We harvested part of the garden today. A lot of work for not much yield. We have HORRIBLE soil here. I'm sure I could make pottery with it. We've been amending it for about three years now and I think its going to take another 10 or more to get it to be good soil. 

But anyway its healthy work and we do get some vegetables if not as many as I'd like. This represents just the tail end of the west side of the garden

Yesterday was the second day for general conference. It was wonderful. I needed to be spiritually fed on a large degree again. 

 had everyone over for dinner after the last session. They all brought pot luck. It was a glorious feast. But I managed to stay within my WW points. I've lost 8.9 lbs in the past two weeks. Can she do it folks? Can she do it?!

I'm working on a trellis for the garden for next year. I saw one like I want at Thanksgiving point in the Fragrance Garden. David and Daniel helped me with designing it. Now to the wood cut.

I found a seed pod from a tree I've always loved, and threw the seeds into a container of walking onions I had in the window sill.  I didn't think they'd grow because the pod didn't seem mature enough yet. The seeds are growing! 

We were spooked last night by someone in the neighborhood. Fun!

 My stained glass class is getting easier. Although I did have to cut one piece 4 times before I could get it without breaking.

We found some porch furniture last week. Nice eh!

So, We've been home from South Africa for about 4 years. I was going through old computer files and ran across this blog.

I wondered why I didn't keep writing. Oh, I know. We came home and life happened again.

We bought some land and moved to Eagle Mountain. 

Our sweet daughter and her children are living in our former house in Sandy.

We dug a sprinkling system and planted grass and gardens and just started living in a new place. 

It took several months for us to start to learn the names of the people in our new ward (Eagle's Gate 1st Ward). Bliss and I were called to be primary teachers. We loved those kids. I was to the point where I could look out over the congregation and I knew at least the last name of every person there. . . then the stake was divided and we were put into an entirely different ward )Eagle's Gate 3rd Ward. A lot of great people stayed but some new friends were assigned to other wards. So we started over with learning names. Several apartment buildings and condos were added onto our ward. 

I was called to be the RS 1st counselor and Bliss was called to be the Elder's Quorum 1st counselor. We started to get into the groove and then about 4 months after the division. . . The Covid-19 pandemic hit with a vengeance. We were invited to stop attending church and we stopped all forms of social gathering. We all stayed home for many months hoping that the disease would be contained. 

Slowly after about a year we started to be able to attend church in person again if we signed up and wore masks and sat at least 6 feet apart.  Most people stayed home and watched a televised version of church and had their own sacrament administered by family members who held the proper authority to do so. 

Then I was called to be the ward organist so I began attending church in person full time. Now we're mostly back to attending in person. People moved in and out and some stopped attending during that year and a half so we are now trying to learn a whole new set of names.

Last week Bliss was called to be the Aaronic Priesthood Quorum Specialist which roughly translates into Scout master. He'll plan the activities for the deacon's quorum and take them camping etc. I think he might help with Sunday lessons also?

We've planted a garden every year since moving here and gotten a lot of vegetables from it. David gave me a peach tree for Mother's Day the first year here and we've enjoyed peaches for two years. We got a few apples last year but none this year. One of our blossoming pear trees died and the other struggles along in this terrible soil.

We save all vegetable scraps for compost and the dirt is getting slightly better a bit at a time. We also save all our egg shells and grind them into powder for the soil. Give it another 10 years and it might be usable dirt. Bliss tills it and keeps amending it . . . so.

I started a stained-glass window class at Holdman Studios three weeks ago. It's harder than it looks. But I'm slowly getting it. The trick is (obviously) cutting the glass. I'm making a bird. We were given a stack of patterns from which to choose and I unknowingly chose the most difficult one - of course. But it's coming along and I hope I can get is finished in the next two weeks. 

Bliss has been going fishing a lot with his brother Bert or he takes Jeff or Jesse sometimes. They always catch their limit.

I've been cooking fish often. I bottle some of it. The bones get soft in the pressure canner so it's like Tuna only it tastes better.

The Saratoga Springs Temple is coming along. We were able to go see the statue of Moroni placed on top. A few of David's and Jason's children also came to see it.

This is getting too long. I can't write everything that's happened in the last four years. Time to place images and publish.

Home

21 January 2017

SATURDAY

Opened the apartment next door for the painters to paint the garage so we can be done with it.

I made about 15 CDs with the Institute manual and readings on them for those without the bandwidth to download their own.

Bliss weeded the place next door to be ready for re-renting. We went to the open market and visited with our “two ladies” who gave us a free jaffle and pannekoeks. We said goodbye to all the people we have seen whenever we went to the market. I had deep fried hauloumie cheese - which I’ve been wanting to try for 17 months. It was totally worth the wait. 

We visited a good man who wanted us to visit him every day and teach him about the gospel. We taught about the Godhead. He had been raised with the concept of the trinity but readily accepted the Godhead concept of three separate beings. At the conclusion of the lesson he said “So…we must have this book (Book of Mormon) so we can understand this book (Bible) and visa versa. Bliss left a blessing on their house. They are great people.

22 January 2017

SUNDAY

We picked up Sister Malemo at 7:30 AM and took her to Botshabelo Branch for part of her stake calling.

Evodia Malemo and Me

 We stayed for Sacrament meeting and then went to ThabaNchu ward for the last two parts of church. Bliss went to a primary class and I went to Sunday School with Sister Malemo. She had a meeting after church with some of the RS people there so we waited.

Church in Thaba Nchu-Bliss is getting better at selfies

 While waiting, a brother asked Elder Roberts to ordain him to the Melchizedek priesthood. It was nice because Bliss had his line of authority and could give it to the brother. Bishop Sebusi took a photo of it and is going to print it out for him. We came back home (an hour drive) and had dinner. Then decided to take one last walk around the estate. It was our last day in 2 Hillandale. It has been a great place to live for our time in South Africa. On our walk we saw the giraffes. Someone has removed the fence that used to run along the trail so now it’s open to more wildlife. We tried to get the week organized again. It seems that things just keep cropping up. But we felt strongly about visiting with our investigator every evening so we wanted to fit that in somehow.

23 January 2017

MONDAY

Awoke at about 6:AM and got rid of a lot of stuff in our suitcases. We might make it weight wise now at the airport. Went to “Jumbo” market where we were able to purchase a lot of cleaning supplies and soaps and dry goods with the rest of the money allotted for the orphanage.

At Jumbo getting dry goods

 Met elder Rakotomalala at the Mediclinic where he was going for an X-ray.

 He had torn a muscle while playing soccer. He could barely walk and they wouldn’t let him in without verification from us. He’ll be OK but in a lot of pain. It ended up being torn but not too bad so they won’t have to operate. He just has to stay off it for 6 WEEKS! No big deal. 

Me, Elder Woodland and Elder 'malala who is having difficulty walking

We took our stuff over to the Cherry Tree Cottage Bed and Breakfast. Then headed to the airport to pick up the Porters who were flying in from Durban and squished ourselves and all their luggage into our car. We took them with us to visit with our investigator. It was a great lesson. Then we saw our friends across the street and introduced them to the Porters. Then took them home and went back to our B&B where we crashed and slept soundly. Still way too much stuff though. We had brought about 4 apple box size boxes of stuff which wouldn’t fit in our suitcases. We also brought a week’s worth of food and stuffed it into the tiny fridge. 

24 January 2017

TUESDAY

Awoke at 6:00, had breakfast and continued sorting and getting rid of stuff, We packed lunches with some of the food in the tiny fridge. We drove over to Porters and began going over bunches of stuff they will need to know. We took them to Checkers where they were able to do their grocery shopping. There is only one car between us so we are transportation each day. We took them to several stores - The Spar, The doctor’s office, the pizza place. We took them with us to our investigator where we taught  discussion of prophets and the need for them. Then as it was getting dark we left for Rocklands where we met with the Stake Presidency about Seminary and Institute business. We took the Porters and introduced them to the Stake and then home to drop them off. I’m sure they won’t remember any of this since they are still fighting jet lag. Made it back to our B&B by 11:pm. It’s a glorious place.

25 January 2017

WEDNESDAY

We had lost one set of car keys. Who knows how things get lost when you’re moving. Everything is in a different place and there’s no place to put stuff so it gets lost. Anyway, we finally found the other keys in my scriptures. We picked up the Porters and headed to Lesotho. We crossed the border with no trouble at all and met with Sister Moletsane to give her lesson materials - almost getting stuck on her street. We drove over to show Porters how to get to the Masianokeng chapel and then on to Leribe where we got lost on our way to Sister Sepamo’s business. It wasn’t where it usually is. . . lost. (Actually it was, but it looked different with all the traffic and cars parked in front of it). The GPS wasn’t cooperating. We were sort of becoming frantic when who should appear out of nowhere? The elders - of course. They drove up next to us and asked us where we were going. We told them and they led us there to introduce the Porters to Sister Sepamo. Then on to Phuthaditjhaba to show Porters the chapel and meet the teachers and then to Bethlehem where we were able to meet with our teachers there. We were originally going to stay in Bethlehem but two days prior to this the Bethlehem empty couples boarding had been repopulated with a new senior couple. SO . . . we decided to drive straight home. It was a long, long drive. 4 more hours.

26 January 2017

THURSDAY

President Thompson met with us to have a final interview. It was very humbling. He is such a great man. We helped the Porters with more info and then went to our investigator for our evening appointment. He asked about how to be happily married throughout your life. Sho! Such a question. The question of the century. But we have been working on it for many years and its coming together a little better each year. We told him that first and foremost one must obey the commandments and be faithful to each other not only physically but emotionally and spiritually and every other way. The spouse must be first priority. That takes a huge amount of selflessness. I think it also takes a huge amount of self confidence. We read from the Doctrine and Covenants section 121 about how the priesthood is to be used in a marriage. We talked a lot about treating each other with forgiveness and respect. His wife confessed to having a really difficult time with forgiveness and not letting it go but holding on to little grievances until they became large and painful. She wanted to work on that. They are amazing people. I hope they continue on after we leave.

27 January 2017

FRIDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!

After a glorious breakfast provided by Alta at the B&B we took Porters over to the office to get their proof of living in Africa papers filled out. They discovered they would need them for something, so we also got ours at the same time since we still haven't received any of our Social Security which was supposed to begin in July last year. We thought we might need proof someday that we lived here. 

An example of one of the glorious breakfasts at Cherry Tree B&B

We picked up Duncan Macmillan at the airport and brought him to the Porters where he would be training them in S&I stuff.

We went back to the B&B where Bliss had a power nap and I organized everything for the Stake Presidency meeting tomorrow. But then realized that I didn’t have a printer so as we picked up Porters I dashed in and printed out copies of the info we were presenting to the Stake Presidency.  And one for all the bishops about who is registered in their several wards/branches and the curriculum they would be using this year.

Then off to help Elder Porter get his cell phone and while there a man from “Globeflight", on the other side of the city, approached Elder Roberts and told us that we had a delivery at Globeflight. Nice. We didn’t even have to call them to find out. They recognized us at “Pick n Pay.”

We dropped the Porters off at their house and Bro Macmillan off at his B&B - which is the same as ours - and went to Makro where we got cups, plates, serviettes, watermelon and CANDY for our going away party tonight.

Then visited with our investigator. He told us he needs to be baptized. He brought it up. I asked him “When?” But he was not ready with a commitment. 

Rant: And isn’t that just about the way of life? We all want to do stuff. I want to write songs and produce quality cartoons and finish my life story and write a biography about someone I know and lose weight and buy a car and exercise and see Panama and have an art exhibit and play the “Messiah” from memory or even with music! and clean out my garage and learn to make artisan bread and refinish my basement and and and and so it goes. 

There’s that nagging question “When?”

Picked up the Porters and Duncan and off to the party.

The party was SO fun. The RS had arranged to have everyone bring different foods to share. They began with us all meeting in the RS room for talks. Elder Roberts talked about how much he has loved everyone. I compared them to books in a library. When you first look at the book you don’t know anything about it and you don't care at all about it but after you’ve finished it you don’t ever want to give it back even if you don’t ever read it again you still love it and you have the memories and feelings of the stories in it. I told them that they were all no longer unread books to me but beloved novels that I would always cherish. There were a lot of tears. I told them that they now had two new books to read and the Porters were introduced and spoke.

They made us dance before anyone could eat. So we danced - fast! Everyone was hungry. I wanted to protest but could see that it would merely delay things. I'm not really anxious to dance in from of a room full of people.

Then we went into the “Hall” where everyone laid out their food and we had a glorious feast. steak, chicken, pap, potato salad, samp, beans, stew, salad, watermelon, boiled bread, rice, spinach, ice cream, cookies. Brother Nyamane had brought his stereo and speaker system and put on music. Everyone danced. Very fun. I love the way that everyone dances here. Amazing rhythm and always on the beat. Cool moves. Then home - I love the way the B and B leaves a little candy bar on the pillow every night.

28 January

SATURDAY

Stake meeting. First with High Counsel and then with Bishops. It was very sad to say goodbye to all those wonderful men. Amazing people. So committed to the truth. Pabalelo gave us a print out of all the teachers in the MLS program for the stake. We’ve been trying to get that for 18 months. YAY! I sent it in to Norma with a list of who we could see in WISE. They are supposed to be the same but there was only one name out of 30 people on the lists who was correct. Hopefully it will be fixed someday. But at least I got my part done to get it to the people in SLC so they can see what the problem is. 

Our market friends Johanna and 

We took the Porters to the Open Aire market where we also said goodbye to lots of people we have come to know over our time here. Our “ladies” Johanna and Isabella gave us a free Jaffle and the wood carver gave us some free carved animal pens. 

We all assembled at Porters house and Duncan went over tons of S and I stuff. After that training we  drove Porters around to several other places in town that they would have to be familiar with and then dinner at Euro Grill in Mimosa Mall and home.

At Euro Grill - Me, Bliss, Elder and Sister Porter

29 January

SUNDAY

Our last Sunday in Bloemfontein. We were assigned to speak about family counsels. I compared them to car dealerships. What if the CEO never communicated with the advertising team nor the financial secretary etc. The company would be in chaos. How much more important is the family than a car dealership. Bliss spoke about how to do family counsels. 

One last big hug from one of my nursery kids. It was very hard to leave them.

Afterward we took the Porters home and then Duncan home and then met with Michelle, a young nursing student at UFS. She had questions about the 12 tribes of Israel that the elders were having challenges answering so they had invited Elder Roberts. He answered all her questions to her satisfaction and then we were off to our other investigator’s house where we sat on the back porch and answered his questions for 3 hours.

At home I prepared all the rest of the leftovers in our mini fridge and then realized that Duncan hadn’t had anything to eat so we invited him over to eat with us. There was plenty. 

30 January

MONDAY

Awoke a bit late and hurried over to pick up the Porters, take Duncan to the Airport and do boarding checks. It was a bad idea to do them on a Monday-Pday. But the elders were cooperative. Then back to Porters to teach them more about “WISE” the enrollment program and “WORKS” the financial program. 

Rant: I think these are things that could be taught in the MTC. And they could already be signed on before they get here. It would put them months ahead and not waste so much time in the field.

The Porters took us to dinner at Spur. Nice. Bliss has been having elder Porter do the driving. Such a learning experience. Wakes up the brain.

31 January

TUESDAY

Took stuff to the elders in ThabaNchu and Botshabelo and stayed there for 3 hours while we cleaned out and defrosted their fridges. Looks better.

Introduced the Porters to Bishop Sebusi and ordered pizza for lunch. We will miss the Sebusis so much. Moshe told us the story of his mission in Idaho and how he had been tried so many times but kept on going. 

Brother and sister Manda had us and the elders for dinner and prepared a braai with some great pap and salads. 

1 February

WEDNESDAY

The elders called to invite us to their DDM. We had been accruing points on our pick and pay card for 18 months which gave us R465.00 of free food- about $36.00. So we bought meat pies and chips and a cheese cake and apples and other stuff for the elders lunch and took it to DDM. We only stayed for a few minutes while Bliss taught part of the lesson and then left with the Porters and told the elders to enjoy their lunch. I’m sure they did.

Our last DDM. We love these guys

We had to meet with Mrs. Stein about closing the boarding next door and finally got all the papers signed and sent them to the office. Done!

Then we took the Porters to the Waterfront mall to see about getting her phone to work. The people at the iPhone store said it was locked - another general problem that could be worked out at the MTC!

So she had to call her son in Utah and awaken him in the middle of the night to have him get some sort of code from the phone company where he had bought their phone and then they were going to unlock it from the US. 

We had the same problem when we got here. In the letter sent to the couples it could mention something about having a phone which is unlocked for international use. We were told that our phone was unlocked but having never dealt with it overseas we didn’t realize - nor did the salesman who sold it to us - that it was the sim card that was unlocked and not the actual phone. It took several weeks for us to get ours sorted.

We took all the rest of our leftover food to a member and were glad that it could be used.

Very difficult to say goodbye to Sister Tsatsinyane - one of our favorite people

Dropped in to say goodbye to Jwalane and were able to see two other good sisters at her home for an RS meeting.

We were able to get hold of Ayanda and give him the extra money needed for registering the institute at UFS and show the Porters how to get on to the campus. Security has been greatly tightened since last year. We couldn’t just drive onto campus. We took Porters over to Sis Tsatsinyane’s house to introduce them to her and to say goodbye. That was hard. Lots of sobs. Took Porters home and then hurried over to Teyisis to say goodbye to them. That was very hard. We have learned to love them so much. Sister Teyisi had knitted a hat and scarves for each of us. They are so beautiful and soft. 

Said goodbye to the fuel station people we saw every week

The Porters took us to dinner at the Longhorn Grill for our last night there. It was delicious of course. We feel safe leaving our people in their hands.

Elder and Sister Porter

2/3/4 February

THURSDAY/FRIDAY/SATURDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTINA - 3rd

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSEPH - 4th

After breakfast we had to go over to Standard Bank to get R800.00 deposited into our WORKS account to come out at a 0.00 balance and close the account. We laughed about knowing exactly where it was and how to do it. 

Finished the last page of the Book of Mormon

And now what will happen to all that knowledge? Is it completely pointless?  Maybe it helped my brain to stay alive or something. What happens to all the once essential, now useless knowledge that we acquire anyway? Here’s a thought - we try to tell the younger generation about the stuff we’ve learned in the hopes that they won’t have to make the same mistakes. Some listen - some don’t. I guess I should seek out some old people and ask them questions. And then listen. Maybe there should be an old person website where old people can get on and just ramble about life and experiences.

The Porters took us to the airport. We had weighed and reweighed our luggage about 6 times over the last few days trying to get each suitcase to 50lb or less. We had taken out lots of stuff and it paid off because we didn’t have any extra charges at the airport.

Waiting at Bram Fischer Airport in Bloemfontein

 We flew to Johannesburg and waited a few hours walking around and having dinner at Ocean Basket. 

Ocean Basket - I know - everyone tells me that
I write about food a lot but we do seem to eat three times a day - everyday.
It is sort of a large part of our lives.

Then boarded the plane for the USA. 

Cool view out the window at OR Tambo in Johannesburg.

Such a long, tiring flight but the stewardesses were so nice. 

On our way

There were lots of movies on the flight list and that took up time. We only carried a small amount of stuff. I guess we’ve learned a little about travel. I took the pillow Brynley made for me and stuffed it into my carry on bag. It was nice to have. We had bought a box of granola bars to eat on the way but just as we were about to board there was an announcement that someone on the flight was allergic to peanuts so anyone with peanuts was not allowed to bring them on the flight. :/ 

Being home is strange. Who am I? It’s Friday? How did that happen? Wait Saturday?!

The whole family was at our house to welcome us. They had made signs and gave so many hugs. 

Made by Hazel

Welcome home signs in the window!

My peeps

One of our teenagers. Now driving!

They grew up!

hugs for Grampa

A stake presidency member, Brother Karren was there to release us. That is a difficult thing. It feels - strange and empty. I watched my children all do this after returning from their missions but didn’t have a clue how it felt. My heart was still attached to all those wonderful people in South Africa. How could I be released just like that? I couldn’t. That’s how.

Good friends reunited

 All the mom’s had made pots of soup and brought or made bread to go with it. It’s kind of like a dream being without sleep for so long and then having the whole family there. Surrealistic. Where am I?

A few of the soups

Love these people

Ben and Jessica were still staying in our bedroom as planned and Tamee and Jeff were still in our basement as planned. They will be there for two more months until graduation and beginning of new school so we slept on our camping cots in the basement amidst the many boxes and bags. Ben and Tamee were mortified and both had offered their beds but we truly didn’t care one twit. Too tired to even notice where we lay our heads. Plus we like our camping cots!

Joseph's Birthday celebration the next day at our house. 16!

The next day Kimberly had planned a birthday party for Joseph at our house. So lots of people came back for it. 

HOME!

Elder and Sister - once again Brother and Sister Roberts