Nelspruit News!

We traveled to Nelspruit (4 hours away from Joburg) with our Assistants and met up with the 4 Elders serving up here.
Pictured above: President Dunn, Elder Clegg, Elder Wolfgramm, Elder Gwaka, Elder Hosmer, Elder Lamber abd Elder Pickup.

We participated with these great Elders in a street contacting near the center of Nelspruit. We seat up tables and banners and everyone started making contacts as you can see below.

 

It is always a great way to interact as a group of missionaries and also get names for later contacting. We had a wonderful time and felt it was successful.

Later we were able to go with Elder Gwaka and Elder Hosmer to their village of KaNymazane and go to a teaching appointment. This is the village and here is the house we visited. A family lives here and we visited today with the mother and the 14 year old son. It was a great lesson and especially touching because a good friend of the families had suddenly passed away. It just so happened that the lesson planned fit perfectly into a discussion of what happens after death.

Village life!

  

Elder Clegg was able to be on exchange with these two KaNymazane Elders for 24 hours. Elder Hosmer and Elder Gwaka are in the 12 week training program. Elder Hosmer just arrived in the SAJM on April 19th.

Below is the first house we visited.

This is the second house. When we went inside the mom was baking muffins and there was such a homey feeling in this humble home.

We also unloaded a trailer for the Elders and brought them a new couch and new mattresses. This trip had many purposes.

The next day we had individual interviews for the 4 missionaries. We also shared the orientation pr

I The AP's start off with an overview of all of the areas. I cover trivia about South Africa and church history here.LLater we went into the parking lot and found all the youth washing cars to earn money for an upcoming youth conference. President Manjate can always be found there to help the branch move forward. Here he is pictured with Brother Black.

Interview workshops continue- Bedfordview

On Tuesday May 3, 2016 the Bedfordview Zone came to the mission home. Elder Downs and Elder Hentunen assisted in the day by getting everyone organized as the zone leaders.

We started wth small group workshops

The workshops continued outside right before lunch.

Lunch is a favorite part..where everyone can relax and enjoy the beautiful day and time together.

Last but not least, President Dunn conducted an impressive bike maintenance and repair workshop while everyone ate. 

Centurion comes for interviews

 The Centurion Zone came for interviews on Wednesday May 4, 2016. We started with small group discussions on how to improve  our listening, questioning and use of scriptures.
Below are all zone members divided into three groups as they are preparing their creative workshops.

We also did a "web" activity and taught each other from our readings.

The zone leaders, Elder Swindlehurst and Wegrowski gave an effective workshop at the end. They plane so well and had a great discussion and also shared a TED talk on how to be a better communicator.

Their TED talk included these points:

10 Ways to have a better conversation with Celeste Headlee

https://www.ted.com/talks/celeste_headlee_10_ways_to_have_a_better_conversation

1. Don't Multi-Task when communicating

2.Don't Lecture or Pontificate

3. Use open ended questions

4. Go with the Flow

5. Sat you don't know when you don't

6. Don't equate your experience with theirs

7. Try not to repeat yourself

8. Stay out of the details

9. Listen

10. Be brief

Their teaching was very effective. They also shared their own acronym: SCALE- and discussed it with good principles.
Smile
Conscious
Approbation
Language
Eye Contact

Bike repair and maintenance was offered by our capable AP's over lunch.

Elder Pickup and Elder Clegg are very good at demonstrating how to repair a puncture, maintain a bike and adjust brakes.

JHB Zone comes for interviews

The Johannesburg Zone is currently the smallest zone, but big in heart. We had an enjoyable day together on Thursday May 5, 2016. We started on the front lawn with our "tied up in knots" activity.

They all solved the problem and got "unknotted." This was a good way to begin with "thinking outside the box."

The zone taught us well.....with short workshops on how to use scriptures better when teaching, how to ask better questions and how to listen effectively.

Elders Ferguson, Flack, Warnock and Maraetefau preparing to teach us in their workshop.

Elder Ndwandwe, Mamhere and Rouse taught us about the importance of teaching to member's needs.

Our last workshop was on bike maintenance, repair and safety. We enjoyed lunch during this outside workshop with Elder Pickup and Elder Clegg, who are also in this zone! 

Elder Rouse gave us part of the demonstration. His bike knowledge is impressive.

Joburg Zone

....a little crazier!

BYU Young Ambassadors come to Africa

The Brigham Young University Young Ambassadors came on tour and we were privileged to see a preview at the SE Africa Church Area Office on Friday April 28, 2016. This show was offered to all the employees and their families that work at the area office.

Sister Cook shared information with the audience about our temple. President Dunn and I were able to take a few moments and share about our missionary force and invite employees to take more literature and let us know if they would like to learn more.

Then the show began with some marvelous local talent, from among the employees and their families.

It was a remarkable way to start the evening. everyone loved the amazing talent shared.

The Young Ambassadors watched as they prepared to go onstage themselves.

This was a delightful group of 39 students, of which about 80% are theatre Arts majors and the others are majoring in everything form business to communication. They hail from states all across the United States. They are a great representation of the church and spread good will and public relations every where they go.

The setting was beautiful and the weather completely cooperated. 

The show is entitled..."Heartsongs- Melodies of Love." It is a fun collection of love songs form every genre and throughout history.

The show started off with a fun number called "C'Mon Everybody- From All Shook Up featuring Tanner DeWaal, the student president of the Young Ambassadors. 

They display so much talent!

Great quotes about love from the program:
"Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at it's destination full of hope.
~Maya Angelou

" You know you are in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." ~Dr. Seuss

"Where there is great love, there are alwasy miracles." ~Will Cather

"Love is the greatest refreshment in life."
~Pablo Picasso

They showcased about 6 numbers in this preview evening. Tomorrow night, Satuday April 30, 2016 is the Johannesburg debut at the Wits Theatre.

We invited our neighbors the van Breda's to accompany us. It was a lovely evening and all 30 numbers were sensational. It was impressive to see the wide range of performances and diversity. We all loved it and it was very fun to share with Cecil, Lynne and Pierre.

"Love is like playing the piano. First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your heart."
~Anonymous