Fire!!!side

We had the coolest experience this past week.  Besides taking two missionaries under our wing because one had a "P"day injury and the other came from Ethopia with an unknown diagnoses that needed some further evaluation.  We spent a lot of time running between two different hospitals for care.  The preparation day elder had hurt his leg playing steal the flag on a rainy day.  They were playing at the Kololo Stake Center doing a game of steal the flag on the wet and muddy grass.  He was trying to slide to release one of the other elders and slid into a stationary bench.  It crushed his leg and opened a large wound that had to be cleaned out.  When we got to the doctor they had to scrub an inch and a half in all directions under the skin to get all the dirt out.  We had to return every morning so they could irrigate the wound so it would not become infected.  Fun times for him and the last time we went in they put honey on the packing in the wound.  Sister Squire inquired what they were putting on his open wound and was a bit shocked to find this new open wound cure. Witch doctors?  Well, what do you know, after getting online she found there was some information on using medical grade honey in open wounds as it pulls out the dirt and provides some antibiotic effects.  He will back to work on Monday after taking a week off to heal.

Our other Elder had to come from Ethopia because they were certain he had a kidney stone at the hospital where he was being checked.  But, no blood in urine.  One other problem was the pain was not where his kidney was located.  Anyway, hospital care in Africa is different than in the USA so be glad for what you have Americans!  Still working to find out what is causing him the pain but our South African Medical Authority is working with us to diagnose.

Ok, back to our cool experience we had this week.  One of the Elders asked if we could come to a fireside with them on Saturday.  We agreed and asked what we needed to do.  Nothing came the reply, just show up.  We picked them up after we took another elder who had a boil that Sister Squire tried to lance but it would not drain.  We took him to our clinic and his boil area had cellulitis (infection of the cells) and they would not drain it until they took care of the infection.  He got an antibiotic and they had a baptism interview at the same place we were having the fireside.  When we picked up the elders and arrived at the home of the sister that was hosting the fireside for her neighbors, he was complaining about sore joints and muscles.  Looking at the material with the medication we found he is one in 10,000 who would have they type of reaction.  Anyway, we changed his medication and hopefully that will get him healthy.

I know, can I even tell a story without interrupting it with some more medical stuff?  Doesn't seem like it, does it.  So, we arrived at the fireside place and you would love this little community.  You drive on dirt roads to get to these homes that are gathered together in little communities.  This good sister (Mum MaFabi) has invited all her neighbors to hear this fireside.  After two hours of waiting for everyone to arrive we started. There were about 60 people, most of them were not members.  As they were announcing the program it was stated that the lesson would be given by Elder and Sister Squire.  How cool, I could be home being all comfortable or outside participating in a fireside in Africa trying to come up with a lesson that would start in a couple of minutes.  Unlike all the great stories that our prophets and others have told of being told what they would say - me nothing - I would have to rely on the scriptures.

I can't tell you how fun it is to share the gospel with people who need to have the joy and happiness of knowing were we came from, why we are here, and where we are going when we die.  I used the story in Alma 36 to show how happy we can be when we accept the Lord and repent of our sins.  How "exquisite and sweet" can be our joy.  The Lord does want us to be happy.

Sister Squire also talked about families and how leaving our family to come to Africa was one of the hardest things we have done but we want so badly to share what we know to be true and brings us such great peace and happiness.  Everyone should have the same opportunity for joy - that it is all worth it.

After the fireside they had a talent show where anyone could come and share their talent.  Can you imagine how it is to have the lack of a talent shoved in your face all the time!  I am lucky that Sister Squire was there to teach the kids sign language to I am a Child of God.  I really have to learn a magic trick or two...  It was great as they would share stories that had a moral to them or other wacky talents.  It is

The porch was the pulput, there were more than 60 and almost all in attendance were not members of our faith

They put bags on the ground for the kids to sit on.

Elder Agesa fanning the charcol for the after fireside snack, fire baked maize

One of the neighbors helping to get the grills ready

Lining up to get their maze to cook

This young man is the mission leader in his branch.  He is planning to go on a mission soon.

Sister Squire blowing on the coals to get this party started

Happy kids - we couldn't stay and enjoy the corn.

More of the neighbors that came to the fireside.  The elders reported that two of the people showed up at church today.

We had a baptism after church today and that is always fun.  I got a call on Saturday night and asked if we could bring our Jerry cans because Lugazi had no water.  We took our Jerry cans of water and met the missionaries with their six 5 gallon cans of water and added them to the fount.  We tried the water again and a miracle, it was on again.  We were only around 18 inches in the fount.  Just before our Sacrament Meeting I checked the water and it was off again.  The elders knew someone and said they would pay on Monday if they could bring another 20 5 gallon Jerry cans of water.  After our meetings we had enough for the young woman to be baptized.  We enjoy our little branch.

Random photo - look how close you can get to the wildlife here in Africa