Thanksgiving, Christmas & Farewell Dinner with Lesotho Zone

On November 29, 2010 we invited all of the Lesotho Zone Missionaries to our flat to have Thanksgiving Dinner. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in South Africa so we have had fun with the missionaries introducing them to our holiday dinner. Barbara also purchased some gifts for the Elders so we celebrated an early Christmas with them as well. They also shared some special times with us and gave us a beautiful set of wooden carved bowls and a carving of a leopard. So it turned out to be a Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Farewell celebration.
We wanted the missionaries to have things that they liked to eat as well as our more American food so these two missionaries cooked traditional chabatas that they served along with the Turkey, dressing, gravy, potatoes, and fresh fruit salad. We have never had the ability to have fresh strawberries, peaches, grapes, apricots, and cherries for Thanksgiving but that is the blessing of serving in South Africa where the seasons are different. This is Elder Amirikau and Elder Howard. This is a picture of Elder Amirikau while he is cooking. Elder Amirikau is from Kenya.

After dinner we let the Elders shop from our pantry. . This is similar to what we used to do when our children returned to college. They would shop for food in the pantry and then take it with them back to school. We had fun letting each Elder and then each companionship go through the pantry and pick out one item. They seemed to enjoy it as well. Apparently they don't shop for things the same way Barb and I do.

Here is the entire Lesotho Zone. It comprises missionaries from Phuthaditjhaba, Bethlehem, Leribe, Masianokeng, and Maseru. We have really come to love these special young men and we love being with them. Barb put up some Christmas decorations on the wall to help celebrate the season. We have such a love for these Elders and fortunately they love the Senior Couples. Many of them now express the desire to serve as Senior Couples with their wives.

Our hearts are so full as we prepare to leave this wonderful experience with all the miracles, daily spiritual experiences and love of the land, people and of cource our Elders. The Elders are from right to left: Elder Kapande - Zimbawe, Elder Gondo - Zimbawe, Elder Ellis - Australia, Elder Howard - Wyoming, Elder Ikahihifo - New Zealand, Elder Sichinga Sr. - Zambia, Elder Schwartzberg - South Africa, Elder Castleberry - Utah, Elder Lepheana - South Africa, Elder Bielefeldt - Utah, Elder Amirikau - Kenya