Watsons Serving in South Africa: It keeps getting better

Dear All,

The weeks are really starting to fly by for us as we are keeping busy and are settling into a regular routine. The more time we spend in Motherwell, and the more people we meet, the more we enjoy it. It is certainly an adventure going there each day.

Well, this will be the first time for us to not be with our family on Thanksgiving and we will miss this opportunity greatly!! The holiday is not even known by many people here but we have plans to celebrate it none the less. We will be traveling to Port Alfred, another coastal community about two hours away, and will join with three other couples for Thanksgiving dinner. We have only met one of the couples so it will be nice to meet the other two. One of them bought a turkey last year but said it was not very good, so we will be enjoying a Thanksgiving chicken. Sister Watson is taking her delicious dinner rolls and a fruit salad, so at least that will make it feel a bit like being home. We will miss being with family and friends for the holiday very much, but we knew that was one of the sacrifices we would be making.

We are excited to report that we have two baptisms planned for this coming Saturday. They will be for a young girl and woman who we have been teaching with the Elders, and who we have come to love very much. They are so excited about becoming members of the Lord's true church and Kingdom and have strong testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel. Many branch members are planning to attend. They all love these special occasions, very likely because it reminds them of their own baptisms. The service will be at a meetinghouse in Port Elizabeth and, since very few branch members have cars, plans were made yesterday for people to take public transport together in a "taxi" (small bus). After the baptism the men will travel together to the Stake Center for Priesthood meeting while the women will travel to Bay West, a large mall on the outskirts of PE. It will be the first time for many of them to see the mall so they are quite excited about it.

We are sincerely thankful for our deep faith, our amazing family, and our awesome friends. We wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

All our love,

Elder and Sister Watson

Branch Missionary Correlation Meeting at our home. The ward Mission Leader, Mzolisa Mgqali, along with Elders McCarroll and Ivans. "Mzo" is 22 years old and is the only church member in his family. He is an awesome guy and is just now submitting an application to serve a mission.

This is Lisacona, a 12 year old young woman who is being baptized this Saturday. She has a great understanding of gospel principles for her age and a strong testimony. Her mom will likely follow her outstanding example in the weeks ahead.

We learned that Sister Vena, pictured here, took in the two children in the left of the picture when they were infants as they were essentially abandoned. They are now two of the happiest children we know, along with the rest of the Vena family. They are the ones with 13 living in a tiny two bedroom home.

These are the Wonci sisters, along with their mother and her sister. The young sisters are recent converts to the church, while mom and aunt attend another. The blue and white clothing being worn by the aunt is typical of a type of matching clothing worn by many of the ladies. There are different colors for different churches. The younger and older sisters are super close to each other, as you can likely see, and is a joy to see them together. BTW, the one in red has a 24 year old son...crazy huh!