Cape Town Mission Field 

11 March 2018
Day 92
Sunday

Today is our new son-in-laws birthday! Happy Birthday Jim Hale! Woo hoo!

(Or was that yesterday? My Google calender said the 10th, but we just talked to Stephanie and she said it was today. Either way...we hope you have a wonderful birthday!!!)

We really had a wonderful experience at the Mandalay ward again today. They are such a wonderful group of people. We had time after church to visit with Brother Lucky while his wife (the Relief Society President was in meetings). Their daughter also had her final interview in preparation for submitting her mission papers.

Lucky's story is amazing. He grew up during apartheid and comes from Soweto (ground zero for the apartheid uprising in Johannesburg). He comes from a tribal family where his father had 8 wife's with 43 children. He grew up knowing 22 siblings. He got the name of Lucky from the doctor that delivered him at 6 months. In 1983 one of his brothers just disappeared. And they grew up not trusting white people. He was in a gang and carried a gun at a very young age. He reconnected with a friend when he was about 16 who indicated he found a new religion and invited him to church. He decided to come out and was shocked to see the members faces see that Lucky was at church and he could see the fear on everyone's face. His friend thought that maybe it wasn't such a good idea and that maybe he should go and try coming back another time. But Lucky felt something when he first came in and heard them all singing "Come, Come ye Saints". He recognized that song from an old LP vinyl record player his grandma had when he was very young and she would play a Mormon Tabernacle Choir record. Lucky told his friend that he wasn't there to be a threat but that he needed what he had. His friend re-entered the chapel then opened the door back up for him a few minutes later and the people were now greeting him warmly with hugs.

Lucky became an active member and even taught primary there at one time and one of his students was Thabo Lebethoa (our present Mission President). He went on to serve a mission in the Cape Town Mission. Many of his siblings and friends served missions too. He spent a lot of time in the East Cape (Kwa Nobule, East London, Mdantsane) but also ran into a lovely lady in the Guguletu Branch in the West Cape. Who later in life became his wife after she had a talk with the Lord and decided to give up her passion of playing basketball to become a wife to Lucky. Lucky also served in all the temple ordinance worker positions and was bishop of the Mandalay ward twice. 

He told of a heart breaking tragedy that took place three years prior of his brother who was serving in the Mandalay Ward bishopric and was about to be married when another person came into church and shot and killed him.

Lucky tells of an article in the Ensign that was written about him around 1991. I hope to be able to look it up on the LDS.ORG website.

On our way back to the flat after church we ran across a typical scene we've seen several times but still seems out of place. Your thoughts?