johndeere

Missionaries in Africa

We see many acts of selfless service by both senior missionary couples and young Elder missionaries here in South Africa. (Young Sister missionaries do not serve here, because of high crime levels in some parts of the missions). There is an MTC here in Johannesburg where newly called African missionaries go, before entering the mission field in Africa. We have opportunities to serve in the Johannesburg temple (every Tuesday) when they come through for the first or scond time. These are very spiritual experiences.    
      One day we were eating lunch in the office canteen when I noticed that a pizza delivery man brought in six good sized pizzas. I was wondering who they were for, when in walked six young missionaries. As they sat down and started devouring the pizzas, I went over and started a conversation with them. I noticed that all looked tired, but confident and their suits and shoes looked to be well worn, so I assumed they had been out for awhile. I asked them where they had been serving and what were they doing in the Area office. They said that they had been serving up in Zimbabwe and they were on their way home. I asked them about their mission, and they basically said it was successful, but quite difficult. Because of a lot of poverty in that mission area, their living conditions were not very good. Their biggest problem was food shortages. Sometimes, they just didn’t have enough food to eat. On some occasions, all that they had to eat was a loaf of bread.  Apparently, local church members were not able to help feed the missionaries because of the poverty in many areas of Zimbabwe. Sometimes senior missionary couples would bring food to them as they were traveling through the area. Later that afternoon, I saw them serving in the temple one last time, before heading to the airport for their long flight home.  I thought to myself “Well done thou good and faithful servants of the Lord”.  With missionaries like that, the church is in good hands in regard to missionary work in Africa.  

Life in South Africa

We have been here Johannesburg for almost two months now. During this time, as we have been settling in to our routine we have learned a few things about the culture, the people, and some of the traditions of the people of South Africa. 
 
The people. We have found the people to be very friendly. The majority of the people in South Africa are black. In the LDS church offices where we work, there is a mixture of  us American missionaries, Blacks, and white South Africans.

 

Language. We have learned that there are about eleven languages spoken in South Africa. Essentially everyone speaks English, but many of the black people speak languages that are based on their tribal ancestry. The most common language other than English is Zulu. Sometimes we hear people speaking English and they will suddenly start speaking Zulu or one of the other languages. In our church meetings, sometimes prayers are spoken in Zulu or some other language that we don’t understand. 
 
Colloquialisms. Following are some common expressions, greetings, and words that we have learned about:  Howzit – a typical South African greeting, short for “how is it?”  Sawubona - hello, Ndiyabulela – thank you,  Wa reng – What’s up?  Foods: Braal – Barbeque, Slap Chips – French Fries, Meilie – corn on the cob,  Biltong – Beef Jerky. Other words: Lift – elevator, Robot – traffic light, Car trunk – boot, Geyser – water heater, etc. 
 
Johannesburg is a large cosmopolitan city of about 7 million people. There are lots of parks, museums, restaurants, and things to do and see. It also has a high crime rate mostly in the inner city area, which we stay away from. (Although we got lost once and ended up in the inner city) Finding our way around is a challenge. It takes a driver, a navigator, a GPS and a map, and sometimes we still get lost. Maybe it’s just us, but we are getting better at finding our way around here. The freeway system is very good, as long as we figure out which lane to be in and when and how to get on and off. Off-ramps and on-ramps are from and to the left (slow) lane and the fast lanes are on the right. Of course, all traffic goes in the left lanes of streets and freeways.
  
The food is very similar to American food. We frequent several nearby restaurants that serve very good pasta, salads, steaks, fish, etc. They serve a lot of avocado in salads and on sandwiches. McDonalds and KFC’s are very common here. There are lots of shopping malls, and grocery shopping is easy, although few U.S. brands are available. Fortunately, we have found some of our favorite foods like Hellmann’s (Best Foods) Mayonnaise, Heinz Ketchup, and Snickers candy bars here. Vegetables, and fruits are good, but because they are exposed to various bacteria and environmental elements, there is a requirement to wash them in water and bleach before eating, unless they are cooked. Malaria protection medication is required whenever we travel out out of South Africa and even to some areas of South Africa. We can drink the tap water in South Africa, but not in any other country in Africa, where water has to be filtered. 

 

Aside from the minor inconveniences, we are enjoying our time here in this fascinating country.