Groundhound Day

   On the 2nd of March we started a new fun activity of searching for 2 new boardings for our Elders.  We need to get them out of their 4 bedroom home because it is starting to look and be like a frat- house.  It has a reputation as a sort of flop house for gangs of Elders during transfers and conferences.  We need to change that and repair and give back the place.  It just means that I need to get on the internet.  The office does the rest with the agent.  They don't have listed property here so we look with an agent, 3 or 4 times a week and set up appointments and be the boots on the ground to find property.   Security is such an issue.  A property can have many different companies representing the lease or sale.  An agent can only show you properties that she or her company have listed.  It takes way more time to do it this way but then we are in SA.
   We also started preparing and planning for our Richards Bay trip on Friday.  We are trying to do inservice every 6 weeks with our 2 Districts and visit all classes at least once a semester.  The classes thing is harder to do and we have only made it to 4 of them counting our own thus far. There are about 16 classes to go.  We left about 9:30 and stopped in Durban for the famous Mexican restaurant everyone keeps talking about.  We were blown away by the food, but also it was different.  Good salsa and shrimp tacos, but nothing that spicy.  Everyone loved the unlimited fountain drinks with good ice--but still no paper cups.  It's funny about missing the little things.  It was a fun visit with the office couples.
   We stayed at the same B&B next door to the Colins' and it was Fast Sunday this weekend.  Not too much difference in our delivery of inservice--except just crackers and cheese and juice.  We focused on forming questions and our different manuals and their concerns.  Institute and some seminaries were off to a shaky start with lots of changes in teachers the previous month and lots of excuses.  One of my institute teachers went and stayed and is still in America and didn't even ask for my permission or tell me!
   We went to the mall for dinner with the Collins' and chose a small Branch, Enselini to go to Sunday morning.

Enselini youth Sunday School have about 9 for seminary class

This Branch seems to be run by our return missionary Seminary teacher and Institute teachers.  They taught the adult Gospel Doctrine class and the youth class and had the YSA activity together for after church.  They both have jobs and if they ever left it, the branch would fade away. The missionaries in the branch had about 20 less-active people show up and swell the attendance to 56 people with a usual attendance of about 30.  They were encouraged.
   We had spaghetti with the Collins on Sunday and a short walk up the  beach again.
 We spent a third night and then took a saunter up the Midland Meander on Monday or P Day(What does that P stand for? play or preparation?).

This is the fall at the beginning of the Meander and drive was gorgeous.

 Lots of shops and places to stop.  I was kind of disappointed because we stopped at a Mandela museum where he was first arrested in the middle of the countryside.

 We spent too much time and shops were closing on us.  It was nice to be out and about.and we did find Kent his best hamburger in SA.  We got home about 7 PM.  It was a good trip, but I worry about the Richard's Bay area and its growth potential.  It is a resort area and people are so mobile.
   Tues was recoup time and study and prepare for class.  More real estate to look at.  So far nothing like we are looking for and security is the top requirement .  We taught on Wednesday and on Friday we started our 40 Day Fast for the mission.  It was the couples Day and we have another day at the end of the month.  Did real estate and on Saturday headed off to Dundee with breaking our fast with a
brown bag car lunch.
   We found one of our Elders in Dundee pretty sick with diarhea and quite dizzy and dehydrated.  Went and got groceries for him and started his chicken soup.  We had an appointment with Dundee seminary to visit and loved their lesson and participation.  My old institute student and RM, Siphe,  is such a good teacher we were just proud and humbled at the same time.

They all walk home together on Sat.  It's a party!

These kids meet at 6:30 AM on Tues,Wed, and Thurs, and then from 2-4-on Sat. afternoon to get their seminary classes done for the week. He had discussion in class and had the flat screen tv set up with his flash drive inserted and ready.  Kent updated the drive with more of those good New Testament videos and showed one that applied to the lesson. This trip was such an upper for us.  This is what good is supposed to look like.    We don't have dull moments hardly ever --even though we sometimes do the same things.
 

Cherity Never Fail

only 25 ladies ate cake--most took slabs home with

   Feb. 19, was a regular Sunday in Primary in Ladysmith. A meeting was called at the end of the block for all RS ladies in the chapel to discuss food assignments for the upcoming RS birthday party day from 10AM- 2:30 the next Saturday.  No one would make cake so I voluntered to make all of it.  I told them it would not be decorated like a bakery, but would be iced and tasty.  I thought I got the job!
    It was rainy on Monday so we went to the Ladysmith museum that we both found  interesting about the Boer war and the Siege of Ladysmith.  Tuesday we had haircuts, prepared lessons and made white cake as an experiment  ( Pillsbury cake mix- was not good just plain-now add pudding). Wednesday we had a webex at 10:30 with regional S and I leaders, but Kent participated I had to study for Institute lesson at 4.

   My birthday was nice, Kent took me to the Royal Hotel for their buffet, and kids called all day.  The special unexpected thing was that our 4 Elders in town dropped by at breakfast and sang happy B-day, so of course I promised them ice cream and cake  that night and had to get to the store to make it.    
   The next day was Friday  and I promised that I would have 2 sisters in our branch over to make cake.    There was some miscommunication with Newcastle and they said they would pick up a cake from a store!  But we would still teach this District Councilor and Ladysmith RS President how to make cake.
   There is some mystical problem about baking a cake here and I decided to take 2 kinds of Pillsbury cake mix and show how to make a cake easily. (Their scratch recipes call for lots of egg whites because they have heavier flour I think.)  I let them each make their own cake mix with canned Pillsbury frosting,  with 2 different mixers that I had.

Sister Adams and Sister Shabalala

 It turns out that that is what they don't have at home -- a mixer.  Most of these ladies don't use their oven very much because they don't bake much.  Their cakes turned out lovely, but they still had the leaders bring the R500 store bought cake and took their cakes home for their families.  They might rethink next time -who knows.  That is an enormous amount of money for a District to pay out twice for 2  big Birthdays in Newcastle and Ladysmith.  Maybe next year they will be willing to try.  (one of the sisters has already made another cake) They feel like they have to do everything like the church in America!  I told the ladies that they should just do their own dessert that they like!  Sis. Adams' comment was, "we have changed and learned so much to join this church -we want to learn to make cakes!"

   Saturday came and the party was very nice, but there was tea and muffins and goodies at about noon and then a late lunch about 1;30 with all the fixins .  Africans are big on chicken  and chackalaka! We had a program about the origins of RS,  read by our ladies and a VT discussion and roll play by Sister Brown.  We don't have VTs or Home Teachers here.  Attempts have been made and I see attitudes changing but I think there is a cultural block going on about people coming into their homes.  We've about decided to just go every Sunday and visit the families because there are so many widows and single moms in the Ladysmith Branch.
   Sunday we were at Ezakheni and hurried home to Ladysmith with Pres. Ngcobo for a traning meeting with the Brown's at the Ladysmith Chapel.  We would fix lunch for the Brown's and Pres. Mashago and have a little visit a couple a few hours later.

Kent later toppled a termite hill to see what was inside.

   Monday was a cool cloudy day but not raining so we decided to head for Spioenkop Reservoir for a day of reserve animals and adventure.



 We got both with warthog family, giraffes and baby zebras.

This is our water source and the spillways are overflowing and have been for weeks.   We are out of our drought at least here in the East.  Capetown gets most of their rain in the winter so we will see if they end their water problem soon.

deserted park at the resevoir-no boats
or people

rare look at giraffe  sitting for a while (hey look this way!)

we must have watched these guys for 45 minutes

  On this same day we discovered Pig and Plough for lunch in Winterton, and museum with a 1918 African motor home of John Weston's.  I bought the story of this motorhome but the cool thing was we got to go into it as it was parked in a garage in the back. There was a sink with water source and stove and it looks like an icebox inside.

look closely for the babies !

there is a lot of Africaans influence and good food

no rhinos today they are isolated somewhere because of poaching
recent poaching problem

  Interesting guy this
John
Weston--went home and googled him! Fun P day!
 

Weston was an inventor and in the Boer war  born in SA
the real Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang guy
notice the crank

pointing to the sink and above it is icebox

Funerals and YSA Activities

   

Egyptian moths love to fly in at night (small birds)

Sunday was the usual with Tolly (Primary president and music leader) there.  She can only come once a month-so it was fun!
   Elders came on Monday for email and it is getting annoying on our p-day.  We've let them know that it is  only an hour because we also need to use our computers. We get 4 guys at 2 hr blocks and it is a real problem.  Internet at the church is never reliable and they need a reliable alternative.  Tuesday was study for lesson on Wed.  We got new plumbing for bathroom and the guy was there for a few hours in my bathroom in the afternoon.  We spent all morning in Ezekheni with Self Reliance group setting them up with LDS accounts so they can sign up for this class that they are almost done with.
   The van Uiterts, a new couple living in Bethlelhem and on Wed would be arriving through our area going to the Zone Conference for Thursday.  We had them stay with us that Wed night after we had our first Institute class at 4.  I had made dinner early so Kent could eat and run to a Branch Presidency mt at 8pm.  It would have been great, but these people are so quiet and reserved it was hard to engage them after and even before he left.  I tried to teach her how to download leadership training videos for her branch but she did not know much about the computer.
  The next day they left early with our muffins (our contribution to the conference).  Zone Conference is our zone of 20 Elders and it is our responsibility to help with food set up, set out and purchase.  It was overkill for so many couples to help with this and since we have attended and didn't need to be in the meeting we opted to stay home and do other stuff.  Elders by rights should hate pizza after being a missionary for 2 years.
  Thursday was errands and real estate duties.  Yes we have real estate duties!  No MLS here in South Africa probably because of security issues and all the keys involved.  I'm trying to change our 1 large house with 4 Elders and get twp -2 bedroom boardings that are still safe.  This is hard to catch.  By the time I find the boarding  on line, that I like, and the agent gets back to me, it is gone.  Thank goodness this does not need to be a quick transaction because it won't even be within the month.  The problem, besides the cost, is the security.  The mission has particular security criteria and a lot of areas are not safe.  Metal electric gates with a proper fence in certain areas, are hard to find.

Our first funeral by Kent:

At grave site

               

Many things are different here in South Africa, besides the driving on the left side of the road and dodging pedestrians, cows, and goats. Last week we experienced our first funeral. The good brother who passed away was a member of the church and I (Elder Rhodes) had the opportunity to meet him in the hospital shortly before he died. He was a teacher, and much respected in the community.

This was evidenced by the number of people who showed up at the local LDS chapel for his services. The chapel was not large enough to hold everyone. It was attended by his family, branch members, friends and fellow teachers, and members of his former church (Methodist) whose women all came wearing the same blue dresses and headscarves.

We were fortunate that the meeting was presided over by our district president, and conducted by our branch president. If that were not the case, the funeral could have, and would have taken on a different atmosphere than would a normal LDS service.

Nevertheless, there were differences that we have never seen before. For instance, when a speaker got up from the congregation to speak or give tribute, they started singing as they left their seat and everyone joined in as they made their way to the pulpit. The singing stopped and they gave their message. If the person got emotional, there was a designated Go-Go, or grandmother-type, who came to the stand, comforted them and then escorted them back to their seat if they could not control themselves.

The man had ten daughters and most of them joined together to sing. They did a nice job.

The night before the funeral, we went to the home of this brother who passed and met inside with family members. There we sang, I gave a little message of comfort, sang some more, we prayed, we sang, and then we went outside where they served us juice and scones.

This took place next to the huge tent that had been erected in the street to house the family and friends who would return after the burial to be served lunch.  Whenever you see a white tent erected in town you know there is either a funeral or a wedding. They block the street off and for a period of time, they own the street.

There were dozens of family members at the home, upwards of 60 or 70, many who traveled for a long distance. They do not stay in motels or hotels, they all find a place to sleep at the home, most on the ground.

After the funeral, we all drove to the cemetery where I was asked to dedicate the grave. Seeing that the man’s son-in-law was present (told me he wouldn’t be) I prevailed on him to do the dedication, which was only appropriate. He did a fine job.

   The casket was placed over the grave, as we do it at home, and that is where the difference began. In South Africa, everyone stays until the casket is buried. They lowered it into the grave and then placed a row of small logs crossways

over the casket. Then a grass mat. Then everyone threw their funeral programs into the grave, followed by the flowers. Then the women in the family walked by and dropped a handful of dirt into the open grave. They were followed by the men who took up a shovel and added more dirt. Then the cemetery workers took over and with gusto shoveled dirt until the hole was completely filled and a mound added to the top.

piled up every shovel full and then left site

   All the while these things were happening, all of the Zulu’s in attendance, with the exception of our church leaders, were singing traditional Zulu hymns or songs.
https://youtu.be/lr4B7SI3c4M


I am told that if this were a pure Zulu funeral, they would have killed a goat and placed it into the grave along with the flowers and programs.

   I tell you all these things not to make light of local traditions but to describe a colorful experience that Chris and I will not soon forget.  This is just one of the many cultural differences we are experiencing here as we serve the Lord. 

   Later that day after we did our weeks shopping, we headed over to Newcastle for the first ever planned YSA District activity for Valentines Day.  We were at the planning meeting a couple of weeks before and they let them know that the district would pay for food or transport but not both.  They said they would handle all the food.

 We wanted to see our youth in action.   

  

   The sweet and tireless Browns were hard at work with these youth making and cleaning up food all day long.  This would be more like a mini youth conference rather than just a Valentines party/dance.  They had swimming in the morning, lunch,

Mission president and wife speak, and late dinner with dance outside on the basketball court (that they don't know what to do with.)  It was so good to see the kids mingling and there were about 50 or so in attendance. Some of our Dundee kids were in attendance and Ezakheni group were there.  They all loved the activity and the YSA reps learned a lot about activities and delegation.  The taxi's went home about 10:30 and we headed out about 9:30 because we were starving.  All-night McDonalds was still opened and we had a wrap and hamburger.  One of our Seminary teachers, Willy was working there and we checked in with him.

   Our week-ends are dramatic!


.  

Drakensburg

 

 On Monday, January 30th, all of our elders, the Browns, the Dransfields, and ourselves took off for the Drakensberg Mountains which are only 45 minutes away from our boarding but none of us knew what to expect.  The adults drove because of the Elder's km situation--(they never have any)

.

We got to the foot of these beautiful mountains and stopped at a visitors center and it was the head of about 4 or 5 trails.

  Of course the Elders were off  like a flash and literally ran up the mountain (their bodies made them pay the next few days).  There was a waterfall at the top and streams,(I guess)

See the waterfalls in the distance

 It was so steep that I just felt that I did not need that rescue helicopter to come for me, so we chose the trail more traveled called the Gorge trail.  We were just as long and it was plenty steep.  We got some pretty pics along the way.  We all had fun had sun and most importantly no one lost their life.
   We lasted till about 3:30 after starting about 10:30 on the trip and got to the Waffle Hut about 4.  All were happy to relax and have a little some  food.  Our Zimbobwe Elder ran all the way in flip-flops so he wouldn't embarrass the others by being barefooted.  He was the most humble and best in shape of us all.

 

Tues we also had all 3 of our going to-be

missionaries for class and Slungile had a sweet testimony and words of wisdom for the other 2.

We exchanged recipes and made recipe books and tried to guess where Nqobile was going on her mission, because we got the phone call while we were in class that her call was arriving at our boarding on Friday.  We piled them in the car to take them home so we would know where to pick up Slungile the next Tues. We would put her on the bus for Durban to be set apart and sent to Ghana to the MTC. For 1 month our little Ezakheni would have 4 full-time missionaries in Uganda all at once!  Then they start to come home.
   ON Thursday we had boarding checks and baking of bribary cookies.  We then went to Ezakheni to do what we thought was going to be dramatic.  We had told the 5 people in the Self-reliance class that we would come and try to get them on the computer and registered for the class and I had downloaded their videos for their class.  We had asked the Branch President to come also to help us get their member ID #'s , but really we needed to get his check book from him.  Several Branch Presidents had been running in the red again after we had just gone through the forgiveness program .  The District President and Mission Pres. wanted to retrieve it for a while.  Nothing corrupt was going on but we didn't know how he would take it.  He took it in stride and acted like he was expecting it to happen.  We were worried because we must work with him so closely and we needed this good relationship.
    The first week of Dundee's Seminary went well.  Only six came but that was good considering the circumstances. If they can keep it up it will be great.
   Friday we went to Ladysmith Seminary and thought we were teaching but we only said a few words.  It was good to get in there and see it happening even if we only have 3 kids.  We gave the teacher her flash drive for all the NT videos she can show.
   Saturday had us taking Sister Adams and Nqobile and Stabiso to  2 separate meetings in Newcastle.  We were asked to go to the first ever YSA  District planning meeting for the year.  It was very productive because we had all the youth reps present and we hashed out money and transport and activities and calendered for the year. Sister Adams was a hoot in the back seat.  I took a few snacks and crackers and peanut-butter in the car because we went to Dundee first and would be there around lunch before we went to Newcastle.  She coined the phrase "Sis Rhode's brought her kitchen with her".  My bag of tricks is now called  my kitchen! I love it!
   When we got back to Ezakheni we had the treat of opening Nqobile's Mission call at her house.

 We had brought it when we went to pick her up earlier that morning.  We got ready to open it and found that her cousin and Mom had opened it first. Nqobile wasn't mad she acted like nothing had happened because she was so excited to find out where she would be going.  Madagascar!  She will br learning Madagassy!  Wow !  There might be some French thrown in but she will have language training to go through.  It happened to such a good  English speaker and so good with people that I even thought that she would be a good candidate for SL Visitor's Center.  No matter where she goes she will be great!  We just love her.  It was a great moment for all!
   I had more kids in the nursury in Ezakheni again.

Remember these babies don't know a lick of English!!!!!

 Why are there always more little boys?  4 seminary age people were baptized after church.  It is quite amazing at how large this age group of seminary students is.

Slungile saying goodby to parents and Where's Waldo!

   On Monday I made more cookies for my travelling African new missionaries and really cleaned house for the coming company.  There comes a point that even I...!  Tuesday we met with our Stabiso and Nqobile for really looking at her call.  We really looked at it and found out she could wear sandals and wouldn't need quite as many clothes as her counterpart that was leaving for Uganda.  Way more tropical and such an interesting place.  We brought her the computer printout(29 pages) from wikipedia with some pics and interesting reading about Madagascar.  (It's the 4th largest island in the world and was liberated from the French in the '60s).  We met late so we could pick up Slungile, after class, and luggage and take her to lunch and the bus to Durbin.  She would take off the next day to Ghana MTC.
   All went well with our connections,but when we got to the bus it was early and Thembalani was not on the bus from Dundee.  Pres. DeKlerk was to meet at the church and then drop off at the bus station in Glenco and that bus was to proceed to Ladysmith.  Both missionaries were going to the same place--Uganda and both the same travel plans.  The President maintains he was not late but that the bus left early.  Whatever, he could not catch it and came to Ladysmith to our house because the bus left there with our girl on it.  The Dransfields, (still waiting to go to Lesotho) were passing through and were going to stay the night with us but the office asked them to make another trip to Durban with our Thembalani.

Thembalani's Mom rode in the truck to Ladysmith to make sure he left for Durbin!  Originally sent papers in July!

 Sent cookies and goods with everyone  and off they went.  We had the Browns there too because they were passing through from a meeting in Durban.  What a circus!  Our boarding is kind of in the middle of all roads.  At 5 the circus subsided and the Browns and us went to our new and only Chinese place for dinner. We all loved it after the day we just had!
   The next day was Wed. and transfer day with 3 new missionaries and hellos and goodbys. We've got a good group.  Already we are seeing some action in Ladysmith.  Kent had Bishopbric meeting and the Elders were there to get direction from the Branch Pres.  when the first counselor arrived and announced that he quit because his wife was driving him crazy.  This is our Africaans couple and the wife is certifiable crazy.  We put it on hold because we don't know if this info will stick or not.  We'll wait a week!  The truth is she is so erradic that he probably should step down,but...  There is no one to take his place.
   Thursday the Dransfields stayed the night and they are nice people learning the roads of Durbin Mission well.  We tell them once they are in Lesotho they will hardly leave -so enjoy their travels now.  Mission Pres. has them going around teaching ward clerks about on-line stuff to help with future boundary lines and home teaching routes.  We don't have ward clerks in our 3 branches so Kent and missionaries have been learning his program.  They went to visit our Ezakheni seminary with us and we gave our self reliance class the videos to watch while we were with seminary.              Friday,  we did our usual walk and I was walking by our next door neighbor and she nabbed me.  She was visibly shaken and needed to talk.  The up-shot was she is a frequent visitor at our home because she's in a very bad relationship with her boyfriend who has used and physically abused her for 3 years.  She had left him at least 2 other times but she insists that this is it.    She was ready to leave but how? He was threatening here with locking her in the boarding again. We decided to get her out now and we took her to the only safe place-- our church building, until we could find out the bus schedule.  It was impossible on-line and there are no safe houses in SA.  The Dransfields were in the middle of this but we picked  her up and took a tour of the countryside till lunch.  We all went to lunch and then bought her ticket and left her at the bus stop for Durbin just like she was one of our missionaries.  But what a different reason!  No matter what her situation now-- it will be better than what she had next door to  us.  We pray for you Yuthika!  The Dransfields left the next morning with stories to remember but maybe not tell.
   Saturday was collapse day and fill the cupboards day and prepare to go to church in Ladysmith day!
   Kind of  a typical week but not really!      

Constant Food

 

First antique store in SA ever! 

We started the 16th of January off (which was "P Day") with a fun short trip to the Waffle Hut.  It's on the way to the Drakensburg Mountains which we will climb soon.  Our aim on this short (30 minutes from home) ride was to go to the Spioenkop reservoir and see more animals at the reserve they have there.

 We never made it to the reservoir because it poured but we did explore a former large Africaans town called Winterton and go to our first ever South African Antique store.

 We had to be back fairly soon because Elder DePriest's B-Day Braai was taking place at our place that night.  We had the Elders bring their own meat and we supplied everything else.  Educational--their steaks were as big as the whole grill and it did fill them up.
   We had our last Institute missionary prep class on Tues. with a few make-up classes for Sabe and Sthabiso to follow later.   Nqobile came faithfully and was an utter delight in the class.

 This was a very intensive Preach My Gospel course to rival our MTC experience.
   Sibonelo Zulu came for dinner on Thursday and we had a fun visit.  He is a 30 year old returned missionary looking to get reinstated and we are helping him with that.  He's never been married and goes back home to Newcastle as often as he can to visit the girlfriend.  He has the distinction of being the first person we met in Ladysmith at the Pick & Pay grocery, where he works as the bakery manager.  We had only been in Ladysmith one night when he came up to us and introduced himself (dead give away with those nametags and that white person thing).  This was before we even went to church.

   District Conference started on Sat. in Ezakheni  with leadership training and the adult meeting.  We were done at 12:30 so we could head off for Newcastle and do it all again there.  Our District  is too geographically large to do one meeting, so those of us that spoke, do the traveling.  I think that means that people with cars do most of the speaking. Kent and I mostly spoke about how Seminary and Institute were vehicles to teach and educate our youth and this in the "Savior's Way".  The thing I noticed was the push for visiting teaching and hometeaching.  It is not happening in S. Africa so it was good to mention.  We had fun trying to keep our talks down to 5 and 10 minutes together.  We had dinner in Newcastle with the Mission President and his old home teachers from Alpine, the Browns and the DeKlerks at a place called the "Pint and Pig Out".There are no bathrooms for about a 3 and 1/2 hour span -between towns! (We did take the time and stopped at a little store we knew about and were late for the next meeting...help!) 

The Browns hosted us for the night so we could do the same thing with different talks on Sunday in a Newcastle primary school and then off to Ezakheni where we did it all over again.  Cute Sis

ter Brown thought of bag lunches to eat in the cars.  It went great except that someone stole 2 lunches from the fridge in Ezakheni.  We were more careful on Sunday.
   Tuesday was the most fun we've had for a long time--We continued our class time with all three prospective missionaries and met in class and talked about our free agency and choice.  This was important because they would be making choices about things to take with them and what to buy for their missions.  I had Slungile bring her list from her calling (to Uganda on Feb 8) and we talked essentials and not so essential.  These kids have so little money that they need to make good choices with what they do have.  After 30 min we put them in the car and gave them their missionary planners for note taking and took them window shopping in Ladysmith.  (I told all of them that we would like to give them 1 gift like we give to our stateside missionary kids when they go on a mission--as a going away present.)  We gave money to Elder Xaba when he left, for shoes and we don't think he bought them. We now need to go with all our missionaries because some would just give the cash to their families.
 

 Slungile needed good walking shoes so we found some and it helped to have another girl there for support.  We looked at luggage prices and talked quality and Sthabiso checked his size for shirts (he gets some used Elder shirts from me but not enough).We looked at bags for the girls, how to carry scriptures and books  since Uganda is a walking mission, and all took notes.  We  thought it was a good outing and we topped off with lunch.  We took them to one of our favorite places for lunch--Penelopes.  They couldn't stop talking about it and were all eyes at the menu of choice. The cost was a super-size Wendy's but they hadn't been there before.
   On Wednesday we had a Web-ex meeting (online) for seminary and institute. We learned that our Web-ex  leader (he wrote us an e-mail) is preparing for his wife's eminent passing from a long bout with cancer.  Their attitude was amazing and so inspirational that we both wept after reading the letter.  We hadn't done our homework for the meeting but did so after the meeting.
 The next  day we had a Re-Max morning to see if we  can get our Elders out of  their icky boarding.  The Mission President would like only 2 Elders in a boarding so we will try to work it --but it is going to take time to look.  We live in a small town and good properties go fast.  Later that morning we met the Elders at the real Dr's office to discover that Elder Lowe did have a bad spider bite that needed anti-biotics and extra care.  It was affecting his whole leg and caused headaches.

Kent had his first Friday night Ladysmith Branch Presidency meeting that he suggested they have, since the Pres can never be there on Sunday.   They agreed and the Pres took charge and did discover there were no speakers for Sunday so they would at least not be blind-sided by that.  (They still asked the Elders if they would be the speakers on Sunday when they walked through the door at 10 to 10.) We are still working on things!
 

 Saturday was a big day for us.   We had our kickoff for Dundee Seminary with the 2 Doctrinal Mastery lessons.  10  kids are  matric-ing and 2 others came along with my former Institute student -now seminary teacher.  We fed 20 and next time we'll figure out something more simple.  We started at noon setting up for lunch but kids were not out of matric class on Sat till 12:30 .  These kids go to school 6 days a week when in their last year of secondary-school and some still do not pass and get the diploma.  It was a long day and we got home after 4:30, but who knows how it will go on their first 3 days at 6AM.  3 days of seminary is up from the 2 days of seminary last year.  One step at a time.  Transport is such an issue!

  Some cute Family History missionaries from Joburg, the Lees, stopped by at Church and spoke on how to get started on their family history work here in Ladysmith.  They gave us a packet and told people to get in touch with us if they need help.  We are not experts on everything but it is fun to try with the Lord's help and maybe we will be enough for now.

After living here for 6 months, we finally found our 1 and only Chinese food with Take-away.

   We met and hosted the Dranfields, the new couple going to Lesotho, Sunday night.   They were coming from PJ to show branch clerks a new computer program to help keep track of their people.  2 of our branches don't even have clerks, but they left Monday night to teach a District Clerk all about it-so hope that can help.  We all are pretty isolated from other couples, it is just fun to see and host and talk to others that are in the same boat as us.  Each couple has different duties, but 's those of us in the "bush" have lots of similarities.  This whole blog seems to about or around food!  Could it be that we are fighting our 10 pound spread after Christmas in the summer and we are now facing our winter with possible more poundage to come if we don't get this under control?