Truly "CES"

I do love Monday's when we get to have a preparation day.  We spent the day doing laundry, catching up the blog, preparing discussions and a PEF fireside for the coming Sunday.  Sometimes it is just nice to be able to stay at home and catch up on some of the mundane, necessary chores.  I made treats for the Elders DDM on Tuesday morning, which Elder Holt took in to them.

Tuesday afternoon we drove to Ficksburg to teach Norma Kwezi another discussion.  We started out by singing an opening song:  I am a Child of God.  She loved it.  Yes, even Dad sang.  He did very well.  It was a great lesson and the spirit was strong.  She is an amazing young woman and absorbs and accepts everything we teach her.  We meet with her again next week.

These children were walking home from school (obviously a public one - no uniforms.  A lot of them had woven these wreaths out of the leaves from these willow type trees.  I think the leaves helped keep their heads cool.

trees are blossoming and leafing out.  It is such a beautiful time of year here in South Africa.

Does this look like a popcorn tree or what!

Some of the fields are filled with these termite mounds.  Some of these termite mounds go into the ground about 12 feet.  When they fill a field it makes the field impossible to plant.

This is a house that we pass on our running route.  We think it looks so beautiful with these beautiful purple flowers, the palm tree and the thatched roof on the roundella.

These trees are not in bloom.  This tree is filled with this beautiful purple flower that is a vine that has attached itself to the trees and makes it look like it is in bloom.  It is georgeous.

Wednesday we spent most of the day preparing a lovely Prime Rib dinner for President Von Stetten and his wife.  They arrived earlier than we expected and we enjoyed a great evening with them.  They loved the Prime Rib dinner and it turned out extremely well, if I do say so myself.  President is definitely a meat and potatoes man and had multiple helpings.  He could not get over raving about how delicious the roast, mashed potatoes and gravy were.  I served hot apple crisp with ice cream for desert.  During the night we had a terrible thunder, lightening and rain storm.  It kept waking us up.

Thursday morning we got up and it was a beautiful sunny day.  We went for a run in the warm sunshine - it was great.  We had errands to run and office details to take care of and then we had company come again for supper on Thursday.  We invited sister Cadribo for supper - she had us for supper to her home the first month we were here and her husband is in Ughanda until December and so we thought we would have her come so she wouldn't be so lonely.  She called just before and asked if she could have her sister come too.  Of course we said yes.  When she arrived it was actually a sister from the Branch in Maseru who comes to stay with her a couple of days a week and cleans her house.  We had a great evening and a good visit.  We learned lots of details about our flat, who has lived here, missionary couples from the past and things about the Maseru branch.  It was great.

We went into Maseru Friday morning to take an amplifier into to replace the broken one in the chapel there.  However, this one did not work either.  We met with President Monesa and had a little visit with him.  We are making a little progress with him in building some trust and a better working relationship.  We also tried to find a plumber to fix a leak in one of the Elders apartments in Masianokeng.  That has been a bust so far.  I can't believe how hard it is to get some simple tasks completed here in South Africa.  We met with the owner of the duplexes in Maseru and talked to him about possibly renting them for the Maseru elders as we have some concerns about the house we thought we would rent for them.  After meeting with President Von Stetten, he said you are there, you make the decision.  We felt this was a big step for the President to trust us to make this decision.  So, if the contractor accepts the church's lease contract I think we will rent his duplex for the Elders.  These simple tasks took all day. 

Saturday morning we had plans that promptly got changed by a phone call from the Elders in Phuda.  Elder Moeta was very sick and needed to see a Dr.  So we travelled two hours to Bethlehem to take him to the medi-clinic where we found he had tonsillitus. He received a shot and some anti-biotics.  We bought him a good supply of juice and they headed home.  While there we met with the Bethlehem elders and got them a new iron, brooms, etc.  I think this last month every flat has needed a new iron.  It seems to be an epedemic - broken irons.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early and headed to Leribe group and attended their sacrament meeting and then left to head down to Maseru to conduct a fireside for the young adults to teach them about the PEF program - Perpetual Education Fund.  We thought we might have 10 or 15 people there from the two branches and 1 group in Lesotho, but actually ended up with about 40 people there.  It turned out well, we were pleased.  By the time we got thru the border and home it was time for supper. 

We find each week that we have learned more than we did the previous week.  We have learned to love the people in the branches more, we have loved to serve them more.  I think there is something about that in the scriptures.  Todday we are serving the Elders.  They are here in Ladybrand having a district activity and then they will come back to our house for their ZDM meeting and then we will serve them supper and they will head home.  I have to go now and finish dinner preparations.  We love you all.  We love to hear from you anytime.

Love
Elder and Sister Holt