Monday, October 17, 2016

Loving the People of South Africa

Dear Family and Friends,

We have said it before but will say it again, we love the people with whom we now spend our days.  Amidst their meager circumstances and the normal challenges which life brings, they are happy and find joy in the simple things of life.  We see boys playing football (soccer) in the streets with a ball made from plastic bags stuffed with whatever.  We often see them playing with cars made from small cartons with roughly fashioned wheels, or simply finding pleasure in rolling an old tire down the street.  Above all, they find joy in singing and dancing.  There are many who attend various Christian churches and you see them walking in their finest clothes to church on Saturday (Adventist) and Sunday.  The church members here have a deep love for the Savior and declare such with conviction.  They sing the hymns loudly, beautifully, and from the heart.

Well, we went from not being sure if we were going to be kept busy one week ago to being a bit overwhelmed with all that we have to do.  We have two Elders in our branch and we are now assisting them in teaching a few people.  Also, the branch president has asked to teach the Strengthening Marriage course to six different couples.  Also, we are beginning to teach temple preparation classes to a few different couples.  All these will be taught individually and in their homes.  Sister Watson also had a couple ask if she would teach them to play the piano and, even though she hasn't played in many years, she happily agreed to do so.  We continue to teach English and gospel principles to two different groups of children, who we have already come to love.

We took a little time last Monday for fun and went to the Kragga Kamma Park.



It's a relatively small park near Port Elizabeth which you are able to simply drive through and enjoy a pretty up close encounter with quite a few different animals.  My birthday was last Friday and, while I did miss being with family, we did have a very nice day.  We spent the morning in District Training Meeting, and then went to dinner with our dear friends, President and Sister Pershing.

God lives and we are His children.  He guides us and protects us each day as we learn and live according the the teachings of His beloved Son.

Our love and best wishes to all!
Elder and Sister Watson

We got pretty close to these guys.  Didn't realize how big they are!  Such beautiful creatures!


This is the preschool class we teach on Thursdays.  They start singing the ABC song very loudly as we walk in the door!


These are most of the kids from the older class we teach.  As you can tell, they love to have their pictures taken.  The girls sang and danced for us this week and it was awesome!




This is Elders McCarrol and Ivans, the missionaries who live next to us and work with us in Motherwell.  They are great missionaries and are really taking good care of us. The young woman is Lisa (English name she adopted). She is preparing for baptism in about two weeks.


Lisa was progressing from 8th grade this week and was super excited as it is a big deal here, as you can tell from her beautiful dress and all.

1 comment:

  1. So glad to hear everything is going well for you on your mission. I know you both will be such a great blessing to the people there and you will be blessed by them as well. Good to know you have missionaries living next door.

    ReplyDelete