Still Alive in Botswana! - Granny

Dear Family & Friends,

It’s been so long since I’ve actually written a family letter that I don’t even know where to start.

I know I haven’t written since the boys were here and I have to tell you we had a really great time while they were here.  They arrived an hour late and we were so happy that President and Sister Bricknell were there at the airport with us so we could visit and catch up on each other's families and lives.  We love them and every minute with them is a treat!  Because the boys arrived late, we were really cutting it close to get back to Botswana and get across the border, but we made it and we didn’t have any trouble; it just takes a while to do all the paperwork at the South AFrican side, and then on to the Botswana side we have to do it all over again.  We got through with about 10 minutes to spare and headed on home to our place which is another 45 minutes or so.  We talked all the way; couldn’t see much as it was pitch black outside; but we enjoyed the journey and Dad and I just loved being in their presence and feeling the excitement they brought.

We stayed up until about 2 AM and then we all crashed and got up in time to go to church at the YSA Branch where we loved introducing our three great sons to many of our leaders and young people in the branch. 

After Church we had dinner quickly and then headed South about 90 minutes to the small village of Kanye where we (counted donkey’s all the way) and gave the boys a feel for Botswana country side and also we arrived just as their baptism was getting over and they got to meet lots of the members of the Kanye Branch also.  We drove on up the hill from the church to where our friend Mariah lives (you will all soon know her) and the boys had the privilege of getting acquainted with many of her family that live there in several small homes close on one property.  We took lots of pictures of grandma, Aunts and Uncles, and Cousins and I’m not even sure everyone that came running for a picture was even related to Mariah.  It was fun and the boys really enjoyed the little kids and kissing the babies.  It was a fun experience and we brought Mariah home with us to Gaborone to stay at her cousins home so we could do some business with her the next morning in Gaborone. 

Monday at noon we check into a game reserve called Madikwa that is just back outside the border into South Africa for an experience of a lifetime.  We stayed in little cabins placed up above the ground to keep us safe from the grazing animals.  There was no running water, no electricity, but our meals were all cooked for us and we were drive out for a 3 ½ hour game drive each evening and each morning.  The camp was set up super convenient with lanterns placed along paths to the outdoor toilets, the outdoor showers, the hot water being heated in a “donkey boiler” and extra water to carry for any other reason or need.  They had laterns in our rooms which they lite for us each evening, and we would just blow them out when we went to bed.  Our cabins were close to each other and all were very close to the kitchen and everything else that adjoined our accommodations.  The safari vehicles arrived each morning at 6 AM and again each evening at 4:30 and took us all over the bush to see the wild animals.  We saw an amazing amount of Zebra, Giraffe, Kudu, elephants, Impala, rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo, Lions, Ostrich, Baboons, Wild Dogs and several other species of the smaller “deer” family as well as many beautiful birds.  We could get so very close to them and it was pretty exciting to take lots of pictures to share with all of you.  I’m sure the boys will share their pictures and tell you about all of their experiences before we get home, but we will do it again when we get home. 

     We stayed there in the Bush Camp for 2 more days and the rest of the time was spent just showing them around the mission and doing the kinds of things that we do as Missionaries.  On Sunday night they got to meet our favorite Bishop Matswagothata and his family and also Kgosi and Maipela that we went to the JoBurg temple with in mid-February. We also had the missionaries that serve here in Gaborone come over for cookies and ice cream and a fun visit.  The time went all too quickly and soon it was Thursday and we packed up and headed for Joburg to spend the evening with President & Sister Bricknell.  We had a wonderful evening with them, they are such dear friends and they are always so good to us.  We spent the night at their home before spending the last day driving through another Game Park in South Africa and then doing some fun “Flea Market Type” shopping at a huge outdoor market close to the airport.  At the Game Park, we got so close to some lions that Roger tried to reach out the car window and touch one of them and he got a “growl’ that would have made your hair stand on ends and he quickly pulled his hand back into the car window.  We all set there thinking about how “not smart” that was and were more careful from then on.  We got extremely close to some Cheetah’s, a whole pride of Lions, a pack of wild dogs as well as visiting a caged area that had lots of different baby animals and etc.  The boys all took advantage of that spot and paid to go inside the pens and pet the baby lions, cheetah, and I can’t remember what else.  It was a really fun day; but the shopping was a great experience also.  I found out that all three of the boys really love to shop and find souvenirs to take home for their family.  It was fun to watch them see what would be “just right” for the journey home.  It truly was a fun, fun week and from there we headed straight to the airport where we just actually dumped them off and headed directly home so we could again reach the border before it closed at mid-night.  We actually don’t have a very good GPS system and there were a couple of detours on the way home and we ended up lost along some small road going through every little town and village along the way.  We did make it to the border just before it closed though and that was all that counted.  When we picked up the boys at the first of the week, we used Bryce’s GPS on his phone and it over-road our GPS and found our way much better; but we did make it home on our own.  Usually when we travel to JoBurg we don’t get close to the airport and we know that way, but the airport was a new experience for us but worth every minute we spent with Mike and Roger and Bryce.  Thanks boys for coming and we hope you all get to see what they saw while they were with us.  Africa is truly an amazing country and we loved getting to see everything while they were here also.  When we are just being missionaries, we see exciting things like donkeys, goats, cows and an occasional baboon. 

Since the week the boys were here we have been catching up on immigration and finally got the 4 Sisters to get their Residence Permits so they don’t have to leave Botswana.  We’ve also been able to secure a ID Card, a Passport, and a Visa for Mariah so she can come to America to visit with Roger and Shaundalee’s family.  You’ll all have to check with Roger for that story but it was no small task and has definitely involved the Lord and many Tender Mercies for our family.  The Miracle began last October and our part will be finished when we drive Mariah to Joburg on Friday and put her on an airplane and fly her to America for all of you to meet.

It’s late and we are going to try to get some sleep tonight.  The last two nights haven’t been very successful at that, but tonight we are ready for Mariah’s journey and exhausted so hopefully sleep will come.

We love you and love your letters.  They keep us going and make it possible to do what we do.

Love,

Mom and Dad, Grannie and PaPa Lynn, Lynn and Lorraine

We are in Francistown

Dear Family and Friends,

     We are Francistown for few days as President Poulsen has asked us to spend two days in Francistown each week between the time that Elder and Sister Cardiff left and until the time that Elder and Sister Riser from Rosevelt Utah arrive.  I think we will be driving them up here on the morning of the 27th just in time for me to do some interviews for baptims before the baptism service that early afternoon.  We are excited to meet them and help them get aquainted with Botswana.  Hopefully everything will go good for them.  We hope they get their residence permits quickly.

     No new news about Mariah yet but we have faith that we can put everything together to help her be a little more agressive.  I am making up a sheet that in fairly large letters says please read these documents, then list the documents or letters they should read.  We have a young lady from the YSA ward coming to help her and practice with her.  We are going to the Francistown district meeting this morning which is also the Zone because they only have 8 here which is the zone and district as they have 4 elders and 4 sisters.

     We love each of you very much.  We know we are doing the work of the Lord and it is He that called us to serve here in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission under the direction of President Poulsen and to serve here in the Botswana part of the mission.  We have been blessed and we feel of His spirit in the work we do.  We have seen miracles, many of them, some large and many small but never the less we have seen miracles.  We love serving and it keeps Mom and I together and that is wonderful in its self.   l love Lorraine more and more each day and she is a great help mete to me.  She inspires me and helps me and in turn I do my best to inspire and help her.  We feel the love from each of you and we know that you are very busy in your lives (because many don't have time to write to us) and we understand because we raised a wonderful family and love them to bits.

     Will write again more later.  By the way we are planning to catch a plane on the llth of August heading for America.  Well arive sometime on the 12th, at least that is the plan for now.  Hopefully that will work out alright for all of you.  When we get closer to that time we will have Barney see if we can report our mission on the 15th of August but lets wait and make sure there isn't any changes.

Love Dad and Mom (Out of Botswana)

A Million Thanks from Botswana

DEar Family,

I'm so sorry that we just have not had time to even write, but life here has been so hectic for the past month and this last week was such a delight that we just haven't stopped long enough to think about how much we are going to miss the boys now that they are gone. We drove to JoBurg to get them and got back after midnight and we haven't stopped for a minute since. They dumped their suitcases that night of all the wonderful things that you all sent and most f it is still on the kitchen cabinet. You all know me well enough to know that I normally don't do things like that, but we didn't want to waste a minute while they were here.

I just sorry that I haven't taken the time to THANK all of you for the wonderful, individualized things that you sent us. We loved all the cards, notes, and pictures from the kids. Please tell them thank you and that Granny is going to hang them up in her house and leave them there until we come home. It made us miss all of you even more but it's nice to know that we have your support being here in the Mission Field because we know that we are supposed to be here right now and until August.

Thanks you for chasing down all the make-up items and curling iron that I asked for; it is perfect and I appreciate all of your trouble. Thanks for all the "favorite" candy that was sent, the carmel corn, the banana bread, the caramels (wow! all that work). We actually devoured a whole box while the boys were here, but Dad put the other box away for when we are alone again. It was fun to open my Mother's Day packasge that you sent (Harold and Sue) and I will enjoy the book. The pictures of the heart cookies from the kids were fun, all the cinnamon candy will be great to enjoy as we travel. We don't share them very often, but perhaps we have enough to share once in a while because the missionaries do love them too. Thanks for all the new pictures of the kids, they are growing up so fast and we miss them so very much. Kricket, all the items you put together for our Branches is absolutely wonderful. I didn't pass any of them out yet because I want to take the time to divide them up just right, but I will take some pictures and let you know how much they appreciate them. I told the Primary President in Mochudi today that I had some things for her and she is so excited. She has about 12 primary kids and she told me today that they don't even have plain paper for them to draw on. I'll get busy and get them passed out; the kids are going to love it all. The scripture bags are awesome, the bookmarks are really great and we'll put together some great packets for each Branch to enjoy. Be sure to tell your friends and your ward how much they are appreciated. I'm the lucky one because I get to see their happy smiling faces when we give them out. Thanks a TON!

Gay; I"ll include you in the family letter so I can thank you for all of the pictures and bookmarks you sent. They will make wonderful gifts for us to give as we leave the people here. We are growing so close to many of them and a lot of it comes from working so closely with them and trying to help them strengthen their testimonies so we can grow and become a Stake here hopefully before we leave. Bishop Motswaghotata and his family have become dear friends and they have the two cutest little girls; they will absolutely love the picture you sent of the Savior and the little girl. I have the picture of the Savior holding the little baby on my cell phone and I also was given a wallet sized picture of it and everyone wants to know where I got it. It will be fun to start tiving them out before we leave. Thank You!!

I'm sure I've forgotten some individual things and I'm sorry about that but it's late and I'll write more at a better time.

We had one of our YSA young ladies come over tonight and help us with the VISA papers for Mariah. It took them 4 hours on the computer but they got them all ready to turn in and we were able to secure an appointment on-line for 8 AM Tuesday morning. Tomorrow we have to get a PassPort type picture for her (again) and also go to the Gaborone Branch of the school she will be attending in Kanye when she returns so they can give us a letter verifying that she is enrolled in school and then I think we'll have everything we need to go for the appointment on Tuesday. Pray for us please; she will have to go up to the window herself and answer any questions they want to ask her. We are WAY nervous about that because we have no idea what they will ask her and she is so shy and quiet that we hope our coaching and the coaching of Celeste (our YSA Gal) will be enough to warrent them giving her the Visa. Celeste was a nanny here for a family that worked for the US Embassy a few years ago and they bought her a ticket to Kentucky where they live and she stayed with them for 3 weeks. She was our best bet for help with the Visa and we are trying to answer every prompting we get for help. We have lead and guided thus far and we just have one more hurdle to get over and then she will be able to get on that plane. We will let you know as soon as we know anything- but huge hearfelt prayers will be appreciated. We know if it is Heavenly FAther's will, it will happen and we have FAITH that if He could heal the sick and raise the dead; then He can get Mariah on that plane and safely to America so her baby can bless the lives of all of our family and we as a family can bless the life of that sweet baby and also of Mariah.

THank You for everything. We felt like it was Christmas in March and it was absolutely amazing to open it all up. We will still be enjoying it until it's time to come home. We love you

Mom and Dad, Granny and PaPaLynn, Lynn and Lorraine

Week #55 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been the best week sense we have arrived here in the mission field, the reason is we have had three of our sons to visit and spend the week with us. We drove to Johannesburg on Friday the 25^th to attend a mission presidency meeting at the mission office (the first time I was able to attend in person, I usually am on a conference call with the speaker phone). We visited the area office, and also had a meeting with Elder Martineau a member of the legal department in the area office. I was privileged to meet with President Poulsen and Elder Bricknell in a different meeting as well. It was a good day for me and Mom and Sister Poulsen went shopping. That evening we stayed with the Poulsen’s at the mission home.

Saturday we traded our Nissan Tiida for the mission van so we would have more room for Mike, Roger and Bryce. Mom and I wanted to make preparations for the boys a week later so we found the Bruma Mall and put the co-ordinates in the GPS. While there we shopped a little and then headed for the airport to have a fun time and had a meal with Colin and Jenny Bricknell as they wanted to be there when the boys arrived. The plane was about 30 or so minutes late but it was worth the wait when we say the boys come into the big waiting area. We visited with them and the Bricknells for a few minutes and then we headed out to Botswana. We got back to the border about 11:30 and the border closed at 12:00 so we made it on time.

The next day was Sunday and we had planned to attend sacrament meeting in the Young Single Adult ward where Bishop Matswagothata asked me to talk because one of the speakers wasn’t going to show up. I really think he just wanted an excuse to have me talk but it was fun to be able to make a few remarks in front of my sons. The next morning we needed to get the 4 sisters who’s 90 days were up to the immigration office with their passports and proof of applying for their residence permits. Later we found out they got 7 more days and was hoping to get their permits during the week which didn’t happen. Now they will be illegal come this next Monday but Stix and Brother Thebe say it will be alright. When I suggest they can stay after their extensions they all say we have to obey the law. Oh well it’s not my place to criticize. I got kicked out for doing what they get away with.

About 11:00 we did a couple of last minute things that we needed to do and then headed for the border to go to Madikwe the game reserve we planned months ago to visit. It was great fun and we enjoyed every minute with the boys. It was a camp without running water or power. They hauled in water in large (about 500 gallon) containers on wheels with a specked in the back. We filled a bucket of water and poured it into a donkey boiler which put hot water into another bucket and then you adjusted the temperature by adding hot or cold water for your shower. In the shower area you put the bucket of water into another bucket that had a shower head under the bucket that you hoisted using a rope and pulley system. It worked really well. We didn’t have to prepare food or do dishes so the time was very relaxing except when we were on game drives. We did a game drive early each morning and late in each afternoon.

We were not disappointed in the drives as we saw many African animals of every kind. To name a few: lions, giraffes, wilderbeests, zebra, Kudu, warthogs, impala, elephants, ostriches, baboons, rhinos, wild dogs, hyenas, genie fowl, and many others like rabbit, rodents, many species of birds. We really enjoyed being together a having a relaxing time. The food was good the nights most of us slept well (except Roger “jet lag”). We got back into Gaborone about 2:00 Wednesday afternoon and that is when Mom and I did a fast catch up on many different things. I did the monthly kilometer report for the mission vehicles here in Botswana and the boys went through the many pictures we took while at Madikwe. That evening we decided the next day we would leave for Johannesburg and do some shopping and see the White Lion and Rhino Park. It too was great and then we headed for Bruma Mall to let the boys get some African things to take home. We let them off at the airport about 6:00 and we headed back to Gaborone Botswana. We got to the border about 10:30 and got home and into bed about midnight. We have been watching the clock and trying to guess where the were in their travels back to their families.

Today I had a second interview in Molepolole at 10:00 this morning and then we picked up a few groceries and did some catch up on book work. I headed to Mochudi this afternoon and helped get one of the mission cars started and left the jumper cables just in case they will need them again tomorrow.

Well I will say goodnight and we will go to bed.

WITH LOVE OUT OF BOTSWANA. (I’m not really shouting) DAD and MOM

Week #53 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family and Friends,

It is now about 5:30 PM on Saturday and in 168 HOURS three of our boys will be getting off the plane in Johannesburg and we will be waiting for them. I don’t know if they are excited or not but I know two people that are very excited. We are hurrying and getting things done in preparation for their weeklong visit. Just so the rest of you will know we will be driving back form Johannesburg on Saturday night and need to move right out as we must cross the Botswana border before it closes at 12:00 midnight. We should be well before that but I don’t want to sleep in the car so we will leave Johannesburg as quickly as we can. We will get as much sleep as we can and go to the Young Single Adult sacrament meeting at 10:50 Sunday morning. Come home and have a bite of lunch and then drive up to Kanye (this is Mom’s and my favorite drive) and count the donkeys on the way. We have told Mariah that we will be coming that afternoon. Then drive back and visit for the evening and have an evening meal and get another good night sleep.

The next morning we will see a few sights here in Gaborone and then cross the border again to go to Madikwe which is a game reserve. We need to arrive about noon and spend until Wednesday about noon seeing what animals we see. It should be great as President and Sister Poulsen have taken some of their family there and most of the office staff in Johannesburg has been to see it as well. We are really looking forward to the game reserve as we so much enjoyed the time we were in Kruger Park with Colin and Jenny Bricknell. Then Thursday we will visit here close to home in Gaborone and see what we didn’t have time to see on Monday.

Then on Friday we head back to Johannesburg to see what we can see and maybe do a little African shopping. We will put the boys back on a plane and stay overnight in Johannesburg and head back the next day.

It seems like a short visit but we hope to visit a lot and see a game reserve and see most of Gaborone and enjoy the travel time with the boys. Mike, Roger and Bryce thank you for preparing to come and visit us. We are very EXCITED and hope you are as well.

Now I want to write about some mission type news. Yesterday we had a conference call from Julie Jensen, Sara McBride in the church travel department in Salt Lake along with Joseph who is over travel in the area office in Johannesburg along with President Poulsen and me. You can probably give even just a little thought as to what was talked about. Of course it was better ways to get our missionaries visa or we call them here in Botswana residence permits. We finally decided to have the two ladies in Salt Lake put a test run on two missionaries coming either in June or July and see if they can get the visa before the come to South Africa Johannesburg Mission so they can serve in Botswana any time President Poulsen wants them to. In the mean time we will do what we have been doing all along and see what turn the immigration department will take on our applications that we have applied for. I had a really good talk with President Poulsen and he had Sister Henrichsen who is his secretary in the Johannesburg office in on the conversation as well. It has been even more mixed up recently. When the missionaries come into Botswana some bring the medical form 5 all filled out and some don’t so we have to wait and see who does and who doesn’t so we can make appointments. Some come with birth certificates and some don’t so we have to work on that also at the last minute. We ended the conversation with us going back to the old way we did them but we will still use Stix. He is getting a little easier to work with and it is helping a lot.

We fell at the moment that taking them to Lobatse is a great help. We hope the immigration office in Lobatse will continue to help us. It is too early to see but we hope to get some residence permits approved before next transfer which is the 5^th of April. These 7 are the ones that replaced the emergency transfers about two weeks ago. This transfer is coming up next Tuesday and we hope to have these emergency transfers approved before they have to leave on the 5 of April.

That is enough of the detailed information. I want you to know that Mom and I love serving here in Botswana. It is hot this time of year but our mission home/office does have air conditioning and we put it to good use. We have great missionaries even if they do only stay for two transfers. This next one will be 17 if some of the residence applications don’t come through.

I have a great love for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and I am happy to do what He wants done and we are very prayerful and strive each day to be guided by the spirit to do His will. Our goal is to do what He wants done and to say what He wants said and be an instrument in His hands. We truly feel the Holy Ghost as a guide in our lives. We pray hard for knowledge to know what needs to be done then we get up off our knees and work hard to do His will. Missionary work is the greatest work in the church. We get time to study to pray and to work, it is a great life. I hope and pray for each of my children their mates and each of their families every day. May each of you have a desire to do missionary work.

LOVE OUT OF BOTSWANA, DAD and MOM

Week #52 - Granny

Dear Family,
We’ve been on the road a lot lately and tonight we are home for about 36 hours and then we will be traveling to Johannesburg for 2 days. We’ve been to Francistown again this weekend, the second time in 10 days. The Cardiff’s go home in a couple of weeks and President asked us to learn the ropes up there and so we’ve been doing our best. We were lucky enough to be in attendance at their “record breaking” baptism on Saturday afternoon of 21 people going into the waters of Baptism and today receiving The Gift of the Holy Ghost. What a weekend! They had 155 people in attendance at the baptism and I have to say there was actually a “crowd control” situation and they ran out of a food a couple of times, but kept going out for more. I think
most of the people got something to eat, but we Missionaries all opted to wait and go home and have spaghetti at the Cardiff’s. It was outside on the grounds of their chapel (a home actually) but they do have the swimming pool to baptize in and it really works well for so many at one time. The children got a little restless and we couldn’t always hear the baptismal prayer, but it was absolutely amazing anyway. They have another baptism scheduled in two weeks and they
have 17 people “On-Date” for that day also. Today at church all of them were confirmed and it actually took more than the allotted time so we just had to run over about 15 minutes to get it all done. Dad also did some re-organizing in the Branch today and sustained some new leaders and gave 3 Brethren the Melchizedek Priesthood. It was a really full day and he also had to go over to the other Branch after church and do some Priesthood ordinances there. I went home with Sister Cardiff, prepared us a lunch for the trip home and we were off as soon as Dad got there. It
is almost a 5 hour drive so we were anxious to get home again. We will be super busy for Monday, trying to get caught up from being gone for 3 days and then we are going to go to the Temple with our wonderful YSA couple, Kgosi and Maipelo Matheo. We are leaving about 6
AM so we can get there as the temple opens for their Session. Our temple is only open Tuesday thru Thursday from 3:30 til 6:30 so the live session on Tuesday is at 3:30. We are taking them to the Distribution Center first to get their garments and their temple clothes as their wedding present from us. They were going to drive on their own but after the wedding (the Lobola and all the Festivities they had to pay for) they have no money so they are going to ride with us and then stay two days at the Temple Housing (free for them) and do more temple work and return on a bus. It will probably be years before they can return to the temple, so they wanted to go through more than once while they are down there. Our temple is actually open on Friday and Saturday all day, but they have to go through on Tuesday, the first day it is open after their cleaning break. They were married by the Bishop 2 weeks ago and they are suppose to go to
the temple within in a week or wait for a year; but since our temple was actually closed the Temple President made an exception and let them wait 2 weeks if they would be at the temple when it opens on Tuesday. We are excited to take them through and we will be the only people going through with them. They have no family that belongs to the church and no YSA friends that could make the trip to go through with them. President Poulsen has decided to end the Immigration “wow’s” for now and just do what we have to do to get through without making any
waves. The Legal Department of the Church is working very hard trying to change a few things, so President plans to just transfer the Missionaries in and out of Botswana every 90 days and not try to do anything else until we get work from Church Head Quarters. So next week we will have to transfer 10 Missionaries out along with any that are going Home and Heaven forbid there should be any “Inspiration” involved that might make it so President wants to transfer anyone else. We’ll just wait for the list and go to work as soon as we know what is happening. Dad has tons of work once we get the names of our new Missionaries, so President is trying to give us their names earlier than he used to so everyone is trying their very best to make the work load up here do-able. All of our missionaries are working very hard to help Botswana become a Stake. Our goal is still the 26th of June and our Stake President, President Hall from Roodepoort, South Africa is busy e-mailing all of our leaders periodically and checking up on their Goals and making sure they are getting more tithe papers and more worthy members of the church. The Missionaries have some new Ward Mission Plans that are receiving a lot of praise and support and the Members are really getting “on board” with the Missionary Programs. We are getting over 200 baptisms per month most of the time and everyone is working hard to bring many more souls into The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it seems that we don’t actually get to do very much Missionary Work, but we dear get to bare our testimony very often, sometimes several times a day on Sundays and at baptisms on Saturdays. We use to get to go out teaching once in a while, but since Dad has been a Counselor to President Poulsen, there are extra meetings, extra interviews, and now with our extra trips to Francistown; we are as busy as we can be without the actual teaching opportunities. We get lots of opportunities to talk to our new members “one-on-one” though and we do that every chance we get. They are beautiful people and we love them all.
Well, it’s late and I can’t even remember what else we did this week. I think I”ll just go to bed and tomorrow I’ll remember all the things that I should have told you. We can’t wait for Mike and Roger and Bryce to come and see us. We don’t have too much planned except our trip to Madikwe (the game reserve) but there isn’t actually too much to see in Botswana so we hope they aren’t too disappointed. Perhaps we’ve just become accustomed to how things look and don’t remember what is actually very different than home. It will be fun to see their reactions to Africa and hopefully all three of you will have a great time and be really glad that you came. All we know is that we can’t wait for you to get here and we are working “double hard” to have everything done so we can have a little free time with you. We are preparing our 3 sets of
Zone Leaders to cover for us for the days you are here, especially our trips to South Africa to pick you up and our trip back to South Africa to take you back to the airport. Our life is anything but boring and we’ll just take you to see all of our Villages, our chapels and some shops and there are some special people we want you to meet. Be Warned... It HOT & Humid here right now!!!

Love,
Mom and Dad, Granny & PaPa Lynn, Lynn and Lorraine

Week #51 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family and Friends,
Right now I really feel good about what happened at the
immigration office today because we went to Lobatse and had 7 new
missionaries apply for residence permits at their office. Things went
really well and I have been told by one of the immigration personal
that they usually take about 6 weeks. I will be praying every morning
and night hoping that will really happen. Cecilia who works for Stix
was there and did a great job of helping. She actually had paperwork
that made it easier to explain that we don’t need to apply for work
permits. Wow what a change. Perhaps we have started a breakthrough.
Now on the other hand we got a letter in the mail from the
Universal immigration office this afternoon that says they need a copy
of our churches constitution which we went through this with the last
group that was refused. I may start pulling my hair out. We had a
great morning and then we got this letter this afternoon. I will take
a copy of the churches constitution in to them in the morning.
Hopefully it will get there before we get another rejection letter.
Life is a little different around here right now as about a week
ago President Poulsen ask mom and I to be in Francistown for two day
each week between when Elder and Sister Cardiff go home and about a
month later when the new couple arrives and then train them in
Francistown. We hope we can do that in one three day visit. I think
we will have them come in from Johannesburg on a bus and then take
them to Francistown a day or two later and them on the way and spend
time with them for a couple more days. It is another opportunity to
serve President Poulsen and we will do our best. It is about the same
time three of our sons will be visiting, as Cardiff’s leave on the 1st
day of March and the boys go back home on the 4th of March. We can do
it all if the calendar doesn’t slide around on the wall to fast. We
will keep everyone posted and hope you keep us in your prayers. It is
a great roller coaster ride here in the mission field but we love
keeping busy and it helps keep our minds off thinking too much about
home.
Well I will close for now as I haven’t read my scripture yet
today because of the early morning going to Lobatse and taking a car
in to the fender bender shop first. LOVE OUT OF BOTSWANA, DAD AND MOM

Week #50 - Granny

Dear Family and Friends,
Life in Gaborone is anything but boring these days and this week
hasn’t been one of our easiest, but we’ve made it through to Saturday
which was the big day for our wonderful YSA couple that got married
today. Weddings here are a bit different, but beautiful and Kgosi and
Maipelo have done their best to do the Labola and pay all their
tributes to the families in respect and also prepare to go to the
temple on Feb. 15th when it re-opens. The temple is closed for two
weeks so they are required to go to the temple the day it opens or
wait a year so they are going on that day and we plan to attend with
them and be their escorts. We got through day and we’re really
excited about their day at the temple; it will just be us and them I
think as no one else is able to go clear to Joburg to be with them.
They were married in the chapel by our local wonderful Bishop
Motswaghothata and he did a great job. He calls an “Ace” and “Ace”
and doesn’t miss any punches. Today he even called some of his YSA
members to repentance from the pulpit for not dressing in their church
attire to attend the wedding, since it was in the chapel. He told
they them were not attending a picnic and shouldn’t be there in their
casual attire. All the non-member family members were there in their
traditional attire complete with blankets tired or pinned around their
shoulders and some hats, but at least the ladies were all in dresses
and the men were dressed up nicely so it was unfortunate that some of
our YSA chose to come in casual wear and Bishop chose the moment to
teach them about it. I was a little embarrassed, but he hit it hard
and then went on with the ceremony. He gave a wonderful talk to Kgosi
and Maipelo about cleaving to one another and not turning to their
family for advice and asked that the family members not encourage them
to come home for council when they had any disagreements. He ask them
to honor their religious beliefs and to not push “old and traditional
customs” on them as they have been taught differently in our religion.
He knows their whole situation and that neither family is happy about
them belonging to the church and would pull them apart if they got a
chance, so I’m sure he felt prompted to council EVERYONE about how to
help this marriage last for Eternity. He’s a wonderful Bishop and we
could use more like him around here that are strong and don’t
apologize for what we believe. We were proud of him!
But, actually today was the easiest day of the week. Monday started
with a vengeance as we had all 6 of the Missionaries that were sent
out to Joburg last Wednesday return on Saturday being told (by Stix
and Joseph) at the border that they could get 3 days, and then go to
Immigration on Monday and get another 30 days. They came to the
office early Monday morning and spent the whole day here waiting to
hear from Stix (our Immigration guy) when they could come out and get
the extra days put on their passports. Dad called several times to
Stix as well as Joseph from the Area Office who was also working on
the case and we got the “run around” all day and by 3:30 we got the
word to send them all back to their flats and re-pack as they had to
be out of the border before mid-night. I was about to cry and I think
most of them were about as “rung out” as they could be with the whole
mess. They did as they were told and were back at the office by 6:30
for their Passports, Paperwork for the border, Pizza, a prayer and we
had to send them off again.
Tuesday morning we found out that our Molepolole Branch President had
passed away (he is only 47, but had some health problems for years)
and his Branch is one of the ones that just lost two of their four
Elders to Immigration. We made arrangements to come down on Wednesday
to meet with the family for “Prayer Hour” at 5:30 and see how we could
help.
Wednesday morning about 6:30 we got a call that our Mochudi Elders has
been broken into and their car stolen. By 9 O’clock the Police had
found the car, it was abandoned on a dirt road and had hit a cow and
was in terrible shape. It took til Thursday, but the Missionaries got
it back and could actually drive it and brought it to town for an
estimate of the damage. When I saw it, I was in shock as both fenders
are missing, the hood is totally rippled, the front door was caved in
and the cow’s horn went through the rear door and made a 8-10 Inch
tare. We still don’t have the estimate, but it will be substantial
without a doubt.
Later that day we drove to Molepolole to attend the Family Prayer for
Bishop Moloi’s family and that is an interesting experience in itself.
When someone dies here, the family, friends, neighbors and etc. all
gather at the home for a week. Each night they sing songs and say
prayers and eat. It is up to the family of the deceased to furnish
food for everyone and even if they are absolutely destitute, it’s
their responsibility to feed everyone. Sister Moloi has absolutely
nothing, in fact they have a 3 room cinderblock house with no
furniture, no running water, and she was sitting on an old mattress in
the middle of an empty living room when we went in to greet her. She
was dressed in an old tradition type dress, a piece of cloth draped
over her head and barefoot and we were told that we could approach her
and speak to her but we couldn’t touch her or hug her. We talked with
her a bit, and paid our respects, but there were lots of really
Elderly looking people around that weren’t members at all and it was
very uncomfortable. Sorry, but they all looked to be 100 years old,
sad faced and no one spoke English so there wasn’t much conversation
going on. They sang some songs in their Tswana language and that was
neat to witness, but all in all it was tough and we weren’t sure if we
were any help to the family at all. Sister Moloi has 3 children, the
youngest being 6 years old. Her husband worked for the Government so
hopefully there will be some kind of benefit for her, but I’m sure her
husband didn’t make much as he’s pretty crippled up himself and
probably just received a minimal wage at best. At one point, the
members that were there sang a couple of hymns and they had a member
give a talk in Tswana which we didn’t understand at all. In fact he
spoke for about 10 minutes about the church and what we believe and I
caught two words “restoration” and Amen; I can usually catch the name
of the Savior when it is said in another language, but not in Tswana
and honestly we had no idea what he said so when they called on Dad to
say a few words to the audience (with a translator, of course) it was
pretty hard for him to know what to say but he did an excellent job
and I was very proud of him. He always fills in at the last minute
and they always call him without any notice. I forgot to mention that
Bishop Motswaghothata did that today at the wedding also and again Dad
did an excellent job talking about family and giving advice to their
new couple.
Anyway, after Dad spoke at the Prayer Service, we tried to slip out
but we were informed that it would be rude to leave without eating
some “Tea and fried bread” so we made sure they served us Roiboise Tea
(which we were assured was legal) and stayed a few more minutes. The
wife of the 1st Counselor come up to me and asked if she could talk to
me and see if I could help Sister Moloi with her concerns. We went
back into talk with her and this time I was allowed to sit just off
the mattress next to her and hear her concern. She said that a High
Councilman would come from the Stake and bring the temple clothes for
her husband to be buried in, but that she didn’t have, nor could she
afford her temple clothes for her to wear to the funeral. I was taken
back for a moment, but quickly helped her to realize that she did not
need to wear her temple clothes at the funeral. She and her husband
just went to the temple about a month ago and were sealed. They
actually hadn’t taken their kids with them as they could only afford
for the two of them to get passports and travel by Combi to
Johannesburg. Anyway, I made sure that she had her garments and knew
she should wear them all the time, but that she only would wear her
temple clothes when she attended the temple unless it was for the
actual funeral burial. She was relieved and I told her she could just
wear her Sunday Dress as though she was going to church. She is a
sweet Sister and so new in the church that we pray that she will be
able to stay strong in the church and raise her children in the
gospel.
Thursday, President and Sister Poulsen came to town for meetings all
afternoon with the Missionaries. The only news there was a new
assignment for us. The Cardiff’s who are the only other couple in
Botswana (in Francistown which is 5 hours North) with us actually go
home the end of February and President doesn’t have a couple to
replace them for at least a month if at all. He asked us if we could
spend a couple of days each week in Francistown until he can get
another couple up there and of course, we said yes. Dad looked at me
and I looked at him and we both knew that we had to do some real
adjusting on our schedule to work that in, but we also know if the
President is asking, there has to be some way for us to work it in.
We since have decided that we just have to stop going to a District
Meeting each Friday and we won’t be able to go to as many of our
Branches on Sunday, (we rotate 8 of them by the week) but we will just
spread things out a bit and we will work it out. The Lord will
provide a way!!!
Friday was Zone Conference all day and it was wonderful to be with
President Poulsen. He is a great teacher and a wonderful and patient
man. He and Dad have a few meetings about the Immigration situation
and he still isn’t sure what he is going to do about the 6 (now 7 as
we lost another one today) Elders that we have lost but he will try to
do some Emergency transfers this coming week and get them replaced for
us. He wants to give the Immigration Office a few more days to see if
they won’t approve some more of our Permits, but we are not even
hopeful at this point so we hope he just sends us some new Elders so
we can get back to normal before it’s time for another normal transfer
day.
That brings us back to today with the wedding and etc. and now we are
planning our day for Kanye tomorrow for church and hopefully a good
talk with our little Mariah who is 19 and pregnant and wanting us to
find a home for her baby that is due in April. We hope to meet with
her case worker and even a Magistrate Court person who we are told
will help us with knowing what the laws of Botswana are and what her
choices are. She wants her baby to be raised in an LDS environment
and she has nothing to give this baby. She was raped and her father
is dead, her mother has never been in her life; she lives with an Aunt
in a two room house with 8 other “cousins or ………………..” and no one is
able to help her with a baby. She is desperate and we are so willing
to help her, we just don’t know how to do that. Bishop Motswaghothata
tells us that people in Botswana don’t actually adopt babies, they
just give the baby to someone in the family who is willing to raise it
and life goes on. Every other young girl that we see walking around
the streets has a baby tied on her back and that is just the “norm.”
When young girls have babies it makes their Labola price go up because
they are worth more if they are fertile. So the parents encourage
them to have babies as soon as they can so they can charge more when
they marry. Most young couples don’t marry at all as they can’t pay
Labola, so they just live together and have families and the parents
are just fine with that. If they ever want to marry, they have to
come up with the money to pay Labola and also to pay for EVERYTHING
for the wedding, including feeding all the family for a week, having
several traditional get togethers and transport to get all the Aunts
and Uncles to the festivities. The Uncles all get together and
actually help decide how much Labola to charge, all depending on if
there are babies involved, if they have an education, etc. etc. etc.
CRAZY and very hard to deal with. It’s no wonder the young people
here don’t get married. The church really has it’s work cut out, but
we are trying to change some of their traditions and help them to see
how to do it the Lord’s way. It will take time, but we are really
trying hard to influence their lives for the better through the
gospel.
On the lighter side, I actually found a CAN of Campbell’s Cream of
Mushroom Soup this week on our grocery shelf. I was so excited until
I saw that it cost P32. Which is equal to almost $5.00
We saw Kellogg’s Corn Flakes the other day and it was P75. Which is
about $10. And we passed on that also, but we did “bite the bullet”
and pay almost $10 for a box of Kellogg’s Frosty Mini-Wheat’s and we
have been enjoying them all week for breakfast. We also found Bagels
at a grocery store close by and I bought them off a “specialty table”
but I actually can’t find the receipt to see how much I paid for them.
They weren’t marked and I wanted to know how much they were but I
didn’t pay attention when they went through the checker’s hands.
Anyway, I bought them and we will enjoy them. They are “Raisin
Cinnamon” so Dad is happy. Don’t think we are starving, there is
tons of good food here, it’s just fun to tell you about the USA things
we hunt for and once in a while we find. Banana’s here are about
$3.00 for a 1.2 Kilogram box which is about 2 pounds (plus), oranges
are about $3.00 for a bag of 608 depending on the size. Apples are
plentiful right now and I even found Fugi’s from Cape Town this past
week and they are about $2.50 for a bag of 15 small apples, and they
are really good. Grapes and nectarines are available and even peaches
right now, but these are quite expensive and dad doesn’t like any of
them so I rarely buy them as they are pre-packaged and spoil before I
eat them. Lettuce is cheap, carrots are cheap when available and
cucumbers and tomatoes are probably about the same as home. Tomatoes
are scarce right now and usually only green in the store. Meat is
expensive and the Mince (hamburger) taste a little “wild” to me and
the steak and beef roast are really tough. We prefer the pork roast,
but can rarely ever find ham. Chicken is readily available and really
good. We usually eat chicken and occasional a pork roast and we do
use a lot of mince but haven’t fell in love with the taste yet. We
have two Kentucky Fried Chicken places in Gaborone and 2 different
Pizza’s places in town but only a Wimply Hamburger place and I don’t
like their hamburgers so we don’t go there. Also,EVERYTHING closes
early on Saturday afternoon, even the grocery stores are closed by 4
or 5 O Clock and so is the Mall, but they are all open again on Sunday
and stay open all day. If you need anything on Saturday afternoon,
forget it; but just wait until Sunday and you can find most anything
open.

We are busy, happy, healthy, and looking forward to another week. We
certainly hope all of you are the same and we love hearing from you,
especially when you tell us about each of the kids and what they are
doing. We know you are busy, but we do check the e-mail each morning
and see if there is any news from home. We love it when we see your
names on our e-mail list and we open them quickly and read them even
if we don’t have time to respond. Thanks for writing to us everyone,
family and friends. We love news from home!!!

Bryce and Jenna had birthday’s this week and we finally caught up
with both of them.. Abrahm has one on Sunday and we will try to catch
him, then Kricket on Monday and Sherrie and Carter on Tuesday. This
is birthday week, we’ll do our best but everyone PLEASE know that we
remember you and we love you and will try to be by a phone at the
right hour to catch you when you aren’t in bed, at school, or gone
somewhere else celebrating your birthday’s. This 9 and 10 hour time
difference is difficult for phone calling.

We Love You ALL so very much and you are in our prayers daily.

Mom and Dad, Granny and PaPa Lynn, Lynn and Lorraine

Week #49 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family and Friends,
22 Jan 2011

Today is suppose to be our preparation day but the only thing that even looked like a preparation day is that Mom cleaned the house which she does some everyday and I vacuumed the carpets. Other than that we had the 6 missionaries that were transferred back into
Botswana as they had to leave last Wednesday because there 90 days was up. They each received three days on their passports and we need to try and get an additional 30 days this coming Monday. I hope we can because that will take them to the next regular transfer day. Today is another special day as we have served on this mission for 11 months day. I hope and pray that Lord will except the five years we served in the Idaho Pocatello Mission as the executive secretary to two mission presidents and then served in Ukraine for two years while the mission was split and served under two mission presidents as a councilor to the last one for a year. Now we are serving this 18 month mission here in Botswana in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission as a councilor for over a year of that time. We love to serve and I do not regret any of our service we have given in any of these missions. It will be 8 ½ years all in all covering the span of 10 years from August 2001 through August 2011. We took 9 days between the Idaho Pocatello Mission and Ukraine and then about 1 ½ years between Ukraine and here in Botswana. It is very difficult for me to say but I hope the Lord will except our time served as we are planning to do other things when we get home. Meaning to serve Him in whatever capacity He calls us to do back on the home front.

This is now Sunday afternoon and I almost feel like blotting out the last part of the paragraph that I just finished but it is how we feel so I guess I will leave it. We went to G-West 1st ward today as it is their ward conference. It was really good and our stake president that comes out of Johannesburg a lot for meetings here in Botswana is a great and wonderful man and so are his two councilors. We are trying to study and catch up on some bookwork this afternoon and keep the Sabbath day Holy. We are going to take the group that came into Botswana on the 1st of December to Lobatse and have them apply for their residence permits there as they have a different committee so perhaps we can get them. It is a new immigration office for us so I hope all goes well for us. It wouldn’t hurt for some extra prayers in behalf of things going well.

Mom and I are healthy and still love to work hard. We go to bed each night between 10:00 and 10:30 almost every night and sleep pretty well. We wake up between 5:00 and 5:30 so we get up and do some exercise, get ready for the day and study the scriptures and then dive into whatever we have planned for the day. Sometimes we head for the bank or take a care in for repair or head out of town to do an apartment inspection or whatever. We love the opportunity to serve together. We get brain storms and talk about them and in some cases we talk to President Poulsen and he says to go ahead with what we have prayed and talked about. He tells me almost every time that I am his councilor and he relies on me a lot. It is fun to have him as our mission president. I hope I will always be able to comply with the Spirit and offer him good council. We are changing a missionary who is serving as branch president in Kanye and he is probably leaving next week and I suggested that he send his replacement up a couple days early to learn things relating to the branch and he loved the idea. Things are always in an uproar here in Botswana because of the immigration office of the border officers but we deal with them the
best we can.

While making a decision as to what border we were going to have our 6 emergency missionaries come back in through Mom and I went out the Mochudi border gate to check the dirt road between that gate and the Tlokweng border. We decided that the road was impassible for a car. We were glad we barrowed the bakki (pickup) from the zone leaders and it made it fine but a car wouldn’t have made it. The road follows the Madikwe game reserve fence for about 30 kilometers and we saw several Kudu, a wildebeest, and an elephant. So it was a good day.

Well I am about all written out so I will close with a Happy Birthday to Bryce out youngest. I just thought as I was writing about driving along the Madikwe game reserve that each of you boys coming to visit us should bring a pair of binoculars. We don’t have any but on the game drive up in Kasane some had them and it was great to barrow them for more close up looks.

I will close with my usual comment. Love Out Of Botswana,

DAD and MOM

Week #48 - Papa Lynn ... Traditions

Dear Family and Friends, 16 Jan 2011

This is more like a journal entry for me to read in the future but it is very interesting, which is about funerals. In every country there are customs that have evolved from many years past and some develop in recent times as well. I have written about the weddings here in Botswana and the traditions that accompany them with the Labola which is common in most countries here in Africa. Because of it many couples just live together and don’t get married. The Labola is the price paid by the groom to the family of the bride to show that he loves her. It originally was set that you give cows to the family so that if anything happened to you and you couldn’t support their daughter the family would use the cows to support her. If they got divorced the family is suppose to give the Labola back to the daughter so she would have an income to live on. That has all changed and the family and I mean the extended families all take of the Labola as personal income and use it how they like and none is ever returned to the bride even if her husband dies or divorces her. Many single men cannot afford to get married so many live as couples never married.

There is several types of marriage here in these countries (of course we speak mostly of Botswana because that is where we are serving) one is when they place their banns or intentions to be married in a public place for three weeks so all can see and even object if they would like to. If anyone objects it will go before the magistrate judge to decide if the objection is justifiable or not. Legally after the 3 weeks of the banns when they pick up the papers they are married (1^st marriage). If they so desire which most do the magistrate court will council them and perform a marriage (2^nd marriage). Those that have a religion they prefer will be married by their minister or Bishop in the case of our church (3^rd marriage). And after all this is worthy the couple will go to the temple within a short period of time and be married for time and all eternity (4^th marriage). We have a couple that we have had a hand in activating the man back into full fellowship in the church (Kgosi) and his bride Maipelo have placed their banns and will soon (about the 25^th pick them up and be legally married but custom is having them have the magistrate marriage as well. Then on the 29^th they will be married by Bishop Matswagothata and then because the temple is being closed for improvements they will wait until the 15^th of February to have the 4^th and most important marriage. We will be at the magistrate wedding, church wedding, and they have asked Mom and I to be their escorts for the Temple Wedding.

Now back to the funeral traditions that Bishop Matswagothata said is a fairly recent or a new tradition. Rather than take cookies, cakes, and a meal in to help the family of the deceased it is almost the opposite here. Yes the neighbors and family come in to console the family but they stay all day and come back every day until the funeral, which is usually a week after the death. They stay for at least two meals each day and just set in the yard, porch or wherever and visit and then they eat the meal that the family provides. I mean the family pays for it and they fix it and the funeral guests just eat it. Bishop Matswagothata said if they don’t like beef they will ask for chicken or goat and expect it. This family that is having the funeral of a 27 year old return missionary is very poor and they are already in some debt and the income from the 27 year old recently returned missionary was going to help the family eventually get out of debt but he just got a job a few weeks back and doesn’t even have a pay check yet. This family because of tradition will have to borrow money not only for the funeral expenses but also for feeding the neighbors and extended family for a week. This just about makes my blood boil but of course I can’t say or do anything about it. Bishop Matswagothata is very opposed to this tradition and rightfully so.

How grateful I am for our founding forefathers that broke free from the traditions of the world and came to America and we a free people are not bound by these traditions. I am sure we have some and many of them are good traditions but I hope we have the foresight to turn loose of those that are for the benefit of man only. Let’s look and see if we are creating a burden on anyone as a culture or someone individually and if we are let us have the gumption to make the changes needed. Some traditions are great if they are uplifting and are beneficial to others and ourselves then we need to look at them and make sure they are not selfish just for our own benefit.

I can fully understand Elder Oaks talk in the regional conference that was given to all of Africa when he spoke firmly about traditions such as the Labola. He is speaking for the generations past and the generations yet to come.

Maybe I got carried away today but this is the things that are in my heart and I haven’t even mentioned the immigration department and I best stay away from this subject as I will be writing about it next week as things are coming up again.

With Love Out Of Botswana,

DAD and MOM

Week #48 - Granny

We had a very busy transfer week and we received 11 new Elders. Dad is so busy on this week that I just try to be a support to him and remind him of things that need to be done each day. He has forms, forms, and more forms to fill out and try to remember which Missionaries need which, depending on which Country they come from and that also determines which Immigration Office they must report to. Transfer day has been moved up to Tuesday so late Tuesday night they arrived and we had Super Spuds ready about 10:30 PM when they got in. They are an awesome group of young men and we are so happy to have them arrive safe and all get through the border with 90 Days stamped in their passports. That gives us time to try to get their Residence Permits. The next day was spent at Immigration, but JoBurg forgot to send us one paper they needed for their application, so all of them were refused on Wednesday; they had to stay in Gaborone for an extra day instead of going to their areas so we fed everyone again and they spent the night with other Elders. The next day we went through the whole process again and they got their applications in by about 3:30 in the afternoon (about 5 ½ hours).

The rest of the sad story is that we are probably loosing another 6 missionaries this week as they cannot get Residency after their 90 days in the Country. The Immigration has decided not to process any Permits until they do a thorough investigation into all of the Churches in Gaborone as some of them send people into the country as volunteers and then they get jobs here and take money out of the country. Because some of them are working dishonestly, all of us must suffer. We are very concerned as we just got 11 new Elders and within 10 days we could have to send out 7 more and have them replaced with brand new missionaries. Soon we won’t have any missionaries that know the Areas and we are trying soooooooooo hard to do extra work with our investigators to help Botswana become a Stake. We know that Satan doesn’t want this to happen and he is working “overtime” to see to it that our missionary work is cripples. We are having a special fast tomorrow for all of our Botswana Missionaries and pray that we can find a way to not lose this next group. We are going to try to send them out of the country on Wednesday, the last day they can be here legally, and then hold them in South Africa for 3 days and have Joseph from the Area Office try bringing them back into the country and see if they can get their passports stamped for another 90 days. We’ve heard that once in a while it works, but Dad and I are afraid that 7 Missionaries are pretty conspicuous coming through the border and we are really afraid it won’t work. We don’t want to be negative, and we do have faith, but I think we are getting really tired and don’t know what to do next. President Poulsen is sending us more and more missionaries all the time as Botswana is really having more success than most of the areas in our mission. Just shortly before we came into the Mission, there were 16 Missionaries in Botswana, now there are 40 Elders and Sisters plus 2 couples and he plans to give us 4 more next transfer. Right now we have to trade them out every 90 days so it is a lot of coming and going and a lot of work to try to keep them longer, but we will keep trying. Occasionally one of our Missionaries get’s his Residency Permit so we actually have 4 Sisters and 4 Elders that have their Permits and will be able to stay in Botswana as long as President wants to keep them here. But that’s not very many when we are trying to keep 40 Plus missionaries up here working. We’ll keep you posted and please keep us in your prayers this week as we really need lots of faith and prayers in our behalf. Wednesday they go out and Saturday Joseph will try to bring them back in. If it doesn’t work, they will have to return to Joburg that same day and President will have to quickly send us 7 new Missionaries to take their place. CRAZY!!!

You’d probably like to hear about something besides Immigration, but that’s about all we have done this week. It seems like it does engulf most of our time lately, but we do still visit a different Branch each week for church. We will go to Mochudi Sunday; they meet in a school and it’s not the best of circumstances as they have to haul in their lesson books, song books, sound system, keyboard, nursery toys, and etc, each week and haul them out again after church. We are trying to get a closet somewhere there that we can leave some things in, but so far they haven’t found any place they will let us use and lock our own things up in. We’re hoping tomorrow when we visit we can help the Branch President and the Missionaries work a few things out better so it isn’t so hard. Mochudi is about 45 minutes North and they have about 60-80 people attend each week. They have only been a branch for about a year now and seem to have a lot of baptisms, but have a retention problem that we hope will improve. They have 4 Missionaries serving there and they are losing 2 of them this week with the Immigration situation and 1 of them just arrived on Tuesday so that doesn’t leave much Missionary experience for the area, but we told the ones leaving to work really hard and make sure our new Elder knows the Area as much as possible and where the investigators live. They share one car and 2 bikes and it’s a huge area out in the country with lots of dirt roads and little huts around. We like Mochudi and they have a great Branch President.

We had a group of members and 4 Missionaries from Kanye (about 1 ½ hours West) go to the temple in Johannesburg today. They have to take a Combi (Public Transport) and it cost each person about $30 to make the trip and it is very hard for them to come up with that much money. They were all going down to Baptism’s for the Dead as none of them have been members long enough to go for their own endowments. Kanye has only been a branch sin last February, but they now have over 100 members. Anyway, the Missionaries went in a car and somehow they got separated from the Combi in the Joburg traffic and nobody’s cell phones would work to contact each other as the phone system is different in Botswana when you cross the border into South Africa. The Elders called us and we spent an hour on the phone trying to contact everyone we could think of that might be able to help find them, but eventually we told the Elders to just go to the temple and hopefully someone of the Combi would be able to stop and ask for directions to the LDS Temple. We all could only visualize who in the world they might be able to find on the streets of Joburg that could direct them to the temple, but we all prayed and prayed that they would be able to find it and that all of their time and money wouldn’t be in vain. About an hour later we checked with the Missionaries again and the Combi had arrived and they were rushing into the temple as they were late for their appointment and the temple had kept the baptistery open for them as it was past closing time. We still haven’t heard the results as to how they found the temple and who helped them (other than the Holy Ghost) but they did make it and they were able to complete their temple session. We’ll get all the details from the Missionaries in the morning as it will be really late when they get back in the border tonight.

Life is interesting here and there is never a dull moment. We have Missionaries coming and going from our home and office every day and we love it. We get to know they very closely and we love every one of them. We feel that we have the best calling in the mission and Dad feels that President Poulsen trusts him completely to run this end of the mission. Dad has to make so many BIG decisions every day and he does such a good job. The Missionaries come to him about everything and he handles every situation with care and prayer and does an excellent job. We’ve had a sick Sister Missionary this past week. She had trouble with her back and we took her to the Doctor and the Doctor gave her some pain medication and some muscle relaxers on Friday. By Sunday night she was in the hospital emergency room with extreme pain and could hardly get in or out of their car. We were in the ER with her until 2 AM and they finally released her and changed her medication and said basically the same thing as the Doctor had said that she just had a pulled muscle. To make a long story short, she was so sleepy that night and the next day that she scared me and she didn’t know anyone, didn’t know where she was and just kept sleeping. I told her companion to cut the medicine in half which she did and she still kept sleeping and didn’t know anyone or couldn’t even walk. We took all of her medication away and only gave her Tylenol. I called the Area Doctor in JoBurg and the Mission President and reported her condition and the Doctor told us to not give her anything unless she was laying on the ground pounding her head for some pain medicine. It took until Friday, but she finally started coming out of it and yesterday she was actually acting like herself again. We took her and her companion out to dinner and spent a little time with her and she is feeling much better. She says she still has a “heavy head” and her speech is a little slow, but she is so much better. She is from Uganda and probably never had any medication before and believe me, we won’t be giving her anything ever again. So, as you can see, we’ve had a very full and eventful week. Today, we just did some delivering of fans, toasters, dishes, extra silverware and weed whackers, and etc. that the missionaries had asked for. Two of the Flats had previously housed 2 Missionaries and now they will be having 4 in them so more items were needed. It was actually nice to just get in the car and drive around to some of their flats and deliver and have a “no stress” day. Tomorrow will be relaxing just going to church and then we have our Sunday with the YSA coming to our house (approximately 50 of them) to play games and have ice cream and then Monday it all hits again. Pray for us this week, we will need it and we know that our Heavenly Father is in charge and this is His work we are trying to do. We just want to do what He wants done, we just need to figure out exactly what that is.

We love all of you and we really need e-mails to keep us going right now. Sometimes, that is the only bit of good news we get in a day and it sure is nice to hear from you. We are so proud of you and we pray for you always. Take care of our Grandkids! We miss you ALL.

Love from Botswana.

Mom and Dad, Granny and PaPa Lynn, Lynn and Lorraine

Week # 47 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family and Friends,

I thought before the week end hits with coming up transfers I would drop a line and tell of a couple of things that have happened this week. Let me start off with our Master Card fleet cards that have been turned off. When they were started back in the last week of September 2010 I was told that it should be me that runs the review of each purchase on the paymentnet account. I agreed to do so and tried to get into the program many different times and each time I would write a letter to our local Johannesburg gal in the finance department with a copy to Salt Lake. I never got any answers as how to go into the account in paymentnet to review the charges. Well the 30^th of December they cut us off and no one could purchase petrol. I made a couple of phone calls to a few people and they reinstated all of them until the 21^st of January. In the mean time they have set me up and I have gone back and review enough that we are in good standing at the present time and I think we will be changing to Visa Cards because almost all the cards come through with between 5 and 9.5 percent added to each purchase and my Visa Card that is a church card never has any amount added. So Salt Lake and I think it is the Master Card as some stations don’t even want to take it and some of our missionaries can’t purchase petrol with it. So Salt Lake has written to me a couple days ago and they are getting each of us a new Visa Card.

Now about this past Monday we spent most of the day in Serowe or at least close to Serowe. We went to the Rhino Sanctuary just out of Serowe. I hope to send some pictures attached. President Poulsen is a great man and realizes that we work very hard. He want us to be able to relax a little when we can and Elder and Sister Cardiff from Francistown have been asking us to come and meet them at Serowe and go to this game park. We didn’t think we would ever have time but because things were a little slower between Christmas and New Years we had a chance to get caught up on everything so when they asked again we took them up on it. We were only gone from about 11:00 AM and got back a little after 9:30 PM that same day. It rained like crazy the last half hour just before we got to the game reserve and then it rained really hard for the next 45 minutes. We decided to wait it out because we had traveled for about 3 hours getting there. We are glad we did as we saw lots of Rhino the most that the Cardiff’s have ever seen there. We saw giraffes, warthogs, impala, wildebeests, zebras, water buck and many other animals. It was a great day.

On Wednesday we were rewarded greatly. A couple months back we taught with the sisters a man that had been baptized about 10 years before but was inactive. I think he wanted to come back to the foal but just couldn’t commit at that point. Well as I was studying I got a phone call and I didn’t recognize the phone number but I answered and he said his name was Ishmael and he was coming back had a question about tithing. He wanted to know if he should pay on his wages or on his gross wages. This phone call is all a great indication that he is serious about coming back to church.

We went to Lobatse today and had good meetings. Mom and I spoke and Mom did a great job and took about 10 minutes. There was about 20 minutes left and I was able to talk on different items and tie it all together, it was perhaps my best talk so far.

I love to serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and I pray many times each day that what I do is in his favor. I pray for the Holy Ghost to be a constant guide to me and Mom and I pray it is in each of your lives as well. We are all working hard to be a family and live with our Father and Mother in Heaven once again. May the blessings of the Lord be with each of you.

LOVE OUT OF BOTSWANA, DAD and MOM

Week #46 - Granny

Happy New Year to ALL from Botswana!

I have to say we are happy to see the holiday’s behind us. Missionary work really struggles during the holidays and the Missionaries have to spend a lot of time in their flats and I think they are all getting “stir crazy”. They can’t bother member families on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day unless they have been invited to be in their homes. Also, on New Years Eve they were to be in by 6 PM and keep a low profile all New Years Day, being in again by 6 PM and their suggested activities were to Clean their flat, do their laundry, study the scriptures and from the Preach My Gospel or write letters. Since we are considered “members”, they have loved the open invitation to drop in on us when things are toooooo slow. Lots of people go to their home villages so the town is pretty slow right now and attendance at church has been really low. Some grocery stores are open, but most businesses closed around the 20^th of December and they haven’t opened back up yet. I think we’ll all be happy to get back to Normal Life in Botswana and hopefully the work will pick back up again so we can work hard on our goal of making Botswana a Stake by June 26, 2011.

We’ve had another emergency transfer as we still haven’t gotten the Immigration thing worked out. We had 5 more Missionaries that President had to take back to South Africa and this time he replaced them with some local ward (and Branch) missionaries. The local Bishop’s here furnished the names, President Poulsen issued the call, and the rest was up to Dad. President just sent an e-mail telling him that he would receive a call from Bishop Thebe and Bishop Matswagothata giving him the names of 5 young men who would serve and then he could plan the Transfer meeting and pray about which one to assign to serve where and that it was all up to him. Dad took over (this was on Tuesday) and by Thursday evening the transfer meeting was all planned and the departing missionaries came into Gab’s alone with the new missionaries and we held a transfer meeting, gave out the assignments, instructed them from the white handbook about a few Missionary rules and then we started delivering them to their new assigned areas. We drove two of them to Molepolole (about 1 hour away) and the other 3 were taken by their new companions and the departing missionaries spent the night with the Zone Leaders awaiting their bus ride back to South Africa Friday morning at 6 AM.

We met the departing missionaries at 6 AM at the bus station, gave them a sack lunch containing some banana bread, fruit, and juice that would last them until they get to Johannesburg which is about a 5 or 6 hour bus ride. They had to weigh their luggage and we paid all their weight charges as they can’t take much on the bus without paying extra, but all of that went pretty well and they were soon on their way. Less than an hour later, however, we received a phone call from Elder Kolonji (From The Democratic Republic of Congo) who was stuck at the border and they wouldn’t let him through. They said he didn’t have something right in his Passport and we actually knew that but had already struggled with Immigration over this issue and they said he had the stamp that he needed. But………………after 2 hours of working with the authorities at the Border, they accepted our 500 Pula “bribe” or whatever, and they finally let him through. We made an emergency trip to the Border and did the necessary paperwork, the “please” and “thank-you’s” to all the right people and they finally let him through. He had to take the paper work and make a mad dash to the South African side and luckily the bus had even waiting for him. We were sure they wouldn’t wait at all, but we kept calling to some lady with a cell phone and she kept our missionaries and the bus driver in touch with us and the bus driver cooperated and waited until he got through. We collect all the cell phones before they leave on any transfers’ but I think we are going to have to re-think that and get an emergency travel phone because our transfers never seem to go quite as planned and then we have no way to communicate with our missionaries. Once they reach the border, the phones don’t work anyway, but dad has finally been given permission to put roaming on their phones even though some of the “powers that be” don’t think it’s necessary. Lots of unnecessary things are necessary in Botswana! We can’t seem to stay one step ahead of the problems; they come at us faster than we can catch them; but we are learning! We are humbled each day as we keep trying to do the work of the Lord in Botswana. We know that he wants the Missionaries here and for the work to go forward and we will continue to fast and pray that we can do His will and keep the church legal in Botswana. We feel His help every day and we just need to get better as listening and reacting faster. We actually had talked about Elder Kolonji having trouble getting through the border, but we dismissed it as “we just worry too much” and we should have followed the bus to the border and been there when he arrived instead of the missionaries all having to pitch in and come up with the 500 Pula before we got there to even start the paper work for him to get through. By the time we got there, they were all on the South African side (except Elder Kolonji) and we couldn’t talk to them or get them their money back, but we called ahead to the office in Johannesburg and ask them to have the money to repay each of them that had contributed with their allotment money. We’ve just got to learn to listen to the Still Small Voice and react accordlingly. We will do better! We’ve fasted and prayed today for Heavenly Father to help us learn to do His will and we ask that all of you fast and pray for us each month so we can do ALL that we are required to do here. I constantly ask my Heavenly Father each day “Am I doing all that you want me to do here?”

We loved getting to talk to most of you on Christmas. We had lots of Missionaries here calling home and it was a happy time in the mission. We hope each of you are prepared for a wonderful New Year and that the blessing will be even stronger in your homes this year than they have in the past. We are blessed to have the Priesthood of God in every one of our homes. We are blessed by ancestors who were strong and struggled so that we could have all the blessings of the gospel in our lives, every day of our lives. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and we are so blessed to have it in our lives. We are so blessed to be lead by a Prophet of God who talks with our Heavenly Father and knows the things that we need to know to bring our families back to live Eternally with our Heavenly Father. WE have local leaders who also are lead and guided to know what each of our families need and who serve us with all of their hearts. As we support and sustain our local leaders, Heavenly Father can bless us even more with constant information that will keep us in touch with The Spirit. When we study the scriptures individually and as families, we are PROMISED that our families will be righteous and will stay close to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that our children will testimonies that will help them to hold fast to the iron rod. We pray for each and every one of you every day and we know that our Heavenly Father is blessing you and watching out for you for us while we are gone. We miss you, We love you and you are our greatest blessing. WE are so thankful for each of you and your goodness and your example to each other. Enjoy the New Year; keep the commandments and be worthy of all of the Promised Blessings and “Let There Be No Empty Seats In Our Heavenly Home.” We’ll be home with you in 2011; and we will be trying to thank our Heavenly Father for all of His blessings by doing our very best work until then!!! BE SAFE

All Our Love!!!

Mom and Dad, Granny & PaPa Lynn, Lynn & Lorraine