In the morning we bought all the things we will need for feeding the missionaries tomorrow. In the afternoon we went to Esikhawini where Mary gave a number of piano lessons while I met with president Nyawo and worked on reports. I also got the new hose ready for use in the garden. Sister Mathe was there and we decided I could actually make two hoses from the 30 meter one we got.
Mary has enough students that although she started at 1:30 instead of 2:00 we did not leave the chapel until well after 4:30. Hopefully the new couple will include someone who can continue to teach piano so that by the time they leave the branch will have a number of pianists. They also need a regular chorister.
We spent most of the evening preparing our talks for tomorrow.
I woke up about 4:00 and started thinking about all the things we needed to do before we go home. My mind raced from one thing to another and there was no way I was going to go back to sleep. I was thankful when it finally got to be 5:30 so I could get up and get ready for the day.
We took President Mann to the Richards Bay chapel so he could meet with the 8 elders from Empangeni. He started that early because he needs to be in Swaziland by 4:00 for appointments. We opened everything up so they could meet. Also Mary got to look at the extra Christmas ornaments the Sister Mann had sent along for the couples to look at and buy if they wanted them. Mary decided that she wanted them all. She checked with Sister Mann to make sure that was OK and we will pay her in Dr. Pepper from Ballito.
We tried to buy electricity at the municipality building but ran into a big problem. We did not realize that they were having a demonstration by the workers who are on strike and the offices were closed down. There was also trash thrown everywhere and the concrete trash containers were tipped over into the roadway which made it hard to negotiate through the area.
We worked our way out of mess and went to the store to buy a food order for Port Durnford. Mary tried to buy electricity while I did the shopping but the computer was down. Hopefully they will solve this problem before we run out of electricity. We have bought enough food orders that I can almost do it without thinking. We have decided to increase the amount of maize meal that we buy because it is really the staple of their diets.
We took the order out to Port Durnford and delivered it to the family. They always thank us and I try to remind them that it is the Lord and other members who actually provide it, we are just the delivery people. It is wonderful how the Lords program helps the worthy poor.
We stopped and talked to Bongomusa’s mother who really needs a job. We talked about her problem and said we would try to help but there was so many people needing jobs that they are very hard to get unless you have some special skills. We spent some time talking about her early life in Port Durnford. She walked to school each day with Thandi Nzama. Her children want to ride the bus and of course that takes money which they really do not have. It is a sad thing to see how little some people have to live on.
We then went back to Richards Bay to lock up the chapel. It turned out that no one had made plans to have the RB elders come back and do that. Since we were already heading that way it was not at all inconvenient.
After eating lunch we called President Vilane to make sure he was going to be at English today. He told us that due to the strike the library and everything else was locked up so not only could we not have English class they also could not have Seminary, Institute and Youth.
We had decided to go to Esikhawini and see if we could help revive the Youth program there. It seems almost no one has been coming to the meetings. I suspect it is because there was not much for them to do when they got there. We will work with the leaders and hopefully help them prepare for success.
There were only three young men and one young woman but we had a pretty good meeting. We worked on the theme for the year, the first two Articles of Faith and played Book of Mormon Bingo. We also suggested that on Sunday they talk to the youth who come to Church and see what they would like to see happen on Fridays.
We spent the morning packing up a couple of boxes that we will send home in the Mann’s container. We thought that President Mann could take them back with him after he had finished his circuit. However later I realized that they would be going to Swaziland and there was no way that they could get them over the border without a lot of hassle so we will take them to Durban next week.
We spent the afternoon in Port Durnford teaching English, having Youth and giving piano lessons. Being in Port Durnford is really a wonderful experience. It is true rural – well at least semi-rural – South Africa. Everyone knows everyone and have for years. Some of the families have had lived there for three and four generations. That is why when there is a funeral half the town is likely to show up.
Our next stop was the Richards Bay Chapel where we waited for President Mann to finish talking to the District Presidency before we went to dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant at the marina. We had a good visit with him. He mentioned that after our great first quarter, it seems that Satan has tried to stop the work. Cars have been wrecked, elders have been ill, and there have been a number of companion problems. All of this causes extra problems for the President however the work continues to go forward.
The best news we heard was that there will be a couple to replace us coming in August. We will not get to meet them here but we should be able to see them at the MTC. The President also said he was promised two more couples. One will go to Bloemfontein to work with PEF and CES and one will either come here or to the Ladysmith/New Castle area. That decision will be made by the new mission president.
After dinner we all came home and relaxed. The President caught up with his e-mail and then we talked some more about what is going on in Richards Bay and throughout the mission.
The garage door repairman came by and took the motor assembly to get it repaired. I am not sure why he did not do this when he was here yesterday, but he said that it had to do with paperwork. I guess he wanted to make sure it was under warranty.
We then had to dash to make it to Empangeni district’s DDM. Although we had to leave before it was finished they had a good meeting. Elder Kaseke gave an excellent talk on finding. After the meeting we had our Wednesday lunch at KFC and then went to Esikhawini where Mary taught English and I went to see President Machaka. We then tried to visit some of the members but everyone we tried was away for the day. We then went back to President Machaka’s tuck shop so I could reimburse the elders for getting their fridge repaired. As I have mentioned before I often feel like a mobile bank. But I am glad to be able to do this so that things can get done.
There is a municipal strike going on and this includes the trash collectors. As part of their demonstration they throw trash all over the streets. One side of the Esikhawini loop looked like a giant trash can. Hopefully they will get things settled before it gets too bad.
We saw three sets of rhinos. The first pair were so far into the grass that we never got a good shot. The two on the left above were just off the road. The group of 5 or 6 in the other two pictures were gathered together – something we do not often see. They are amazing animals and move very quickly for something that large.
Warthogs come in all sizes but the old boy on the left was the biggest I have seen. He was big enough that at first I thought he was a small rhino. I think the one in the middle is a mother because she was herding along four little ones. These ugly beasts have become one of my favorite African animals.
Mary caught a good picture of the one monkey we saw. The center picture is one of the donkeys that hang around one of the group of buildings in the reserve. I usually do not bother to take pictures of impalas but this buck had a nice set of horns and was willing to pose for me.
We always know that every game drive is different and sometimes we will see lots of elephants and sometimes we are lucky to see one. The last time we were at Umfolozi we basically ended up in a herd of elephants by the river. This time we were lucky to see two and both at a distance. This one crossed the road about 300 yards from us and by the time we got to where he crossed he was moving away. We have lots of shots of the back end of animals and elephants have really big ones.
We were only about 2 kilometers from the exit when we came across this young elephant spraying water over itself. By the time we got to where we could take a picture it had started to move away from the water hole. At least this time we got a couple of shots of its side instead of its rear.
We came across a herd of wildebeests enjoying their lunch. Then we saw a helicopter weaving back and forth over the river valley.
The first animal that came running by was an impala in a real hurry. It was soon joined by the wildebeest and finally there came a large herd of Cape buffalo that was being rounded up by the helicopter and moved to an area where they could be innoculated – or so we were told as we left the park.
The picture on the left shows a bird perched on one of the horns – sometimes there are a half-dozen birds pecking away on one giraffe.
I mentioned it before but I will again say that a baby giraffe falls about 6 feet when it comes out of the womb…talk about getting slapped on the back.
We came across this gathering of zebras and they all seemed to be resting their heads on each other. Most of them had paired off but there were groups of three or more. It was interesting to move down the road and see pair after pair relaxing together.
Mary said she wanted a good head shot of a zebra so here it is. The group in the middle were in a pasture that was thick with flies and their tails and ears were going a mile a minute. I have a video of a congo line of of behinds with tails constantly flicking. The poor zebra on the right has a real problem – his hair on his tail is missing. Either he was just quick enough to get away from a lion or maybe he lost it in a fight . The loss of hair did not stop him from flicking the stub to try and chase away the flies.
We saw more lions today than on any other drive. Unfortunately one set was not where we could get good pictures but two of them were within a few feet or less of the car.
We came across a car stopped with everyone leaning out windows with their camera. We stopped behind them and soon saw this male lion in the grass. Then an young lion popped up. It soon got annoyed by all the attention and walked behind the car and across the road. Notice its back right leg seems to be damaged.
The male then got up and moved off into the trees on his left. I backed up to see if I could catch him crossing the road and all of a sudden there he was looking right at me and the car that was blocking his path. I thought at first he might just jump on to the car and then off again but instead he turned around and crossed the road further up.
Later we came across other cars by the side of the road. One of them said that there were 4 lions in the grass. I finally found one but the other three were such that we never did get to see them. Two tour cruisers came by and they had a great view from their height. This was one of the times I wish we had a big range rover. But the air-conditioning pretty much makes up for the lost opportunities and we did not do bad at all seeing animals on this trip.
