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!