ELDER AND SISTER MICKELSEN: Happenings of the week 3-9 August

Family Home Afternoon was spent with the Griesemers, Johnsons, Markums and us, studying now about the Savior's life from the four gospels from the BYU Channel. Tuesday we received a phone call from Brother Brear asking us to speak in the Margate Branch on the 9th and invited us to come on Saturday afternoon and stay over with them, to which we agreed. Later in the early evening, we went into Pinetown to continue helping Khona with his computer training and to start on typing skills. Made a copy of a typing tutorial from off the computer and gave it to him to load onto his computer. He is one of the few with a computer in his home, even though it is not connected to the Internet. He is a fast learner and we could tell that he had practiced at home during the past week. Also, he walked in very excited with the news that he might have a job, and during our lesson he received a call on his cell phone saying he could come to work the next day. These lessons will be held before Institute begins, so we also have the opportunity to see and talk with our PEF students attending Institute. It is such a pleasure to talk with them and find that school is going well and they are happy.
Wednesday and Thursday, were filled with work in the office and being on the phone with students and Area Office. Both evenings we were out, which is unusual, but we attended our Hillcrest PEF/Employment Meeting one night and were at the Berea Chapel to present a PEF orientation to three young adults – one recently returned missionary and two that will matric in November – who want to attend university beginning in February. One young man who will matric has a huge challenge given to him. Already, he has been offered a completely paid for university education, plus the offer of employment when he is finished. His dilemma comes with the fact that after one year of study, he wants to serve a mission and he isn't sure if the company will hold their offer for two years while he serves. So he had come to learn about PEF and we encouraged him to make this a matter of prayer.
Friday dawned gray and cloudy, but we had an appointment in Richard's Bay with President Ted Baldwin, the District President at his place of employment. Off we went and had an enjoyable 2 hour drive with intermittent rain showers. Many of the sugar cane fields have been burned off and were in the process of being harvested, so we encountered several truck loads on the road. The Municipality offices are a beautiful building, referred to some in the community as the Taj Mahal of Richard's Bay. It was a good visit as well as a learning experience. Later we met the Bartholomew's and Thobeka (a prospective PEF student) at the chapel to help her finish her worksheet application and find out exactly what she wanted to do with electrical engineering, which is not as we know it in the United States.
Saturday at lunchtime, we started our way down the coast, first stopping at Essenwood Park Market,to pick up a few items and then onto the Brear's in the seaside community of Margate. Again we passed many sugar cane fields, some burning and others having the cane being bundled by manual labor. Something new for us were the banana plantations, we passed, where the trees have a single bunch of bananas hanging. It was strange to see the bunches covered with blue plastic bags. After arriving at Brear's, we asked about the coverings and were told it was to protect the bananas from the monkeys. There is one bunch hanging from one of our trees that is looking larger and larger everyday-even had to put a broom handle under a limb to help support the tree. Since monkeys are frequent visitors in our yard, we think we had better cover our bunch, because we think it would be really fun to eat a homegrown banana! Wandering around Margate would have anyone thinking they were in Santa Barbara or other similar west coast cities. After returning from dinner, we spent the evening getting to know each other and speaking of different experiences in our lives, while enjoying the ocean views from the windows. While watching out the windows, Jennie would say, “Oh there is a whale” and a short while later would say “There is another whale.” At times we are told that the whales come close enough that they can see and hear the whale tail flopping on the water. We fell asleep listening to the waves rush in and out. The brothers and sisters in the Margate Branch might be few in numbers, but they are mighty in spirit. The Mickelsens and a high council member were the speakers. The chapel is an old Red Cross building which is perfect for the branch right now, but they would dearly love to have a normal chapel to meet in. With the front doors opened wide, we could hear the ocean waves and the many birds chirping and feel the breezes blow through. Our orientation meeting with Pres. Jean-Pierre Oehlerking went well and he was happy to understand the workings of the PEF program. Because of our PEF assignment we have been blessed with opportunities to meet many great people that we might not have come in contact with otherwise!

On Sunday we visited the Margate Branch which is about 150 km south of Durban on the coast. This is a former Red Cross building that they rent. We both spoke in sacrament meeting and then met with the branch president to give him a PEF orientation.

Fred and Jennie Brear invited us to stay with them Saturday night at their beautiful home in Margate on the hillside overlooking the Indian Ocean. Fred and Jennie served in the Durban Emloyment Resource Center where we met them. They have helped us with several of our PEF students in making career choices and also taught the career workshop to our two deaf students. Fred is a retired engineer who worked for one of the large mining companies near Johannesburg. Jennie taught ballet and tap dance for 40 years.