We held a fantastic conference in Johannesburg with 14 of our National Public Affairs Directors from all over the Africa Southeast Area. Our 4 remaining PA Couples also joined us, along with Clark Hirschi, our International PA Director from Salt Lake City & some of our Area Seventies.
Sean did such a great job putting together a very informative, inspirational & motivational conference, with the theme of "Self-Reliance in Public Affairs." We had several guest presenters who covered things from Welfare Services, Budgeting, Mormon Helping Hands, Social Media, & Reporting.
It was wonderful to finally meet all of our Directors in person that we've been emailing with for the past 6 months. They are a dedicated, enthusiastic group of leaders who are moving the work of Public Affairs forward throughout the African continent. It is such a blessing to serve with them! They all shared stories from their individual countries...both successes & struggles. Working together, we could motivate each other & share things that have worked in other areas. It was very productive.
Here are just a few of the pictures from the week so you can get a feel for the great time we had together:
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| Our Africa Southeast Area Public Affairs Team!!! |
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| Sister Jensen (Kenya), Sister Nance (Madagascar), Sister Berg, Robert O'Friel (South Africa) |
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| Sister Moorosi (Lesotho), Sister Womba (Namibia), Sister Sussie (Uganda) |
While my Mom & Dad were serving their mission in Cape Town, they spent 9 months in Windhoek, Namibia. Ever since, our family has heard stories about this amazing family named "Makuwa". Well, shortly after we arrived on our mission, I realized that our National PA Director in Namibia was Womba Makuwa! And this week, I was finally able to meet her & give her a BIG hug from Elder & Sister Owen! She is such a darling, extremely talented lady, & I loved her instantly, just like my parents did.
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| Big "Owen" hug for Womba! |
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| Look at her darling smile! I love you, Womba! |
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| Clark Hirschi, our International PA Director flew out from Salt Lake to participate in our conference. He shared some great information with the group. It was great to finally meet him, because when we did our training last August in Salt Lake, he was out of town. |
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| The first day, we broke out into discussion groups. I was assigned to sit in with the "Social Media" group. They all came up with some great ways to use this media to spread the gospel, encourage the saints, & share inspirational messages throughout Africa. |
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| One of the many scrumptious African buffets we had...yeah, Public Affairs does know how to throw a party & they know how to eat!!! |
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| Back Row: Samo (Mozambique), Chris (Zambia), Elder Humpherys (Zambia), Edward (Malawi) Front Row: Paulina (Angola), Leonard (Botswana), Womba (Namibia) |
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| My super-talented 'companion', Elder Berg, instructing on Reporting & following our 2015 Strategic Plan, which focuses on Self-Reliance and Leading Like the Savior. |
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| Sussie (on left) was a missionary in the Cape Town Mission with Elder Egan as her Mission President. Elder & Sister Egan just arrived in South Africa & we have grown to love them immediately. We got to be their 'host couple'. "President" Egan was the one who called Womba as the Namibia PA Director - such a small world! So this was a wonderful reunion for all of them! |
On Thursday evening, we were able to get hold of a copy of "Meet the Mormons" & had such a fun movie night together - complete with popcorn! We have been so anxious to finally see this awesome movie ever since it came out in the States last year, & it was fun to enjoy the evening with all our PA friends.
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| Elder & Sister Nance were munching down on their popcorn :) |
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| Everyone loved the movie! We all gave a cheer when the last story was told of the single mother whose son was called to serve right here in South Africa...yahoo!!! (By the way, I just read that he made the cut to play for BYU - Go Cougs!) |
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| Sean is working on scheduling with some of our Area Seventies: Elder Chatora, Elder Hamilton (counselor in our Area Presidency) & Elder Mkhabela (we work closely with him as he oversees Public Affairs) |
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| Elder Mkhabela was presented with a beautiful book of remembrance of his years serving the area in Public Affairs. He will begin his service as President of the Harare Zimbabwe Mission beginning in July, with his sweet wife Dorah (a member of the YW General Board). We are so glad we get to Zimbabwe often as part of our calling, & will look forward to still working closely with this incredibly spiritual man. |
After training on Friday, we all enjoyed "letting our hair down" for "Africa's Got Talent", starring all of our PA Team. It was such a fun way to end the conference. Even people who had been so quiet during the training came out & "busted the moves". We had a great time! Enjoy the pictures:
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| Our two 'zebra women', Dianne Donnelly & Sister Jensen. Dianne put lots of time & work into all of the scenery for our talent night...thanks Dianne! |
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| Our illustrious panel of judges: Clark Hirschi, Liz Burger (Travel), & Elder Hamilton |
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| Womba rocked the night with her karaoke rendition of "Hush" |
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| Edward was quite the "cowboy comic" |
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| Sister Moorosi looked amazing with her boas & beautiful voice |
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| Sussie performed an original vocal & piano number that was fabulous! |
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| Back for an encore from last year's "Oscar Night" was Sister Mary (AKA Sister Cinquini) We could not stop laughing! Having grown up Catholic, she had the role down to a T! |
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| This is Chantel from Mauritius performing a skit where she played the meanest teacher ever! Elder Berg said it reminded him of his elementary teacher - scary! She was GREAT! |
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| Yep, that's me in my 60's garb & flower power make-up. I sang "Country Roads" by my favorite artist, John Denver. Memories of my high school days :) I changed the last chorus line to: "Take me home country roads, to the place I belong... Not to Texas or to Utah... SOUTH AFRICA is my home!" (At least for the next year :) |
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| Daniel from Ethiopia really shocked all of us with his awesome dance moves! He was sooooo quiet during the entire training, but all it took was a talent night for him to come out strong! Sean jumped in & they both rocked the house! |
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| Beautiful Paulina from Angola sang "You Raise Me Up" like an angel! |
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| Elder Jensen (Kenya), Edward (Malawi), Jackson (Tanzania) |
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| Yessss. our own Public Affairs Rasta Band with Sean at the helm! They were awesome!!! Rene Gorman (South Africa), Sister Humpherys (Zambia), Sean, Sister Nance (Madagascar), Ken Sharpe (Zimbabwe), Samo Goncalves (Mozambique) & Elder Nance (Madagascar) |
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| Our fearless leader, Sean, with his make-shift Didgery-Doo (did I spell that right, Matt?) |
Awards Time: Everyone really deserved awards, because each act was fantastic! It was so much fun getting to see this side of all our PA Team. Thanks to Dianne for the awesome decor, to our super judges & to Sean for putting it all together. We can't wait to see what he comes up with for next year! It's going to be hard to top 2015!!!
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| Womba = Best Female Vocal |
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| Elder Humpherys = Most Inspirational Male Performance (he read a great original tribute to Nelson Mandela) |
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| Our judges were great!!! Simon, Sharon & Howard...you'd better watch your backs!!! |
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| Sweet hugs from super-star Womba |
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| Womba & Sister Berg...Friends Forever!!! |
A perfect way to end the week was attending the temple with almost the entire PA Team of Directors & Couples. We filled up the whole session all dressed in white! We love these people so very much & felt so grateful to enter the House of the Lord with them. They are all emulating the Savior in all they do & they inspire us to do the same. No matter what the circumstances are in their various countries - poverty, political unrest, etc. - they are determined to do their part in making a difference & bringing goodness into the lives of others. They truly did that for us this week. We love you all!
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