As a teacher, this kind of rubbed me the wrong way---I wonder if the kids in South Africa ever learn to spell!! Actually that is how they spell school in Africaans. I still wonder.I have decided to do a little more writing and fewer pictures on my blog for a while and see how we like it!! I felt like I couldn't blog unless I had time to put in some pictures---which I don't always have time to do. This way my blog will seem more like a letter to each person who visits my blog and I won't feel the need to email quite as often.
Today we went to visit a wonderful sister in our ward, Nozuku Qwabe, who has just been called as the Young Women's President in the Langa Branch. We call her Sister Nozuku. She is beautiful and tall with her hair pulled back in a ponytail kind of thing that is a mass of tiny, shiny, black ringlets about three or four inches long. She had worked all day at her job in a jewelry store on the Victoria & Alfred Wharf which is a huge tourist shopping mall in Cape Town. She was tired, but in very good spirits.
We got there at 6:00 pm and she had made a pot of nogloshu (there is a click where the gl is) which is beans and corn mostly with curry spices and some chicken for us to eat. The missionaries were going to visit her and they took us along. They were teaching her a lesson about temple marriage and thought we would be a good visual aid, I think! Plus, neither of them has ever been married, so that makes it hard to teach from experience. She was surprised to see us, but was very excited that we had come.
Her home is in a large apartment building on the second floor. It is part of a complex of about 8 buildings inside a gated community. They have guards at the gates because it is on the edge of one of the townships where the homes are built with scraps of tin and old lumber. The buildings are all white, and seem pretty nice, but there is a lot of trash around. Her home is one room about 12 feet by 14 feet. In that room she has a small sink, fridge, and kitchen area in one corner. Her stove is two burners on top of a small microwave. A small entertainment center with a small TV and DVD player was in the opposite corner with a love seat facing it. Behind the loveseat was a full size bed and then a chest of drawers on the wall the kitchen stuff was on. There was a bathroom along a hallway as you came in the door. She is probably one of the most comfortable of the members of the branch.
Today we went to visit a wonderful sister in our ward, Nozuku Qwabe, who has just been called as the Young Women's President in the Langa Branch. We call her Sister Nozuku. She is beautiful and tall with her hair pulled back in a ponytail kind of thing that is a mass of tiny, shiny, black ringlets about three or four inches long. She had worked all day at her job in a jewelry store on the Victoria & Alfred Wharf which is a huge tourist shopping mall in Cape Town. She was tired, but in very good spirits.
We got there at 6:00 pm and she had made a pot of nogloshu (there is a click where the gl is) which is beans and corn mostly with curry spices and some chicken for us to eat. The missionaries were going to visit her and they took us along. They were teaching her a lesson about temple marriage and thought we would be a good visual aid, I think! Plus, neither of them has ever been married, so that makes it hard to teach from experience. She was surprised to see us, but was very excited that we had come.
Her home is in a large apartment building on the second floor. It is part of a complex of about 8 buildings inside a gated community. They have guards at the gates because it is on the edge of one of the townships where the homes are built with scraps of tin and old lumber. The buildings are all white, and seem pretty nice, but there is a lot of trash around. Her home is one room about 12 feet by 14 feet. In that room she has a small sink, fridge, and kitchen area in one corner. Her stove is two burners on top of a small microwave. A small entertainment center with a small TV and DVD player was in the opposite corner with a love seat facing it. Behind the loveseat was a full size bed and then a chest of drawers on the wall the kitchen stuff was on. There was a bathroom along a hallway as you came in the door. She is probably one of the most comfortable of the members of the branch.
Her neice lives there with her and she is in high school. She didn't tell us anything about her neice, but she seemed like a fairly happy girl. She laid on the bed and didn't say anything while we talked to Nozuku. Nozuku told us she was going with the young women to youth conference this weekend and she felt overwhelmed by her church calling. They were going to a camp or something in the mountains---it was a stake activity. She has six girls who come regularly to church and she is working hard to keep them out of the lifestyle many youth are choosing at this point in their lives. I thought how much this sounded like the young women leaders in our home ward in Pocatello—even though their lives are worlds apart, they have the same concerns and love for those they are serving. Nozuku has only been a member of the church for a little over a year, so I'm sure it is very difficult not knowing that much about everything anyway. The youth that we have met are so strong in the church and bear wonderful testimonies about their conversion and how wonderful it is not to be a part of the world around them. I am so impressed with all of them. The church has a wonderful future here if they can stay as strong as they are now. As the scriptures say, we are building the foundation of a great work. We are praying for good weather for them at the camp---I can't wait to hear how it goes.
We had another baptism after church this week. It was a young woman named Boingwe (Bon gee way). She is 17 or 18 I think and is so cute with a big smile. We have talked to her every week at church and didn't realize she wasn't a member until that day! Everybody was so excited that she decided to be baptized and two of the other young women in the ward gave the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. The Elders were excited and tell us they won't have another baptism this next week, but probably the week after that they will.
We had another baptism after church this week. It was a young woman named Boingwe (Bon gee way). She is 17 or 18 I think and is so cute with a big smile. We have talked to her every week at church and didn't realize she wasn't a member until that day! Everybody was so excited that she decided to be baptized and two of the other young women in the ward gave the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. The Elders were excited and tell us they won't have another baptism this next week, but probably the week after that they will.
Write and let me know if this is too long - I just wanted to tell everyone about this because everyone seemed so interested in how the people here live. Believe me, there are some very affluent neighborhoods, but usually not where the church is!! The rich don't always have time to listen to the missionaries. There are probably many members in this area who are live much better than Nozuku, but they are not in our branch. They are in our stake however and that's why the youth were going to a camp in the mountains. How wonderful for our youth.
Africa is the most exciting place - I just love it here.
Hi Mom!
ReplyDeleteThe blog is great! I love it and am so grateful you are taking the time to post! I think stories are as good and sometimes better than pictures. It's great to hear about your expirences and I didn't find it too long at all! I liked the feeling of reading a letter. I miss you both so glad you are having such a great time!