12 September 2009 – Saturday

Today we drove to Kosi Bay so I could interview two recent converts to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and speak in sacrament meeting. We left home at about 9:00 and arrived in Kosi Bay before noon. We did not stop to sightsee along the way because I thought we could use the time sightseeing in Kosi Bay.

Thanks to Mary excellent memory and a very large sign we found the Maputaland Lodge soon after entering the city. The Lodge turned out to be quite nice with good size rooms, interesting décor, and very quiet. For some reason I thought that Kosi Bay was a tourist destination. It is not – at least not for white tourists and I doubt African either. When I checked in I spoke with the owner and she said they were mainly busy on week-days when business and government representative visited here.

After we had settled in our things and had a delicious lunch of peanuts and dark chocolate –there are not a lot of restaurants here either –we went to look for Iras’ tailor business. Iras is the local Priesthood leader of the congregation at Kosi Bay. Since it is not a branch – not even a dependant branch – the title of his calling is a little murky but basically he acts like a branch president.

We went to where the GPS said to go and then called him. He came and found us and took us to his tailor shop. We found out later that Iras is 37 years old, is from the Congo and has been a member for 10 years. His parents and all his brothers and sisters are muslim but they did not get really upset when he joined the Church. He was introduced to the Church through English classes taught by missionaries.

He is a very industrious man and works hard to employee members and helps them start small businesses. His shop is a nice size and he has a number of older sewing machines and a decent computer system. His shop seems to be busy making new clothes as well as repairing and altering old clothes.

While we were there I convinced Mary that she should get an African skirt made so she chose a very nice print and they took her measurements. The material was expensive – it was hand printed and came from Nairobi – but the making was almost as cheap as it was in Indonesia. Hopefully it will come out nice and she can find other material – less expensive I hope – to have other skirts made.

After making arrangements to take him and his wife to dinner, we decided to do some sightseeing. It turned out there was very little to see except a landscape that we had seen for over 100 kilometers. We did go up to the border but because we did not have our passports, we could not cross over. Maybe next time. We also tried to find a road that went to the bay, but when we tried one we found it much too sandy for our car so we turned around and went back to the main highway. We did get a picture of a very unusual warning sign that was at the beginning of the road.

We decided to just go back to our room and chill until dinner time. However we had just got settled in when Iras called and invited us to his English class. So we hurried back to his shop and found him teaching English to 7 or 8 women, most of who turned out to be members. We got to participate and did well until he asked about a scripture that says that the Lord had given us the Law and the Commandments. He wanted to know the difference and we were hard pressed to come up with a reasonable answer except that they are basically the same and the use of two terms meaning the same thing is a literary device that is found often in the Old Testament. I am going to have to do some research and send the information back with the elders.

After the class we took Iras to his homestead. That was a real experience as he lives out of town off a very badly maintained road. To say that his home is humble does not really cover it. But they usually have water – it has been off for a number of days – and they do have electricity as the ever present TV indicated. We again set a time to come back and pick them up and headed back to our lodgings. We checked out the TV schedule but ended up turning it off. We have reached a point where TV is not a big thing for us. I am sure we will revert when we get home but right now it is a good thing.

We drove once more over the challenging road and picked them up. It turned out that the Lodge’s restaurant is the best in town so we ate there. There were not many customers – I think that there was one family other than ourselves – but the service and food was good. We spent the time talking mainly learning about Iras’ background and his family. We did not find out much about his wife’s life. We will have to do that the next time we come up.

If I thought driving on that road was interesting in the daylight, I can assure you that driving it at night was a true adventure. We passed one car that was going slower than a walking pace. Iras informed us that the man always drove that slow. Of course with the road being in that condition I can understand being cautious but he was perhaps being a little too cautious.

Back at the lodge we again gave up on TV and just sat and read. By 9:00 I was ready for bed and it did not take long before I turned off my light and was asleep.

We love signs in South Africa. Rumble strips are roughed up pavement to warn that something is coming up. Usually it is a cross street or school. If it is a school there are usually speed bumps after the strips. The middle sign warns that you are about to leave a paved road for a dirt or gravel one. You can figure the last sign out without any help. I can tell you it was more than truthful and after about 200 yards we turned around and came back.

Don’t you love the name of the city…don’t ask us how to pronounce it. The middle sign is at the border crossing – we could not cross because we did not have out passports – besides it is out of our mission. The last one is the lodge where we stayed in Kosi Bay – the elephant was on the gate and it closed at night.

Our room and car at the lodge. We found some interesting sights near our room. First there is the fence made out of the old sides of houses. Then what everyone needs next door – a private family graveyard.

These photos show the branch meeting place in Kosi Bay. The branch President turns his shop into a chapel by covering the display with white material and setting up chairs. The music is a DVD player. It may be a humble place to meet but the spirit is greater there than in the finest cathedral in the world.