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| Don't forget to check out the pineapple video at the end. |
The last 3 days of May were pretty routine. Elders came to see their new boarding on Goa St. and we met the Browns and went out to Winterton for pizza at the Pig and Plough (1-5 lunch on P day.) Tuesday we got 2 new Elders Jada and Mbongi they were to stay till we could find them another new boarding---that is 3 in 3 months. Help! Our Institute finished on Wednesday with 4 students and we gave them their assessments. Only 2 students will get credit but not the young men that came. They were not 75% attenders. Good priesthood holders are hard to find around here, even if they go on missions.
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| Instead of potatoes with KFC. How about some pop? |
The Woods came up on the 1st with new furniture for the new boarding and extra appliances. We took them to Penelopes and off they were again. The infested furniture and stuff from Carlton was not to be used. Only some new kitchen items would be used in Goa. The next day we bombed or gassed the old house for bugs and the Elders were to move out the following day --but --wait. We checked the new boarding and had the plumber out because the water would not work. Postponed till Monday. That night Elder Varner came to our boarding sicker than a dog wanting some relief from diaharia and heaves. It turns out that it probably is not a good idea to eat a R4 (30 cents) sandwich made by a township grocery store. Kent found some remedies from a pharmacy open till 9 and fixed him up. All was well the next day.
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| While E. Varner was on the couch, the guys finished my puzzle. |
Saturday we had Branch Presidency meeting and I met with Mabel. She never gave her lesson because the President wanted to leave early. (some responsibility issues?)
On Sunday our Primary in Ladysmith finally got changed and Sister Adams got put in as President. She will be great! I can rest easy now because she is at the helm and I gave her reading material to read from Priesthood handbook of instruction. We need a music leader now! Tuesday and Wednesday we were still outfitting and going back and forth with blinds and drapes. Cake and whipped cream for collecting assessments but only had 3 kids showed for last meeting in Institute.
Thursday we worked on Wise, Kent had Presidency meeting, and more window covering stuff. We started Ladysmith boarding check on Friday and moved all the old appliances to our boarding from Carlton where the Elders had to be bribed to really clean Carlton boarding and all the appliances.
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| No roaches here |
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| These guys were everywhere and looking for handouts. (Elders!) |
We shipped off to Richards Bay and Dundee for S and I attendance records and to meet the new District Presidency at District conference . S and I has not quite got off the ground very well. We can't get the teachers to stick or to communicate with us. They just ignore us like our kids used to!
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| Sardine hippos in a row. |
Since the Browns were there we got them a B and B with us and then scooted on up the coast to another place that they got in St Lucia Sunday night. We talked the Collins into joining us on another hippo experience with better weather. It wasn't even cold there and we saw lots more crocs and monkeys, and hippos doing stuff.
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| Eating again in St Lucia ! |
We drove all night about 5 hours on Monday and got home exhausted. The Elders had us check Carlton again in time for transfers and the Dundee Elders were in town . Apparently , someone told the others about Penelopes
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| Last lunch as a District before transfers. |
so we all went to lunch for one last time before 3 of them would leave. We did not pay because it was their idea !
Wednesday was transfers and Elders needed to be taken to Madadeni at 4. That meant travel at night but we did. Those country roads can be treacherous but we are getting used to the Newcastle road just not the township roads at night. Kent made Herman for all the Elders that passed through and gave Elder Varner a starter bottle of the starter to take with him.
Wednesday transfer days are complicated and I don't know why I decided to look at real estate on that day in addition to everything else but I called Tanya on a brand new property not to far from Goa. It was brand new and would not be finished till July. Perfect. She was also the agent with the handyman for little things in Goa that needed to be fixed. So we finished with the new property and I had keys for the property on Goa. We had to kick the trash away from the inside of the front door to just get in. It was a pig stye! Would this agent let us rent her new property after this? We were embarrassed for the Church and I told the Elders they should not be getting the property. It was a great natural consequence for their choices but now I'm back to the drawing board. Still looking!
Thursday was walk through the Carlton boarding with Caryn our agent and note all the damage 4 years have made. I had to change beds and clean our boarding because the Hicks (the new couple living temporarily in Durbin) was spending the night. Made a big pot of Minestrone for dinner and did not know how many people so back to the store for more bread filler and big rigotoni (hard to find).
We ended up feeding 8 with Zone leaders and Ezakheni 1 Elders. While we were eating the Ezakheni Elders were busy wrecking their brand new car in Acaciaville not far from their boarding. No one was hurt but it turns out there were other problems with the 2 African new Elders. We will find out later. When transfers were over we now have 4 out of 6 African Elders and we will see how that goes. The one that wrecked the car will now go to Dundee with Elder Thompson and the rest are left to sort all this out. We have not had to sort things out. Zone leaders were present and the office did all the talking.
Saturday we sent the Hicks off to the Meander and got ready for Sunday. We needed to go see Dundee and visit our old seminary class . We walked in and saw our Elder Jada and Thompson and President DeKlerk asked us to be the speakers in sacrament meeting.
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| Hippo tooth weighs about 10 lbs in his left hand. |
I am never used to this but it has been happening lately so I prepared a little by reading our Liahona on the way. Father's Day was at home with phone calls from kids and carrot cake. We love the DeKlerks!
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| Mating with kids around. Female can be under for 6 minutes. |
