October, more than 1/2 way!!!

Hi Everyone,  It was great to see our latest addition to our family Gunner Dayton Van Sickle. He sure is cute. We were able to skype with the new parents Beau and Tina

over the internet at the hospital. Thanks Lyndsey for setting up the skype. Beau and Tina have kept us up to date with pictures of  baby Gunner and we got a live video of him.

    

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS To Beau and Tina on the birth of Gunner Dayton 6lbs 7ozs Sept 4

 

 

 Life in the Township

 

     If you drive into a township in South Africa. You will see Xhosa people. There are also many other tribes of people but, we mostly work with the Xhosa people. As

you continue driving through the township. You will see droves of people walking. Very few of the people there have cars and if they do have cars. The cars aren't in very

good shape. Sometimes you will see in a day 7 or 8 different cars that are being pushed by people because they either ran out of gas or  they just quit running. They

have a hard time having enough money to fix up there cars or buy enough gas to get where they need too.

     You see donkey's, goats, cows walking around town and in people's yards eating grass. When you ask the Xhosa people who they belong too. No one seems to know.

They are a very friendly people. They will always say hello and shake your hand. If its a mama she will give you a great big hug. They are wonderful kind people. The men wear long pointed shoes. long sleeved shirts and colorful ties. The women mostly wear long colorful skirts, blouses and sweaters. Sometimes they wear aprons. If they are

married  they will wear a 1/2 blanket around there waist to show they are married and a doek on there head. It shows respect to there inlaws. You will see many  ladies

walking down the street with a baby tied on there back. The baby can be a couple weeks old up to 2 to 3 years old.

      There's alot of honking that goes on in the township because taxis are always looking for riders. All the honking use to bother Elder Van Sickle when we first came here.

Then he found a way to cure that. Every time anyone honks he honks back and says, I sure do have a lot of friends don't I. At around 2:00 during the weekdays all the

children will be coming home from school. They will be wearing colorful uniforms. The schools here are struggling. There is a lot vandalism holes in the

walls, broken desks. The government doesn't keep the schools up.so they are in a shambles. They are really run down. There is not enough desks so sometimes 2 and 3

kids sit at one desk. In the summertime you will see many young boys coming back from the bush. There faces will be painted red. The family and relatives come to

celebrate them coming back from the bush. They have a braai and they slaughter a cow and they cook up a lot of food. He goes there to become a man. He stays  there

anywhere from two to three months depending on the tribe.There are  a lot of other traditions they do at the bush.

     The people of the township life span average is 46 years old. Because of them being poor and not having good clinics, hospitals, and a shortage of medicine. There are

a lot of aids and tuberculosis  There also seems to be a lot of people die of cancer because they never get any treatment. There diets aren't very good they just eat what

they can afford. Which is a lot of rice and potatoes or just bread. You will see alot of kids playing in the streets. Some times they kick a ball. It is either a real ball or

a bunch of plastic bags tied together in a ball. You will see the children rolling tires down the street. They keep them in control by using a board in each hand to hold the

tire upright.you will also see homemade little wire cars and home made wooden soap box cars that they push each other in. There are a lot of funerals in the township

So many people die of simple things that could be taken care of but because they are poor they can't afford a regular hospital. Some people only eat bread everyday.

When there is a funeral going on you will see a big tent in front of the house to accomadate all the relatives and friends that come. Because of the desperate situation

they are in there is a lot of stealing that goes on. They can't afford to have there garbage taken. So they throw it in the near by fields.Which makes it very unhealthy.

The unemployment is very high because of lack of education and no opportunities. We are so blessed as members of the church to have the programs  in the church

we have. The career workshop teaches people how to interview for jobs, how to apply for jobs, How to dress and etc. The self employment class teaches people

how to start there own business and write a business plan. Pef helps them be able to go to school and get a education. We know these are inspired progams we

have seen them help many people. We are so thankful for the gospel  of Jesus Christ and the happiness it brings to our life. Love Elder and Sister Van Sickle

    

September 2012 Letter

Hi Everyone, Do you remember last Christmas we sent you the u tube of the little girl Jackie Evancho-To Believe. Go back and listen to the words. It really fits the situation here

in South Africa. Some of the Words. Before I lay me down to rest I ask the lord one small request. I know I have all that I could need. But this prayer is not for me. To many

people on this day don't have a peaceful place to stay. Let all fighting cease that your children may see peace. Wipe there tears of sorrow away.

     To Believe in a day when hunger and war will pass away. To have a hope amist depair. In the name in all that's true that we will see in one another the loving image of you.

Let me try always to believe that we can heal the hearts that grieve please help us not ignore the anguish cries of the poor or the pain will never end.

A day does not pass by that we don't have some one ask us for food. We just got back from a 5 day training conference in Johanesburg. We received more training on

how to help people get employed and also more information on the perpetual eduaction fund. Alot of young people use this fund here especially returned missionaries.

We met 4 other couples in the Durban mission, 2 in Johanesburg mission and 1 in the Kenya mission on employment and we all received the training to gather. We got

to visit with them to see what they were doing on employment in there missions. We are working on some ways to present materials to the bishops for there unemployed in

there wards.

     These young people never cease to amaze us in the problems they have and are able to overcome. Elder Van Sickle were asked by the bishop to take Siphosethu to

a special dentist.( She is going on a mission ) we have been helping her get work to go on mission. On the way to the dentist she told us when she was six years old

her father was killed.Her mother is not a member and Siphosethu hopes sometime she will be a member. Siphosethu has been a member for 7 years.She joined the

church when she was 13 along with her two sisters tht are no longer active. Siphosethu has a strong testimony of the gospel. It never ceases to amaze me how a young person

like her is so strong when she is the only one in the gospel. She has done the temple work for her dad,her mother's aunt and two sons, Her uncles. Her great grandmother

Her other grandparents. All the women she was baptized for. But the men she asked a young man that is going on mission and he was baptized for the men. Siphotheu went

and got her patriartical blessing 4 years ago and in her patriartical blessing it said she will see the day when her whole family wil be sealed in the temple. It said she needs to

search out her ancestors and have the work done for them because they are waiting for her to do it. There are so many young single adults in these wards.There are  360 of the young single adults in the Kwano 1 ward and we having been working with them to find jobs and teaching them skills. We hope you are all well. We love

getting all your emails and pictures. 

We love you Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma, Elder and Sister Van Sickle

A Trackhoe Miracle

Elder Van Sickle and I have been stationed in East London the last

few days. We drive into the township of Mdantsane and work there

everyday helping people get employed. The Bishop of Mdantsane

3rd ward asked Elder Van Sickle about moving a huge rock in the

middle of soccer field on the church grounds. Because of the rock

they weren't able to use the field for church activites. So the Bishop and Elder Van Sickle planned a service project with the young men to meet on Saturday and they planned to jackhammer

the rock to break it up and move the pieces.

     Saturday arrived and the bishop and Elder Van Sickle was really excited for this project to begin. The sad thing was none of

the young men showed up for the project. There was Bishop, Elder

Van sickle and six young missionaries. They all took turns using the Jack Hammer. The rock was huge and very stubborn. It would not break up. After about 3 hours of Jack Hammering and not getting anywhere the bishop and the missionaries were ready to

give up besides it had started raining. Elder Van Sickle told me

about then he wished he had a trackhoe with a breaker on it ( Like

the ones back home in our business) He happened to look out

toward the street and saw a big rig with a trailer hauling a trackhoe

with a breaker on it. It turned into the road to the church by the new

hospital that was being built. Elder Van Sickle ran over to talk to the

guy and asked him if he could get him to come by maybe next week. He said he was a week behind schedule and he would see

when he could fit them in. Elder Van Sickle came back to the field

thinking that they wouldn't be able to finish the project today. When

it wasn't 5 minutes later. He heard a trackhoe and looked up. The

guy was driving the trackhoe into the church parking lot. Then down to the field. He pulled the rock out and rolled it with the breaker off the field not only that he came back with a backhoe and filled up the hole. Elder Van Sickle and I thought this to be a

big miracle of the lord. One of his tender mercies. You do all you

can ( your part ) and the lord will see you through. We thank the

lord for all his help each day of our mission. We love you Mom and

dad and Grandpa and Grandma, Elder and Sister Van Sickle

August 2012

Today was a very eventful day. We got up this morning and it was just freezing in the flat. We

couldn't turn on our little heater  because we were out of propane. It was blowing today and the cold goes right through your body and chills your bones. We have discovered here that

when you are out in the cold and you go in a building or some ones house thinking you can warm up. There is no relief because the houses and all the buildings have no heat. So we

have learned if you want to get warm you hope in your car and turn up the heat full blast.

Thank goodness for car heaters.

     We got a call from Vuyo to day who is a cop and told us about his non member friend

who works in the crisis center. She is in a bad way. Her power is shut off. She has no food.

She needs help could we help her. So we agreed to meet Vuyo and his friend at the crisis center. Sandra works at the crisis center. She has worked there for 12 years. She only gets money if she gives them  information on a case. She is an informat. She hasn't been

getting any money lately. She needs another job. We got there and talked about all the options she had and of her skills and what she needed to do. Elder Van Sickle asked her what religion she was. She said she was apostaholic. We started talking about prayer and our

believe in god. Then Elder Van Sickle tells her about the geat apostascy and all about the

Book of Mormon. She said she would love to read it. Elder Van Sickle gave her a pass along card and told her if she would call this number. The missionaries would bring her a video of Christ. She looked so happy and told us the story of how her son last Saturday wanted to watch a video on Christ and she didn't have one. She told him God will provide. Then she

prayed for one. She said 3 days later and here is the opportunity to get the video. We

left feeling really happy we were able to give the Book of Mormon to someone and bare our

testimony. It always happens when we least expect it.

    We went to the orphanage and had family home evening. Here are three kids from the

orphanage

7/2012

We have been staying in a guest flat in Gonubie by East London. We rent it for 110R a night. Which is about 13.00

 in American money. Sunday morning we drove to a ward in Sada. Which is about 21/2 hours from East London.

The ward is held in a small red brick building. When we got there it was so cold. The front doors had 21/2 inch gap at

the bottom of the door to the floor where you could see the outside. The men's restroom was outside. The electricity had gone off the night before so the

church was so cold and dark.There was 25 faithful members there that had walked along ways in the cold. The ladies  carry there small children and babies on there back the whole way. Because it was so cold most of the members stayed home. The members spoke in xhosa the large part of sacrament meeting. So we couldn't understand it. . It was just above freezing. Our feet and hands were so cold. In sunday school it was all in xhosa too. So

Elder Van Sickle and I decided that when he went to priesthood and I went to Relief Society we were going to both tell them to please speak in english. It worked. Relief Society was all in english. Finally the electricity came back on and

we all stood by the heaters to warm our hands and feet. We went to ward council after church. Sada has alot of unemployment. It was my turn to teach the ward council how to get there members employed and self reliant. when we

discovered there were people in the ward council unemployed so we spent two hours teaching these two how to get

employment. They had been unemployed for six years. The amazing thing was they didn't know the basic skills of getting

a job. They had plenty of skills. They just plain didn't what or how to go about getting a job. One was an accountant and

the other was a code 14 truck driver. There is jobs here for both those skills. The Lord loves these people he wants

them to be employed and successful. Love Elder and Sister Van Sickle

Busy With The Work

We had two baptisms in the Kwanobuhle ward 1, Ufield baptized his sister and Elder Fozard baptized Skifile's girlfriend.  How neat!

The Relief Society President of the Lorraine ward is getting ready to pass out the crocketed teddy bears the sisters in her ward made for the orphanage.  What a sweet spirit service brings!

Here she is handing out the teddy bears. The orphanage children were so excited to receive them!

The Relief Society President with all the orpanage children.  We have grown close to these children and love to see their smiling faces when receiving the teddy bears!

Earning $ For Missions!

Elder ans Sister Van Sickle have been working with the kids in the pictures to earn money for there mission. He has been working with facilitation's managment in Cape Town and he was able to get them to pay the kids to paint and clean the brick on the church.

 Siphosethu painting the bars on the church door

Phillansi pressure washing the brick fence around the church

Penny painting the bars on the other side

Siya and Henry cleaned and painted the church parking lot