Happenings of the week 12-18 April

Monday, we took care of some office work and then met the Griesemer's and Coxes at the Berea chapel, our central meeting spot and made our way over to uShaka Marine World to visit the aquarium and watch the dolphin show for our P-Day. First though, we ate lunch at our favorite eating spot on the beach - MOYO, introducing it to the Coxes. Durban Mission received a new couple Sunday night and so they joined us at uShaka , after having an orientation with President Mann. Elder and Sister Ward are from Portland, Oregon and will be serving in Newcastle District, taking over full rein when the Knudsen's transfer to Lesotho in May. It was amazing how alert and awake they were after the long plane ride as we walked through the aquarium. As we remember our first couple of days in Johannesburg, and we were being trained in the PEF program, it was truly a fight to remain alert and attentive when afternoon rolled around. Tuesday, it was into the mission office to pay our boarding bill and meet Patriarch Courtney to download four blessings from his Newcastle visit over the weekend, Wednesday, we needed to get a prescriptions re-filled, pick up our Diamonds and Dust CD from the Barnyard Theatre and replenish our money supply, so went up to Gateway Mall, driving along the ridge to take advantage of every opportunity we have to enjoy the gorgeous ocean. Thursday, we woke to find that our four loans had been approved in Salt Lake and again had the privilege of calling these young people to give them the good news, This is always fun as you hear the joy and happiness in their voices, Sandy had to hold the phone away from her eat when Phephile just started to shout out "thank you, thank you, thank you." This day also had lots of computer work, including finishing up the transcription of the last of the four blessings, and some household chores. Later we came to Institute at Pine Town chapel to deliver some paperwork to the Coxes, as they were going to be our delivery service up to Swaziland during their regular monthly visit. Saturday morning, we had a wonderful drive up to Newcastle and kept noticing the ever so slight changes into autumn colors of the vegetation as we moved away from Durban. It had been our hope to meet with a couple of our prospective PEF students after their Institute class in the afternoon and go over their progress on the application, but unbeknownst to us, Institute had been cancelled due to some District Training Meetings being held that day. Communication between us and our kids when it comes to changes in scheduling, has been one of the hardest parts of our mission,. We guess that they just think we have some special insight, which of course we don't, so we just try to pick up the pieces and do the best we can. Due to President Mann needing to stay with Elder and Sister Knudsen on Saturday evening, we made reservations at a Bed and Breakfast close to the Knudsen's. The Avalon Guest Manor was a beautiful 5-Star facility and later we found it was less expensive that the local hotel, so we were excited to spend the night there. Turns out that the Avalon was also being visited by the king of KwaZulu Natal province, his wife and the prince! As we returned after dinner, we found the place swarming with BMWs, Jaguars, Mercedes and many, many men in black suits, who were bodyguards and security for the royal family. Never have shared any space with royalty before! Our Chinese dinner was a delightful experience in addition to getting better acquainted with the Wards and hearing more about the Knudsen's change of assignment to Lesetho. It is still amazing that is South Africa we can find such great restaurants serving food from other countries. Our schedule for Sunday took us to the Newcastle Branch first and after Sacrament Meeting, were able to meet with Daddirai only to find that she hadn't been able to make any progress in her PEF application. Some goals were set and we promised to check with her at the end of the coming week. Branch President Gamede made some comments in his announcements that made the Mickelsen's realize some things that we just take for granted. As we commented in an earlier blog entry, plans had been made for the weekend of April 24-25 to be General Conference in South Africa courtesy of the Conference DVDs from Salt Lake. He was telling the congregation that they must be in attendance since this was probably going to be the first time most had ever had a General Conference experience. We were brought to tears, thinking that these strong, faithful people have never "listened to a Prophet's voice and heard the word of God," only tried to read it from the Liahona and usually not to successfully because of the lack of English skills. The president talked also about learning by watching these talks to gain an understanding of the correct way to give talks. This surprised us because we have been impressed with the talks we hear as we travel throughout the mission. How happy and excited these priesthood leaders are to have the blessing of participating in Conference with their members. Later in the morning, we attended Sacrament Meeting in the Madadeni Branch and heard President Moloi greet his members with a huge smile and the words, "Welcome to the happiest day of the week-the Sabbath Day!" This great man, though small in stature has a spirit that would fill a man twice his size and has the greatest sense of humor. After the Sacrament was over, he came to the pulpit and looked out on the congregation and said, "I will feel confident if I see my speakers up here (pointing to the chairs on the stand) by me!" One by one, four young people from the congregation came up to join him and gave well prepared talks, Arlo was not feeling at all well and so after meeting with Sithabiso, one of our deaf kids, and Sandy giving a PEF orientation to two young men, we headed over to the Knudsen's to wait for their return from all of their assignments during the day in the twigs and branches of the District. Each Sunday evening, all of the elders (8) serving in the area come for dinner at Knudsen's. This day we had chicken fixed with salsa, beans, rice, cheese and tortilla chips. The elders were in heaven and it is always fun to see our African elders really enjoy the mexician food as much as their American companions. It was early to bed for the senior couples since our plans were to meet up with the Ladysmith Wilson's and Ward's the next morning at Nambiti Game Reserve. This was a fantastic Sabbath day (except for Arlo not being totally well), saddened only by the realization that this was the start of "last visits" - this time to our kids in Newcastle District and the hospitality of Elder and Sister Knudsen.

The last bunch of bananas that we harvested ripened too fast, so we put them out back for the monkeys. This guy had one in each hand, then proceeded to peel and eat them. Our friends, the monkeys, have provided lots of entertainment for us over the past 18 months!

On P-day we took the Cox's to experience uShaka Marine World. The ladies (Mickelsen, Griesemer, Cox, Ward) are showing off their face paintings they

received at the MOYO restaurant.

Arlo had an ostrich burger for lunch - tasted a lot like beef. We are always so impressed with the presentation of food here in South Africa. When was the last time you had your burger presented with rose petals and parsley sprinkles?

South African flowering tree for the week