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.

About once a quarter we have the opportunity to attend a zone conference where the elders are given inspired training by President and sister Dunn and the Assistants. Because of the size of the mission they hold four conferences and we went with the one that included our Vaal zone as well as those in the Benoni and Bedfordview zones.

We made great time getting to Joburg and I thought we were going to very early. However just 10K from our off ramp to the Bedfordview chapel we hit a wall of cars on the freeway. It took us about 30 minutes to make those last kilometers and while we were still on time, we were not really at all early.

The senior elders usually do car inspections during the first hour of the conference. Today it was myself and elders Dummer, Allred and Thompson. We have done enough inspections that it is down to a pretty efficient system.

I was able to take this picture of elder Harris because he was one of three drivers that forgot to leave the keys in their cars. After it was announced from the pulpit two of the drivers – including elder Harris came out with theirs. The third one did not show up until much later. 

Sister Dunn announced the birthday boys for the quarter and each got a nice present from president Dunn.

This was followed by a training lesson on the amazing story of sister Fulcher who turned a non-productive are and ward into an amazing missionary experience by loving the members into helping the missionaries find and teach investigators. Part of the story that was not explored in the training was that after sister Fulcher was released and went home, elders were sent into the area and it went back to the way it was before sister Fulcher arrived. Our good UK friend elder Stilgoe stood to give an observation about the story. 

Sister Dunn speaking to elder Stilgoe and elder Todd, one of our Ikageng district elders, with a big smile.

After the opening session, the elders were broken into three groups – this was easy because there were three zones at the conference – so they could go to each of three smaller sessions. In the chapel president Dunn spoke about proper missionary dress and grooming standards. He then introduced the new mission messenger bag. Over a year ago the missionary department sent out a letter saying that missionaries were not to carry backpacks but little was done about it. President Dunn wants to be 100% compliant in 3 months so he worked with the APs and Zone Leaders to design the perfect missionary messenger style bag that will be made here in South Africa and available to the elders at a special lower subsidized price.

One of the other training sessions was led by the APs and was on prayer. I came in a little late but thought what I did see was well done. They talked about our personal prayers and how they can be more effective.

After these classes it was time for zone pictures. First the Vaal Zone and one of the worse pictures of me that I have ever seen and I have seen some bad ones. However Mary always looks great. It was of course the Dummers’ last zone conference and i am sure they will miss them. The one on the right is the Benoni zone.

Between pictures president and sister Dunn just kept their seats and I love this one of them laughing and smiling. The final zone was the Bedfordview zone/

Before and between zone pictures the elders had time to talk with each other. The picture on the left includes our own elder Alvial, and elders Andritiana, May, Todd, McAllister and Stomp. Elder Oldroyd was not praying but hiding from an embarrassing situation – he is a great kidder. Mary with our Ikageng elders and elder Andritiana. On the right we have elder Stomp with elder  Togiatomai and elder Yates.

After the pictures were taken it was time for food! The senior couples serving in the office gets lots of practice setting up and feeding lots of hungry elders. We are grateful to the Thompsons and Allreds who do this great service for the missionaries.   

I caught elder Harris about to put his roll in his mouth…

A couple of shots that includes most of the Ikageng district including elder and sister Dummer. I kidded elder Reese about sitting next to my wife and not leaving me room. Instead I sat across from her.

Elder Liera seems to be holding court with elders Todd and McAllister hanging on every word. Elder Menendez – one of the APs – shared his thoughts with elder Reese – one of the Vaal Zone ZLs.

I am hoping that Mary does not notice that I stuck in this picture of her licking her lips after a tasty meal.

We had to leave the conference before it was over because we had an appointment at the US Consulate to have some papers notarized. We left with plenty of time to make the short trip to but of course it was our day for hitting traffic. We were 4K from our destination when we managed to find a construction site that ran for one or two of those Ks and it took us what seemed like forever but actually was only about 15 minutes to crawl though it. I know I am supposed to have patience but I do not think it is fair to have this kind of experience twice in the same day.

Along the way we saw this interesting scuplture of an elephant on top a parking lot gatehouse. Also there was this very unusual set of apartments or office buildings just across the street from the consulate.

We had an interesting experience while waiting for our turn to be helped. One of the men who was waiting was a member from a local ward who knew many of the missionaries we serve with. There was another American who was not LDS but knew a lot about the Church. He works for an NGO that helps African children get a better education.  We talked about his children who are growing up and being educated here in South Africa and the experiences they are having.

The trip home was uneventful – which was truly a blessing. However we both had been sitting much too long and so it was very nice to get to stretch our legs.

So Monday was p-day and we basically did very little except some of the chores that always seem to need doing. We made a number of trips to different stores. But the majority of my time was spent catching up this blog.

We finished this puzzle last week. It was a tough one – at least the roses were because there was so many changes of colors in any one flower and many pieces looked about the same. Thankfully we were able to work with shapes and get it done. I decided to take a picture of real flowers to go with this one from a painting. Notice that the colors are much the same.

Tuesday afternoon I picked up my AP companion to go home teaching. He had made the appointments and was ready to teach the lesson. Unfortunately the families were not home and after waiting for 15 minutes at each of them we gave up and just left copies of the message on their doors. But the time was well spent as we talked about home teaching, school and other things. jacque was not discouraged and we will try again on Sunday.

As I left Promosa I wanted to take a picture of the lake but could not really find a good place to park with an overview so we drove down to edge of the lake and I took a couple of pictures. I also had the opportunity to talk to a couple of local fishermen who told me that there were carp and catfish in the lake. However they were cooking chicken for their dinner – I guess the fishing was not all that good. I left them a passalong card before saying goodbye.

I jus threw this picture from Tembe in because of all the different animals. Also because one of the young elephants was playing in the water – something you do not see very often.

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.

Today was sister Brummer’s birthday. She has the honor of being the oldest member of the branch except for Bill. She also does not like me to take pictures of her but today she kind of gave in. The two Kujane girls came up to her and sang happy birthday so she could not refuse a picture with them.

Later another group of members sang happy birthday before we went in to sacrament meeting. She got a final rendition of the song in Relief Society meeting so she had lots of Happy Birthday experiences.

Sister Neo is here with brother Menzi – I have been taking a picture of him with a different young lady each week. President Kwaikwai wanted his picture taken with a couple of the women in the branch…

Elder Liera is showing Papa Thulo how to be a good missionary – in this case how to make sure an investigator does not walk away before they give their name and phone number. Actually of course Papa was giving him a hard time and tried to take his African lapel pin.

It was another beautiful Sabbath day here in Ikageng with 55 members attending a very spiritual testimony meeting and then enjoying the other two hours of classes.

The mother of one of the branch members passed away during the week and we attended the funeral. It was a Catholic service but I am pretty sure a US Catholic who saw the service would have been a little surprised. African funerals include lots of singing – like after each person speaks – there were 21 items on the program – and sometimes while they are still speaking. But important thing is that there is a good spirit there and neighbors, friends, and relatives from all over come to them. These pictures were taken at the cemetery because I was asked not to take pictures at the home.

In the program – it was beautifully produced – were a number of poems in English that basically were written to console those left behind. They mentioned that she was in a better place and that they should be happy for her and not mourn for long. The beautiful headstone – it was done in just 4 days – includes one of the poems.

The other event of the day was dance practice for the youth who are having a big dinner dance on the 21st of March. Some of the youth still have not come to any of the practices but those who do have lots of fun.

Their trainers are Meisie Ratema and Omphile Mokate and they do an excellent job. From the smiles on faces of the youth you can see that they are having a good time.  

This is a picture of president Kwaikwai showing his moves with young sister Khayne Lekebe. He said he was not a dancer but he seemed to be doing OK. One thing is for sure by the time practice was over everyone was really tired.