Sunday, December 26, 2010

Happy New Year

Sunday Morning, December 26, 2010

Dear Family,

Just doing a little studying this morning and decided to share these thoughts with you from my Book of Mormon Study Guide about the Sacrament.

Elder David A. Bednar on the importance of partaking of the sacrament in our effort to remember our covenants. “Through the ordinance of the sacrament we renew our baptismal covenant and can receive and retain a remission of our sins. We are reminded on a weekly basis of the promise that we may always have His Spirit to be with us. As we then strive to keep ourselves clean and unspotted from the world, we become worthy vessels in whom the Spirit of the Lord can always dwell.”

Elder Dallin H. Oakes spoke of three significant meanings that should be understood when we take the name of the Savior upon us during the sacrament:

l. Our witness that we are willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ has several different meanings. Some of these meanings are obvious, and well within the understanding of our children. Others are only evident to those who have searched the scriptures and pondered the wonders of eternal life. “One of the obvious meanings renews a promise we made when we were baptized’ we witness before the Church that we have truly repented of our sins, and are willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve Him to the end. When we partake of the sacrament, we renew this covenant and all the other covenants we made in the waters of baptism.

2. “As a second obvious meaning we take upon us our Savior’s name when we become members of The Church. Every member, young and old, is a member of the ‘household of God’ Because of the covenant we make we are called the children of Christ, his sons and his daughters (Mosiah 5:7)

3. A Third meaning appeals to the understanding of those mature enough to know that a follower of Christ is obligated to serve him. By witnessing our willingness to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ, we signify our willingness to do the work of His kingdom.

In these three relatively obvious meanings, we see that we take upon us the name of Christ when we are baptized in His name, when we belong to His Church and profess our belief in Him, and when we do the work of His kingdom.”

There is at least one returned Missionary in each of your homes, so I close with this:

President Henry B. Eyring adds: “Those of you who have served missions may have come upon your missionary journals put away in a closet in your home. You may have read and felt a shock as you remembered how hard you worked, how constantly you thought of the Savior and His sacrifice for you and for those you tried to meet and teach, and how fervently and often you prayed. The shock may have come from realizing how much the cares of life had taken you from where you once were, so close to always remembering and always praying.

“My message is a plea, a warning, and a promise: I plead with you to do with determination the simple things that will move you forward spiritually.”

Start with remembering Him. You will remember what you know and what you love. The Savior gave us the scriptures, paid for by the prophets at a price we cannot measure, so that we could KNOW HIM. Lose yourself in them. Decide now to read more, and more effectively than you have ever done before.”

I LOVE YOU ALL, HAPPY NEW YEAR Mom!!!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Week # 45 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family and Friends

Already this morning this has been an unusual day. Not only is it Christmas but it isn’t even 7:30 AM and we have attended a funeral this morning. It was to start at 6:00 AM but as usual 90% of the people didn’t show up until 6:20 or so. It was not a traditional funeral where we were told many people stand and praise the person that has pass on. It has been signified that most of the things said are lies so this funeral was a typical Mormon funeral where the bishop conducted the meeting and there was only one speaker which was or good friend Bishop Matswagothata who was not conduction with a rest hymn and then Bishop Mokwane spoke. They both did a great job speaking considering that most of the people who attended were not members of our faith. It was a short meeting and we are home.

By the time you receive this e-mail or read this BlogSpot Christmas will be over and the next exciting thing will be New Years Eve and then the New Year. Time keeps marching on and it seems that in many ways we have been blessed. The time does not drag in the mission field as there are many thing that need to be done every day. Mom and I love serving here in Botswana. There was only one white person at the funeral besides us missionaries. He is from Mochudi and his wife is black, she is a member but he has several habits that keep him from joining the church. He attends many meetings but isn’t strong enough to join and live the Gospel.

I wrote a note about this past week in a letter I was asked to send for the Patriarchal Dinner in it I wrote of having President and Sister Poulsen here doing interviews and being with us for our Christmas party here in Botswana. During the interview time I polished each of the missionary’s shoes as a Christmas gift to them. They were very appreciative of this. We had the Cardiff’s here from Monday until yesterday morning and they went back to Francistown 5 hours north yet still in Botswana. It was a great week and we are looking forward to a good one this next week as well.

Today some of our missionaries are going to climb Kgale Hill which I would like to do but my knees are keeping me here on the more level ground. My spirit wants to go but my body is keeping me here. When they get back they are all coming over for a Braii which is like an American Bar-b-que. I don’t know how much time they will spend here today as each of them will be involved with phone calls to their families.

This is the same letter I started a couple of days ago but it is now Sunday afternoon and I will add a few things. We only had the local Gaborone elders and sister come to the Braii so we were not crowed at all here in the mission home. It was fun and they arrived late so we only had a couple of hours with them. A couple of them came back to call their parents for Christmas on our Skype program. It was wonderful to be able to talk to each of you Christmas morning your time and late afternoon for us. Your voices and the fact that we talked to each of you made our day. We love each of you so much and feel close to all of you even if we are 10,000 miles away. Because we are family and enjoy the blessings of the Gospel keeps us together in so many ways. Again Mom and I love each of you so much.

I don’t want to tell you this next part but I need to. We are losing 5 missionaries because of the immigration department again. Our man Stix is putting things off until the last minute and the immigration department doesn’t budge an inch on anything. He promised us that he would ask for extended time for the immigration board to meet of either accept or reject these applications. Well with the Christmas holiday the board is off for about three weeks and he didn’t get that much time. He only got 10 more days which does no good for us as it doesn’t get us the time we need for the board to meet and it doesn’t get us to the next transfer date. I know I take this personally because I know it makes it difficult for President Poulsen. He is such a patient man and is much more understanding then I am but we know that this work is in the Lord’s hands and what happens must be what he wants. We feel satan's influence in so many things sense we had the meeting to become a stake of Zion here in Botswana. I think satan wants the missionaries to fail and we have wonderful missionaries so he is working every way he can to keep the work from being done. I hate to see our missionaries taking the blunt of this but my hands are tied and it seems that Stix can’t get it put together either. Let me end on a positive note saying that we know that in the long run satan will not win and God does answer our prayers. We just have to be patient and all will work out, I consul Mom and she consuls me. The immigration has been up to me and I still prepare everything but think I take it to personally when it doesn’t work out for our missionaries. The Gospel is true and we pray for strength and guidance every day and we receive it every day but not always the way we think it should be. I keep trying to end on a positive note but.

My family is the best and thank you for all you do to support Mom and me. In a few days we will be able to say we will be home later this year. Take care of each other as we know you do.

Love Out Of Botswana, DAD and MOM

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas

To My Dear Family,
As you know it's my favorite day of the year, and I'm certainly thinking about all of you and wondering what the last minute things you might be doing are. I'm sure you are all enjoying the Festivities and I'm so proud of you for all the preparations you have made to make sure your family has a very spiritual Christmas this year.
We loved the call from Bryce telling us about your Patriarchal Dinner and also the message from Cindy that told us of your family getting together between Christmas and New Years to have your dinner. It's been such a blessed tradition and we are so glad that you choose to carry on with that tradition, even when we are gone. Of course we miss it and also just being with all of you, but we are sure proud of you and happy that you know about the really important things in life.
We had a father of three of our YSA members pass away this week and his funeral will be tomorrow morning (Christmas Day) at 6 AM so Yes, we will be getting up early in the morning and being at the church to support all of them. This family has 8 or 10 children and the three oldest are all in our YSA group, the oldest is a daughter Nthabatha that is beautiful and knows the gospel like the back of her hand. The 2nd is a returned missionary son Kgotla that is a wonderful young man with a girl friend from Durban but they can't get married yet because her family wants an exhorbant amount of labola and Kgotla is in school trying to get an education. This young ladies father is in the Stake Presidency in Durban????????????? Then there is a 3rd child in this original family I'm talking about that is also beautiful and smart but I'm not sure she's (her name is Patience) making really good choices right now and we haven't seen her for a while. Anyway, they are a great family and the parents were putting in their papers to go on a mission when the father got sick. They thought he was improving but Tues. he called all the family together and told them he wasn't going to make it and he proceeded to put things together and tell them exactly what he wanted them to do for the funeral and set things in order and then passed away. They don't do embalming here so a couple of days is all they can wait for the burial to take place and they always do it really early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day so we plan to go pay our respects and then come back home for the day.
We had been invited to a families home for Christmas Eve dinner but they are also involved with helping for the funeral so that got cancelled. The Elders and Sister's in our District called to see if they could come over and cook dinner for us, so of course we said "sure" and they just left. We had mashed potatoes, rice, chicken and a fruit salad and then cake and ice cream. It was delicious and fun to be with them. They even cleaned up the kitchen so we are set tomorrow. We are having about 25 missionaries all come here for dinner tomorrow, but I'm not doing all the cooking. I was about cooked out from this past week with the interviews all scheduled here at our house and then the big Christmas dinner for 44 of us at the church on Wednesday. I told the missionaries they could do the Christmas day dinner at our house, but everyone had to help; they are bring over a Braii (Barbeque grill) that someone has at their flat and they are all bringing their own meat. I'm making a big potato salad and the rest is whatever they bring. They can come (Open House Style) between 12 and 4 and then they will go home and make their Christmas calls home to their families. It should be a good day; with enough going on to keep my mind in Botswana most of the day until time for us to call you. We'll try to catch all of you sometime tomorrow or in the next few days if you're not at home.
We love you all so very much. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful day with your families.
May the giftts of love and happiness be abundant in your lives this season and throughout the coming new year.
Gift giving is a major part of this wonderful Christmas holiday. We too often, however, get so "wrapped up" in the preparations of Christmas that we forget the greatest of all gifts given from God, His Son, Jesus Christ, for whom we celebrate. As each of us try to focus more on our Savior during this beautiful season, we will be more grateful for His birth and more importantly, His life and mission in our behalf.
ENJOY!!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Tell your kids how much we love and miss them today, but we LOVE our Savior also and He fulfilled His mission and we will fulfill ours.
LOVE,
Mom and Dad Granny & PaPa Lynn

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Week #44 - Granny

Dear Family,

Well, Botswana doesn’t do Christmas! There isn’t a tree up in any house that I’ve seen; no lights up in anyone’s yard or anywhere around town; and very few signs of anything about Christmas in the stores. No Santa in the Mall, no street decorations in town; I even asked in a couple of stores if they have a Chrismtas section and they just look at me funny and say "no". There is a Mall near us that has a store called “Game City” and it is the closest thing to a Wal-Mart that we can find in Botswana and they actually had a end-cap with some Christmas Napkins and Paper Plates (no cups) so I bought enough for our Mission Christmas Party and for the YSA Activity that we had tonight. We also took plates to three of our neighbors and sang Christmas Carols to them. Most of the YSA said they had never gone Caroling before and really thanked us for the experience. We had a little Christmas Program first with scriptures mingled with Christmas Carols and then we went caroling and came back for refreshments. We had nearly 50 here again so we did the refreshments outside but we did “Pack” everyone in the living room and dining room for the program, all on small stools or on the floor. It was fun but our neighbors didn’t get much out of the singing as they all have their tall fences and don’t open their gate or even come out for you to sing. We did catch one family down the street a ways that had company leaving so we hurried down and sang to them and gave them a plate of goodies. They looked at the goodies with a little suspicion though and I’m not sure they will eat them as they really didn’t know who we were and you can imagine this white couple marching down the street followed by a really nice looking group of 50 YSA Adult aged people and you might be suspicious too. But we did have a good time and it’s starting to feel a little bit like Christmas. Many of our YSA group have wonderful voices and can really harmonize and they sing out. It was fun to go caroling with them and they all looked so sharp; they had come right after church and their Institute Class so they were still dressed in their Sunday Best.
The Sister Missionaries came over yesterday and helped me revive an old artificial tree that was in the back corner of the servants quarters in our house. Dad uses that area for a work space, but there is actually a tiny kitchen, a tiny bathroom and one other room back there and low and behold, there was a “dead” tree we thought we sholud use. The Sisters literally taped it together with a tape gun, took green thread and wound it all around the branches to hold them up and the lights are absolutely impossible to revive so we just have a “daytime tree” but it doesn’t look half bad and from a distance, you can't see the tape or the green thread. There were some red balls in one box in the closet and another box that had a bunch of gold balls so we put all of them on and added some plastic white snowflakes and wrapped a white mattress cover around the bottom and it actually looks like Christmas in the Mission Home. We strung a garland that was also in the box, put a plastic tablecloth on the table that was cutsie, but Christmasy and what really saved the day was a tiny Nativity set that Aunt Carma sent and some snowmen made out of syrofoam that look really cute under the tree and a Merry Christmas sign to hang on the front door. Thanks Aunt Carma!

Sue has been sending an Advent Calendar with a Spiritual picture and a scripture, song, and something to do each day. I print these off and put them on the front door and all the Missionaries that come and go read them and do the activity for the day. Thanks Sue!

Dad and I had to speak in church today and we poured out our hearts to the people of Kanye and told them how important it is that we “Follow the Prophets”, Keep Heavenly Father’s Commandments, and “Share the Gospel with All of Our Neighbors.” We love the people in t hat branch and they really love us too. They treat us like we ARE the Prophet and his wife! They hug us and beg us to come to their activities and want to meet with us afterwards to ask personal questions and have us help them with all of their problems. Actually, our little Mariah that is 18 and pregnant is from that Branch and she calls me every few days just to tell me that she is doing fine and feels really good. She asked for some pictures of my family so I took her some today and showed her and she asked to keep some of them just to look at. Another little girls saw me give her a picture so she wanted one also. She begged for the picture I was carrying of Kinli and it was actually the older one when she was only a few months old. I have the new one that Danielle just sent me so I told her she could have it and she went around church showing it to everyone and kissing her picture. There isn’t a white person in their Branch anywhere, but they treat us very nicely and love us even if we are different! I’m learning a lot from them and we love them! They begged us to come to the “Almost Christmas and Nearly New Years Party” on the 31st and we told them we would come and they were all so excited that we will be down there again. It is an hour and a half drive, but we make it there when we can and their party will be in the middle of the day so it will be something fun for us to go to.

This year will be the Mission Christmas Party. President and Sister Poulsen are flying up on Tuesday, doing interviews on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning, and then the Christmas dinner and program will be Wednesday afternoon, with interviews finished up on Thursday morning. They will then fly home on Thursday and be home for Christmas and we will have Christmas here in Botswana by ourselves. Some of the missionaries will probably come over, at least the ones that serve here in Gaborone, but they all have to be in their flats by 6 PM on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day. Most of their areas aren’t safe for them to be out any later on these holidays so it will be pretty quiet around here.

We will be thinking about each of you and know that you will be having some wonderful family time and enjoying being together. We are grateful for each of you and pray for our Heavenly Father to bless each and everyone of you during this holiday season. May you FEEL of His love for each of you. May you COUNT your blessings and thank Him for them. Sing some Carols for us, remind your children how much we love them and how we pray for each and every day. We hope everyone of you can feel our arms around you and recognize how proud we are of you and the wonderful job you are doing of being wonderful companions to your spouses and amazing parents to our fantastic grandchildren. We FEEL BLESSED!!! Thanks you for being exactly who you are.

We’ll be in our flat by 6 PM each of the evenings that I mentioned, if you have time to call us. We usually go to bed by 10 O’clock; we can’t wait for the 10:30 curfew as we are too old and tired by then. Our 6 PM is about 9 O’clock in the morning for you so anytime between 9 AM and 1 PM would be a good time to try to call us. (For the Vegas and Eugene family, members the time is one hour off from what I’ve said but I think you can figure it out; I get confused so I won’t try to tell you exactly what it is.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

All Our Love,

Mom & Dad, Granny & PaPa Lynn

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Week #43 - Papa Lynn (His Birthday & Couples Conference)

Dear Family and Friends, 8 Dec 2010

Today happens to be my birthday and it turns out to be very special. Again we are having problems with the immigration people. The man working for us isn’t doing his job very well as we have 5 missionaries that had their 90 days run out yesterday and when I called Joseph of the Area Office yesterday morning he just about came unglued. He called President Poulsen later in the day and said they hadn’t trained Stix very well and now we were paying the price. President called me about 6:30 PM and said Joseph is on his way up to pick up the 5 missionaries and get them out of the country. He asked me to call them and get them all in Gaborone ready to go by about 8:00 PM an hour and a half from then. I asked him if I could call Stix one more time then call Joseph on his cell phone.

Well I did and Stix finally called me back about 7:30 and said he had an extension worked out so I called President Poulsen and Joseph and the elders didn’t know how close it was that they had to leave Botswana. I told the President I didn’t think Sister Morgan and I should or could go on the Couples Conference scheduled for the next morning. He told me that with the extension everything would be alright, so we decided to go.

Sunday 12 December 2010

The morning when we got to the airport they changed the flight for 2 hours later without calling or telling us. Then we found out we didn’t have tickets anyway. We had a confirmation number and they didn’t ask us how we were going to pay for the tickets so I thought we would pay at the airport that morning. Well at the bottom of the e-mail confirmation was two letters with a date (TL 25.11.10) which meant nothing to me. Later we found out that the TL meant too late. Other words if we didn’t pay by then the confirmation numbers were cancelled, and so was our reservation.

The flight had only one seat so I bought it along with a standby seat, with the agreement that if there wasn’t a standby seat I would get my money back for both tickets. Gladly we did not have to fight this out as we both got on the 11:30 AM flight. I turned off the phone in flight and when we landed a message said we only had 10 days on the extension that Stix got for us. Several phone calls during the Couples Conference and I think I know what we need to do as of Monday morning.

The rest of this letter will be pictures with captions added. The first picture is with Mon and I standing in front of a Baobab tree in the town of Kasane. After we all arrived we were picked up by Elder and Sister Cardiff and then the rest of the couples came in on a plane shortly after us. All in all there were 12 couples and we had a short meeting and went to our rooms and changed for a boat cruise. The second picture is President and Sister Poulsen in the front with our guide (Cornelia). As you can see the boat is quite big and it was a lot of fun. Not only did we see lots of animals but we also got to visit with all the other couples on the boat. We even had a small snack of crackers and cheese with water or soda. The weather was perfect. Third picture we saw many hippos and lots of them were very close in the water but not much shows while they are in the water so here are two on land. This is a big island and it is full of grass and the guide said most hippos don’t like being out of water for vey long but here on the island they seem to not let the sun bother them. The fourth picture is a shot of two elephants sparing on the shore. It was so relaxing to set around and visit with the other couples. A lot of them we hadn’t meet because they were all serving in South Africa. Ofcourse we knew some of them as they were here when we had the Couples Conference last April just after we had lost our passports from the top of the car in Mafikeng. Even the Olsens were here at that time. But this mission has many couples so some come and some go almost without even knowing who they are. Not only did we enjoy visiting with them but got to know where they are serving in South Africa. We still only have the Cardiff’s and us serving here in Botswana. The fifth picture is Mom in conversation and enjoying the boat ride. Later that evening we had a wonder buffet back at the lodge which was great with many different kinds of meat fruit desserts and drinks. It was a little expensive but lots of fun. After eating I took a picture of the Chobe River in the dusk of evening. Along with a picture with Mom standing in the area above the swimming pool. Of course we didn’t swim but they place was a wonderful place to time relaxing from the daily routene of the many mission responsibilities.


We had a relaxing evening and visited more with everyone and the next morning we had a buffet breakfast that was a great meal of anything that a person could ask for from cold ceral to fancy food that I don’t even know what it was. Again we were being very spoiled however as you may know we paid for it all in the long run but it was worth if.

The next morning we got on two big vans and headed for the Zimbabwe border as we were on our way to see Victoria Falls which is between Zimbabwe and Zambia. On the way we saw several elephants and The only country that we went into was Zambabwe but near where we went on the cruiz the night before is where all four countries meet almost like the four corners are are in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, but the names of these four countries are Botswana, Zambia, Angola, and Zimbabwe. We could claim being in the four countries but not legally as we didn’t get our passports stamped.

The next few pictures will be of Victoria Falls. Remember that these pictures are taken in the dry time of the year. Most of the areas in these pictures that don’t have water flowing over them are covered with water in the wet season (March and April). In a couple of the pictures you can see people standing at the in a pool or at the very edge of the falls. These people are in Zambia as the gorge the water falls down into is the dividing point between the two countries.



The falls were wonderful and we got really wet most of the time because of the mist coming back up from the bottom as the water hit between the walls of the gorge and if we would have had sun it would have made some wonderful rainbows.

The next we had a game safari which was fun and we saw lots of animals but nothing more dangereous than these wild dogs.

The first picture is the vehicle the second the wild dogs that the guide said she had never seen them in the gamer reserve before. The next is a huge bird and if you look close you will see the leg of an impala hanging just under the birds feet against the main part of the V-in the tree.

I am holding a dung bettle and the last picture shows why a wart hog is called a wart hog (Pumba).

Later we headed back to the lodge and out to the airport and headed home. We told the President we could probably last until the end of our mission now. I hope this comes out good on our blogspot. Mom and I love each of you very much and our thoughts are always with you and we pray for each of you as well.

LOVE OUT OF BOTSWANA, DAD AND MOM

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Week #42 - Papa Lynn

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

We have had such a busy week that I’m going to hit the highlights and get some sleep. If I don’t write tonight, I won’t get a chance for another week.


This past week has been transfer week and we got 10 new missionaries from JoBurg. Four of them were brand new Sisters, straight from the MTC so we had to drive to JoBurg on Tuesday morning early to pick them up. Our Bakki (PickUp) that we usually take with a trailer to transfers is broke down (been in the shop for 5 weeks now and won’t be ready for 2 more weeks) so we had to take 6 cars to transport missionaries and luggage. When we got everyone gathered at our house to travel to Joburg, we realized we didn’t have enough drivers so I had to drive one of the cars all by myself. Dad had to drive with another Elder so he wouldn’t be alone. My driving experience has been limited here as I’m usually with Dad and he always drives, but I have done it a few times when necessary. I haven’t quite gotten use to driving on the wrong side of the car and on the wrong side of the road, but I said “I can do it” and off we went. It’s a 5 hour drive and it wasn’t much fun by myself, but except for getting sleepy once in a while I did fine until we hit the outskirts of JoBurg. It’s pretty much country and desert until and we were in a caravan with Dad leading everyone and watching out for all of the cars and making sure no one got lost. Just as we hit the JoBurg traffic, we came upon a car accident and a T junction and , you guessed it, we got separated. The Elders all went one way and me and the Sisters car went the other way and we couldn’t get back together. I followed behind the Sisters until I realized they were going to the Mission Home and I knew Dad would be going to the Mission Office and I forgot to mention that my phone is the only one that doesn’t have roaming so I couldn’t communicate with anyone. I had been back and forth from the Mission Office to the Mission home a few times 9 months ago when Dad was in the hospital so I knew the way, so I talked to the Sisters at the stop light and told them I was going to the Mission Office to find dad and the Elders and that I knew the way. I actually made it to the Mission Office without a glitch, only to find out that Dad and the Elders were not there yet and didn’t arrive until over an hour later. They got on a wrong road after the accident and someone had messed with the GPS and it had the Area Office address in where the Mission Office should be and they ended up clear across JoBurg by the temple and in the middle of 5 O’clock traffic and couldn’t get back FOREVER!! Dad was pretty frustrated and mostly worried about me because we couldn’t communicate. I finally had the Assistants call him and tell him I was safe and at the office and then at least he quit worrying and so did I. We had planned to go to the temple with the Sisters and the Poulsen’s, but that didn’t work, but we did wait and go to a later session by ourselves, and we had a wonderful evening at the temple and went out to dinner at “Mike’s Kitchen” our favorite place in JoBurg. (Probably because it’s the only place in JoBurg we’ve ever gone out to dinner, but it is a nice place.) We ran into the Mission Doctor at the temple and made arrangements to see him the next day in his office as dad is having some trouble with Fungus under his toenail and he said he would look at it. We also ran into our new Sister Missionaries at the temple and also the MTC President and his wife so that was nice also. We got asked to be the witness couple and the session was so small they had to have people come in to be in the prayer circle with us, but it was a wonderful evening and we quite stressing over the trip in to town and chalked it up as “another experience.” I actually knew that Heavenly Father had looked out for me and guided me to where I needed to go and it was actually a huge miracle in my life.


On Wednesday after the Doctor appointment and 3 hours driving around town trying to find a bank (the 4th one actually would do it for us) that would take our Credit Card so we could pay for a Game Drive we are taking the boys on when they come to see us in February, we loaded up all the cars and were ready to drive back to Botswana. All was well except that none of the 4 Sisters had ever driven in JoBurg before, one Sister was from New Zealand so she knew how to drive there, but one was from Uganda and couldn’t drive and the other two were from Utah and Idaho and weren’t excited at all about having to drive. We put them in the cars with Automatic transmissions and said “follow us” and don’t get separated and only one of them started crying. She was actually scared to death and drove so slow that we had to keep pulling over to let the rest catch up. We had so many cars that we could only have 2 in each car so the Elders had to drive with Elders and the Sisters had to drive alone with another Sister so we had no choice. The worst part was the getting out of JoBurg as it takes almost an hour to just get out of the busy part of downtown before we get out into the country headed to Botswana, but once we got that far everything went fine. It took us 6 hours to caravan home and we were all hungry and tired by the time we got there, but we were all safe and we drove everyone to their apartments and came home and FELL into bed.


The next day was Immigration and its usual nightmare, but you’ve heard all that before. We got them to the Police Station for Certification, to the Photo Shop for Passport Pictures, to the Doctor for Physicals and then to Immigration and turned them over to our new Immigration Specialist where they spent the next 3 hours, but we got to come home during part of that. I got lunch ready for everyone and when they returned we got them to their new areas and they went to work. The next morning we had to do the same thing all over with the new Zone Leaders as they stay in JoBurg for an extra day of training meetings so they aren’t here for our normal scheduled Immigration Day. This was an easier day though as they aren’t new missionaries, just new to Botswana so they are a little more independent, but they don’t know where anything is in Botswana. As soon as we got them taken care of, we headed to Francistown (5 hours North) to drive two of the new Sisters to their new area. It’s a pretty comfortable drive and mostly desert and country between small villages, so no “wrong side of the road stress” and they are getting more comfortable with it by now, so off we went. We actually spent Saturday and Sunday there and went to church with them and got to visit with the Saints there. They love us and we love them and they get really excited when we come to see them, so it’s really a fun couple of days for us but we are so happy to be home and in our own beds tonight.


I just thought you’d all like to know that your Mom is now a Foreign Driver and I can Zip through the “Round-Abouts” like a Pro and I even drove about 1/3 of the way home from Francistown today. I’m quite comfortable with driving on the wrong side of the road and it almost seems normal to go to the right (wrong) side of the car when I’m going to drive. Dad and I still get confused once in a while and take turns laughing at each other when we head for the wrong side of the car and once in a while even get in and set down and then realize the steering wheel isn’t where it should be!


Our week this week is going to be really busy also, but you are going to be jealous to know that President Poulsen planned a couple’s conference for us and we get to fly to Kasane (top of Botswana) for 3 days. We fly on Wednesday morning and arrive in Kasane which is the biggest game reserve in Botswana. We stay at the Chobe Safari Lodge for two nights, go on a cruise on the Chobe River and we get to travel into Zimbabwe on Thursday and spend the day at Victoria Falls. We will probably have a Fireside with the Kasane members (about 20) and then go on another Sunrise game drive in Chobe National Park on Friday morning before flying back to Botswana that evening. It will be a quick trip, but we are excited to get the privilege of seeing Victoria Falls as I guess it’s pretty amazing. Look it up on the Internet and I’m sure you can find pictures. It is in Southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Falls are some of the largest in the world.


Well, it’s late and we haven’t recovered by our busy week and our trip home from Francistown and we have about 5 days worth of work to do in two days before leaving for the Chobe trip, bit I’ll close and we will write again next weekend when we are home again and have more time. We love you all so much and we love the letters, the e-mails from the kids and the pictures. We did get a letter from Jenna and Cooper in the mail this week and that is always fun. Thanks Jenna and Cooper for the letters, we loved your drawings and notes; and thanks Izzy for sending us your pictures that you made in church through the e-mail. We miss you so very much and think about you every day. Families are Forever, and we have been blessed with the BEST family in the world. Thanks for being who you are and for your love.


Love,

Mom and Dad

PS Thanks Aleksey and Julia for calling on Skype tonight from Ukraine; it was fun to talk to you.
Thanks for the Ray's for writing, we can't believe you are on your way home from Russia. We feel lonely out here with out you!
Continued good Luck to the Galbriath's in Ukraine, hope you are enjoying serving as President & Matron on the temple there. WE pray for you.
Love and support to the Carter's as Mission President's in Armenia. We think of you often and pray for your work there.
Gay and Lonnie, we miss knowing that you are in the Mission Field with us. Soon you'll be back serving though! Time flies quickly!
We send our love to Russia for the Moffat's, we know your Branch is doing well with Elder Moffatt as the Branch President.
And for anyone else interested, we are seriously needing couples to serve in our Mission. Some are going home in the next few months and we neee new couples to take there place. The Missionfield is the best place in the world for "old people like us" so come and join us. We'll put in a good word with the President and I'm sure he would love to get you here to serve in Africa or Botswana!

Love,
President & Sister Morgan
Johannesburg South Africa Mission
Botswana

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Week #41 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family and Friends 28 November 2010

This is the Sabbath before transfers and I am sure after yesterdays calls from the Assistants and the President many will be baring their last testimonies in many wards and branches. We are losing both of our Botswana East zone leaders today because one is going home the 1st of December and the other one that has only been here for one transfer is becoming one of the assistants to the president. It is fun because of my position as councilor and most like because of my immigration work here in Botswana I get to find these things out early. In fact President Poulsen talked to me and asked my opinion about white washing an area because he wants Elder Rodrigues to be one of his assistants. I told him that if the Lord wants him to be an assistant then white washing an area is nothing to worry about. As we ended the phone call he didn’t say what he would do but the e-mail I got later let me know it was happening.

We lose two wonderful sister missionaries this transfer as they are heading home. We get four to replace them and President Poulsen has given me liberty of putting them in the area I feel they will be of the most service here in Botswana. We will keep 2 sets in Francistown and 2 sets here in Gaborone. The two new ones coming in are brand new and the two going to Francistown. I would send them by bus but the two going home have both been serving in Francistown and will be bringing a car down and Mom and I will need to help the two new ones make the trip to Francistown. It is a five hour trip and they will follow us in their car.

We are still having problems with immigration as we haven’t heard anything on the group we applied for on the 9th of September but hopefully Stix our immigration man will be able to take care of it for us. I am beginning to think that President Poulsen is beginning to understand the complexity of what we go through every transfer. We are still praying that with Stix helping it will go easier and hopefully get residence permits much quicker. We will see.

Yesterday was the graduation program from the institute that is run here in Botswana. Last year they had 9 that graduated and this year 112 graduated. That is a large increase. Bishop Matswagothata is really a big fan of the institute program. He would like for investigators to be signed up even before they are baptized. It was wonderful except every meeting starts late here in Botswana and it was suppose to start at 4:00 Saturday afternoon and it was after 4:30 with a handful of people that Bishop Matswagothata finally started the meeting. After 10 to 15 minutes later we had a fair size group. Less than half got their diplomas’ because most had left the University the day before to go back to their villages or countries where they were from. It only took an hour and then we headed back to our flat.

Today we visited Lobatse branch and it was the primary program. It was fun and the children did a great job. After class the branch president invited me into his office where we spent an hour helping him iron out some member problems. I could only suggest as my authority does not cover branch or ward business hat fall under the Roodepoort Stake. I can only have authority in mission branches and the missionaries. He thanked me for my suggestions and I think he will get things worked out because of his calling. After the block we stayed for the baptism of a young man that I was blessed to have a second interview with during the past week. He is ready and is now baptized. He is a great young man and could be future leadership in the branch. He needs to find a wonderful member to marry.

Today we are feeding four with three of them being transferred either home of back into South Africa. Monday evening we are feeding 4 sisters two of which are going home after fulfilling great missions.

The above was written this morning and it is now 9:30 PM here in Botswana and we have had a good day. It was great to be in Lobatse and attend church and witness the baptism. Before we left we took a turkey out of the freezer that we bought a couple months ago and got it ready and cooked it on low for the 4 hours we were in Lobatse. We had 4 elders that were excited about a Thanksgiving Dinner at the Morgan’s. We also had a couple named Zulu. He lives here in Gaborone and she came to visit him from Zimbabwe. They are married and she and the children have all joined the church (she the mother has recently joined) the father living here in Gaborone hasn’t joined yet and may not. They enjoyed the Thanksgiving Dinner as well even if they don’t understand what Thanksgiving really is.

Well I will close expressing my love for each of you. Thank you for your letters and calls. You are the greatest. Those that don’t write please do so.


Love Out Of Botswana, DAD and MOM

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Week #40 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family, Sunday November 21, 2010

We know all of you have had such a big week and you have been in our thoughts and prayers all week. We’re anxious to hear all about the weddings, sealings, travel, exams, and etc. so drop us a line and tell us all about things from your prospective. Sherrie sent some pictures from Braxton and Danielle’s sealing and Roger sent us three pictures as Dax and Melissa were coming out of the temple. We got them 4 minutes after he sent them so it was ALMOST like we were there in person. We aren’t sure exactly who was able to be there for Braxton’s sealing and for Dax’s wedding, but they both look like a big group of people and we are so thankful that you support each other and enjoy these very special times together. One of Roger’s pictures was of Grandma and Grandpa Beus and we sure appreciate everyone being so good to them. They write and tell us how good you are to them and how much they love our family.

We’ve had a busy week as it was our Stake Conference (actually it was our Broadcast from Salt Lake) so I guess it’s called Regional Conference. On Saturday we had the Leadership training meeting on the new Church Handbook of Instructions and Dad gave out his plaques he’s been working on for so long and he is really relieved to have that project done. He’s been limited for equipment to work with and without knowing where to get helping for lettering he needed and such, it’s been a bit of a nightmare and he finished 30 minutes before the meeting, but they are done and given out so he is breathing a bit easier today. We did receive the Leadership Training meeting as it was on a Disk, but when it came time for the Adult Session that was a Broadcast from our Stake Center in JoBurg, we couldn’t get it at all so the High Councilman in charge as Dad and I if we would be the speakers. I almost had a heart attack because I’m not really an impromptu speaker, but I did take about 10 minutes and dad spoke a lot about the goals of each of the Branches (6) and Wards (3) to become a stake. He did an excellent job of covering how everyone is working hard to win against all the struggles we feel from Satan and how if we all pull together it is possible for each group to meet their needed goals and reach our goal by June 26th, 2011. When we finished, they called on 2 of the Bishops to bear their testimonies and we all went home.

This morning they scheduled a New Member meeting for 8:30 and again it was coming from the Stake in JoBurg and it didn’t happen either so they called on several of the new members to introduce themselves and bear their testimonies. It was a good meeting but everyone was so disappointed as they wanted the new members to see the church in action and see the Stake President and his counselors. When it was time for the 10:00 meeting, we missed the first half hour as it was suppose to come from our Stake again and have all the sustaining and etc. but we did receive the last 90 minutes with Elder Oaks, President Packer, Sister Dibb and Elder Golden from the 70’s who is a native South African. It was a great meeting and President Packer closed the meeting with some blessings for Africa and the African people that made us all know that Heavenly Father knows all about the people of Africa and is aware of their needs and worries and that it is African’s Time and all will be well.

Tonight we had another Young Single Adult “Evening with the Morgan’s” and I think they really had a good time. We brought lots of board games and we set up 4 tables outside in our little front yard and they all gathered round and had a great time. They didn’t know how to play the games and you all know me, I’m no game player, so we had the Sister Missionaries come for an hour and help them all get started. It was a smashing success and they stayed until it was dark and they had to rush to catch their Kombi’s (public transport) and head for home. We served Root Beer Floats (without Root Beer) as they don’t have such a thing, but we served Fanta Grape, Orange, Raspberry and then the closest thing they have to Root Beer is Iron Brew and most of them went for that. We had about 40 Young Ladies and Gentlemen here and it was really lots of fun. Dad took pictures, I’ll have him attach a couple so you can see the fun!!

We are taking individual pictures of each of them and having them sign their names so we can to actually know them by name! It’s hard though as I tell the Sisters, I just get to know them and they completely cut off all their hair, or have it all braided instead of Frizzed, or wear a wig and then I can’t tell who they are again. Seriously, one week they have braids all over their heads and down their backs, and the next week they are shaved and wearing darling dangly earrings and they don’t even look like the same person. I’m working really hard to get to know their faces, but it is really difficult for me. I must be getting old, actually there’s no doubt, I am!

Also, we never did send you a picture of when we went to Kanye, our Branch that moved into their rented building just before President and Sister Bricknell were there. We took everyone outside on the steps and got a picture of the whole group. This is actually an office complex and we just rent an area in the back corner of the building, but it should be nice someday. Right now their toilets still don’t work so they have to lock them up, they have no ceiling so the noise level is extremely difficult for everyone but they are thrilled for the space as they were only meeting in the Missionaries living room before and it was WAY overcrowded as you can imagine.

Last but not least, we keep baptizing and are working hard to reach our Mission Goal “Bringing The Gospel to 2010 Souls During 2010.” Our Branch in Francistown had 13 baptisms yesterday, they are our heaviest baptizing area, but everyone is working hard to bring the gospel to our Heavenly Fathers choice people in Botswana!

I’ll close for now. We are working hard, loving our mission and getting way attached to these beautiful people. We got lots of hugs and handshakes from people from all of our branches today as they gathered for our Stake Conference. We love them all! Dad & Mom!!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Spiritual Thought for TODAY!!!

Family Spiritual Thought for Today!

From Helaman 3:30

The Phrase “to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob” means that the faithful will merit the association of these three great patriarchs and the reception of celestial-like rewards. According to D & C 132:37, “Abraham Isaac and Jacob have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels but are gods.”

Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorun of the Twilve Apostels explained that Church members may become heirs to the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:

The covenant that the Lord first made with Abraham and reaffirmed with Isaac and Jacob is of transcendent significance… We are also children of the covenant. We have received, as did they of old, the holy priesthood and the everlasting gospel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are our ancestors. We are of Israel. We have the right to receive the gospel, blessings of the priesthood, and eternal life. Nations of the earth will be blessed by our efforts and by the labors of our posterity. The literal seed of Abraham and those who are gathered into his family by adoption receive these promised blessings—predicated upon acceptance of the Lord and obedience to his commandments.”

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!!!

Love Ya ALL

Granny

Monday, November 15, 2010

Family Spiritual Thought for TODAY!!

Family Spiritual Thought for Today:

Pres. Ezra Taft Benson taught that certain blessings come only through diligent scripture study: “Success in righteousness, the power to avoid deception and resist temptation, guidance in our daily lives, healing of the soul—these are but a few of the promises the Lord has given to those who will come to His word. Does the Lord promise and not fulfill? Surely if He tells us that these things will come to us if we lay hold upon His word, then the blessings can be ours. And if we do not, then the blessings may be lost. However diligent we may be in other areas, certain blessings are to be found only in the scriptures, only in coming to the word of the Lord and holding fast to it as we make our way through the mists of darkness to the tree of life.”
Love Ya, Mean It
Granny

Week #39 - Papa Lynn

Week 39

Dear Family and Friends, 15 Nov 2010

I don’t know where to start. I guess last week was another great week with President Poulsen coming to Botswana for Zone Leaders Conference with District Leaders and Trainers joining after two hours for the next two hours. This all happened on Thursday from 2:00 until after 6:00 and then President and Sister Poulsen took Mom and I to dinner. We ate at Rodizio Restaurant which was very good. I had fish, Mom had a chicken salad which was chucked full of chicken. Sister Poulsen had fish and President Poulsen had a lovely looking steak. May next time I’ll have the stake myself.

The next day everyone in the three zones come in for Zone Conference. Everyone except for Elder and Sister Cardiff, they don’t like the driving from Francistown to here very well. I don’t mind it that much in fact we are planning a trip to Francistown on the 26th which is Friday and then return after meetings on Sunday. Back to the Zone Conference, it was great and we learn a lot and learn to love President Poulsen even more. He is a great man and has the love of each of his missionaries. He treats me kindly and tells the missionaries that President Morgan knows Botswana better than I do so let him help you in decisions. He has given me the final say as to where we will have the second set of sister when they come the 1st of December which is the next transfer. The problem is that we have a nice expensive apartment in G-West area that has in the past housed two sets of sisters back when we had 3 sets here in Gaborone. But with 2 sets going up to Francistown everything has changed. But the 1st of December two sisters finish their missions and we get 4 to replace them so Francistown will keep 2 sets and we will then have 2 sets here in Gaborone again instead of just 1 set. The interesting part is that all four that are going to be here will all be trainers for the four new ones that are coming.

At Zone Conference or the night before Zone Conference, President Poulsen and I decided to ask the Botswana missionaries to fast Sunday for better results with the immigration department. I don’t know if I explained that Joseph Mokoena from the Area Office wants someone else to make the actual presentations for the applications for residence permits. I totally agree and we are in the process of getting this done. Today Monday Joseph came up from Johannesburg and he meet with a lawyer and also a man that we hope is an expert in immigration department work. We will see. He came to our home today and took some receipts of residence permits that should be completed but we haven’t heard anything so he will try and get some results.

I have complained enough about the immigration department so I’ll drop that subject. I am still working on the barometer plaques but I’m hoping to have them finished and past out this week end. If we didn’t have to keep up with everything else I could do it easily. Tomorrow morning I am putting a shower head holder in Broadhurst 2 elders apartment then going to Mochudi and putting a shower rod and curtain and shower holder in two bathrooms as we have 2 sets of elders in the same apartment. Then back to pick up some items for the barometer plaques and then to our zone leaders and putting in two more shower rods and curtains with shower heads for them as they two have 2 sets of elders in one apartment. We never have a dull moment here in Botswana.

Just today when I was expecting to pick up the lettering for the barometer plaques they said it would be Wednesday before the lettering will be ready. I can’t count on anyone here doing what they say they will do. We have two cars in the shop and they should have been done last Friday so they could have been picked up after zone conference but that didn’t work. In fact one of the cars will maybe done tomorrow which is Tuesday and the other one said most likely Friday a week after it should have been done. Here I go again complaining about things but it isn’t America and we have to remember TIA meaning This Is Africa. We have to say This Is Africa almost every day. We love the mission and doing the work of the Lord and we know He helps us every day. We feel of His love and could not do this work without Him. A week from today the journey is half over. Then we start the downhill part of the mission. It will go too fast but we are loving it.

Love Out Of Botswana, DAD and MOM

FAMILY Spiritual Thought for Today!

Some thoughts I had as I studied Alma Chapter 53-59

Alma 53:9 What caused the Nephites to be placed in dangerous circumstances? Iniquity amongst themselves.

“So it was a blessing to the Nephites after all to have the Lamanites on their doorstep to stir them up to remembrance. No matter how wicked and ferocious the Lamanites might be, no matter by how much they outnumbered the Nephites, no matter how insidiously they spied and infiltrated and breathed their bloody threats, they were not the Nephite problem. They were merely kept there to remind the Nephites of their real problem, which was to walk uprightly before the Lord.”

Alma 53: 10-18

Elder Ballard: Sometimes we are tempted to let our lives be governed more by convenience than by covenant. It is not always convenient to live gospel standards and stand up for truth and testify of the Restoration. But there is no spiritual power in living by convenience. The power comes as we keep our covenants.

Pres. Packer: Keep your covenants and you will be safe. Break them and you will not. We are not free to break our covenants and escape the consequences.”

Alma 56: 45-48

Elder Maxwell: Parents can only give what they themselves already have: “When a parent’s teaching and helping job is done well and when they are receptive children to receive the message, then we encounter those marvelous situations such as the one involving young men in the Book of Mormon who had been taught so well by their mothers. “The reliance, of course, by these young men on their mothers is touching and profound, but the mothers first had to know “it” in such a way that the young men, observing them closely and hearing them did ‘not doubt’ that their mothers knew that “it” was true.”

Sister Beck: The responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know…When mothers know who they are & who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children.” (I’m grateful ALL of my grandchildren have great Moms)

Alma 57

President Hinckley told the youth that they are out there as the Sons of Helaman in a world that is full of destructive influences. But if you put your trust in the Almighty and follow the teachings of this Church and cling to it notwithstanding your wounds, you will be preserved and blessed and magnified and made happy. You’re in the midst of Babylon. The adversary comes with great destruction. Stand above it, you of the noble birthright. Stand above it!

Summary: The Lord has repeatedly taught that while we may face difficulties and serious problems, if we are righteous and rely on Him, we can ALWAYS have confidence that He will be with us and His work will ultimately prevail.
Love Ya, Mean It!
Granny & PaPa Lynn

Thursday, November 4, 2010

An African Evening!

Dear Family & Friends,
Tonight we are having a real African Evening. We think that someone in the neighborhood has died and we are in the middle of a HUGE African funeral. There are cars up and down our whole street and they have been coming and going this afternoon, but tonight they are all here and I wish I knew them well enough to go over, but we don't know them at all. Everyone here has fences; I'm not sure who ever thought of putting up fences anyway; I really don't like them at all and I'm certainly glad we don't have one at home. All it does is keep you locked inside and your neighbors outside and no one knows each other at all.
Anyway, they have been singing and preaching and praying (loud), complete with the drums and shaking beads and I'm loving it! I told Dad that I feel like I'm in the middle of an African War Dance around the campfire and the entire village is participating. The rest of the neighborhood is unordinarily quiet; I'm sure they all know what is going are and are paying their respects; but I'd like to go over and take some funeral potatoes and green jello! I actually thought about walking down there to pay our respects, but maybe that wouldn't be respectful in their culture. Isn't it amazing how far apart we get in our different lands and cultures and our religions. I wish we could pull ourselves all together and be one! I love these people here in Botswana; they are friendly and kind and almost without fail when I smile and say "Dumela Ma or Dumella Ra" they smile back at me and say Dumella Ma only it sounds so much neater coming out of their mouth than it does mine. They roll their tongue and I can't understand many of the things they say, but I do have that one down! Cindy, you can tell Bryan how good we are doing because we've only been here 8 Months and we've already got the greeting down in Tswana.
I thought I'd share my thoughts with you this evening as we've been working outside on a plaque building project for the Stake President and feeling very far from home. I'm not sure if this is going to go on all night, but I'll try to remember to let you know. I'm actually loving it and really wish I could be a part of the whole thing just to see how they pay respect to their loved ones when they pass on. It's kind of like knowing the Dance Festival is going on next door and I couldn't get a ticket to go inside. Don't mean to be disrespectful, just being truthful.
Have a great day. It's about time for us to go to bed! Good Night!
Love to all, I really do miss all of you so very much!
Mom, Granny, Lorraine

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Prayers for Botswana!

Dear Family,
It's mid-week but we are asking for your prayers and for you to fast for us on Fast Sunday. We actually have had a really good day yesterday and go to take some much needed furniture (stove, fridge, desk, podium) to Kayne (1 1/2 hours away) yesterday and spend the day doing physical work with the Elders there trying to get their new building in better shape. The landlord there still hasn't put any ceiling in the building so it echo's terrible and all the noises from the cute little Primary children singing, the YW repeating their YW theme and the nursey crying comes right up and into the adult Sunday School class and they can't hear the teaching at all. They also still have leaking toilets so they aren't able to use them, they have to turn off the water or it runs down the hall and into the chapel. Anyway, things are a little better for them today, but dad couldn't fix the leaky toilet situation' we only delivered and cleaned and hung up some white boards and bullitin boards and put in a new shelf so they have a place for cleaning supplies and their baptismal clothes and do a few minor repairs as well. We also got to go to the home of our little Maria that is 18 years old, pregnant (she was raped) and had a really good interview with her and give her all of her options, including placing the baby with Social Services. She had to go to the hospital to be tested for Aids and HIV, but everything is fine there and her baby should be able to born healthy. While she was at the hospital they tried to convince her to have an abortion but she called the Branch President (an Elder) there and he was able to convince her to wait until we could come to visit with her. I gave her several talks and some other literature from the church about adoption and she has decided that is what she will do.
But the rest of the week has been tough with Immigration again as Monday we had to send out our 4 Missionaries that had their residency permits declined' they were only able to stay in Botswana for the initial 90 days and they got a 10 day extention to get out of the country once the final decision was made. President sent us 4 new missionaries to take their place but Immigration wouldn't accept their paperwork to even apply for Residency Permits. We were told they had to apply before they ever come into the country from now on; which means President would have to know 4-6 months ahead of time who he wanted to serve in Botswana. We also have 4 new Sisters coming the 1st of December and they can only serve in Botswana as South Africa is too dangerous for the Sisters to live in so they all come here for their entire 18 months. Our Area Office contacted the Botswana Embassy in South Africa about applying and they said we could not apply for Residency in Botswana until the Missionaries are actually in the country. so.............................
Dad was able to obtain an appointment with the Director of Home Affairs for 11 O'clock tomorrow and the church is flying in some help for us to go to the meeting with us. They are also trying to find a lawyer here in Botswana to go with us to the meeting tomorrow. We feel that if things don't change, the situation will be too difficult for President to even keep missionaries in Botswana. Satan knows we are all working very hard to find His elect so we can become a Stake by June 26th, 2011. He also knows what a blessing that would be for the people of Botswana, so he is doing all that he can to keep us focused on Immigration problems and not to be able to get the Spiritual work done. We are determined to win and become a Stake in spite of all that is going on so we are trying to encourage our missionaire and not let them know how serious it is with Immigration. Dad could use some extra prayers in his behalf and he is the Main Man when it comes to Immigration and he has to meet it "face on" at every crossroads. He is struggling, but will be fine when it's all over and decided for sure what they want us to do. We'll jump through the loops, we just need to know "how high" and "in which direction" to jump.
We love our mission here; the people are wonderful and It Is Africa's Time and we need your faith and prayers to help us make that happen.
We love you and we love your letters. It's the main thing that keeps us going right now; knowing that we have your faith and your support is the best thing we can possibly ask for.
Cindy, your last letter was wonderful and thanks for the update on your kids. I'm sorry I don't have time to write individually right now, but....it was wonderful hearing about Bryan's mission and his blessing of "tongues" and also Kylea's good news about getting into the program she wanted.
Sherrie I just found your e-mail this morning and started reading it but we have to be down town for some other appointments in 7:30 AM and it's now 6 AM and I'v not collected all the stuff I need for the appointment. I did see the news (in red) that Braxton and Danielle and Kinli are going to the temple and We are so happy for them. Right now I'm not really sure why we are missing such great things with our family as I'm not sure how much good we are doing here, but.........................We will stay and keep trying harder.
Kricket, thanks for all the help with our blog and thanks for sending such cute pictures of your kids. Also, it was fun to visit with you the other night on the phone. It was like we were home again and I could just visit and visit with you.
Shaundalee, thanks for sending us pictures now and again from your cell phone, it's fun to see your kids growing up and Madi's halloween costume was so fun! She is growing up also.
Melissa, thanks for your weekly letters, we look forward to them every week and get so excited when they are posted! The pictures are always fun! and your new house in beautiful and we are so happy for you.
Sue, thanks for the fun Halloween pictures, you always do a great job with the costumes and it's fun to see the background of your pictures as it reminds us what our house looks like.
Thanks to all the rest of you for keeping us posting with your family. Those are just the recent ones we've heard from and I hadn't gotten time to thank them for the letters. We love you all and thank you in advance for your prayers in our behalf; we feel your love and support and we are trying our BEST!
Love,
Mom and Dad