2010 - January

Making cookies with Babalwa, Olwethu, Frederline, and Sipokazi. The two girls on the left are members and they bring friends to church and to our young women activities. None of the girls had seen a hand-held mixer before and they had a great time mixing the dough with it. Many of the girls don't have ovens in their homes for baking, and when we put the cookies in the oven one of the girls sat down and watched the cookies bake through the oven window. They are beautiful young girls and so eager to learn.

Schools were on holiday for nearly a month from mid-December to mid-January. When school is in session, the girls are busy with homework, so during the break there was time to have the young women at our flat for a baking lesson/activity. The first week there were four girls - the second week eight came. Two of these girls are members. The others are friends they have been bringing to church.

We heard of a soup kitchen operated by several Christian groups in Port Alfred and took the opportunity to volunteer there the Wednesday before Christmas. The Zone Leaders were visiting Port Alfred that day and they went with us to the soup kitchen. On the right are Elders Cannon and White from Utah; Elder Shegana is from Ethiopia. We took two of our teenage black member girls with us and they were delighted to see the process of making the soup and helped serve it to the people waiting outside of town for the food. It was exciting to watch these young girls as they participated and felt the joy of service to others! They went back with us several times to work again in the soup kitchen and are eager to go again.

After helping prepare the food in town, we drove outside the town near the dump (landfill) site where the poorest of the poor were anxiously waiting for the food provided. They came with anything that could be filled with the hot soup - plastic soda pop bottles, tin cans, etc.

Children waiting for the soup and bread provided Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. There are only enough resources to provide the food three days a week. We are told for some of the children this is the only food they have all week. On this Wednesday before Christmas, someone had donated enough new tennis balls for each of the children. They were very excited!

Our Mission President, Randall K. Probst, with Mike Siambzwele who was ordained an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood in December. Mike has a wife and young son. They are very faithful members. Mike and one other man, an 80-year old gentlemen who lives 35 miles out of town, are the only two Melchizedek Priesthood brethren we have other than the two full-time young elders and Elder Godfrey. There are three other great men who will soon be advanced in the priesthood. Our branch is growing!

Our branch is rapidly outgrowing the home rented for church services. Today - January 17 - we had 15 youth come to church. There is one room for the Primary children, one room for the Relief Society, and the only other room for a class is the kitchen. We couldn't fit 15 youth in the kitchen so we held the class outside on the grass. It was a beautiful sunny day in South Africa, so that wasn't a problem in mid-January.

We are well and keeping busy. Grandma admits to counting the weeks until she can see her grandchildren. We will miss these wonderful people and appreciate the opportunity we have had to be in the Cape Town Mission. We are very grateful for our family and our friends who have been so supportive of our time away from home. We love to hear from home - our email is katherinesgodfrey@gmail.com