Indian Ocean

 

   Monday the 28th our Temple prep class in our home.  This was the last one and the last time I would input family history with at least 3 of the people present.  I think I could be a pro genealogy person as long as there were no records or sources to input.  These are 10 to 12 year younger people than myself and all four of them have lost multiple brothers and sisters already.  They try to remember their dates but we have made multiple changes already because the computer catches many of the mistakes.  The Zulu people live a hard life and die very young on average.  We heard this week that Ladysmith has the most people with active Aids cases in all of South Africa, which may account for some of those deaths.  I also have to research polygamy here.  It is not illegal and even SA's current President has 5 wives.     

   We had a different 4 kids for Mission Prep in Ezekeni this Tues. but on Thursday we saw the kids that are really going on missions or at least in different stages of paperwork.  We outfitted Bobsa with our used hand-me-down shirts,ties, pants and even 1 pair of shoes.  He was thrilled.  His Mom is not a member and really needs the help.  He leaves for Ghana 3 days after Christmas.

Kent wrote the following ...

Sand Art in Durban

African Food (Not a  fan)Kent didn't like Ostrich

3 of these girls spoke in District mt.  Articulate!

   A most enjoyable and profitable weekend! We drove to Durban, spent some time with the office couples, including dinner at an African restaurant on the beach, witnesses some great sand art, and spent the night in a bed and breakfast inn.   (We took a  GPS trip to a special bake shop called "Bake-a-ton" in Durban, Chris was dying for real chocolate chips and brown sugar for the holidays.  We'll go every time!)

In the morning we drove to Richards Bay. We were there because they were having a district conference with an area authority. I attended the priesthood leadership meeting, then we both attended the evening conference session which actually started at 4pm. They don’t have late meetings in South Africa because of the danger of being out after dark. We took a trip to their mall in Richards bay to find something for dinner.  It was exciting to see a movie theatre and such a huge mall even if all the stores were closed.  All over South Africa stores close at around 2 or 3 on Saturdays, with a few restaurants left open.  It is a drag.  1 or 2 grocery stores stay open till night, but you just better plan on doing your shopping on some other day.

It was announced that the area authority would not attend because he missed his plane in the Congo and there were apparently no other flights available that would allow him to make it, so we had no District Presidency changes.  Pres. DePlooy met with us and heard our spiel about S and I.

The general session on Sunday was quite well attended for South Africa---and they were able to fill up the speaker schedule without a problem. In fact, we asked to be able to speak so that we could introduce the new seminary and institute curriculum for the next year. So they gave us 7 minutes and we took 15, but who’s counting.  President Thompson was the concluding speaker but didn’t have a lot of time. He always does a great job!

Taxi's are how almost all people get to District mt.

After the meeting we met our teachers and branch presidents for the first time! We had been communicating by text and email for months and now we got to meet them! We handed out materials for the next school year (starts in January), got names, updated contact information, and made some good friends!

Chris
  We visited with the Colins' after church and they graciously had us over for lunch.  They are the area MLS (member leadership)couple over about 12 Elders and practically run a Branch called Port Dunford.  (currently the Branch has no Branch President).  We were starved to just talk about our experiences and they are  especially isolated but in a nice boarding with a great mall close by.  Malls are great because they are air-conditioned with central-air and all peoples homes are not.  We have a nice 2 wall air home but, most of the population does not  have anything.

One of the biggest harbors in SA

We stayed 2 nights in Richards Bay and Monday Morning walked the Beach and took off a different really green beautiful way home.  We saw so many sugar cane fields on the way in different stages of growth.  It was a fun little trip that we should make about every 6 weeks.

The ladies in the background were killing their chickens and blessing them.  This is some Zulu ritual.

Got the toes in the water and the air and water were both warm even though it was cloudy