Party

We attended the Broadhurst Ward Christmas party on Saturday, 15 January. We arrived at the scheduled 11:30 am start time. Sister Rands helped in the kitchen. Elder Rands helped braai the meat. His job was to keep the flies off the meat using a tree branch.

The dinner was chicken, beef, sausage, several kinds of salads, pap (corn meal) with stew on top, and cake. Botswanans like their meat.

The party actually got going at two o'clock when the meat was finished cooking and food prepared.
There were games outside in the parking lot. Remember it is summer in Botswana and warm (hot). They divided everyone into seven groups for the games. Some of the games were three-legged race, soccer goal toss, card race where two people hold a card between them with their teeth and run to the finish line, water balloon toss, water relay, straw drink race (assemble ten straws end to end and suck up a bottle of juice), blanket turn (team stands on blanket and turns it over without stepping off the blanket), lollipop walk, treasure hunt, etc. Everyone, young and old, had a great time playing the games. About 175 people came.

The games lasted until after four o'clock and then it was time to eat. We had to leave at four o'clock to give a keyboard lesson. When we came back at 5:30 pm the food was all gone so we missed the dinner. We thought the party would be over long before we had to leave for the keyboard lesson.

After dinner there was a skit, singing of Christmas carols, and Santa (Elder Wagner) came. Santa gave candy to the children. We left the party at 6:30 pm and there was still more to come. It was an all-day event.

Wash Day

Most people in Botswana do not have washing machines and even fewer have clothes dryers. People do their wash by hand outdoors in large tubs. Many do not even have stands or tables to put the tubs on so they put the tubs on the ground and bend over. It is a lot of hard work but people keep their clothes clean and pressed.

People try to do their wash on dry sunny days and on these days you often see clothes hung out to dry. There are a lot of houses with clothes lines but popular places to hang clothes to dry are also the fences. In apartments people put up lines or hang clothes over the rails. Most of the time it is hot and dry so clothes dry quickly outdoors.

We are blessed to have both a washing machine and a clothes dryer. The washing machine does not do a particularly good job and leaves lots of lint on the clothes but it beats washing by hand in tubs. It does not have hot water so when we want hot wash water we use a pan to add hot water from the kitchen sink to the washing machine. We are grateful for our washing machine!

 

We rarely use the dryer because it is very slow and vents into the house and it has a tendency to leave black marks on the tips of collars. We usually hang our clothes on our clothes line. On days when we start the wash and it begins to rain we have a drying rack to dry the clothes indoors. This is not a common occurrence, however.

Mission Tour

As part of his tour of the Johannesburg South Africa Mission, Elder Renlund of the Seventy came to Gaborone on 30 November for a conference with all the missionaries. Missionaries came from as far north as Francistown (5 hours away) and as far south as Mafikeng, South Africa (2 hours away). About fifty-five people attended the conference.

Elder and Sister Renlund and President and Sister Omer spoke at the conference which went from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm. We received a lot of good instruction. Elder Renlund was given three reasons to come to the mission by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve:
   1. To thank the missionaries for coming on a mission.
   2. To tell us we have the right and privilege to know that we are called by prophecy to this specific mission for a reason.
   3. To emphasize that President and Sister Omer were called of God to be mission president here for a specific reason.

During the last of the conference Elder Renlund took questions from the missionaries, and he or President Omer answered them.

After the conference lunch prepared by the senior couples was served. A variety of salads, rolls, and cakes was enjoyed.

Thanksgiving

 

On Monday, 26 November, the senior couples prepared a Thanksgiving dinner for the missionaries in the Gaborone East and West Zones - thirty-seven missionaries including couples. Some traveled two hours to get to Gaborone. Francistown missionaries had their own celebration.

Everyone crowded into the Kimball home. This will be the last gathering at the Kimball home because when they leave for home in December the church is going to put the next couple into an apartment instead of the house.

Elder and Sister Kimball cooked the turkeys, bought rolls, and made the gravy and the dressing. Elder and Sister Rands made fruit salad and mashed potatoes. Elder and Sister Gubler brought a vegetable tray on their third day in Gaborone; they are Kimballs' replacement. Elder and Sister Taylor went beyond the call of duty by preparing table decorations with the help of the young sisters, green bean casserole, candied yams, and eleven pies of nine different kinds!

Elder and Sister Kimball had Christmas decorations up and stockings stuffed with goodies for everyone because the Kimballs will go home before Christmas.

After dinner those who could stay watched the video "Seventeen Miracles". Some had to do their laundry and send e-mails.

Seminary and Institute Graduation

On Sunday, 25 November 2012, we held Seminary and Institute graduation for the Botswana Gaborone Stake. Four seminary students received Certificates of Achievement. Three institute students received Graduation Diplomas. We asked these students to quote a favorite scripture, say why it is important to them, and bear their testimonies. Forty seminary students received certificates and seventy-seven institute students received certificates for the courses they had completed. In total, about two hundred certificates were awarded.

The first counselor in the stake presidency conducted the meeting. The second counselor spoke. The stake president handed out the certificates and gave remarks. We had a musical number by seven young adults. The stake president thought that we might have up to one hundred fifty people attend. Two hundred twenty-five actually came. Last year the attendance at graduation was sixty. We felt really good about the attendance and the number of families that came. We had good attendance from units in the villages with some renting buses to come to graduation.

We made forty dozen cookies and the other senior sisters helped out by making fourteen dozen cookies for refreshments. With so many extra people in attendance we had to limit the cookies to two per person to start. No cookies were left. We had punch with the cookies.