Hello From Africa !

1. Mother & Baby Caroline

2. Elders at Care Center with Sister Kenny

3. Baptism Font

4. Elder Lebala sign

5. Elder Lebala & Siphokazi

6. Elders  at the top of the Big Pineapple on P=Day

7. Elders & Pres O having fun on P-Day

8. Elephant at Game Park 

9. Giraffe with President O' Dell & Elders

February 15, 2011

Dear Family Friends & Loved Ones

Greetings again from South Africa. It is past time again to write our letter home. My how the time is flying for us. Sometimes it is hard to find time to do all we need to do and want to do.

Well on Monday for P Day (2 weeks ago) I took all our Elders golfing. They really enjoy it and they have really given us a great rate. It is R58 for 13 holes  which is only about $ 8.00. I wish we could do that at home. On Tuesday we got transfer news. We will be keeping Elder Bangerter & Lebala, We are getting Elder Austin as our District Leader  who is fro Texas. He has been an AP (assistant to the President). We are also getting and Elder from Madagascar so it will be a long name ad one hard to pronounce. Sister O & I took our Elders to Fish River Sun for breakfast. Elder Moorcroft has finished his mission and is going home to Jo Burg  and is going to engineering school. Elder Rigby is going to Capetown South. We understand that Elder Austin is a very by the book person so our elders won't be having as much fun but the missionary work will or should go great. We really like our new Elders we have met Elder Austin before. The other new elder is Elder  Rakoloarivelo. We will call him Elder Rako. We took Elder Bangerter & Rako to Kenton-on-the sea to visit a senior citizen community and had lunch there. A sister in our branch fixes meals for them each day. We then visited and older couple  from our branch in Alexandria, the Barris's  about 50 K away. Then back to Kenton to teach a couple we met at our Spur restaurant. Their son is the owner. He used to be the heavyweight wrestling champion of SA for many years. He is 71 and they really seems like a nice couple.  Then back to Port Alfred as we had a number of visits we needed to make.

We had District Meeting at 10:30 on Friday and then we had our audit at 2:00pm. I needed then to meet with Brother Jubber from East London to go over some details on our church that we are trying to get finished. We then took elder Plehn & his wife out to eat Chinese food. Elder Plehn is the one that did the audit.

We got the go ahead yesterday to finish our church building. We are supposed to get 3 AC units, outside security gates, folding dividers for classrooms, bookcases, filing cabinets, door for my office & clerks office, raised floor in front, microphone, new stove in kitchen & etc. This will be exciting to have completed. Plus replace a few broken windows & gravel the front to help keep our building cleaner.  I have been really busy on getting bids on this as I have to have 2 bids on everything.

Sister O & I then had to go grocery shopping for a dinner party at the church for our YW & YM  to present and work on the Duty to God program and the YW Personal progress.

Sunday was and always is a GREAT day at church. It was fast & testimony meeting, I always really enjoy this as my testimony is strengthened as I listen to members bear their testimonies. We also had a baby blessing. Her name is Caroline Siambwezele. She is really a cute baby. She gave her father the cutest smile during the blessing.

On Monday we met 3 other senior couples ( La Prays, Taylors, & Robinson's  and their son & his wife)  at the Addo Elephant Park. We didn't see as much as usual but being with the other senior couples is always fun. We then went to Schotia Game Reserve and had a great time.  We really saw a lot and I think I got some great videos of lions & rhinos. We didn't get home until well after 10pm We then realized that Sister O left her camera in the safari vehicle and that the spare battery and a couple of full memory cards form my movie camera came out of my case while in the vehicle. So Tuesday morning we were back on the road (105 K) to get them but we were really glad to get them back.

We had a couple of teaching appointments with the Elders on Wednesday & Thursday. The people seem to really be wonderful and golden contacts. The man has a daughter in  England and she wants missionaries to contact her so I arranged for that. I spent more time on Wednesday getting more bids for our church building.

We got a small above ground pool to use as a baptismal font. It was a lot of work putting it together. We have a baptism tomorrow (Saturday) and we will be using it. Since Elder Lebala will be the first Elder to use it to baptize someone. I named it the Lebala's Font. He was quite excited about that . Sister O made 7 doz. Cookies and the R.S. Sisters had a work meeting before the Baptism and made 2 chocolate cakes that we enjoyed eating after the baptism. We really had a large turn out at the baptism. The Sister being baptized was Siphokazi Dayile. A great  lady with a strong testimony and was so excited wanting to be baptized.

On Thursday I met with our RS president for about and hour.  Then later that afternoon Elder Taylor and his wife came from PE for a 4:30 meeting and training of our seminary teacher by the name of Patience Mgadi. We then visited the Cockbain's and then we all went and had chinese food. The La Prays came by about 9:15pm from East London area as they were doing a PEF program. We brought home some chinese food for them. They all  stayed the night with us and then the Taylor's left to go home about 7am while we went to play golf with the La Prays. It was really quite sad. I lost my first game of golf since coming to Africa. "Oh well"

We went on a teaching appointment Friday night and it was great. It is so good to see people accept the gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives. Sometimes it is hard to understand people. They supposedly  believe in God & the Bible but still most people don't follow the doctrine of Christ as taught in the Bible. So many have followed a simple way because of the convenience or that it is easier. So many people believe in the commandments of God but only choose to obey those that they want or easier for them. That is why it is so exciting to see people accept  His Gospel and keep His commandments.

We had a really great Sacrament meeting Sunday (Feb.13) I confirmed our new member  and then asked her to bear her testimony. It was so good and powerful. Durning Priesthood meeting we conferred the Aaronic Priesthood  upon Brother Hola and ordained him to the office of a priest. I asked Elder Bangerter to do this and he did a good job with a wonderful blessing. We have a number of great investigators and in time I think we will have a number of baptisms.

For P-Day today (Feb 14) we took the Elders to a game park just outside of town and we  think they really enjoyed it. There is one giraffe that is really tame. You can walk right up to it and pet it. He is really a big giraffe. We braii'd some steak on sunday night for the Elders and had left overs for lunch before we went to the game reserve.

Well it is time to close. We love you all so much and can't wait to see you. We haven't heard any thing more on our departure plans, but we will let you know as soon as we know.  "We hope everyone had a Wonderful Valentines Day"

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

Last Letter of January

1. Elder Lebala making us Pop for dinner

2. All the children sitting so quiet waiting for cookies

3. Elder Onen with the O'Dells

4. Elder Rigby doing his first Baptism

January 30, 2011


Dear Family,Friends & Loved Ones,

Greetings again from beautiful South Africa, It seems like time is really flying by fast. We are often told that this is a sign of old age, but we know that can't be true Ha! Ha!. Time is getting short as we have only 21/2 months before we head for home. Sister Herbert called about a week ago and talked to us about going home so she could begin arranging our schedule. EXCITING

Sunday a few weeks ago I asked Sister O to talk in church. She really hates to do this but she really does a fantastic job, after church I had 3 people to set apart 2 for SS teachers and 1 for seminary teacher. We have a really great group of young men & women of seminary age this year. I think we will have 7 in seminary. That is really good for our small branch and we really have some really great youth in our branch.

Sister O & I have had a number of opportunities to go on teaching visits with our Elders. It seems as though they are teaching some great people. We would really be blessed if the gospel would grow in this area both in number and strength. We love the gospel so much and are really excited at what is starting to happen here. We know it will take time but we are really encouraged.

On Monday Sister O and I had to go to East London fairly early as Elder Onen was having some ear surgery and we wanted to be there for him. The surgery went well. Elder Onen was quite out of it all day on Monday. We had a family night with 4 of our Elders from East London at the Jones's empty flat where we stayed and had a good time with them. On Tuesday at 7am we were back at the Hospital and picking up Elder Onen to bring him home to our flat in Port Alfred. He was with us for 10 days. He is really a great Elder but it still was good to take him back to East London. Sister O & I love the Elders so much but it is also nice to have time to or for ourselves. Elder Onen is the one we wrote to you earlier about having his family killed in front of him etc. He has had some real adversity in his life and struggles but I'm sure the Lord will bless him deeply in his life for giving of his service under such circumstances. After his final Doctor appointment on February 7, he will fly home to Uganda on February 8th. He is struggling somewhat with fears as I'm sure we can all understand. If he keeps strong with his faith we told him he would be blessed. President & Sister Probst came by Friday afternoon and visited Elder Owen and ourselves for about hour and then to the church to have a meeting (training) with our Elders for about 2 hours.

On Wednesday I had a lot to do and I got most of it done and then we had the Platero's over from Grahamstown as it was Pres Platero's birthday. We had KFC Chicken (because that is Pres. Platero's best food he likes to eat) Then Pres. Platero wanted to go Golfing for his birthday so we went for 13 holes along with Elder Moorcroft & Bangerter as they didn't have any appointments at that time.

When we finished we had the Zone leaders at our flat. They came to do splits with our Elders and they stayed with us for 2 nights. Elder Onen was still here so we had quite a house full.

I've been trying to visit a Brother Tsitsi from our branch. He hasn't been out for over a year. He received the Melchezidek Priesthood and since he had the priesthood he thought (I guess) that he could start his own church. I haven't been able to contact him yet but we know that his wife really wants to come back to the church. I will keep trying but I think he has been avoiding me.


President Probst & his wife were here Last Sunday and we had a really good sacrament service. Afterwords we both had some interviews and didn't get home until about 2:30pm a long day as we were there at 8am. Then at 4 pm we went with Elder Moorcroft & Bangerter to teach a new investigator. He is such a great person and really wants to hear more but his wife believes in God but doesn't believe in religion and leaves the room when we begin teaching.

This last week we have been able to do a few service projects which we always like to be able to do. We had 7 investigators out to church last Sunday which is always exciting. Yesterday at church we really had a good turnout. One of our speakers didn't show up so I had to talk for the last 15min. Then since it was the 5th Sunday we had a combined RS & PH meeting and I was in charge of this and we really had a good meeting (I think) We talked about. Family, Love and Family Home Evening.

On Saturday we had a baptismal service for a man that has been attending for several months. His name is Ncebazakhe Hola ( try and say this one) He wanted me to baptize him but I talked him into having Elder Rigby baptize him as he did most of the teaching and it meant so much to Elder Rigby. We had a good turn out to the baptismal service and Sister O made 10 doz cookies. Everyone over here really likes treats and you can never make too many. Elder Lebala did the confirmation and really did a great job with a beautiful blessing. It is so wonderful to see these young men grow and mature in the gospel. I had one of our YW ask me to give her a blessing during SS as she wasn't feeling well. This is always such a wonderful privilege. Her name is Olewethu Ngcibi and seems to have about the strongest testimony of any young women you would ever see. I wish we had many more like her.

After the baptism when we went back to the church for refreshments it was so neat to see. There were 6 or 7 young primary children sitting in the small primary chairs. They all had their arms folded and was patiently waiting for their cookies.

Last night we Braai'd steaks and Elder Lebala fixed pop. (This is one thing we have heard a lot about but we have never eaten any) The people in SA always tell us they like meat and pop. We had never had the pop. It is a thick corn meal like poi or a masa with not much flavor. He made a big pan of meat, spicy chili etc. which was really good that you eat the pop with. We all enjoyed it very much.

Well it is about time to close again. We love you very much and miss everyone. We have been gone so long you will all probably forget who we are and what we look like. (except for Jenna Gale she knows that I am bald & Grandma is short) But we hope not. We can't wait to come home.

Love you all so much
President O'Dell & Sister O'Dell
Mom & Dad (Woody & Linda)
Grandpa Woody & Grandma

January 21,2011

1. A cute sign we saw on the road

2. Elder & Sister O'Dell with the Elders at Zone Training

3. The La Prays and all the Elders Eating at the O'Dells Home

4. The Zone with President Watson

Dear Family, Friends & Loved Ones,

Greetings again from beautiful South Africa. It is a beautiful country but we are still missing everyone and anxious to get home. I think Sister O is really nervous for some reason and she can't really explain except that she is somewhat afraid. I think that will disappear quite rapidly when she puts her feet back on America soil three months from now :) I think we are planning on going to the Jo burg temple on the way home.

For Christmas I gave a round of golf to our 4 Elders. We teed off at 7:45am on New Years Day. We had a lot of fun but the weather was absolutely miserable . We had a light drizzly rain the entire round. I wished for the Elders sake that we could have had a good weather for them to enjoy this very beautiful course. I didn't play as I was trying to save some R's. I walked the 18 holes and let the Elders ride in the carts.

On Sunday we had a great fast and testimony meeting which I always really enjoy. We had 4 investigators present which always makes it nice. On Monday for P-Day we took the Elders to ride some Zip line about 35 K's past Grahamstown toward East London. It was rather cool with an occasional sprinkle but we found it was closed when we got there which was just as well as it was too expensive for the Elders. We didn't have much time left so we went to see a place on the Kowie River that is a beautiful view. It is called "Waters Meeting" We have really had a lot of overcast skies with a lot of sprinkle rain and a few good rains. The country is unbelievable green.

Sister O and I have been making a lot of visits to members of our Branch. We have a lot of members with so many needs that it is hard to keep up with it all. On Wednesday we went to East London for Zone Training Conference which was going to be on Thursday. We met the Plateros there as the wife's wanted to go shopping on Wednesday. We stayed at the Jones flat (they have already gone home to America) Elder Platero & I thought we might get in a round of golf in the afternoon But it didn't work out. It rained all the day. The course is a pretty nice and long course and only cost R 40 for 18 holes which is about $5 or 6. I wished we could play in America for that price. The Zone leaders car was in for service so we let them use our car all afternoon. We had a great Zone Conference on Thursday and got home to PA at about 5:30pm that afternoon.

The Jones have gone home and there is quite a number of elders in East London so President Probst asked us if we would be willing to go there to make sure they have supplies etc. and to do flat inspections and we said that we would and also to do any repairs that the flats may need.

We have been quite busy since we got home. I am in the process of doing some changes in our branch. I think it will give us more strength in some positions and some better teachers. I have really been busy this last week meeting and counseling with some members of our branch that have been having marital problems. Right now they seem to be happier then ever. Now we just hope that it will last but it is so great to see. Also a couple that is having morality problems. I think they are really doing good. I've visited with them a number of times. President Probst visited with them also last Saturday in the evening. The Brother rides a bike to church every week and has never missed. It is over 20k's one way with a lot of hills. I think he will be moving back to town shortly and it will be so much easier for him. I have also been plagued with a rash of welfare problems. But it looks like things are looking better. When you live in an area like this that has so much poverty, you get a lot of this.

On Saturday afternoon Elder & Sister Herbert from the mission office came and stayed with us for 2 nights. It was really nice to get acquainted with them. We have met them before several times. They are really a fun couple to be with. We took them to Fish River Sun for their fabulous breakfast where we also met the Platero's. On Tuesday we met the Herbets, the La Prays and the Robinson's at Addo Elephant Park and had a great time. This will probably be the Herbets only time to get out of the office and see parts of SA. I think they are really enjoying their time away from the office.

Today is Thursday January 13 and Sister O seems to feel better today for the first time in months. I hope so. I love her so much and appreciate all her hard work. She is not happy right now though because she has to talk in church on Sunday. She does hate to talk in Church!

Well it is time to close another chapter in our time in SA. The saga is coming to and end in 3 months. Please everyone don't for get how much we love and miss all of you. You are so special to us and give so much meaning to our lives.

All Our love to everyone
President O'Dell & Sister O'Dell
Mom & Dad (Linda & Woody)
Grandma & Papa (Grandpa & Grandpa Woody)

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.