2020 November 5
One last photo with my wonderful helper, who came back recently after some country restrictions were lifted. I have missed her since South Africa went into COVID-19 lockdown on Thursday, 26 March 2020, at midnight.
Irene Tshabalala helped me and my husband operate the mission home since 17 March 2017, when we arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa. I will forever hold her in my heart!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
