Love, DAD
With Love Out of Botswana
Monday, March 29, 2010
Pictures from Botswana
Here is this week's letter and Mom and I will write each week taking turns. So you will only get one letter each week unless something special happens. Please find pictures attached as well. These pictures are of the apartment we are staying in here in Gaborone, Botswana. It is like a hotel room until we get into the flat that the Olsons are staying in when they go home we will take over the flat. (It is really a house)
Love, DAD
Love, DAD
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Week 6 - Papa Lynn
Dear Family and Friends
This has been a really good week. Mom and I are learning how to do different things and we feel we are progressing nicely. That isn’t saying that if we get a curve ball thrown at us that we won’t strike out after three pitches but we are still learning a lot of things. Friday was a very unusual day as we were to buy six picnic tables and deliver them to two different branches, three at Mochudi and three to Kanye. These six tables were ordered just after we arrived here in Gaborone and were told we would pick them up at 10:00 AM and we would have a trailer to haul them. Sunday the week before the man named Richard called and asked if we could pick up the tables the next day. Elder Olson told him that we didn’t have a trailer yet and we couldn’t until Friday as we originally agreed. Elder and Sister Olson talked again to him on Thursday the day before and he said the next morning would be just fine. On the way there Sister Olson said she would bet anything that none of the tables would be ready. When we got to the place where we order them from there wasn’t anyone there and the sign had been removed. We were on time and no one there. We asked the guy that had a driving school right close to where they had been and he gave us directions to where there business was located.
It was just around the block so to speak and when we pulled up we asked for Richard. He wasn’t there so we called him on his cell phone and he said he would be there in about an hour. We told him that wasn’t an option we needed him now because there was only three tables and they were stacked under many other things. In about ten minutes Richard showed up and as I said only three tables were ready. After talking sternly with him and telling him he hadn’t lived up to his part of the bargain. He finally said for us to take the first three and pay for them and he would have the next three by the time we got back from Mochudi. We told them the stain would be so wet it would be hard to get them loaded and dried enough for us to use on Sunday. He assured us that they would be ready and he would rub them dry enough to travel and be ready for Sunday.
To make a long story shorter everything finally worked out fine and we got all of them delivered to where they were suppose to go. When we got back Elder and Sister Reid called from one of the ward buildings as they were looking for the Olsons as they were staying the night with them. After picking up the Reids they followed us back to the Olson’s flat and because we had traded their car for the Pickup called the (baki) that morning they didn’t have keys for their flat. We called them and found them across town teaching discussion. They asked us to come and trade vehicles back.
I had a very unusual thing happen while Elder Olson was getting the trade on the vehicle. I saw several 8 and 9 year boys on the street kicking a soccer ball and I kind of gave a couple of them a candy and they all flocked around me. I took the opportunity to tell them that at 8 years old I was baptized and asked them if they had been baptized. I asked one of the boys if he went to church and he said yes. I asked him where his church was and he pointed in the direction toward our Broadhurst Ward Chapel. I asked him the name of his church and my hearing isn’t the best but Mom heard him say The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Come to find out his sister has been a mini missionary for the past six weeks and they lived just down the street from where we were parked. It was a unique experience to talk to these boys that we didn’t know from Adam and find that he goes to our church every week.
Today is Sunday and we had a wonderful day. Mom and I drove out to Kanye which is about 90 kilometers out or about an hour and a quarter driving time. We were asked to speak a week before that and had prepared and we ended up speaking in both of the sacrament meetings. The just opened the branch on New Year’s Day of this year and they are getting so many out to church that they are having to split the meeting. The building only holds about 80 to 90 people but two sets of elders are getting about a hundred people each Sunday. What a wonderful thing. It was such a neat thing to speak at each meeting and see how it worked. There was a baptism between the two sacrament meetings also.
Today is Monday and a week ago we had two new sisters come into the mission and all Sisters that come into our mission serve in Botswana as it is too dangerous for them in South Africa. About four years ago two were beat up and raped and the church pulled the rest of the Sisters out of our mission until they decided to have them serve here in Botswana. The law does not allow visitors in the country longer than 90 days so we have to get special waivers for the Elders so they can stay for the usually 6 months and the sisters get temporary citizenship for about 20 months. They only serve for 18 months usually but once a sister stayed on for an extra transfer so I suggested we get them for 20 months and Elder Olson thought that was a great idea as they can go home before the temporary citizenship is up but it is hard to change them and get an extension.
The Olsons are asking mom and me to work on our own this week as much as possible to learn things even better. If we have any problems we are to call or get with them but things will be our own call. So mom and I decided that we will go up to Francistown where we have 2 sets of elders and a couple named the Cardiffs. We will leave Friday morning and stop in a town on the way that has about 5 or 6 members there and they have Sunday School each Sunday. We know it will be hard to attend on Sunday because of the distance from Francistown and also from here in Gaborone but we think a visit will let them know that we care. We will see if for one Sunday they might meet later and we will try and see them on our way home from Francistown. Francistown is about 5 hours away and this town that holds Sunday School is about 4 hours away from us. We will do what we can to help them.
Well I will close for now as it is before 6:00 AM and I need to study the scriptures and get ready for the day. We need to leave and get the paperwork and the Sisters and be at the place we get the citizenship papers by 9:00 this morning so we will have to leave about 8:15. Mom and I love each of you and pray for you several times each day. We love serving the Lord and He blesses us each day in so many ways. Please attend all your meetings and teach our grandchildren the Gospel. We miss you and wish we could be there for those special occasions like weddings, sealings, coming and leaving for missions, birthdays, priesthood ordinations and all the other wonderful things.
Just a quick update on my health, my blood thickness is where it needs to be so I only have to go into the lab and have it tested every other week for a while then maybe I can go a month between tests. We will see and I am doing what they ask me to do. Mom helps me keep in line and I take the regulated dosage of pill or pills each day as directed. Mom is doing wonderful and we are enjoying life together. May the Lord bless each of you each day.
Love from Africa, Dad and Mom
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Week 5 - Granny
Dear Family and friends,
Missionary work in Botswana is really quite exciting and we are working hard to spread the gospel to these beautiful people. Everywhere we go, they look at our name tags and we strike up a conversation by asking them if they have seen the young missionaries with tags like ours or if they know of our church by the name on our tags. They sometimes say “yes” and sometimes “no” but I whip out my Pass Along Cards and try to tell them about what we believe and give them the card. I haven’t had one single person turn down my card and they usually smile, give and little curtsy and say “thank you moma.” I think the whole time we were in Ukraine, I only gave out 1 or 2 cards and I’ve already given out about 20 here in Botswana in a week.
We had Stake Conference last Sunday and we are actually part of a Stake in Johannesburg, the Roodepoort Stake which is in the building right next to the MTC and the Mission Office. It’s too far for our people to travel (almost 5 hours) so this is the first time they have tried having us receive it by satellite and it went pretty well. We viewed it here in Botswana at the Broadhurst building which is close to our apartment and the building was packed. They brought out all the chairs from the classrooms, brought in extra chairs from other buildings close by and we still had people standing in the aisles. The young missionaries all gave up their seats and we still couldn’t seat everyone. The air conditioner didn’t work very well and people had sweat running down their faces and bald heads (lots of black men shave their heads)but they stayed for the whole meeting. Some of the small branches out of town brought people in to the conference in Combies (white mini vans used as buses). When they did a head count, they found out that there were about 520 people at the conference at the stake center in Roodepoort and 620 people in attendance at our building. Dad and I sat in the front of the chapel and were the only white people there, except for some people from the Area Office in Johannesburg sent there to run the satellite transmittal, and the only white people in the cultural hall were missionaries. I wish you could have all been there to see these beautiful people. They are dressed nice, well mannered, have daring little kids (I’d like to bring home 1 or 2 for each of you), and the most fascinating part to me is the beautiful braided hair-do’s on the women and young girls and sometimes even the little girls. I’ve never seen so many creative braided hair-do’s in all my life. Dad’s taken pictures of a few for me and we’ll try to send them when our internet situation gets better (in 3 more months).
Working with people trying to do Rent, car repairs, water bills, immigration, residence papers, and office procedures done has been an absolute nightmare this week, but we aren’t expected it to change so we just have to get in gear and program ourselves to “slow” and then everyone (especially Dad and I) will be much happier. We haven’t even scratched the surface of what we have to learn here, but we’ve made it through one week of our training and we love working with the Olson’s. They are from Hooper, Utah and have served missions in Zimbabwe and Hungary. They said this mission is by far the most challenging one they have ever served and they are so happy that we are here to take their place. They keep teasing us that they are turning all the problems over to us as of NOW so they can be around long enough to see us squirm through it all like they’ve had to the past 15 months. They are here until mid-June and live in what they call the Mission Home here in Botswana. They have the office set up in the back of their bedroom so at the end of the day we usually go back there to record all the days activities and do receipts, cash refunds to all the missionaries for mission expenses they have to pay, and whatever else we have to go through and then we try to get out of their hair for the day. Sometimes they offer to let us use their internet for a while so then we can check our e-mails quickly and then we come back to our place. We live about 10-15 minutes across town from them, depending on traffic, but we actually know our way without the GPS now so we are feeling a bit more secure. Our GPS has all the buildings in our mission programmed into it and we’ve already programmed in several of the mission apartments and government building we have to go to, so we are making our way around quite nicely and are very thankful for our car and for our tiny place to stay. We are living in a studio apartment (actually it’s an old motel that has been turned into a rent by the month.) We have a swimming pool (too dirty to swim in and we didn’t bring suits) and the lounge chairs don’t have any mats on then, but… However, we get clean towels twice a week, the maid comes in everyday and tidy’s up (I’m not sure what as we keep it clean) but she dumps our trash and smiles really nicely when I tell her we don’t really need her to come in and clean today. Her name is Toosan, she is about 4’10”, not married, and she accepted my Pass Along Card. We have a really tiny washer that is kind of moldy on the front door and it sounds like it is on it’s last leg, but it seems to wash our clothes pretty clean and we have a clothes line outside our back door. We even left our clothes outside one day because they weren’t dry when we had to leave, and we only hoped they would still be there when we returned. When we got home, they were folded and on our kitchen chair when we got home. We had to wonder what she thought of our cute underwear????? We have a really small fridge, so we just shop for one week at a time, I had to borrow some kitchen cookware from Sister Olson and I still don’t have a cake pan that I need if I’m going to spoil these missionaries with Wacky Cakes. I might just wait until we are in the Mission Home to do much baking because I prices a cake pan and a metal one was almost $10. And a glass one for $15. Our couch is just plain “gross” and I haven’t set on it yet, nor do I intend to do so. I do love our place though because it’s home and we are safe here. We have locked doors and a metal gate with a guard outside.
Everything is expensive here. We can find most things, but haven’t been able to bring ourselves to buy them yet. We found a box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes but it was $10.00, we found a box of Cheerios for only $4.50 so we opted for that instead. Perhaps we’ll get really hungry for them later and pay the price but so far Dad’s hospital bills set us back a few thousand so we’re feeling like we are really needing to sacrifice to make things work for us here. We’re trying new things, new brands, and doing quite nicely though; you’d be proud of us and “when in Africa, do as the African’s” works for us and we are learning.
We love you all, we are doing great and we have each other. At the end of the day, we come home exhausted and happy and we count our blessings for each day’s experiences and each day’s safety and protection. Missionary work is Africa is rewarding and we are grateful to be a part of it. Thanks for your love and support. Take care of each other and remember to love each other and put your families first. Every precious moment you have together is a blessing directly from our Heavenly Father who loves each of you and KNOWS YOU BY NAME!!! We Love You More Than Words Can Say! You are each so very precious to us, and we treasure you in our hearts. We thank our Heavenly Father for you and for everything you have done and continue to do for us.
Sincerely,
Mom
Missionary work in Botswana is really quite exciting and we are working hard to spread the gospel to these beautiful people. Everywhere we go, they look at our name tags and we strike up a conversation by asking them if they have seen the young missionaries with tags like ours or if they know of our church by the name on our tags. They sometimes say “yes” and sometimes “no” but I whip out my Pass Along Cards and try to tell them about what we believe and give them the card. I haven’t had one single person turn down my card and they usually smile, give and little curtsy and say “thank you moma.” I think the whole time we were in Ukraine, I only gave out 1 or 2 cards and I’ve already given out about 20 here in Botswana in a week.
We had Stake Conference last Sunday and we are actually part of a Stake in Johannesburg, the Roodepoort Stake which is in the building right next to the MTC and the Mission Office. It’s too far for our people to travel (almost 5 hours) so this is the first time they have tried having us receive it by satellite and it went pretty well. We viewed it here in Botswana at the Broadhurst building which is close to our apartment and the building was packed. They brought out all the chairs from the classrooms, brought in extra chairs from other buildings close by and we still had people standing in the aisles. The young missionaries all gave up their seats and we still couldn’t seat everyone. The air conditioner didn’t work very well and people had sweat running down their faces and bald heads (lots of black men shave their heads)but they stayed for the whole meeting. Some of the small branches out of town brought people in to the conference in Combies (white mini vans used as buses). When they did a head count, they found out that there were about 520 people at the conference at the stake center in Roodepoort and 620 people in attendance at our building. Dad and I sat in the front of the chapel and were the only white people there, except for some people from the Area Office in Johannesburg sent there to run the satellite transmittal, and the only white people in the cultural hall were missionaries. I wish you could have all been there to see these beautiful people. They are dressed nice, well mannered, have daring little kids (I’d like to bring home 1 or 2 for each of you), and the most fascinating part to me is the beautiful braided hair-do’s on the women and young girls and sometimes even the little girls. I’ve never seen so many creative braided hair-do’s in all my life. Dad’s taken pictures of a few for me and we’ll try to send them when our internet situation gets better (in 3 more months).
Working with people trying to do Rent, car repairs, water bills, immigration, residence papers, and office procedures done has been an absolute nightmare this week, but we aren’t expected it to change so we just have to get in gear and program ourselves to “slow” and then everyone (especially Dad and I) will be much happier. We haven’t even scratched the surface of what we have to learn here, but we’ve made it through one week of our training and we love working with the Olson’s. They are from Hooper, Utah and have served missions in Zimbabwe and Hungary. They said this mission is by far the most challenging one they have ever served and they are so happy that we are here to take their place. They keep teasing us that they are turning all the problems over to us as of NOW so they can be around long enough to see us squirm through it all like they’ve had to the past 15 months. They are here until mid-June and live in what they call the Mission Home here in Botswana. They have the office set up in the back of their bedroom so at the end of the day we usually go back there to record all the days activities and do receipts, cash refunds to all the missionaries for mission expenses they have to pay, and whatever else we have to go through and then we try to get out of their hair for the day. Sometimes they offer to let us use their internet for a while so then we can check our e-mails quickly and then we come back to our place. We live about 10-15 minutes across town from them, depending on traffic, but we actually know our way without the GPS now so we are feeling a bit more secure. Our GPS has all the buildings in our mission programmed into it and we’ve already programmed in several of the mission apartments and government building we have to go to, so we are making our way around quite nicely and are very thankful for our car and for our tiny place to stay. We are living in a studio apartment (actually it’s an old motel that has been turned into a rent by the month.) We have a swimming pool (too dirty to swim in and we didn’t bring suits) and the lounge chairs don’t have any mats on then, but… However, we get clean towels twice a week, the maid comes in everyday and tidy’s up (I’m not sure what as we keep it clean) but she dumps our trash and smiles really nicely when I tell her we don’t really need her to come in and clean today. Her name is Toosan, she is about 4’10”, not married, and she accepted my Pass Along Card. We have a really tiny washer that is kind of moldy on the front door and it sounds like it is on it’s last leg, but it seems to wash our clothes pretty clean and we have a clothes line outside our back door. We even left our clothes outside one day because they weren’t dry when we had to leave, and we only hoped they would still be there when we returned. When we got home, they were folded and on our kitchen chair when we got home. We had to wonder what she thought of our cute underwear????? We have a really small fridge, so we just shop for one week at a time, I had to borrow some kitchen cookware from Sister Olson and I still don’t have a cake pan that I need if I’m going to spoil these missionaries with Wacky Cakes. I might just wait until we are in the Mission Home to do much baking because I prices a cake pan and a metal one was almost $10. And a glass one for $15. Our couch is just plain “gross” and I haven’t set on it yet, nor do I intend to do so. I do love our place though because it’s home and we are safe here. We have locked doors and a metal gate with a guard outside.
Everything is expensive here. We can find most things, but haven’t been able to bring ourselves to buy them yet. We found a box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes but it was $10.00, we found a box of Cheerios for only $4.50 so we opted for that instead. Perhaps we’ll get really hungry for them later and pay the price but so far Dad’s hospital bills set us back a few thousand so we’re feeling like we are really needing to sacrifice to make things work for us here. We’re trying new things, new brands, and doing quite nicely though; you’d be proud of us and “when in Africa, do as the African’s” works for us and we are learning.
We love you all, we are doing great and we have each other. At the end of the day, we come home exhausted and happy and we count our blessings for each day’s experiences and each day’s safety and protection. Missionary work is Africa is rewarding and we are grateful to be a part of it. Thanks for your love and support. Take care of each other and remember to love each other and put your families first. Every precious moment you have together is a blessing directly from our Heavenly Father who loves each of you and KNOWS YOU BY NAME!!! We Love You More Than Words Can Say! You are each so very precious to us, and we treasure you in our hearts. We thank our Heavenly Father for you and for everything you have done and continue to do for us.
Sincerely,
Mom
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Week 4 - Granny
Dear Family,
Computer time and e-mailing is much harder than we thought it would be from here.. We don’t actually have access to the internet at all unless we go over to Olson’s home and ask to use their computer and that is very difficult as their computer is in their bedroom. I’m sure there are internet clubs around somewhere but I don’t think I want to try using one of them YET! So we will just write in our apartment and then go over to Olson’s and ask to use their computer to send it. We’ll do our best to answer any questions you might have quickly, and then we’ll write back the next week. In three months it will be easier and I’ll certainly be anxious for that time to come so we can communicate better and more often.
Dad has written you a letter already, so perhaps I can just share some spiritual thoughts from our last few wonderful meetings we have been able to attend. Perhaps some of them can be the basis for a wonderful Family Home Evening this week or a great dinner table discussion when you are all together.
Elder Jensen: We promise God to do our best for a lifetime—He promises All He Has for ETERNITY!
Mosiah 4:9-10 Believe All Things and Try to Do Them! He asked: “How do we take what we know and make it what we do? What is the source of our choices?
“Courage” is the ability to make wise choices during difficult circumstances.
Sister Jensen: Encouraged us tol “Go Home & be a Better Family Member.” Give our best to our family.
President Bricknell: Told the story of catching a lady bug in his hand and holding it really tight until he could get outside to turn it loose. When he got outside, he realized it had already crawled out through a tiny hole of light by his pinky finger. He then told us that we should work this hard to get to “The light” of Christ. He said “No darkness in all the world can put out the light of a single candle.” Then he said “In the fight of good over evil, the one we “feed” will always win.
President Koelliker (Our Area President) spoke today on the importance of:
….. “Teaching the Pre-eminence of the home”. Family is the most important thing, and our children must know that.
…..He encouraged us to Pray personally twice a day, pray as couples (or companions) twice a day and make sure we listen to each other as we pray.
…..He spoke on the importance of identifying our ancestors and doing their vicarious ordinances. He said that “going to the temple is the closest thing we can do that compares to what our Savior Jesus Christ did for us.
How we love and miss you. I wish I could put my arms around you individually right now and tell you how much I love you and how very proud of each of you I am. I love you with all of my heart; you are truly my precious treasures and I am a very blessed woman. Please give my love to each of your children and tell that Granny loves and misses them.
Sincerely,
Mom
PS Happy Birthday Quinten
Computer time and e-mailing is much harder than we thought it would be from here.. We don’t actually have access to the internet at all unless we go over to Olson’s home and ask to use their computer and that is very difficult as their computer is in their bedroom. I’m sure there are internet clubs around somewhere but I don’t think I want to try using one of them YET! So we will just write in our apartment and then go over to Olson’s and ask to use their computer to send it. We’ll do our best to answer any questions you might have quickly, and then we’ll write back the next week. In three months it will be easier and I’ll certainly be anxious for that time to come so we can communicate better and more often.
Dad has written you a letter already, so perhaps I can just share some spiritual thoughts from our last few wonderful meetings we have been able to attend. Perhaps some of them can be the basis for a wonderful Family Home Evening this week or a great dinner table discussion when you are all together.
Elder Jensen: We promise God to do our best for a lifetime—He promises All He Has for ETERNITY!
Mosiah 4:9-10 Believe All Things and Try to Do Them! He asked: “How do we take what we know and make it what we do? What is the source of our choices?
“Courage” is the ability to make wise choices during difficult circumstances.
Sister Jensen: Encouraged us tol “Go Home & be a Better Family Member.” Give our best to our family.
President Bricknell: Told the story of catching a lady bug in his hand and holding it really tight until he could get outside to turn it loose. When he got outside, he realized it had already crawled out through a tiny hole of light by his pinky finger. He then told us that we should work this hard to get to “The light” of Christ. He said “No darkness in all the world can put out the light of a single candle.” Then he said “In the fight of good over evil, the one we “feed” will always win.
President Koelliker (Our Area President) spoke today on the importance of:
….. “Teaching the Pre-eminence of the home”. Family is the most important thing, and our children must know that.
…..He encouraged us to Pray personally twice a day, pray as couples (or companions) twice a day and make sure we listen to each other as we pray.
…..He spoke on the importance of identifying our ancestors and doing their vicarious ordinances. He said that “going to the temple is the closest thing we can do that compares to what our Savior Jesus Christ did for us.
How we love and miss you. I wish I could put my arms around you individually right now and tell you how much I love you and how very proud of each of you I am. I love you with all of my heart; you are truly my precious treasures and I am a very blessed woman. Please give my love to each of your children and tell that Granny loves and misses them.
Sincerely,
Mom
PS Happy Birthday Quinten
Week 4 - Papa Lynn
Dear Family and Friends,
Again a lot has happened in the past week. I had my blood checked again at the clinic last Thursday and they sent me a result that it is still a little thick. It went up from Monday the 8th which was 1.39 to 1.75 on Thursday the 11th. I thought it would go up faster but the clinic said it is wonderful and right on schedule. Dr. Merrill the doctor that works with many missions including South Africa Johannesburg Mission wanted it to be between 2 and 3 for a week or so before we left for Botswana. We talked with Dr. Isaacs that was my doctor at the hospital and the one that prescribed the medicine (Warfarin) that is to thin my blood. The last time I saw him he said I looked great and if I wasn’t in any more pain and if I had a doctor in Botswana he would release me. I meet all of his criteria and the clinic said all was going along fine so I talked to President Poulsen and he said to write an e-mail to Dr. Merrill and explain everything to him and we had his blessing to head for Botswana the following day which was Friday the 12th of March 2010. We left about 8:45 that morning and arrived at the border about noon. We stopped for gas and to walk around a little as that is what Dr. Isaac suggested every second hour. Of course we got lots of walking in at the border as we had to go through customs and immigration and pay for the car to go into Botswana.
We certainly thank Elder and Sister Olson which met us at the border personally. They had to cross the border and make a loop and met us at the customs office. They really saved us a lot of problems and made sure everything was done right. It still took about an hour and then we headed toward Gaborone pronounced (Haborony). We stopped at a mall called River Walk Mall and had lunch and Mom and I had a physical with a doctor as you need to be in good health to arrive in Botswana. She the doctor, asked questions about our health and I couldn’t lie so I told her about my problem of having blood clots in my lungs. She was very nice and all the questions that she asked I answered to her satisfaction. She felt confident that my health is not an issue to enter the country so here we are and I think for 18 months.
As we left the border Elder Olson said to stay close so I tried. He drove like he wasn’t concerned so a couple of cars got between us but we kept an eye on them and followed them to the River Walk Mall and the first thing Sister Olson said to Mom is have your husband try and stay closer to us. From then on I was almost like a fly on flypaper. They took us past the Broadhurst Chapel on the way to our flat (apartment). It was about 4:00 in the afternoon when we arrived at our flat and it will be sufficient enough to get by for three months until the Olson’s leave to go home. After Elder and Sister Olson helped us get the car unpacked and our luggage into our new flat. We have a GPS system in our car and the Olson’s wanted us to put chapel and other places in the GPS so we could find our way around. So when we left our apartment or flat it was in the GPS to find our way back. We then followed them to the Botswana Mission Home which is in their home or flat, it is more like a home and not at all like a flat. It is very nice and we are very excited to move into it in three months. We will probably wait and take pictures of it when we get moved in. They feel very safe and secure in it and I’m sure we will feel that way as well.
Saturday we shopped and bought a few groceries and tried to set up housekeeping in our new flat. About 3:00 in the afternoon we headed over to the Olson’s and had a good visit with them. We left in time to freshen up back at our flat before going to the adult meeting of our stake conference. Let me explain a little of the layout of the six stakes in Johannesburg. Each of the stakes come to a point in down town Johannesburg and go out like huge cuts of a Pizza. Well the Roodepoort Stake comes clear into Botswana. They have always had a stake conference in Johannesburg and then came up a week or two later and had the second half up here in Botswana. Well today became a first. They had the stake conference in Johannesburg and broadcasted it up here to the Broadhurst Chapel. So last night the adult part of conference and today the general part were both broadcast to our chapel and it was wonderful. The next to last speaker said he got a phone call from the Broadhurst Chapel in Botswana and he said they have over 100 more people in attendance than we have here in Johannesburg Chapel. That was very exciting to hear as I secretly hope to make a District or Stake here in Botswana before 18 months is up.
We are now back in our flat and have had a nice lettuce salad and in couple of hours we will have baked chicken for the real meal of the day. I guess we call it Sunday dinner. Well our thought always go to each of you several times a day especially prayer time hoping and praying that all is well with each of you. We love each of you and miss you very much. Our flat is a little worse than our apartments were in Ukraine but it is just fine for 3 months. If you want to know what the apartments were like in Ukraine get with Bryce and Melissa and then can tell you about the nicer one we had in Dneperpretrovsk. This apartment is a lot like our first apartment we had while serving in Donetsk well maybe not quite as nice but close.
I will close with the wonderful feelings we had in the conference we enjoyed yesterday and again today. These people are well founded in the gospel. They strengthen my faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We love missionary work and feel it a great pleasure to serve and be doing the Lords work. Sure we miss each of you and with birthdays we miss along with baptisms, blessings, temple weddings, returning and leaving missionaries it truly is a sacrifice to be here but this is where the Lord wants us at this point of our lives.
With love from Dad
Again a lot has happened in the past week. I had my blood checked again at the clinic last Thursday and they sent me a result that it is still a little thick. It went up from Monday the 8th which was 1.39 to 1.75 on Thursday the 11th. I thought it would go up faster but the clinic said it is wonderful and right on schedule. Dr. Merrill the doctor that works with many missions including South Africa Johannesburg Mission wanted it to be between 2 and 3 for a week or so before we left for Botswana. We talked with Dr. Isaacs that was my doctor at the hospital and the one that prescribed the medicine (Warfarin) that is to thin my blood. The last time I saw him he said I looked great and if I wasn’t in any more pain and if I had a doctor in Botswana he would release me. I meet all of his criteria and the clinic said all was going along fine so I talked to President Poulsen and he said to write an e-mail to Dr. Merrill and explain everything to him and we had his blessing to head for Botswana the following day which was Friday the 12th of March 2010. We left about 8:45 that morning and arrived at the border about noon. We stopped for gas and to walk around a little as that is what Dr. Isaac suggested every second hour. Of course we got lots of walking in at the border as we had to go through customs and immigration and pay for the car to go into Botswana.
We certainly thank Elder and Sister Olson which met us at the border personally. They had to cross the border and make a loop and met us at the customs office. They really saved us a lot of problems and made sure everything was done right. It still took about an hour and then we headed toward Gaborone pronounced (Haborony). We stopped at a mall called River Walk Mall and had lunch and Mom and I had a physical with a doctor as you need to be in good health to arrive in Botswana. She the doctor, asked questions about our health and I couldn’t lie so I told her about my problem of having blood clots in my lungs. She was very nice and all the questions that she asked I answered to her satisfaction. She felt confident that my health is not an issue to enter the country so here we are and I think for 18 months.
As we left the border Elder Olson said to stay close so I tried. He drove like he wasn’t concerned so a couple of cars got between us but we kept an eye on them and followed them to the River Walk Mall and the first thing Sister Olson said to Mom is have your husband try and stay closer to us. From then on I was almost like a fly on flypaper. They took us past the Broadhurst Chapel on the way to our flat (apartment). It was about 4:00 in the afternoon when we arrived at our flat and it will be sufficient enough to get by for three months until the Olson’s leave to go home. After Elder and Sister Olson helped us get the car unpacked and our luggage into our new flat. We have a GPS system in our car and the Olson’s wanted us to put chapel and other places in the GPS so we could find our way around. So when we left our apartment or flat it was in the GPS to find our way back. We then followed them to the Botswana Mission Home which is in their home or flat, it is more like a home and not at all like a flat. It is very nice and we are very excited to move into it in three months. We will probably wait and take pictures of it when we get moved in. They feel very safe and secure in it and I’m sure we will feel that way as well.
Saturday we shopped and bought a few groceries and tried to set up housekeeping in our new flat. About 3:00 in the afternoon we headed over to the Olson’s and had a good visit with them. We left in time to freshen up back at our flat before going to the adult meeting of our stake conference. Let me explain a little of the layout of the six stakes in Johannesburg. Each of the stakes come to a point in down town Johannesburg and go out like huge cuts of a Pizza. Well the Roodepoort Stake comes clear into Botswana. They have always had a stake conference in Johannesburg and then came up a week or two later and had the second half up here in Botswana. Well today became a first. They had the stake conference in Johannesburg and broadcasted it up here to the Broadhurst Chapel. So last night the adult part of conference and today the general part were both broadcast to our chapel and it was wonderful. The next to last speaker said he got a phone call from the Broadhurst Chapel in Botswana and he said they have over 100 more people in attendance than we have here in Johannesburg Chapel. That was very exciting to hear as I secretly hope to make a District or Stake here in Botswana before 18 months is up.
We are now back in our flat and have had a nice lettuce salad and in couple of hours we will have baked chicken for the real meal of the day. I guess we call it Sunday dinner. Well our thought always go to each of you several times a day especially prayer time hoping and praying that all is well with each of you. We love each of you and miss you very much. Our flat is a little worse than our apartments were in Ukraine but it is just fine for 3 months. If you want to know what the apartments were like in Ukraine get with Bryce and Melissa and then can tell you about the nicer one we had in Dneperpretrovsk. This apartment is a lot like our first apartment we had while serving in Donetsk well maybe not quite as nice but close.
I will close with the wonderful feelings we had in the conference we enjoyed yesterday and again today. These people are well founded in the gospel. They strengthen my faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We love missionary work and feel it a great pleasure to serve and be doing the Lords work. Sure we miss each of you and with birthdays we miss along with baptisms, blessings, temple weddings, returning and leaving missionaries it truly is a sacrifice to be here but this is where the Lord wants us at this point of our lives.
With love from Dad
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Pictures from Africa
Dear Family,
We had a few minutes last night so I went around and took some pictures of our apartment so you could see where we are living right now. It's only temporary, but we are very appreciative of the living space. Also, I sent a couple pictures of dad's nurses and lunch lady so you could meet them. Dad is doing fine and goes to the Doctor again today. Hopefully we will get good news about his blood count so we can finally reach our destination of Botswana. I've given up on the hair do's these days as plug ins are few and the wrong shape. I planned to buy a hair dryer and curling iron when we got here, but everyone says we will probably need different adaptors when we get to Botswana, so for now I'm taking advantage of the perm I got just before I left and I look like I have an original African hair do. I just wash and let it dry and it's African Curly so don't be shocked if we send some pictures that you don't recognize the "strange white woman" in. The group shot of the Relief Society ladies and me was taken at church last week. They hold church in some "portable" building they call "Speed Space."
Love Ya,
Mom
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Week 2 - Papa Lynn
Dear Family,
We arrived here in Johannesburg last Saturday night at about 5:20 PM and it is now Tuesday the 2nd of March and we thought we had better drop you a line to let you all know we are alright. We had hoped that we would be able to Skype you before now but no one has volunteered to let us do that. So this morning we thought we would drop you a line. I am writing this on my laptop here in the mission home and will go to the mission office with my flash drive and send it as an attachment.
Yesterday was preparation day here in the mission field and even though we were in the mission it was to hectic to get a chance to ask to use a computer to write to you. The assistants were doing the weekly reports as well so things were too crowded to even ask. For one more week they have three couples in the small office plus yesterday Mom and me and the assistants usually don’t spend all day in the office but yesterday they did. Mom and I are so glad we are going to the little office in Botswanna and not be in the mess we saw yesterday. They gave us a copy of the mission roster to take with us and wow they need to clean it up a whole lot. But we even said to each other that we could and would live with it and not say a thing. It seems to be running fine even if things aren’t like Mom and I would have them. The new arrival list and departure list really isn’t a list. It is just the next transfer and doesn’t go beyond that. Oh well tomorrow we are out of here and head up to Botswanna and we are happy to do so. We have had several talks with President Poulsen and he is giving us a lot of leeway to do what we think will be the best.
He wants us to take the next few months getting acquainted with the area and wards and branches and work with the YSA which is the Young Special Adults ward and get it up and running better. He doesn’t want us to take a ward or stake calling because he wants us to float and get a feel for all that is happening in the area. He wants me to get a large map and outline the missionary work and look and see how the branches and wards lay out on a map as well. It is a lot of ground work but we are excited to do so. I asked him if I could make a small transfer board to keep track of the missionaries in that are as well and he said that would be a great idea. He wants us to be up and running and learn from the Olsen’s as we get a chance. The biggest thing on his agenda is to be what we can be to the wards and branches and YSA then learn from the Olsen’s. He said we have three months to learn from them.
With love from Dad and Mom
I didn’t get this sent off today so perhaps I should add a little to this letter. Today we spend the morning and early part of this afternoon at the Area Offices meeting the people that we will be dealing with by phone while we are in Botswana. It was well worth the time we spend with each of the people we meet. We also got to see Elder Colin H. Bricknell in his office. We reaffirmed that we were going out to dinner with he and Jenny tonight along with President and Sister Poulsen. But shortly after we left the Area offices we got a little lost coming back from there. The GPS system that is brand new keeps losing its power and we tried to reset it and when we got it running again it had the wrong address. I kept feeling it was taken us the wrong way but before we turned around we had gone a long way the wrong way. About this time I began to feel a pain in my chest on the right side. I told Mom about it and surprising to me it kept getting worse. By the time we got back to the mission office I could hardly breathe. I was hoping that when I got out of the car I would feel better, but that didn’t help at all. We went into the mission office and Mom told me I should tell someone. It just happens that Elder Watts who is new as about two weeks ago works in the office along with his wife has been on a fire department and he is a trained in EMT. I told how I felt and he said I should go to the hospital and have an X-ray just to be safe. I was hurting bad enough that I didn’t put up a fuss. Two of the Elders (the couple elders) gave me a blessing and the assistants took me to the emergency room. They gave an IV right of the bat and gave me some pain medicine right away. While this was all being done Mom was going through the credit card and debit card routine to get permission to treat me. When she had done this they then took me back to x-ray my lungs. By the time I was getting x-rayed I was beginning to feel very little pain. The doctor looked at the x-rays and found nothing so she gave me three prescriptions to get filled and sent me home.
Needless to say we didn’t go out to dinner that night as Elder Bricknell and President Poulsen and Sister Poulsen came into the hospital to see me. By this time it was about 8:00 PM to late to get everyone and go to dinner. We decided to go Wednesday night instead. Well after being home for about a half hour and Mom and Sister Poulsen gone to get the medication and President Poulsen left for a meeting that he was going to skip because of going out to dinner. President Poulsen got a phone call from the doctor that had just release me and said she had read the wrong blood work and wanted me to come back in.
I guess we are very grateful that we did as we had to do another x-ray this time through a donut type machine and they found that I had multiple blood clots. I asked if I had to be admitted and the doctor that read the x-rays said if you don’t you could be dead by morning. They admitted me and gave me a shot in my stomach which is a powerful blood thinner. I have had one every twelve hours sense then. They also give me a small pink blood thinner pill I need to take every night between 6 and 7 PM every day for about ten days then we will see. I was admitted into the thoracic intensive care unit as was told to stay in bed. This was all on Tuesday evening. The next day I still didn’t have any pain but the doctor wanted me to stay in the ICU longer. The next morning which was Thursday the doctor said I could go into a regular ward. I liked the ICU better as I had a room by myself and in the ward I shared a room with 5 other guys. No privacy except to go across the hall to us the toilet. One guy really started the evening snoring very loudly and by the time I got ready to go to sleep he had settled down but it was not a pleasant night.
Mom came in to see me just after I got into the new ward and she couldn’t find me. One of the office ladies brought her in and she went to all the floors before she found me on the same floor I was on in the ICU but just in a different wing. She walked from the mission home in the afternoon to see me and told me that President and Sister Poulsen had left for Botswana for the zone conference and she hated to go back to an empty house. She had to walk and let herself through the sliding gate and in the back door of the house and I could tell she was very nervous. Before she left we had a prayer together. I really worried about her as I could do nothing and didn’t have a phone number to get hold of her to see if she got home OK or not. About an hour after she left this would have given her plenty of time to get home it rained as hard as I have ever seen it rain anywhere. I again offered a prayer that she was home in the mission home safe and warm and dry. I went all afternoon and night hoping she was alright.
When the doctor came in this morning I asked him what procedures were needed for me to follow to get out of the hospital? He said just a couple of days so I could get the shots that I needed and take the one pill each evening. I then told him that my wife and I are new in South Africa and she is alone in a strange house and walking to see me a couple of times a day. Would he please consider releasing me and I would come back each morning and evening to get the shot and take the medication. He smiled and said that would be fine I will release you so you can go home yet this morning. I was very grateful and needed to call Mom as I didn’t have any cloths.
I looked in the phone book and found the mission home phone number which was the only number listed under the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints except for one ward building. I couldn’t find the mission office, the area offices or anything. So I called the mission home and Mom didn’t answer after 25 to 35 rings. This all didn’t help the feelings I had last night after she walked home alone in the afternoon. I didn’t know what to do. I looked in the phone book again under Mormon, yellow and white pages and didn’t find anything else. I finally went back to the crowed room and would have probably cried but there were too many people in there with me. After thinking and praying I remembered that Mom brought my little black notebook that I always carry and I had put Elder and Sister Olsen’s phone number in it as we were to call them an hour before we crossed the border into Botswana. I called them and they gave me the mission office phone number and finally I got Mom’s phone number and it was wonderful hearing her voice on the other end of the phone.
I am back with Mom in the mission home and tonight Elder Watts is going to give me a shot and I can take my own pill about that same time. He will give me a shot night and morning through Sunday night at 7:00 night and morning. We will go to there apartment or flat as they call them here.
Well that brings you up to date so I am doing great and feeling just fine but the experience is something else. If United States hospitals are a 10 and Ukraine hospitals are a 1 then South Africa hospitals are about a 5 or 6.
I will write again later when something else happens in our lives. I have a doctor’s appointment next Monday and again next Wednesday and then I hope we can go to Botswana. Today is the 5th of Mar. 2010 on a Friday.
With Love from Dad
We arrived here in Johannesburg last Saturday night at about 5:20 PM and it is now Tuesday the 2nd of March and we thought we had better drop you a line to let you all know we are alright. We had hoped that we would be able to Skype you before now but no one has volunteered to let us do that. So this morning we thought we would drop you a line. I am writing this on my laptop here in the mission home and will go to the mission office with my flash drive and send it as an attachment.
Yesterday was preparation day here in the mission field and even though we were in the mission it was to hectic to get a chance to ask to use a computer to write to you. The assistants were doing the weekly reports as well so things were too crowded to even ask. For one more week they have three couples in the small office plus yesterday Mom and me and the assistants usually don’t spend all day in the office but yesterday they did. Mom and I are so glad we are going to the little office in Botswanna and not be in the mess we saw yesterday. They gave us a copy of the mission roster to take with us and wow they need to clean it up a whole lot. But we even said to each other that we could and would live with it and not say a thing. It seems to be running fine even if things aren’t like Mom and I would have them. The new arrival list and departure list really isn’t a list. It is just the next transfer and doesn’t go beyond that. Oh well tomorrow we are out of here and head up to Botswanna and we are happy to do so. We have had several talks with President Poulsen and he is giving us a lot of leeway to do what we think will be the best.
He wants us to take the next few months getting acquainted with the area and wards and branches and work with the YSA which is the Young Special Adults ward and get it up and running better. He doesn’t want us to take a ward or stake calling because he wants us to float and get a feel for all that is happening in the area. He wants me to get a large map and outline the missionary work and look and see how the branches and wards lay out on a map as well. It is a lot of ground work but we are excited to do so. I asked him if I could make a small transfer board to keep track of the missionaries in that are as well and he said that would be a great idea. He wants us to be up and running and learn from the Olsen’s as we get a chance. The biggest thing on his agenda is to be what we can be to the wards and branches and YSA then learn from the Olsen’s. He said we have three months to learn from them.
With love from Dad and Mom
I didn’t get this sent off today so perhaps I should add a little to this letter. Today we spend the morning and early part of this afternoon at the Area Offices meeting the people that we will be dealing with by phone while we are in Botswana. It was well worth the time we spend with each of the people we meet. We also got to see Elder Colin H. Bricknell in his office. We reaffirmed that we were going out to dinner with he and Jenny tonight along with President and Sister Poulsen. But shortly after we left the Area offices we got a little lost coming back from there. The GPS system that is brand new keeps losing its power and we tried to reset it and when we got it running again it had the wrong address. I kept feeling it was taken us the wrong way but before we turned around we had gone a long way the wrong way. About this time I began to feel a pain in my chest on the right side. I told Mom about it and surprising to me it kept getting worse. By the time we got back to the mission office I could hardly breathe. I was hoping that when I got out of the car I would feel better, but that didn’t help at all. We went into the mission office and Mom told me I should tell someone. It just happens that Elder Watts who is new as about two weeks ago works in the office along with his wife has been on a fire department and he is a trained in EMT. I told how I felt and he said I should go to the hospital and have an X-ray just to be safe. I was hurting bad enough that I didn’t put up a fuss. Two of the Elders (the couple elders) gave me a blessing and the assistants took me to the emergency room. They gave an IV right of the bat and gave me some pain medicine right away. While this was all being done Mom was going through the credit card and debit card routine to get permission to treat me. When she had done this they then took me back to x-ray my lungs. By the time I was getting x-rayed I was beginning to feel very little pain. The doctor looked at the x-rays and found nothing so she gave me three prescriptions to get filled and sent me home.
Needless to say we didn’t go out to dinner that night as Elder Bricknell and President Poulsen and Sister Poulsen came into the hospital to see me. By this time it was about 8:00 PM to late to get everyone and go to dinner. We decided to go Wednesday night instead. Well after being home for about a half hour and Mom and Sister Poulsen gone to get the medication and President Poulsen left for a meeting that he was going to skip because of going out to dinner. President Poulsen got a phone call from the doctor that had just release me and said she had read the wrong blood work and wanted me to come back in.
I guess we are very grateful that we did as we had to do another x-ray this time through a donut type machine and they found that I had multiple blood clots. I asked if I had to be admitted and the doctor that read the x-rays said if you don’t you could be dead by morning. They admitted me and gave me a shot in my stomach which is a powerful blood thinner. I have had one every twelve hours sense then. They also give me a small pink blood thinner pill I need to take every night between 6 and 7 PM every day for about ten days then we will see. I was admitted into the thoracic intensive care unit as was told to stay in bed. This was all on Tuesday evening. The next day I still didn’t have any pain but the doctor wanted me to stay in the ICU longer. The next morning which was Thursday the doctor said I could go into a regular ward. I liked the ICU better as I had a room by myself and in the ward I shared a room with 5 other guys. No privacy except to go across the hall to us the toilet. One guy really started the evening snoring very loudly and by the time I got ready to go to sleep he had settled down but it was not a pleasant night.
Mom came in to see me just after I got into the new ward and she couldn’t find me. One of the office ladies brought her in and she went to all the floors before she found me on the same floor I was on in the ICU but just in a different wing. She walked from the mission home in the afternoon to see me and told me that President and Sister Poulsen had left for Botswana for the zone conference and she hated to go back to an empty house. She had to walk and let herself through the sliding gate and in the back door of the house and I could tell she was very nervous. Before she left we had a prayer together. I really worried about her as I could do nothing and didn’t have a phone number to get hold of her to see if she got home OK or not. About an hour after she left this would have given her plenty of time to get home it rained as hard as I have ever seen it rain anywhere. I again offered a prayer that she was home in the mission home safe and warm and dry. I went all afternoon and night hoping she was alright.
When the doctor came in this morning I asked him what procedures were needed for me to follow to get out of the hospital? He said just a couple of days so I could get the shots that I needed and take the one pill each evening. I then told him that my wife and I are new in South Africa and she is alone in a strange house and walking to see me a couple of times a day. Would he please consider releasing me and I would come back each morning and evening to get the shot and take the medication. He smiled and said that would be fine I will release you so you can go home yet this morning. I was very grateful and needed to call Mom as I didn’t have any cloths.
I looked in the phone book and found the mission home phone number which was the only number listed under the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints except for one ward building. I couldn’t find the mission office, the area offices or anything. So I called the mission home and Mom didn’t answer after 25 to 35 rings. This all didn’t help the feelings I had last night after she walked home alone in the afternoon. I didn’t know what to do. I looked in the phone book again under Mormon, yellow and white pages and didn’t find anything else. I finally went back to the crowed room and would have probably cried but there were too many people in there with me. After thinking and praying I remembered that Mom brought my little black notebook that I always carry and I had put Elder and Sister Olsen’s phone number in it as we were to call them an hour before we crossed the border into Botswana. I called them and they gave me the mission office phone number and finally I got Mom’s phone number and it was wonderful hearing her voice on the other end of the phone.
I am back with Mom in the mission home and tonight Elder Watts is going to give me a shot and I can take my own pill about that same time. He will give me a shot night and morning through Sunday night at 7:00 night and morning. We will go to there apartment or flat as they call them here.
Well that brings you up to date so I am doing great and feeling just fine but the experience is something else. If United States hospitals are a 10 and Ukraine hospitals are a 1 then South Africa hospitals are about a 5 or 6.
I will write again later when something else happens in our lives. I have a doctor’s appointment next Monday and again next Wednesday and then I hope we can go to Botswana. Today is the 5th of Mar. 2010 on a Friday.
With Love from Dad
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