Monday, Sandy had her hair cut before heading over to the mission home. Elder Johnson and Arlo moved a bed from the mission garage to our boarding, for multiple purposes! One, Sister Mann wanted it out of the garage. Two, it is a little softer than the one we are sleeping on and three, now we have a bed in our extra bedroom for company to sleep (hint, hint). The monkeys came back today for a very quick look around, as we were visiting with the Johnson's. We have wondered why they haven't been around because there is so much fruit on the trees just for the taking. Tuesday morning, we visited with Hillcrest Stake Patriarch Anthony Courtney to see if Sandy can help him with the typing of the patriarchal blessings. Seems that he can't find anyone local that isn't too swamped to type for him. President Mann shared Sandy's name when we asked if there was anything we could do further to help in the mission. Also had a wonderful visit/PEF orientation with the stake president, Colin Wilford. His family is a well established family, both in the church and community, for many years. Afterwards, we walked around a quaint little shopping village and had some lunch at the Bangkok Wok, sitting outside overlooking some beautiful garden areas. It is definitely autumn, leaves coming off many of the trees, but not all. Our beautiful tree that has provided a canopy over the back of the house is just about bare. This just hit us as we realized that we sure could see more of the homes to the rear of our house, plus it has been so fun to watch the many birds on the perching on the tree limbs, that in the past we have only been able to hear.
Wednesday was our monthly meeting with PEF/Employment for Durban Stake, and felt like it was a profitable time spent. We feel that we must try to help the stakes become more self sustaining as far as the PEF program goes, in case we are not replaced when our mission time is up. We presented a proposal, trying to bring some order to the PEF process in the stake. Since arriving, we have felt like we have been playing catch-up for students because there was not anyone to help them with the loan process. Xolisa came to pick up his loan application and smelled strongly of smoke (fire type). After going through the instructions, he pulled out his debit order and showed us the smoke damage on the top of the sheet and wrote on the notepad that there had been a fire in his home and some of his belongings had been destroyed or damaged. In talking with his bishop later, we were told that the building had been destroyed.
For many moons, we have been saying that we needed to have some elders come for dinner, but between schedules (theirs and ours), it just hasn't happened. So when we were at KwaMashu Sunday, and knew that this week wasn't as hectic as others, we invited elders Basooma and Brusch to be our first dinner guests. Elder Basooma is from Uganda and joined the church in 2006. Both elders come from large families-Elder Brusch is one of 8 and Elder Basooma is one of 12. It was fun to have them here and they enjoyed the sloppy joes and oven fries, saying how much they appreciated not having just cereal for dinner. As we talked at church, Sandy asked if there was something they would like to have and Elder Brusch quickly said anything but the insides of some animal! They taught us from the scriptures what they had studied that morning and then we went on to have a great discussion about prayer before they left to go to teaching appointments.
Friday was a stay at home day, with computer work and going over files. The PEF Area Office has asked the couples to stay in our “office” one day a week, to try and conserve fuel and get caught up, if needed. In addition to office work, the kitchen stayed busy also. The canned tomatoes here do not have a pleasing flavor, besides being expensive, so we buy loose “jam” (roma) tomatoes, cook them down in the crockpot and then use some of our small, valuable freezer space to store them. Right now these tomatoes are very plentiful, costing about $1.20 for 4 ½ lbs.
Saturday morning we met with Andre Slabbert (new Durban high council member over Self Reliance, PEF/Employment) to bring him up to speed on the PEF program. Talked about the great strength of testimony that we have found in people here, and his comment was that members in So. Africa have to be strong and firm, or they will get plowed down. Later, we traveled cross town to attend the Hillcrest priesthood and women's stake conference meetings at 1-2:30 pm and then stayed for the typical Saturday evening session 3-5 pm. Afterwards, along with the Markum's and Griesemer's went across the street to RJ's Ribs for dinner. It was a very cool, crisp day and at dinner, some enjoyed cups of hot chocolate. The Sunday session of Hillcrest Stake Conference was held in the Pinetown chapel because it has a larger cultural hall, in which to accommodate more people than the stake center itself. Elder Usi from Kenya was the visiting authority. The theme for the Conference was unity and many aspects of this word were explored. Several spoke about the different ethnic groups that make up this area and to remember that we are all God's children, no matter the color of our skin. From one speaker, we heard about the handcarts (picture) that were made for the Family Treks, from which there is a hope of increasing family unity. The sessions were inspiring and well prepared, we just still struggle some with understanding the words through the strong Afrikaans and Zulu accents speaking english words! It is always fun for us to see our out of town PEF students and one came up to Sandy to show off her engagement ring. Upon asking if they had set a wedding date, the answer was, “we have to work out the lobola first”! This is the payment, that the family of the bride requires from the young man before the marriage is allowed. Church members usually do not follow this Zulu custom, but when the couple are the only members of the church, parents still want to follow the tradition.
The Hillcrest Stake, one of two stakes in Durban, is planning a handcart trek this year. This is one of the nine finished handcarts. They are building them to the design provided by Brigham Young and are exact, except the wheels have been reduced from five to four feet in diameter and metal screws were used. There are no metal parts. Trek participants will be families in the stake and not groups of youth organized into pioneer families as is often done.
This is the condo complex where the employment and CES missionary couples live. The original plan was for us to live in the same complex, but a suitable unit could not be found. We prefer the house found for us in the northern outskirts of Durban. We are about a 30 minute drive from this complex and it would be nice to be closer to these two couples. We drive in and meet with them on Monday afternoon for family home evening.
We finally found a time to have the two missionaries that live close to us over for dinner. Elder Brusch on the left is from South Salt Lake City and goes home in July. Elder Basooma is from Uganda and has been out about a year. They are two of six missionaries that serve in the KwaMashu Township not too far from us. For safety reasons, they do not live in the townships.
Apaka Steve Mubwala is one of our PEF students who works at the Essenwood Market selling hand woven purses from Mozambique. We found her preparing her sunday school lesson in between customers. She and her husband have come to South Africa from the DRC (Democratic Ruplic of Congo) and were sealed in the temple in March. She is studying biochemistry/physiology full time, works more than 20 hours a week at another job, attends institute class, and still has time to help the missionaries on a regular basis. She also signs at church and other times for Xolisa, the deaf student we are working with. A remarkable lady!
Essenwood Market has a number of entertainers. These guys are frozen in position until someone drops change in a hard hat setting in front of them, and then you get a 20 to 30 second performance of thigh slapping, foot stomping and grunting in perfect rhythm. The blue clothing and rubber boots are typical uniform for laborers here. We are assuming that the boots are to protect against potential snake bites! 
1 comment:
Brings back such wonderful memories. Look forward to a long visit when you return home. We are making our own memories of a different kind here in the temple at Nova Scotia. The Muhns
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