Monthly Archives: May 2010

20 May 2010

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We love to go to Port Durnford because it is so peaceful – except for the taxis zooming along the road – and there is just so much to see and love. Small woodlots produce income about every 7 years. This one belongs to the Nzama homestead. We grow to understand piles of debris, stacks of cement blocks, and unfinished buildings as just part of rural Africa. The blocks and unfinished buildings are hopes for a better future. The debris is the result of a successful remodel. But of course what is really important is the people – especially the children. No matter how humble the circumstances the children seem to always be clean and know they are loved by everyone. Everyone are truly brothers and sisters no matter what family they belong to.

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Looking across the Mlondo garden at the neighbor’s laundry. Laundry is hung anywhere. We recently went by a fence covered with laundry and it was not near any house. It is almost like someone came out of the trees and hung it there to dry. Thandi Nzama is learning to teach Youth so when we are gone she can continue to teach Seminary and keep the Youth together. Blessing is the young man in the orange T-shirt who told us with a smile on his face about being in jail for 3 months to keep him from testifying in a criminal case. Sister Mlondo heads a household of more people than I can count. She works in the gardens to provide fresh vegetable for the family. It is the gogo – grandmothers – who hold much of Africa together.

We are truly blessed to know and serve here in South Africa in an area where in 30 minutes we can go from a modern mall to a rural community. It reminds me that it is people and family that really make happiness.

20 May 2010 – Thursday

The Bartholomews got to Durban yesterday and stayed at Little Haven. I called them to see if they could take president Vilane to a doctor that president Baldwin suggested but it turned out it would not work for them. Instead the made an appointment for him with Dr. Watson for tomorrow morning.

Martin, the garage door opener man, came by with his crew to finally replace the opener. He had a funeral to attend so he left his crew working and said he would come back later. When they were done we locked things up and got some goodies for the RB DDM. It seems like something is always coming up that keeps us from going to their meeting. Today is was that we had to quickly eat and then get back to our boarding so Martin could finish up with the garage door.

It turned out after they got it all in that it did not work properly. He was really mad because they had wasted about half the day and then had to take it all out. He promised he would have it back in tomorrow.

By the time they had taken everything out we were late getting away for Port Durnford. However thing pretty much worked out and Mary was still able to give her whole lesson before we had to leave for Youth. While she was teaching I got to thinking about the things that have made our mission so special. I considered the small, everyday things that have just become part of who we are. I wrote some of my thoughts down in my notebook and I am going to try to write something each day until we leave.

As we were driving from the Nzama’s to the chapel, we picked up Thobani on his way home from school. When we got to the Chirwa’s road, we were surprised to see Blessing standing there. He had disappeared from our lives months ago and we were told he had moved. It turned out that he was in jail. Not because he had done anything but so he could not testify in a rape case he knew something about.

What is amazing is that he is not bitter about this experience. He is the same old blessing with a smile always on his face. He is not a member but always came to Youth and church when he was here before.

Other than Lindani who does not get out of school until Youth is over and Lugani, all the youth were there and of course we now had Blessing. Thandi had a lesson, we worked on the theme, played some games and then I did a lesson/game about the Book of Mormon. They are really good young men and women and I just hope that Thandi can hold it all together until another couple come to help.

While we were driving to Esikhawini we got a call from the Bs saying they were in Richards Bay and we arranged to have dinner with them after Youth. It was interesting because they were using their US phone which means they would be charged for roaming when they were really only calling less than10 miles.

We had a really nice dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant . When they arrived, they were greeted by our server long lost friends. They said the same thing happened at McDonalds when they stopped for lunch. We talked about a lot of things that had happened since they had left and some ideas they had about helping the Youth in the area. It really was like old times and made me realize how much we miss not having another couple here to get together with from time to time and just talk about our experiences and sharing ideas.

19 May 2010

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All over Esikhawini and Port Durnford there are huge bushes covered in daisy like yellow flowers. These along the PD road are about 9 feet high and stretch for 40 – 50 meters. There always seems to be some tree or bushes flowering in South Africa.

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Most of the time we find geckos climbing the walls inside the house, but I noticed this little critter on the outside of the sliding glass door. I put my hand next to it to give an idea of just how small it was. Notice the pretty pink belly. Now if I could train them to eat the ants…

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Misc pictures from the month. The nice green bunch of bananas the Mickelsens gave us on Monday. They make an interesting table sculpture. The Blackburns were with us last Thursday and joined us at Port Durnford for Youth where they joined in teaching the gospel. Last Saturday morning I caught this picture of the trees and clouds at sunrise at Little Haven. It was a lovely, cool morning in Durban.

19 May 2010 – Wednesday

From one of the old mission blog posts:

Elder Andersen:
Ordination gives authority. Righteousness gives power.
To increase spirituality in a stake, teach the principle of tithing. Tithing for members is like mission rules for full-time missionaries. If they are obedient, they will have the Spirit.

For some reason this just hit home this morning, especially the first one. However the one about tithing is also so true. Many of the members here do not really understand the blessings that come with paying a full and honest tithe. When they are taught and understand the principle they start paying and then the Lord blesses them.

Out early so we could buy and deliver a food order to Enseleni. While there we took care of a request that president Baldwin called us about earlier and also stopped in to see president Vilane. President Vilane did not look good at all and the hospital at Engwelezane is really not helping at all. I am afraid he is dying.

We went to DDM where they reported their week of 2-mite days. The average was about 2.75 out of 7 which gives them lots of room to improve. As they do, the Lord will bless them and miracles will happen.

After DDM we had some lunch and then found that we would not be able to teach English this afternoon because our student would not be in town.

Instead we ran some errands – including helping the elders try to get a couple of bikes out of – and ended up spending an hour talking to our old landlady (I could not come up with a better term for ‘old’ – sorry Bessie) about birding in the area. She is a wonderful lady and just bubbles with enthusiasm for gardening, birding, and just about everything else she does.

We then came back home, where I finalized what I was going to train on this evening at District Council meeting.  I decided on talking about how the Aaronic PH committee is supposed to work in the district. It is an area that is clearly under the district president and that is not really working as outlined in the handbook of instruction right now.

The meeting was quite good. I think my training helped and president Baldwin made plans to instruct the branch presidencies when they come for training in June. All of the members of the council are good men and just need more training and experience.  We talked about finances, reviewed calendar items, and new branch clerks for a couple of the branches.

So the day did not go quite like we had earlier planned but some good work got done.

18 May 2010

18 May 2010 – Tuesday

In the morning we bought the food order and delivered out to Port Durnford. The recent rain made some of the roads quite interesting to say the least. I am still hoping to get through our mission without getting stuck so badly that I have to call the elders to dig us out.

While we were in Port Durnford we talked to Sandile Chirwa about getting his medical and dental check-ups done this week. It is going to take quite a bit of time to get his papers ready – it turns out he does not have his national health immunization card so he will probably have to have all the shots. But what ever it takes to get him ready, it will be well worth it.

We tried to visit Bongamusa’ mother to see how her business is doing but no one is home. We hope that now that we got her a little boast in selling, she will be able to expand it to a point where it helps take care of her family until Bongamusa finishes the university and gets a good job.

We stopped in at president Machaka’s to get some papers signed and he then caught a ride with us back to Richards Bay.

It is the time of the year when they start burning the cane fields and the air quality starts to go downhill. As we drive the roads around Richards Bay and on the way to Durban we see the cloud of smoke and haze over everything. I really did not notice it all that much last year, but for some reason it is really standing out. Since this is the early part of the harvest, there are still not many fields being burned each day. I am not looking forward to the next few weeks when the harvest gets really going.

We spent the afternoon doing what we would have done yesterday if we had not gone to Durban for Zone Conference. I decided to get the car washed and while I was waiting a man sat down and started talking to me. He had seen my name tag with ‘Jesus Christ’ on it and started sharing how he and his family were having a hard time. It had been going on for about a year and seemed to be financial and also family harmony. After we had talked for a while I got his contact information and then put him on the phone with the missionaries in Empangeni.

He told me that he and his family pray three times a day and that he really has been praying about what he might be doing wrong and asking for help from God. As I was leaving I told him that I thought that God had a hand in us meeting at the car wash because I had not planned to get my car washed today but since we had been on so many muddy roads it seemed the things to do. I have had a number of contacts with people that I have turned over to the missionaries. None of them have led to any baptisms but that is OK because everyone has free agency. The important thing is just to keep trying to bring others unto Christ.

17 May 2010

17 May 2010 – Monday

 We were up way too early but it was necessary so we could leave for Zone Conference in Durban.

We stopped by the Mickelsen’s on our way to the conference so we could pay them for all the goodies they got for us in Cape Town. They were busy getting everything beautiful for the couple who is coming in a month to replace them. We spent just a few minutes with them before wishing them God’s Speed for their trip home. One of the many blessings of our mission was getting to know them and we are looking forward to seeing them in Utah.

We made it the Berea chapel quite early and were the first ones there. Sister Mann soon pulled up behind us and we were soon joined by some of the Richards Bay elders. We all had to stand around outside because no one had a key. Luckily our friend Elder Makona – who we served with in Swaziland and Richards Bay – showed up with the key to let us all in.

The conference was as always up lifting. I am always most impressed by President Mann’s positive presentations. Even when he is giving bad news or chiding the elders for some of their behavior, he finds a way to keep it positive. He really has learned how to ‘rebuke at times with sharpness’ and then ‘showing greater love.’ The elders all know that he loves them and would do anything he could for them so they take his ‘rebukes’ and counsel to heart.

He told the story about Elder Packer giving a talk to the new mission presidents where he talked about all the things that mission presidents – and couples – might worry about as they leave their homes for three years. He told them a number of times not to worry about them because the Lord would take care of them. Then after a pause he said “And if he doesn’t, So What.” 

As he said this I recalled how as we thought about what might happen to our house and the many things that are in it, I had told Mary that the worse thing that could happen is that it would burn down and we would lose everything. We then decided if that happened we could live with it. Once we had decided that, we could pretty much forget about the material things we were leaving until we got home.

The highlight of the conference for me was president Mann talking about what he had learned on his mission. He said that at the recent conference in Joburg the three mission presidents that would soon be released, talked about this.

He learned to truly love people. He talked about sitting in the emergency room with a missionary surrounded by people with injuries or illness and loving each of them because they were really his brothers and sisters.

He said he learned to truly trust God. He learned to trust and expect revelation for the mission. He mentioned that as soon as the new mission president stepped off the plane, he was released and would no longer have revelation about the mission.

He learned to make every minute count – he wants to be able to say I gave my 2 mites each day of my mission.

Learned what it meant to truly be obedient. He already knew this intellectually but on his mission he learned what it meant to be exactly obedient.

Learned to let go of the past. What happened before does not matter. What matters is what you are doing now and in the future.

He said he learned that the mission equation was actually life’s equation. Faith + Obedience + Hard Work = Miracles is how to succeed no matter who or where you are.

He learned to love and trust 340 missionaries.

After the meetings Sister Mann directed the taking of Zone pictures. She pointed out to president Mann that it would be the last time they had Zone conferences and so the pictures would be the last chance to get pictures with all the missionaries. Once our picture was done, Mary and I then took care of handing out the pizza and brownies. The Manns and the Davises needed to go back to the mission office to make sure the Mickelsens made it to the airport on time for their flight.

After all the elders had been fed, we left the assistants in charge of cleaning up and locking up so we could head start home. The drive was uneventful except we tried to go to Nyoni Crafts but called it off when we found that it was 17K on a dirt road with no idea what we would find at the other end.

We decided to stop at the PO box to see if the package from Cindy and Bob had arrived and it had. When we got home and opened it there were many great treats for my birthday and Mary’s Mother’s Day. 2 bags of real Fritos, a bag of chocolate covered cinnamon bears, a number of bags of Red Vines, some 2.75 reading glasses, a nice Mother’s Day card, some seasonings that Mary wanted, and some root beer extract for making real root beer. It was much like Christmas for us.

About the only thing that happened during the afternoon was we got a call from one of the branch presidents asking us to help with a food order for one of their members. We will take care of it in the morning. For most of the evening we just relaxed and watched an episode of Midsomer Murders. It was a long but good day for us.

16 May 2010

16 May 2010 – Sunday

We start with PEC in Esikhawini where they are starting to understand the importance of better planned meetings. I learned that Sne Mthalane resigned his job because it was taking way too much time and he wants to go to school starting in June. Hopefully he will find a part time job that will allow him to get his schooling, earn some money and still be able to fulfill his callings.

We then went to Port Durnford for sacrament. Very few from the Malondo and Zondi family came – which meant that there were about 25 in attendance. We got there early so I went to the Nzamas and gave some of them a ride to church. I found out that Quintin has changed jobs and does not have to work on Sundays. That is excellent news and should really help the branch in the future.

During the meeting I got a call from president VanThiel saying that the RB chapel had been broken into again and that they had stolen the new cutlery, table cloths and some of the baptismal clothes. They had not touched the electronics in the chapel and had not tried to break into the secured rooms.  Brother Holder is going to have to do something to make the building more secure or this is going to happen regularly.

After their meeting we went to Enseleni and found that President Vilane was still too sick to be there. For a while it looked like Khulekani would have to conduct but brother Chiliza finally showed up and so it got started about 15 minutes late. The attendance was very low for the branch – even the usual group of non-member children was smaller than usual. Later I was talking to elder Reeves about the poor attendance at Engwelezane and he said it was because it rained yesterday. That was a new one for me but I guess people do things they could not or did not want to do yesterday during church.

Following sacrament meeting Mary was tired – she is still recovering from her surgery. I often forget how much that took out of her and how long it is going to take for her to recover. Anyway she felt we should go home so she could rest some before starting to cook for the elders tonight.

It was a strange dinner night for us. Two of the elders showed up about on time and then another group came about 45 minutes late. It was approaching 9:00 before two more came and two never made it. All of it was because they were busy working so I am not complaining but it does make it hard to serve a hot meal when they come over a 90 minute span. Elder Bentley was able to make his Mother’s Day call tonight. His family could not get together last Sunday.

We have found that this group of elders are either not big eaters or they do not like what we cook. I am thinking about serving rice and chicken at the next dinner and see if they like it better. One thing is for sure, they had a great time together. The noise level got so high I could not carry on a conversation when I got a phone call from brother Bartholomew.

He called to say that they are coming to South Africa after all and will be in on the 19th or 20th. Sister B decided that she was going to come regardless of how she felt. They just want to be here and renew their friendship with the members.

After the elders left, we cleaned up and then pretty much fell into bed. It was a good day in Richards Bay.

15 May 2010

15 May 2010 – Saturday

The Aaronnic PH was restored to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on this date 181 years ago.

We had breakfast with the Baldwins at Little Haven. President Baldwin had a meeting at 8:00 a.m. at the mission office with the other district and stake presidents, president Mann and Elder Hill.

We stayed around until we got to say goodbye to the Knudsens who will be heading back to Lesotho. Unless we find a way to get up to see them, it will be the last time we can say goodbye until we see them at a re-union in 2011.

We dropped by the mission office to pick up some supplies and letters for the elders. Most of the sisters and some of the elders were there. They were on their way to Essenwood market to look for goodies. We bid our farewells and our next stop was at the Mickelsens where we picked up the nativity sets and ties they bought for us in Cape Town. We talked about how busy their last days will be. As we were saying goodbye and wishing them a good trip, they gave us a bunch of bananas that were on one of their trees. They should be ripe in a week or so.

We stopped at Ballito to buy fruit and rolls for the elder’s dinner tomorrow night. We then headed for home with a stop at the Vilanes’ to see how the president was doing. Sister Vilane had called me about 7:00 this morning and asked for a ride home from the hospital. I explained that we were in Durban and could not help. The hospital can not find any physical reason for the President’s constipation so they just give him more medicine and send him home.

We got a call from Khulekani saying that he was at the Richards Bay chapel so we stopped there to see him and then took him to the taxi rink so he could get home. He was there for a Seminary meeting. After dropping him off we came home long enough to unload the car, get a quick sandwich.

On our way to Esikhawini it started to rain and while Mary was giving her piano lessons, it started to really pour. Three of her four students showed up and had good lessons. We knew that one would not come because he had to walk and it was raining too hard and the other just did not show.

Our evening was spent having dinner with the Griesmers and then finishing up our shopping for tomorrow. We seem to have spent a lot of time in stores today. The Griesmers were bunked by brother Joseph because it was raining and where he wanted to go was too muddy. But they told us that an inactive family they visited last Saturday came to Church on Sunday. They really are enjoying their time in Engwelezane.

By the time we finally got home, we were both quite tired and it was not long before we headed to bed. It is good to be tired in the Lord’s work.

14 May 2010

14 May 2010 – Friday

 

The Blackburns and us left for Durban at about 8:30 on Friday. We made a short stop at Ballito to pick up a supply of Dr. Pepper and other things for Sister Mann. The Manns have been in Joburg for 3 plus days for a meeting of the Area Presidency and the Mission Presidents – they were in the Joburg airport getting ready to fly home when we called earlier in the morning.

As we were about to get off the N2 in Durban we almost found ourselves in the middle of a traffic accident.  An 18 wheeler all of a sudden swerved partially into our lane about 3 cars in front of us. Luckily everyone was able to avoid hitting or being hit. The Blackburns were some cars behind us and said that the truck had swerved to avoid hitting three vehicles who had bumped each other. The traffic on the N2 where it transitions to the N3 is terrible as two or three lanes always has lots of slow trucks trying to get up the hill and into the correct lane.

But we made it safely to the mission home and shortly after we arrived the Manns pulled in. The President had the phone tight to his ear trying to solve a couple of problems. It is amazing how much he gets accomplished just driving in from the airport.

The Mickelsens were also at the mission home so we had a chance to say hi to them and tell them that we goofed and forgot to bring money or a check to pay for some things they picked up for us in Cape Town. We will get one more chance to pay them when we come in on Monday – they will leave later in that day for home. Elder Mickelsen’s back seems to still be hurting some, but he said that it is getting better. I do not envy him sitting in an airplane for 18 hours with a bad back.

We left the Blackburns at the mission home so they could get some things done they need to do at customs and checked in at Little Haven. We got a chance to relax for an hour or so before heading back to the mission home for my meeting.

The president had completely changed the agenda for the meeting because of what he had learned at the conference in Joburg. Mainly we learned about a new member missionary program – actually it is an version of what the stakes and districts already should be doing – that the area wants to implement. It is based on a successful program in a couple of Joburg Stakes that are doing so well with doing member missionary work that they have no full-time missionaries assigned to them. That means the elders can work where they are most needed to build up small branches. It is an exciting program but will hardly get off the ground before we leave.

After the meeting all the couples – leadership and training missionaries – we with sister Mann to RJ’s Steak House for dinner. Mary and I got lost mainly because we were given the wrong address. But Sister Mann finally got us in the right place.

Other than the really slow service, it was a nice evening getting to know the other couples and some of member of the district presidencies that came in for today’s meeting but especially for tomorrow’s meeting with Elder Hill.

The Baldwins followed us back to Little Haven without any problems except I forgot to turn on my headlights so they had to catch up with us and tell me to turn them on. Once we were in our rooms in the cottage, president Baldwin and I watched the end of the Shark’s rugby game – the Sharks won. Then we watched the last 4 overs of the International 20 Cricket tournament semi-final match between Australia and Pakistan. Australia was way behind and when it came down to the last 6 balls of the match it looked like there was no way they could get enough runs. But the batter proceeded to pound out three 6’s and a couple of 4’s to bring home the win for the Australians. It was an amazing string of hits for the batter and a sad night for the bowler. An exciting way to end a very nice day of fellowship and learning for me.

I forgot to mention that the president mentioned to us that a young elder serving in the Cape Town Mission drowned recently. Four very fine, hard working missionaries who had never gotten into any trouble decided to go to a beach that was outside their area without getting permission from their president. President Mann said that there really was nothing to do in their area.

When they got to the beach one thing led to another and they went into the ocean. One of them got caught by a strong tide and by the time they were able to get him back to the beach he was dead and they could not revive him.

The president pointed out they had broken one rule when they went outside their area, and once they had broken one rule it was easier to break others which led to this tragic death that will haunt the other three missionaries their whole life.

13 May 2010

13 May 2010 – Thursday

It was a nice busy Thursday for us. The morning was spent running around getting some errands run, dropping by RB DDM for a short time. While we were there we found out that they are replacing all the drop ceilings in the offices and rooms with solid ones. Not sure why but perhaps it is for security?

Finally got the two nativity sets that we have been promised for months from the Zim artists. Elder Crowther and Sister Mann will be happy to finally see them. The Wilsons will have to wait until we get home for their animal dice and Mary will probably never see her green stone nativity set.

We went visited President Vilane and found that he was still not well. We are very worried about him and his problems. They say that the X-rays do not show any blockage but there seems to be something more there besides simple constipation.

The Blackburns came down from Swaziland on their way to the meeting tomorrow in Durban. We met them at McDonalds and after a quick lunch we dropped their car off at our house and headed off to Port Durnford for our regular Thursday activities. Since we already had a car load I had to act like a shuttle to get everyone one to English class but it worked.

While Mary and Sister Blackburn taught English, I took Elder Blackburn and we visited some families in the area. I wanted to show him the trail we have to take to Sister Chirwa’s home and was really surprised to see that they had bulldozed a nice new wide trail all the past their house and actually right in front of their property. It takes some of the adventure out of visiting this great family.

The Blackburns will have some adventures like this in their work in Swaziland. Getting to the Shongwe house is never going to be made easy and some of the other ‘roads’ are really just two tracks through the grass. But they have a bakkie to drive and we of course do it in a much too low car.

After English we had youth and Siya brought a couple of his friends who seem to fit right in. After the meeting – lesson, games, treats – they told Siya that they wanted to come to church on Sunday. It will be interesting to see if they actually make it.

After Youth we drove to the water-front where we had dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant. The Blackburns have been to Thailand and they liked the spicy food. I was happy to hear them say they enjoyed their meal. They are much more adventurous eaters than we are. It was fun to sit and talk over dinner – we learned about how they met, their family and much more. They have been in the mission for a whole 8 days…what a wonderful adventure they are in for. However they are just now starting to get use to the time change which means they are not waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning.

By the time we got home we were all tired. So after they had a chance to catch up on their e-mail – they do not have the internet where they are staying in Swaziland – we sat around and talked for a short time before heading off to bed.

It was a good day in Richards Bay

12 May 2010

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Elder Reeves presenting elder Musisi with the first ever Empangeni District ‘Goof Ball.’

12 May 2010 – Wednesday

The days seem to be flying by. We are trying not to think about our mission here in South Africa ending in a couple of months but there is so much to do before we leave it seems to always be at the back of our mind.

Today we went to Elder Reese’s fist DDM as a district leader and his enthusiasm was just bubbling. His goal is to make a difference which is a good one. He started a ‘goof ball’ tradition – in Swazi there was a Zone Bone – that is given each week to the elder or sister who made the funniest mistake during the week. The first elder to get the ball was elder Musisi. When asked why they had knocked on the gate he responded with a new door approach ‘we have come to eat your food.’ Of course he was making a joke but the lady said OK and prepared them some food. Too bad he did not say ‘we have come to baptize you.’

They set the district goal as improving the number of 2 mite days they have as a district each week. They should already be keeping track of 2 mite days for their letter to the president. But it seems some have not been too good about writing and this will focus their attention on the idea of giving their all each day.

After the DDM we found that president Vilane came home from the hospital this morning so instead of visiting him there, we bought some fruit juices for him and after lunch at KFC went to see him. He seemed to be a little stronger and was able to talk some. If we understood him correctly his wife said they took 600 ml of liquid from his stomach. He also has stopped being constipated which should also help. We will keep in close contact with him to see how he is doing.

We went from Enseleni to Esikhawini so Mary could give an English lesson. While she was doing that I went to see President Machaka about how things were going with him getting to Zimbabwe and getting his passport renewed. He said he needed someone to watch his shop while he was gone and I suggested he contact Musa and Solo and see if they could fill in.

After the lesson we had to go shopping for some of the things we will need for feeding the missionaries on Sunday. I hit gold by finding 7 boxes of Mary’s favorite brownie mix at Pick N Pay while she shopped at Spars. When I got back to Spars she was outside the store looking in the parking lot for me and I must have walked right by her when I went into the store to look for her. It took us a while to find each other but we finally made connections – luckily she was wearing a very distinctive Indonesian patterned skirt.

Unfortunately they delivered the wrong motor for our garage door opener so it will be another weekend without it…hopefully it will come before we go home!  

In the evening we called the Coxes and set a date for our trip to the midlands. We have been meaning to do this for almost a year but just could never fit it in to our schedule. Hopefully this time it will actually happen.

Misc May Pictures

 Some people are very good about getting their pictures captioned, edited and on their blogs right after they take them. I keep telling myself that I should do this but seldom do. So here is catching up some of the May pictures that I have taken.

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Look Ma – no gate. Stolen in broad daylight with us inside the house not 25 feet away. They must be very good at lifting gates. The new gate with the new feature that I suggested to make it harder to remove. Of course nothing will stop a truly determined thief. I think I have posted this sign from the mall before, but it always makes me wonder how much a threat the workmen at the mall really are.

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I did not take many pictures at Reptile City. Riannan was a great host for a personal tour. He has over 100 crocodiles of all ages to go with birds, snakes, spiders and fish. Oh and of course some farm animals including this gorgeous rooster that I present for Sister Mickelsen’s collection.

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As we walked through the mall on the day before Mother’s Day we came across a number of booths where they were offering free face painting along with a number of craft projects that children could make for their mother’s. As I saw the mixture of children, I thought how wonderful it will be when all of South Africa will be as color free as these children are.

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The children in the townships do not often have money for fancy toys but they have a very fertile imagination and the ablility to make their own toys. We thought this one was one of the best push toys we have seen. The young man said he made it all himself. Hope that he is able to use that talent when he grows up.