Busy few weeks

A beautiful amarillis Wayne saw on his early morning walk.

These last few weeks have been busy and mostly very exciting.  We have been able to run away for a few of the weekends, trying to get our last visits at some of our favorite places.  Early in October we were able to return to Swaziland to visit with the Lombardi's and enjoy the beauties of that country for the last time.  It was an action packed time and we enjoyed following the Lombardi's with their busy schedule and even spent some time with President and Sister Zackrison who were there doing interviews with the Elder's.  We were able to visit Lobomba (kind of a township) met some of the Lobomba boys (which we will tell you about when we return home), attend a helping hands project, a baptism, and church before returning back to Durban. 

 This young girl is a recent convert to the church.  She is 16 years old and this is her 3 week old baby.  She lives in this tiny one room home with her mother and two other sisters.  All three girls have babies.  Very humble circumstances, but the sisters are learning the joys the gospel can bring to their lives. 

Saturday morning we headed to a helping hands project that the Elders and community members are helping with.  They are trying to improve a very small bridge that fords a stream running between two hillside communities.  I guess they often lose cars that try to cross the stream and so they are trying to widen the bridge.  They had about three or four of these culverts to roll down this hill to the stream. They were using poles and logs as a brake system.  It was an accident waiting to happen!  

 These two little boys were having a grand time playing in the water as all little boys everywhere do.  Can you imagine letting your children play in this dirty dirty stream?  They had sticks and some string and were pretending they were fishing. 

 Finally one of the community members came along with a very old tractor and they pulled the culverts down the hill and got them to the stream where they will divert the water and widen the bridge.

Later that afternoon we headed to a baptism of two young men.  We were so thrilled to meet up with Elder Lowry (far right).  We were privileged to serve with Elder Lowry in Maseru and he is a fine man and is now the zone leader in Swazi.  He will go home next month as his mission will be completed.  We love Elder Lowry and were so thrilled to attend this baptism.  I got to play the piano for the baptism and it was a wonderful experience to feel the spirit of these two newly baptized members as they bore their testimonies.  Sunday we attended Church with the Lombardi's and then headed back to Durban to be ready to start work again on Monday morning.  We were grateful to the Lombardi's for their kind hospitality (we stayed in their home) and enjoyed watching them in action as they served the members and the missionaries.
After a busy week in the office preparing for the next weeks transfers, we left to Lesotho.  We stopped over in Bethlehem and visited with Elder and Sister Anderson.  The next morning we left bright and early and headed to Lesotho, dropping mail off with the Lerebe Elders and then driving on to Maseru to attend a Seminary and Institute Fireside.  The Wyatt's had invited a great Seminary and Institute man to come and speak to them, Brother Kumbalani.  It was so great to see the young people and Branch Presidents that we worked so hard with at the beginning of our mission.  We so enjoyed the day with them renewing friendships and acquaintances.  We also felt such love and appreciation for the beauties of the country.  However, they have not had any rain since March and so the land is in a terrible drought.  The crops are shriveling up and dying.  Many farmers have just turned the cattle in on the crops as they will never be able to harvest it.

As we drove through Ficksburg into Lesotho this very familiar sight brought back so many memories.  Skinny skinny horses doing such heavy work.  The business of the border crossings and the getting in and out of the car, stamping of passports and on and on.  We were so thrilled to be able to return and relive so many great memories.

Anderson's, Knudsen's and the Holt's in front of the new Phuda chapel.

Sunday morning we drove to Phuda to go to church.  It was their Primary childrens sacrament presentation.  We surprised President Thusi with our visit and he was so thrilled to see us - especially Wayne.  It was great to see the members that we had taught the temple prep classes to, the branch members we had worked closely with and of course the Elders.  The Anderson's and the Knudsen's were also there attending church that morning.  After church we went over to tour the new church building that they have been blessed with and that they held their very first meeting in on October 20th.  The Knudsen's are missionaries serving a second mission in South Africa.  They actually lived in our Ladybrand flat a few years before we arrived in 2012 (before the Dahle's).  When they started visiting the Phuda branch they would meet with about 8 members.  When we arrived we had about 60 - 70 members attending.  That number has gone down over the last 8 months as they had to keep changing locations to hold their meetings and some of the members just stopped coming.  Once the Anderson's started serving in Bethlehem (after we moved to Durban) they managed to get this building leased and remodeled to become the new Phuda chapel.  Wayne and Elder Shumway found this old supermarket, and asked if we couldn't lease it to hold meetings in.  The area office turned them down.  Elder Anderson had worked in the area office prior to serving in this area and knew the right people and got it procured and remodeled.  The branch is so excited to finally have their own building to meet in every week.  We expect great things will happen in this area now.

The new Branch President's office

 Their very own indoor baptismal font with a geyser that will fill the font with warm water.  No more cold outdoor baptisms filled with dirty cold water.  This is such a blessing.  The Sunday after we were there they met in their building and five baptisms were held in this font.

 This is just one of 7 classrooms in this building.  The classrooms are a good size and the floors are carpeted.  Normally the buildings in South Africa are very cold, but as we toured this building it was so warm inside.  We are so thrilled for this branch.  They are so very blessed.  They have a beautiful Relief Society room and a large kitchen, with a stove, fridge, oven, sink. 

This is their chapel.  Their podium is not quite finished yet, but it will be lovely once it is.  No longer will the missionaries have to haul over the sacrament trays, podium, manuals, hymn books, etc.  They can all be stored in their own building week after week.  They won't have to set out and pick up their chairs before they can start and finish their meetings.  We all shed a tear or two of gratitude that Heavenly Father has blessed this branch.  We are so happy for President Thusi.  He has certainly faced many trails on behalf of his branch.  He has remained a faithful Priesthood leader in spite of it.

We had to say goodbye to a favorite Elder, Elder Gold (on the right) as he got transferred to Bloemfontein.  His companion Elder Brimhall was left in Margate.  This companionship was a powerhouse.  They have done a great work in their branch and will be greatly missed.  They were the funniest looking couple of missionaries as one was quite short and the other very tall. It made me think of Mutt and Jeff.

Primrose, Sister and Brother Mandy, Elder Kyle, Elder Holt

 Last Sunday, we attended our branch in Kwamashu. The Public Affairs representative, Elder Kyle was able to provide a sweet sister, Primrose, with a wheel chair to help her get around.  She is so crippled with arthritis that she can hardly walk.  This new wheel chair will help her so much.  The Mandy's pick her up each week and bring her to church.

This must be the time for new baby monkeys.  We have two or three Momma monkeys with brand new babies.  The babies just hang on tight to their mommas and the momma just runs along.  If they are jumping from tree to tree, sometimes the Momma will take one arm and put it around the baby so it doesn't fall off, but usually the baby just hangs on tight.  The Momma monkey is very protective and does not let anyone get very close to her or her baby. 

The last few weeks we have been very busy preparing and planning for the Couples Conference which took place this weekend.  The reason we were having a couples conference was because Elder Bednar was coming to visit our mission.  We also had Elder & Sister Cook from the Area Presidency attending as well as Elder & Sister Christiansen from the the Seventy.  It has been a weekend filled with fun, spiritual highs and good instruction from our mission President and the leaders from Salt Lake.  The Kyle's and the Holt's worked very hard to get this pulled together and everyone had a great time.
 Thursday morning the couples got together and were on their own to go do fun activities in Durban.  We met Thursday afternoon at the mission home at 4:00 for a wonderful meeting where couples shared sacred mission experiences.  We then had Teddy and Kathy come and put on a Braai for us which was delicious.  After that we honored each mission couple with silly gifts that helped other couples get to know each other better.

Sister Carlile and Sister Kyle

President & Sister Zackrison

 Sister Kyle and I had so much fun shopping for funny gifts and Sister Kyle was so clever in writing it all up.  She composed some original poetry for some of the awards and was so entertaining.  We felt that it was a very successful event. 

The Elders awaiting Elder & Sister Bednar's arrival

This is President's "transfer dart board".  He could throw the darts and if he got the bulls eye, he didn't have to make any changes at all.  Especially none at the last minute.

Friday morning we all gathered back at the mission home for a meeting of instruction from President and Sister Zackrison.  At noon we fed everyone lunch and then everyone worked their way over to the Pinetown Chapel where we met  all the Elder's from the Coastal and Newcastle Zones.  Bloemfontein, Lesotho and Swaziland zones only got to participate by a video broadcast in each of those areas.
It was wonderful to arrive at the church and see all these Elders who had been practicing to perform a special choir number for the meeting.  They did a great job and it really added to the spirit of the meeting.  We then enjoyed a three hour meeting with these apostles, receiving instruction, as the Elder's asked questions and Elder Bednar answered them.  After the meeting we gave the Elder's sack suppers and sent them on their way to return to their homes.  The couples went out for dinner at a lovely restaurant.  We then gathered Saturday morning for a Priesthood meeting for the men and a Women's conference for the women, plus all the Priesthood leaders from two Durban stakes, and three mission districts.  It was a great day.  We met the mission couples for a final goodbye at the office and gave them mail and supplies to take back to their areas.  It was a bitter moment though as we realized that we would not see many of these couples again, as we would be going home.  We grow so close to these couples and we will really miss them.  Truly one of the best kept secrets about serving a mission is the blessing of meeting and working with other great missionary couples.  

 The Lombardi's came back to our house (after we picked up some groceries) for a bite of lunch and then we invited the AP's for supper so that they could also visit with the Lombardi's.  Both the AP's had served in Swaziland with them and they had a great time reliving memories shared together.

 Today was another full day of meeting with apostles of the Lord as we attended a special conference meeting and then a Young Men's/Young Women's fireside with Elder & Sister Bednar and Elder & Sister Cook.  We truly have been spiritually fed. 

This is getting very long, and I will close very soon.  I just wanted to share a few photos that have come my way in the last few weeks.  Mealii participated in a soccer tournament two weeks ago and this is what she ended up with.  She and a competitor both went up to head a ball and Mealii got the ball and a black (purple) eye. 

 She spent the fall break visiting the University of Utah, BYU and University of Colorado campuses.  She has some big decisions to make in the next couple of years as she prepares for University.  She has always wanted to go to BYU, but she thinks that the University of Utah has a fabulous library and campus.

She celebrated her 16th birthday this week and got her drivers licence and had her first date. 

We are looking forward to watching her play soccer in the near future.

 Le'olani is growing up way too fast.  It must be the influence of all the teenagers in the Enos household.  She has also been playing soccer and we can't wait to watch her play. 

 Kalani attended the homecoming dance with this lovely young lady this last month as well.

This is our beautiful Mealii without the black eye.  She and a bunch of girls from her Seminary class attended the Homecoming dance and then they all came over to the Enos house for something to eat.













Thanks for putting up with this extremely long blog.  Thats what happens when you don't do it for a long time. 
Today, Inge face-timed us from our home.  She gave us a virtual tour of our home and it was so fun to return to our kitchen, family room, living room, etc.  We have lived the last 17 months so thoroughly immersed in where we have been that we have hardly missed what we have at home.  We have certainly missed our family and friends, but don't think much about what we have given up in terms of comforts and conveniences.  Thanks Inge for that opportunity.

We love you all, and can't wait to be altogether for Christmas.

Love Wayne and Barb