Week # 75 - Papa Lyn

Dear Family and Friends,                                                           

                I have lots to talk about in this letter so I am starting a week early.  Mom sent her letter a few days early this week and many of the things that she wrote about are in the process.  We picked up President and Sister Omer at the airport here in Gaborone on the 4:40 PM flight.  We went to dinner at my favorite restaurant and had a great visit and a great meal.  They are so wonderful and they will be great for this mission.  We knew how much we have enjoyed President and Sister Poulsen that we have been concerned who the Omers would fit in.  He has been throughout the mission doing interviews to get acquainted with each of the missionaries and Botswana is his last three zones to interview.  We have been blessed to have them here at our mission office/home and everything went very well.  We don’t have to worry if they can fill the shoes of the Poulsens as they will do just fine.

                Because of flights and distance President Omer ask if I would have Francistown missionaries come down here to Gaborone for their interviews as well.  It meant only having four elders and four sisters come in two cars and then we wanted the Risers to come as well so they came earlier than the Francistown Zone.  We had a good day Friday with each district come in for interviews and they were each on time and the interviews went really well.  In the afternoon Elder and Sister Riser got here and so after interviews my sweet wife had dinner for the three couples, President and Sister Omer, Elder and Sister Riser and ourselves.  It was a great meal with enchiladas as the main course and everyone had as much as they wanted and it was fun to set around and just talk until it was time to take President and Sister Omer back to their hotel for the night.

                The next morning we had changed the interviews to be a couple hours earlier so we could take them shopping to a couple small markets in front of the River Walk Mall and then over to Botswana Craft.  It was fun and the women really enjoyed it.  After that Mom and I left everyone (Omers and Risers) here in our mission home/office and we went out to the border to get Elder and Sister Kimball and Elder and Sister Oborn across the border.  We didn’t know if they would need us but it really helped and they were happy that we were there.  It usually takes about 4 ½ to 5 hours to come from the Office in Johannesburg but it took them 10 ½ hours.  They got lost twice and went the wrong way in some very important places that totally took them the wrong way. Later as they followed us from place to place I know it must have been the fact that they were not use to driving on the left side of the road.  However the driver Elder Oborn has been in England on his first mission and he has been in South Africa for about a month and he is so causes that he can’t follow anyone very well.  I take always take great precautions when someone is following me that I have never lost anyone until yesterday in broad daylight.  It was frustrating to say the least.  Elder Oborn was driving but just didn’t have a clue as how to follow.  Sorry this sounds so negative but we were all late for everything because of this.

                Sunday we picked up Elder and Sister Kimball at the Mottheo Apartments (where we started here in Botswana about 17 months ago) then went past the Mondior Hotel to get President and Sister Omer and Elder and Sister Oborn to follow us to Gaborone West chapel.  We were on time because I had allowed a little extra time for them to follow us.  They all had an opportunity to speak in the YSA ward Gaborone West 2^nd ward) with President and Sister Omer taking the greater amount of time as it should be.  Then we stayed there and attended Gaborone West 1^st ward (the family ward)and they all spoke again. Mom and I had arranged for us to attend a baptism at the Broadhurst building at about 12:0 but again Elder Oborn didn’t pay attention and followed the wrong car.  Gratefully President Omer had his cell phone I called and they finally got behind us about ten minutes later.  When we got to Broadhurst the baptism of three was over but we did get to be there for the music while they were dressing and then got to hear each of their testimonies which were wonderful.

                After all the different meetings we went to we came back home here to have dinner.  The roast was tender and great and we had funeral potatoes with all the trimmings.  My sweet wife has al talent in fixing meals.  They all loved the food and we all had a great time.  We could barely fit eight of us around the table but it worked fine.  We just set around and talked for the whole afternoon and no one wanted to leave.  We finally had ice cream and cookies and then lead them back to the hotel and apartment.  I didn’t mention that Elder and Sister Riser left at 5:00 AM Sunday morning to get back and do a visit in the Serowe group and their way back to Francistown.   The next morning we needed to take President and Sister Omer to the airport to fly back to Johannesburg and while there we pointed Elder and Sister Oborn down the road to the Tlokweng borer to drive back to Johannesburg.  We found out they made it back just fine.  Then about noon we picked up the Kimballs to get them some groceries so they could eat at their apartment.   We ended up coming back to our home and did a little training and talking over dinner then he asked if he could drive home with us with him as we needed to bring back the car.  Sadly he hit a curb and bent a rim on the car and broke the hub cap.  I think it was caused by driving too fast so when he slowed down he does just fine.  We picked them up for the next couple days but after learning the way from the Motheo Apartments he now drives the car they brought up from South Africa (this is the car we will take back to South Africa on the 11^th of August).

                Tuesday we took them to Mafikeng to learn where the Elders flat is and we did an apartment inspection and also where the church is in Mafikeng.  They had a good experience crossing the border both going to and coming back from Mafikeng.  On the way back we did an apartment inspection in Lobatse and showed them the church there as well.  Both Monday and Tuesday was a holiday as it has been Presidents day here in Botswana, so Wednesday we did all the preparations for the immigration papers for the Kimballs. Thursday we did apartment inspections for the entire Botswana East zone which included Mochudi and all the flats here in Gaborone.  Friday we went to the power office to get them acquainted with things there and then we went to the main mail to show them the post office and did a little shopping of the tourist items while there.  While having lunch back at the mission home I received a call to do a second interview back at Mochudi so we did that in the afternoon.

                Saturday we went to a wedding of one of our YSA couples and it was wonderful and almot started on time.  It was only a half hour late instead of two hours late as some have been. Between the wedding and a special meeting with President Hall our Roodepoort Stake president I got a call to do two interviews in Molepolole.  So my sweet wife fixed us all a sack lunch and we headed for Molepolole and after the two 2^nd interviews we did an apartment inspection and showed the Kimballs where the church building was in Molepolole as well.

                24 July 2011 Sunday: Today was be a bit different as the MTC President and his wife spent the last couple of days in Madikwe game reserve where Mom and I took our three sons when they came to visit and they came to visit us today.  They have two of their girls with them and we are meet them at the River Walk Mall and took them to church in Broadhurst.  We also have the PEF couple in town and they are came to dinner at our house as well.  We are very glad that everyone wasn’t here all at once.  We had the first dinner with Elder and Sister Kimball with resident and Sister Christensen and of course Mom and I.  It was fun and they stayed until about 2:00 and we drove them to the edge of town to make sure they knew their way to the border.

                At about 5:00 we got a call from the perpetual education fund couple who we thought was coming with everyone else and we had to fix another meal.  Then at 7:00 Kgosy and Miepillo came and wanted to eat as well.  It is now 8:30 and I don’t think anyone else will be coming to eat.  But I guess some missionaries could come even yet for about another hour.

                Well the day is about done and we are about to finish up a few things and get ready for bed.  Before doing so I need to explain something.  On or about the 2^nd or 3^rd of August we are going to do what we did in Ukraine.  We will be moving out of our home here in Botswana rom the mission home/office and change places with the Kimballs.  They will move here and we will spend the last week in the Motheo Apartments.  We want you to know if you need to get hold of us we will still be checking our e-mail every day right up until the 10^th and then the 11^th  we will most like not check it as we will be driving to Johannesburg and heading home.  As of that same day we will be changing homes, cars, and cell phones.  Our phone number then will be 00267-7138-0266 instead of 00267-7132-0394.  The last number will be the Kimballs and if you call it they can get hold of us.

                Love Out Of Botswana, Dad and Mom

Thought for the Day

Dear Family,

The last 4 days have been just as Crazy & buzy as I told you they would be but our new Mission President is wonderful and his wife is amazing also.  We hit it off with them so good that we ALMOST wish we were going to be here longer so we could serve with them.  The Kimball's are a little more Mature than we thought they would be and we are a bit nervous about them taking over here; but we have faith that the Lord Qualifies whom He calls" so we are sure they will be up to the task when the time comes.  They don't know computers much at all, and neither one of them wants to drive but said they will both try in a few days.  A new couple from the office in JoBurg brought them up on Saturday and it usually takes 5 hours.  Somehow they got lost 3 or 4 times and we ended up meeting them at the Border to help them through after 10 hours and I'm not sure where they had been and they didn't know either.  Well, I'll write more later but it's time for us to go to bed but I did want to share something from my reading today before I hit the sack!

 

President Ezra Taft Benson observed that "the record of the Nephite history just prior to the Savior's visit reveals many parallels to our own day as we anticipate the Savior's second coming." Only those with firm testimonies and full conversions were able to remain steadfast prior to the Savior's appearance in America.  The same is true in our day.  Only those with firm testimonies and full conversions will be able to remain steadfast prior to the Lord's Second Coming.  A careful study of 3 Nephi 1-7 will help you understand how your testimony of Jesus Christ and conversion to His gospel will give you the sustaining strength you need to stay true to the Savior during the challenging days in which you live. 

 

President Hinckley counseled the youth of our day on how to avoid being led away from the truth.  "To our young people, the glorious youth of this generation, I say, be true.  Hold to the faith.  Stand firmly for what you know to be right. 

You are the best generation we have ever had.  You know the gospel better.  You are more faithful in your duties.  You are stronger to face the temptations which come your way.  Live by your standards.  Pray for the guidance and protection of the Lord.  He will never leave you alone.  He will comfort you.  He will sustain you.  He will bless and magnify you and make your reward sweet and beautiful.  And you will discover that your example will attract others who will take courage from your strength."\

 

Love You All,

Mom and Dad, Grannie & PaPa LYnn

Thought for the Day

Family,

Here's a quote I came across today while I was studying.

President Hinckley: Concerning the importance of family prayer: "I feel the morning and evening practice of kneeling together---father, mother, and children.  This, more than soft carpets, more than lovely draperies, more than cleverly balanced color schemes, is the things that will make for better and more beautiful homes."

And then for all of my Aaronic Priesthood young men, Elder Oaks had this to say:  "Through the Aaronic Priesthood ordinances of baptism and the sacrament, we are cleansed of our sins and promised that if we keep our covenants we will always have His Spirit to be with us.  I velieve that promise not only refers to the Holy Ghost but also the ministering of angels, for 'angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ.'  So it is that those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood open the door for ALL Church members who worthily partake of the sacrament to enjoy the companionship of the Spirit of the Lord and the ministering of angels."

PaPa Lynn and I are proud of you for ALWAYS being worthy to pass and bless the Sacrament.  Imagine what a blessing you are to the people in the audience when you WORTHILY administer the ordinances of the Sacrament each week.  You will always be blessed for using your Priesthood in service of others.  Always be worthy to go to the temple so we can go with you!

Love You ALL

Mom and Dad, Grannie & PaPa Lynn

The Cout Down

ONE MONTH FROM TODAY WE WILL BE HOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week # 73 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family and Friends,                                                            

                Another two weeks and it is my turn to write again.  We have had a good week this past week.  We have had a change of replacements for us here in Botswana.  We thought the Robison’s were going to replace us but their MTC date has been changed so President Omer called a meeting with his counselors and we are now being replaced with Elder and Sister Kimball from Arizona.   They are as I write setting in training at the Prove MTC.  If all goes as planned they will be here in Botswana a week from today.  We have arranged housing for them from the time they arrive until they will move into this mission home/office on the 11^th of August just after we pack up and move out.  We will leave quite early that morning and the Kimballs will move in.

                Because they arrive here on the 16^th of July we will have 3 ½ weeks to train them.  We hope we have everything organized enough that they should be able to step in without very much of a skip of a beat.  Of course all depends on organizing every day to make things happen as they should and how fast they learn.  I think the only worry I have at this point is how well they can use the computer.  We have put most everything on the computer and hopefully they will be able to just carry on.  We will know a lot more in about 10 days after we have done some preliminary things with them.  We are looking forward to showing them the city of Gaborone in detail so they will be able to pay all the bills, get to the immigration offices, make it to church and find each of the missionary flats.  Then we will expand to the villages and smaller cities; Lobatse, Kanye, Molepolole, and Mochudi.  Again the church buildings or where they hold meetings and the missionary flats again.  Bill paying in these areas and what else needs to be learned.

                We are looking forward to a very busy week this week.  Marea (notice change of spelling on her name) is going to come Monday and help do some cleaning Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  She wants to earn some extra money and so we can pay her much better than she can earn anywhere else and it will help her a lot.  We are helping her to open a checking account so she can keep better track of her money and not have to worry about it being stolen.  She will catch a combi to get here on Monday and she planned to take a combi back on Wednesday but just about an hour ago I was called to do a second interview in Kanye so we arranged it for 4:00 Wednesday afternoon.  That will again help her and it won’t be out of our way at all. She completely (with help) cleaned the kitchen last week and this week we are going to have her clean windows and do cleaning in out bedroom and bathrooms and even do some weeding in the yard.  Of course all of this will be done with our help.  She is a joy to work with as she really does know how to work.

                On Thursday evening President Omer and wife are arriving and we will have dinner with them and it will be our first time to meet them.  We are really excited as I feel we will truly love them.  I have been impressed with the two or three presidency meetings I have been on the phone with him that he is really good.  He listens and even complements good ideas and said he is getting a real feel for the mission from his three counselors.  President Atkinson serves in the Northeast and I serve in Botswana and his other counselor is a local South African and isn’t involved with the everyday happenings of the mission but is more of a go between for the mission to the stake presidents.  There six stakes in Johannesburg and we are a part of one of them the Roodepoort Stake.  The next day which is Friday President Omer has interviews with the Botswana East and Botswana West zones and rather than him travelling up to Francistown on this first visit I suggested that the missionaries from there come down to Gaborone and have their interviews on Saturday.  He really liked the idea as he couldn’t get any flights to match his schedule.  The Riser’s our Francistown couple will come down on Friday with the Francistown zone and stay over with us here in the mission home.  That evening we will have dinner here in our home with the Risers, Omers and us.

                After the Francistown interviews on Saturday the Kimballs will arrive and we will all get acquainted with them and probably go out to dinner with the four couples.  Then they will stay at the same place we started our mission about a year and a half ago, the Motheo apartments.  Sunday we will most likely have all four couples attend the same meetings and then Mom will fix dinner for all four couples again.  After that the Risers will head back to Francistown and the next morning Mom and I will take President and Sister Omer to the airport to fly back to Johannesburg.  That is when the training for the Kimballs will start.

                It sounds like we have it totally organized but there are always things that change and I’m sure this next weekend will have many changes before it is over.

                Last night we had a fun evening.  Kgosi and Maipolo the couple we went to the temple with back on the 15 of February came over for dinner again (they do this quite a lot) but we had foil dinners cooked over coals in the front yard in a half barrel.  It was fun and we changed them or rolled them over every three minutes for about 40 minutes and they were done and not burnt and tasted wonderful.  They thought it was a fun way to cook and enjoy a camp fire at the same time.

                I will close for now but tomorrow is Sunday and I will probably add to this letter.

It is now Sunday,                                         July 10, 2011

                We went to Lobatse and attended the block with them and they had a baptism after church where a 16 year old girl and a man were baptized.  It was great to be a part of all of this.  Just before sacrament meeting in Lobatse my phone rang and the G-West elders locked their car keys in their car but it was at church so they said they could wait until we came back to Gaborone to help them out.  It wasn’t very much longer and got a call from the G-West sisters and they also locked their keys in their boot (trunk) and they said they were at church so I told them we would be there after meetings in Lobatse.  It worked out well because G-West has two wards in the building and they usually attend both wards each Sunday.  They had a baptism where four were baptized so we also attend them a well.  I got to play hero and retrieve the keys from each of the locked cars and return to the elders and sisters.  It is a good thing I have a spare se for each car here in Botswana.

                This afternoon we had a young couple come to visit to talk about marriage and schooling and in general I just think they want a reason to come and visit.  They came at 4:00 and left about 5:15 so it wasn’t long but I am getting hungry because it has been a long time sense breakfast.  So I will close with my love to each of you.  As of tomorrow we have exactly one month until we climb on a plane and head home.  The year and a half has slowly turned to months and now they are becoming only weeks.  We have a lot to do before we are ready to fly home as we have a lot of training that needs to be done with the Kimballs.

                The Gospel is so true and we love serving.  We only hope our Savior will accept our work.  We pray for our family and friends every day.

Love Out Of Botswana – Dad and Mom

Our Replacements

Dear Family,

We don't want anyone to panic, but we just found out that our scheduled replacements have postponed their arrival until the 28th of AUGUST!!!  We are a bit paniced as we hard it all worked out to start training them the 25th of July so they would know everything about transfers, immigrtion, paying end of the month bills and first of the months bills, doing reports, etc. etc.

President Poulsen was even trying to get them to move their arrival date UP a week; but we don't know what happened as we really don't correspond with them at all, but we looked into our internet schedule of arrivals from the MTC yesterday morning and saw that they are now scheduled to arrive in Johannesburg on the 28th of August.

Dad called President Omer as we weren't sure if he knew or not, and he didn't so the two of them are trying to put their heads together and see what else they can come up with.  There are other couples in the mission that could be switched here but they are pretty settled where they are so President is going to do some looking and talk to the couple that is due to arrive next Monday and see who he feels would be the best to take our place.  We are kind of on HOLD trying to find "we don't know who" and "we don't know when" a place to stay like we did the first few weeks we were here.  It's hard to find an apartment for only a month and hotels are extremely expensive for that long so as soon as we know who is coming and when so we can product their ID information and Passport and whatever else the Hotel needs before they will let us book it; we will quickly try to find them a place to stay.  We are sure something will work out but we really don't want to have a "sleep over" here at our place for a whole month while we are trying to pack up and clean out and etc.  We love you and we are coming home!

Love,

Mom

 

Mike, and Family

(Mike wrote back to me but Dad said I left too much unsaid and that I'd better address this letter to everyone.  Sorry if I paniced anyone out!

 

No;  our "come home" date is not changing.  Our flights are already booked and we told President Omer that we have everything scheduled for you to get off work and that you are the one picking us up at the airport and he was very understanding.  We just have to switch him and his other Counselors into a fast mode and they are having a Phone Conference Call type Presidency Meeting tonight at 8 PM. to see which couple, either one in the mission already or the one coming next week will be best to replace us.  The couple coming in next week (The Kimball's) are a little older (70"s) and President Poulsen thought they might not be able to handle things here but they are from Tempe Arizona and look pretty sharp from their pictures we got on our computer program and we really feel comfortable with them taking our place.  In fact, when we saw their pictures, I immediately felt like I wished they were the ones that President Poulsen had chosen, and I was less excited about the Robison's that he did choose.  So I'm actually hoping that they all talk about it tonight and decide on the Kimball's
.  I figure with a name like Kimball; we can't go too far wrong and they will be able to do the work.  I'm not sure President Poulsen realized that Dad will soon be 69 and I'm not nearly far enough behind him.  We love you and we are coming home on schedule.

Love, Mom & Dad

Week # 71

Dear Family and Friends,                                                         

                It seems that every two weeks come very quickly.  Lorraine and I take turns writing so I don’t have to write every week.  She often does every week but I don’t mind because I enjoy only once every two weeks.  We take turns on our prayers as well each day.  I pray on every day that doesn’t have a T in the day of the week and she takes all the days that do have a T in them.  It works out to be every other day except for Sunday and I say the morning prayers that day as it follow her T day and she says the Sunday night prayer because it is just before Monday which doesn’t have a T in it.  We have used this method to share our prayer time for many years.  She says the morning and night prays on her days and I say the morning and night prayers on my days.  Of course she doesn’t say my personal prayers that I have alone every day and she does as well.  Most of the times on Fast Sundays we talk about what specific thing we want to include on our prayers we offer on fast Sunday.

                We always have lost to pray about as we receive so many blessings here in Botswana serving as missionaries that we can’t really count them all.  This week’s miracle has to do with getting missionaries out of the border (which is part of immigration).  Last transfer which was the 18^th of May we had a very difficult time getting our missionaries through the border.  The reason is because they have passed their 90 days and hadn’t received their residence permits.  We have been told we can stay here without extending their time but they didn’t tell us they couldn’t leave the country as we would be illegal in trying to do so.  We had four missionaries that fell in this category last transfer and two made it through without any problem but two had a different border officer and she caught it so they had to come back into Gaborone to the police to pay a fine and bring them a receipt.  It was terrible as it took 4 hours to do this and get them out of the border.

                This transfer we had 7 fall in this category.  Two left on Tuesday as President Poulsen wanted them to come down to early meetings the day before transfers and the other five went out on Wednesday.  This transfer day was the 22 of June just 5 weeks after the last one because of receiving a new mission president the week that the normal 6 weeks transfers were supposed to happen.  Mom and I decided that we need to go out with them to the border which is a 40 minute drive one way just to help them or at least see what we could do.  Our prayers were answered as those two along with the other two that were within their 90 days got through the border without any problems at all.  The next hurdle was to get the remaining five out the next day.  We feed the missionaries before they leave so it means an early morning both of these days.  We get up about 4:30 to exercise and prepare for the day and get breakfast ready for those leaving Botswana.  A huge morning and then to follow them to the border adds even more to do.  Those going out on Wednesday all got through the border without any problems.  Again we see the hand of the Lord in this great work.  Each a little miracle for us but it is what the Lord wants to happen.

                It has been a very busy week because of it being transfer week.  I try and get things ready about a week before transfer week just to make transfer week itself a little easier.  But there are too many factors that make it not run smoothly.   President Poulsen has given me access to the transfer scenarios as it happens for weeks before the actual transfer day.   This is good because it helps me to get paperwork ready for those coming in from South Africa.  The only problem is that many times when it involves brand new missionaries the Lord has a different person or persons that need to come to Botswana.  So I have to make last minute changes in all that I have already done.  And it doesn’t run quite as smoothly because of these changes but I know that I need to do what needs to be done even if there are some changes.   So all in all with Lorraine making meals for coming and going and I have lots more work in transfers we really do keep overly busy for a couple of weeks.  I am sure that the same thing will happen with a new mission president as well.  Within a week we lose a mission president and gain another.  They overlap from 5:00 PM until 8:00 AM the next morning.  It will be up to the assistants to train the new mission president and let him learn the ropes.  When he comes to Botswana on the 14^th of July will be the first time to meet he and his wife in person.  On the 1^st of July we are to have a presidency meeting with him on the phone as we have done in the past with President Poulsen.  I think I am automatically released as a counselor when he arrives but President Poulsen asked that we (his counselors) make this phone call.  I may serve as his counselor but because of our short time left he may not call me to serve.

                Today and yesterday something special has been happening here in Botswana, our United States first lady is in town.  There sure has been a lot of hustle and bustle here in Gaborone.  The traffic has been terrible.  Last evening I need to go to Game City a department store that is close to us and when I got to the main road it was stopped traffic.  I turned around in the center of the road and headed back home.  Later we found out she and with her two daughters a niece and her mother had been out to Mokolodi a very small game reserve about 15 kilometers out of town south toward Lobatse which is our main road to everywhere.   We had Sydney and two of her friends (all from the Peace Corps) stay overnight because they had an invite to attend a tea thing this morning with the 1^st lady along with 350 other people.  We were not invited and I didn’t have my feelings hurt at all.

                I was asked to visit one of our missionaries in Mochudi this morning to take the news that his grandmother had passed away yesterday.  This visit is one of those things that happen because we are so far away from the Johannesburg mission office.  President Poulsen asked me to visit him and said he will call him later in a couple hours to make sure he had taken it ok.  When I talked to him he wasn’t surprised as his grandmother hadn’t been well for quite some time and he was expected she would die soon. 

On the way to Mochudi we saw army tanks on most big intersections and police on almost every side street.  We think they are there because ofwas all related to the visit of the 1^st lady and had nothing to do with Elder Bernards grandmother passing away.  I just read this part to Mom and she said I hope the family catches the fact that you are just kidding about who the tanks are for.

We get hit with so many different things throughout this mission.  An example is that just this evening the missionaries said the G-West chapel has really been dirty for the past few sacrament meetings and the ward members aren’t cleaning.  When the missionaries clean it then it looks good on Sunday morning for all the meetings.  I asked them when they have time to clean the chapel.  They said that if we don’t clean it then it doesn’t get cleaned.  I called President Hall our stake president and he said I will handle this in the next few minutes as the missionaries are not supposed to clean, that responsibility is up to the Bishop to assign it to be cleaned by members.  Sometimes between our missionaries wanting to be kind and hardworking and the bishops take advantage of them.  They are busy enough doing missionary work that they should not be cleaning buildings.

Life is good and we are strengthening our testimonies by reading 7 pages of the Book of Mormon every day.   I have truly felt the spirit and so far I haven’t missed a day and I am staying on task.  I hope each of you that have committed to do this are reading every day.  On the 4^th of July we will be at the half way point.  I promise that it will be a personal blessing and your families will grow from it as well.  One of our children has written and how it has helped them in the family to argue and fight less in their family.  It has already helped and strengthened my personal testimony.  May we each in our own way strengthen that which we know to be true through reading, studying, and through prayer.  We have the testimonies but we need to strengthen them every day.  I know that the Lord will bless us as we strive to do those things that we have been asked.  I love serving Him and I get blessings every day.  You as my family is one of my greatest blessings and I want you to know that.

In closing this letter I want to express my love to the love of my life, my sweetheart and best friend.  She is a wise person and many times I feel she receives inspiration more than I do.  I really have to be totally in tune before I can receive the inspiration that she receives at night when she is sleeping.  She says that her mind is clearer at night and she certainly does come up with some great inspiration, many that we try to put into effect. 

Love Out Of Botswana, we will see you in less than 50 days.  Dad

Week # 70 - Granny

Dear Family,

Things have been really crazy this past week and we have been on the road every day.  We are preparing for another transfer and for a new Mission President so we are trying to make sure EVERYTHING is in “tip-top shape.”  We did apartment inspections all over Botswana this past week and that is not my favorite things to do, but Dad takes the lead and does the complaining, I just hand out the candy bars if things pass.  One of our Zones this transfer had extra nice clean apartments so we are throwing a good old American wiener roast, potato salad, and smores party tomorrow on their preparation day for lunch.  We are going to try building a bon fire in an old barrel that we have here at our place and hope none of the neighbors complain too much.  If it works, we want to do it again for our YSA just before we leave as kind of an entro-to an American camp out that we’ve told them all about.  They’ve never heard of a wiener roast nor a smore, so Dad is putting together some wire sticks to roast with and going to put enough together tomorrow to see how they turn out.  He found some really stiff wire (had to buy the whole roll) and some dowels so hopefully it will all work and we’ll be able to have a couple of fun parties even though it’s winter time here.  It actually gets up to about 75degrees during the day so we are planning mid-day activities and hoping for the best. 

Some of our missionaries have been asking to go to the Jwaneng Diamond Mine that is 2 hours from Gaborone so President told us to go check it out and see if it was worthy their time on a preparation day and see what it would cost them to pay for their own gas and take a day and go.  We took our Zone Leaders with us on Friday and left at 6:30 in the morning to get there for the 9 O’Clock tour they offer and it was quite a fun day.  It is the richest diamond in the world and it was pretty amazing to see their operation and all of the huge machinery that it takes to mine diamonds.  I can’t say the tour was real efficiently run, but we enjoyed ourselves.  They said it took 2 hours and with all of the wasted time waiting for a escort vehicle to lead us down into the mine, waiting for a host to come and tell us all about it before we left, waiting for someone to bring us keys to go into the vault where we could actually see some of the diamonds they have mined there, and then waiting to go through the detectors before we could leave the property to make sure we hadn’t picked up any diamond,  it actually took 4 hours.  I’m glad I went once, but if the missionaries are going, I don’t plan to go along with them.  The tour was free and they have a small game drive you can go on afterwards that is also free so we certainly can’t complain about the cost.  It was a fun day and we saw Zebra’s, Warthogs’, Wildebeests’, Hartebeests’, Impala, Springbok, Giraffe’s, Roan Antelope, Ostrich, & even a monkey along side of the road on the way home.  Not too bad for a Free Game Park!  I think the missionaries will want to go see the diamond mine as well as the Game Park as some of them haven’t seen anything around here except a baboon and some monkey’s and maybe a warthog.   We have been very blest to get to go to all the places we have been because most of the missionaries don’t get to do any of that.  In South Africa there are lots of Game Parks though so the Elders get to go there when they are serving in other areas, but the Sisters only serve in Botswana!

We just got through hosting our YSA get together that we have every month.  They absolutely love to come and we have more and more new ones all the time.  I think we must have had close to 60 tonight and they played games and we fed them bread and jam and hot chocolate.  They ate and ate and even started asking for “doggie bags” but I told them to eat all they wanted, but I didn’t do “Take Away.”

We really do love them and they love having a place to just come and talk and laugh and enjoy each other.  We have noticed they are even pairing up a bit and we had another two weddings announced today so hopefully getting them together to have a good time is making a difference in their social life.  We moved our time up from 5 O’Clock to 4 O’clock because it is dark by 5:30 now and we thought they would leave earlier to get home on their public transport; but they were still here at 7 O’clock so it was kind of a long evening but that is alright too.

We have transfers again on Thursday so wish us luck.  We have 9 Missionaries that are out of time so I’m sure getting them through the border will be another nightmare.  We are going to see if we can push Stix (our Immigration guy) to please spend some time at Immigration on Monday and Tuesday morning before they have to leave on Tuesday Afternoon and see if we can get some permits or waivers or something that will work better at the border this time instead of taking 5 hours and paying P950 in fines.  Wish us Luck!!

I typed up a few fun things to share this week while I was thinking of things to write.  I’ll add them to this letter.

More fun Info from Botswana

It’s really hard to find corn chips here.  Occasionally we find some really spicy chili hot ones, but this week we found some plain ones to dip in Salsa (which we can’t find either) but I do find a canned Mexican Style Diced tomatos, peppers, and chilie mix that tastes almost like Salsa.  The salsa substitute that we buy costs almost $2. for a 410 G can which is a normal size can like corn or green beans come in which isn’t too bad, but the Corn Chips were almost $7.00 per bag for an 250 g bag which is about 8 oz. Needless to say, we bought them anyway & they have been tasting pretty good today.

Canned foods are hard to find much of and they usually cost quite a bit.  I have been hunting for green beans and haven’t found them very often, but I did find them this week and just picked them up and bought 8 cans as there was no price on the shelf.  When I got home and looked at my receipt, I had paid about $2.25 per can and it too is just the normal vegetable sized can.  I won’t be feeding those to the missionaries!!!

The cheapest tuna we can find is about $1.75 a can but we always buy it anyway as dad loves Tuna.  We can usually find frozen vegetables so we have plenty of those.  Sometimes they even say McCain on the label.

Today we got a chance to go to South Africa to visit our one District so while I was there I thought I’d try to buy a new Mascara since my last one is all but gone.  I found some Maybelline Black, just like I wanted and it was 110 Pula, which is almost $17.00 but I bought it.  Every other brand on their shelf was much more.

We also found Pretzels which we can’t find in Botswana, they were $7.00 US for an 8 Oz. bag, probably expensive since I remember getting them in a huge bag at Smith’s for about $2 or $3. Tomatoes, on the other hand are always very cheap here.  I think I only pay about $2.00 for a bag with 8 or 10 tomatoes in it.  They are usually very green when I buy them, but they ripen up quite nicely on the kitchen cabinet and we put them in or on everything.  Dad is even learning to like tomatoes on lots of things if I don’t slice them very thick.

We bought watermelons 3 times lately and they seem quite plentiful right now; so we thought it must be the season for them to be grown in everyone’s garden.  We have only found one good one.  It was seedless and cost about $6.00 and was about the same size as the smaller seedless ones at home.  The 2^nd one we bought was seedless but absolutely tasteless and only pink and the 3^rd one we decided to try one with seeds but it was white inside and had a million seeds and was stringy so we just threw it away without tasting it.  Since they each cost about $6 or more, we decided to forego the watermelon for our usual bananas, they are always pretty good and plentiful.  We have found a few Fugi apples lately and they are small, but really good and I don’t know how much I paid, they were by the bag and I bought 2 bags.  Oranges are pretty good here; they have the little Clementines and another thing they call Naartjie’s and another one called “easy peeler” and they are all pretty good.  They have tons of really hard to peel ones that I think people must juice out and they are really cheap and we see ladies carrying them home in big bags on their heads all the time.  The little stands along the streets are full of them right now, but don’t taste too good to me so I avoid those and go for the easy peeling kind. 

That's it for this week.

We Love You All

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

Pictures

Week # 69 - Papa Lynn

Dear Family and Friends,                                          

     Two months from today we will be home but who is counting?  I guess that perhaps I am but as the same time we are keeping very busy.  Today we go the Molepolole Branch for their branch conference.  President Hall our stake president has asked that Sister Morgan and I attend all the conferences that are a part of our areas to cover.  We cover Mafikeng in South Africa and Lobatse, Kanye, Molepolole, Mochudi as branches and G-West 1^st ward and Broadhurst along with G-West 2^nd ward the single young adult ward all here in Botswana.  It Keeps us going and today will probably be the last time to attend Molepolole as our rotation takes about 8 weeks.  We get to know a lot of people but at the same time we don’t get to know then very well.  The Church is really doing well here in Botswana and I am sure that soon we will have a stake here.  There are always little things that we try to correct a little at a time like when people get up to pray because they haven’t been in the church very long they say “Let us pray” before the prayer.  I have carefully mentioned this in several talks in different wards and branches but the new members come in faster than I can take care of this.  All in all they are becoming stronger and doing things the way we do them back in our part of Zion.  I would think that with the Prophet and the great leadership we have back home that we must be doing the ordinances and other things right so we try to pattern things here the way we do them back home.

     No wild and furious stories to tell this week.  We had President Poulsen come to Botswana Thursday evening and we were privileged to go with him along with Sister Poulsen and took our four sisters that serve here in Gaborone out to dinner at the Red Lantern (Chinese food).  It was a fun evening and the next day we had Leadership Training Meeting and we have always been invited to them.  In the afternoon after this meeting President and Sister Poulsen headed for Francistown for their last visit there as well.  They are having a two branch conference combined that is their annual conference.  Yesterday they had some training like Sister Morgan and I have put on for Mochudi and Kanye.  The stake pretty well takes care of training for the rest of the branches and wards here.  They are also supposed to take care of these two but because they are dependent branches we help with them with their training.

     We have another transfer coming up in ten days that will be our last one along.  We will have a couple that we are training to take our place for the next one which will be on the 9^th of August.  We think the new couple will be here the last week of July.  The transfer on the 9^th of August will be President Omer’s first transfer sense his arrival on the 28^th of June.  That change will take place soon as President and Sister Omer arrives at 5:00 PM on the 28^th and President and Sister Poulsen leave at 8:00 AM the next morning.  They have talked several times on the phone and on skype on matters that President Poulsen thinks he should be aware of.  As a counselor to President Poulsen I don’t know if I will be asked to be a counselor to President Omer.  All of President Poulsen’s counselors will be automatically released upon his leaving the mission.  I don’t know if President Omer doesn’t ask me to continue if I will still be asked to do 2^nd interviews for baptisms.  We will see.  I think he should keep a counselor up here in Botswana because it is so far away from the main part of the mission.  It has worked very well for me to serve as a counselor to President Poulsen.  We have gotten along very well and I feel that I have given him great support and help.  He has commented several times that having a counselor up here has been a blessing to the mission and the missionaries up here in Botswana.  My sweet wife has been a great support to me in everything that I have been asked to do.  I guess we bless each other as we clean house together.  She prepares most of the meals and I do most of the dishes but while I do them she puts things away and wipes everything up so we finish about the same time.

     Many years ago I was truly inspired to ask a sweet young lady (your mom) to marry me and I proposed to her on the foot bridge crossing Indian Creek behind the grade school in Kuna, Idaho.  The miracle of this is that she said YES and then we went and I asked for her hand in marriage of her mom and dad.  They were in bed but we got permission to speak to them and I asked for the hand of their daughter to be my wife.  I proposed on the 24^th of July 1964 and we were married about seven weeks later in the Salt Lake Temple on the 14 of September 1964.  I got home from my mission to England on the 12^th of June 1964 and we thought because of our dating off and on all during high school and writing to each other during my mission that a short engagement was long enough.  Oh we truly was in love with each other but as we look back on that time now we really wonder what gave us the courage to make that big step together.  We know it is the plan of our Father in Heaven that when you fulfill your assignments such as a mission and you are lucky enough to find that right person then the next natural step is marriage.  Our love has grown over the years more and more every year.  Of course it grows as we have had children together.  Lori was special or first born and she entangled our love even deeper and we had enough to share with her.  Then Sherrie was special and she came along and again we had love to spill over to her as well.  Cindy was special as she was the third of our three girls and we shared our love with her as well.  And then we was over joyed with my first son Mike and he was special as well.  He was the apple of my eye and quick to learn and all boy, our love continued to grow and cover our whole family.  Then there was Roger eager to learn and grow and loved spilled over to him as he was special as well.  We were ready for another girl and sure enough Kricket came along and what a cutie and love grew again because she was special.  Bryce came with his prayed for brown eye and we thought our love was to its fullness because he was special.  But later Harold came home and we grew and shared and loved him as well as he was special. 
     What more could a couple like Mom and I ask for only to have great and wonderful sons and daughters in law each very special and the love began to multiply and flow over and over.  I have often said if we were to choose between our own children and those whom they married it might be a hard decision.  The result of each of these marriages has brought about even more joy and love as we now have grandchildren each very special.  Some are now older and some are young and that doesn’t make any difference because we love each of them in their own way in the period of life they are in.  We are even more blessed as we have one great granddaughter that is special and what a joy she is.

     As you can see and understand as you read this letter we are from a long line of love.  Moms and my parents are very much in love and they came from a long line of love so I only pray that this love carries over for more and more generations and it becomes a longer line of love.

     Count your many blessings and name them one by one or multiply them and count as far and as long as you want and the blessings keep coming.  Thank you each of you for your contribution to the long line of love.  A celestial family is the goal and keeping the commandments along with temple marriage is the path for each of our lives.  I can’t count all my blessings but I know that my family is the top blessing on my long list.

     I know that the Plan of Salvation is the plan that Jesus Christ, our elder brother, presented to Our Father in Heaven and we chose to be a part of that plan.  We shouted for joy and we were very enthusiastic and committed to come to earth and live in this period of time.  Because of or enthusiasm we were chosen to live in these the latter days and to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the central point in our lives.  Let’s take advantage of this testing period in this Plan of Salvation by being what we should be in this life each day.   As much as I love my family, who would think I would have any left for my Savior but I do and I want to please him every day.  I love Him and I know He love me and each of us.  This is my testimony in His Holy name, even Jesus Christ, Amen

Love Out Of Botswana, Dad

Thought for Sunday

More on Scripture Study!

President Ezra Taft Benson explained how the scriptures can be a powerful way to bless us and answer the difficult questions of life: Quote--"Often we spend great effort in trying to increase the activity levels in our stakes.  We work diligently to raise the percentages of those attending sacrament meetings.  We labor to get a higher percentage of our young men on missions.  We strive to improve the numbers of those marrying in the temple.  All of these are commendable efforts and important to the growth of the kingdom.  But when individual members and families immerse themselves in the scriptures regularly and consistently, these other areas of activity will automatically come.  Testimonies will increase.  Commitment will be strengthened.  Families will be fortified.  Personal revelation will flow."

 

Thanks to all of you parents for teaching your children the importance of reading the scriptures individually and as families.  There are so many reason why our family is so blessed and happy and loves spending time together.  It's because we are all TRYING to keep the commandments and make ourselves worthy to return to live with our Heavenly Father TOGETHER FOREVER!!!

 

We are forever grateful for each and every one of you!!!

 

Have a great Sunday together!

 

Love,

Dad and Mom, PaPa Lynn and Grannie

Thought for the Day

Dearest Family,

Since we are working hard on our Scripture Challange that Dad gave us all, I found this quote in my Book of Mormon Institute Manual and thought I would share it with you.  I have a couple more also, but I'll try to share only one each day!

 

President Spencer W. Kimball spoke of the power of scriptures to help us draw nearer to God:  Quote-- "I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away.  If I immerse myself in the scriptures, the distance narrows and the spirituality retunrs.  I find myself loving more intensely those whom I must love with all of my heart and mind and strength, and loving them more."

I find it quite interesting that this quote was taken out of a Book (or a talk, I'm not sure) that President Kimball wrote and it is titled "What I Hope You Will Teach My Grandchildren and All Others of the Youth of Zion."

 

We love and treasure each of you so very much. 

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

 

Love,

Mom

TRULY A MIRACLE:

                                        This took place Sunday the 18^th of April 2010

                I need to set the stage a little for this as we are serving in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission and serve in the Botswana Mission Office.  We arrived a couple months before Elder and Sister Olson were to head home.  We were assigned to work especially in the Young Single Adult Ward with Bishop Matswagothata to help out the best we could, and to learn all we needed to know from Elder and Sister Olson in running the mission up here in Botswana.  Two other important factors take place to help understand how this truly was a miracle.  There was a couple’s conference scheduled for the 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd of April 2010 and Elder and Sister Olson were scheduled for a personal trip to the Okavango Deltawhich is in the northern part of Botswana on the 26^th through the 30^th of April.  This would give them time to stay in our mission office slash mission home for one more night before they drove down to Johannesburg to fly home on the 1^st day of May.

                Now I have set that part of the stage I have one more item to cover.  Sister Morgan and I were pretty much on our own during these two months and we visited most of the branches during that time.  The Sunday before the mission couples training we went to the Mafikeng Branch which is just across the border into South Africa but is still in one of our Botswana mission zones.  We left early on Sunday morning and attended their block meetings and a baptism.  We were getting ready to leave and I took our passports and papers for crossing the border out of the car to make sure we had everything and just as I was doing that one of the Elders called me and I turned around to talk to him and I put the packet on top of the car which contained our passports and all the other papers to cross the border.  We were in a hurry to get back to Gaborone and get things ready for the upcoming couple’s conference.

                Just as we arrived at the border and parked I went into a shock mode as I remembered even before I looked realizing that I had left the packet of papers on top of the car at the church and here we were at the border with the car.  I looked between the seats where I kept them and of course they were not there.  I jumped out of the car knowing they weren’t on top but I looked in the boot (trunk) and I just knew they weren’t there either.  I got back in the car and Mom and I talked a few minutes and decided to call the Elders back in Mafikeng to see if they had found them.  They looked and didn’t know where they were.  They looked up and down the street and asked the branch president and the packet was nowhere to be found.  We didn’t know what to do so we called Elder Olson and explained our situation.  I could tell he was very upset and he told me that we would have to go to Johannesburg and serve there for several months while we waited for replacement passports.  I could tell that it would mean real problems for the Olson’s as they had this trip to Okavango Delta planned and paid for and then they were scheduled to leave for America on the 1^st day of May. There was no way a replacement couple could come and learn all they needed to learn to make it so they could even go home on schedule. We decided that first of all we wanted the Lord’s help and so fervently we prayed for help.  We didn’t even know what kind of help we needed but we knew we needed help.  It was the strongest prayer thus far on our mission that I had prayed.

                We didn’t know what to do so we went into the South Africa side of the border and they weren’t going to let us cross but they finally agreed to let us pass but that Botswana immigration or border people would never let us into Botswana without having our passports.  So South Africa let us pass and we headed to the Botswana border about a kilometer farther north.  When we went into their office we had a strong prayer in our hearts and we told the immigration officer in charge exactly what happened and she wouldn’t budge.  She said we had to have passports and that was final.  As we were trying to convince her the lady across the long narrow room (the departing side) came over and asked what we wanted.  She was the same lady that helped us and stamped our passports as we left earlier that morning leaving Botswana.  After talking for more than an hour with those two ladies and also the head immigration officer they finally said we could cross and they gave us a piece of paper that we had to take to the immigration office the next morning back in Gaborone.  We could hardly believe that they were letting us back into Botswana without our passports, it truly was a miracle and we knew that our prayers were answered in a matter of an hour not weeks and months later.  After we got through the border I called Elder Olson and he couldn’t believe that we were back in Botswana.

We arrived back to our hotel room at the Motheo Apartment in downtown Gaborone.  May I explain that when you are in a foreign country your passport doesn’t have an address where you are staying and only has the state you live in back in the United States.  If some honest person found your lost passport he wouldn’t know how to find you to return it.  We were still in awe when we received a call from Elder Olson and he said you will not believe this but a trucker in Mafikeng found your packet and he will be here tomorrow morning at his trucking firm right here in Gaborone and will bring them to us.  We can pick up your passports and paperwork from him about 8:00 in the morning.It just so happened that some of the paperwork which was with our passports in the packet was a driving permit for us to be able to drive across the border.  On that letter it was signed by Elder Olson with the name of the church and address and phone number down after his signature.  The trucker had to look hard to find, us but he did and found us through Elder Olson.The wonderful part about miracles is that they can be extended beyond what we even pray for.  We prayed so fervently to be allowed back into Botswana knowing that we would have to stay in South Africa until our replacement passports could be applied for and months later received from the United States, if they didn’t let us through the border.  We knew we would have to miss the couple’s conference that was happening later that week but we weren’t worried about that.  But with the second part of this miraculous miracle we did get our passports back and all was as though we didn’t lose them at all.

Passports on the black market are worth a premium and usually are not returned.  Often they are stolen because of their value.  It was the greatest feeling that next morning when we actually held our American passports in our hands, it was worth every pula I gave to the truck driver as a reward for finding and returning our passports.  We realized we had been blessed and that we had received an answer to our prayers and we recognize this as one of the most greatest miracles of our lives.  May Miracles Never Cease!

Love Out Of Botswana, Dad