April 3 – 9, 2016

We had committed to taking Brother Mkubo to church this week. But we didn’t know if he would remember that we were coming to pick him up. However, when we pulled up in front of his house he came out the door dressed in his white shirt and tie. It was so touching. We don’t know how long it has been since he has been to church but we know it has been a long time. It is so sad that faithful elderly members are unable to attend church because very few people have cars and it is too far for old people to walk. When we got to church Brother Mkubo was warmly welcomed by many people. They were glad to see him. He walked into the foyer of the church and saw a picture of the First Presidency hanging on the wall. He walked up to it and put his hand on the picture and just stood there for a few moments. Then we walked him into the chapel. He wanted to sit on the front row. We saw several people speak to him while he was waiting for church to start. After Sacrament Meeting he was ready to go home. He was tired and having some pain. We hope we can take him again sometime soon. We have a lot of Sunday responsibilities that interfere with us doing this every week.

We had a Zone Activity on Monday. We went to Spoenkop Game Reserve. It has all kinds of antelope, some giraffes, hyenas and rhinos. Even after two years here some young missionaries never get to see the African animals.  Most game reserves are too expensive for the elders or there aren’t any in their area. Fortunately this game reserve is cheap and in our area. It does not have a lot of the more interesting animals but if they could see a giraffe and rhino that would be nice. Well, the rhinos never put in an appearance but we got up close and personal with some giraffes. After the game park the elders went to play soccer. We went with the Taylors to have lunch. It was two for one at Spur’s on Monday. Yay!!

Herd of Zebras

Elder Larsen and Elder Shinga - Zone Leaders

Just a beautiful day in Africa

Wildebeest and baby

I think these are Waterbucks. They have white on their rumps. We take a lot
of pictures of animal behinds because by the time we snap the picture they
are already moving away.

We drove home and finished preparing for Family Home Evening. We showed a video of Great Moments in Conference and then talked about how we can benefit from watching conference. I served vanilla pudding over sliced bananas with Marie biscuits. The South African version of Banana Pudding. I got more compliments on that than on anything else I serve.

Tuesday we went and got haircuts. We have been so busy we have had a hard time fitting in an appointment. Elder Hind was starting to look like a hippie. After our haircuts we met the elders at the doctor’s because a couple of them needed booster shots. I gave them a lolly (sucker) because they were good and didn’t cry.

Wednesday Elder Hind had meetings and I stayed home to pack for our trip to Durban.

On Thursday morning we drove to Durban. We decided to take the “back” way because we wanted to do a little exploring and see some different sights. We saw a road on the map that led from Osizweni to Dundee and then to Greytown and finally to Pietermarizburg which is near Durban. We knew that our GPS would rebel so we decided not to consult it until we were well on our way.

At first we couldn’t find the right road out of Osizweni. And whenever we looked at the GPS she just wanted us to turn around. Finally we found the road to Dundee but when we tried to find the road to Pietermarizburg the GPS just took us back to the main highway. We were tired of trying to find our way so we just let her have her own way.

When we got to Durban we went to the Mission Office to collect some supplies and to get some missionary mail. Then we checked into our B&B.

This is King's Guest House. We haven't stayed here before. It was nice.

 Later we met at the Mission Home for dinner and visiting. We enjoy being with the other Senior missionaries but we rarely see them so this is a treat.

The Sorensens, the Taylors, and Sister Zackrison

Chillin' in Sister Zackrison's Zebra chairs

Elder Todd, Elder and Sister Roberts, Sister Chandler, and Elder and Sister Stevenson

On Friday we had our Senior Missionary Conference. We started in the morning and the meeting lasted until dinner. It was a marathon but we enjoyed it all. Sister Zackrison fed us lunch so we were sustained. They had asked us all to present something that we felt was important to our mission and could help the other senior couples. We showed our Christmas video and our helping hands video. We also talked about the sustainable feminine hygiene kits.  We think our presentation was well received.

In addition to the presentations we were taught by President Zackrison and were also given an amazing lesson on the temple by Elder Roberts who was a seminary teacher. His students must have loved him because he is such an energetic teacher. We really enjoyed his lesson.

Left to right, back row: Chandlers, Hinds, Woolstons, Todds, President Johns, Taylors.
Front row: Stevenson, Roberts, Zackrisons, Sorensens.
Not all the senior couples were there. The Nielsons had family visiting and the Howdens were involved
in getting ready for the groundbreaking.

After our meeting we all went to eat at the Cargo Hold. It is a restaurant down on the beach that looks like an old rusty cargo ship.  One wall of the dining room is a large aquarium so we could watch sharks and other fish swimming around while we ate. We tried to get a picture with the fish in the back ground but none of the shots turned out.

Saturday we went with another senior couple (the Stevensens) to a market out in the country. It was a lot like Swiss Days in Midway, Utah. They had good food and lots of cute things. We didn’t buy much but we did enjoy ourselves.

Checking out the prices

After the market we headed to the Durban temple site. We will have a separate post for that.