Mission Update

Update we gave to our Bishop and Stake President

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you. Between having an extended visit from both our son and our grandson, then hitting end of year reports, etc. that were due this past week, we have been working overtime to get things done --  even some 12+ hour days.

Sister Nielsen's recovery is coming along, but slowly. After 6 weeks, she had surgery to remove the 4 pins in her shoulder, then put back in the sling for 6 more weeks to allow the bone to mend properly. In two weeks she returns for x-rays to determine if there is enough mending to remove the sling and start physical therapy. She is able to continue her office work by using a wireless keyboard on her lap, allowing for less movement of the shoulder area.

Elder Nielsen was inundated with requests from the area office in Johannesburg for mission financial information to complete year-end reports. He is finally becoming a little more comfortable with all the financial demands of operating the Lord's Mission here in this part of South Africa.

The mail delivery began to improve just a few days before Christmas when the strike was officially over, and the anxious missionaries finally started to get some of their mail. Elder Nielsen was responsible to pick up the mail from the post office. Several times the back seat and the trunk of the car were full of Christmas packages. Some of the missionaries are STILL enjoying a second Christmas as packages continue to trickle in.

Just before Christmas we were able to travel to the Johannesburg Temple, with our son JD and grandson Kyle, where our grandson was able to receive his endowments prior to leaving in mid February for his mission call to Cleveland Ohio, Spanish speaking, with prior language training in Mexico City. Upon entering the Temple, we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the Temple President, who was expecting us. He personally took care of all of Kyle's needs and made it a wonderful experience for him. Just a note: we were able to see the original painting of the South African sister kneeling in prayer, a copy of which hangs in the Ogden Temple. It was very inspiring to us.

We have been assigned to meet with the Molweni Group, which has been struggling for years to be made a branch. Their attendance has been quite sporadic. Sister Nielsen has been working with the Primary which includes children from age 2 up to 12, which all meet together in one class. Some Sundays she has 2 or 3 children, but today hit a high of 14 and she was elated. Zulu is the native language learned in their home, with English being their 2nd language. A young adult sister assigned to do Sharing Time, adds the Zulu translation to Sister Nielsen's lessons. The children are very loving and accepting of us as Senior Missionaries. Its amazing to hear their young testimonies and their understanding of the Gospel at such a young age. The spirituality of their testimony meetings here is amazing, with the youth bearing very heart-felt and knowledgeable testimonies. Last week a counselor in the Stake Presidency announced in Sacrament Meeting that the request that they officially be made a branch has been sent to the Area Presidency for approval. We were elated to hear this news.

The spiritual "highs" continue to keep us uplifted, knowing we are doing the Lord's work -- things such as meeting the member from South Africa who had just helped complete the translation of the Doctrine and Covenants into Zulu, and was submitting it for publication. These experiences help us to know that "now is the time for South Africa." The Spirit of the Lord is hastening the work in this part of His vineyard. The members are anxiously awaiting the announcement of the location of the Durban, South Africa Temple. Our Mission President feels that the ground-breaking ceremony will probably occur before the end of our mission. This will make it possible for many more members to attend the temple. At present, it is approximately an 8 hour drive one way to the Johannesburg Temple.

We love our mission and know that this is where the Lord wants us to be, at this time in our lives. We appreciate your love, concern and prayers for us both.

Kyle Goes on a Mini-Mission

(Written by Kyle Nielsen - Grandson of Elder and Sister Nielsen)

Today, December 26, 2014, I had the opportunity to go with Elders Ghartey and Nkomo, one from Ghana and the other from Zimbabwe. We had arranged to meet at the South Africa Durban Mission Office at 2:00 today. Our first teaching appointment was with a non-member family. We taught them the first lesson which is about the Restoration of the Gospel. They seemed very receptive and the only real question was asked by a daughter who is in her mid-twenties. She asked, "How can I know that what you've shared is true?" She was encouraged to pray about it. Following the lesson they fed us a meal. 

We then went to our next appointment, which was a "no show." We decided to go tracting (knocking on doors) on the same street. The first couple of houses we knocked on, they weren't receptive to our message. About the third or forth house, one guy seemed very happy to see us. He invited us in and we taught a lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel. He seemed VERY VERY ready to hear the message we had to share. After about thirty minutes of discussion he, too, offered to feed us. We left stuffed, but pleased, with a follow-up appoinment scheduled for a week from now.

By then it was time to head back to Grandma's and Grandpa's flat. I loved the experience I got to have as a missionary!!!! I enjoyed it and I can't wait till I go on my Mission to Cleveland Ohio, Spanish speaking, starting in the middle of February. I leave for the Mexico MTC on February 18th.

St. Lucia

Kyle and his dad J.D., as well as his grandparents, Elder and Sister Nielsen drove from Durban to the small town of St. Lucia on Monday December 15, 2014. We took the four-o’clock boat tour of the St. Lucia Estuary. The Estuary is the home of approximately 1200 crocodiles, 800 hippo’s, and bull sharks too numerous to count.

 Hippos can’t swim, instead they walk on the lake bottom and poke their head up to get air. 

             The next day we were picked up by the safari truck at 5:00 in the morning. We spent the next ten hours at Hluhluwe Umfolozi Park. Our first sighting was a pride of lions. We used the binoculars to see the lions because they were too far away to get a good picture. Next we came upon a giraffe eating leaves on top of the trees.

 The park also has numerous elephants. 

We saw numerous water buck. Note the target on the rear end, which makes it easier to follow one another in the thick bush.

We also spotted various species of antelope including the impala which can run at amazing speeds. We also saw a huge herd of over 100 water buffalo grazing on the grass as they moved across the meadow.

      One of our favorite sightings was of the zebras.

Modern Day Scriptures in the Zulu Language

As we were about to leave the Mission Office for the day, Elder and Sister Rowberry arrived with Brother Sibusiso Mathe (pronounced "Mot-tay")from the Berea Ward in Durban. They had come to the office to make copies of his SIX YEAR PROJECT of translating the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, and ultimately the re-translation of the Book of Mormon into the Zulu language. He had one, and only one, copy of the manuscript that he had worked closely to translate with another individual under the close supervision of a Church translation specialist in Salt Lake City. (See pictures of Brother Mathe holding the title page and a close-up of the title page itself.)

It was fascinating to hear of his experiences in working to achieve correct interpretation using a language which has by far fewer available words than the English language. He also described many of the difficulties faced by them to achieve the same distinctive writing styles of the original authors. It was  amazing to listen to his experiences in this overwhelming task. He is very excited to finally send it off to Church headquarters for publication. He is also anxious to finally get these modern day scriptures to his fellow Zulu brothers and sisters. He is confident that this will lead to even greater success in the missionary efforts among the Zulu people here in South Africa. Having the scriptures in their own language will continue to hasten the work in this part of the Lord's Kingdom.  "Now is truly the time for Africa...."

"The Molweni Group"

We have been asked to work with a small group of native African members (Zulu's) living in the remote township of Molweni. Their numbers are too few to even qualify as a Branch of the Church. They have been struggling for several years to increase their numbers enough to be made a branch. They are hoping to become a branch soon. They have some extremely strong members there. Most of them have to walk quite a distance, even up to an hour one way, to get to their meetings. We talked to one mother who had her baby tied to her back with a blanket, who had walked an hour that day to get there for church. (And we complain when we have to drive five minutes to get to our chapel at home in Utah!)

 

 

Sister Nielsen has been asked to work with the Primary and is having a ball. She recently discovered, though, that Sanae, the Sharing Time leader, will need to translate brief sections of her lessons into Zulu, since most of the younger ones know little to no English yet. She is trying to be able to pronouce each of their names (and with some of those names, it is impossible to tell if it is a boy's name or girl's name).

 

 

Elder Nielsen is working with the Gospel Principles Class. And from one week to the next, he doesn't know if the instructor will show up or not, so he must come prepared.

 

 

One Sunday we had 6 young people presented with their Seminary or Institute Certificate. They are a valient group of youth, and it was quite encouraging! That Sunday, there was hardly an enpty seat in the old rented school room where they meet.

 

Stake/Area Conference -- November 22 & 23

Mesages from Saturday Evening Session of Stake Conference:
*** God saved His STRONGEST children for our times, to face the STRONGEST temptations.
*** Musical Item: "When Love Leads the Way" (beautiful!!)
*** Are you building STUMBLING BLOCKS or STEPPING STONES.
*** Are you TOO BUSY? "B" -- being "U" -- under "S" -- Satan's "Y" -- yolk
*** "African Crows": A family of crows were walking down the road. A man stopped them and said, "Father Crow, why are you walking? Don't you know that you can FLY?" With this new realization, Father Crow thanked the man for teaching him that they could fly. Then the crows continued to WALK down the road. Soon they were attacked by predators who devoured them.
Lesson to be learned: They did not heed what they were taught! Are we like the crows?
*** The Stake President announced that, due to growth, the two Durban Stakes are to be realigned to make three stakes in the South Africa Durban Mission.
*** Half way through the two hour meeting, the electricity went off and stayed off for the rest of the meeting. The speakers continued by using the light on their IPHONES and a small emergency light. It was a memorable experience, with powerful messages shared! A Counsellor in the Stake Presidency, a native African, told of his childhood memories of growing up in a strong LDS family. He remembered when he was about 8 years old, his father would walk with the family to the meetinghouse which was 15 to 16 kilometers away (quite a weekly journey to attend church meetings). There was much civil unrest with the South African people at that time. They encountered a mob that were fiercely fighting, with much bloodshed. As they approached the mob, his father kept moving the family along and the mob parted, so they could walk through, UNHARMED!
Years later, he asked his father about the encounter, "Weren't you afraid?" He answered, "No, I had faith that the Lord would take care of us."
He shared that in the 1980's, a young white LDS missionary brought the Gospel to he and his family at a time of the whites being in fear for their lives, due to apartheid. Yet, if that young white missionary had not had faith and trust in his Heavenly Father, he and his family would not have had the Gospel in their lives.

 

 

Messages from Sunday Morning Session -- African Area Conference taped earlier in Salt Lake City. Presiding was President Uchtdorf, with Elder Bednar of the Council of the Twelve, Elder Gay from the Seventies, as well as the current first counsellor in the General Primary Presidency.
Things of Interest:
*** The Area Conference was being viewed by ALL of Africa, being made up of 85 stakes and 64 districts throughout the entire continent.
*** It was announced that henceforth there will be THREE stake conferences per year, rather than the current TWO.
*** "Labola" or a young man paying the bride's parents a large amount of money for permission to wed their daughter, often taking YEAR's to acquire the funds.This practice is seen through most of Africa and was HIGHLY DISCOURAGED by all three of the presiding authorities at the meeting. (For more information, Google "labola".) They were emphatic!
*** President Uchtdorf encouraged the members to pray for the construction of the new temple in Durban to begin, which would increase the number off temples in Africa to 5. Rumors are that the location of the temple is soon to be announced, with groundbreaking hopefully to follow soon after. He encouraged members to work on being temple worthy NOW, even BEFORE the temple is completed.

PIctures from Safari