Merry Christmas!!

Hi Everybody, We want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We had a really nice Christmas but we missed everybody. I want to tell you about our

experience last sunday. We were so excited because new area opened up in Motherwell. We have been working with this lady that has 3 kids. She wanted to go to school.

She is a social worker. But she only has certificates and not a degree so they won't pay her very much money so she needs to go to school. We took her to Nelson Mandela

University here in Port Elizabeth to register her. Delsie can't afford to not work unless she gets a bursury which paids her tuition, room and travel and food. The closes L.D,S. Church was 20 miles

away and she doesn't have a car. So she has to take a taxi everywhere she goes. So we picked Delsie up to take her to church on Sunday. It's a good thing We had her with

us or we would have never found it. She knows where all the streets are in Motherwell. When we got there there was only 11 members. They all were Moms and Kids except for President Feli Feli. So Elder Van Sickle

blessed the sacrament and President Feli Feli passed it. Elder Van Sickle was asked to speak. It was very humbling to be in that sacrament meeting. Delsie was so

happy that she would be able to attend a branch so close. After we took Delsie home. we went to Blue water bay and looked on the board where the rentals are. Elder

Oldham is over all the boardings for the Elders and Couples. He needed a flat close by Motherwell to put some young Elders in.Elder Oldham had asked Elder Van Sickle

to find the new boarding seeing how the missionaries would be in our area. We had been looking all week and hadn't found anything Except for one boarding on the river that we didn't think would be very good. We had an appointment to meet a man to check out this boarding but we never could find the boarding or the man. We decided to call

one more time on this boarding that we had called on last week and that had said it had already rented. Elder Van Sickle felt impressed to call them again to see if it was available. We recieved no answer, so we decided to find the flat down by the river and we could not find the right address. When were in the middle of trying to find the correct address this other lady calls back and said she still had the flat and it was still available. So we decided we would go look at it right then. It was perfect in every way. We went over to the lady's house and signed the contract that afternoon. While we filled out the contract she kept asking about the church and the missionarys that would stay there. It was quite exciting to answer all of her questions. She had been divorced and she was quite concerned that her two sons were going to follow ther nonbelieving dad. He did not think there was a God. She did not know how to handle the situation with her son going to church, so she asked what we thought she should do. The doors just kept opening all after noon about the gospel. She is reallly a great lady because her and her new husband are so giving and caring for other people. When we were leaving  we went out to the car and we were able to give her a Book Of Mormon. It was quite spiritual moment.She was looking  for the truth.She said that she would read the Book of Mormon. She left on Holiday with her

family she is going to be gone til the 14 of January. We can't wait until she gets back. She wanted us to come back. She and her new husband have alot of christ like attibutes. Kindness, Mercy, Love, They took in a lady

and let her stay in one of there flat's for awhile until she can get on her feet. She was abused by her husband. Another lady was unemployed and needed a job so they have

her clean the flats.She is a financial accountant and does the books for her church. Her sons ask her why mom are you helping all these people. Why because she is

trying to be like the Savior. She shows love for her fellowmen. I just know God is aware of her and her family we were meant to meet her that day. We love the Book of

Mormon. We know that it is true. We love reading it everyday it helps us in this life to prepare to meet the Savior when he comes again. We love being missionaries and doing the lord's work everyday. We love all of you. Love Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma, Elder and Sister Van Sickle

More from Dec. 2012

Hi everybody again!  Here are some more pictures of experiences in South Africa:

It is very common to see people carrying things on their head. We saw this member of our church carrying brooms on her head and asked if we could take a picture of her to send home to our family

070 is a picture of a mud hut. The opening is very short so it makes me look very tall. It's very interesting what the walls are made of, straw.sticks. and mud.

                                                           Another picture of the botanical gardens

We love you all. Take care. Love Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma, Elder and Sister Van Sickle

December 2012

If you look at picture 080. There's a African lady in the picture.She's a member of the church. I talked to her thinking she probably had only worked there a few years but she

surprised me by telling me she has worked there in the mission home for 31 years and has been through 9 Mission Presidents. The kitchen is very big considering all the missionaries that

are always coming and going that they need to cook for. She said the average they cook for is around 24 to 30 missionaries. The other lady is the mission president's

wife and the mission president is standing always behind her. Elder Oldham is helping himself to the food he is over all the flats and cars in the mission. His wife is the

secretary at the mission office.

101 picture is at the Botanical gardens the mission president and his wife took all the senior missionaries to. The next four pictures are in the botanical Gardens:

119 This tree's roots are above the ground (Aren't they a good looking couple)

We can't get over the beauty of the Botanical Gardens

Thanksgiving in South Africa

Hi Everyone, I am sending you a picture of all the senior missionaries we spent Thanksgiving with. Last year we weren't able

to celebrate Thanksgiving because we were in Johannesburg for training. So we really enjoyed having turkey this year. Turkey is

hard to find here. They are really little so 5 turkeys had to be cooked to have enough for everyone. The mission President and his

wife are on the left second to the end. we love you all. Love Elder and Sister Van Sickle

Inspiring Mission Re-cap 11/12

When we first got here Elder Van Sickle said," I have never been to the grocery store so many times in my life. This is a food mission." We were always going to the grocery

store it seemed to get food for the young elders to fix them dinner or fix dinner for someone else or for the lunch or dinner for zone conferences. The senior missionaries have a joke that no matter what you

feed young Elders they will eat it and no matter how much we cook it will be all gone by the time it is over. They are so appreciated of the food we cook for them. It is very rewarding. Then as time went on we decided that this was a travelling mission

because we traveled so much. But then the first of June was the last time we traveled  Because we felt like we were sprinkling a little water on a big fire and getting no where

as far as employment is concerned. So we decided to centralize our efforts in the township of Kwanobuhle where there are two wards and so many unemployed people. So now we call it a school mission. We have signed up all the people in the ward that have either failed High School or got low marks on there senior year. This is a huge roadblock

that stops them from getting jobs. We have loaded up people in our little missionary car for days on end and taken them to the education department to sign them up to retake their matric. The

Matric is a test they take at the end of there senior year. If they fail the test. They don't pass High School. If they get low marks when they go for a job the

employer always asks for there senior certificate to see how well they did in High School and if they passed there Matric. So a lot of people go year after year with no job

because of the results of this test. So then we started the process of finding a High School that would let us use there teachers and the school rooms after school to teach

the members so they could retake there metric next June. The first High School we went to was in chaos. Oh the principal agreed to work with us in exchange for using

there rooms and teachers we would refinish and fix all there broken desks.There desks were in terrible shape. Each day we came there to work on the school every thing

would change and we knew it wasn't going to work. So we went to what was considered the best High School in Kwanobuhle. We met with the principal and we talked

about how we would fix there desks in exchange for teachers and a class room and they were to register the students. A few days later when we met with the principal everything

changed he wanted us to register the students and who was going to pay the teachers they weren't going to do this for free.So we decided that wasn't going to work either. The lord had something totally different in mind he  wanted it at his church

  and the lord led us to some great teachers that are so excited to give of there time to teach the members. We just got the class rolls made up. There are nine classes

and six teachers. Three of the teachers are members and three  others are of other religions.

We are headed to Cape Town on Tuesday to get the books and supplies for the classes. Once again the lord has showed us the way and what he needs done to help the

members in Kwanobuhle get jobs. The lord answers prayers. We love you Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma, Sister and Elder Van Sickle

Nov. - 6 new mission calls, the work is spreading!

Hi Everybody, The Lord definetely wants missionaries. He has lead and guided us to all these young missionaries to help then earn money and skills. Now, last Sunday

was an exciting moment because the Stake President brought 6 mission calls to the church for six of the kids we have been working with. After church we

were able to have the opportunity to sit in on them reading their mission calls. The interesting thing is only one of these kids have parents that are members. The

bishop his wife, The stake president and his counselor, The parents of Penny and Elder Van Sickle and I were in the room. It was such wonderful time and so

great to be a part of it all. After it was over Elder Van Sickle wrote the mission President about the experience. The Mission President in turn wrote to Elder Cook

in the Area Presidency and He turned the story and picture over to the Liahona. So the story and picture is going to be in the Liahona. I don't know what issue it will be

in. The kids were so excited they were going to be in the Liahona. It is a great honor for them. I don't know if it will even be in the Ensign. The Liahona is used for the

overseas missions. We know that the savior lives and Heavenly Father lives. The gospel changes people's lives for the better. It's so great to watch that happen. We love

all of you. Elder and Sister Van Sickle

Orphanage Oct. 2012

4 Orphanage Children in Their Sunday Best

All the Orphanage Children Together With Two Mamas