Zone Conferences and Marine World -- Week 3

This week we continue to learn how to do things in the office. We had a "mini transfer." One Elder came in from the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Johannesburg on an odd day. Usually a batch comes in every six weeks. This was a good dry-run for us. Our real Transfer Day is 18 March, and the Howells will be gone. Ken drove the 9-passenger van to the airport with Sue and Elder and Sister Howell. We picked up Elder Alviana who is from southern Brazil, near Porto Alegre. He is excited to begin his mission here in the Durban area after 6 weeks in the Johannesburg MTC learning English.

Here is a map of our Mission. We encompass the South African states of KwaZulu Natal and the Free State, and also the independent country of Lesotho ("Lesootoo"), where the only usable roads in and out are on the west side, due to the mountains in the east. Because President and Sister Lines travel between the two countries so much, they are running out of pages in their passports for entry and exit stamps. Sue's experience in getting second passports through the US Consulate in St. Petersburg is now coming in handy. She has done all the paperwork for new passports and they have an appointment next Tuesday at the Durban US Consulate.  

We work in the office, so are there theoretically 8-5. It's usually more like 8:30 to 6. There is lots of work to do, but it's all computer desk work, and we need a little exercise. We can't walk to the office or other places safely because of all the construction in our neighborhood. However, there is a Planet Fitness gym in the basement of the mall close by our apartment, so we pop over there two or three evenings each week and lift weights and walk many times around their elevated track that is about 180 meters long. It's pretty much like the YMCA weight room that we used at home.

Thursday we had Zone Conference in Hillcrest. It's very different here than in Russia, and more like what we had in Hamburg, Germany. This Mission has seven Zones spread all over the country, so President & Sister Lines spend most of two weeks traveling. The farthest one out is Bloemfontein--an 8-hour drive away. There is no practical public transportation to other cities.

The Hillcrest Meetinghouse is a stake center and is really beautiful. It's in two parts--a chapel/cultural hall half and a classrooms/ offices/ kitchen/ baptismal font half.  There is a garden between with a covered walkway across. The building is set on very large grounds, so it feels like a park. There is even a full-sized basketball court along side a beach volleyball area behind the building.  




It's good to meet the Elders whose names we are starting to know and to learn about the places they are serving as we begin to understand the geography of the mission.  And this photo gives you a sense of the lushness of the church landscaping.

Friday was Doctor Visit Day. We had one Elder who is having foot problems and another who needed chest x-ray and doctor exam for his visa extension. The Church requests 25-month visas for everyone, which is what we got. There are some Elders who only got 18-month visas, so we have to go through all the paperwork to get them another visa. Nuisance! But this was another good training exercise. Elder and Sister Howell took us along to see Dr. John and also the Radiology Department at the local hospital. Now we know how to get there and what the systems are. 

We drove out west toward Molweni to pick up the two Elders in the driving rain. The freeways through the lush canyons of the countryside are beautiful.








Elder and Sister Clements (far left) have been here for 18 months serving out west in Bloemfontein as both Church Education and member support missionaries. They are from Adelaide, Australia, and are flying home this week. Before they go they wanted to come in and see a bit of Durban, since they've seldom been here. We started with the Temple on Friday night, also with the Howells, then us, Sister Damon (who lives in our building and works in the office) and the Lunds (who live above us in our building and do Humanitarian projects here.)






 It was a beautiful evening in the Temple. We are blessed to be so close to a Temple on this mission (27 km). It is a small Temple, with just one instruction room that holds 47 people. In contrast, our Oakland Temple at home has two instruction rooms that seat 150+ each and two smaller rooms that seat about 60.  

Then on Saturday, Leap Day, we had a play day P-Day! We piled all nine of us into the Mission van and drove downtown to the uShaka Marine World next to the beach on the Indian Ocean. It has eight different sections, but we didn't do them all. One is a water park with tall slides, endless river, etc. We skipped that.  We'll do it with the grandkids when they come.




We started off with the penguin feeding exhibit, but that wasn't much for us because we've walked with the penguins in Antarctica!

Then we went to the seal show. They were asking for volunteers to get up close to the seals. Sue jumped up and down and raised her hand and got chosen! Ken made a video of the whole deal, of course. You've heard of "Sealed by a Kiss." He calls this "Kissed by a Seal."  



We also saw the dolphin show. They are magnificent animals. 

Before the Dolphin Show, uShaka Marine world - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Then we went into the aquarium. It is very well done and well curated. Great emphasis was placed throughout the exhibits and shows about the need to recycle to reduce the plastics and other trash littering the beaches, harbors and seas. By the sight of things, it is a welcome educational process.

It looks like a big old ship, and you walk down into the hold so you are below sea level and you can see all the different sea creatures through windows out of the ship.  

The aquarium had many, many interesting tanks, from very large sharks and huge rays down to small sea horses and jellyfish. We liked these starfish--we've never seen that color before!







Sue liked this display of relative rates of death for different activities in South Africa. Shark-bite deaths are not very common! Death by falling TVs, toasters, hotdogs or pens??? And texting is way up there with simple falls on the dangerous list!

Sue got into the middle of the lobster tank, too! 

Sue in the lobster tank, uShaka Marine World - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

We met up with the other Senior Missionaries in the "Village Walk," which is lots of shops and restaurants just outside Sea World. As we walked around, there were various music and native dance performers. Our favorite was about ten Zulu young men dancing to beating drums. They kicked high so knee was to nose! They did flips front and back and somersaults and all kind of fancy moves.

We sat down all together to have a late-lunch/early-dinner at a yummy restaurant called Gourmet, Inc. Sue had chicken enchiladas that were pretty good! Ken also got his favorite food--mac 'n' cheese.  

Picture 1 Gourmet, Inc. restaurant at uShaka village shops at aquarium and marine world - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Next stop was out on the harbor side of Durban. Sister Howell had arranged for all of us to take a cruise around the area and see Durban from the ocean side.  










The boat we were on also does fishing excursions, so they put out a couple of lines as we rode around. Elder Howell and Elder Clements each were able to reel in a bluefish, aka elf or shad.  Full size they are over 9 kg and 60 cm. Some have been as large as 120 cm and 14 kg. These are not even close.










So too small to keep. Ken took pictures and then the fish were tossed back into the harbor.











It was a wonderful day! We had near-perfect weather. Temperature about 70 degF with some overcast so it wasn't too hot. We loved it!





On Sunday morning we attended church at the Phoenix Ward north of downtown Durban. It's the closest ward to the Temple (12km), but they rent space for church services from a local high school and have done so for over three decades.  







There was a good group there, a mixture of East Indian, black and white members.









Here are Elder Siebert, Bishop Muthu, and Elder Moser after church. Bishop Muthu's great-great grandmother came to South Africa on a ship at age three with her six-year-old sister when they became separated from their parents on a crowded a dock in India! She lived to be 128 years old and died 22 years ago. Bishop Muthu joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 17 years ago and is a good, faithful man. 

May you all enjoy the remainder of this leap year!