Samantha's Wedding and Baptism

As I went back through my posts, I realized that I had never really posted the pictures of the baptism we had back in February!  I want to add it now because I want to have it here in my record of our mission.  It probably won't  be very long because I don't have that many pictures, but I will include some of the more up-to-date pictures of Samantha and Zamile.

We began visiting them in November of 2009.  The Elders took us to meet them and we had a lot of fun with them from the start.  Later they told the missionaries that we could come over anytime and we started visiting with them once a week in the evening.  At first we mostly talked about marriage because they were trying to decide whether they wanted to be married.  They had been living together for about three or four months and they didn't see any problem with it.  Samantha (her real name is Nomathomsanqua and some people call her Tammy--Samantha is her middle name) had her baby in December and of course I really enjoyed the new baby and we bought her some gifts to help them get started---diapers mostly---they call them nappies. We just got to be close friends as we read scriptures together and shared jokes and things.  Here is the first picture we took of them.  You may have seen this one on Facebook. 

 Samanthat hates this picture because her shoulders are not covered.  It was summer and very hot that day.  We learned about chastity in Relief Society and that women should dress modestly and now she dresses much more carefully.  The baby is about 2 and a half months old here---her name is Ncikilelo -sounds like nseek-ee-lay-lo---they call her Ciki (seeky).  This picture was taken about the time they decided to get married. 
The Branch President is not a High Priest, so he could not perform the marriage.  We decided to talk to the Stake Leaders and a counselor in the Stake Presidency, President Cedrus, offered to perform the marriage.  He wanted to do it that week---we had no time to really prepare very much.  But Zamile said yes, lets do it this week, and so the date was set for Tuesday night.  And it was Sunday.  We know now that we should have insisted it be on a weekend because it made it hard for people to attend, but at least we had the wedding.  Samanthat was very anxious to be baptized, so they set the baptism for the same night.  We were very excited!

Here is the happy couple on their wedding night.

And here are the happy missionaries - Elder Peterson and Elder Haugen! --with them.

Of course we had to get in the pictures - the woman is Zamile's mother - Mama Ndunyana

And there's one of these in every crowd - this is one of the member's little boys. He was fascinated by the cameras flashing everywhere.

There were lots of papers to sign - that is President Cedrus on the right and Zamile's mother and Samantha's Aunt watching them.  President Cedrus is an amazing man - so fine and gentle and spiritual.

Finally all done! And still smiling! Those are some more Aunts.  Samantha's parents have both passed away.  She never knew her father, and her mother left her when she was about six or seven.  She says she just lived on the street for a while until the Welfare people found her and took her to her Aunt.  She has lived with Aunts all her life since then until she moved in with Zamile.  She says she has no where else to go. 

After the wedding, we proceeded to the baptism.  Zamile baptized his wife.

What a super moment for us---and look at adorable Ciki!

Here are some other friends who were important that night.  These are the families of the two counselors to the Branch President.  The people on the left - the Mzayifani family -did so much to help Samantha get her dress and hair for the wedding.  They are the kindest most generous people.  The people on the right ---the Sekori family- are just good friends and great members of the church to have for examples.  We will never forget any of them!   It was a super special night.

A few days later it was Samantha's birthday and we took over a cake - she kept hinting that she wanted one.  These pictures show a change in them I think. 

She looks so happy.  When we said we wanted pictures, she had to run grab that sweater so her shoulders would be covered in the pictures.  The man on the right is Zamile's father.  He is always good to us and seems glad to see us even though he is not interested in the Church. 

So here's the new family photo - I think Zamile was getting ready to go home teaching when we took the picture.

This picture was taken a few months later when Elder Lewis was getting ready to go home.  He had taught them before getting transfered so he managed to get a chance to come see them for a few minutes. He was the one that prepared Samantha for baptism.  Elder Lewis is from Malad and we had lots of fun with him too.  The Elder with the missionary badge showing is Elder Andriamirija from Madagascar.  He is a great missionary and a super great person in general.  We have so enjoyed getting to know him.  He told us a little about living in Madagascar---it is much more third world than South Africa is. 

Did you notice that Samantha has her wig on, but it is much shorter now?  Yes, she cut it.  She said she wanted her hair to be like mine!  They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and bless her heart, she wants to be like Sister Herbert!  She also has her apron on here because she is baking muffins.  She has started baking muffins and selling them out of her home to make a little extra money. 

The baking story is the next chapter in the continuing saga of Samantha.  She told us of her dream to be a cook or at least to bake, but she had no oven.  She had a stove, but the oven didn't work.  She began making plans to get a loan and buy a stove and start her little business.  She asked us to help her with the planning and we started trying to help her.  We prayed together often about the plans and told her to pray.  About this time I was talking to Sister Harms and she asked if Elder Herbert needed any furniture for the mission because she had heard in her building that an older woman was moving to an old folks home and her neighbor ended up in charge of selling all her furniture.  I told her Samantha was looking for a stove and that the Mission might take some furniture if it was in good condition.  When she got back to me a few days later, she said she was sorry but she waited to long to tell me----all the furniture was gone except (of course) the stove.  We went over and looked at it and they wanted 700 rand for it - about $100 American so we were able to help her get it with what she had and she did not need to get a loan.  Then there was the problem of getting it hooked up in the kitchen of her in-law's home.  This is what we saw when we pulled out the older stove they already had.

Black electrical tape on bare wires - and remember this is 240 ---all of their electricity is 240--- nothing is 110. We kinda wondered why the house hadn't burned down.  And we also wondered if this was why the oven never worked---it wasn't wired correctly.  Elder Herbert was undaunted!  He was sure he could put the correct connections on it and sure enough, he did!  It is perfectly connected now and life continues with muffins being baked and sold every day.  He connected a plug like this one into the wall and saved them probably another 500 rand that they would have had to pay an electrician.

Samantha has worked so hard to get her little business going.  And it has been somewhat successful.  She sold lots when she used my recipes, but then she decided that they were too rich and cut the sugar about in half and took out one egg etc, etc, etc.  People still buy them, and it is much cheaper for her to make them, but we bought some and had to feed a few to the birds.  Are we spoiled or what? 

That is not the end however, because Samantha soon decided that she needed a job and started applying for different positions and going for interviews.  She always got disappointed though.  We felt that maybe these jobs were already filled and people were just puting them in the paper to fulfill government requirements.  It is VERY, VERY hard to get a job here.    So last week at our zone conference I was talking to the woman who fixes the luncheon for us.  She is a private caterer.  Suddenly the spirit told me to ask her about Samantha.  I wasn't that brave! I asked her how she learned to cook---whether she had gone to school and where she had gone.  I was thinking I might get some good ideas that would help Samantha.  She said she was entirely self-taught and that she had taught her son and he was now working in a restaurant downtown---not a dumpy one either!  I told her I knew a young woman who wanted to be a cook and asked what school she would recommend and she said - none of them!  I need someone to help me now that my son has a job.  If she will work with me I will teach her to cook for nothing.  She even told me what she would pay her and seemed so pleased.  She will be meeting Samantha next week and if all goes well, Samantha will help her with a dinner she has to cook for 85 people next Saturday.  She said they will cook all day on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and have the meal ready for 6 pm.  She will pay her 120 rand per day and pay for the transport to get her into town.  Samantha is on cloud 9!  that is almost as much as her husband gets paid!  She won't work all the time,because this woman said she doesn't cater continually, but she may have a job for her cooking for some people on the side if she needs more work.  We feel the Lord is blessing Samantha because she is so strong and so ready to go forward in everything she does.  She told me one day that she was fasting so that she would sell more muffins and that when she fasted, she always sold lots more.  I told her it wasn't good to fast when you are nursing a baby - it might not be healthy for you.  She said oh, it's okay---I only fast from about 9:00 to noon or 1:00!  She is really a hoot and so willing to do whatever is needed.  She says I am her angel without wings and I know that the Lord is helping me to help her.  Tune in next time and I'll tell you how the whole job thing turned out!