Nambiti

 

This week of Oct 3 was eclipsed by the anticipation for our couples conference that we felt was so needed.  We are very isolated in seeing other couples.  All of the couples live far from each other except the Durban couples.

   We had another Mexican feed on Monday with Dundee elders.  Took Elder Dehl to eye doctor .We were involved with transfers this week.  We had 12-15 (6 brand new) elders coming through spending the night at the Ladysmith Elder's

boarding at some point.  Bus transfers and pick-ups from other elders coming through made their days busy.  It is a logistical nightmare we don't have to worry about.  We picked Sis Shabalala up at her home on Tues and had her spend the night since her bus stop was outside Ladysmith  and was a 7:30 AM ticket.
  Kent made Herman for the Elders and all their guests at their boarding.  Had to pay their electricity and pay our bills.  It's prepay for electricity time.
   Board checks revealed some plumbing and bath issues.  Some things never change-Elders hate to clean! They still have water turned off from 9:30 PM till 5 PM the next day.  What a pain.
  We went and bought potatoes and fixings for our kickoff for the couples conference on Sunday night.  Sister Zwane showed up to do windows and clean house with the clean windows contract that President Ngcobo has with the mission office.  Did not know about the cleaning house part!  That is the weirdest deal.   This is just how they do business.
  Saturday is our last 2 hour Temple prep class with our missionaries and it went well .  The calls will start to come now and it is so exciting for these kids.  They have never been anywhere and some have no parental support at all or members in their family.
  We have only 10 Senior couples plus the president, wife and daughter, attending our retreat.  We pay our own way even though there was a lot of mission business talked about and questions fielded. Sunday night in Ladysmith was the starting location and we Braaied (BBQ)at the chapel.

 We had great food that people brought from their locations.  All of the group, except us stayed in a local B&B Sunday night, and then we met with more break-out sessions for 2 hours at the Ladysmith chapel.  We could enter the gate at Nambeti which was about 15  minutes from our home, at about 11:00 AM.

  This is a smaller game reserve park that has only been in existence for 10 years. Different resort lodges, 4 or 5, use this park and have built different kinds and qualities of resorts inside the park. They then take their people in their own Toyota land rovers over hilly rough terrain to hopefully see at least as many of the Big 5 animals as they can find.  South Africa used to have a lot of the big animals.  But the cow was the most valued possession for the Zulu, so they chased off or killed the big animals because they threatened the survival of their cattle.  This happened in the 1800's.
 

Two male teens with father close by--notice our tires.

Dad walked straight up to the rovers before he turned for this shot.

Wildebeest are low on the food chain. 

Twenty years ago, after apparteid, many of these huge Afrikaans farms were just abandoned and then purchased by these private groups for reserves.  These last 2 years have been very difficult for reserves because the private ones have had to haul in feed and water to the animals with this terrible drought that is still ongoing. We've had some drenching rains but unless it fills the reservoirs and river beds, then it doesn't count.  Grass gets green-then brown,green-then brown. It needs to be continuous green and lush through the summer months during the rainy season.
How do animals like the Zebra know how to stand next to or by their camouflage?

Nambiti was magical for us! Besides the animals you see pictured here we saw elephants, hippos, rhinos, a variety of antelope including Kudo and Impalas (they were named after the car), wild pigs, jackles, and a lot of strange birds. 

There's no hiding yourself giraffe!  We learned that they can kill a lion by stomping it with their hind legs but they still give way to the lions. When a lion is approaching they stare in that direction, motionless and we think that the other animals take their cue from them. Probably the most amazing thing we witnessed was the birth of a baby Giraffe. We were probably 1/4 mile away (around 400 meters) and she gave birth on the top of a hill. Though we could not see much detail a member of our group had the great camera lens and filmed the whole thing.   Look at the video of this event that happened on Carrie's birthday!   Note mom's gestation was 15.2 months and the "little" Carrie (which we named him or her) was 6 ft tall at birth. Here are the links to the Youtube videos:

       Giraffe Giving Birth   Video 1       https://youtu.be/JWw3Zw75VR8              Beginning of the birthing process

Giraffe Giving Birth.  Video 2       https://youtu.be/Krd5pd4oclk                    Actual birth

Giraffe Giving Birth.  Video 3       https://youtu.be/QAzRIzte7-Y                   Baby trying to stand

Giraffe Giving Birth.  Video 4       https://youtu.be/BhZYsoy7O3c                 Baby successfully standing

Our Neighborhood

   I don't know why it is so fun to think about this post but I think it's because I have the Sesame Street song running through my head when I think about it. Please do the same and you'll enjoy it better. " Oh who are the people, things,places-

in our neighborhood".....                        Sunset over Ladysmith

Julia is my favorite maid in my neighborhood! She gets paid about
$12 per day. She happens to also be my Zulu language coach and always gives me a new word each day. She's kind of demanding.  Sawubona!  Ningani?

This is Mr Khan who is a local Attorney.  He shows up everyday and instructs guys what he wants to have done on  these 3 units being built in our neighborhood.  He subs out electrical, plumbing and roof and bosses the rest. He loves being a landlord.  He gave us a tour and has visited Texas.

 Antique yard art in my Neighborhood!


These little balls in the trees are at the entrance of our subdivision.  They are weavers nests and we used to have one out our bedroom window.  Then a bird started taking it apart.  Here's why--In the Weaver culture, the male builds the nest.  If it is not up to the female's liking she just takes it apart and tells him to build again and he keeps building till she approves and lays her eggs.  Talk about quality control.  Lots of lessons there!

 Weaver nest up close

Since we live above a gully, they've got
 barbed wire on top of
 our pointy fence.  We are in the bush!

                         

          Daucies are like the South African rabbit (hare)  they eat plants and are very plentiful.

         This is an historical grave site of a soldier in one of the wars in the early 1900's.  Our hill,
Van Rieebeck Park, was a great vantage spot in the area.

Fellow the Elder's caught outside our house.He turned the color of his tail in a minute. 

 

                                      Johan lives right outside our condos and has a 3 car car garage because he loves old cars and tinkers.  We can hardly understand his Afrikaans accent.

No Day is the Same!

Sunday,  Sept 25th had us speaking and singing in Dundee Branch .  Kent and I then had a fun lunch with Pres. and Sister Deklirk. The Deklirks are about 50 and are both native to Africa.  He is an Africaan from Durban and she was born and raised in Rhodesia (as an English citizen) which is now Zimbabwe.  She went to Primary as a child in a real nice LDS chapel in Rhodesia.  She knows exactly where the new temple will built--(right by that chapel.)  They love our students  like we do and they give everything they have to this Branch.  Their 2 sons are married and 1 daughter is engaged.  They live on a huge farm in the middle of nowhere with probably 150 or more acres.  They travel 2 hours one way on Sunday and don't seem to want to change  this calling.  When these African kids want to go on missions, he puts them to work on the farm to help them earn money for missions -so he is basically funding some of them.  This couple  is inspiring and  so down to earth. They know what they are facing with these kids.  The branch has a lot of youth but not many adults.  The Go Gos (grandmas) are raising the teens and younger grandchildren in lots of the branches.  Some parents are dead, but some are off to the big city to a job.  They may come home at least a couple of times of year.
   I taught Scripture Power to the Primary and Kent went into Young Women's and wanted  to see his girls in action and on video.  It was a full fun day starting with our drive at 7:30 and home by 3:30.
  Monday was haircut day for Kent and I, with Jenny my new hair girl.  I found her by asking a random Africaans Lady who was shopping at the grocery store,where she got her hair cut.  It turns out that anyone who cuts white peoples' hair mostly does it at home or in this case a  little shed off the house outfitted to cut hair.  She's great because she is English and I can understand her and she can understand me.  The bad news -- I put Jenny's address in our GPS and must have pushed the wrong button and lost all of our settings in our GPS.  At least 20 of them that other couples had collected over the years.  I'm just sick.
   We shopped in South Africa's "Costco"-TFS, on Tues - minus the snacks.

You have to pay in cash unless you have a wholesalers # however, but that was ok.  It was cheaper than g-stores and had things like an electric tea kettle and tablecloths.  Papergoods are very expensive and not plentiful.  Not a lot of fresh food, but some.  They have full size fork lift that can kill a person if not watching!They even have petrol!
   Tues was Dundee classes and assessments for Kent and our kids seem sad that we are ending their year.

   Sister Shabalala came to clean house for the last time on Thursday and then we all went shopping with the money she kind-of earned.  She just had a few things to get, but we were clueless as to where to go.  Some bigger things like sheets and shoes were ok but the corker was she said she needed a camera and that it was on the list.  We found 4 cameras in all of Ladysmith and they were costing in the $150 American money range.  It was a no -go since we hadn't even paid that much for our old camera. Pretty much I just felt like we were unprepared for the shopping spree since we didn't have a clue as to what was too expensive or where to shop.  Since kids don't have much they will jump at anything you suggest.  I was always making suggestions.  With my next sister missionary, I will know a little more.   We have at least 2 sisters  with paperwork done and ready.
   Mhelengi got his wisdom teeth out in the surgeons office on Wednesday.

Chipmonk!

The Dr. was a nice Africaans guy that we will probably see again since the Joburg office is cracking down on the shoddy paperwork that the Zulu clinics send us.  It took so long and we had the rug doctor at our house cleaning  carpets. We had to pay both in cash and they both finished at the same time so we were scrambling.

   We went to Suren's home for dinner minus the missionaries.  Mhelengi is not eating and Elder Smith is his Senior companion for 6 week till transfers.  I will resubmit Mhelengi's dental paperwork after the dentist signs and he will get his call.   Suren fixed Kent curried chicken gizzards and so won his heart.(doesn't take much apparently)  They bonded for life!

   Our last day teaching was Friday.   We listened to  Sister Oscarson's talk from Women's Conference. and Elder Uchtdorf's talk .  We had a short lesson- with all the boys with me and girls with Kent . This was  our last day before their holiday and our vacation till mid January.

   When Kent and I sang in church we told the girls that we would teach them a bit of how to sing  in parts.  They naturally sing parts and I thought they would catch on fast.  I pulled them in after snack and started with an easy hymn--pretty soon Kent was in there with the 5 boys teaching them where to look for their parts.  It turned out that the boys caught on faster than the girls and they have 2 boys that play the piano by ear.   It was really fun and the 12 kids sounded great.  They'll sing at their seminary sacrament meeting in a month so we will be out to practice, I hope.
  Saturday was our first 2 hour Temple prep class out in Ezakheni and we met Sister Shabalala's mom.  It went well .  We had to shop for our Mexican feed for the Elders before transfers.  Elders would be transfering starting on Monday and it snuck up on us so we were doing it on Sunday.  It was a lot of work for Sunday( --mental note).  Suren came and we got to watch all of Saturday morning session of conference after our dinner (at 6:15 on Sunday night) and play "Don't Eat Pete" .  Great fun!

 Pinto beans were no-where so we made made our own refried beans!  They were OK! But it was the hardest thing, and we had to make a few batches.   We made enchiladas from a kit and they were a bit dry.  Should have bought that tomato paste in a bag(packet)!  There's no tomato sauce because tomato sauce already captured the name for ketchup!

 

Heritage

 Saturday Sept 24 was a holiday called Heritage Days.  Our branch in Ezakheni was having a celebration at the chapel, so we decided to go--at 10.  It didn't get started till 11 and we were the 3rd group there. .  The missionaries were there and were apparently in charge of the activity.  One missionary had been to something similar and knew what it was supposed to look like so he took charge.  When it got rolling we had two fun group games- "Zoom" and "Love your Neighbor".

We then had a ward Talent Show with dancing and song.  The Zulu take their heritage serious and many kids, moms, and teens, came dressed in native dance costumes and performed.  It was so fun that I'm including a video if we can figure it out.

   After the fun and snacks of fruit, we followed the Elders (never would have found it) to our new enterprise with the Branch President.  "The Fry" shop is a "tuck shop" (very small store selling snacks, etc) near two other tuck shops (a mall?)all in the middle of residential homes (shacks).

The fry shop is really a cover for chips or french fries.  He thinks it sounds more American and people will come and buy better.  It really is a job-making venture for the 3 Elders and 1 sisters to work and earn money for their missions.  They must put at least 400 Rand towards their missions.  That is a very minimal amount and would not even buy a pair of shoes and dress for one sister.  The President came to us and asked us to invest in the oil and potatoes so he  could teach the kids how to run the shop.  It is an attempt to solve a huge problem for this President.  He has 10 missionaries out  currently, and only a few  are paying a small part of their portion.   He has finally realised, the church can not finance all of Africa  on missions.  It's not that the Church can't afford it, but it feeds into the entitlement mentality and attitude that already exists here.  He sees this and doesn't like it either.  (The big "rich church" will take care of you, is the impression it gives to some of the people.)  It's his attempt-- and we will probably always help these self-reliance projects.   Transport is another big issue for the people.  This is such a process....
   Next came lunch at the local KFC.  While waiting for Kent and the order, I found a table .  A couple of minutes later a baby stopped walking (about 2 years old)  with her mouth open and just stared at me.  I started to talk to her because she looked like she would cry.  Her older sister started to laugh   and picked her up and sat her on my lap, whipped out her phone, and started to take pictures.  Again I was without words and just gave them the mug shot they wanted.  Before I knew it I had a different baby and sister doing the very same thing. I started to laugh when I realised what was happening. These babies have never been out of Ezakeni in their short lives and never seen a white "GoGo"(grandma).  It made me rethink my picture taking habits and I don't have a picture of this!

   

Missionaries!!!!

 

   On Sunday the 11th we left at 7:30  for Osizweni 9AM Sacrament Mt 1 hr and 15 min away.  We had made contact with seminary and institute teachers and needed to deliver their assessments.  Of course I forgot mine, but only had one I was going to have to email.  I took their pics in my Name Shark.  It has saved my bacon(yeah iphone app).   The chapel was a modular in the poorest neighborhood, in a township, we had been in yet.  They started singing "Welcome Welcome Sabbath Morning" and I lost it while climbing the stairs. It was so strong and beautiful and accapella.  When we saw how many people were there, we could hardly believe it.  We then had the Primary Sacrament meeting, South African style.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  They were all sitting facing the pulpit,  A teenage boy led some of the music with another sister.  There was no accompaniment but they knew every song.  Only one song was supposed to be in the program but there was plenty of music even if there was no theme to it.   When it was the children's turn to speak, young and older all said ,"Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,"  and then bore their testimonies and sat down. They all wanted that mike.   One little boy said, "Good morning Brother and Sisters, How are you?"  Everyone laughed!  English is the second language and of course hello greetings are the first thing you learn and he learned the whole thing!
  Being the "Scripture Power" delivery person that I wanted to be, made it really hard to leave and go to the next Sacrament mt we had scheduled to visit.  But wait?  I had to find the little girls room before I left and wouldn't you know it, I found a lady from the Primary program there and told her what a nice job she did with the children.  She promptly  told me she just happened to be there from District Primary Board over the music.  She was just the person I wanted to run into.  I launched into my chorus of "Scripture Power" and showed where to find it on the phone app and my job was done. (Kent said he could hear it in the parking lot, but I'm sure that's not true.)
  We were so late because we got lost in the township.  GPS apparently is not accurate in these places.  We sort of followed our nose and looked up the ward in LDS Tools and  were guided there by our phone .  We were so late, but got to visit Madadeni 1 and 2 just fine.  We heard most of our friends, the Hinds' talk, before they head  home to the States.  They were a huge asset and will be replaced by the Browns. Brother Hinds was in the Mission Presidency and did most of the leg work for the Mission President in the "bush".   We had a nice lunch at the Hinds' Boarding and left as it was getting dark.  We had such a nice visit in New Castle and Bro. Hinds was happy about the Forgiveness Program going through for the District.  The branches had really gone in the red, financially. He had worked on that project for a long time and finally he saw the fruits of his labor completed and could go home feeling happy about the outcome.  Monday was sort of a P day but mostly a marathon with 6 elders, dinner and FHE.  The  elders were using our computers for emailing so it was taking a lot of time.  We had Zulu flash cards and played a game with them.  I think the chapels computers have worked a total of twice since we have been here so the elders use our computers.  The IT person from Durban can not seem to handle his work load  because of the distance.  It was now a scramble to get my lesson done for Tuesday.   On Tuesday night we got home and found our water to be off and it was for 24 hrs.  That made us scramble to get more of a water supply.  Wednesday we tried bunny chow.  It's a half loaf bread hollowed out and some kind of meat--chicken, mutton beef, is stuffed inside with a little greens.

The chunks of meat are small but almost always with bones.  The natives always eat chicken bones with their chicken but Kent was not impressed.  Sis  Sabalala came on Thurs and I again worked on lesson for hours.  Kent showed me some short cuts on the computer and how to find the good videos we could download for our lessons.  They are just short but add a lot to the lesson.
   Friday was of course Dundee,but we had lined up our friend Suren and his girlfriend Rashicka to go

 out to a different good restaurant.  He took us there and it was so fun.  Suren likes to have the missionaries and us over for dinner every Wednesday night. and he loves cooking and I'm liking Indian food more each time. ( He won Kent over with his curried chicken gizzards last week.)   I had not had confidence in my cooking yet so Kent offered to pay for the dinner.  In South Africa meals are the entertainment.  You plan on staying there a long time and just socializing.  It was a good restaurant in a part of town we had never been in.  We never would have found it and still can't on our own.  It's really part of a B&B with a swimming pool in the courtyard with indoor and outdoor seating.  Kent loved his food and had to take a pic with BBQ pork ribs and shrimp.

   Saturday was rainy and cold but we had the Woods from the mission office visiting  for lunch and had fun visiting.  (We don't get many visitors.)  Must shop and try to find a pork roast for pulled pork for the President's visit on Sunday.  He had marathon meeting scheduled on Sunday and Elders' interviews on Monday.
   Cooking is fun times--Have I mentioned that nothing is the same?  No pork roast that's boneless can be found!  When I found someone that spoke good enough English, I explained that I wanted something that would pull apart after cooked and was pork.  I got a loin chop roast before they cut it for chops.  The meat looked lean enough but I sweated the bones in it thinking that it was not  the right kind of cut.  I had to trust, but I cut it in half so that I could have a second try and cut as chops in case this messed up.  They don't call the cuts of meat the same in the States so you just feel your way through this.  This recipe was supposed to be like Cafe Rio sweet pulled pork and we had nice rolls and would make sandwiches  with it.  I only found 1 spice out of 4 that I was supposed to have, so this was going to be interesting.  Started in the crock-pot on Saturday night to cook it because it looked a little tough..  Started it again on Sunday at 6AM and walked in at 2PM and it was falling off the bone and just fine.  I did sweat that one but no need!  (is actually so cold here that we turned on the heater for the first time).  We had a nice visit with the President Thompson and Kent went with him to deliver another call to Elder Zwane at the Ezakeni Branch.  It was a fun day with me in primary, meeting our  Branch President for the first time and going into Young Women.

   We have a cute mini missionary from Dundee waiting for his mission call and serving as a Ladysmith companion to Elder Smith.  He is a mini missionary because we have been short companions for our fulltime elders and it gives a taste of what's to come. Since we are the Senior couple over all these Elders, we got the call from Joberg that his paperwork had been stopped for the second time because of his teeth.  The first time this happened, we sent him back to Dundee to get the work done that they said needed to get done but didn't do.  This is a free clinic in town and the xray machine was broken.  He had cavities,needed cleaning, and xrays to find out about the wisdom teeth.  This was the Monday that we took Mhlengi to the real dentist in Ladysmith with a real drill and xray machine and everything. 3 cavities were filled, cleaned his teeth, and we found that he needed all his wisdom teeth out.  We paid for this work to be done but drew the line on the wisdom teeth because that could be as much as R6000 or about $450.
   The church does not have dental insurance for missionaries, so any work must be completed before missions.  Mhlengi's Branch President is a wonderful Africaans guy that understands the problem of money with these kids.  He told us he would get fast offering money for the wisdom teeth and he would be good for it.  The hard part here is giving money back to us.  We can't take checks from the church or even cash a check from anyone.  Bank transfers and cash is how they live down here other than bank cards. Anyway we got the work done and made the appointment for wisdom teeth.

Singing Happy Birthday Elders style.

   Later that day we had Elders on computers, made Kent's carrot cake from scratch,(which will now be known as the egg-sloth incident),and studied for class the next day.

 We were celebrating and having a party with Dundee students so we needed the stuff to be ready.  On the way home we met with Bart Anderson to pick up his acceptance letter for Sierra Leone.  He was reluctant and scared to accept but took a few days and wrote his letter.  We gave some encouraging words and emailed the letter off!  Missionaries-Missionaries!!  We have lots to do with the goings and comings of African missionaries going and the missionaries already serving in our mission. S& I is taking a back seat it seems, at least for now.
   Thursday was study for Friday and Sis Shabalala.

Sis Shabalala

 She did not go to the temple for lack of people to fill up the van.  Friday was all day S and I and we made Herman for the kids.  Kent worked on Herman for 10 days and the end result was as good as ever.  We take treats twice a week but that is ending in January with the new school year.  Will they still come?  That is the question!!