Dear Family and Friends,
Another two weeks and it is my turn to write again. We have had a good week this past week. We have had a change of replacements for us here in Botswana. We thought the Robison’s were going to replace us but their MTC date has been changed so President Omer called a meeting with his counselors and we are now being replaced with Elder and Sister Kimball from Arizona. They are as I write setting in training at the Prove MTC. If all goes as planned they will be here in Botswana a week from today. We have arranged housing for them from the time they arrive until they will move into this mission home/office on the 11th of August just after we pack up and move out. We will leave quite early that morning and the Kimballs will move in.
Because they arrive here on the 16th of July we will have 3 ½ weeks to train them. We hope we have everything organized enough that they should be able to step in without very much of a skip of a beat. Of course all depends on organizing every day to make things happen as they should and how fast they learn. I think the only worry I have at this point is how well they can use the computer. We have put most everything on the computer and hopefully they will be able to just carry on. We will know a lot more in about 10 days after we have done some preliminary things with them. We are looking forward to showing them the city of Gaborone in detail so they will be able to pay all the bills, get to the immigration offices, make it to church and find each of the missionary flats. Then we will expand to the villages and smaller cities; Lobatse, Kanye, Molepolole, and Mochudi. Again the church buildings or where they hold meetings and the missionary flats again. Bill paying in these areas and what else needs to be learned.
We are looking forward to a very busy week this week. Marea (notice change of spelling on her name) is going to come Monday and help do some cleaning Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. She wants to earn some extra money and so we can pay her much better than she can earn anywhere else and it will help her a lot. We are helping her to open a checking account so she can keep better track of her money and not have to worry about it being stolen. She will catch a combi to get here on Monday and she planned to take a combi back on Wednesday but just about an hour ago I was called to do a second interview in Kanye so we arranged it for 4:00 Wednesday afternoon. That will again help her and it won’t be out of our way at all. She completely (with help) cleaned the kitchen last week and this week we are going to have her clean windows and do cleaning in out bedroom and bathrooms and even do some weeding in the yard. Of course all of this will be done with our help. She is a joy to work with as she really does know how to work.
On Thursday evening President Omer and wife are arriving and we will have dinner with them and it will be our first time to meet them. We are really excited as I feel we will truly love them. I have been impressed with the two or three presidency meetings I have been on the phone with him that he is really good. He listens and even complements good ideas and said he is getting a real feel for the mission from his three counselors. President Atkinson serves in the Northeast and I serve in Botswana and his other counselor is a local South African and isn’t involved with the everyday happenings of the mission but is more of a go between for the mission to the stake presidents. There six stakes in Johannesburg and we are a part of one of them the Roodepoort Stake. The next day which is Friday President Omer has interviews with the Botswana East and Botswana West zones and rather than him travelling up to Francistown on this first visit I suggested that the missionaries from there come down to Gaborone and have their interviews on Saturday. He really liked the idea as he couldn’t get any flights to match his schedule. The Riser’s our Francistown couple will come down on Friday with the Francistown zone and stay over with us here in the mission home. That evening we will have dinner here in our home with the Risers, Omers and us.
After the Francistown interviews on Saturday the Kimballs will arrive and we will all get acquainted with them and probably go out to dinner with the four couples. Then they will stay at the same place we started our mission about a year and a half ago, the Motheo apartments. Sunday we will most likely have all four couples attend the same meetings and then Mom will fix dinner for all four couples again. After that the Risers will head back to Francistown and the next morning Mom and I will take President and Sister Omer to the airport to fly back to Johannesburg. That is when the training for the Kimballs will start.
It sounds like we have it totally organized but there are always things that change and I’m sure this next weekend will have many changes before it is over.
Last night we had a fun evening. Kgosi and Maipolo the couple we went to the temple with back on the 15 of February came over for dinner again (they do this quite a lot) but we had foil dinners cooked over coals in the front yard in a half barrel. It was fun and we changed them or rolled them over every three minutes for about 40 minutes and they were done and not burnt and tasted wonderful. They thought it was a fun way to cook and enjoy a camp fire at the same time.
I will close for now but tomorrow is Sunday and I will probably add to this letter.
It is now Sunday,
We went to Lobatse and attended the block with them and they had a baptism after church where a 16 year old girl and a man were baptized. It was great to be a part of all of this. Just before sacrament meeting in Lobatse my phone rang and the G-West elders locked their car keys in their car but it was at church so they said they could wait until we came back to Gaborone to help them out. It wasn’t very much longer and got a call from the G-West sisters and they also locked their keys in their boot (trunk) and they said they were at church so I told them we would be there after meetings in Lobatse. It worked out well because G-West has two wards in the building and they usually attend both wards each Sunday. They had a baptism where four were baptized so we also attend them a well. I got to play hero and retrieve the keys from each of the locked cars and return to the elders and sisters. It is a good thing I have a spare se for each car here in Botswana.
This afternoon we had a young couple come to visit to talk about marriage and schooling and in general I just think they want a reason to come and visit. They came at 4:00 and left about 5:15 so it wasn’t long but I am getting hungry because it has been a long time sense breakfast. So I will close with my love to each of you. As of tomorrow we have exactly one month until we climb on a plane and head home. The year and a half has slowly turned to months and now they are becoming only weeks. We have a lot to do before we are ready to fly home as we have a lot of training that needs to be done with the Kimballs.
The Gospel is so true and we love serving. We only hope our Savior will accept our work. We pray for our family and friends every day.
Love Out Of Botswana – Dad and Mom
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