Senior DaBells

OSHA is not in South Africa!

We are under construction next door. The practices and policies are very interesting.

(We hope there isn't any asbestos in the dust).

Construction should all be complete in October!?!?

Interim catch up 26 July - 13 August 2013

July 26 Movie night with the Employment Resource staff and Families. Nombuso and her sister, Vivien and Glen Roberts, The Tshabalala family, the DaBells and Bassos had a fun evening with pizza and the animated movie BRAVE. We were at Vivien and Glen's home. Fun evening.

July 27 We took an exploratory run to Bryanston Market. We had a good time, but decided it wasn't worth the time it would take to take Ryan and Kyoung and family shopping there. We purchased a nativity make from thorn wood from Isaac and also a signed water color by the lady in the next stall. Bryanston Market is a market mixed with venders from all areas of the country.

July 28 We visited Sharpeville Branch, Bedfordview Stake, under the direction of President Stan Gorman. We spoke in Sacrament meeting on Self Reliance principles and taught the youth / YSA on making critical choices between the ages of 12 and 32: Testimony, serve a mission, temple marriage and career choice. We taught them that personal revelation, setting priorities, making obedience a quest, knowing who they are and proper use of agency will help them with these critical choices.

On the way home, we stopped and viewed the memorial in Sharpeville where 69 people were killed by police on 21 March 1960.

21 March is now a Public Holiday, Human Rights Day, commemorating a racial struggle that was highlighted by democratic elections 34 years later in 1994

August 3 We participated in a Bedfordview Stake Career Fair. The Nielsens joined us to discuss PEF questions. We had the opportunity to register many young people on LDS Jobs. We received help from High Councilor, Dirk Vetten, and access to membership information through President O’Friel. Sorry, missed out on the pictures, but it was a very successful day.

That evening we attended a fireside given by David Glen Hatch and some of his students from the United States. They testified regarding the power of music in lives. They demonstrated and testified through word and performing beautiful, peaceful, sacred piano music. Sorry again, left the camera at home.

August 4 Very exciting day. We were invited to attend the Tshabalala baby blessing. Little Amahle behaved so well!!! His father, Dominic gave him a beautiful blessing. Elder DaBell was invited to stand in the circle for this special event.

We were invited to escort the Hamiltons to church.with us. Elder Hamilton is the new Second Counselor in the Area Presidency. He is a member of the Second Quorum of Seventy.

It was a wonderful privilege to escort them to the Benoni Ward, and then afterward, we went to Etwatwa Branch.

This branch meets in a speed space, four trailer type buildings, one on each side of a quad with a covered space in the middle. Elder Hamilton was very interested in seeing the facility and meeting with President Maebela to find out how the facility is working for them.

August 6-8 We taught Career Workshop in the Employment Resource Center to 7 people.

August 9 Public Holiday. We attended a David Glen Hatch concert at the Linder Auditorium attended by many missionaries, members and non-members alike. The classical piano music rendered by him and his students was a positive Public Affairs event and enjoyed by many. The Tshabalala children witnessed the benefit of piano lessons and had their picture taken with the performers and their current teacher, Sister DaBell.

August 10 Elder Basso and Elder DaBell taught Self Employment Workshop to 3 sisters in Germiston Ward arranged by the Ward Employment Specialist, Sister Maistre.

August 11 Elder and Sister Curtis accompanied Elder and Sister DaBell in visiting Sebokeng Branch, Bedfordview Stake. We had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting, teach the youth and YSA on making critical choices and training the Branch council on Employment and Self Reliance Principles.

August 12-13 Elder Basso and Elder DaBell taught 6 participants in Self Employment Workshop in the Employment Resource Center.

13 August, 2013 - Khumo's 8th birthday. He was also baptized on this special cay. The baptism and confirmation, performed by his father Dominic, took place at the Johannesburg Chapel. This was the Chapel where Moses Mahlangu sat outside the window and listened, because he was not allowed to go inside to worship with white people. Here is the Story of Moses Mahlangu.....

Moses Mahlangu

Moses Mashlangu was born on January 4, 1925 in Boshoek, South Africa, to a family of fifteen children. He started to read the scriptures as a young man and wondered why there were things in his church that weren’t in the scriptures. When he talked to his minister about this, he was expelled. He wanted to find God and receive revelation, but he was never satisfied until 1964 when he received a Book of Mormon from a distant relative. As he read it, he knew it was true. He told his brothers, “We fight every day over what the Bible says about baptism. We fight about the name of the church. The Book of Mormon is very clear on these points, and on the sacrament. People will have no need to fight if they read both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.” Moses answered the questions with other ministers from the Book of Mormon whenever there were issues they couldn’t agree with.

In 1964, Moses received the missionary discussions but was not allowed to be baptized because of the laws of the land. [because of Apartheid] Mission President Badger requested permission for Moses to be baptized but that request was denied. For the next fourteen years, he distributed copies of the Book of Mormon and other missionary material to his people. During this time he would go to the Church in Johannesburg and sit outside the window of the Church and the members would open the windows and turn up the speakers so Moses could listen. Conversant in many languages (including English, Afrikaans, Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu), he was a true pioneer among the blacks of South Africa. He held regular meetings in his home, where he taught from the Book of Mormon and prepared many of his friends for the gospel.

He wrote: “It was not difficult to wait to be baptized, because from the time I received the teachings of the Church, almost everything became clear to me.” Beginning in 1978, Mahlangu and others in Soweto began attending Church in the Johannesburg chapel. He was baptized in June 1980. “When I became a member,” he wrote, “I was very weak. I had nothing in my house. I had not held a job for two years. After I joined the Church, everything came easier, and I got a job. I feel the power of God in my body, through the priesthood. When I went to the temple, I felt like a man who had just woken up from death.”

M256.13 A416 1990. E. Dale LeBaron, editor, “All are alike unto God;” see chapter 17, Moses Mahlangu, “I Waited Fourteen Years,” pages 153-161, Church History Library

Also, notes and dates from Neo Madela, granddaughter of Moses Mahlangu who was raised by her grandparents.

Now to Khumo's special day!