Senior Couples Conference

Janet arrived back in Botswana from Utah on Sunday, 23 September. On Tuesday we drove to Johannesburg for a Church Education System Senior Couples Conference. We left early enough in the day that we were able to go to the temple that evening with the Alders, another senior couple with whom we went through the Mission Training Center. After dinner we went out to dinner together which made for a very nice evening.

Wednesday we met in the morning for training and in the afternoon the whole group went to the temple and then out to dinner together to Mike's Kitchen near the temple. It was especially nice to be able to go to the temple twice. When we arranged the Tuesday temple visit, we did not know that going to a temple session was going to be part of the conference on Wednesday.

Thursday before our meetings started we were able to visit the Johannesburg Mission Training Center and visit some of the missionaries getting trained from Botswana - Odi Majafe, Nyasha Mutoriti, and Oaitse Lepodise (one of our institute teachers). They seemed very pleased to see us. The Mission Training Center president's wife encouraged us to do this as she said it would give them a good boost. This day the meetings went the whole day. As part of the meetings we made a presentation on our Friday night activities. The group went out to dinner together again.

It is always fun to associate with other senior couples and find out what they are doing. Everyone has quite different assignments but many or our experiences are also quite similar. There were several new missionary couples at the conference. We are always surprised at how many missionaries in Africa are on their third or fourth mission.

When we woke up Friday morning, it was raining. Since April there has been one light rain in Botswana, so we enjoyed just seeing rain. By the time we started driving home, the rain had stopped so we had dry roads.

Hand Surgery Again!

Janet had surgery for carpal tunnel problems in February on her right hand in Utah and it has done very well.  About three months ago her left hand started having carpal tunnel problems and continued to get worse until another trip to Utah for surgery was needed. She left September 6th and had surgery on September 11th.  (She is grateful she only has two hands.) She stayed with Lisa and Heather in Utah.  With them she did fun things like attend the Utah State Fair and Rodeo, Rachel's school carnival, gymnastics lessons, and had visits with Janet Harmon, Shirley Millar, Sondra Bennion, and Margie Newbold, and a get together with her brothers and their wives to view photo's of Richard and Brenda's visit to Africa. 

She then traveled to Issaquah to see Michael and his family for four days.  There they went to the zoo, a skate boarding park, gymnastics, and had fun riding bikes and scooters, and going to the park. She returned to Utah for stitch removal, then flew back to Botswana September 22nd. (It is amazing what lengths some grandparents will go to in order to see their grandkids). The two and three year olds were especially enjoying their Halloween costumes.  She is most grateful for her kids taking good care of her and for the doctor who would fit a missionary from Africa into his busy schedule.

Bob stayed in Botswana to keep the work progressing there.  He will serve a month longer than Janet will on their mission. 

 

Free Yard Maintenance

We usually see cows, donkeys, and goats when we travel outside the city. We often see them inside the city wandering around. Drivers slow down when they see them. We see them in our neighborhood. We noticed these two donkeys doing some yard work on our neighbor's landscaping. We do not think it was appreciated but it was free. It would be difficult to have any plants they liked in front of the house.

Seminary and Institute Assignment

Our most important assignment in Botswana is supporting the Seminary and Institute programs. Six seminary and nine institute classes are taught in Botswana. We teach a "Principles of Leadership" institute class on Thursday evenings. We often take cookies to our institute class. One other "Principles of Leadership" class is also taught on Thursday nights. All of the other institute and seminary classes are on the Old Testament. They are taught by local teachers.

We alternate visiting the two institute classes taught on Tuesday nights in Gaborone and try to visit a seminary or institute class on Saturday whenever possible. Most of the classes are taught on Saturday so it takes us a while to get back to each class. We almost always take cookies when we visit a class. We are having a delightful time working with the youth and young adults. They are wonderful.

These pictures are of the Mochudi institute class taught by Junior Kgosiemang. They met outdoors this day because the Dicky Bird School where they met has two rooms. Seminary was using one and the Relief Society was using the other. It was the last time they met at the school before the branch moved to their new location where they will have a tent for sacrament meetings and a remodeled house for classrooms.

YSA One Day Convention

The Young Single Adults from Gaborone, Kanye, and Mochudi met on Saturday, 8 September, at Mmakgodumo Dam in Kanye for games and socialization. The idea all started as a picnic by the Kanye Institute and grew from there to a multi-unit event. The event went smoothly because of all the planning and organizing by the young adults of the food and activities. Eighty-six people attended. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Many of the young single adults want to have more multi-unit activities like this one with many people there.

Those from Mochudi had to start early in the morning traveling to the event because the drive is over two hours. They took public transportation to Gaborone to save money and hired a kombi from there to Kanye. The kombi took them back to Mochudi after the activity because of worry about returning to Gaborone too late to catch public transportation back to Mochudi.

Breakfast and lunch were served at the activity. Breakfast was polony (bologna) or tuna sandwiches, fruit, and drink. Lunch was chicken or beef, relish, pap (maize meal), and brownies.

To start the activities the youth had to find people in the group that had done specific things like live in Johannesburg for four years or have two brothers and two sisters. This was a good way to get to know other people. They group was divided into six teams to play the games which included a grapefruit passing relay, categories, fruit basket, steal the bacon, moose-moose, water bucket relay, sack races, apple eating, and tug of war. We were in charge of several of the games. Sister Rands did much of the planning but Elder Rands ran the games because Sister Rands is back in Utah for surgery on her left hand this time.

Helping Hands Day

All across Africa on Saturday, 18 August, was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Helping Hands work day. Units of the church worked on service projects to help families and the community.

The Botswana Gaborone West Young Single Adult Ward's project was the small children's park near the chapel. Over forty of us worked from eight o'clock in the morning until two o'clock in the afternoon. It was a nice cool day for working outdoors.

We picked up trash which included a lot of broken glass, painted the play equipment, repaired one of the swings, and cleared the weeds and brush from the lot. We installed a fence around the perimeter of the park. The supplies were purchased with donations.

 

 

Part way through the project everyone stopped for a snack of warm fat cakes (deep-fried balls of bread dough) and soda. After the project we had lunch of chakalaka vegetables and beans, bread, and sausage. The lunch was traditional style eaten without utensils. The park looked much better when we finished.