Watsons Serving in South Africa: Teaching and Learning

Dear All,

Our mission calling stated we were to provide "member and leader support". When we asked our mission president what this would entail, he simply said that we would find how to fulfill the assignment using the experience and abilities which we have. He counseled that we should not be concerned about doing things the way past missionaries had done but to find our way of serving the people. Well, this has been our goal and we are slowly but surely learning how and where we can do the greatest good.

Our weeks include teaching English at a preschool (25-30) and to a group of 4 to 14 year old kids at a church after their regular school day. Both groups express their excitement to see us and most are quite attentive and very enthusiastic about the messages we prepare each week. We also spend much of our time teaching others, including temple preparation classes, strengthening marriage sessions, and gospel principles to those investigating the church. We are also working to meet with each church member in their homes and helping them receive greater blessings from the Lord.

With literally all of the members in the Motherwell Branch being converts to the church, each one loves the missionaries, especially those who first taught them the gospel. Every home that we enter has photos of the families with those missionaries who are special to them. One family has a large canvas portrait of them with their missionaries. Having said this, they still have room in their large hearts for us new missionaries and make us feel very loved. We receive lots of hugs here and love each one of them.

Sister Watson spoke in Sacrament Meeting yesterday on the subject of faith and she did an excellent job! A young Stake High Councilman also spoke and his talk perfectly complimented that of Sister Watson. His name is Brother Angela and his wife and 8 week old baby accompanied him to Motherwell. They are good examples of the new generation of black church members in Africa who have strong faith and a deep understanding of gospel principles. These bright and loving people will surely provide the leadership which will be required as the church continues to grow in this wonderful land.

The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth and it shows the way that we may find the greatest happiness in this life and, most importantly, our way back to our Heavenly Home. We know this to be true and testify of such with all our hearts!

All our love,

Elder & Sister Watson

This is Phumza Mgwangqa and her youngest, a boy. We are helping her prepare for the temple. This is how moms carry their kids, even while working at home.

Sister Mqwangqa's two youngest. They love Sister Watson!

Sister Watson with Sister Willie and her mother (Nompumelelo Mzini) and two daughters. This was on the youngest first birthday.

Sister Vena invited us over for a very delicious dinner this past week. Here she is with Sister Watson and a daughter cleaning up in their tiny kitchen. She started cooking at 11:00 AM for our 7:00 PM dinner!!

We found this great burger place in Port Elizabeth which has an interesting way of marketing the food. Many people here were quite interested in the US election.