Settling In -- Week 2

We are starting backwards this week because today was our first time to attend a regular South African Ward. The people were so wonderful, and it was just like a regular ward back home -- except where it was different.  



The Umlazi W chapel is in a township area south of Durban. The Townships are the areas that were set aside for black-only inhabitants during aparteid. Housing segregation was lifted in 1994, but these areas are still almost totally black and poor. It's hard to overcome generations of traditional segregation.

We live west of Durban in Westville, appropriately. The scale on the map is about 15 km across each side. The other red 'house dots' are other chapels for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Durban area. And there are others that are off the map. Sister Damon drove us to church. She is a single senior Sister who serves in the Office with us as the Housing Coordinator. As a single Sister she is not supposed to go to the Township areas alone, for safety reasons. She has wanted to visit Umlazi, so was glad to have us along for company.

Just like at home, the church members stand around and visit after the meeting is over while the young men clean up the Sacrament table in the front of the chapel. About half the congregation of 100 were under the age of 20, a good sign for the future.







We met Bishop Lekena who presides over this strong ward. It is designated as a Zulu ward because most of the members are of that tribe, but Sacrament meeting was held in English, except for the closing prayer in Zulu. 


Then Sue went to Relief Society and Ken went to Priesthood meeting. Each class studied Elder Gerrit Gong's talk from October 2019 General Conference entitled Covenant Belonging. But each class was a mish-mash of English and Zulu. The Elders Quorum President taught the lesson to 20 adult men, in English. The teachers in both classes would ask a question in English and someone would answer in Zulu. Or the question would be asked in Zulu and the answer would be in English. Comments in one language would be followed by comments in another. It was really quite wonderful. Each could speak in whatever was most comfortable. However, Google Translate didn't quite work in the large room.

We also met the two Elders who serve in this ward.  Elder Freitas is from Brazil and Elder Chifarimba is from Cape Town, South Africa.  






This week we were mostly over the jet lag and started really learning how the office systems work here. We are already comfortable with the Internet Mission Office System, or IMOS (eye-moss) and CARDS for managing mission credit/debit cards and CARS for managing mission cars. The computer systems are the same as in St. Petersburg, but the other pieces of managing the office are different, of course. Elder and Sister Howell are great helps, but they are taking advantage of us being here to do some traveling to parts of the mission they had never seen. They left, with Sister Damon, early Wednesday morning and left us to hold down the fort for three days. It was quiet with everyone gone, but we don't think we broke anything, and we only called them for help a few times.  

Saturday was our first 'real' Preparation Day. The week before we mostly slept off the jet lag. The rules for Senior Missionaries are different in many ways. We have air conditioning and a clothes dryer in the flat. We are allowed to go swimming, and they told us if we wanted to go in the Indian Ocean that we should bring our swim suits.  


Sue, otherwise known as the "born and raised in SoCal water-baby", had to get in that ocean quick. We went first thing on Saturday morning because it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. But the air temperature was already 80F+ and water temp about 77F. She really wished she had a boogie board! The photos of her out in the waves didn't work -- oops. We'll just have to go back sometime.  :o)




Even Ken, normally not much of a beach person, went in and got wet.  

It was only about a 20-minute drive to the beach just north of Downtown  Durban. It's not one of their best beaches, but was close so we could go there quickly and then come home and do all our other P-day activities -- like laundry, shopping, etc. Sue kept the washing going, and managed to have one load finish about 30 seconds before the power went out. It was 2 pm Load Shedding. We'll talk about that another time.

We went exploring to another shopping mall out further west. Sister Lund, who lives upstairs, said she really likes the Checkers grocery store there, so we went to try it. Yes, lots of good stuff. But no fresh fish. We would think someplace on the ocean coast would have more fish. We'll have to ask around about that. We also had lunch at KFC. Not so good. Like the one in Palo Alto that we don't like so well, either. The KFC in Russia was much better than home and here!

Here's a little about our home and neighborhood. 


Our apartment building is 16 units on the side of a steep hill, way down below road level. We live in an area called "Valley of 1000 Hills" and that is such a true statement! In the photo you see the top, 4th floor of our building.  We live on the second floor, to which we walk down stairs. You can see one of our windows just to the right of the black car. To drive into the parking lot from the street, we come through an elecric gate down a very steep, long driveway, so our building is down in the gulley. Then the gulley goes down even further, where there is a tiny, often dry brook. The building on the top of the hill in the back of the picture is across the gulley at the top of another hill. You can see the big building, and to the left just the top of a roof. That is the roof of the Mission Office where we work. It would be an easy flight... But we can't even walk it. There is major freeway on/off ramp construction  off to rhe left between our place and the office, so no sidewalks and lots of dirt. We have to drive it. Too bad.

Our building is totally integrated. We've met several of our neighbors -- some black, some white, some east Indian. Just as at home, the segregation that exists in South Africa is mostly economic, with poverty being perpetuated in traditionally poor areas. As a Church, we are working to educate our members to improve their futures.

We do have a lovely neighborhood for walking. The streets are all hilly, but mostly have sidewalks and are dead-ends. There are lovely flowers and trees everywhere. It is mid-summer, so lots in bloom. Since the weather here is so humid and never freezes, the flowers are like Hawaii. Lots of plumeria trees. That's what Hawaiians make leis out of.  There are also familiar plants from home like agapanthas, bouganvilla, and marigolds.





Palo Alto is currently having a 'battle' about a traffic circle at Ross Road and East Meadow Drive, just 2 blocks from our house. The City of Palo Alto put in a very intrusive and expensive traffic circle a while back during our mission in St. Petersburg. Everyone pretty much  hates it, and the number of accidents, particularly concerning bicycles, has gone up! So Ken had to take this photo of the traffice circle near our flat here. It's just that little yellow circle painted in the middle of the street, and each way in has a yield sign in their lane. Yes, we are driving on the left side of the street. (More on that another week, too.)

We are here to support the Mission Office, so that the young Elders and other Senior Couples can carry on with the real purpose of our work here -- preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Someone posted this graphic of God's Plan of Happiness this week. We really like it and want to share. Yes, God loves us, so he planned how we would progress from being spirits in the pre-earth life, through our education and trials here, ALL become resurrected beings, and through the atonement of Jesus Christ, receive our appropriate eternal glory. As you can see, it is a plan of LOVE.