“A minibus carrying young women, ages 12-17, and leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was traveling to an activity in Maseru, Lesotho, when they were involved in a three-vehicle collision on Saturday, June 21, 2025. The vehicles caught fire, resulting in the loss of lives, including 10 Latter-day Saints, all from the Maputsoe congregation in Northern Lesotho. Nearly a dozen and a half others sustained injuries.” _{(Blog header picture and headline courtesy of Salt Lake Tribune)}. In addition, this statement was taken from Meridian Magazine. “A total of 26 girls, all between the ages of 12 and 17, were traveling with the two adults to a district Young Women activity on Saturday when the minibus they were in was part of collisions involving multiple vehicles.”

It is unfortunate to start out a blog post with this horrific accident that claimed the lives of so many. This has been an overarching story in the entire Africa South Area over the last few weeks. It has impacted many and that impact continues to be felt. I am hopeful that many of you, if not all, have heard about this tragedy. Twenty-eight people in a minibus, involved in a three vehicle accident. The bus bursting into flames and 11 people pronounced dead on the scene. Those who perished included the branch president and his wife, both very much loved by the congregation. Also impacted were the siblings and the parents of the deceased, many of them non-members of the Church. There are currently 6 missionaries serving in the Africa South Area from that small branch. Two sister missionaries and four elders. Both sister missionaries had younger sisters who died. One of the elders had two nieces in the accident, one who died, and one in critical condition in the hospital. He baptized them right before he left on his mission. Another missionary was best friends with the branch president. Another elder is serving in the Maputsoe zone where the branch is located (sometimes this happens because of visa issues). For the three with family members who perished, I have been involved in getting approvals from the missionary department for these missionaries to travel home to the funeral. The handbook requires the family to pay for the transportation, but in this case, the Church has agreed to pay for the flights because of the tremendous need for that little branch to heal. In the case of the elder who lost a niece, since the girl was not an “immediate” family member, we needed to get approval from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. I am happy to say that approval arrived early Sunday morning. One of the Young Women leaders who died after being in the hospital was a recently returned missionary from a mission in DR Congo. When the notification was made to me and then from me to the Mission President, an entire mission began to mourn the loss of this wonderful sister.

The Church will also be sending a member of the Young Women’s General Presidency to the events this week. There will be a government wide memorial on Wednesday, July 16th and then individual funerals will take place on Friday and Saturday. It is fair to say that all of the South Africa Area and much of the Church around the world is mourning this tragedy that has touched so many.

Lesotho is one of three republics in the world that are landlocked. The other two are both in Italy: The Vatican and The Republic of San Marino. Lesotho is a poor country, commensurate with Sierra Leone in many ways. GDP is just over $2/day. They have a diamond mine that was reopened in the last 20 years as well as uranium deposits that have yet to be mined commercially. Needless to say, it is a country without much in the way of natural resources and with what they do have, they cannot produce enough to sustain their own population. Three fifths of the country are below the age of 30 and two thirds of the country consists of mountains, with the highest peak being in excess of 11,000 feet above sea level. The Church organization there consists of a District and 8 branches. It is part of the Johannesburg, South Africa Mission. Though small and poor, this country is in the hearts and prayers of so many right now. We invite you to join in our petition to heaven to heal these families and this little branch.

The symbol in the middle of the Lesotho flag is a black Basotho hat, called a “mokorotlo.” The mokorotlo is a traditional conical hat made from woven grass and is a cultural symbol of the Basotho people. It represents peace, heritage, and Lesotho’s national identity. The current version of the flag, features: Blue (top) – sky and rain. White (middle) – peace. Green (bottom) – prosperity. The black mokorotlo in the center represents the people of Lesotho and unity.

Blackjack

As we were walking into Church yesterday, there was a young couple with two children. As I approached the sidewalk leading to the building, I could see they were looking closely into a small area of bushes and trees. As I approached and the mother saw me, she smiled, looking somewhat embarrassed. I asked her what they were doing. She said they were looking for Blackjack. I asked them what that was. Her husband responded and explained that blackjack is a medicinal plant. Their son had cut his finger and they needed some blackjack to treat it. He explained it can stop bleeding (coagulant) as well as provide some protection against infection (antiseptic). I followed them to behind the church where there were weeds and grasses just beyond the fence. The dad was able to reach through the wire and find a plant. The mom picked off the leaves and began rubbing them together to squeeze out the juices to treat the cut. I was impressed! So I came home and looked it up on the internet. Here are a few facts (in italics) from a document produced in 2011 by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa.

“Blackjack originated from South America and is common in all tropical and subtropical areas of the world. It is recorded as a weed in cultivated land and used as vegetable or pot herb in many African countries such as Kenya, the Congo, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique. The plant is distributed throughout tropic Africa. It is a common, wide-spread and extremely troublesome weed, being found in most disturbed areas.” Reading further, the tender leaves of a young plan are used as a leaf vegetable. They apparently have a high food value although the taste is reported to be somewhat “sharp” or “astringent”. The document goes on to discuss the medicinal value of the plant. “Backjack is used as a medicinal plant in many regions of Africa. Roots, leaves and seed have been reported to possess antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. Decoctions of powered leaves are reported to be helpful in treating many ailments such as arthritis, abdominal trouble, headache, diarrhea, etc.” As can be seen in the picture above, “The fruit of the blackjack is unpleasant, hairy and able to penetrate rapidly through several layers of clothing. It has a dry, pronged fruitlet with hooks.” The “fruit” also contains the seeds. They are “small, black and slender with little claws on one end. The seeds can stick to clothes or to animals’ fur.” The seeds are 1/4 – 1/2 inches long with stiff, barbed bristles. I find it extremely interesting that to some this is a weed, and to others, it is a valuable food and medical resource. Ah, the wonders of our God!

Not a lot more has occurred over the past week. I did manage to finish my third study of the scriptures on Christ in the Topical Guide under the topic of “Jesus Christ, Creator”. My method is to take all of my notes and then ask Claude.ai to formulate it into a summary document. I did so, and then compared it to a summary from ChatGPT. I actually like the Chatgpt version better. Here is the 1 1/2 page summary: Jesus Christ, Creator. Through my study, my two biggest takeaways were: 1) Christ could not have condescended had He not been the Creator. 2) Jesus Christ created man and then became subject unto him. That is what it means to have Charity!

On Monday, July 7th, many of the senior missionary elders went to lunch at BGR (think 5-Guys without the peanuts) to celebrate those having July birthdays. Here is a picture of the amazing men who attended!

From back left to back right: Elder Bywater, Elder Hawkins, Elder Shiffler, Elder Cooper, Elder Cook, Elder McKay, Elder Drew, Elder Kunz, Elder Peterson, Elder Creery, Elder Johnson, Elder Knight.

We also welcomed another couple to the area Monday evening, July 7th. The McKay’s will be working in Welfare and Self-Reliance. They showed up about 9:15 pm. And yes, it was chilly outside.

And so the work in South and Central Africa goes on. LaDawn continues to help process missionary applications with bandwidth to do more. I continue to learn and grow how best to help these 30 mission presidents in these two areas. We love being here as full-time missionaries, doing our part to establish Zion and build up the Church. We know that He lives, our Savior Jesus Christ. We love being in His service, here in South Africa.