Johannesburg trip to be with Elder and Sister Ward

Sister Ward called us on Wednesday and asked us to come to Johannesburg and be with her because Elder Ward has a large aneurysm on his Aortic Artery, the abdominal artery and the doctor was going to do emergency surgery on Friday.  So, of course we got everything done we had to get done and left for Johannesburg on Thursday.  Everyone is going to fast and pray for Elder Ward Thursday and Friday.

We were at South African Immigration and saw this lady with 10 pound of flour on her head, she walked across the border into South Africa, by the time we got through the line she was gone.

This is the time of year Africa burns, everything is so dry; they do not even try to put the fires out, mostly they set them to burn the brush;  This is all over Africa.

There is a small town on the way to Johannesburg by the name of Caroline and this 4 way stop was just too funny.

We got to Johannesburg, our South African telephone had been restricted because it needed to be registered, we did not know this so we did not have a telephone when we left Swaziland;  We could not call Elder and Sister Ward and no one could call us.  The Doctor Elder Ward saw decided to do more tests to confirm the size of the aneurysm and where it extended to on the artery.  The scan will be done Monday afternoon then on Tuesday the Doctor will decide on the type of surgery or if he will need surgery.  So we had a nice visit with them and met Elder and Sister Martineau from the Area Legal Department. Sister Martineau fixed us breakfast, then back to Swaziland today.  We were kind of glad they could not reach us to tell us not to come.

Ezulwini Orphanage

Today we finished off a project that we have been working on for about 2 months.  We delivered 30 blankets, 30 hygiene kits, writing paper, family home evening manual and 3 english lesson books -Thou Shalt Have My Word.  This helps the people who do not speak English learn enough to read the Scriptures.  We had 8 Elders go with us and they played games with the children.  We spent over an hour there and the women who run the establishment were so grateful and we offered to come back and teach English if they would set up an afternoon class with some adults.  A good time was had by all.

18 July 2011 Elders and Hlane

Today was "p-day" and all missionaries went to Hlane Big Game Park for a safari.  We drove ourselves through the park and we all had a good time.  Elder Munger's face tells it all.                                                            

The Elders were facinated with the Ostrich.  Elder Diseko, Cooley, Jonga, Shelton, Pierce.               

Wish we could have taken a Safari Truck, Our bakkis were just as good though.

Elder Shelton enjoying the Rhinos

Bakkis lined up ready to go exploring and finding the animals.

After the Safari the Manzini Elders followed us to Steki where we delivered a letter and picture to the Aunti of Elder Vusi Mamba who is serving in the Johannesburg Mission.  Aunti Mamba did not speak english so Elder Jonga translated the letter and helped us communicate with her.  He did a great job.

Elder Sapaku, Elder Pierce, Aunti Mamba and Elder Jonga.  Good service project for us all.

Church and Visiting Bishop and Sister Mamba

Bishop and Sister Mamba, Sister Blackburn, Ayanda and President Balunga, the other picture is of the Mamba Grandchildren  Elder Shelton and how happy he is to get his mail from home.  The Elders love getting letters and packages, something to open and hold, just like Christmas.

This week we have had Elder and Sister Gunderson, Elder and Sister Petersen here training the members in PEF (Perpetual Education Fund) and and work shop to help apply for and find work.  We were not very involved this time.  It was great for the members to really get to know these specialty missionaries.  Today we went to Nhlangano for church, Sister Blackburn gave the Relief Society lesson and there was much discussion on how to deal with husbands who hit their wives, a common occurance here in Swaziland and Africa.  Elder Blackburn was interviewing a couple who were ready to divorce, and they are trying to take steps to save their marriage.  She is going to the Temple in September and he has now made a commitment to change his life and be a better husband.  After Church we took Branch President Balunga and a young Elder, Ayanda with us to visit Bishop Mamba and his wife.  I believe we have finally driven to THE ENDS OF THE EARTH ON DIRT ROADS.  3 plus hours on dirt roads.  Their car has broken down and they have not had the funds to fix it.  They had not been to church in over 6 months.  They are an elderly couple, she can hardly walk, arthritis is so bad.  When we arrived he brought out 2 hymn books and asked us to pray with them.  So Elder Blackburn made it a very special meeting and offered them the Sacrament.  There was no bread, so he used biscuits (a package of cookies).  President Balunga was not so sure of doing this, so Elder Blackburn explained to him that this was not an uncommon thing to do.  When elderly people cannot get to Church, the Bishop will often send the Priests to their homes to give them the Sacrament. President Balunga offered the Sacrament prayers and Elder Blackburn passed the Sacrament to us all.   A few tears were wiped away by everyone there.  The Spirit of the Lord was so strong, Bishop Mamba shared his favorite scripture with us.  This experience is one of the reasons we love our mission, the Branch President was able to learn a new function of the Priesthood.  Elder Ayanda, as he prepares for his mission will take more knowledge with him on what the Priesthood can do for a family.

This is a letter from Elder Vusi Mamba to the Manzini Branch, TO: My supermangovious Brothers and Sisters Manzini Branch, L.D.S.  FROM: Your lonely brother, Vusi Mamba Bretheren and Sisters you are always in my prayers.  I still can remember each and everyone of you.  I know how much you love the church and its teachings.  I write this encouragement letter to you like Apostle Paul writing his letters to his bretheren.  Brothers and Sisters, the active weapon is the Book of Mormon, not just the Book but what is inside the Book.  Of course I have a strong testimony of this precious Book.  I promise you to be obedient for my sake, your sake and my family's sake.  Of course the spirit is the key, love is the motive, obedience is the price and Christ is the reason.  Brothers and sisters, I love you so much.  Thank you for your emails and your letters.  Don't be surprised that I am still handsome; its because of the confidence which is within me about myself and the Book of Mormon and the Church that I belong to.  I have lots of injuries of bicycle, I learned it here!!!  But through the thickness of all this, I know that I am doing the Lord's work.  Don't laugh!!!  Please take care of one another, including my family.  Joseph Smith was the Lord's prophet, the Book of Mormon is true, Elder Mamba is the true represesntative of Christ and of Manzini Branch.  I know that if you can email and send him letters he will be happy for all time and all eternity.  It's my sincere prayer and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ - - - - - Amen.

Anyone want to send Elder Mamba a letter, just mail it to the Johannesburg Mission Office and he will get it, or ask us and we will give you the address - our email is thblackburnsa@gmail.com

Now another Elder story,  Elder Sessonga and Elder Sapaku came by last night to visit and talk.  Elder Sessonga is going home to Uganda on the 27th, a month early because of his visa.  Elder Sessanga appeared anxious about something and had not had anything to eat all day, so we gave him a piece of chicken and fruit.  He appears to be hoarding his alotment (which is not much) so he could have money to take home.  He related that he would not have food there.  He is going home to: no mother, no father, no house, no money.  So he was going to ask us for money and we stopped him and told him to take that problem to his Heavenly Father, that Heavenly Father would soften someone's heart and he would get the help he needed.  Heavenly Father knows what you need before you ask. (we had already decided to give him some money).  The Mission President has gotten someone to pick him up at the airport and has arranged a place for him to stay and a small job for him.  We wanted him to experience all that he has been teaching for the last 2 years, trust in your Heavenly Father.  Do not worry so, Heavenly Father will help you!!  This is a lesson for us all to remember - when we love our Heavenly Father we do his will and when we give him crumbs he gives us a loaf.  

Swaziland Immigration

This is Swaziland Immigration Department, is it any wonder they can hardly find anything, as of today Elder Mutariswa has still not gotten his visa; we are hoping for Wednesday, otherwise he will have to go through the border and get his passport stamped again.  The Casino is where we have to go to the ATM to get our South African Rand.  We cannot spend Swazi money there, even though we can spend Rand in Swaziland.

Gate to Nambiti Game Reserve

We had such a good couple of days; lots of outdoor scenery, the weather was cold at night but we had an electric blanket and the tent was not so bad in the sunlight.  We enjoyed the lions and actually heard them catch a warthog for breakfast.  Elder Blackburn enjoyed that very much.  We had meetings on how to use the JPMorgan card, the new incentives for Senior Couples to serve a mission, how to teach Elders to use their car and us.  How to get Elders to keep a clean flat.  Good food, good company what else should we want.  It was a great Conference!!!

Catch up time

10 July 2011
Elder Tlkotsi, Elder Lyon, Elder Herrity

Elder Tlkotsi, Elder Henson, Elder Tualofu

Today was District Conference in Mbabane, President and Sister Von Stetten were here for 4 days; it was a very spiritual conference, the Saints just hung around after the meeting wanting to talk and visit with anyone who was there.  President had all 18 of us missionaries stand up and it was a very powerful statement to see that many missionaries in a conference.  He urged the Saints to give them their friends and families to teach and to pray that the District will grow and become a Stake.  Some of our Elders were just MIA when we took the pictures; probably talking with their investigators.  Sister Blackburn shared her testimony and there were a lot of tears; Elder Blackburn spoke in Conference at yesterday's meeting.  There was a lot of good fellowship as we spent the last 4 days with the Mission President and Sister Von Stetten.  We have been talking with Sister Ward everyday, Elder Ward is in the hospital in New Castle and they have not decided what is wrong with him.  Elder and Sister Hudson have been going up there from LadySmith everyday to give her support.  Otherwise, we would drive down there and stayed with her.  We, the Couple missionaries find ourselves quite alone in these circumstances, because we live and our assignments are so far from each other.

President Von Stetten related this incident to us last night;  there is a young man from Lesotho who is in the MTC in Johannesburg waiting for his police report so that his visa can be processed, he has been waiting a long time so Brother Mokoena drove to Lesotho, picked up Elder and Sister Dahle who are assigned there and they went to the Police Headquarters to get a copy of his police report (background search).  They were informed it would take at least 30 days to get the copy, after inquiring why they were told the copy machine could not be used, when asked why, they said there was no toner and no money to pay for some so it would take 30 days to get enough money to buy it;  Elder Dahle asked if another machine could be found in the building and use it, he was informed that this machine was the Police one and another one could not be used; Elder Dahle then offered to go buy toner and bring it back to them, he was told that they could not accept a gift of toner since that may be a bribe.  There was nothing they could do they would just have to wait the 30 days and hope there was money for toner.  So the Bretheren had to leave without the police report copy.  The missionary will have to be assigned somewhere else until all can be sorted out. Someone once said "there is no way these things can be made up"!!! One of those African Experiences.

Tomorrow we will go to immigration to get visa stamps and then Elder and Sister Blackburn will leave for South Africa.  There is a Couples Conference to be held just south of  Ladysmith.  We will spend tomorrow night with Elder and Sister Hudson and then travel to Nambiti Resort together, all the Couples and President and Sister Von Stetten will be there until Saturday afternoon.  We will spend Saturday night with Hudsons and Sunday travel back to Swaziland in time to attend Church in Nhlangano and go visit Bishop and Sister Mamba, they have not been to Church for many months because their car is broken down.

Transfer day 28 June, 2011

Today was Zone Meeting and Transfer Day.  All Elders came to our house for their meeting and then lunch of sanwiches and chocolate muffins.  Transfers were interdistrict because of the visa problems in South Africa and Swaziland and other African countries.  All the Elders seemed content with their transfer, they were somewhat disappointed at not getting a big transfer.  Elder Cooley has been here 71/2 months and he already had an interdistrict transfer when he was assigned to be Zone Leader with Elder Reeder so they stayed in Mbabane.  Elder Shelton went to Nhlangano to work with Elder Smith, Elder Herrity to GeGe to work with Elder Lyon, Manzini did not change, Elder Munger went to Mbabane to work with Elder Diseko, Elder Tlkotsi is serving with Elder Hensen.  They all look like it will be good companionships.  They all understood the problems with visas and know that Elder Tualofo will most likely have to stay in Swaziland because his SA visa has expired and don't know if he will get an extension.  Elder Sessonga will go home early because his SA visa will expire the end of July.  We went over the Evacuation Plan of Missionaries from Swaziland in the case of emergency, however, we explained that this is ground work and they will not have to be evacuated since the govt is not ready to fail.  Collected almost all passports to take to immigration tomorrow to get the 6 month visa stamp.  Brother Mokoena drove over from Johannesburg and met Brother Dlamini at the Border Post in Nywenya and gave him the cash to pay for the visas. Elder Blackburn had to meet Elder Smith on the Nhlangano road to get the passports of the Elders who forgot to bring theirs or did not get the message. A really full day.

27 June 2011
Went to Immigration to get our passports stamped and they were not ready, were told to come back on Wednesday after all the paperwork is completed.  Elder Blackburn picked up the washing machine for Manzini Elders and when he called to make arrangements to take it to them they offered to come and get it and asked if we could fix them dinner, they were hungry and had not bought food for a few days so of course he said yes.  Sister Blackburn fixed penne pasta casserole and not a bite was left, they must have been really hungry.  Then they played with the neighbors dog and wanted a picture taken with it.  Our neighbors have 3 of those huge dogs.  Imagine trying to feed them, worse than trying to feed missionaries.

Elder Pierce tried to put back all the music on Sister Blackburn's ipod that got erased when the computer crashed.  He could not get it back and then downloaded all his MOTAB music for Sister Blackburn so she would have something to listen to.  We feel that he has such a special spirit.

26 June 2011
We went to Church in Mbabane again today, we picked up Sister King at City Inn and Elder Blackburn had several Melchizedek Priesthood interviews to do.  So we stayed for Sunday School and Relief Society.  We don't often get to stay in a Branch for all 3 meetings since we have 5 units to visit and there are only 4 Sundays most months.  It was a good day.

Met the Ezulwini Missionaries in Manzini

We met with FODSWA today with George Dlamini so that George could set up an agenda for the handover ceremony on the wheelchairs.  Then this afternoon at 4:30 we picked up the Manzini Elders and went to an orphanage to see if Humanitarian can do something to help them, the children need clothes, shoes, food, dishes.  All we can do is ask Johannesburg if they can help.  On the way back to drop the Manzini Elders at their next appointment one of them said, "there are the Ezulwini Elders" and so there they were, making a beeline to our truck, then the traffic light changed and we had to drive away.  We went up the street and parked, Elder Sapaku got out and got their attention so here they come running to us.  They had gotten instructions to park their truck today and walk to save their Ks, they had gotten a kombi and missed their stop, the kombi driver just did not stop for them so they ended up in Manzini and had been trying to call Elder Blackburn to come find them.  Manzini is about 30 minutes away from Ezulwini by car.  Elder Blackburn had left his telephone home to charge.  They were so happy to see us, one of those little miracles that happen for Elders.  We dropped the Manzini Elders at their appointment and took the Ezulwini Elders to Malkerns to their appointment and waited for them since it was way too far to walk and no kombis were running.  Then we brought them home with us and fed them dinner.  No two Elders have ever deserved a good dinner as much as these two did today.  And now at 9:00 pm they are "in and safe" at their flat.

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.

Week of 12 June 2011

12 June 2011
A couple of incidents we forgot to include in our blog last week.  On Monday the Manzini Elders, Sapaku and Jonga called us, we were in the car driving home and they had found an infant along side the trail they were walking and wanted to know what to do.  The baby was in a plastic bag and was crying, we told them to call the police which they had already done and while we were talking the Police got there, the child was about 2 days old.  What an experience for them.  On Sunday night we got a call from the District President's wife, she was hysterical and said he is getting violent so we got into the bakki and drove to their home in Manzini and they had a terrific argument and he had pushed her away and she took this as a hit.  Anyway, we talked with both of them for awhile, Sister Blackburn with Sister Simelane and Elder Blackburn with President Simelane.  We calmed the situation down and it is part of the African Culture for the husband to just sit down in front of the Television Set when there is a ballgame on (sound familiar) and she had just gotten fed up.  So we told him she needed his attention since his work and Church took him away from home so much of the time.  Today in Nhlangano another similar experience  with Sister Shongwe, she does not like her husband at all, he is gone all week working and when he comes home all he does is watch TV, all night.  So Elder Blackburn talked with both of them and Brother Shongwe promised to do something for his wife each day and to get his life in order so that he can go to the Temple in 6 months.  Sister Shongwe is going in September, she got tired of waiting for her husband to prepare for the Temple.  It is Swazi Culture for the Husband not to tell his wife how much money he makes and likewise for the wife who works not to tell her husband how much she makes.  They do not share their money.  What a lot of change has to take place in Africa for families to be truly united.

10 June 2011

Very, Very cold today and very, very windy - at least not cold enough to snow.  We spend all morning with 12 Elders getting their passport pictures and papers filled out for Swazi Immigration, it took all morning.  Our electricity was out almost all day, we had to eat out for breakfast and lunch.  At least it is back on for the evening, we just need to get our house warm enough to live in.  I really don't know how these African people just seem to get along with the cold, no heat, they cook outside over open fires, sleep on dirt floors and sit on a reed mat on a dirt floor.  Today I really appreciate being born in the USA and all the conveniences we have, especially warm houses, good electric company and good gas company.  This is a picture of our stormy, windy day.

06 June 2011
Traveling to New Castle, South Africe, you never know what you will see on their heads; both have eggs.

The African women work so hard every day from carrying things on their heads to wheelbarrows.





The Bank in Wokkerstrom, South Africa, must have been built in early 20th Century

Wintertime in Africa and the Trip back from Zone Conference.

Coming back from Zone Conference we had to go through Immigration at South African and Swaziland Border Posts, South Africa did not want to let Elder Tualofo to leave because he had a temporary visa and the Immigration Officer just did not understand it.  He got so confused he picked up a stamp and just stamped it without meaning to do so. It happened to be the exit stamp!! That was truly the Lord working to help us, we had been there 1.5 hours while trying to get 18 people through Immigration; what was great, no problems with Swaziland.

09 June 2011

We received a telephone call from Brother Mokoena from the Area Office and we have to get work permits for 18 people in place tomorrow!!  Huge job to get done, all Elders will meet in Mbabane and we will have all the paper work for them to fill out and spend the rest of the day at Home Affairs getting the applications in place.  If we cannot get this done, Legal Department of the Area Office in Johannesburg are threatening to pull all missionaries out of Swaziland.  Almost all drama in the Durban Mission seems to come from Swaziland, sometimes we feel like we could use a week on a warm beach somewhere, especially now it is wintertime and cold.

06 June 2011

06 June 2011
Sister Blackburn went with Elders Hensen and Herrity to deliver the blankets from Humanitarian to the children of the Msibi family on Sunday, their level of poverty is heartbreaking, the mom and dad are terminally ill with TB (AIDS); the children have to take care of themselves.  This was an especially good experience for the young Elders.

Today we went to the American Embassy to meet with the Chief of Security, we had made arrangements for Joseph Mokoena from the Area Office to accompany us so that he could make a report to the Area Presidency.  We have a good evacuation plan for Swaziland, however a few minor suggestions were made to make it better.  Brother Mokoena will make those recommendations to the Area Presidency and we will give our Mission President the same suggestions.  It has been a good day.  Our Sewing machine project was given final approval and now we will work to get training done in 52 community centers plus 5 Branches of the Church; it is a fantastic project.  Women will be taught how to make washable sanitary pads, pads for older women with incontinence and they will be taught how to use soap, toothbrushes and good nutrition.

05 June 2011
Delivered blankets to young children living in abject poverty, mother and infant has been in hospital about 3 months for TB; father has been in bed about 6 month for TB; neither one is expected to survive, the 4 other children take care of themselves; when we arrived the 7 year old was washing his clothes in a washpan by hand.  Cooked most of the day for Zone Conference on Wednesday, we leave on Tuesday morning and will provide cookies; Apple pie and dinner rolls for Presidency Dinner

04 June 2011
Elder and Sister Harm picked us up at the home of Elder and Sister Callahan, we went shopping in the China Market for glass beads, that had to be the best bead store ever opened and the cheapest.  Sister Blackburn spend less than $30 and had about 10 large and med bags of the small glass beads.  A woman in the Manzini Market is going to show her how to do the Zulu beading.  We then went back to the Temple to pick up our Bakki and saw the Missionaries from Swaziland.  Elder Dlamini and Elder Mamba, they were so happy to see us, especially Elder Mamba.  He writes us every month to let us know how he is doing.  We also saw some of the Ezulwini Saints and were able to visit for a little while before driving back to Swaziland.  We got back to Swaziland about 5:00pm; that is a long drive over there.  Saw the duplicate of Las Vegas sign in the China Mart area as we were leaving.


03 June 2011
We arrived early to the Area Office of the Church in Johannesburg, one of the first people we say was Sister and Elder Nielsen and they asked if we could bring hygiene kits back to Swaziland and we said yes if we could have blankets too.  It was agreed to give us blankets too.   Elder and Sister Harms were there and went to the warehouse with us and helped load the bakki, it was so full we could barely get our luggage in when we started home.  We did not have any trouble with the border check point; we declared the blankets and boxes as donations and they let us right into Swaziland with no problems.  You just never know if there is going to be a problem with the border.  We got back to the Temple about 5:00 and the Callahans will pick us up at about 8:15pm.  The Ezulwini Branch was too late for the 6:00pm Session so we went ahead.  When we got out there was a message for us that they had finally arrived and would go to the Temple on Friday morning.

02 June 2011
Today we drive to Johannesburg to go to the Temple with the Ezulwini Branch; it will be our first trip to the Temple in over a year.  We took time to leave a bicycle in Mbabane for repair and got to Johannesburg Area Office about 3:00.  We found Elder Howell and he took charge of us until Elder and Sister Callahan finished their assignment at the Missionary Training Center.  When we all connected up we went to dinner at a small cafe across the street from the apartment complex where most of the Area Office Missioaries live.  They all have really nice apartments, large and well furnished.