Dear Family & Friends Dec. 19, 2010
Merry Christmas from South Africa
I have to tell you about our thunder and lightning storm last night. First off it woke me up out of a very sound sleep. We keep the curtains open at night to let any breeze that might blow in. We had lightning and thunder for over 45 minutes. The thunder just rolls across the sky. But, last night we heard something new. It was also crackling across the sky. Then it started to rain and it rained hard. I was going to tell you that the river that runs through town was bank to bank on Thursday and had gone down on Friday. Well today it was back bank to bank. I got up at 5 this morning and it was still thundering. About 8:15 it started to rain again really hard but just for about fifteen minutes this morning.
We went out to Ezakheni Branch for their services again this week. The President Titus's brother is sick and he was going to Durban to see him. We didn't start until 10:15 because we just had kids, the two Elders, the two Hudson, and the 1st President at the building. I picked all Christmas songs. Yesterday we went to the Christmas party out at Ezakheni Branch. It was suppose to start at 12. We got there at 12:15 and they were just starting to cook. They had all these kids just running around. We had found a bag of suckers and we took them out for the party. They got past out and then Elder Hudson went around picking up the wrappers off the ground. I ended up giving piano lessons to two more members while we were waiting. At 3:30 we finally left. We had been there for three hours. Time means nothing to the people here. Any way they started their meeting with just a hymn instead of Christmas music. They had a couple of talks and then closed the meeting. The sisters apologized for not being ready. She said they got the money late Friday afternoon and she had bought the groceries that morning.
Now here's the story about the check. We drove down to Weenee (about an hour away) and got the check signed and took it to the President's wife so they would have the money to buy the groceries. She said she would go right to the bank and cash the check. I don't know what happened after that.
Thursday Ladysmith had their Christmas party. They were going to do a braai but it just kept raining and raining. They finally went and bought Kentucky Fried Chicken. They cooked the rest of the food. We had a great meal. The program was really good too. The teenagers acted out the birth of Christ. The Relief Society sang a Christmas song in Zulu. The young women sang two songs and Primary sang Away in a Manger. It put me in the Christmas mood. Two of our piano students play for the Christmas program. Chris played his Christmas song and made one little mistake. I was so proud and his Dad beamed from ear to ear. Bulelwa play one song she knew and then played her Christmas song with just her right hand. The whole audience was quiet and when she finished there was this gasp from the members. It was such a neat experience.
Friday afternoon we drove to Dannhausher to teach piano and they had gone to Newcastle for the day. Then we headed for Dundee to teach. We decided not to even teach there because when school is out the kids take off for the day. We just drove back home. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day for a drive. We are not going to teach until school starts on January 17th.
Tuesday we went to teach at Ezakheni and one of the boys we teach at the chapel. Walk over just to tell us he couldn't find his music and couldn't take a lesson. It was very cloudy and looked like rain any minute. We gave him a ride home and then we went to the family for five kids. We taught the lessons to all the kids and told them we had something for them when it was over. They said we have something for you too. I had made scripture bags for all of them and we gave them all scriptures. They were very excited and thank us for them. They had each made us Christmas cards thanking us for teaching them and wishing us a Merry Christmas. They were all wonderful cards. I put them on the wall in the living room by our nativity sets. I took a picture of them and I will show them when we teach them after Christmas. What a great job this single Mother is doing raising these kids. Last week we also found a five year old girl that is living there too.
Our week was very full this week and we love being able to serve the members. We are blessed with health to be able to serve here. I can't tell you how I felt reading those wonderful cards from the kids. It is as good as getting a card from your grandson or granddaughter.
Thank you for your notes from home. We love hearing from you.
Merry Christmas Sister and Elder Hudson
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