Saturday we were out visiting and we stopped by sister Lebeke’s home and got a two-fer as her brother was also there. I took pictures of them together, of her beautiful bed, and then them with Mary and myself. Being with the members and learning more about them is always part of senior missions that we truly enjoy. The members almost always are happy to see us and share a few minutes together before we leave a blessing before leaving.

Sunday was another beautiful day in Ikageng where the Potchefstroom branch meets and if I remember take lots of pictures.

Sisters Kea and Ntabiseng share a picture with the young Kujane sisters who love to have their picture taken. I caught four of our great YSA together – Sisters Neo on the left and Thato bookend brothers Tinashe and Kenny.

Sister Brummer who’s birthday we celebrated this week spoke in sacrament this week. The YSA group was joined by sister Kea.

I took a close up of Sister Kea and brother Tinashe – both are students at the college. brother Tinashe is originally from Zimbabwe but he and his parents now live in South Africa. The prize for the most beautiful dress of the day goes to our lovely sister Thulo who teaches RS and also is our chorister.

Primary attendance runs from between 10 and 20 a week this week there was an even dozen. Mary plays for Sacrament, sharing time in Primary and then RS. But she is hoping that one of her students will be able to replace her when we leave in August.

I got a couple of pictures of elder Alvial – first posing as Fan Man with sister Kea trying to sneak by without being blown away by his super fan and then with sister Lydia – notice the distance between them – carefully keeping mission rules.

Once a transfer we have Zone Meeting and today was Elder and Sister Dummers last one before the go home. We drove together to the Vaal Zone meeting and talked some about how it feels to come to the end of a mission. Since no couple is available to replace them, they not only have to pack up the things they are going to take home but also help pack up the whole apartment which will be closed. We have been lucky that although we had to pack up part of the apartment in Indonesia, the other flats just had to be cleaned well because other couples were already scheduled to come in. The way it looks now we also will not be replaced when we leave in August unless some couples are soon assigned to the mission.

Although it looks like elders Liera and Dummer are getting into a fight, elder Liera is just showing him how he fought in the ring before he came on his mission. Elders McAllister and Sipiri were companions and now serve in the same zone.

Before the meeting elders Carter, T and Turouskis gathered around the ZL’s boot to see what they brought for them from the office. Now that elder Dutson was transferred Elder Di Ruscio played the piano.

Elder Todd led the music while elder Reese sang along for the opening hymn. Other elders singing included Ah Wong, Yates, Turouskis, May and McAllister.

 

Elders Ah Wong and Yates are companions…I wonder what elder Yates if thinking about. There were two lessons given – one was by elders Neuenschwander and Hentunen pictured above and the other by elders Oldroyd and Todd who for some reason I did photograph. 

Elder Turouskis and May are companions in the Ennerdale area. After the meeting elders Neuenschwander and McAllister had things to talk about.   

Elders May and Di Ruscio were in the MTC together and so was elder Alvial.  

However elder McAllister was not part of that group but he wanted to be in the picture. Elders Stomp, Andriatiana and T spent some time together. Elder Andriatiana is looking at the scrapes he got when a car ran into him while he was on his bike. He was very lucky to just get some scrapes on his arm and buttocks – it could have been a lot worse.

  

Here are good pictures of elder Andritiana and Carter…elder Carter always has a smile on his face.

One last picture of elders Oldroyd and McAllister. You may notice that elder Oldroyd like to talk with his hands – maybe there is a little Italian in his genealogy? It is always a pleasure to be with these dedicated missionaries who work so hard to invite others to come unto Christ.

Mondays are p-days and often this means we just kind of spend the day cleaning the flat, catching up with blog posts – which is what I am doing now a week later – and occasionally going out for lunch or dinner. Today we went to Mugg and Bean at the Moori River mall. We tried to go to Spurs but they were close for renovations. We sat near an outside window that had this view of the Moori River that actually runs under the restaurant and mall. Unfortunately the food was not as good as the view which is unusual for Mugg and Bean.

Tuesday we out visiting when we came across this advertisement for modular houses. We see these all over the area and I thought I would take pictures of the display and the prices. I do not know if the $600 US gets you a three room house, foundation, roof, windows and doors or just the main pre-fab parts for the walls. I also do not know if it includes the construction. However in any case the finished product would probably look better that this basic home that are found all over the township and it’s extension. They also are found in the middle of large cities like Durban where we saw a whole hillside of them right across the freeway from a beautiful new upscale shopping mall.

When I am working at the computer I often have the Tembe Elephant webcam going and it is always a treat to find giraffes visiting the water hole. Watching one do the splits so it can drink is fun – can you find the giraffe in the picture on the right? 

Thursday is Seminary and Activity time for the youth and Mary is in charge. The YM and YW presidents should be in attendance but they choose not to come so Mary and I – but mostly Mary – does the activity night. Here they are playing Book of Mormon bingo. Now that we are using beans instead of small marshmallows it is not as much fun or nearly as tasty. But we do have treats for them at the end of the activity.