Journal of Mary Phyllis Fisher - Thomas Davies

They often entertained ministers traveling through their country both Catholic and Protestant.
None of them interpreted the scriptures the same. Neither did they interpret them as they were
given in the Bible. When Mr. Van Tonder would ask the ministers about it, they would tell him
that he had an unbelieving spirit. He realized that it had been nearly 2000 years since Christ had
organized his church on the earth and he wondered why the Lord did not speak to them and tell
them what to do.
They gave up smoking and drinking and dancing and tried to live according to Christ’s teaching.
They prayed that the Lord would help them find the true church.
One day while they were visiting a friend Mr. Van Tonder saw a Book of Mormon. He picked it
up. He had never seen a Mormon before. He had heard that their head quarters were in Salt
Lake City but all that he had heard about them was negative. His friend told him that the Book
of Mormon had been given to him by an acquaintance but he had not read it and if Mr. Van
Tonder would like to read it he could do so. He never knew before that there were Mormons in
Africa. So he took it home. He didn’t read far when he rushed to his wife and said, “No man
could have written this book. It is from God.” So together they read the book. One day while
praying he had an impression…..
1971. April 1 st
It is Sunday evening. Today Father spoke in sacrament meeting and reported the conference
briefly. He gave a lovely talk and bore his testimony that he knew President Smith was a
Prophet of God and that he and those who had spoken at conference had spoken under the
inspiration of our Father in Heaven.
Sara and her family were there. Ted’s family was having their family gathering today also.
1971. April 2 nd
In the morning at 4 AM Fay came and picked Father and I up and we started on our way to the
141 conference. [She had stayed that night at her mother’s after a long drive from Edmonton all
alone.] Then she drove us in their car to Magrath and we picked up Fay’s sisters Lynn and
Wilma. Before we started we had prayer and asked the Lord to protect us from accident and to
bless our families while we were gone. They are such a jolly group of girls, so congenial and
kind and thoughtful of each other. When we decided to eat some breakfast, I brought out the
bread and butter, and discovered I had left the chicken in the fridge. I could have cried if it
would have done any good. But we made out all right. Wilma had bought a bag of cabbage and
celery and oranges for her lunch, as she is dieting and decided this was a good time to lose the
30 pounds she is trying to loose. She had lost 90 pounds in the past few months and they were
so happy about that. They each had their stories to tell. Fay had had a hard two weeks with
three emergencies. Boyd had a sliver in his eye lid and it scratched the eye and was so red and
swollen she had to take him to the doctor to get it out. Bill fell down and cut a big gash in his
tongue and had to go to the Doctor for treatments. And then Boyd got a big bump on his head
when he got up to go to the bathroom in the night and it bled so they took him to the hospital.
It is a beautiful morning. We are now passing through the mountains, and one of them said,
“Look at the mountain goats.” But as we drew near the mountain it was just a herd of cows.
How they all laughed. The rocks are so rugged and beautiful in color and the pine trees are
growing right out of the rocks.
Fay recited a twister about three toads and they contested to see who could learn it first. Wilma
won.
We stopped at Twin Bridges for gas and Lynn bought some oranges and bananas which we ate
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