Typical Week?

   Tonight is Sunday and of course to  time to get caught up with blogging. Is this a typical week?  Maybe, time will tell!
   On Sunday, Sept 4 we went to Eskaheni Branch and met the young 26 year old single Branch 'Pres that previously went on a mission to Joberg.  I got to teach Scripture power and teach the leaders where to find the song.  There must have been 50 kids crammed into this tiny room.  This is a huge branch with mostly teenagers and kids.  The Pres. pulled us into the office and asked us to pay for Sis. Shabalala's way to the temple at the coming up ward temple trip, with Sis Shabalala sitting there. He said the way to handle this was to have Sis Shabalala to our home and work as our maid.  The Taylor's funded most of her outfitting for her coming- up mission this way.   We just needed to finish the job. We knew the Taylor's had done a lot for this branch but had no idea yet to what extent.  The expectations for the next senior missionaries are great and they were just waiting till we got there to start asking or more like telling us the way it would be.  My children will already guess where this is going-- but don't worry.   I again was blown away by the Africa ways, and mildly went along with the plan of the maid.
   Elder Smith has been sick with something similar with what I had so I gave him some instructions and bland foods.
   That Monday was my first study day for Institute with  Leviticus.  The material was tough for me and I stumbled through the next day with 2 attendees.  Our drive is one hour each way to Dundee. They are working on the road and they stop traffic 2 times on this 2 lane road.  We can only seem to make this a full day deal.  We pick some kids up at school across town so we leave home at least 2 hrs before we teach.  We have had something each day before we get ready to go home and end up home in the dark.  Those first few times driving home in the dark were frightening.  It is really dark all the way with no towns to go through.  It's very dark in Africa out in the country--and there are still walkers. Needless to say --finally the whiteknuckling has subsided with time.

   Wednesday was ZTM (zone training meeting)and back to Dundee  that very next morning and lasted until 4. Sister Hind provided most of the meal while I got fruit and drink and cups. We waited for Elders from Bethlehem and Potajab...to get there and finally made contact.  They were lost and had a dead gps and limited phone service. They lived 4 hours away so we were concerned.  They were over 2 hours late and we decided to start without them when they finally pulled up.  Such drama!  Our boys from Dundee did a good job at training and I know all of our  20 Elders needed the upper.  We took pics cleaned up after a 3:00 lunch and headed home again on our well traveled road.
   Thursday was maid day and my big study day for Friday's teaching.  It turns out that Sis Shabalala(fun to say) is a good worker, but my little house only has so much flooring and toilets to clean.  It is hard to keep her busy and we really needed to be studying  in the middle of her work area.  I like a clean house, but not at the expense of our privacy and life. She is leaving in a month and we will need to rework the maid deal after that.  (this is a funding tool for this Branch President and he expects it)
   Friday is back to Dundee to teach and for me no one shows.  One student shows up at the end of seminary but we didn't have institute class. (Another thing students expect are snacks and baked goods every class for 12 people.)
   Sat. was like a P day with shopping but mostly looking for hardware things like a water purifier for our kitchen faucet.  I now only drink bottled water even with toothbrushing.  We spent most of our day looking for things we needed that were bugging us.  We found a few things at Game. That is supposed to be a subsidiary of Walmart without fresh food and most recognizable things that you would see at Walmart.  Almost nothing is an import we have found.  It has to be at least packaged here even if we recognize something about the product.  Magnum ice cream bars are here because they have a  factory in South Africa.
   Kent started calling all of Institute and Seminary teachers that we are in charge of.  The end of the school year is the end of September  and Old Testament assessments need to be handed out in our 2 districts we are in charge of.   Richards Bay people have computers thankfully, so we can send. They are the furthest away at 4 hours.  Most of our teachers,mostly seminary, get their assessments hand delivered by us and we finally meet most of these people.  We start Sunday!