Busy Kitchen at 21 Carnation St.

 On Tuesday October 7th we started the day with 4 surprise Elders spending the night, so we got to make pancakes together before they headed back to Rustenburg...over 2 hours away.


Elder Stomps, Elder Reese, Elder Bua and Elder Rizk all joined us around our table this morning. They actually helped make the pancakes and set the table and together we enjoyed pancakes before they hit the road.  The reason they are in P-day clothes is that they came down to Joburg on Monday for a P-day activity (paint balling) and someone stole their phone at a restaurant. They lost time getting their phone back (but they did!)  and ended up having it get too late to drive back to Rustenburg, so they asked to sleep at the mission home.

Then later in the day we hosted another Braai...BBQ for our two friends Sid and Rati and their darling families.  I found out that "Sid" was his North American name, since he found many people were not good with African names.  So, tonight we learned that "Sid" is actually named Mteteleli Sidzatane and Ayanda is his darling wife. They both were in the Johannesburg mission during the years with President and Sister Poulsen.  They introduced their little boys to us, Siyabulela and Athandwa (such beautiful names.)

We also invited Rati and Sydney Mogotsi, with new little baby Yamasa, for a dinner honoring their new little baby boy.  Both baby boys have been born since we arrived, and are born one month apart. We have the chance to work with Sid and Rati, so we have been planning this dinner since we knew of their little babies coming.

  Sid works for the facility management with the church and assists with house maintenance issues for us. He purchased a BBQ for the mission home when we arrived and we promised him that we would make him dinner on it, and they had a new baby on August 1st, so even more reason to celebrate.

Rati works for the church in the Seminary and Institute Building. He opens doors and lets us use the facility. He also had a wife having a baby when we got here. The fun part is their baby boy was due on my birthday, September 5th,  and actually came on that exact day.
So, tonight we invited them over together and had little babies in the house. What a treat!

Siyabulela, goes by Siya, had a lot of fun finding balls to throw, games to play with, food to eat and stories to tell us. he is smart, precocious and full of energy. We loved having him in the mission home. He really loved the picture of Jesus!

Mteteleli and Ayanda Sidzatane and their darling boys, Siyabulela and Athandwa

Rati and Sydney Mogotsi, with new little baby Yamasa

^President Dunn holding little baby Athandwa                                                                              

We also have used the few weeks in late September and early October to invite as many new friends into the mission home. We figure since we are here for three years, we should meet and develop relationships as soon as we can with neighbors, new family friends and those we are fortunate to serve with. Below are a few examples. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of everyone when they dined with us, but I have a few pictures to show and keep record of who has come. On Monday October 6th we had a "Mission President Sharing" night, by inviting the WinStanley's (blow) and the Collins (above). Both have served as past mission presidents and we enjoyed hearing ideas and experiences form them. Chappy and Bonnie WinStanley went to England and Chappy was the first South African mission president to be called. Phil and Trisha Collins served in Russia as Mission Presidents and then served a couples mission to Ghana and were called from that assignment to be the President of the South Africa MTC.  Great folks!

We enjoyed having the Klintworths over for a Sunday dinner.  Their family has a sweet connection to us. Michelle was baptized by a friend of ours and we have friends in common. Their kids have been so fun to get to know also. We really enjoyed our Sunday dinner with them, as you can see below.

Michele and Garth and Kelly and Rebecca
with Angus and Michele below!

Me, Michelle, Rebecca, Michael, Garth, Kelly, Kyle and Angus.  We love their family and look forward to gathering together  as we can. We have many preparing missionaries in this group and a great family that has a wonderful conversion story themselves. We are inspired by them and love spending time with them.

My new friend Lynn Van Der Hover and husband Theo and her darling daughter Tyler were invited to dinner also.  Unfortunately, Tyler was ill that night, but her daddy Theo was so wonderful to meet. We are invited to Tyler's baptism on November 1st and President Dunn has been invited to speak. We feel so lucky to have these new wonderful friends. Tyler made us a special invitation to her baptism in her own writing. As you can see from the card she made for me, we have a budding artist and careful printer with this young lady. Oh, how we love them!!