2020 November 1 Sunday Meeting Zoom 7 pm

 

This should be our last Sunday gathering with our missionaries. President and Sister Nielson joined us and told of the path they have taken this past week to take action to travel here as soon as possible. Their passports with new visas were lost (or stolen) on the handoff between the South African Embassy and Federal Express on 22 October. 

When they didn't show up at Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, the Nielson's decided to take action on Wednesday by driving to Idaho to their storage unit. They spent two hours unloading items to get to the filing cabinet at the back. They retrieved their birth certificates. Three LDS missionaries walking back home offered to help them and they spent the next hour putting everything back. 

The Nielsons spent the night at their child's place and drove back to Salt Lake on Thursday and got on a plane to Tucson, Arizona to stay in a hotel that night. 

The next morning they joined us by Zoom for the special missionary meeting we had with Elder and Sister Anderson, Elder and Sister Vinson, and Elder and Sister Palmer (Area South President) from 4-6 pm SA time. 

They joined us for our mission office staff meeting and then went to an 11 am appointment to get new passports. It took one and a half hours. They FedExpressed them to the South Africa Embassy in California. Tracking said they should arrive at 10:30 am on Monday morning. They flew back to their hotel in Utah.

President Leavitt and I took the rest of the time discussing mission business and our last testimonial good-byes.

2020 November 1, Sunday Forming Lydenburg Branch

President Leavitt and I went to Lydenburg over a month ago and helped find and rent and small meeting space in the Cash Builders shopping center in a great location for the Lydenburg Group to meet. This space will do for a year or so until a perfect spot can be located to put modulars on as a church building.

This week, President Leavitt received notification of approval to form a Lydenburg Branch from the Lydenburg group within the Nelspruit Branch. He was able to extend callings and organize the meeting for today.

At 9 am today, the Lydenburg Branch was formed during sacrament meeting in the Nelspruit Branch meeting house. It was a joyous occasion for all!

President Leavitt and I joined the sacrament meeting by Zoom and were able to deliver our thanks and departing testimonies after the Lydenburg Branch presidency was announced and sustained and church business was taken care of and the sacrament finished. We would have loved to join in person but it is illegal for those over age 60 to be in church meetings. We enjoyed the other testimonies expressed during their fast and testimony meeting.

Lydenburg Branch presidency: 

President Alfred M. Sibanyoni

1st  Counselor Rudolph Roeloffze

2nd Counselor, Christopher Smith

Nelspruit Branch President Theo Mabusela will reorganize his branch presidency next Sunday.

2020 October 25 Sunday Zoom Meeting

 

At 7 pm, the missionaries gathered on Zoom to hear from our special speaker, Dennis Freire. Dennis is battling the effects of cancer and treatments. The missionaries enjoyed hearing from Dennis in the past and had asked how he is coping. Dennis gave a wonderful presentation. Listening and caring for Dennis strengthens the missionaries and Dennis. After Dennis spoke, President Leavitt and I shared our departing testimonies.

President and Sister Nielson are to arrive Thursday night, 29 October 2020, and we are to depart for home the next night.

Note:

I am writing this the night the Nielson's were to arrive. They found out Monday that their passports with their new visas were either lost or stolen when the South African Embassy employee deposited their passport and papers in the FedEx Box in California to be returned to the Missionary Department in Salt Lake City, Utah. FedEx doesn't have any record of the passports and papers.

Stay tuned....we won't be flying home Friday night. It looks like we are staying into November! We will start transferring missionaries back to their permanent mission assignments in Africa beginning next week, and continuing through November and December. Of our current 55 missionaries, 25 are our permanent missionaries, one of which finished 5 September, but is from Fiji and hasn't been able to go home.

2020 October 23 Mission Office Staff Mtg

 

We hold our international Zoom mission office staff meeting usually every Friday at 5pm. 

Top Left: Elder Krakra OE, Elder Mathenjwa AP, Elder Ndlelo AP, Elder Madlala OE at Mission Office in Joburg

Middle: President and Sister Leavitt at Mission Home in Joburg

Top Right: Elder and Sister Erickson, office couple, at home in Utah

Bottom Left: Sister and Elder Walker, office couple, at home in Utah

Middle: Pending President and Sister Nielson, at hotel in Utah

Bottom Right: Sister and Elder Pitcher (on a phone call off screen) in their flat in Ezulwini, Eswatini

This might be our last one before we go home.

2020 October 20-22 Zone Conferences

 

On Tuesday from 10 am to 4:15 pm, we held zone conference in the Florida Chapel with the North and East Zones (Eswatini missionaries, part of the East Zone, had their zone conference on Wednesday). We had 20 missionaries plus the assistants, office elders and Leavitts. We had plenty of room to social distance and we wore our masks, except when at the pulpit. The pulpit was sanitized between each person using the pulpit.

We took photos outside before a delicious lunch prepared and served by Liz Vizzini and her team of two ladies (Liz broke her wrist five weeks ago) was enjoyed in the cultural hall.

President Leavitt and I felt like this might be our last set of zone conferences as President and Sister Nielson have finally been able to submit their visa application to the consulate in Los Angeles, California. We both spent time sharing some of our usual departing meeting content and departing gifts.

I also made a popcorn and nut bag for everyone in commemoration of their birthdays and handed them out at the end of zone conference. I haven't been able to do that since our zone conference in February.

East Zone:

Front row: Sisters Madlingozi, Jantjie

Back row: Elders Chifarimba, Ngema, Austin, Dakuiyau

 

North Zone:

Front row: Elders Khumalo, Hlatswayo, Sisters Mohube, Wood

Back row: Elders Fierro, Manjate, Sibanda, Joka, Mosia, Dollman, Arumugam, Paongo, Mnyakana, Jooste

 21 October, Wednesday

Central and West Zones

We had 26 Missionaries today at Zone Conference at Florida Chapel.

Central Zone:

Front row: Sisters Mc Aravey, Banditi, Mokoena, Kipela, Vetten, Sithole

Back row: Elders Nganda, Tsibogo, Daniels, Dos Santos, Nocanda, Kireta, Ramokoena, Jente

West Zone:

Front row: Elders Nyembue, Mthembu, Mathenjwa, Ndlelo, Chagadama, Klintworth

Back row: Elders Krakra, Madlala, Presence, Madaza, Tyantsi, Malgas

22 October, Thursday 3-8:15 pm

The Rest of East Zone in Eswatini with Elders Ngozo and Ngcamphalala on Zoom in Nhlangano, Eswatini, and East zone leaders Elders Ngema and Chifarimba and President & Sister Leavitt on Zoom in Johannesburg

Front row: Sisters Dvuba, Gwebu, President & Sister Pitcher, Dladla

Back row: Elders Ndlelo, Mathenjwa, APs, Mabuza, Phiri, Dlamini, Zulu, Elders Madlala, Krakra, Office Elders

Front row: Sister Dvuba, Sister Gwebu, President & Sister Pitcher, Sister Dladla

Back row: Elders Mabuza, Phiri, Dlamini, Zulu

Top left: Elders Ngema and Chifarimba, East Zone zone leaders in their Springs, Joburg flat 

Top right: President and Sister Leavitt in Johannesburg Mission Home

Bottom left: Eswatini Missionaries in Mbabane Chapel in Eswatini along with our office elders and assistants

Bottom right: Elder Ngozo, trainer, and Elder Ngcamphalala in Nhlangano

2020 October 18 Sunday Meeting 7 pm

On Sunday night Sunday Meeting at 7 pm, President Leavitt read some of the conversion stories and missionary experiences the missionaries submitted from the baptisms and confirmations we were able to begin performing the middle of September until now.

One of the newly baptized and confirmed new converts joined us and related his conversion path of being taught by different missionaries and finally being able to be baptized and confirmed. He looks forward to coming to church and meeting and becoming better acquainted with the members of his ward and continue along the covenant path.

2020 October 13-14 Transfers

On Tuesday afternoon President gave his departing interviews to Elder Clark, Elder Mafundityala and Sister Nzimande. They did their memory pages. We had a departing dinner and meeting.

Sister Nzimande

Elder Clark

Elder Mafundityala

14 October 2020 After Breakfast the office elders, Elder Krakra and Elder Madlala took Elders Clark and Mafundityala to the airport to fly home. At 9 am, Sister Nzimande's family came to pick her up and take her home.