This week started slow and built up speed as the days went by. This week's cottage meeting was great. There were a lot of people there. The missionaries don’t have to teach the lessons, the members take turns giving the lessons and they are doing a great job. We always leave the cottage meeting and go home to a house filled with 20 to 25 young people. Their energy and their hunger for gospel knowledge always gives us a lift. We are running out of cheap refreshment ideas. Sometimes we bake something, sometimes we make popcorn and sometimes we have ice cream. Watermelon is in the stores now so we have had that also. But we wouldn’t change FHE. It is a symbol of the life and growth of the church here.

We are shopping for Christmas for the children in the branches here. We have spent some time looking around in the stores trying to decide what to get. We have had a hard time finding gifts for the girls but the boys have been easy. We have also bought lots of wrapping paper. This is going to be fun.

Christmas shopping is fun

A young girl in a family we are working with asked us to attend the “prize giving” at her school. This when they hand out academic and sports awards at the end of the year. This is at a primary school which runs from 1^st grade to 8^th grade I believe. Anyway this young friend of ours took second in her class in academics. We were so proud of her!! But she was devastated that she wasn’t first. She left the school and was sitting on the curb with her face in her hands when I found her. I tried to say something to comfort her but found I couldn’t speak without crying myself.  Eventually we found the best cure for the problem was an ice cream cone.

Here is our little scholar with her mother and sisters. She is not too happy.

Here she is after eating an ice cream cone. Now she can smile a little.

We went to the Drakensberg Boys Choir Christmas concert this week. I have been looking forward to this concert. But every time I thought about it I pictured it in the snowy mountains. The Drakensberg do get snow but they get it in July. It was weird to listen to Christmas carols in the heat. We went with 7 other senior couples and we had a wonderful time. We didn’t go anywhere the first five months of our mission and now we seem to do a lot of traveling. But we love it!

When we stayed in the Drakensberg before we have stayed at Champagne Castle resort which is very nice. This time we stayed two nights at the Ardmore Farm. It was a cozy and homey place but it was still very nice and the food was good. The only problem we had was the bed area is raised one step above the lounge area. In the middle of the night I got out of bed and forgot there was a step and fell very hard on to a tile floor. I told Elder Hind I can skip the bone scan test this year because I obviously have good bones. None of them broke.

Ardmore Farm

Ardmore Farm used to be a dairy farm but now it is a working tree farm. The lodge is a big sprawling building that is open to the outside and has the owner’s dogs and children roaming it. There were two young girls riding their bikes around the farm, followed by two sheep. When the girls got off their bikes the sheep continued to follow them around. It was such a charming scene. The sheep were obviously pets.
 

The mighty Rhodesian Ridgeback also called African Lion Hound because they can keep a lion at bay
Doesn't look too fearsome does he?

One of the cottages on the farm. Looks like a Hobbit house.

It is so beautiful here!

We saw a morning concert that consisted of the boys showing off their individual talents. They were amazing! In addition to their choral accomplishments they can sing all kinds of pop music and play instruments and even compose.

Craft and food booths set up on the school grounds.

After the morning concert we did a little shopping in the craft and food booths that were on the school grounds then we decided to do a little exploring. Elder and Sister Nielson came along with us. We were driving down the main road when Elder Hind decided to take a side road that we had been wondering about. It was a lucky decision. We came to a lovely little bakery and sandwich shop. We had a light lunch outside and just sat a talked with the Nielsons. When it was time to leave Elder Hind spoke to an older couple sitting at a table near us. The man looked at Elder Hind’s name badge and said, “ We are related.”  Elder Hind asked him if he had Hinds in his family. The old man just smiled and said, “No, but we have the same father.” Then it struck us that he was talking about Jesus Christ. Yes, we told him, we are all brothers and sisters.

When we went back to the choir school we saw a piano performance by “A Handful of Keys” It was two guys that played the piano really well and were very funny.  After that we went back to Ardmore Farm and had dinner.

That evening was the main Christmas choir performance. It was wonderful. These kids are so talented and disciplined. This was such a fun little trip. But now it is back to work. 

We had our usual busy Sunday morning and then Elder Hind dropped me off at the Newcastle chapel so I could teach the last of our Temple Preparation classes. We were expecting his family to return from their travels so someone had to be at home to welcome them.

They arrived safe and sound. They had a good time out on their own. They had some adventures and they did some interesting things. They stayed with us one last night and then in the morning they packed up and headed off to Johannesburg and the plane flights home.

We packed up too because we were going to Pinetown (near Durban) for a Multi- Zone Conference. Elder and Sister Stevenson invited us to stay with them. We have been on the road a lot lately but this was business. We arrived in Pinetown just in time to spend FHE with the costal senior missionaries. This FHE activity was a trip to the movies. This is the first movie we had seen on our mission. It was at a huge mall. We have never been to such a large mall. After the movie we got something to eat at the food court. It is always nice to spend time with the other senior missionaries.

Elder and Sister Nielsen from Layton

Elder and Sister Snell from England

We realized that in some ways our mission is very different from those of the seniors in the Durban area. There are six couples that live there.  They are able to socialize together on a weekly basis. I think that is nice. Elder and Sister Stevenson live in a 13 story apartment house. They have floor to ceiling windows in the front room and bedrooms. I love light and since they were so high up we could open the drapes and still have privacy. My house has big windows but is too close to the street where there are a lot of pedestrians so I don’t have much privacy when the drapes are open. However we love where we work and would not change it for anything. We are exactly where we are supposed to be.

The Zone Conference was wonderful. We are always inspired and energized by the things that are taught. President Zackrison told us that this generation of missionaries are the greatest that have ever lived on earth. He reminded them that the Lord is watching out for them. Elder Chimukuzi read from Doctrine and Covenants 100:4-8  and taught us that we have not been called here by mistake so we must lift up our voices unto the people. Elder and Sister Stevenson both spoke. Sister Stevenson reminded us that we are disciples of Jesus Christ and to stay totally committed. Elder Stevenson talked about his great grandfather who came on a mission to South Africa. He asked us to remain sensitive to the spirit, and don’t lose focus.

This Multi-Zone Conference was especially nice because we got to see some of our missionaries that have transferred to other places. Many of them are going home in a couple of weeks so we got to see them one last time and to say good bye.

The Newcastle Zone along with President and Sister Zackrison

This is Elder Mabetha and Elder Holman
They were companions in Newcastle when we first got here
Elder Mabetha is an Assistant to the President and Elder Holman is going home to Nevada in December

The elders can never resist clowning in front of a camera. Don't ask me why.

Elder Benissan and Elder Mvinqi

Again, don't ask why.

With Elder Mabetha, Elder Merile, and Elder Holman

With Elder Ghartey

Elder Jena and Elder Ghartey

Then it was time to go so we headed home hoping to get some mileage behind us before dark. However we only got a few miles into our drive before the police blocked the freeway and started forcing people off the freeway. We were a little worried because we were not sure where to go to get back on the freeway. We stopped at a gas station and bought some sandwiches and drinks and reset our GPS. We were concerned that the GPS would just try to get us on the same ramp we came off. But it set a course for an on ramp about 10Ks down the road. It was slow going because everyone else that was forced off the freeway was trying to get back on also. Eventually we got back on the freeway and enjoyed an uneventful drive home. We got home about 10pm which was about an hour later than we had planned. Our elders were not so lucky. They got caught behind the multi truck accident that closed the freeway and so they spent a long time trying to get past the accident. One car load got home at midnight. The other bunch spent the night with the Ladysmith elders and then drove home the next morning.

I told the elders that I wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving. One elder said, “What is Thanksgiving?” His companion told him it was a feast day so he was happy with that. We managed to find a couple of small and expensive turkeys. We also found, after diligently searching, two cans of cranberry sauce. (a tender mercy).  We couldn’t find canned pumpkin and we didn’t want to make pumpkin pie filling from scratch so we settled for apple tarts. We also did not make stuffing because it would have to be from scratch also. A long with the turkey we had homemade rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, fruit salad, corn, and roasted butternut squash with pecans. The butternut squash will be on our Thanksgiving table forever, it was really good.

Before dinner we showed the elders a YouTube video about the history behind our celebration of Thanksgiving. We had a nice evening. Although we miss our family at times like this we loved sharing this holiday with our elders.

Sister Hind was asked to speak at a Young Women’s in Excellence meeting on Saturday in Osizweni. They did such a nice job. We were really impressed. That YW president there works really hard.

We took the opportunity to look at the speed space (portable church) they are putting in Osizweni.
Right now they meet in a school.

Elder Hind in the chapel of the portable church

There are six portables arranged in a square. Two double wides (one is the chapel)
Two single wide and two small (bathrooms and offices)

We are worried this fence won't be adequate protection for the buildings 

We ended the day visiting with members in Newcastle. And that is also a good way to end the week.

It was so fun to take Elder Hind’s family to church with us this week. We liked showing them off to the branch and we liked showing the branch off to them.  Everybody was kind to them. President Zackrison spoke in church so we were able to introduce him and Sister Zackrison to our family. Mallory went into Primary and they promptly handed her the sharing time manual and let her do sharing time. Then she came into Young Women with me and was instantly everyone’s best friend. She is so outgoing and nice and to top it off she has all that long blond hair. The girls all thought she was beautiful!

Mallory and kids

Mallory and Young Women

Mallory and Karen

Doug with deaf friend (that is my purse he is holding)

Doug even found a deaf women in Madadeni 2 that he could talk to. Everyone took a lot of pictures after church. A lot of the children and young women wanted their pictures taken with Mallory. We had a temple prep class to teach in Newcastle so everyone else went home to enjoy a quiet Sunday afternoon. I had promised to make the family a typical South African dinner on Sunday. So we ate rice, chakalaka, butternut squash and creamed spinach. We had a milk tart (custard pie) for dessert. I could have served pap (kind of like grits) instead of rice but I haven’t cooked pap before and I like rice better.

Monday was a fun day. We went grocery shopping and then ran out to Madadeni to bring some baby formula to a family we are working with. We introduced our family to the mother of the baby. She was doing her wash. All by hand in plastic tubs. Then we drove to downtown Newcastle to visit some of the street shops there. I have been wanting to buy a pleated traditional zulu skirt. I got a black one without beading on it, just a little ribbon trim. That way I can wear it when I get home and no one will realize it is traditional Zulu clothes. Everyone picked up a few things. Then we went to lunch at my favorite place, Ocean Basket. Everyone else liked it too.

Mallory likes Ocean Basket too

We took our family out to Madadeni for a cottage meeting there. The elders were late getting there so we started without them. They asked me to give a spiritual thought so I was able to speak about our divine nature as I had just taught that in Young Women. It was a good meeting.

Elder Hind singing to the children

 After it was over we had to run off to Family Home Evening at our house. Brother Benga, who is moving back to Nigeria, taught the lesson and he did his usual fantastic job. We are going to miss him. The Newcastle elders have really made our FHE fun because they have so many investigators plus they make it a point to invite the young people from the branch.

Our guys

Tuesday morning we all headed to Durban for some more fun and adventure. We stopped at the Mandela capture site on the way down to Durban. This is where Nelson Mandela was captured and sent to prison for 27 years. They have a museum there and a really wonderful sculpture.

This is the walk way down to the Mandela sculpture

This is a portrait of Mandela made of metal bars 

We had to say good bye to Mallory here because Doug and Karen took her straight to the Durban airport and Elder Hind and Carol and I went to the beach. We had lunch on the beach while we were waiting for them. They called us and told us where they were so we went to find them. They were on another part of the beach. They had lunch while waiting for us.

One last picture with Mallory

We spent a few minutes on the sand. It was too cold and windy to consider swimming although there were a few people in the water.

We found our Bed and Breakfast accommodations (Huntley House) without too much trouble. Elder Hind and I had stayed there our first night in South Africa and we had fond memories of this place so we booked them for our Durban stay. After checking in we went looking for something to eat. There wasn’t much choice near our B&B but we managed to find enough to keep from starving.

The next morning our hostess treated us to a tasty English breakfast and then we were off to explore Durban.

The first thing we did was go to the Mission Office to pick up our new car. We had to trade our Nissan in for a Toyota Corolla. When the mission cars get so many miles on them it is time for a new one. This will probably be the only new car we will ever drive.

It is interesting that our guests have come during one of the worst droughts they have had in twenty years. And yet it has rained a lot during their stay. The rainy day made things we had planned difficult. We ended up going to the Ushaka Marine World because fish don’t mind the rain. We saw a great dolphin show and wandered through an old ship wreck that is now an aquarium and then ate lunch on the ship.

After Marine World Karen and I rode in a rickshaw type carriage. It was fun but a little scary. I was afraid he was going to drop us on our backs.

Then we went to Victoria Street Market for some serious shopping. Every shop we went into people would say, “We give special discounts to elders.”  I guess they see a lot of souvenir shopping missionaries. We bought a bunch of stuff but the best was Elder Hind’s drum. He saw a drum in St Lucia that he wanted and was happy to find a similar one at Victoria Street. The shop is owned by a member of the church. She give me a price and I offered an amount considerably lower and she accepted it. (I should have gone even lower). I don’t know if we got a good deal but Elder Hind is happy. Now if we can just get it home in nine months.

A shopkeeper (who happens to be a church member)
is showing off her head carrying skills
That is Elder Hind's drum on her head

Elder Hind's drum (hope it fits in a duffel bag)

We went back to our B&B to rest up and then everyone decided to just go to the grocery store to get things for dinner. We had a big lunch and didn’t need a lot. I elected to stay at the B&B. For the most part my knee does not bother me a lot but I think spending the last couple of days on my feet had made the arthritis in my knee and my feet flare up. Karen dosed me with ibuprophen and essential oil. That and a good night’s sleep had me feeling great in the morning.

On Thursday we went to the Moses Mabhida stadium (2010 Soccer World Cup). We rode in a kind of tram up the side of the stadium and then you can get out on top and enjoy the view. On weekends they allow you to walk up the side of the stadium. Elder Hind really wants to do that. We got to tour the stadium and we enjoyed that. It is really big. They have people bungee jumping off of it. Elder Hind wanted to do that also, but he didn’t want to spend $75 to do it.

A fun place to eat on the beach

We went to lunch on the beach and then it was time to say good bye and send Doug, Karen and Carol off on their own while we get back to work. The plan was for them to travel north along the highway and maybe see St Lucia and whatever else they can see. Then they will come back to Newcastle before going home. We didn’t worry about them too much as they are seasoned travelers.