Happenings of week 26 Oct - 1 Nov

For anyone from the Pacific Northwest, our weather this past week would make them feel right at home - gray, cloudy and cool for the most part. There are no complaints on our part since we know that summer is upon us and the temperatures and humidity will go up and up sooner than later. Sandy finished transcribing a patriarchal blessing and a talk (8 1/2 pages) by Elder Holland that Sister Mann asked her to do. Arlo worked on computer training with two of our students and in all of this was mixed lots of computer and telephone work. Despite our best efforts to get the kids to start working back in August, all of a sudden, they are in a panic realizing, "I need to get my loan going." Things are becoming swamped and complicated, trying to meet all the needs, especially since we should be in many places at one time. This week it feels like we have been living out of our suitcases because we were in Richard's Bay twice and then up to Swaziland. After receiving phone calls from kids in Swazi, we decided to make an unscheduled trip and it turned out to be so rewarding for us. Friday morning, we filled the boot (trunk) with our stuff and went up to our "beach house" in Richard's Bay. This is proving to be a real lifesaver for us to break up the long ride to Swazi besides providing a place to stay when helping with Ngwelezane Branch. In the afternoon, we met with President Mngadi at the library to give him some Priesthood leader training, but also to maybe just be a sounding board. He is such a humble, sincere man who wants to do everything he can as the president to help his little group succeed, but is feeling overwhelmed because of the lack of people to fill callings. Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful and we finished the journey to Swaziland. After trying unsuccessfully for more than an hour to reach the Wiolson's on the phone, we decided to stop at Manzini chapel and see if they might be there giving piano (keyboard) lessons and they were. In addition to finding the Wilson's, we made another discovery - a young lady interested in a PEF loan. Sandy remembered that we met Futhi on our first trip to Swazi and that we have not had any contact since giving her the PEf orientation last January, so figured that she had decided against taking a loan. After setting an appointment with her for the next day, we drove to Mbabane to meet with two more PEF students. Wandile was ready and waiting for us and he has promised to have everything finished when we return the end of November. Nelia came into the passage (hallway) where Sandy gave her the promised copy of the picture we had taken of her. She was so thrilled to see herself in print, really couldn't believe that it was her. It seems that each time a picture is taken, the student immediately wants to see what they look like, so we are trying to give each a copy - don't think they have pictures of themselves. Nelia has some issues with her schooling that will take some time to sort out with the Area Office, so it was with mixed emotions that we parted company - happy with picture, but worried over her schooling finances. While waiting for Wilson's to finish piano lessons, we went to make reservations for a place to stay in Swazi when we are visiting there with Nathan later this month. Sunday morning, we attended the Manzini Branch, feeling of their sweet spirit as many testimonies were shared. Our visit with Futhi was the most remarkable surprise! Even though we have not had any contact, she has done all the steps necessary to finish and put an application on-line - this truly shows an ambitious student, one of the qualifications for a PEF loan. After saying our goodbyes, it was back in the car and down the road heading for Richard's Bay. Our border crossing back into South Africa was a little nerve racking because the officials were thoroughly inspecting the vehicles with what we assume was a drug dog, opening and searching luggage - never have we dealt with this before - and finding nothing, sent us on our way. Midway through the ride, we received a call from Sister Pier (Richard's Bay couple), inviting us for dinner, which was so thoughtful of them. They even remembered that we had just talked Thursday night over dinner, about what food we all were missing, and we mentioned enchiladas, so guess what she made - chicken enchiladas! Enjoyed dinner and some visiting before we needed to get back to our boarding and be ready for SKYPE calls. As we neared the turnoff for our street, we came upon a roadblock, due to an accident down the road. Panic set in because we were being sent on a detour into "parts unknown," but thanks to our trusty Garmin GPS we found our way home!

Mass transit Swaziland style. This is a common scene also in South Africa. We did a rough count as we passed and there were at least 50 people standing and packed solid - a disaster waiting to happen.
As we left the Manzini chapel in Swaziland on Sunday and bid farewell to the District President, he reminded us to watch for cows on our drive back to Durban. As you drive the rural areas of Swazi, which is most of Swazi, you constantly have cows, goats and some donkeys grazing along side the highway. Much of the time the posted speed is 120 kph (about 72 mph). You keep a constant eye on the livestock and if their heads are down grazing, you maintain your speed. If their heads are up, you assume they are getting ready to move and slow down. We have several opportunities to dodge livestock each time we visit Swaziland.

This is another highway sign for your enjoyment. This one is in Swaziland and it is perfectly clear what you need to do to get to where you want to go!

Our family home evening group (Griesemer's, Markum's, Mickelsen's) made a trip to the Sharks Board in Durban. This is an agency that does research on sharks and also has responsibilty to protect beaches along the coast from shark attacks. The facility includes a large display area to educate the public about sharks including the methods used to protect the beaches. Twice a day they show a 30 minute video presentation followed by a lecture and shark dissection.

Sharks that get caught in the nets used to protect the beaches will suffocate because motion through the water is required to breath. They are retrieved and brought into the laboratory for research and for the dissection demonstrations. This is an adult black tip fin shark that was pregnant with two pups. One was removed to show the group and the other was left inside to go to the laboratory for research. The pups are very mature at birth (teeth and all) as they are not nurtured by their mother and must immediately fend for themselves at birth. This is probably more than you wanted to know about sharks, but needless to say, we found the film and lecture very enlightening.