Bloemfontein Family History Fair

Sister Mabahlakoane Mapetla from Maseru Branch in Lesotho has been a member for 13 years.  She admits to being a stubborn lady, so when her previous church told her not to listen to the Mormon missionaries she decided to invite them to dinner.  Her former church taught that Elijah had not come, but the elder missionaries said Elijah did come to Joseph Smith and brought keys.  She thought that she would steal the keys away from the missionaries and take them back to her old church.  Next time she met with the missionaries she asked them "Where do you keep those keys?"  The missionaries gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to read the book and pray and she would discover them.  Shortly after she was baptized and went to the Temple. "I felt the greatest love for my family, I will do what I have to do to join us together."  Sister Mapetla's current calling in the Church is to teach Family History and Temple work.  She has done the work in the Johannesburg Temple for 45 of her ancestors.

Sister Mapetla is from a country inside South Africa called Lesotho. She is wearing a traditional blanket with a large pin in front to hold it together.  The colors and design on the blanket depict a tribe.  Elder Cinquini and I saw dozens of herdsmen in the fields wearing these blankets.  I chose a red and black blanket to purchase.  

We left Bloemfontein Monday morning on our way to Johannesburg.  On the way we hit a DLA (deer like animal).  At first we thought there was no damaged, it didn't even dent the car.  About 1/2 down the road our car stopped.  To make a long story short we sat on the side of the road for six hours waiting for a tow truck that kept promising they would be there any minute.  When the sun started to go down I began to get worried because it didn't feel safe.  I had the number of the unit leader  in the area of Kroonstad.  Brother Paul Nohnagel came to pick us up within 20 minutes.  Just as he arrived so did the tow truck.  Brother Paul took us to his home and he and his wife kept us for the night.  We had a good time visiting with them and made some new friends.