Last Letter for 2010 Happy New Year!

1. Charles had his 23 Birthday on the 24th we celebrated

2. President O'Dell with George & Charles in front of our tree

3. All the Elders around the Christmas Tree

4. George, Charles & Sister O with her gift from them

5. Christmas Day at the O'Dells

6. Our 2010 Christmas Tree

7 .Elder Moorcroft showing off one more time

O'Dell After Christmas Letter

December 26, 2010

Dear Family, Friends, & Loved Ones,

Christmas is over and time to write again. It was really a great Christmas because we got to talk to the O'Dell family on ICHAT plus Connie later. Than we got to talk to Linda's family after that on the vonage phone. That's what made Christmas so GREAT (family) We Love and miss you so much.

On December 11, we had a baptism of a lady named Vumile Ntombiyakha. I also got to confirm her on Sunday. What a blessing this is. She is really a great lady, but again we have the problem of real poverty and no transportation. I think she will really be a strong member as time goes by.

We wrote earlier about an Elder that joined the church. He was of Muslim faith & was converted to the gospel . Because of this they ( the Muslims) killed his family right in front of him and then beheaded his mother.  They told his brother to kill him but he would not so they killed his brother and beheaded him also. This Elder has gone thru such trials but such a great Elder with such a strong testimony. Unbelievably, he is at peace as he has had the temple sealing ordinances done for his family and knows all will be well with his family. Later he found his father in England and they killed and beheaded his father also.  What a trial for him before serving a mission for his Father in Heaven. His Uncle is Muslim and know where he is. He had a cousin that also joined the church and they killed him, cut his body up in peaces. They sent him a picture of this and told him he was next. What a trial he has. He needs to have some ear surgery before he leaves his mission.  Sister O & I have gotten very close to him and Pres. Probst asked Sister O & I if needed could he spend 4 or 5 days with us while recuperating. Of course we said we would love to.  There is also a slight possibility of him coming to Arizona but more than likely there will be a problem with visas (papers etc). He gets off his mission in a few weeks. His attitude is great in spite of all that has happened and what a strong testimony he has.

It seems so strange to have Christmas in the summer and so many people will be gone on holiday as we do at home when our summer vacation starts. They don't really celebrate it here like we do."Very little lights or festivities"  Very few people have trees or any home decorations. A lot or a part of this is probably do to the extreme poverty.

We had transfers nearly 2 weeks ago. We lost Elder Grobler and got Elder Moorcroft who was the Zone leader and also Elder Bangerter from Centerville Utah. We had our Christmas program on December 18th and had a great program. Brother Barris talked on Love, Sister O talked on Traditions (America) etc & she gave a really fantastic talk. Sister Barris talked about traditions in Germany and I talked about gifts of Christmas & going home to our Heavenly Father. (He did a wonderful job and it was GREAT) The 4 Elders sang a beautiful quartet plus other Christmas music.

We had the Elders help decorate our Christmas tree on Sunday night the 19th. They enjoyed it and we exchanged names, sang Christmas carols etc. On P-Day the 20th I took the elders to Alexandria to play 9 holes of golf as it is cheap to play there. Monday night we had 2 senior couples spend the night with us. The Robinson's from PE and a new couple the Taylor's also from PE. We went to Fish River Sun for there fabulous breakfast where we met the Platerio's from Grahamstown. We then played a round of golf here in PA & the wives went shopping. Elder Taylor didn't play but walked the course with us. The Taylor's are from Wyoming.

We have had several opportunities to go on teaching lessons with Elders Moorcroft & Bangerter. Sister O and I spent all of Wed. evening taking a gift of a CD  by the Tabernacle Choir (Called to Serve) to our members. Then on Thursday we along with the Elders took a food basket to most of the more needy people in our Branch, We fixed big Christmas stockings for the 4 Elders plus plus our 2 African sons from Tsitsikamma area, George & Charles. They spent 2 nights with us. Sister O fixed a big breakfast for the 8 of us on Christmas morning. Then we had a large (Bar BQ) Braa for dinner. That seems to be everyones favorite here. We had steak, lamb chops, pork ribs, wors and ham. Sister O also had a great potato salad, baked potatoes, plus salsa & jello salad ( from Sister Dell). It was a GREAT and WONDERFUL day. The best part was that we were able to talk to my family on ICHAT and then to Sister O's family on the vonage phone. We talked to Connie's family and Kristi's Family later on that day. That is what made Christmas so special. We love our families.

Well Christmas is over and it is such a wonderful time of year. Not only at home but anywhere that we can celebrate the birth of our Savior.  We are such a blessed people. Having family, having the gospel and its blessings of knowing our Heavenly Father & his son Jesus Christ, and to know that we can have eternal families and living in their presence.  That is his plan. Now we need to follow it. How blessed we are!

Sister O has really  been suffering with a bad cough and congestion for about 4 months now and just doesn't feel well. I wish and pray that she will feel better so that we could better enjoy our services to our Heavenly Father,

Saturday on new years day I am taking the Elders golfing on our course here in PA along with a cart. That was part of our Christmas to our Elders. Yesterday for P-Day we went to the beach and tried sand boarding. They had fun but,  we don't think it was as good as they thought it would be.

Well we love you and miss everyone of you so much. Not only our families but our friends also.  "HOW BLESSED WE ARE" 

All our Love.
President & Sister O'Dell
Mom & Dad Linda & Woodt
Grandma & Papa Woody Grandpa

Last Letter for 2010 MERRY CHRISTMAS !

1. All the Senior Couples at the Zone Conference

2. The Elders at Zone Conference Elder Moorecroft is the one making the face.

3. Port Alfred Elders on top of the Hill in the Township

4. All the Elders & Elder & Sister Lapray at Dinner at the O'Dell's

5. Elders having fun in our Kitchen before Dinner

6. Elder O'Dell Baptizing our newest member last Saturday.

December 15, 2010

Dear Family, Friends & Loved Ones,

It is now Saturday December 12 and almost time for Christmas. We know that all of you are busy getting ready for this wonderful holiday.  It is the hardest time of our mission, to be away from home and our families at this time of the year. Especially since we have such wonderful families. Please know that we love you and are so proud of each of you!

Well we met for the 1st time in our new chapel on Sunday November 2nd. It is not finished BUT it is really nice & big. I know that all of our members are so thankful for it and that it is so nice compared to what they have had in the past. It is still a long way from being completed but it is still really nice. It will probably (hopefully) be completed sometime in January as we will be working with a new budget for the year. I have gone down many morning at 5:30 & 6 am to try and get things more organized etc so we can function better. Getting into a new and bigger and nicer facility is one of my many goals that I want to accomplish while Sister O  I are serving here in Port Alfred SA.

Sister O and I have had several opportunities to go on teaching appointments we both really enjoy this. It is such a great experience. Sister O and I had the opportunity to visit a lady and her family who are members in Grahamstown. Her husband is not a member but seems like such a great person. We met her at the youth camp that we attened several months ago at Hogsback. It was about 11/2 hours drive from Port Alford. We picked up our 2 Zone leaders in Grahamstown as they wanted to go there and visit them also. They have some game animals on their ranch but we didn't drive around to see their ranch. Maybe next time. We visited for several hours and had a very nice lunch with them. The Zone Leaders were Elder Moorecroft from Jo Burg & Elder Oleole from Hawaii. The La Prays want to visit them so maybe we will visit them again.

On Monday after Thanksgiving we got together with 7 couples in the Grahamstown chapel. It was so nice and fun to be with 6 other senior couples. Not only to enjoy there company but to enjoy our traditional American Thanksgiving dinner.  I guess it seems funny or odd that you miss things like that when you have had it a part of your life for so many years, and at 73 that is quite a few years.


The Zone leaders usually stay at the Elders flat with them but since there are already 4 Elders in this flat there wasn't room. So the Zone leaders stayed with us for 2 nights along with the La Prays for one night, so we had a house full. Elder La Pray & I took them golfing on a Friday afternoon. We walked and the wives drove a cart around. Elder Moorecroft is getting good but Elder Oleole must have lost about 15 golf balls and most were on his drive from the tee box. Sister O & I got to go on missionary splits with them.  We were with Elder Labala & Oleole it was great and we loved it.

We had a baptism a few weeks ago of an 8 year old. She was baptized by her father Patrick Nteyi. The girls name is Meihle Nteyi. It is so great to be able to have the father baptize his own children. It is such a blessing to have the Priesthood in your home and be able to do this, He was not able to confirm her and bestow the Gift of the Holy Ghost but I'm sure he will in time.

Monday is normally our P-Day but we didn't have it because of a change in our schedule, we went to East London for a quarterly zone conference. We were there for 3 days. Zone conference was Tuesday and we had a Christmas P-Day on Wednesday with 3 Zones. We had Elder Watson of the 70 with us for our Zone Conference on Tuesday. He is a counselor in our area presidency. What a wonderful man he is. We have been so blessed by being given the opportunity to personally meet so many general authorities.  Elder Watson is so down to earth to visit with and was so personable with each of us. We had 4 senior couples that had dinner with Elder & Sister Watson & Pres. & Sister Probst. Elder Watson was the personal secretary for the last 3 prophets and first presidency. As I said, what a great man and interesting person to be able to talk and visit with. What a great experience  for both Sister O and myself.  Sister Watson heard that I liked fireballs and she gave me a handful. She was such a fun lady to sit by and talk with. Her son Tyler Watson is a very good friend with Mark Larson and she said both Mark and Tyler said for her to give Sister O a BIG hug! And she did. She and Sister O had a great time talking at dinner.

On Wednesday we had a 3 Zone P-Day There were 60 Elders. The part I got to attend was great. They showed a movie called "Gifted Hands"  (it was a true story). I didn't get to see much. They had a talent show form the Elders but I didn't get to see much of this either.  They also showed a video of all the pictures taken this last year in the mission.  I didn't get to see this either. We will get a copy of this and I can see it later.  I was out most of the time with Elder Jones getting the food for the lunch Pizza and the orange bowl from Mc Donald's, they furnish a large cooler of orange drink with ice and 100 cups for free. They do this for large groups and church groups. It is really a good orange drink. Then I had to pick up 30 large pizzas at Romans. This took a while as it is quite a distance away. Then we all sang a number of Christmas carols as Pres. Probst read a Christmas story about the life of Christ. The singing of the carols was very beautiful as we have some very talented singers in the elders. We started the P-Day at 9:30am and it lasted until 3:30pm. We got home about 6pm.

On Saturday I spent most of the day at our new church as I had the 4 Elders there and we hung the new blinds on all the windows. There is eleven windows. We also hung a new beautiful outside sign on the church. We also hung a lot of pictures etc. on the inside. The new blinds really add a lot of beauty to our new chapel and adds so much. We will be so excited when it is all completed.

Well it is time to close again. Please know how much we love and miss all of you and how proud we are of our families. I don't know why we have been so blessed, but we have and give thanks to each of you. We will really miss you at this special time of year. Families are always special but even more so at Christmas season.

We Love you and all our friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL !!
LOVE ELDER & SISTER O'DELL
MOM & DAD,  LINDA & WOODY
GRANDMA & GRANDPA

Letter Home for November 2010

1. Bonnie & Bob at the top of Table MT

2. 3 African women making money ( we had to pay to take this picture)

3. Aunt Bonnie & Uncle Bob at Cango Caves Fun Fun !

4. Guess what we found in SA 'ARIZONA'

5. Elephants we saw.

6. Hippos - we were so close.

7. Branch Christmas play

8. Our new missionaries

November 21, 2010

Dear Family, Friends & Loved Ones,

Well we are really late in writing our letter, but we have been so busy it has been hard to find time. We left to go to Capetown on November 1st to pick up Sister O's sister Bonnie and her husband Bob. It was a long drive . We picked them up at the airport about 11:30pm and stayed at a hotel at the airport. Bob & Bonnie were going to be here for 2 weeks and we were really looking forward to spending time with them and have family from home here. We spent the next day in Capetown doing fun things. We went to the top of Table Mountain and enjoyed the views plus some popular shopping areas in and around Capetown. I think Bob had a hard time adjusting to driving on the wrong side of the road, (after 2 weeks I don't think he ever really did adjust) Sister O made him ride in the front with me and her sister and her set in the back.

We then went to our favorite place, George (rained all the way) we spent 2 nights there and enjoyed George again. We showed them the beautiful Outeniqua Pass. We went to an Ostrich farm where Bonnie got to ride an Ostrich and then feed them with their heads wrapped around yours. We got to help with a missionary lesson at Gerard & Desirees with the new Senior Couple the Ladles. Desiree & Gerard are GREAT people and treated us so wonderful. We were glad Bob & Bonnie got to meet them. On the way back we visited many beautiful places, Victory Bay, Dolphins point, the bungy jump area at Tsitsikamma. We stopped to see out Africa Son George and got some wood carvings etc. He wasn't there but we got to visit his partner Charles. They both want to go on a mission really bad. We stopped in P.E. and had dinner with our great friends the La Prays and then home to Port Alfred. We got home about 7:15pm Friday How fast time goes when you are having fun!

We had a really good fast and testimony meeting on Sunday, I think Bob and Bonnie enjoyed it and enjoyed the African people. We have so many wonderful people here that we love so much. We had a change in our missionary status on Friday, the day we got home. Elder Dodoo went to Queen Williamstown and we got Elder Rigby from Idaho.

On Monday we took Bob & Bonnie to our favorite breakfast place at Fish River Sun. We met another Senior couple from Arizona, the Jones there. They had their son and his wife visiting. Than Bob & I took our Elders golfing. I think Bob enjoyed this. I know the Elders did. Sister O and Bonnie also went to ride around the course in a golf cart. It is such a beautiful place, we have told you about it before. On Tuesday we went to Addo Elephant Park where we meet the La Parys. We had a great time. We must have seen 4-500 elephants, a lot of herds, one lion and a black backed jackle. We than went to another game farm called Schotia where we saw a large variety of game. We were about 10 feet from 2 large rhino's and this was exciting. We got home about 9:30pm that night.

On Thursday we had to go to P.E. for our transfers. Instead of Sister O going with me, I took Bob with me. This is always fun as we get to visit with a lot of our Elders that we know. The wind was so strong that it was hard to keep the car on the road. We took Elder Rapitse and got Elder Aphone who will be our new District Leader and a Greenie by the name of Elder LaBala from Botswana. Elder Aphone is on his last transfer. Elder LaBala is a large guy (but not fat) He seems like a very happy person. He is one of 38 children of his Father. His Father has 5 wife's and lives as to old trible traditions. He is the only one of his family that is a member of the church, but feels many more will join in time. They were not happy at first when he joined the church but are very supportive after the change they have seen in his life. We now have 4 elders the other two are Elder Rigby from Idaho & Elder Grobler from South Africa.

When we took Bonnie & Bob to the airport on Monday to start their homeward journey we left early to go to a game form called Kragga Kamma in the P.E. area where you drive yourself around in your own car, we all enjoyed it very much. They had a pen with 3 Cheetahs that you can pet. Sister O & Bonnie petted them and they seemed very relaxed. Well when I tried to pet this one his attitude chaged as it growled at me and snapped at me 3 times, so I decided that 3 times was enough. I was afraid the 4th time might be serious and I would be bit. The La Prays went with us to the airport for lunch. The Robinsons also joined us a little later . We surely enjoyed having Bonnie & Bob visit us and share SA with us. It was so good to see and have family here from home.

I was really busy all last week trying to get our new chapel ready & moving from the old to the new. I usually was there at about 6:30am to 7pm every day. It was a long week and I was extremely tired & worn out but we are really excited about the move. It won't be completely finished but it is still really nice. We will have to wait for some things after a new budget comes in as the funds are pretty well gone for this year.

We had our Branch Christmas party on Saturday (Nov 20th) . We have it early because so many people will be gone in December for the Holidays. We were also told that after Christmas we will have a lot of people here in PA for Holiday. We had a great dinner from everyone and Sister O really did a lot of work. We played some fun games and we all had a good time.

I had a girl come up to me after the party and asked me if I would be her father as she doesn't have a father. She was baptized about 4 months ago. I told her I would be happy to be her father. She then went to Sister O & told her and then asked Sister O to be her mother, also even though she has a mother. I really appreciate Sister O as we need each other and we couldn't do this with out each other.

Last week we had our largest attendance ever of 59. We had a great turnout (Sunday) also we had a stake conference by vido all across Africa. Our speakers were Elder Dallon Oakes of the Q of the 12, Sister Beck of the general Young Women's (President Monson daughter) Elder Golden of the 70 who is from SA and then Pres Boyd K Packer of the 12. We have really been blessed with a lot of talks from our general authorities on video broadcast and in person. It makes it so special. Tonight we are having our 4 Elders over for a braii.

During the week we had one of the 70's here. He goes all around the mission and talks with all our missionaries personally. He is a Psychologist. Since we couldn't meet in our new building or the old one he came to our home. They are Elder & Sister Scott, we really enjoyed meeting them and visiting with them. Earlier in the week Sister O & I had the opportunity to go with Elder Rigby and Grobler on a teaching visit and we surely enjoyed it.

Well it is time to close but not before we tell all of you how much we love & miss you. You will never know how great it was to see family from home. Thanks Bonnie & Bob for your time in coming to see us in SA. We truly felt special and loved every minute of the time together.

Thanks Mandy for your e-mail & pictures, they were great, also Kaytlin for your sweet message you left us! We really love hearing from everyone and most of all the Grandchildren.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!

Love to all
Sister & Elder O'Dell
Mom & Dad (Linda & Woody)
Grandma & Papa Wood

PS:  Mandy we have some fireballs for you from SA that I think you will enjoy

Pictures of Pres Holland

Elder and Sister O'Dell meet Pres. Jeffrey R. Holland.

Last Letter in October

October 26, 2010

Dear Family, Friends, & Loved Ones,

Well today is Tuesday. Our letter this week will be primarily about our wonderful 5 day weekend. We left last Wednesday morning to go to a leadership training in Capetown. What an experience! On the way we stopped to see and visit our Africa son George. He is so strong and wants to go on a mission so bad along with his friend and partner Charles. The big problem is that they live & work in South Africa but they are from Malawi. It deals with paper work etc. We will work on it and try and help all we can so they will be able to go. Then we went on into the town of George to see and visit some dear friends there. We visited with Gary & JohnOlean, the Pangles, Mitsobilies, Hein Adendorf, the new Senior Couple the Ladles. We spent a lot of time visiting and talking with Desiree & Gerard. We spent 2 nights with them in their home. They have 2 rooms like a B&B that was really nice and comfortable. We left George and went through the Outeniqua pass which is really beautiful. The Plateros were following us in their car and had never been there. Then on to Oudtshorn and to Capetown by a different route. The mission would have paid for us to fly etc. "BUT" I know that Sister O wanted to visit in George so we elected to drive. We stayed Friday & Saturday night in a B&B that the Mission provided for us.

On Saturday we drove to the Bellview Stake Center for our meeting at 9am that lasted until 12:30pm. We had elder Holland of the Quorum of the 12, Bishop Burton (the Presiding Bishop) Elder Rineland, Elder Watson & Elder Cebala (sp) all of the 70's. What a wonderful meeting. Pres Platero, Pres Matsaluka and I were on the front row right under the pulpit & probably 5 feet from Elder Holland. Then he came down to the floor and talked most of the time about a foot & a half away. What a treat! After it was over we all got to shake hands and talk with each of the General Authorities. I got a hug from Elder Holland and Bishop Burton. WHAT A PLEASURE THAT WAS FOR ME.

That evening at the mission office we had a get together with some of the Senior Couples. There were 16 of us and we really enjoyed our visits and dinner. Sunday morning we wanted to go to the conference being held at the same location. It started at 10am and we were told that if we wanted a good seat that we should be there by 7:30am. We skipped breakfast and left early as it was close to a half hours drives away. We got there at 7:15 and had our pick of where we wanted to sit.

We got to hear from Elder Cabela, Elder Burton and his Wife, Pres. Armstrong, the Jo Berg Temple President, & Elder Holland and his wife. Plus they had 4 people bear their testimonies from the audience. They had the most beautiful choir that we had ever heard. Almost as good as the Tabernacle Choir. It was so good and enjoyable, that Elder Holland asked them to sing one of their songs over again. Sister O and I felt that this was the best and most enjoyable and most spiritual meeting that we had ever had the opportunity to attend. There were over 2,000 in attendance plus it was video broadcast to 4 & 5 other chapel locations. After the Conference session, Elder Holland & Bishop Burton and their Wife's met with all the missionaries (Young & Old) for another meeting. It was so special for us all. Elder Holland is so powerful to hear and spiritual to be with. I was asked to say the closing prayer. What a privilege to do so. Elder Holland was so kind as he cane up to me and said what a beautiful prayer. Then we got to shake hands and talk to them again. The week-end meetings were worth the whole mission. All the other blessings and experiences are also a once in a lifetime experience.

We left to go back to George & spend the night with Desirees. We had a good rain all the way and a lot during the night. On Monday we met the Robinsons and the La Prays for lunch and then we picked up Elder Dodoo at the air port to bring to PA to finish the last 2 weeks of his mission & see if he can help our 2 Elders get along better. He was and AP earlier (Assistant to the President). What a great 5 days week end experience we had! We wish everyone could experience the same. It has really strengthened our testimonies along with many other experiences!Well it is time to close. We want to thank our families for the experience and opportunity of being here in South Africa to serve our Heavenly Father. What wonderful experiences and opportunities we are having. Please know how much we love and miss you all. You are simply the BEST!

We love you so much and are
grateful for being your parents.

All Our Love
President & Sister O'Dell
Mom & Dad (Linda & Woody)
Grandma & Grandpa Woody

October 18th Letter 2010

1. Elders at Lunch after Zone Conference

2. Golfing with the Elders & WIND!!

3. PA Elders & Zone Leaders "Having Fun"

4. Leaving Grahnstown on transfer day with Elders, Pres, & Sister Platero

5. All the Elders at Airport on transfer day

6. Our new Elder Grobler

October 18, 2010

Dear Family, Friends & Loved Ones,

A few weeks ago Sister O & I had the opportunity to take 3 of our youth to a youth camp at a place called Hobbiton at Hogsback. There were 305 youth there. It was about a 2 hour drive and up on a large mountain where it is much cooler & more rain and we got both while we were there. It was a great experience for us and the youth had a great time. We have some great youth in our branch. The camp was for Port Elizabeth Stake, East London Stake and our Branch and the Grahamstown Branch They had 2 fun days of activities and a dance and church with our area President, 2 Stake President and a few Bishops and Branch Presidency. The area President was Elder Hill of the 70's . Olawathe of our Branch was asked to bear her testimony along with 6 others. She is such a spiritual giant for a young women of 17. We sent you lots of pictures with our last letter, it was a fun time for all

We have really had a lot of wind the last few weeks with an occasional beautiful day now & then. A lot of people here are having a lot of allergy problems. Sister O and I have had our share along with a lot of coughing. It has been getting much better the last few days. Sister O has really been in a good mood lately as her sister Bonnie & her husband Bob will be here on October 31 to visit us for a few weeks. We are really looking forward to this. It will be so nice to see family again from home.

The Robinson came by at about 10:30 PM on Friday a couple of weeks ago. They were on there way home to PE, after doing a seminar. We went to Fish River Sun for a great breakfast and to play a round of golf. The Platero's also joined us and we had a great time on the golf course. Elder Platero doesn't have any golf balls so he uses mine. He usually loses a few, Well when I went thru them, I realized he lost 13 balls. We had a really great time. The wives were with us the 1st nine holes and then they decided to do something more fun for them, like shopping,

Sunday was Fast Sunday and we had a great testimony meeting. Back in America you were having General Conference. You are so lucky. We are supposed to see conference on the 30th & 31st of Oct. when we receive the DVD's of it. We can't wait to hear the words of our Prophet and the Q of the 12 and all the general authority. It is so great to hear their words and the counsel they give us. Sister O and I will be going to Capetown on the 23 & 24 of Oct. We are having a leadership training on Saturday and Conference on Sunday. Needless to say we are excited!

For transfers last week we had to go to East London instead of Port Elizabeth, the problem was that we had to go to Grahamstown first to pick up and Elder there. This made for an hour longer drive and we had to leave our flat at 6 am. We lost Elder Marlor and our new Elder is Elder Grobler. He seems nice BUT we understand he has not gotten along with his previous 2 companions at all and so he will have his 3rd companion already on only his second 6 weeks. We are hoping it will work.

We have some of our members of our Branch from Zimbabwe. There is a lot all across South Africa. The problem is that they have to have new visas & passports etc. by December 31st or they will be deported. We have known of people waiting at the embassy in Jo Burg in line for over 2 weeks 24/7 and still haven't been able to be seen. It could be a real problem. Some of our strongest members and families are from Zimbabwe. We have one couple we are trying to get to the Temple to be married and family sealed in the Temple. They are from Zimbabwe. Most of the people from there have been tribally married which is permitted for baptism. However to be married in the Temple they have to be civilly married. We are working on this and it will happen we are sure.


We had some friends from George visit us which was really nice. They had been working in the Temple in Jo Burg for 6 weeks. He used to be in the Temple Presidency in Jo Burg.

Well last Saturday was my birthday. Sister O was so nice to me that I almost want to have a birthday everyday except I would get too old to fast and it is fast enough already. Sister O gave me the nicest wood carved elephant I have ever seen and I really love it. We went to Grahamstown and I had a great steak dinner at a Spur Restaurant. One of the best things about my birthday was that I got to talk to all my family including my sister Norma and my brother Wayne. Also most of Linda's family told me happy birthday which meant a lot to me. We both have such wonderful families.

After Church we had a couple at our flat for lunch, they are from Alexandria. They sang happy birthday to me and had me blow out the candles on my cake. It is a good thing there were only 10 candles instead of 73 or they probably would have to take me to the hospital emergency room.

The zone leaders came on Monday and Elder La Pray and I took the Elders golfing. It was like hurricane wind but they really enjoyed the day. Elder Moorcroft said it was one of the 2 most fun P-Days he has had and they were both with senior couples. (sure because we pay)HA!

We went to East London last Wednesday and spent the night with the Jones. We had an all day workshop training meeting on Thursday. It rained most of the day on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. When we got back to Port Alfred we found out we had a 4 inch rain which has been so needed. The re-modeling on our new meeting place for church has started and we are so excited about this as we will have room for all of our classes. One of our classes has to be outside most of the time. (in the building we are in now) We originally were supposed to be in by the end of the month but it will probably be the middle of November.

Well it is time to close before we bore you too much and put you to sleep. Please everyone know how much we love all of you. We miss you and want to see you but please know that we are having experience here that we will treasure and remember for the rest of our lives. We have 6 months to go before coming home and time seems to be going by pretty fast. Until we talk again all our love to you always.

President & Sister O'Dell
Mom & Dad (Linda & Woody)
Grandma & Papa Woody

Last Letter in September 2010

1. Camp Dorm we stayed in 

2. Pres O'Dell napping on the job

3. Putting 324 lunches together

4. Sister O helping in the kitchen

5. A  Picture of all the kids at Camp

6. Having fun on the play ground

7. Climbing the wall

8.Sibongeseni with the Camp Prayer

September 27, 2010

Dear Family, Friends and Loved Ones,

Well after a trying time in the hospital I was finally able to take Sister O home on Sunday. She still was not good, but she was better. She is still taking medication and will be for 2 months when we need to go back for another endoscopy. She pretty much has her strength back. We are so grateful for the good friends we have in PE and the love they showed us. Everyone in our branch had her in their prayers and I believe the whole mission as word got around quite rapidly that Sister O was in the hospital.  Even people in Jo Burg called to ask how she was doing.

We got home on Sunday after she had a big breakfast at the hospital. I think she was starving for food instead of  IV's. We passed a McDonald's' leaving the hospital and she wanted a milkshake & fries. She slept all the way home (2hr). As sick as she was and had been she had the Elders over for dinner. She had some homemade soup (thank goodness) and some rolls. It seems, like everything went good at church. I was kind of worried. The next Sunday (sept 19) was our branch conference and I had a lot to do during the week. President Probst & President Mason were both there with there wives. The theme of our conference was taken from D&C 101:22 "GATHERING TOGETHER & STANDING IN HOLY PLACES" I talked about temple ordinances and focused mainly on eternal and celestial marriage. It was such a great conference but I talked too long. I was supposed to talk for 10 min & it lasted 15min. We had a fireside after church from 1 to 2pm. We started church at 9am and I thought we would lose most people by then but we only lost 2 people in number. I thought that was really good for our little branch.  Sister O & I were at church at 8am and didn't get home until after 3pm. A long day for sister O. She bore a beautiful testimony before I talked. She always does such a wonderful job on everything she does. I had a total of 9 meetings Saturday & Sunday, but it was worth it as everything turned out so good.

The Elders wanted to golf on Monday as they may not have many more chances as transfers are in a few weeks. We went to Alexandria (50 K's away). It cost us R40 which is between $5/6 dollars. Sister O stayed home to get more rest as we walked the course and it is quite long and a lot of ups & downs. When I got home Sister O & I made 4 visits to branch members that I needed to visit. On Tuesday I had a lot of book work to do plus I needed to fix some things at our flat that needed fixing. "But" the best part of the day was that Sister O was finally feeling better. We are watching her diet closely and that she doesn't over do it like she usually does. It is so hard to get her to slow down.

One good thing is that I finally have the signed lease in place for our new church building where we will meet. It begins October 1 but it will probably take most of the month to get it ready to move into. I was able to get a job for a member of our branch to do the painting inside. He is such a good and strong member and really needs employment that is permanent. He is one of the 4 members that attended the PEF seminar. We had to get him groceries the other day as he  didn't have any food in the house or any money. He also takes care of his 11year old sister who was baptized a few months ago. So for I have paid for all the welfare and budget out of my own account. President Probst said it would be straightened out soon so that I can be re-reimbursed. I will also be glad when the hospital bill is re-imbursed.  That was over R14,000. That will really help.

We recently had a Zone Conference in East London to get more training on the new approach of teaching by the spirit following the doctrine and teachings of Christ. We had to get up at 5am to get ready and get to EL by 9am.
We didn't finish until after 5pm & Sister O was really tired so I had her lay down in the car until we could get ready to leave. We got home shortly after 8pm which was a long day for Sister O who didn't have all her strength back yet.

On Monday after conference it rained some in the morning but the Elders wanted to go golfing. We were lucky it quit raining before we golfed. I talked to the golf shop and got a great deal for the Elders to play the Royal Port Alfred Course. He let them play for R63 for 13 holes.  We are back to the club house after 13 holes. That comes to $8.75. We have been treated so good here every place we go and we have appreciated it so much.

Elder & Sister La Pray were here that night to give a PEF seminar that I mentioned earlier. The PEF stands for perpetual education fund. This is where they can get loans for schooling to qualify them to hopefully get better jobs. We had 4 in attendance. The next morning we went to Fish River Sun for a wonderful breakfast before they had to go back home to PE which is about 2 hours away.

On Wednesday & Thursday Sister O & I had to meet with some members of our branch getting ready for a Youth Camp at a place called "Hobbiton on Hogback which is about 21/2 hours away. We have 3 youth from our branch attending. We have Olwethu Ngcibi, her brother Sibongeseni and a cousin Xolisa Ngcibi. They all live in the same house. We then had to drive to Alexandria  to home teach & visit teach, which is over 50k's away ad the next day to Kenton on the Sea which is about 25k's away.

Well I guess I have rambled on enough of what we are doing and boring you. Again we want all of our family to know how much we love them and how important each of  your are in our lives. I have been talking and teaching a lot about temples to our branch members. There is so much poverty here that it is so hard for the people to afford the trip to go. Some may never afford to go and some maybe once in a life time.  You (family) don't really know how blessed that you are to live so close to the Lords Holy Temple and the blessing that it brings into your life by attending and hopefully often. Also the blessings we can have in our life by being temple worthy. I really hope that we as a family will all try to go more often and let our liefs be more blessed. You each live so close to a temple. It is something we all need to take advantage of more often. I promise that each of us will be blessed in our lives by this simple effort.  It was great to here from all of you that went to the sealing of Kent & Kim's new baby Kiira. Meeting as family in this beautiful setting always brings us closer to each other.

We love each of you and love hearing from you. We love the phone calls & e-mails that some of you take the time to do. Thanks for that it means so much to us. Until the next letter we hope all is well in the GREAT USA . Take care and know that you are loved and missed.

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