Week #64 - Granny

Hello to ALL!!!

This has been a good week, but a hard week.  We got Mariah back with us and we have missed her.  She is definitely a strong spirit and a sweet girl; but she is definitely 18 and it’s been a while since we’ve had to deal with that.  She is doing good though and trying to make good decisions; but the school thing in Gabs is just not working as we have all exhausted our resources for finding her a place to stay here so she is going with her 2^nd choice to go to school in Kanye and “we hope” stay with a 23 year old new member girl (Dorothy) from the Branch.  They don’t know each other too well, but I had gotten to know her through training and visiting their Branch and I asked her if she knew anywhere for Mariah to stay and she thought Mariah could stay at her place.  She said he mom agreed and we thought all was well, but an Uncle passed away this weekend and today they were doing the “funeral thing” which in Botswana take a week of having people camp out at your house while you feed and entertain them and pay for everything.  We did stop today after church and pay our respects and the mother said she was too tired to visit with us today, but we could come back on Tuesday.  We told her that was fine as we had just wanted to meet her and we would come back later to talk about Mariah staying with them for the next 8 months while she went to school.  Dorothy is going to the school part time, but she also got a job working there so they could go to school together and walk to and from as her house is close to the school.  So, we’re still in limbo, but please help us pray that things will work out there as it seems to be our ONLY CHOICE at this point.  We had to leave Mariah in Kanye today so we took her to the Elders to change out of her nice clothes and she went through her suitcases and just took a couple of every day outfits to keep with her and asked us to keep all the rest of her stuff  with us until we come back on Tuesday.  This week will be crazy as we have the President and Sister Poulsen coming to town on Tuesday evening for Zone Conference on Wednesday and the Riser’s from Francistown arriving Tuesday to stay with us for two nights so this situation with Mariah is getting critical and we have to get it worked out.  She did get to take a Career Work Shop here this week so that helped fill her time.

On our trip to Kanye today we did the usual (count donkeys)  and we got 187 just on the way there.  On the way home I got to noticing all the things that are different from home and tried to remember what I haven’t mentioned already.  I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned the piles of wood along side of the road that people gather up and sell for winter heat and cooking during the cold season.  Lots of people are gather this time of year and today we saw several ladies with stacks of wood piled on their head and some of them just walk along without even holding on to it.  It is basically just tree limbs and old dead branches from all of the trees and bushes that are thick along the roads on both sides.  Sometimes so thick that we can’t even see the goats, cows and donkeys. 

Then I thought of something I haven’t even talked about and that is all of the little old Grandma’s wear dresses and they walk along the roads with their shawls and their heads wrapped with bandanas and they tried to flag down cars to give them rides.  Not just a few of them, but lots, everywhere; that is how they get around I guess.  Sometimes there will be 3 or 4 of them together and a pick-up with stop to give them a ride and they all just climb in and away they go.  People are really good to stop and give other people rides; it always makes me wonder if they are really as safe as they seem.  Men, Women, children, young guys, young girls, they all seem to be out flagging down rides and they just jump in with whomever stops and offers.  I think in Botswana your children could disappear and you’d never know where they went.  There are bus stops along the roads to the villages, and the people congregate there and when a car or truck stops, they all run to see who can get in first.  I guess if they don’t get a ride before the bus comes, them they get on the bus; but it’s much cheaper if they can get a free ride.  I don’t know, maybe they give the guy with the car a little Pula for gas????/ Never tried it; just don’t know!

And then last night we had about 10 -12 of our YSA come over to just “hang out” and they got a real good conversation on dating and what is a “real date” in Botswana.  Lynn and I tried joining in on the conversation and definitely found out that we are either “too old” or from a  “foreign country” to take part in the conversation so we just fixed them ice cream and cake and listened.  At some point they were all talked Tswana loud and laughing and we couldn’t tell if they were speaking Tswana because they were more comfortable speaking in their native tongue or if they just didn’t want us to know what they were saying.  They just kept laughing and some of them tried to explain what the conversation was about, but we just said “go ahead and enjoy yourselves and get everything worked out.”  Soon it was time for them to go and they started figuring out who need to take which Kombi to be home and tried to make it so no one was traveling far alone and I guess that’s how they make life happen in Botswana.  It’s no wonder they can’t date; no one has cars or money so they just love to come over and talk at our place.  They hugged us and thanked us so much for letting them come over and said they had really enjoyed the evening and wished they could do it more often.  We assumed they had enjoyed themselves and we’ll have to consider doing it again.  I wished I could have turned on a tape recorder when they were speaking their Tswana; you would be amazed if you could hear how fast they talk and how unrecognizable any word is at all.  At one point, I just had to say “Can any of you actually understand what each other are saying?” It was fun & we really love them.

And then there is today, Mother’s Day!  As I said before, we spent the day in Kanye and just got home about 5 O’clock in time for some of the missionaries to come over and call their mom’s.  That’s when we really get in on the languages and the laughing from country to country.  We had Sister Chirchir from Kenya come and call her mom and her Native tongue is Swahili when she talks to her mom and another dialect from Kenya when she speaks to her dad.  I found myself wonderful how she could talk all of those languages and she knows English so well and she is also picking up the Tswana better than most of the Sisters.  We have French speakers from Madagascar and New Zealand, Elders from Swaziland,  Uganda, Kenya, Australia, South Africa, a few from Zimbabwe and one from Ireland.  I doubt if I remembered everyone, but that is mostly the countries represented here as well as several from the United States.  We’re quite a colorful mission and it’s fun to get to know and love them all. 

Along the food line, I have to mention that I actually found some Heinz Cream of Chicken Soup this week but it was almost $3 per can.  I did splurge and buy two cans and made some Chicken Enchiladas for President and Sister Poulsen when they came to town.  Also, we have started finding Ketchup instead of Tomato Sauce and it taste really good.  The Tomato Sauce is quite light colored and a little runny and not too much flavor.  It costs about $2 a bottle instead of $1 like at home, but it’s totally worth it.  I also found a ham a couple of weeks ago; I’m sure they were just shipped in for Easter as they were very expensive and we bought one and wished we had bought another one, but already I can’t find them in the stores again.  I guess that’s our one and only ham for our duration here, but it sure was good.  I found Tortilla Chips also and they were $8 for a very small bag.

We have more people coming yet tonight to use the phone so I’m going to close and visit with the companions while the others make their calls.  It’s a great place to be serving the Lord and we are happy.  Someone please tell the Bowcutt’s that we are happy for them and their call to serve in the office in California.  I’m sure they will love it and will do an amazing job and be a great asset to some President.  Our president leaves on the 29^th of July and we will get our new President Omer.  We will probably only meet him the first time he comes to Botswana and then we will have to train another couple to work with him.  We will do our best and leave things in the best shape we can.  We are working hard and want you to know that we love the Lord and we are grateful to our Heavenly Father for ALL of His blessings in our life.  We count you as our greatest blessings and are grateful for your example to us.  Please know that we love each other and we are very happy serving here.  It is a great time to be in Botswana and we are still working very hard to become a Stake.  Maps are being prepared for some divisions that would let it all happen so it’s getting close, but probably not close enough for us to see. 

LOVE,  MOM AND DAD , Grannie & PaPa Lynn, Lynn and Lorraine

Week #63 - Papa Lynn

This is my week to write so I thought I would get it started a little early.  Last Saturday we went to Mafikeng to spend the night and go to church on Sunday.  We had a meal Saturday evening that Mom took down, meatloaf, baked potatoes and wacky cake.  They loved it and this always makes Mom happy.  We did a flat inspection while there.  President Poulsen was there three days earlier so the flat look nice.  We stayed in a place called the Get Away about two blocks from the flat.  All in all it was a good time to go there.  We were a little nervous about the border because we have heard that the government employees are on strike.  We didn’t see any of this in fact we got through going and coming easier than usual.  It is about a 20 minute drive between the border and the town of Mafikeng and once before going down we say a black mamba snake crossing the road and by the time we got stopped to take a picture it has crawled off into the grassy edge of the road.  We got a picture but no a good one.  This last Saturday we saw four giraffe out in a big field that had a big fence around it so it must have been some kind of game reserve.

                This week has been a little more of a slowdown as President and Sister Poulsen were here last Friday for him to do interviews.  Then Friday afternoon they flew to Francistown leaving there care here at the airport.  They went to Francistown and Kasane another 5 hours farther with the Risers and had a family home evening Monday night then drove back to Francistown and flew back here to Gaborone on Tuesday evening.  They arrived late and tired so we didn’t even see them.  They left about 7:00 the next morning from the hotel so again we didn’t see them.  I have a presidency meeting by phone at 3:00 this afternoon so we will get the results of their traveling.

                We have spent a little time this week in trying to find a school for Mariah to go to.  After not coming up with any good schools that could help her we didn’t know what to do.  Later that same evening Melissa and Mariah called us on skype and Mariah wants to go to the GIPS school which she signed up for before she left.  I think she will most likely go here in Gaborone instead of Kanye which will be lots better for her.  It will keep her away from her family which isn’t good for her. They leech off of her every time they see her, especially after she has spent time with us.  They ask her for money and anything else that they think she has.  We are always careful not to give her money or anything but sometimes when she takes a bus back to Kanye we help her with a ticket and what is left over they ask for.  It is very sad because Mom and I know as you do that family is so important and it is fun to get together and just have a good time.  Her family doesn’t work (she has an aunt that has a job in a chicken factory) and she must provide for most of them.  As hard as I try I can’t understand how her family functions.  Mariah says there is no love in her family at all and they hate each other and they don’t share a thing.  Well enough about Mariah’s family she is coming home Friday night about 8:35 and we will pick her up and have her stay the night then of Saturday Mom and I are doing some leadership training in Kanye and while we are doing that she will visit her family and come down to the church when she is done and join us and then come back to Gaborone with us so we can go to the YSA ward the next day.  We are doing all we can to find her some place to stay here in Gaborone to keep her out of Kanye.

                Last Saturday on the way down to Mafikeng we stopped in Lobatse and I had a second interview with a lady by the name of Sophia that was baptized two days later in their branch.  Tomorrow we travel to Mochudi and I have two interviews that are second interviews that if they doing well they will be baptized this coming Sunday. I will close for now and write more later.

                This is now Sunday the 1^st day of May and it was just last Friday that we picked up Mariah at the Botswana airport.  We were concerned that the Atlanta to Johannesburg flight might not give enough time to catch the one to Botswana, but she showed up when we went out to the airport to pick her up.  We had a nice visit that night and we all went to bed.  I set the alarm so she could use the bathroom and the missionary office but told her not to go out of the hall door that would be locked.  The next morning after both Mom and I had a good night’s sleep we found out Mariah didn’t sleep very well at all.  The next day which was Saturday Mom and I had a training meeting up in Kanye.  Elder Oketa one of our full time missionaries serving as the branch president had more than 90% of his leadership for the branch there at the meeting. The plan was to take Mariah to Kanye to visit with her family and we would do the leadership training and then he would walk down to the church at 2:30 to 3:00 so we could bring her back with us to Gaborone.  All went wonderful at the meeting but 3:30 came and still Mariah hadn’t called or come to the church.  Finally at 4:00 we had to leave so we went up to her grandma’s place and she wasn’t there.  Finally two young girls about 10 and 11 years old said they could take us to find Mariah.  She was at a wedding with several of her friends and when we saw her she said I’m ready now.  Then she walked away.  I holler to her and she said in a minute.  I was parked in the middle of the street so I had to move and so Mom and one of the four Gaborone that helped in the training walked back the couple hundred yards and found her again.

                Much to my surprise she told Mom that her Mother was sick and she wanted to go see her and two of her friends wanted to go as well.  We found out it was a long way away in the opposite direction so Mom told her that she would have to get there on her own.  We had planned to have Mariah go with us to the Young Singles Ward this morning but she didn’t show up.  She send us a text message on a friends phone this morning and said she wouldn’t be able to make it home in time to go to the YSA ward.  We text her back and said tomorrow is a holiday so just plan to stay with your family and come home Tuesday and we would see what we can help with.

                We have been worried and prayed about what schooling she needed like redoing her Form 5, or going on with the program that she signed up for in Kanye or have her take a class offered here in Gaborone with the same company.  We have worried and prayed about where she would live either here in Gaborone, or in Kanye with a friend or with her family.  It seems that everything blew up in that few minutes when she decided to go and see her mother.  I was very frustrated and when we were on the way home it didn’t take long for us to just decide to let Mariah do her own thing.  We will help and offer advice where and when we can but we are backing way off and letting her do her own thing.  I think she learned some independence in the States and she wants that same freedom here.  After all she is almost 19 years old and can make decisions on her own.

                This is not meant to be cruel or uncaring but we must face reality and need to back off.  Again we will keep the family informed as to what she is planning but for now we just don’t know.  We have to much missionary work to do to baby set someone that doesn’t want help.  We will see. The Gospel is true but the people in it make it difficult.  I love serving and we feel we make head way each day but sometimes we get to take a couple steps backward.  Usually we can only blame ourselves.  We did what we felt was under the direction of the Lord.  We felt good about doing all for Mariah because that is what she wanted.  She wanted to have her baby adopted by our family and she saw many miracles happen to have this happen.  We don’t owe Mariah anything for what has happened but we want to help her to make her life the way she wants it to be.  We will continue to help when she wants help but I don’t want to force anything on her.

                Tomorrow or Tuesday when she comes to see us all may be changed back to her wanting us to help.  We will see.

Love Out Of Botswana,

Dad and Mom

P.S. Braxton we can't open your letters.

Week #62 - Granny

Happy Easter!!!  The weather here is getting cooler and we are having lots of rain.  Sometimes it seems that it is raining buckets and we wonder if we should be building an Arc!  We were in Mafikeng South Africa last night as we had meetings with the Elders down there, and it rained so hard and the little roadside motel we stayed in had a tin roof and we were sure our car would have floated away by morning.  It was a really cute place and had lots of separate buildings and each of them had cute pictures painted on them of different African “people” scenes.  Some were cooking over an open pit, some with women carrying bundles or buckets on their heads, and some were of ladies doing their laundry by hand.  It was all done with bright colorful painting and as tall as the buildings; really cute and we took a few pictures.  I’ll see if Dad can send some.

Our Branch in Mafikeng is growing slowly, and our Missionaries are doing a great job there.  We usually have to help out with lessons there, and my challenge is always the Relief Society as the ladies get caught up with trying to tell each other “when they should read their scriptures” and “how to handle difficult family members who have not joined the church” and they all think there way is the only way and it ends up coming off “way judgmental” and authoritative.  Someone gets offended and then today I stood up and tried to explain that the Brethren teach us that we should study our scriptures and read with our families; they don’t try to tell us When; and what works in one home doesn’t always work in another.  I told them that through the years we had tried several different approaches to Family Scripture Study and that they would all be blessed for doing it the best they could and not to judge each other and feel that everyone has to do it the same.  Our Sunday School Teacher said that he hasn’t been there for the past two weeks because his son got stabbed and molested and that he had been struggling with his testimony since all of this happened.  Then he said he sat down and put together a Cross Word Puzzle of words from the scriptures and decided to come back to church and share it with everyone for his lesson today.  It was quite interesting and some of the words were spelled wrong, but he helped us all through it and helped us figure out which word went where as some of the numbers didn’t match up; but all in all he had a lot to say and hopefully felt better and soon the lesson time was gone.  The sad part about the whole day was the Counselor in the Relief Society wasn’t there today as her 14 year old son was shot last night and she was at the hospital with him.  She came at the end of meetings and I was able to visit with her and he is going to live, but will be in the hospital for a while with a lot of internal injuries.  It was a rough day in Mafikeng!

We had President and Sister Poulsen with us for a couple of days earlier this week as they came up to do interviews with all of our Elders and Sisters.  They do the interviews here at our place so it was very busy for Thursday evening and Friday and then they flew to Francistown for a couple of days and will return on Tuesday before driving back to JoBurg.  They have a very busy schedule and are trying to get all over the mission once more before they go home the end of June.  They have almost 200 missionaries and our mission is huge so it’s very hard for them to be everywhere they want to be.  They are great people and we have loved serving with them.  They always offer to take us out to dinner when they come, but their schedule is always so hectic and they always get here late and it’s time to do the interviews so it works better when we just have a nice dinner here after they finish their interviews on Thursday night.  President told Dad to set up a lunch out somewhere on Friday after all the interviews were done for them and us and our 8 Sisters.  However, we have 2 Sisters who are not getting along well at all (to put it mildly) and after he met with each of them twice, met with the other 2 sisters that share their apartment and then with the two of them again; there was no time and it was almost time to take them to the airport so I started grabbing things out of the refrigerator and we sat down with the 4 Sisters and the Poulsen’s and us and we had a nice lunch before they left.  The 2 Sisters still weren’t speaking so things may be pretty cool in their apartment this weekend.  We are going to try to get them involved in an Auxiliary training in another one of our Branches (Kanye) for this coming Saturday and see if we can’t warm things up a bit there.  They are both excellent Sister Missionaries; one from America and one from Uganda, but they are both stubborn and came out at the same time and we’ve been told that they didn’t like each other in the MTC and nothing has changed!  Hopefully we will be able to bring them together because President Poulsen is far away and he told Dad to take over and make them work it out because he’s not planning to change their companionship.  We only have 8 Sisters so there isn’t a lot of room to move them around when they all stay in Botswana for their entire 18 months.

Our wonderful friend and Bishop of our YSA ward called on Friday while we were in Molepolole and said he was in the hospital and asked Dad to come and give him a blessing.  He was having an Appendicitis attack and hoped he wouldn’t have to have surgery, but on Saturday morning they did have to do the surgery.  We visited him on Friday and again on Saturday and by then he was feeling much better and was released Saturday evening and still went to church for the whole block today.  He and his wife came over tonight with some friends that were visiting them from South Africa and we had a nice visit but I think he needs to go home and rest and he was looking pretty tired tonight.  While we were at the hospital, his counselor in the Bishopric’s wife (Brother Kalubhi)  had a new baby boy so we got to go downstairs to the Maturnity Ward and see Patience Kalubhi and her new little boy.  I’m not sure what they are going to name him yet, but he weighed about 5 ½ pounds and is certainly a beautiful little baby.

Easter Sunday didn’t seem to cause much of a stir at church, they did sing “He is Risen” for the closing song in Sacrament meeting, but otherwise nothing was mentioned about Easter.  We gave the Elder’s some peanuts and Candy eggs we found at the Grocery Store in Mafikeng last night before we went to their flat and did an inspection.  They had it nice and clean and they are 4 great Elders serving there.  We took a meatloaf and some baked potatoes (cooked them while we had meeting) and wacky cake and had dinner with them in their apartment after having a good District meeting with them and hearing about all the work they are doing in their area.  There was some candy and Easter Egg stuff out at the stores, but mostly toys and Easter Cloths; we think they must give more gifts at Easter time that we remember people doing at home.

Well, family, we are preparing for Mariah to return on Friday night.  We are praying that she can find somewhere to live as that seems to be the biggest thing to work around right now.  Please include her in your prayers on that one as it really determines where she can try to find work and where she can go to school.  It all has to be possible to get around on a Combi and not cost a fortune to travel to school and to work so until we know where she is staying, we can’t decide which school to try to get her enrolled in or where to try to help her find work.  This is all too hard for two old people and especially trying to do it all in-between our real job here, which is to be good missionaries.  Hopefully we are doing what Heavenly Father wants us to do and He will be able to helps us and bless us and guide us.  We love you all and we pray for you every day that you can keep your families close to the teachings of the gospel as it is the only way to true happiness in this life and in the life to come.  The Gospel is so true!  Life it with all of your hearts!

Have a great week and remember that we love you!

Dad and Mom, Grannie & PaPa Lynn, President & Sister Morgan

Week # 61 - Papa Lynn

      This letter will be a little different as my computer died on me and I haven’t been able to get it restored yet.  I was able to do a huge back up on it before it died so I am very grateful for that, and I hope I really did get it backed up.  I need some help to get the internet back up on it and because it was Friday and Saturday that it went down I will most likely have to wait until tomorrow or the next day.  I need constantly to be taught the principle of patience.  But I’m not really stressed out about this so maybe I am learning a little.  We have really had an unusual week as last Sunday we looked at the calendar and items that needed to be done and said to each other that this coming week should be really easy for a change.

            Last Thursday I called a lady from Lobatse Motors and was told we have 12 new cars that will replace every car here in Botswana all except the bakki (pickup that the zone leaders drive).   She needed some information from me so she could get the all registered with Botswana plates on each of them.  She indicated that it would be a couple of weeks.  Last Monday morning I called her to see if the information I gave to her was correct to get them registered.  She said it was correct and they have all of them done and the new plates are already on the cars.  She said they will be delivered in two days which was going to be Wednesday.  Wow, I wasn’t ready for that because I had to line up and get the old cars back from all over Botswana in twelve different directions.  Four in Francistown which was the ones I was most concerned about and then Kanye, Molepolole, Mochudi, Lobatse, and then those here in Gaborone.  I also needed to set up a time for us to take the old ones to South Africa or have them come and pick them up.  All the cars that were going out have South Africa plates and that is the reason for the change.  This makes our cars here in Botswana legal now as before they were suppose to only be in the country for 90 days just like Elders when they come in.

            I got on the phone and prepared to have everyone meet at the Broadhurst Chapel with their old car cleaned and full of gas at 2:00 that afternoon.  The new cars were delivered some on Tuesday afternoon and the rest was to be delivered by 2:00 Wednesday afternoon.  But Wednesday morning they said the cars wouldn’t be ready until 3:30 to 4:00 so I let Francistown come down and change their cars when they arrived so they could go back the same day to Francistown.  It was a long day for them but I did a little switching of what cars I planned to put where and it worked out great.  The others were called to come at 4:30 instead of 2:00 and it worked well for them as well.  In the parking lot we had a new car and a blank parking space then another new car and another blank space and when the elders or sisters come to change their car for a new one they parked right beside it and unloaded their trunk (boot) and other items into their new car and were on their way.  It was a long day for us as well but all went very well.  The new couple from Francistown stayed overnight with us and we went out to dinner and they even paid for it.  Every car except for the bakki is now a new car registered with a Botswana plate.  The bakki already had a Botswana plate.

            I don’t know if we ever mentioned that a missionary that has been serving in Ghana from here in Gaborone was accused along with his companion of having intimate relations with a 15 year old girl that was in the same housing compound as them.  They were taken to court and found guilty and sentenced to 7 and 8 years (why the difference we don’t know).  The church has appealed the case and after a long hard fought battle this past Thursday they have been found not guilty on all counts and today Elder Keeng arrived back here in Gaborone where we were asked to meet him at the airport.  His family and many friends were there and everyone is very relived to have him home again.  His father is a member but not active and lives up north in Botswana and is separated from the rest of the family.  The mother is not a member but has committed to be baptized by her returning son.  What a great thing to be a part of this and we have followed it from the beginning and our hearts have gone out to these two missionaries.  We have paused today in heartfelt prayers to thank our Father in Heaven for his tender mercies for these two missionaries.  They have been in prison for nearly 11 months and now are free as of this past Thursday and Elder Keeng is tonight home with his family.

            Just so you know this has been the weekend for General Conference here in Africa and we enjoyed ever session.  It was great to set at the feet of the Prophet and the twelve and be taught.  I love the Gospel and want to serve my Lord and Savior throughout my life in some capacity or another.  Our life here in Botswana is growing shorter every day.  We have less than 4 months left and we have lots to do before we can come home.  It is such a great blessing to serve with my great and loving wife.  She is the greatest and our missions together have made our bond to each other even stronger.  I hope each of you will have an opportunity to serve as couples in your lives as well.  Well I will close for now.

Love Out Of Botswana, Dad and Mom

Our Missionary in Ghana

We are so excited this morning as we will be going to the airport to meet our missionary that has been in prison in Ghana for at least 9 months.  I think you will remember almost a year ago he and another msisionary were accused of raping a 14 year old girl and they have been in prison ever since.  He was to return from his mission in August, but has been in prison all of this time.  The Brethren in Salt Lake and from our Area Office have been working tirelessly with much legal help sent into Ghana and they have finally been able to get them released.  He will return this morning to his non-member family and we have been invited to be at the airport with Bishop Matswagothata.  It is our Conference Weekend and we were able to view the Priesthood Session and the Saturday morning session last night.  We will probably miss most of the Saturday Afternoon session while we are at the airport this morning, but then we will join the Branches and wArd for the Sunday Sessions later today. 

We love you all and just wanted you to be able to share in our join and relief this morning and it has been a long several months.  He is actually from our YSA Ward and there will be much joy and rejoicing and giving of thanks to our Heavely Father for this day.

 

We Love You ALL

 

Mom and Dad

Weel # 60 - Granny

This week, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking of the things I will miss about Botswana.  Time is getting short and we are almost down to 4 months now and we are working extra hard to make sure we do EVERYTHING the Lord wants us to do while we are here.  We’ve fasted and prayed to know exactly whom we can help each day and we continually pray that the Lord will trust us to be an instrument in His hands as we work in His vineyard at this time.  We do want to make a difference for someone, but it usually feels a lot like we are just visiting Branches, contacting people and going through the motions each day of phone calls, paying bills, doing transfers, fixing cars, fixing bikes, cooking banana bread and wacky cakes and etc.   As we’ve been driving around this week, I started wondering if I’ve told you all about the things we see here that are different from home.  I decided to try to do that better.  Here are some things that I will miss seeing when we aren’t here any longer.  When the weeds along the sides of the roads grow tall (which they do as our growing season is all year long and we’ve had lots of rain lately.  Anyway, they hire crews of people to cut them down with “weed wackers” which are just a hand tool something like a scythe.  They work so close together that it looks like they will cut each other’s arms off if they aren’t careful and they work from 7 AM to 1 PM in the hot sun and get paid approximately $50 a month.   It’s amazing to see these crews of people even out in the country roads where the weeds are tall and the strip of weeds along the road is really wide with perhaps 25 people on each side of the road working.  I have to admit, sometimes they only have 5 or 6 tools and everyone is taking turns using the tools, but this isn’t always the case.  It’s the same when we see the crews sweeping streets in town, every 3rd or 4th person has a broom or dust pan and the rest stand around and watch.  It is amazing to watch them though, most of them are old ladies in dresses sweeping, stooping over with a piece of cardboard, or using a scoop shovel and the work goes on.  We’ve been told this is what the government does though instead of having a Welfare Program where people get money for nothing.  They can work for $50 a month and it isn’t much but it does keep them from starving and it keeps them working for what they get.  I will miss the huge termite hills that we see EVERYWHERE.  They are in the country in the middle of the fields, in the middle of people’s yard, and they don’t seem to knock them down; perhaps it’s bad luck we don’t know but they just stay there and keep getting bigger and bigger.  I will also miss seeing the endless Tire shops, the barber shops, the tuck shops (where they sell candy, fruit and whatever else you can think of) along the town roads, the country roads,  and every street corner.  They just set up a little stand on a old table anywhere they want and there are usually at least 3 or 4 right beside each other selling the same thing.  They think if someone else is successful on that corner, they will join them and sell the exactly same thing.  They are industrious though and I can’t imagine they make much money at it, but at least they are trying.  You would all be proud of me, I can drive quite nicely on the (right) actually the wrong side of the road now.  I think it will feel strange now to drive on the left side.  I’ve gotten use to watching over my right shoulder for oncoming traffic if I’m crossing over the other lane and merging into the lane to my left when I moving forward.  I can zip through the “round about’s” without having heart failure about when to go or not to go.  I even jump into the car and ran into town by myself to get groceries if Dad is busy doing mission stuff.  I can park the car quite comfortably, but I still forget and get into the car on the wrong side.  Sometimes I even get clear inside and then realize I don’t have a steering wheel and It’s kind of embarrassing when you’re the only one in the car and people see you get in on the wrong side.  The missionaries are especially aware and laugh at me when I do that.  Dad actually does it sometimes still though.  I will miss seeing the ladies carry anything and everything on their heads.  It’s not unusual to see them carrying a case of bananas, a 5 gallon bucket full of “whatever” carrying them to their little “tuck shops” to see for the day.  We’ve seen everything from 2 cases of toilet paper, to big fluffy blankets, baskets full of groceries, while they carry bags or groceries in each hand and a baby strapped to their back with a towel or a blanket.  I love to see the ladies carrying their babies that way and the babies are always asleep or just laying there on their mom’s back and not crying.  I think their babies must be very content and love to be carried on the back of their mom’s or a big sister.  It’s amazing to see them walking everywhere and I will really miss that.  It’s been pretty hot here the past few months and the black ladies really wear some cute hats.  They also wear skirts most of the time, especially the older women and by older I mean anyone that is perhaps 30.  The only ones that wear pants are sometimes young girls and sometimes teenagers.  We don’t very often see anyone in levis; they usually have school uniforms or work uniforms and just dress clothes. The ladies often have a head wrap on that matches their dress.  Their dresses are often homemade from their real traditional cloth and they wrap a strip of fabric really cleverly around their heads and tie them up really sharp.   Their hair is very unmanageable so they have to either have it braided (which most of them do) or wear a wrap of some kind on their head or the newest and most popular thing is a wig.  Wigs are for sale on every street corner and in every beauty shop in town and in all the “China Shops.”  China Shops are big stores in town that sell stuff really cheap and is probably where most of the people shop; at least all the Sister Missionaries buy their clothes there.   I love to see the people with their colorful umbrellas that they all carry to protect them from the sun.  Even the men carry umbrellas and they don’t care if they are pink or purple, they just carry one if they want.  We even see little kids carrying their own umbrella walking beside their moms.  It’s pretty colorful along the roadsides as there are always hundreds of people walking everywhere and I will miss that.  You probably noticed that I called the ladies here “black ladies” and that is what they prefer to be called, not colored.  Anyone that speaks of another as “colored” is referring to someone of mixed race and it’s quite a derogatory term.    There is a lot of poverty here and people don’t have much, but they do dress nicely to go to town; it’s a real event for them and they dress for the occasion.  I had a lady come once to help me with some house and yard work so she could earn money to go to the temple and she brought her 3 year old daughter with her.  They road the bus from Kanye (1 ½ hours away) and when we picked them up at the bus station they both were dressed in their Sunday best clothes.  They came into the house and Rafilewe (the mom) changed into her work clothes and changed her little daughter (Loveness) into her play clothes and she went to work.  When the work was done, they both changed into their Sunday clothes and we took them back to the bus station.  Interesting!!!  Most of the transport here is white mini-van’s called Combi’s.  There are also big buses traveling between the bigger town every day; in fact there is a bus to Francistown and back almost every hour all day and it costs about 89 Pula or $12..  Lots of people work out of town and ride buses everywhere.  The Combi’s are the most popular and the cheapest.  It costs about 20 Pula (or $3.) to ride a bus to Kanye or any of the other towns that are are 1hour or 1 ½ hours away.  If they take a Combi across town it only costs about 2 Pula or 35 cents.  There are Taxi’s and I think they cost about 5 Pula to go somewhere in town which is less than a dollar.  There are bus stops all along the highway from town to town and people stand out and catch buses all day and even late at night.  There are also lots of people at the bus stops begging for rides from the cars passing and they stand right on the edge of the road and clap their hands at you or flap their hand up and down begging for a ride.  We can’t give anyone rides, It’s against Church rules for us as Missionaries, but lots of people do stop and pick them up.  I see young girls ( and even just young children) standing on the road side begging for rides and it scares me to death.  How do they know who will pick them up and how do their parents know if they will ever see their children again.  I think it would be very easy for children do disappear in this country.  I do have to say that lots of the children here are very skinny; I’m sure most of it is lack of food, but some may be just lack of homes and parents.  We literally speak to many of our youth who say they have no parents, but I guess that is to expected from a country where 1 in 3 have HIV AIDS.  In Francistown it’s 1 out of 2.  Many of our missionaries that come from other parts of Africa have only no parents living and have been raised by a grandma, an aunt, or someone else in the community.   I already mentioned the shops where everyone sells stuff, but my favorite are either the tyre (they spell tire like this) shops or the barber shops.  The tyre shops consist of about from 20 to 40 tires stacked up and a guy setting beside them with a tire pump and some tire repair tools.  They arrange the tyres really neatly in a stack, some flat, with another setting upright on the flat one and then several of them in a row.  It catches your attention and of course, none of the tyres are new, but have a little tread on them and people stop and buy them and the guy puts them on for him and life goes on in Botswana.   The Barber shops are nothing more than a tarp wrapped around a metal frame to form a small hut and the guy inside has some clippers and that’s about all it takes for a guy’s hair cut here.  They are literally everyone, sometimes 3 or 4 next to each other and it’s amazing how they are often all busy.  I’ve heard it costs about 10 Pula ($1.50) for a haircut if you’re from Botswana but our Missionaries would have to pay more.  They seem to cut each others’ or come over here for me to try to finish the job after they cut the bottom with the clippers.  I never conquered the clippers, but I cut dad’s hair all the time and the missionaries caught onto that and like me to do theirs.  I really don’t mind, it just makes me nervous as to if I will do it the way they like.  Anyway, sometimes the barber shops even double as “cell phone repair shop” or a “buy airtime here” shop and they might even sell you a banana or a piece of candy while you’re there.   One thing I will really miss is counting all the cows, sheep, goats, and donkey’s while we travel around to our different villages.  My absolute favorite is the Donkey Carts they use to carry all their water, their garden produce to sell along the road, and also for going into town to do their grocery shopping.  Their carts are all very “homemade” and some aren’t too bad either; and they are pulled by from two to four donkeys and I absolutely love it.  We see several of them each time we go and I keep telling dad that he needs to go home and build us a donkey cart and buy at least two donkeys so we can give all the grandkids rides up and down the canal and back and forth from Farmer’s Corner.  They would look so cute out in the pasture and  the grandkids would love to go riding with PaPa Lynn and we’d be the envy of all the grandparents in Burley.   I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned all the wheelbarrows we see around the villages also.  People (men, women and children) use them for everything.  Actually, I think if you aren’t the proud owner of a donkey and a donkey cart, the wheelbarrow is your only mode of transporting dirt, rocks, groceries, garden produce to see on the road, and also the way to haul wood home to cook with and to heat the houses in the cold season.  The kids push the wheelbarrows full of buckets of water and they are usually bare footed and running over the rocks.  They are amazing and I will really miss all the scenes of Botswana when it is time for us to go home.  I don’t think I mentioned the Swept-clean dirt yards.  When we travel along the road and go from village to village, we see lots of little round mud huts (called rondavals) with thatched roofts and they are literally out in the buses but they always have a small clearing where they have cleared away the bush and they literally sweep the dirt and make it look really clean around their yard.  They don’t do grass here, so yards are dirt and most are kept very well.  There might be 3 or 4 Rondavals in a group with a kitchen built outside from vertical sticks (about 3” High) held together with rope or string or wire to form a small area where they all cook over an open fire.  Their homes don’t have running water, or electricity or kitchens at all, they all just use the “community kitchen” and sleep in their own small huts.  Even in the villages like Kanye (where Mariah lives) they don’t have any street lights and most of the people don’t have electricity so when it gets dark, it’s dark; especially in these areas that we see along the highway that are so far from any civilization at all.   This are just a few of the highlights that I wanted to tell you about that we get to see every day.  I wish we could put all of you in our car with us and take you to see the sights, the sounds, and the people of Botswana.  They are a beautiful people; most are Christian’s but it’s amazing how they have wandered so far from our Heavenly Father’s commandments and don’t have any idea about The Word of Wisdom, The Law of Chastity, and That Families are Forever.  We are trying our best to bring them the Gospel of Jesus Christ so they can know true happiness.  They all know about Cell Phones and they are a very educated people.  We will continue striving to teach them all that our Heavenly Father wants them to know and we truly believe that This Is Afrika’s Time and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will someday flourish in Afrika and Botswana will be one of the first countries ready to accept the teachings that we have for them.  They all say they Love Jesus and they want to follow Him, they are just confused as to how to do that.  Pray for us, we will continue to pray for you and we hope the Lord will send lots of Senior Couples to Botswana.  If we had a Senior Couple in each of our Branches, I truly feel that our membership could double.  They just need leadership and consistency in their branches and all of these Immigration problems that we have been experiences have made it worse as we can only keep our Missionaries in their Branch for 3 months and then we have to change and the Missionaries are just getting to know the members and know what each branch needs.  Hopefully this will be getting better soon; but we will continue to pray for more couples as they could make an amazing difference for our people here in Botswana.  If you know of anyone planning to go, please tell them to write to us and we’ll put them in touch with President Poulsen.     For those who don’t know, I must add this to my letter today.  As of today, Roger and Shaundalee have legally adopted a wonderful little baby girl from Botswana.  Her name is Briella Morgan and the story of how she came to be a part of our family is amazing and full of miracles and tender mercies.  We wrote home about a girl we were trying to help that had been raped and was only 18 years old and been a member of the church for less than 1 year.  She had no family to help her raise the baby so after we helped her decide against an abortion (which her case worker had convinced her she should have) she chose to have the baby and we promised to help her find an LDS family to raise her baby.  To make a long story a little shorter, we found out that Family Services doesn’t function in Botswana and Mariah started asking us if someone in our family could raise her baby.  At the same time, Roger and Shaundalee individually kept having feelings that they should adopt this baby and after a couple of weeks, they talked it over together and mentioned to us that they kept feeling they were suppose to adopt this baby.  We found out it was impossible to adopt a baby out of Botswana until after it was 12 months old so we thought “that was the end of that”.   But the Lord and Mariah had different plans and the Lord kept prompting us and Mariah kept asking us to please have our family raise her baby.  We kept serarching and searching and finally found a Chief Magistrate Judge who told us it would not be illegal to have Mariah fly to America and have her baby and leave it there.  Mariah didn’t have a birth certificate (another long story) or a ID card which is what EVERYONE in Botswana must get when they are 16 (another long story) and she needed both of these to be able to get a Passport so we began the 2 month long process to obtain the Birth Certificate and the ID Card and then we were able to get the Passport and then on to the Visa. We were able to pay big bucks and get the Passport fast, but she was declined her Visa the first time at the Embassy and had to reapply and pay the big fee all over again and go for another interview.  This time she passed and was granted the Visa.  Three days later she was on a plane to America (8 + months pregnant (another long story and many tender mercies and miracles) and only 10 days after Roger and Shaundalee picked her up in SLC, she delivered a 6 pound baby girl.  Bryce and Melissa are now taking care of Mariah and nursing her back to health and she will be returning to Botswana on April 29th to continue her education and try to find work so she can (as she puts it) improve her Family Tree and make a new start for herself.  She is beautiful, tiny, and has a testimony of the gospel and Heavenly Father must have a wonderful plan for her life as He certainly has taken good care of her to this point.  She has faith that He will continue to do that and that she can truly make it on her own back here in Botswana.  Roger and Shaundalee plan to help her with a start in her education, but mostly she is determined to make it by working and going to school and serving in the church.  We love her and are eternally grateful for the blessing she has left with our family.  We love you all and we sure do love e-mails!!!  Mom and Dad, Grannie & PaPa Lynn, Lynn and Lorraine

Week #59 - Papa Lynn

This letter will not be a long one but it is my turn to write and I have tried to write every other week sense being here in the mission field.  This week I want to speak out to a few people.  Barney this part is for you, will you schedule the Sunday of August 14^th with the bishop so we can report our mission on that day.  Several of the family members have asked when our report would be and with them coming to greet us when we arrive back home that day will be the best time to report.  Thank you for doing this will you please report back so we know if that date will be ok with the Bishop and the ward.

     This next part is for Harold and Sue, first of all Monday is you anniversary and we want to wish you well on that special day.  The second part is this is a kind warning that we are coming home earlier than the 22^nd of August as you can see from the first of this letter.  I hope you can arrange to be back into you home so we can move back into our home.

     This part is for Mariah, I hope you are enjoying your wonderful visit to America.  We miss you here in Botswana and we are not visiting Kanye as much with you gone.  We are visiting other wards and branches so we are trying to stay on our schedule of visiting each of them as we have been asked.  Roger and Shaundalee are very happy and excited to be the parents of your baby.  We are so proud of you and the decisions that you are making.  Briella will be loved and taken care of and you can come back and be a part of YSA (young single adults) here in Gaborone.  The Lord truly had a hand in working out these special blessings for you and we are excited to see you again about the middle of May here in Botswana.

     To all of you I want you to know how special each of you are to Mom and me.  We love each of you and miss you very much.  Our grandchildren are so special and they have great parents.  If it wasn’t for the call to serve here in Botswana as missionaries we would be home enjoying each of you.  But we are very happy is serving the Lord at this time.  When we complete this mission it will be 8 ½ years of missionary service for both your Mom and I all sense September of 2001 back in the Idaho Pocatello Mission for nearly 5 years until July 2006.  Then 9 days later we started our mission to Ukraine for two years.  Then for a year and a half we worked in the new Twin Falls Temple as ordinance workers and got three of our four knees replaced, two for Mom and one for me.  We recuperated enough to put in papers and come to the South Africa Johannesburg Mission.  We are excited to be home on the 12^th of August and then we plan to stay unless the Lord calls again.

     I close with our Love Out Of Botswana

Dad and Mom

Week #57 - Papa Lynn

               Today we have something to announce however I am sure Roger has already made it known.  Our dear friend and like a daughter has received everything she needs to go to America and she has arrive in Salt Lake City airport yesterday afternoon and Roger and Shaundalee has meet her there.  By now I am sure she is in Burley and getting ready for church.  Just so the family knows it was a series of miracles that had to happen to get Mariah a Botswana identification number, then her passport, and then the United States visa.  All of this was very difficult and had to happen in the proper order.  We had many people say it was going to be impossible and others said it would be possible but with many trials and errors.  It seems that all were correct as it was almost impossible but with the help of some key people it finally did happen.  I think mom has taken some notes of what needed to be done and the difficulties in each task.  It really did take many trips back and forth to Kanye to get Mariah’s identification number.  We had to have her tribe involved along with her mother and grandmother and the immigration department.  Then she had to get her birth records which proved to be a different date than she thought was really her birthday.  She is about three weeks older than she thought she was.  Older and more mature at her age isn’t bad but at my age who wants to be older (I could be more mature and perhaps it would help).

               After the identification number she needed a passport and with everything else in line it was the easiest part of this whole process.  In the middle of all of this Mike, Roger and Bryce came and took us away from all of this for about a week.  Well some of the time while they were here we were still involved as they went with us and meet some of the Kanye members and went up to Mariah’s place where she stays and meet many of her family.  We took many pictures and had lots of fun.  Mariah come back to Gaborone with all of us and she stayed at her cousins place here in Gaborone as the next day we went to Madikwe Game Reserve.  While we were gone there she actually got her identification number and applied and received her passport.

               We applied for a visa to visit America and the man she dealt with in the interview was a real jerk.  I know we are very careful who we let come to America but we should at least have the courtesy to read the complete application and the documents that go with it.  The man read the information about Mariah’s planned schooling and said she didn’t have enough reason to return to Botswana and rejected her application.  Because Mariah is so shy and bashful she didn’t say anything about not reading the documents.

               It was very hard on both Lorraine and I and we had worked really hard to get everything in order and then for him not to even look at all the preparation work was very disheartening.  We did even more during the next week.  We got letters from Bishop Matswagothata, and the magistrate judge stating that Mariah has no intention of staying in America and she has a family that is relying on her return.  She has a Mother, Grandmother, and Great Grandmother along with Uncles, Aunts, Cousins plus a sister and 3 brothers all in Kanye.  I think their letters really helped, and I typed up a cover page in big letters asking the interviewer to read the following documents and then I listed them 1 through 7.  We aren’t sure what made the difference but I think it was a lot of everything.

               The proof of the pudding is that she is now in America and has a round trip ticket to return back here to Botswana the last half of May 2011.

               Mom and I have done all of this in our spare time.  Well I guess a lot of it has been done on the many preparation days that we have back logged during the past months when we didn’t get any.  But we are not complaining as all is well here in Zion.  We love serving the Lord and this next week is exciting as President and Sister Poulsen come up for Leadership Training and he wants us to be there.  We will be having dinner with them tomorrow night and then the meeting will be on Tuesday.  He picks up Elder and Sister Riser who will be serving in Francistown the next morning in Johannesburg airport and they fly up here to Botswana on Friday and Sister Morgan and I will pick them up and show them Gaborone and take them to dinner and then stay here in our mission home/office for the night then we will drive them up to Francistown early Saturday morning.  I have two 2^nd interviews there before the baptisms in the afternoon and we need to get them settled into their flat before that.  Another busy weekend but it will all be possible with the help of the Lord.  We rely on His help all the time and He makes things happen as they should and when they should.

               If any of you know of some couples that need great blessings please have them contact us by return e-mail so we can tell them how great serving as couple missionaries really is.  We need someone as soon as we can so we can get replacements for us.  Seriously we need someone within the next month to put in their papers so they can be called and be ready to go to the MTC so they can arrive here in the mission field on the 20^th of July and be here in Botswana on the 22 or soon after so they can learn the end of the month bill paying and learn the things necessary for transfers.  It is a great job and we get very high pay for the work we do.  The Boss is a wonderful person to work for and we feel His influence in what He wants done.  We talk to Him several times each day and feel of His presence.   Let us know if you know anyone that wants this great job.

Again as always Love Out Of Botswana,

Dad and Mom

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