Saturday is often a busy day and it is always nice when a quick visit to the Tembe webcam shows not only elephants, waterbuck, nyalas and wildebeests but also a group of three giraffes. So we were able to get our animal boost early in the day.

 

This was the last week for dance practice – next Saturday it will be the real thing. We were a little short on young men so president Kwaikwai came in and showed the youth how he could move.

While the youth were dancing brothers David and Simon were busy getting the RS and branch president’s office area ready for our sacrament meeting tomorrow. Our normal chapel area is going to used for some local voting and so we will need to try and squeeze 50-70 people into an area made for a maximum of 50 – 60. So first comes the washing and waxing of the floor and then the four of us pitched in and set things up. Mary had managed to pinch a nerve in her hip so she got to supervise. The other two members of the branch presidency will be gone tomorrow so president Kwaikwai put his office chair up front for me to sit…kind of reminds me of a throne but it is very comfortable.

I put this picture in just to see if anyone is really looking and reading our blog. This great looking fall picture of South Africa has a hidden bonus – if you find it, please leave a comment saying you did but not what it is so it will be a secret between you and me! Or if you want you can messenger us on Facebook with your observation. Enjoy – I did.

What you say? Another post about a district meeting. Come on now you have these each week so why bother to post about them? Well it is because no two are the same and besides there are parents out there who follow this blog who never get enough pictures of their sons and grandsons. As usual after opening song, prayer, mission quote, and spiritual thought comes the area reports. Elders Oldroyd and Todd do not have any baptisms scheduled but have some prospects. On the other hand the Klerksdorp elders – McAllister and Di Ruscio have 3 on date for this month. Obviously they saw me getting ready to take a picture so they posed. Our Ikageng elders were excited to report that a long time investigator has agreed to a baptism date in April. The man has been a faithful attender at church and YSA FHE but only this last Sunday did he agree to be baptized. Elder Todd serves in the Jouberton branch with elder Oldroyd. After the meeting elder Dummer made some arrangements with elder Oldroyd about going to an appointment. Elder Oldroyd’s lesson for the meeting was about looking happy in our work so people will notice and want to know why we are smiling all the time. Elder Todd showed me his smile while we were at Sandwich Baron for lunch.

Later in the afternoon Mary was very busy. First she taught a piano lesson to Jacque Kruger while his sister Shavonne finished up her seminary home work.

The first to arrive after the Krugers was Dolly Ratema who also checked her homework. Jacque was greatly out numbered by the young women but all had a good time learning together.

I did not realize when I took this picture of Mary with the students how happy she looks and how attentive they all were as they listened to her lesson. After Seminary she taught them a number of fun songs that they can use in their FHE.

In the evening we were home and Mary was making one of our favorite dishes – pork chops Creole. She was just putting it in the oven when the power went out. It should not have been a surprise because it had been pouring rain for a while and lightening and thunder was almost constant. I imagine a substation or a big transformer somewhere got blasted. I kiddingly thought that perhaps nature was doing her own form of power shedding.

The first picture kind of looks like it is hailing but it was not – just heavy rain. The water pour off the tile roof and so we have our own seasonal waterfalls.

At least all the rain meant that I was not going to have to water the plants on Friday. The last picture is an accident – at least it being black and white is. I did not notice that I slid the saturation bar all the way over to the left which produced this picture. I was going to slide it back so there was color but decided that I rather liked the way it looked and it reminded me of my youth when there was only black and white film in our cameras.

So we lighted the candles and Mary made a quick and delicious tuna salad that we ate by candle  and iPad light. A couple of hours later the power came back on and the lights flickered back on.