Daily Archives: August 19, 2009

17 August 2009

17 August 2009 – Monday

We were up early so we could finish packing for our trip to couples conference. The time seemed to fly by and it was soon time to leave for the Nissan agency where we were to drop off our car to have its brakes serviced. The Bart’s picked us up there and we headed off to the petrol stop on the N2 where we were to meet the rest of the group coming up from Durban.

When we arrived one van load was there and soon after President Mann came with the other. The trip to the Tembe lodge was on good roads. One of the amazing things about the road is that on some sections of this road that runs basically through an open country side there are long concrete walk ways and in some areas there are almost new, wide sidewalks with curbs and gutters. It is a strange contrast to see these modern sidewalks and curbs running through an area where the houses are often made of waddle and rocks with mud plaster. There are few places in modern, well to do Richards Bay that have sidewalks. It is a strange country at times.

The lasts 14 kilometers to the lodge was worse than any part of the Port Durnford road. Except in a couple of sections that obviously had been re-surfaced, there were pot holes that often went all the way across the road. Once again there seemed to be no reason for those sections that were re-surfaced. They would start at one point in the pot hole riddled road and then a couple of kilometers later they would end and the pot holes would resume.

Since we have 12 couples – including the Manns – we were able to reserve the whole lodge for the conference. So we were well taken care of. To keep things short after we arrived we signed a paper releasing the lodge for any accident or injury we might incur – such as being eaten by lions or stepped on by an elephant. Then we were shown to out ‘tent.’ This turned out to be about 20’ x 30’ raised tent with shower, toilet, and beds with electric blankets. Talk about roughing it!

Almost as soon as we got settled we had lunch and then we went on our first of four game drives. To keep this simple on the drives over the next three days we got to see elephants, lions, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, and enough impalas and nyalas that we stopped taking pictures of them.

When we got back from the drive we had time to freshen up before having dinner. Dinner included impala steaks. This was a first for all of us and I must say it was pretty good. It was tender and had no gamey taste.

After dinner we gathered for a short introduction session and then we gathered around the campfire to roast marsh mellows. Sister Mann thinks of almost everything but she did not bring long sticks so people were using wooden skewers to roast the marsh mellows. (As I was typing this at 10:20 on Tuesday night a monkey just ran across our roof. At least I hope it was a monkey.) I saw the problem and walked over to a nearby bush and broke off a longer thin branch and solved the problem of getting your fingers  roasted along with the marsh mellows.



16 August 2009

16 August 2009 – Sunday

Our normal busy Sunday from about 7:00 am until 2:30 when we get back to our boarding. We picked up brother Nwayo and his son on the way to Esikhawini. President Malinga came to PEC and we had a majority of those who should be in attendance there for a change. Hopefully some day we will get a full group.

The only thing that was different for the day was that elder Musemare taught the adult SS class and I taught the adult Priesthood class. Brothers Percy and Malando had the Aaronic PH conferred on them and were ordained Priests. President Nyawo did the ordinances with the help of Elder Vance holding his white handbook turned to the right page.

After the meeting I was able to get a couple of problems solved and then spent some time training President Nyawo to be a counselor. We had a good talk and I tried to show him why it was important that they hold a weekly Presidency meeting before having PEC. While I was doing that, Mary had a couple of piano students.

On our way to dropping president Nyawo off, I stopped at brother Nkosi to see why he has been missing church. We had a short but good visit – president Nyawo is his home teacher – and I told him I would pick him up at about 7:30 next Sunday for PEC meeting. Hopefully he will be ready and we will be really close to having a complete PEC. After taking president Nyawo off we finally wended our way back to our boarding.

We made taco salad using the meat Mary cooked last night for dinner. I cut up the tomatoes, lettuce and grated the cheese. The salads turned out to be very good and we broke up the left over crisp shells and used them like tortilla chips in the salad.

I guess I should explain that while we can not buy corn tortillas nor plain corn tortilla chips, we can buy a taco kit that has 12 pre-formed, pre-fried corn tortilla shells along with an almost decent seasoning mix and a not very decent salsa.

After lunch I crashed and woke up a couple of hours later. We then started packing for our trip to couples conference tomorrow before we left to go to the B’s boarding for Sunday dinner with the missionaries. We celebrated Elder Richey’s 21st birthday and had a good time as usual. It is a nice way to end each Sabbath day.



15 August 2009

15 August 2009 – Saturday

I was up early so I could be at the car wash before 7:00. I got there at 6:50 but there were already 2 cars in front of me. That is better than the 4 last week, but if you add the wait time for it to open, I still spent over an hour getting my car washed.

Mary was invited to attend Richards Bay Enrichment meeting this morning so I dropped her off at about 10:00 and went and went to get some prints made. I started to say I dropped off some … what do you drop off when you are using digital images? Anyway a very well versed young lady helped me choose what I wanted copied and told me to come back in an hour.

On the way back to our boarding, I stopped at the Engen station to get some scones and pick up a newspaper for Mary. I could have bought the paper at the mall but I forgot so I swung in to the station because it is right on my way home. As I was checking out the young lady who was helping me looked at my name tag and asked where the church was. Since I never seem to be able to tell anyone the correct street name, I asked for her name and phone number so someone could contact her. I also left her a ‘Plan of Salvation’ pamphlet. I then called the Richards Bay elders – she said she lived in the area – and gave them the name and number so they could contact her later. So my ‘mistake’ in not getting the paper in the mall led to a contact. BTW they did not have the paper at the Engen station but I did get some scones.

I picked up Mary at noon and we went to the mall and picked up the prints. I then went to CNA and got the newspaper. We then hurried to Esikhawini so we would be on time for English lessons. We were just about to give up that anyone was coming and a student showed up. Mary taught her while I sat in the car and read.

Since we did not have any lunch we went to KFC and while we were in line the four elders from the area showed up. We treated them to lunch – I told them that their timing was perfect – and then had them help us gather up a food order that we needed to take out to Port Durnford. As we were doing this, I realized they could take the order and so the whole thing worked out well for everyone. They got a free lunch and we saved a trip to Port Durnford. Reciprocal tender mercies.

When we left the mall – or what passes for one in Esikhawini – Mary felt we should go by and visit sister Mavundla. I thought we should visit others, but Mary felt strongly about it so we went to her house. She was not there, but her husband was and as we talked to him we learned that his wife was not feeling well at all and was at her mothers. I asked if he thought she would like a blessing and he said yes, but he needed to go to work. So I called elder Richey and Mbhiti and they said they would.

We then went over to sister Khumalo’s to try and straighten out her family’s records. We had a nice visit and found that her children had different last names and how we needed to attach them to her. Hopefully by the time we are released the records in the branches will be correct – including addresses and phone numbers.

After that was done it was getting time to leave the township so we headed home for the evening.