13 July 2009 – Monday
We had a mission business morning and a lazy afternoon and evening. In the morning we were out rather early so we could do the elder’s boarding inspection early enough that they could have some activity before they started doing their e-mail, etc.
But our first stop was behind the Super Spar where we picked up some cardboard that we will need for our road show. We were digging through a pile of trash when one of the men took pity on me and let me have some of the good cardboard that they stack up for re-cycling. The area where they keep it is basically a large trash bin – about 8 meters by 8 meters – and not what I would consider a great place to spend most of my day. But to them it is a job and a job here is like finding a seam of gold.
When we finished with that task I remembered I left the cell phone at the boarding so we had a 15 minute detour back. The boarding inspections went quickly. Other than some mold in one of the bathrooms and a freezer that needed to be defrosted, both boardings were clean and in good condition.
Elder Schlenker was just about packed for going home and some things he was going to give away spread out over the furniture – we did not count this soon to be gone clutter against the boarding. I tried to remember back to the last days of our mission to Indonesia, but remember little. The main thing we did was pack up a whole apartment and put it in storage. That is one thing we hope to avoid here, but who knows!
After the boarding inspections we went to Esikhawini where we dropped off the road show scripts with sister Mavundla so she can have a practice while we are gone. Then we drove to Port Durnford to do the same with sister Nzama. On the way back we came across Bongamusa – the non-member young man who drew and painted our back-drop for the roadshow and we gave him a set of pastels so he could use them in his drawings. I will probably later give him some paints.
We stopped for lunch at the Mall and of course ran into the Bartholomews. But this time we had already eaten and they had just got there. Actually it was Mary who ran into them while I was looking for a Standard Bank ATM so I could get some money for our trip to Durban. I had to go into the bowels of the mall because the ATMs near the entrances are almost always short of cash and so I can not get as much as I need. It is nice that the dollar is getting a little stronger against the rand but it seems the 10 to 1 days are long gone.
The rest of the day – except for a quick trip down to the store to get cupcake papers – was spent at our boarding. I managed a nap and caught up the blog – at least the writing part. Hopefully sometime tonight I will get some pictures into the blog.
For those who are interested in other South African missionary blogs the Mickelsen’s keep a nice one with weekly pictures: http://arlosandy.blogspot.com/
Of course there is also Sister Mann’s delightful blog with even more interesting pictures.
http://durbanmission.blogspot.com/