On our way to DDM this morning we passed this beautiful bougainvillea tree in full bloom. This is one of the things that South Africa has with Indonesia. Everywhere we go we see bougainvillea. At DDM, Elder Babeeyo on left conducted as District Leader. Elder Mbithi gave a short lesson on taking the right member with you when you teach a lesson. Before DDM I taped two of elder Musemare’s fingers together to see if this will help the one he closed in a car door 9 weeks ago heal. I also gave him some pills that were sent up by Sister Mann. If this does not work he gets to have the finger X-rayed again.

After DDM we went to the mall to get a new ice chest – our old one seems to have been donated to a caterer without our knowledge. While I ran up and got it from Games, Mary sat in the parking garage and read. We then had lunch before heading to Esikhawini and our PEC meeting with the elders and President Machaka. The elders wheeled up in their bright red car. The meeting was short but covered everything that we needed to cover.

After PEC the elders wanted to show us a new way they found to get from Esikhawini to Port Durnford that comes out almost at the chapel. The road was not bad at all – at least not by South African standards – but when we got within about 200 yards of the main Port Durnford road we came to a very nasty mud puddle – actually more like a pond – that no one wanted to try to get across. Unfortunately I did not think to take a picture but I may tomorrow from the other side.

Since we needed to turn around I drove into a near by yard where there were a number of women with children. They looked at us strangely but we quickly made friends by talking to them and giving the children some candy. One of the women said that they were really surprised to see ‘white people’ in the area. I think we will go back some day and introduce ourselves and the gospel to them. Another photo op missed.

After getting turned around and back to Esikhawini we went to the chapel to see if anything had been done with the water. Of course it had not. See yesterday for pictures – nothing has changed.

We then had the sad task of going to the home of a young – 20 years old – sister who was killed in a taxi accident last night. She was the only member of the family who was LDS but we were welcomed to the family’s home. We introduced ourselves and shared in their sorrow. There was a group of women and one man sitting around the room and we joined them. In one corner was a small setting that included some clothes, candles, a bowl and a stack of books. The top book was her Book of Mormon. The setting was important but we were not sure what the pieces represent. My guess is it things the spirit will need as it travels to the next world. But that is only a guess.

As we were sitting quietly, one of the women started singing in Zulu and most of the others joined in. The singing was both very beautiful and very sad. They sang a number of songs and the last one sounded very much like ‘God Be With You Til We Meet Again.’ When they had stopped Mary commented on how beautiful it was and I said that the last song reminded me of our hymn. When I mentioned the name, they said that is what it was. The Zulu words require small changes in tune.

When what was obviously their preacher arrived, we excused ourselves. Two of the other mourners came out with us – I think our leaving allowed them to. We will come back for the funeral which they indicated would be at the house but we will have to see.

As we were traveling back to our boarding I noticed the full moon in the darkening sky. I took a number of pictures from different places and these are just three of them. The two on the right were taken only two or three minutes apart but the light had changed dramatically in that time. The one on the left was taken near our boarding with another lens setting.

This really belongs with yesterday but I did not take it until this morning. This is the finished 1500 piece puzzle that we had to do mainly by turning the pieces over and using a pattern on the back to guide us. I know it was cheating but I doubt if we would have every finished it any other way. I am going to get more puzzles from this company but I think I will stick to the 500 or 750 piece puzzles.

This evening a neighbor who is an insurance broker came over to get the information needed to give us a quote on renter insurance while we are here. If it is cheap enough we will probably get it just in case someone breaks in and cleans us out as they recently did one our neighbors.