Mpumalanga Memories

We spent the weekend in the Mpumalanga Province. This is the  area furthest away from our mission home and mission office. These 4 Elders live about 4 hours from Gauteng Province and it is always nice to connect.

We started by joining them in their Friday District meeting held at the Nelspruit Chapel.

Elder Hlpohe taught a wonderful lesson on "How to Avoid Burnouts and Ruts on a Mission."
Afterwards, Sister Black and Elder Benson practiced a musical number their are preparing for sacrament meeting. So great to see talents being shared and working together. They are also trying to put together a guitar and ukelele combo for street contacting.

The Zone Leaders joined with us for the District meeting
Pictured R-L: Elder Hlophe, Elder Wolfgramm, Elder Mbiriwiri, President Dunn and  Elder Ratsimbazafy

We visited their new flat for the Nelspruit Elders. They had to move this month due to their other flat being sold. This is a nice, clean space and they are taking good care of it. "Green Card" flat for sure.

I brought a slow cooker full of beef stew for them to enjoy. We are doing this as part of interviews in the mission home the next two weeks. We do their interviews in Nelspruit due to the distance to travel, so we bring the workshop :on the road".

Also, so fun to drop in to the Black's flat and see their new addition...a beautiful upright piano. Sister Black is teaching piano lessons and helping with music at every turn.  This is a wonderful gift Elder Black got for Sister Black!!

The Black's have made their flat a wonderful "home away from home." On the wall they have purchased a Kaross wall hanging. This art form is done by women in Limpopo and by supporting their work and purchasing their products you support and encourage micro- enterprise in the very best way.
https://kaross.co.za/

Later that day, President Dunn and I were able to pay a visit to some stalwart members of the Nelspruit branch, the Krugers live outside of Nelspruit and drive over 1.5 hours to get to church each Sunday. They run a potato and onion business in the town of Komatipoort, which is very close to Mozambique. Their brother and son, is serving a mission in Madagascar at this time. It was wonderful to be in their home.

On Sunday we headed to the Kanymazane branch and met up first with Elder Hosmer. We love visiting here and have come many times. They have broken ground for a new building site which will be much better than the school. We hope it happens soon for them. They have waited a very long time.

Elder and Sister Card do a great job serving here. There are so many great members helping the missionaries and working together.

Elder Benson and Elder Hosmer are tearing it up in KaNymazane. They were leading the mission last week in all their stats on "opening their mouth" It is paying off with a lot of new investigators.

We love being with them and congratulate these two on working hard in Kanymazane.

As we drove out of Kanymazane, I could not help but notice the classic retail shops and signage along the road. Hair salons are very popular. So, are fruit and vegetable markets off the side of the road.

There is some sort of supermarket at every turn. People are resourceful in small villages and townships to put businesses in front of their dwellings.

Wherever you are, it seems a taxi pulls in front of you loaded with people and stops and blocks your car for a moment. Gotta love 'em!

We ended our Sabbath Day with a visit to the Nelspruit Branch, just in time for a very special baptism after church. Elder Black was asked to baptize this wonderful man, Amos Lesibana Bambo whose wife, Sister Thandiwe Bambo and family have been members.

The program was held in the cultural hall where they have a baptismal font. Their beautiful daughter, Nolwazi Bambo, who is turning in her mission papers today, gave one of the talks.

Nolwazi is so stunning and ambitious. She is planning on becoming a pilot after her mission. She has high academic marks and is so outstanding in every way What a great missionary she will make.

Elder and Sister Black have become so close with this great family and excited for Nolwazi to prepare to serve a mission.

We were so lucky to be part of this special day with the Bambo family.

This is a day for the record books. To see a great family all together at church is a wonderful thing.

What's Cooking for Interviews?

It's August 2016 and it is time for interviews at the mission home...again!  As Elders focus on meeting one on one with President Dunn- I am hosting a food demonstration in the kitchen. We are also focusing on ways we can explain and teach about the Word of Wisdom to investigators.
L-R- Elders Magesi, Warnock, Muweire, Luweire, Ebite, and Mugenyi

Elder Luweire is demonstrating how to make dumplings to cook inside the beef stew.

The dumplings added a fun element to the beef stem.

I loved trying the dumplings. They were delicious and added even more to our trial slow cooker dish.

This first group form Bedfordview Zone enjoyed making and eating rice, slow cooked beef stew and dumplings.
Elder Muweire, Luweire, Mpiyaki, Downs, Warnock and Ebite.

The second group of the day added some flapjacks that Elder Cowan made and brought. They were delicious and added a nice touch to put with the stew as a savory crepe. Elders are invited to bring recipes and share and to bring the food as a sample if they can.

At the end of this first interview day, we had the Assistants, Elder Pickup and Elder Dean join with us for a dinner meeting and catch up and do some mission planning. Elder Pickup also just had a birthday so we had to celebrate with them.
Great start to the interviews.

Oh, Baby!

On July 18, 2016 I had the incredible opportunity to fly to San Francisco and represent both President Dunn and I for our only daughter to have her first baby. Emi and Chase Rigby welcomed me just 48 hours before Emi went into labor. The timing could not have been more perfect.

Little Reagan Kate Rigby was born on July 18th, 2016 at 9:40 pm. Weighing in at 7 lb. 10 ounces and 20.5 inches long. What an honor to be able to be part of this miracle.

President Dunn was part of it as much as possible. We faceTimed him in all throughout the labor and minutes after delivery. His sweet emotion and delight was felt by all of us.

Nothing so sweet as witnessing your daughter having a daughter!

Reagan came alert and spunky. She is such a delightful little girl. I fell in love.

Her altertness and attentiveness is noticeable.

She acts like she knows me. We did some serious bonding- for it need to last for the next 11 months until I hold her again.

Loved seeing reagan pack up from the hospital and head to the home and nursery waiting for her.

Chase and Emi Rigby are the proud new new parents of the most special  of a little package. How fun to take her home.

I feel so blessed to be there and part of it for a week or so. It will carry me through until I get to be with them again and hold this little one.

So Long Elder Swindlehurst

On Monday August 7, 2026, Elder Swindlehurst spent his last night in the mission home...with his family! His parents, Lee and Karen Swindlehurst and brother Brian, came to pick him up from his mission. They traveled for 10 days and then went to Cape Town. While there, Elder Swindlehurst found these SA socks. Pretty cool, huh?

We enjoyed hosting them in the mission home for a night and even put Lee to work making hotcakes in the morning.

Elder Swindlehurst was able to say good-bye to a few Elders as they arrived for interviews!

We will miss him and excited to see him upon our return to Utah next year.

Brian, Karen, Adam and Lee Swindlehurst

We feel fortunate to meet Elder Swindlehurst's parents and brother.
It is always special to meet some of our missionaries parents, they represent all the wonderful parents that are supporting these great young men. Even though we will not meet many of our missionaries parents, we can feel the love they have for their sons and each one that comes represents all of the families out there.

So long Elder Swindlehurst........See you next year!

Goodbye to Broadhead and Swindlehurst

Elder Broadhead and Swindlehurst left the mission on August 1, 2016. This off cycle transfer provoked us to take a few pictures early, so we would have them. We so appreciate the great efforts of these fine Elders. They arrived in the mission just a few months after we got here in July 2014. Our time serving together has been so meaningful. We wish them the very best as they transition home and we plan to keep in touch.