29 June 2010 – Tuesday

When we went to the municipality offices, I noticed that the line for electricity was out the door which means people may be waiting hours to buy their electricity before the rates go up. Mary got stuck in a smaller one on Thursday that only took about 30 minutes. At that time we did not realize why the line was even that long – usually there is only a 5 minute wait. It turns out that electricity is going up 30% on July 1 and people are buying large quantities of pre-paid electricity before it goes into effect. Normally we could buy electricity at any grocery store, but for some stupid reason the municipality shut down all outside sales so everyone has to come in to the city center and buy their electricity.

I was there to get some maps for the area book we are making for the Nuzmans. The very nice man who runs the office is not very fast so it took most of an hour to get what should have taken an hour. I would not have minded so much except I had not brought in anything to read and soon exhausted the dated handouts that were available. I did get to take some view shots of the bay and the circus that will be in town for a couple of weeks.

We then ran a couple of more errands – including putting some of our favorite spots in the GPS for the Nuzmans – before having lunch. We then drove out to PD to pick up Sandy Chirwa so he could apply for his passport – the last major step for his mission application. One of the things he needed was a certified copy of his identity papers. To get something certified you go to a police station so we went to the one in Esikhawini.

We had forgotten that while they will certify things for free, you have to have them copied elsewhere. But just as we were figuring out where to go to get a copy, a very nice man came out and said he would take care of it for us. So he made the copies and then got them certified. I was impressed by his kindness – something that does not often happen here or elsewhere.

We then went to the Home Affairs office at Richards Bay and made the application. The young lady who helped us was very helpful and efficient. I noticed that she was wearing a wedding band and I asked about that. It turned out she was engaged and her fiancé had already paid labola – however they have not set a wedding date. I gave her a couple of pass-along cards and told her about the Esikhawini chapel. You never know what might come of giving out a card.

At home in the evening we continued to work on getting things organized for the new couple when they come. We are writing down everything we can think of about how to get things done in Richards Bay from buying electricity to where to get replacement cartridges for the printer. Hopefully this will help them acclimatize quickly.

I am making book for each branch with the latest branch lists, and other lists that they should find helpful. Now that we have maps we can mark them as to who lives where. Of course this will not work for Port Durnford because even Google does not provide maps for there.

During the day I called President Mann just so I could hear his voice say “Hello, President Mann.” He thought that was funny and so I wished him and Sister Mann a safe journey home. Later we got an e-mail telling us about a couple’s re-union with the Manns to be held in August in Provo. I imagine almost all the couples will be there – most of them are from Utah or Idaho – and will be great to meet together. It will almost be like another August Couple’s Conference. However I doubt if we will be able to go on a game drive.