Hello again from South Africa. We are coming to the end of September and we have more to share since our last letter. On Sunday the 20th Pres. Goodger had us and the elders to one of his lodges (in Great Braak River) for lunch. It was a lot of fun and Sister O didn't have to fix a BIG Sunday dinner. Pres Goodger lives on a beautiful golf course in Mossel Baai and he invited Elder O to play a round of golf with him on Monday, which is our P-Day. You could see the ocean from every hole. It was really a beautiful setting and sure was a LOT of fun. It was only Brother O's second round in about 5 months. There are so many beautiful courses here and he wished he could play more.
When he got home from playing golf we had another senior couple at our flat by the name of Elder and Sister Harms. They are from AZ. He is from Safford, Thatcher area and she was from Elder O's little town of Franklin where he was raised. Her dad was Elder O's bishop at one time. They really didn't know each other, as he is about 11 years older. It is a small world. Sister O fixed a nice roast beef dinner.
On Tuesday we meet with Pres. Matsaluka and one of his counselors, Pres. Mtyobile. Sister O made a nice lunch with her left over roast beef. The Harms are a new senior couple here dealing with public relations. There are only 30 public relations couples worldwide and we have 3 in Africa. After about a 2 hour meeting with them about public relations, we took the Harms on a mini tour of George. We went to see Victoria Baii, Herolds Baii and a beautiful overlook of the beachfront of Wilderness. Then we showed them the river place where we have had the last few baptisms. Then we drove up on the mountain above Wilderness and showed them the Map of Africa. That is a large area that looks like the African continent, created by a river and some large canyons.
We then needed to get home as we had a teaching appointment with the wonderful family of Gerard, Desiree and daughter Elizabeth. The Harms went with us as they don't have the opportunity to teach in their calling. They really enjoyed the opportunity. They left Wed. AM and will be gone for about a month. They will be going way up to Durban with there call on public relations.
We left about 7 am Thursday to go to Port Elizabeth (4 hours away) for Zone Conference. All the senior couples were meeting for lunch together. Then in the afternoon we toured a game farm called “Kappa Gramma” We saw Warthogs, Bontebok, Giraffe, Impala, Duiker, Cheetah, Bush Buck, Water Buck, Ostrich & 3 Rhino's. On this game farm we drove our own cars around. On Friday all the missionaries met at a VW plant about 1 hour out of PE. We had a mini tour there and it was enjoyable but we didn't get to see the assembly line because of the number of us. There were about 50 of us. That evening we had dinner with Pres. & Sister Probst and that is always enjoyable.
On Saturday we had Zone Conference and we really enjoyed it. We started a 8 AM and left to come home about 3PM. Our next Zone Conference we will have Elder Hinckley of the 70's. That will really be a treat for all of us and everyone is excited about this.
We stopped at Tsitsikamma on the way home and visited with our Africa son, George, for a bit. His baptism is set for Oct. 18. We are really excited about this and he is really excited and can hardly wait.
He is such a great man and wants so much to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in his life. His life seems to already be blessed and he is so happy and has such a joy in his heart. That is so great to see and to see the changes in someones life.
It rained Saturday evening & Sunday. Being gone to Zone Conference, Sister O never really had time to prepare for her big Sunday dinner. So I suggested we have a Braai (Bar B/Q) hamburger, Vors, and hot dogs and she was all for that. The problem was it was raining, so we did it in the garage with open doors and windows. It was really good and the elders enjoyed it. Gary and John O Leen also came for dinner. We went to get them and bring them to the house. We had heard earlier that they had no food in their home, so we talked to Pres. Matsaluka about this. They are not members yet but we didn't want them to go without. Sister O and I went and got them some groceries and took it to them. They had nothing to eat. They really appreciated this so much and it is such a blessing to help people such as this.
Well one always hates to admit that they are getting older but I guess that I'm getting to that point. My hearing is getting very bad. I had it checked earlier and I have about 60% hearing loss but it is too expensive to get hearing aids over here. They run between 2 to 3 thousand dollors. Maybe later. I know it would be a big help in our missionaries efforts to hear better and to understand what people are saying. It is English, but it is still hard to understand.
Well it is time to close, I can't hear but I can see that this letter is getting long enough. We love all of you and miss everyone so much. We are so proud of our families and are so thankful for the great friends we have. We really enjoy hearing from everyone. You could all do do better (Please).
Those who haven't kept in contact – it is time to!
Love to Everyone
Elder & Sister O'Dell
Here are some new pictures:
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