The Valentines Dance

In mid-January Elder Herbert and I heard the news that there was going to be a dance put on by the Young Men and Young Women of the Langa Branch for Valentine's Day. I have to admit we were a little skeptical that it would even happen. But some of the Young Women leaders really got excited about this activity and started having dance practices. We thought they were just practicing so they would know how to dance and then when we happened on a practice one afternoon at the church, we realized they were going to have a floor show and all of them were going to do ballroom dancing. This is what dancing with the stars has done! I like it!

They worked so hard ----gathering dishes from their homes and buying decorations. They spent all day that day preparing food and decorating the room. I was shocked when I saw the lovely table settings with a menu on each plate and organza table cloths. I have to admit that Valentine's Day is lots more fun when the weather is warm. No one had to wear an ugly coat over their party dress. They actually had a talk on proper dress and morals before the dance started. Some of the girls went out afterwards and pinned their necklines up so they wouldn't have such a low neckline---so here is the beautiful dress (that they probably borrowed from a friend and it doesn't fit them just right) and there are safety pins at the nekline. I love that!

Below is a picture of me and my two of my best friends in Africa---Sister Mazwi who is my visiting teaching companion and Sister Matshaya who is Relief Society President. They both got so dressed up for the evening and I wore my dorkiest clothes!! I had lots of red clothes I could have worn---all the teenagers were in red or pink---even most of the boys. Next is Brother Sekori---he is the man that holds the Branch together right now. He is a counselor in the Branch Presidency and he is at every meeting and tries to have activities. He is a returned missionary that still struggles with the cultural issues that keep his people from living the gospel. We really love him.The picture above is is a better picture of the tables where you can see the plates are all different because lots of people brought them from home. The flowers were plastic ones that are at the church every Sunday. They put them in little vases. They served three courses - first starters - vegetable salsa, and rolls---then they gathered the plates and silverware and washed them all and served the main course - grilled fish (really good) potatoe mash and stir fried vegetables. They served the dessert in mugs from the kitchen - I made it---carrot cake of course!
The girl in the flowered skirt is Nongamso---she is one of the girls I am teaching piano. She is the one that is just beginning. She is the cutest thing and tries so hard to go ahead in the book.
She is younger, so she had to dance with her friend instead of a boy. The picture below shows some of them dancing----this was not their exhibition dance because each couple danced alone. We didn't take pictures during the dancing because we were afraid it would throw them off. They were concentrating so hard!

Even Grampa and Gramma Herbert had to "cut a rug" a little bit. They thought it was pretty neat that we knew how to dance. I heard some of them saying, "Wow, Elder Herbert can really dance!" All the couples wanted pictures and we had to print them some copies. So Elder Herbert was taking pictures in the corner most of the night! I don't think they have many pictures of themselves. You can sort of see the decorations in the background. This is Brother and Sister Sekori - He is a returned missionary, but they haven't been able to get to the temple yet. They are in our temple prep class and hope to be able to afford to go to the temple in November. It costs between 2500 and 3000 rand just to make the trip, which is about $400 American. They travel a little over a thousand miles on the BUS! to get there.

This is Tshwane and her friend. She just graduated from high school and is going to start college next semester. She is the one who speaks six languages. She wants to be an economist and is trying to get one of the PEF loans to go to school. She comes and plays the piano with me and plans all the music for sacrament meeting. I've only met him a couple of times - he doesn't come to church and isn't a member. They were the stars of the dancing!

This is Brother and Sister Mogkosi. He is in the Elder Quorum presidency. He went on a mission too and now works at Budget Car Rentals, so he has access to a car pretty often. She is the Primary President and they have a cute little boy. They are going to the temple in March or April and they are coming to our class too.

This is Simpiwe who has all the women after him. He forgot to get his clothes washed and they weren't dry for the party. The girls were upset, but they got over it. Here he is with Zintle (Zint Lay)

This just shows the decorations a little bit more - I couldn't believe all the trouble they went to and where did they get all this stuff? A young Women leader who works for a caterer brought a lot of it and taught them all to dance and made the most fantastic meal.

Here is a shot of the whole group as the evening was ending. Everyone was pretty happy and having a great time. Now you've been to a Valentine's Party Langa style! We had a great time--hope you did too!