Last Letter in August 2010

Senior Couples enjoying another GREAT breakfast at Fish River Sun

Helping Hands Helpers

Port Alfred Branch at Help Hands

New Elder Rapitse (out with the old and in with the new)

Elder Rapitse joining the fire ball club

August 30,2010

Dear Family, Friends & Loved Ones,

Greetings again from the beautiful South Africa! We really miss home and all of you our family and friends. We love you all so much. We do love it here and are so grateful for the wonderful opportunity we have to serve our Father in Heaven and for the many marvelous experiences we have had and are having and some of the most wonderful people we have met and love! They are blessings that we could fine only by the service we have been called to do.

Well we had transfers about 11/2 weeks ago. We lost elder Buthelezi and he was replaced by Elder Rapitse. He is from the Jo burg area. He seems like a great missionary and he is especially great because he can play the piano. It seems so good to have someone play the piano for our singing at church. We had to go to PE for the transfer which is about 11/2 hours away.

One major thing I am trying to get done is to get the bank signature cards changed and re-signed. I am having a problem in that we have signatures signed by Pres. Godfrey & Pres Fulmar who have long been gone to America. We are waiting for the signatures to come back. We didn't realize we needed to change the signatures while they were still in SA. Meanwhile I have had to pay for a lot of branch expenses out of my personal account. I'm hoping to get this corrected as soon as possible so that I can get reimbursed for all this. It just takes time for things to happen here in Africa. It is much different than we are used to at home. Be thankful for the good old USA!

We had our Mormon Helping Hands on August. 21. I believe we had about 30 members show up from our little branch which I thought was good. We worked on the property of a home (2) that has been purchased for homeless children. One building will be for boys and the other for girls. It has a big yard. For our service project we cleaned up a number of garden area and flower beds. We spaded them, raked them and planted a vegetable and flower garden. We also dug out 4 trees & cut them up for wood. We weeded a large lawn and mowed it plus raking and cleaning up the whole yard. We also pruned 8 to 10 other trees that needed it so bad. After we did our service project which really turned out great I braaied some 72 hot dogs, we served punch and had cookies. & oranges. We really enjoyed the project and everyone had a good time together. We had a man from the local newspaper that came out and took pictures and put it in the paper. When you think of this being a worldwide project one can only imagine how much good was done world wide.

Sister O & I did home teaching & visiting teaching. One family was in a town called Alexandria which is about 55 K,s away. Our other visit was to a sister that lives at Kenton on the Sea which is about 20 to 25 min. away from PA That is too far for any one in our branch to visit as most of them have to walk or take a Taxi.

It seems like the elders we have in PA don't really like to do a lot on P-Day. I take them to the driving range to hit balls sometimes but usually they just like to hang out at our flat. Last week they watched 2 movies. "The first was Facing the Giants" and the second was "Faith like Potatoes" We have a number of missionaries call us ( Sister O) just to talk and tell Sister O how much they love & miss her. (I'm sure it is her cooking they miss the most) She is like a mother to them all.

On Wednesday evening we had 2 senior couples come and spend the night with us. Sister O fixed a great taco & burrito dinner along with her great salsa which we all really enjoyed. Then we all played a card game called golf. It is so fun having other senior couples come by and stay and visit. ON Thursday morning Pres. Platero came from Grahanstown and we went to Fish River Sun for their fabulous breakfast. After breakfast we went back to PA and played golf at our beautiful Port Alfred Royal Golf Course. I talked them into giving us all a great price. Normally it costs about R 230 and he lets us play for R 85 which is about $12 plus golf cart. The two couples that stayed with us were the Robinson and the La Prays. The La Prays served here a few years ago and liked it here so much they wanted to come back again. In fact they are living in the same house flat as before but their mission call is a different calling this time. Both couples are from the PE area.

Well we finally have the lease completed on the building for our new meeting house for the church. The lease will began Oct. 1st which will give us a month to remodel and get it ready for our use. We are really excited as we will have the room that we need. We are so crowded where we are now. Well we are finally organized in our branch except for one setting apart. We are really excited how our branch is progressing. Our branch is small but we really have some strong and great people.

Next week we will be going to EL for a 3 days training session. From now on we will have zone conference quarterly and we will be having a lot more training & workshops. Pres. Probst called me a few days ago that Sister O & I and Pres. & Sister Platero are invited to come to Cape Town one week-end in October for a Worldwide Leadership Training Conference. I think we will have 3 of the 70's there plus some area presidents, mission Presidents, Stake Presidents, Bishops and Branch Presidents. We are really excited to go even thought it is about a 10 hr drive.

It is such a wonderful experience and blessing to go on a mission as a senior couple. I hope those of you who are senior couples will read the article in the Sept. Liahona on Page 18 about serving as senior missionaries, hopefully it will help increase your desire to serve.
Well it is time to close. We want each of you to know how much we Love you and Miss you and how Special all of you are to both of us. We are so blessed and so lucky to have 2 wonderful families & Great Children and Wonderful Grandchildren. We again LOVE YOU ALL!. We look forward to coming home and being with all of you in a few more months. (only 71/2 more).

Love to everyone
Pres. & Sister O'Dell
Mom & Dad
Linda & Woody (Grandpa & Grandma & Grandpa Woody)

2nd August Letter in 2010

1. All the Senior Couples at the Park

2. The Elephant at the Park

3. What was left of the Kudu after the lions dinner.

August 12, 2010

Dear Family Friends & Loved Ones,

Greetings again from beautiful South Africa. It is really beautiful country here and we love it BUT we still miss home and family so much. Well for Sister O birthday we had a really good steak dinner at Spurs in Grahamstown with 2 other senior couples. We had to leave a little early to come back to PA as I had a couple of interviews I had to do. We had our district meeting this week on Thursday instead of Friday because we had the Robinsons (another senior couple) staying with us on Thursday night and they along with the Plateros and us were going to meet at Fish River Sun for breakfast on Friday morning, then back to PA to play a round of golf at our "Royal Port Alfred Golf Course."  We are still celebrating Sister O's birthday. She is not in the BEST of moods as she just tuned 69 which is just to close to 70 (for her) She tells everyone she is 84 and just turned 85.  But that is OK just as long as she is not 70. The 3 Sisters are going to play golf also and the 3 old men will follow. I am anxious to see how Sister O does and enjoys the game.

Well we all had fun, enjoyed the day, we were tired BUT we all had fun, then we went to eat chinese food for dinner.  We have a good chinese restaurant in PA that we enjoy.  On Saturday I had a few meetings in the AM and then Sister O and I had to go to a town called Peddie about 11/2 hour from PA. We had a good friend who was our branch mission leader in George that asked us to come over and wanted me to help him give his mother a blessing, who was dying in the Hospital. He asked me to give him a blessing as well.  What a wonderful privilege we can have holding the Priesthood of our Father in Heaven. Isn't it wonderful that we are blessed with the restoration of the Priesthood and the gospel here on earth again and can enjoy its full blessings and the fulness of our Heavenly Fathers love.

We had a service project to do for an investigator of putting hinges on a gate so that the gate would work. I didn't get home in time for this so I guess it will have to wait until next week. We always enjoy doing service for the people when we find the opportunity.

Sunday, August 1 was fast Sunday which I always enjoy. For some reason it seemed to focus on LOVE.  Love for each other, Love for the gospel and showing our love by the service we give. We had another setting apart after church.  Our Branch is small but we really have a wonderful family of people here in PA and even though there will be problems I can see things here in SA and in PA getting better.  On Monday for P-Day we didn't really do any thing for fun as most of the day was spent at my desk doing my favorite thing "PAPER WORK" Then the Elders from Grahamstown came over because they had to do a baptismal interview and of course Sister O always does her wonderful thing of fixing them a dinner like a Sunday dinner.  It is a lot of work for her but she seems to really enjoy it! Of course they all want her homemade salsa (me included). It is soooo GOOD!!

We have been working hard with the Ndlambe Municipality to do the annual worldwide "Mormon Helping Hands" service to the community. We finally gave up with them and our new RS president found us a very good service project of working on the yard and putting in a garden for a large homeless children's home.
It is really a good project and one that we will all enjoy working on.

Pres. Probst was here on Saturday August 7th for interviews and will be her for church on Sunday and take care of some Priesthood interviews etc. that he needs to do. We also had a counselor from the Stake Presidency here to set up a seminary program and sustain & set apart a seminary teacher. I believe the Sister that was set apart will really be excellent. We are really excited about the organization that is taking place here in the Port Alfred Branch.  We had the largest attendance for our branch on Sunday August 8th. We had 54 in attendance. We have only a membership of 52.

When we left to come on our mission we left from our Pinetop ward. I wish we had left from our Gilbert ward as they are all interested in our mission and correspond with us regularly. We never here from anybody in Pinetop and we really love to get news of what is going on at home. It would be much more enjoyable to report back to the people in the ward that seemed to be interested in what we were doing on our mission.  I'm not sure the Pinetop ward will even know who we are when we get home. OH Well 8 more months.

Well on Monday the 9th for P-Day we went with 4 other senior couples to "Addo Elephant Park" You see a lot more at a private game reserve BUT we did enjoy the company of visiting and being with the other senior couples. We only saw 8 to 10 elephants plus several groups of greater kudu, jackles and 9 warthogs. We also saw the remains of a lion kill of a good kudu bull. After this we had a very good lunch at a reasonable price at a restaurant at the elephant park.

Well it is about time to close for now. I'm still busy with meetings, interviews etc and the lease for a new meeting place finalized.  We are trying to stay busy & we love the people here. We love our work here and we can't wait to come home.  We love all of you so much. Time is rapidly flying by. We have only 8 months and one week, but who is counting! Ha

Love President & Sister O'Dell
Grandpa Woody & Grandma
Mom & Dad  Woody & Linda

Pictures from Jeannie

Click here to view these pictures larger

1 August Letter 2010

1. George & Charles (his friend)

2. George Birthday 25th of July

3. Our new Home

4. President O in our Living Room

5. Senior couples going golfing P-Day

6. Sister O and the Big turtle

7. The rose and cards I received for my B-Day

8. Sister O on the zip line (cute no)

9. All of us getting ready to go to the Zip lines

August, 1, 2010


Dear Family Friends & Loved Ones,

Well we are slow in writing again. It seems I have such a hard time finding time to do some things. Well this week is transfer week and we are so glad that we were able to retain our 2 Elders. This will help me in the reorganization of our branch that needs it so bad so that we can move forward the way that we want.  Well we are comfortable in our new flat and we really like (love) it compared to our last place at Settler Sands. This is fully carpeted, 3 bedrooms, 21/2 bath, garage, large living room & dining area and a large kitchen with a eating nook and the area is so beautiful and green with beautiful landscaping.  We will take some videos of it shortly.

On Sunday for church, one of the speakers couldn't be there, so my counselor in charge asked Sister O to speak in her place and the topic was "Follow the Prophet"  She really did a fantastic job as her talk was perfect and so good.  Her talk was for 15 min which was perfect to fill our the program. Sister O has been such a spiritual blessing to everyone here in SA and to me as well.  Not only a spiritual blessing but they all love her as a dear friend and she relates so well to everyone. She gets calls & e-mails all the time from people telling her of their love for her and how much they miss her. Even some of the youth from George. All the missionaries want to be where Sister O is because she takes such good and loving care of them all. They don't get this in other areas.

For our P-Day on Monday Sister O and I went for a ride to see what "Southwell" was as there are so many turn offs that say Southwell. Well there really wasn't anything there except for scattered farms & ranch houses and some game farms but it was a beautiful green drive. We ended up by Grahamstown and then back home. It was fun and Sister O loves to take drives and I love to be with her.

A few weeks ago Sister Hynch of the Relief Society  & I talked about FHE  in Church. We talked about the importance of having FHE and how important it is for families. So we have been going to some members homes with the Elders having FHE. We have enjoyed this and I think the families do as well. On some of the FHE visits I have been teaching about Eternal Marriage and trying to establish this as a goal for our member families.  One of my counselor works out of town during the week, but my 2nd counselor and I are trying to visit all our members to give encouragement and to give some spiritual strength. Sister 0 and I have also been visiting with many of our members where we think it is needed. Sister O is such a strength in this area. I can really see a change in some of our members.  Many people just need to feel our love for them an to know that they are loved. I have had some great blessings in my calling to give some PH blessings to a number of people and it is so wonderful to see some of the changes in their lives.

A few days ago we received a very special and long e-mail from Troy (my son) he related a beautiful story of when he was on his mission about a lady and the repentance and forgiveness she experienced in her life. It was a beautiful story and one that we all need to incorporate into our own lives. I know in our family we really need this principle in our lives as there is a lot of retained and bad feelings with some of our children. I want each of you to know how much I love each of  you and it seems to grow daily. I want each of you to know that your are probably the most important thing in my life. Second only to your mother & my sweet loving companion Linda, who I have been so blessed to have in my life and the meaning she has given me.  Also the gospel is probably the most important thing we have in our lives as it helps us to appreciate our love for each other and we can be together as one for all eternity.
I do know that their mother would want, above all else for us to be forgiving one to each other and to love each other as they do their own mother. Families are what really matter most.  Sister O and I have such beautiful and loving families. We love you all so much! Sister O loves my children like her own and I appreciate that so much and I love her children like my own as they have all shown me love and respect with open arms & heart. We feel that between our families we have been blessed with the BEST. We love you all so much. I would ask each of you to read 3 Nephi 13: 14,15 D&C 98: 40 Luke 6:37 and especially D&C 64: 9-11. I know sometime the only stumbling blocks we have is pride. We have seen this is SA. We have seen this overcome here and the changes it has made in peoples lives.

Well we have really been busy, we keep hoping it will slow down some, I guess we really find more joy and happiness when we are busy serving.

President Probst  will be here on August 8th There are a number of sustaining that he needs to do so that we can complete our branch organization. We have 3 brother Tlathi, Tunye & Siambwezele to be called as stake missionaries; Brother Siambwezele to be Elders  President and Branch mission leader. We have some great people here but our membership is small so we have to double  up on a lot of callings. Last Sunday we sustained and set apart Sister Ruth Cockbain as our new RS President. She will be a wonderful blessing. I prayed a lot about this and her name was revealed to me over & over. I am really excited how our branch is progressing. I have a lot of goals I want to try and accomplish while we are here. I want our branch to be well organized, self sustained leadership, FHE, Home Teaching & Visiting Teaching to be well organized and working good the way it should. It hasn't been happening but we are getting organized toward that goal. We are trying to work hard on re-activation and to spiritually strengthen the testimonies of our members. We seem to be gaining and progressing. I know it is a lot of work and worry but I feel confident it will happen with the Lords help and good leadership and this I feel is happening.

On Saturday afternoon our Africa son came and spent a few nights with us. He came from the Tsitsikamma area, It was his birthday on Sunday July 25th  & Sister O was July 28. He brought her a beautiful wooden bowl for her birthday. His partner came on Sunday and we had a nice braai and Birthday party for him with the Elders. He is such a great young man and wants to go on a mission so bad. I'm sure with the Lords help it will happen and he will get to go and serve the Lord. He will make such a GREAT missionary.

On Monday P-Day (Sept. 26th) I took Sister O and 2 Elders over by Grahanstown area where we rode 6 zip lines. We had a great time and I got some good movies of Sister O and the Elders. It was GREAT!

I have been working hard on finding a new meeting place (building) for our Branch. I think we have found a great place that was meant for us. We will know by next week as I have people coming from the church office in Cape Town to finalize and Ok everything. It is only 2 blocks from where we are now, it will need a lot of remodeling and should meet our needs perfectly. Things seem to be falling in to place.

Well today is my sweethearts birthday, 69 wonderful years and the last 31/2 years of our being together has been such a wonderful part of our lives. We love each other and we love our families. We love our Father in Heave and our Savior. What more do you need. We are going to Grahamstown this afternoon to have a birthday dinner with 2 other senior couples. We always enjoy our time with other couples.



Well I had better close as Sister O thinks the letter is getting to long as she has to type it and get it sent out. But we want you to know we miss and Love all of you so much. We do love hearing from you and finding out what is going on at home. So keep the e-mail and letters coming.  Keep up the good work that you all are doing.  To our Teenage grandchildren please keep us informed on what is going on with you and the fun and exciting things you are doing in school & with friends. We love to hear from you.

Love to all from
President & Sister O'dell
Mom & Dad (Linda & Woody)
Grandma & Grandpa Woody