Week of Immigration problems

21 June 2011
Had communication from Nielsens and Heningers about the Wheelchair project and the Sewing Machine Project and informed both of them that everything is in place in preparation for delivery of the Chairs and nothing can be changed or should be changed!!  Also sent President Von Stetten a message informing him of the status of both projects.  The Sewing Machine Project will not be completed until probably August since we need Customs Tax Exemption and that takes almost a month.  Not a lot of spiritually inspiring meetings right now, but when these projects are underway we will see the great result of helping those who cannot help themselves.

20 June 2011
We went to Mbabane to speak with the director of FODSWA, they will be receiving the wheelchairs from Humanitarian and have the Customs Tax Exemption, got a copy of that and faxxed it to the Nielsens so they can set a delivery date for us.  Informed them about the conversation with George Dlamini and that this project HAS to be finished with the right people in the right places otherwise it won't happen.  They must inform George that FODSWA will receive the chairs since they have the list of reciepients.

19 June 2011
We picked up Sister Joann King in front of City Inn and took her with us to Church in Mbabane, the meeting was really good.  Brother George Luklele from the District Council spoke on family relations and resolving conflict, it was a very timely subject since the District Relief Society had asked Elder Blackburn and I for help, the Sisters in the Church are complaining about how their husbands treat them.  Then George Dlamini needed to talk with Sister Blackburn and was informed that his plans for the Wheel chair project was not going to happen and other plans had been put into place, he was not very happy with the results, he will be happy when he sees how succesful the handover will be the way it is planned.  Elder Blackburn took Sister King and Sister Blackburn to their respective places to stay while he spent the rest of the day in meetings.

18 June 2011
Today is Visiting Teaching Conference in Manzini; the luncheon was so successful, the sisters had never had baked potatoes or a salad bar and it was fun to watch them fill their plate, not a bite of food was left.  Sister Blackburn showed items that could be made and sold and included quilts brought back from Johannesburg from the Humanitarian Missionaries. One of the Sisters wanted to know if the potatoes should be peeled and was taught how to bake potatores, just wash and put in oven! When the sisters filled their plate with the salad, instead of mixing it they put a small pile of  each item in a different place on their plate.   Very successful day.  Sister Ntshalintshali had planned a skit on how to do Visiting Teaching and the Sisters did a wonderful job presenting it.
All us couple missionaries went to Summerfield for dinner tonight, we considered it our Anniversary dinner, we had a very good visit.  Gundersons have some good plans to put into place for PEF; the Coxs plan on going home in August so they are winding down a little and putting things into place for their replacement.  Things are going pretty smooth right now.  We had a Sister call us who is staying at City Inn for two weeks, she is part of a Sister City group from somewhere in Texas and she wanted a ride to Church, so we will pick her up tomorrow.

17 June 2011
Elder and Sister Cox, Seminaries and Institute and Elder and Sister Gunderson, PEF came to town and dropped by our house for a little visit and get to know the Gundersons.  PEF is really going to start being more effective in Swaziland with these new missionaries. 

16 June 2011
Went to the Embassy this morning and the men there were so helpful, one went to Swazi Immigration to assure himself that he would be able to help us do what we need to do.  He took our fingerprints on the cards the FBI will require and explained that we must go back to Immigration in 2 weeks to get a 3 month extension when we wait for the background check from the US; Also, we must go to Police Headquarters and get a Swazi Police Report since we have been here about a year.  We got all papers together and took them to DHL to mail to FBI and it cost us 1,300. Rand which was about $170.00 American dollars for postage.  At least it is done!!! And now we wait!!!  At 2:00pm we had a meeting with Sister Ntshalintshali in planning the Relief Society program for Saturday.  Sister Blackburn suggested something different for lunch, "a light luncheon"; they did not know what was meant by that so a list of food was prepared and was determined to fix everything at the Church.

15 June 2011
Today is our 48th Wedding Anniversary!!  Our Swazi embassy rep. did not call, so we called her back and told her it has been 3 days and we need an appointment so then she gave us one for tomorrow at 8:30am.  So now we don't have to send Senator Hatch a plea for help.  We did a lot of errands and got home so late we did not feel like going out to eat, besides it has been cold in the evening.

14 June 2011
We called the Embassy today to get an appointment and the same receptionist says, "I will call you". So we will see, if she does not call today, we will get Rachel to send a request to Senator Hatch's office, this Swazi girl does not know how much influence our Senators have.

13 June 2011
We took all 16 Elders for a mental health checkup and the Dr. called each one up and looked at him and signed his certification. Easy Dr's appointment for them.  Then we got all forms filled out and our young man who has been hired by the Area Office took all papers to Immigration for certification.  When he came back it seems that Elder and Sister Blackburn needs finger prints and police report.  So off we went to the Police Department and got fingerprinted, then we find out we need a report from home or FBI background clearance.  We then went to the Embassy for help, the receptionist says she will call us with the appointment time.  Took all day to get this done.