Fun in Langa

Here we are at the Langa Community Centre. They have this little mosaic and some of their artwork displayed here. I love this picture because it shows some of their talents. There is a lizard and a duck up on top of the wall that are carved I think. We got a map of Langa here and were very excited to have it. They have a walking tour you can take of the city, but we haven't had time to do it. It seems like it might be a little scary to be walking here ---there are some people here who really hate white people.

We saw these women walking along the road in Langa. There are always women carrying things on their heads. If you look closely you can see a baby on the back of the woman in front. They don't buy baby carriers, they just wrap a blanket around their middle with the baby on their bac

Here is a close-up of the baby-carrier. I thought I had already posted this, but I looked through my blog and didn't see it. They just lean forward and throw the baby and the blanket onto their back and tuck it in in front like you would a towel around you after your bath. I can't believe it stays on--and the babies seem to like it .

This man was driving his horse and wagon along the bridge over the freeway. It was quite a contrast. We see one like this about every day usually with a couple of kids in the back and some things they have collected to take home and work on. The poor horse is always seems to be running or trotting---we are thinking the horses probably don't live very long!

Here is a picture of two of our favorite people in the branch. This is Nozuko whose home I wrote about in one of my very first blogs. She is a single woman with no children who desperately wants to get married and have children. Things look promising in this picture with Simpiwe, her good friend---don't they make a cute couple? He is probably about five years younger than she is and not nearly so ready to settle down. He has several of the women in the branch after him and he is not ready to choose at this point. We are really rooting for Nozuko, but we like the others too! Simpiwe is a new member of less than a year. Nozuko is coming to our temple preparation class and hoping to go to the temple this year---married or not! She has been a member for about two years, has a great job, and seems to be very independent. She is the Young Women's President and comes to everything at the church - they both do. Simpiwe was just called to be the Branch Mission Leader and is doing a very good job. This was taken in our little chapel at the Langa Branch.

The picture below is our investigator, Samantha and her boyfriend whom she lives with and their new baby. Her boyfriend is Zamile who is a member of the church who has not been active for a while, but decided to clean up his life when he learned that Samantha was expecting. She came to live with him then because he wanted to care for her. The missionaries asked us to come and talk to them for a while about marriage and how to get along ---they tend to fight a lot. Some days they want to get married and some days they don't!! We now go every Wednesday and discuss the gospel with them. Zamile's mother also comes to church, but is not a member. She doesn't speak English well and it makes it hard to teach her, but she loves the scriptures. They all do - they read all the time and have lots of questions when we come. This was taken on one of the hottest days of the year - we were all just sweating in their little house with very little air moving.

These kids were outside Zamile's house after we came out. They wanted to wash our car for 200 rand! that's about $25! We take it the service station and get it washed and dried and vacuumed for 50 rand. They even paint the tires black with shoe polish and polish the dash inside. Zamile's mother is in the back with the white hat on - whe felt bad she missed the picture inside. We'll get some more pictures of her. This was the first day of school for these kids and some of them still had their new clothes on. They were just excited to have school started again. I think they get pretty bored during the breaks.

I haven't added the pictures of the cake baking to the blog because I put them on Facebook one day. I was there and I was anxious to add them. I decided to put them here for those of you who don't do Facebook. We met on Saturday afternoon at three---that is the time they love to have Enrichment meeting. We try to be done by five, but it has been six or later all three times I have been there. Funerals are always on Saturday, in the morning, so they often come straight from the funeral to Relief Society meeting. On this day Sister Matshaya gave a lesson on developing their talents that was very interesting to them.
We talked for quite a while about what their talents were and how they could develop them. Of course only these four ladies were there because everyone comes about an hour late. I know, I know lots of people come late in the US too, but usually not half the crowd and they don't expect you to wait until they get there to start! In the picture above we are grating the carrots for the carrot cake. I brought my little food processor to show them. I told them we didn't have to use it, but they insisted they wanted the latest technology. Some of the people whose families have been in the church for a long time are able to afford some of these things. I think it cost us about 220 rand which is about $30 American money. Sister Matshaya acted like she had one. They had a lot of fun playing with it. They all wanted to show in the picture how they were helping make the cake so they grabbed some of the ingredients for the picture! So cute! Sister Sekori who is holding the carrot and the baking soda is one of my favorite people. Her first name is Thandeka or Thandy for short- the th is just pronounced like a t so it sounds like Tandy. She is so loving and giving and tries so hard to please everyone. You'll see her in some more pictures as time goes on.

Sister Matshaya (the Relief Society President) is the one with the scarf around her head. She is usually wearing a hat at Enrichment because she has just come from a funeral and they must cover their heads at funerals---men and women. It is a sign of respect - I think for God, but it might be for the family of the person who died. Her name is Ntombelanga Gertrude---yeah, that's why I just call her Sister Matshaya - everyone does---and sometimes they call her Mama Matshaya. She is also one of my favorite people - the sweetest woman and very devoted to the Church. I found out this week that she is a debt counselor for some company and she goes to people's homes and helps them set up schedules to overcome their debt. She is a very intelligent woman.

The two girls in the center and their Mom showed up at about four pm and were disappointed that we already had the carrot cupcakes in the oven. But they set right to work getting the chocolate cake made. They love to clown for the camera and Elder Herbert would peek in about every 15 minutes and they would strike a pose for him and joke around with him. The lady sitting in the front is a stalwart of the branch. Her name is Lawandlekazi Mavula---she teaches seminary to the youth---I'm not sure how often they have it. I think it is about once a week in the afternoon. Sister Xoliswa Mokgosi is in the gold shirt on the right - She is the primary president---and Sister Matshaya's daughter.
Here are the cakes as they are finished and cut for serving. They had to try the chocolate frosting on a couple of the carrot cupcakes, but they decided the white cream cheese frosting was better on them. By this time Samantha (with the orange scarf) and her baby had come. Samatha is the one who loves to bake, but has no oven. We found out this week that they actually have a stove and the burners work. It is just that the oven doesn't work. Elder Herbert is going to try to fix it, we just have to find a tester so he can tell if the wiring is bad or the switch. She is very excited to have it fixed.
This picture has another of my favorite people - Sister Signoria Mzaifani. She is the mother of the two cuties. She has a beautiful singing voice and is the music director for the Branch. Her husband is a counselor in the branch presidency. She has a little sandwich shop in her kitchen and you can stop at her house and order a hoagie type sandwich with the fries right inside the sandwich---I think it is her own idea and is very popular with the locals. Her house is kind of like the Ross Park Drive-in with people dropping by every few minutes ordering sandwiches and she just keeps talking to you and cooking and taking care of her grandkids all the while. She is very generous and always makes a fuss about my clothes and how I look. We trade compliments every Sunday - but she looks so fantastic and has the most amazing clothes that they tell me she makes herself. Sandwiches don't start until lunch time, so I guess she gets that done in the morning!

Sight-seeing in Cape Town

Here is my sunset for this week - they are so amazing - I can't resist! This was taken in Langa on one of the evenings as we were leaving. This is from just north of the church building. Also, I found the red tree, so I'll add it here before I start. The trees continue to dazzle and amaze us. I think I can do another whole blog of trees!









A couple of weeks ago, Elder and Sister Harms from Mesa Arizona invited us to go site seeing with them in Cape Town. They have been here about 3 months longer than we have and know the area a little better. They have also traveled the whole mission because of their job - Public Affairs - they are assigned all of South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, and who knows what else! They are so fun and we have enjoyed getting to know them so much. Here is a picture of them!




The first place they took us they had not intended to go to, but we saw the church as we were driving and asked about it, so we drove in to take some pictures. This is the St. Marks District Six Church. The pic below shows a plaque put on the church by the people who saved it. Sorry I don't have a great program for zooming in on pictures---but maybe you can zoom in and read it. It says, "To Those Who Pass - Remember the thousands of people who lived for generations in District 6 and were forced by law to leave their homes because of the colour of their skins. Remember the St. Marks District Six church and the community who resisted the destruction of District Six." It is a very sad chapter in the history of South Africa. The Church was built in the 1700s. I remembered reading about this in the book - The Covenant and it was very real to me.



Here we are outside the old church. It stands in the middle of many modern buildings - a testimony to those who saved it ---of the unfair things that happened back in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The white people who controlled the government moved all of the black people out of their lovely small homes they had here and put them outside the city - they gave them ground, but no help to rebuild. They destroyed everything in the area - just bulldozed the homes and the other churches and planned to build a beautiful white community here. The people who went to this church stood firm and insisted this was a historical place and set up such an outcry that this church alone was saved.

As we walked around outside, we noticed signs that there were not tours on Saturday, and were disappointed we wouldn't see the inside. I saw a large wooden door and for some reason I decided to try it to see if it was open and it was! We went in and called to see if someone was there and found a very old man - 82 who was creating floral arrangements for Sunday. He said he had been doing this since 1954! He wants to retire, but they won't let him. He allowed us to go into the chapel. This is a picure of one of the stained glass windows. You can see the pulpit where people speak here too.

In the picture below, I am up near the pulpit and the Harms are in the pews. Elder and Sister Harms came here to church when they first got here to get aquainted with the area. The people in charge noticed them right away because of their name-tags. During the meeting the man in charge suddenly invited Sister Harms to come up and say a few words! She went to the front so shocked and bore her testimony that Jesus lives and God is our Father. They loved it! This was a very special honor for them and totally unexpected. She spoke right there at the podium that showed in the last picture-- above her head---I wish we could have been there!

The picture below is looking back at the doorway to the chapel--there is a beautiful wooden carving above the entry-way. I loved all the archways. People still come in taxis on Sunday to worship here. It is a tradition for many families who now live 15 to 20 kilometers outside the city.

Now we move to the Castle of Good Hope - a beautiful old Fort built near the ocean to protect the city against invaders. This was our original destination when the trip began. Sorry we did not get a picture of the entrance. I left a spot for it here!

Here we are on top of the Castle. You can see Devil's Peak on the left and Table Mountain on the right behind us. This is really not very far from our Mission Office. This is right downtown. Those doorways and windows behind us were places where the military worked and stayed, but now they are rooms where artists have their studios. It was so fun to visit with them and look at their work. We look like we are staying pretty healthy, huh. Need to get some of the weight off again! Too much time at the desks!

The next three pictures were in the artist's studios---they were right there working. We were not very smart and did not take pictures of some of the best art - I guess we felt that would not be very nice---they wanted us to buy some. But why didn't we take pictures of the artists!! Couldn't tell you--maybe we'll go again and we'll be smarter! The highway designer I am married to loved the picture below, but it was too expensive for our budget and I was not prepared to have a freeway hanging on my wall. It was so realistic - you felt like you could walk into it. I am pointing to a speed limit sign - that says 80---that's all it is ---a circle with an 80 in it. They have them with 100s in them too - in fact I think they go up to 120. Of course it is kilometers per hour, not mph! Missionaries are not allowed to go over 100, but couples are free to follow the speed limit. Woo hoo!

I thought this was a great idea for a chair for the "naughty spot" - for those of you who haven't witnessed The Nanny Show - I can't remember the real name of it - the children have to go the naughty spot until they are ready to behave. If you can't read it, it says, "Sit down and Listen." Might be a good chair for husbands and wives to take turns sitting in---not very comfortable however. This was a wooden stool - with high legs. For children - maybe a bench!

The picture below shows a tile made by the artist that is a favorite saying this year in South Africa. We are seeing it and hearing it a lot. I would have liked to have had this, but Elder Herbert wasn't interested in the tiles. We'll probably end up with T-shirts!

We should have known that Elder Harms would get into the program later when he showed such an interest in the cannons at the Castle. This picture gives you an idea of how large it is. It is actually a pentagon in shape and was built to protect against invasion. This is only half of the pentagon. . . . there ia a center wall. It was built between 1666 and 1679 and is the oldest surviving building in South Africa. After 1678 it was the center of civilian, administrative, and military life at the Cape until the settlement grew and some functions were moved away from the castle.

Below, the cannon firer is explaining all about the cannon. A Levis artist who wants special damage done to levis put them there so the cannon can make them "one of a kind". They evidently get a good price if they have gunshot holes! They did not put a ball in the cannon, because the first time they did, they blew out several windows in the castle.

And so ends the adventure of the Herberts and Harms at the Castle of Good Hope. Elder Harms heard the man teaching us about the cannon make a disparaging remark about Americans and their holey levis or something, so when the man offered to let someone to pay 50 rand (donation to the Cannon Historical Firing Club) to fire the cannon, he pulled his money out quickly and said - if you will take back that comment about Americans. Everyone got a good laugh, but the man did not take it back. But Elder Harms paid anyway and was very gracious with the man. So the cannon was fired and blew the bottom out of the levis and we were all amazed at the power of that tiny cannon. By the way, Elder and Sister Harms are here on a Public Affairs Mission to increase positive awareness of the church, so he is much more aware of little remarks than we are---we did not even notice the remark! We love you all - stay strong and remember the Herberts who live in South Africa and their remarkable friends - the Harms!