Women in Service

Today, Monday September 26, 2016, I hosted a "Women in Service" lunch at the mission home. About 26 women were in attendance as we shared connections and specific service opportunities. Here Ayanda Sidzatane is with her lovely mother, Desiree Tshilo. They spoke about the Sinikwe Women's Empowerment Group and shared the success of this group and the needs they have of selling their goods.

They brought displays of what they make and some were purchased. There will be an event on November 30th where many of the women will be able to sell their handmade items. More information will be posted.

We listened to introductions of each other.

And enjoyed a fun lunch together and Sister Nikki Larson made our strawberry shortcake dessert. 

Sister Wendy Malpage shared information about her HOPE project. She is so inspiring and reminded all of us how it just takes having a desire to help and doors will open up. She has involved the missionaries in her projects in the Alexandra township. I have loved being with her at the soup kitchen, the orphanage, the preschools and the rest home. She has involved others and invites participation form anyone interested in getting involved.

Lots of conversations happened. Women love meeting each other and making new connections. Debbie Boschoff fromt he Pretoria Stake brought a new friend with her. Diana Nelson is new to South Africa as her husband works her as an attorney. She is working with "Days for Girls" and shared more details with us about this great project that is positively impacting young women all over Africa.  *I didn't have my regular camera today, so I didn't get good pictures of everyone.

Sister Jenny Robison looks stunning in her black hat from the Sinikwe Women's group. 

I love having Sister Grace Mthobo and her daughter, Wenzile join with us from Soweto. They came last time and then I was honored to be part of the Soweto First ever Women's Conference. Sister Grace is the Stake RS President in Soweto. Wenzile and I were both on the program. It was a historic event for women. 

Look at these darling women....dressed in their heritage clothing. Thanks for coming and making it so special. Looking forward to the next time we will gather as women.  It is a nice way to find out more of what is happening in the community and also bring women together to make important connections. Women know how to support each other.

A Thursday Service Opp!

On Thursday morning, September 22, 2016 Elders from the Bedfordview Stake gathered at the Alexander hospice to help serve food. This activity is orchestrated by Sister Wendy Malpage from the Randburg Ward. She has been doing this for about a year and a half and involved our missionaries wth her.

Elder Eki, Elder Mkhize, Elder Mugenyi and Elder Warnack joined with us today.

Elder Dean and Elder Dube also came along on this one today. They now have the assignment of covering the Randburg Ward. So, since Sister Malpage is in that ward, and the service site is in Bedfordview (Alexandra Township) it was nice to get missionaries from both areas.

Today we had the pleasure of having Jan and Kevin Cameron along to participate in the service. They are friends from SLC that paid us a visit for a few days en route to Kenya.
Pictured:Jan Cameron, Elder Dube. Kevin Cameron, Elder Warnock, Elder Eki, Elder Mugenyi, Elder Mkhize
Front: Elder Dean

During our time there today this young girl in the striped shirt came and asked for food for her family. She has known Wendy and her offer help. Today she was needing food for their 5 little children and 3 adults. 

We had luckily brought even more food along with us today and we had a pot of stew and bread to share.

We followed them to the place where they stay and left our food for them.

While waiting, Elder Dean and ELder Dube were sharing the gospel at every opportunity.

Next stop: Day Care Center also in Alexander

This preschool has about 30 little 4-5 year olds enrolled.

The goal has been to improve their school by painting ( a few weeks ago) and putting up a shade cover (today)!

The 6 missionaries were all so helpful- as they helped set up the spot for the shade cover and them brought the poles in.

6 long poles were needed.

Sister Malpage had her two son Matthew bring tools for the project.

Josh also came to participate as long as he could. He is still in matric (last year of high school) and was studying for exams today.

We laid out the tarp and marked the corners/

We had a big crew here this week and will bring back 6 more next week to do the other half.

Once again, I am always amazed at howe well behaved (and darling) the little children are.

WEndy is getting to the nitty gritty of pouring the cement to hold up the poles. We were glad to have Kevin helping and advising.

These 6 were hard workers.

Digging post holes is not easy work!

2 down, one to go today!

Success! Last pole set for the day. Let's hope they stay put!

This lovely woman is the Director of the preschool.  She is such a strong force for good in the community.

Zoning in with Johannesburg

We began our Johannesburg "Zoning In" on Wednesday September 21 with Elder Mazinyane and his new missionary of 4 weeks, Elder Kokotiko. They are  a powerful companionship and we were delighted to be with them for over an hour as we studied together.

They are serving in Ridgeway and have a great study environment.

We noticed all the clean and shiny shoes in the room.

I loved hearing them start our study session with a song, sung from the heart!

After studying we were able to go visit some of their investigators, Vanessa and Leslie.

Elder Kokotiko is adjusting so well as a new missionary. He is bold, eager to learn and radiates happiness.

Elder Mazinyane is a great trainer, and showed us his beef stew after our studies. I am proud of him to take the recipes provided and try them. This is a nutritious, easy and time efficient recipe. 

Vanessa and her nephew are positive and anxious to be taught.

We then drove across the zone and met 4 companionships at the Abbey Cross Rest Home. This group improved the service opportunity today by each taking a turn picking a song and giving a spiritual message before we sang it. Elder Zitumane and Elder Mpikahe are the zone leaders and today I discovered how musically talented they are. They sang a duet and were powerful with their spoken words and musical voices. All the missionaries shared something personal today. It made the service so much more meaningful.

Elder Engrom

Elder Ngilazi 

Elder Stevenson

Elder Dube

Elder Dean

Afterwards we all headed to a place where lunch is provided by the rest home staff.

The owner of Abbey Cross is Diane Tiam, a member in the Randburg Ward. She is also the Relief Society President. She is the one that has organized this  project and she loves to serve the missionaries lunch after they give service.  This is a sweet member who is interested in serving missionaries that serve others!
"When ye are in the service of your fellowmen, ye are only in the service of your God" ~Mosiah 2:17

President Dunn and Elder Zitumane discussing the zone.
We love each and every missionary and find them so diligent and trying to be a great representative of the Lord.