Happy New Year! -- Week 47

We are back on lock-down!  President Lines called us about 8:05 on Monday night and told us to turn on News24.co.za.  President Ramaphosa was on TV giving a nation-wide speech.  He announced the country was going on 'modified Phase 3' lockdown starting at midnight until at least 15 January.  Less than four hours notice!  That means businesses can be open with masks and limiting people there.  But all gatherings for fun are canceled. Beaches, parks, etc., are all closed.  No alcohol sales anywhere, anytime.  That's a big blow three days before New Year's Eve.  Mission President Lines promptly put all the missionaries on lockdown in their apartments, except for necessary food shopping trips, or doctor visits.  We went to the office Tuesday and Wednesday to receive packages and catch up on work, but it was pretty quiet because no Elders could come there.  

Sue started sharing her computer with the MTC Elder Thwani.  He lives downstairs from us with the two Social Media Elders -- Russell and Tiyiwe.  She is at the office all day, so he gets her laptop to do his MTC training during the day and brings it back at night so she can use it for her personal stuff.   The Social Media Elders also use it to post items to the Mission Facebook pages since they can't use their office computer.  We are all supposed to stay far away from each other, so we leave the laptop on the doormat, knock on the door and move away.

Will we ever get tired of monkey stories?

Monday right after work we went to the grocery store.  When we came home we could hear those in the apartment above us singing hymns with a guitar.  It was Elder Raralevu and Elder Kholobile.  Sue opened the kitchen window so she could hear them sing while she put the groceries away.  

We got up Tuesday morning, ate two bananas from the counter on our cereal and went to the office.  Sue had forgotten to close the window, and the monkeys came in again -- through the kitchen window!  This time they ate all six bananas, two plums and one Krispie Kreme donut!  And they left the peels and pits behind, of course.  Sue had to scrub the kitchen with disinfectant before she could cook dinner!

Luckily they didn't take the just-baked loaf of sourdough bread (on the far left).  Too big to carry?  Or didn't like the sour smell?

Our trash pick-up day is usually Wednesday.  Someone from the apartment complex maintenance staff takes the big green bins out to the street on Tuesday night.  But this week the trash truck didn't come.  We don't know if it's because of COVID lockdown, or because they are on Festive Season vacation like everyone else in Durban.  Probably the latter.  But the monkeys appreciate the gift.  The street gets messier and messier by the day.

OK -- enough of the monkeys. They are not the only ones to make a mess in our kitchen.  Sue decided she wanted to know what was really in all the cupboards, and to rearrange things a little.  She had done the upper cupboards the first week we moved in, but it was time to tackle the lower ones.  Everything out and on the counter.  The hardest part, of course, was trying to find lids for all the plastic storage containers.  There are blessings to having such a small kitchen.  It was a pretty easy project.

We've been doing our yoga ball and exercise band work-outs and taking walks when weather permits.  It rained non-stop all day Friday and Saturday.  That was good to keep people off the beaches since we are on lockdown.  As we said last week, it's pretty hilly around here.  This is a photo of the street where we live.  We have to walk 60 feet up a steep hill to get from our apartment to the street, then we walk down for about a half mile, but must come back up 200 feet again.  

New Year's Dark and Stormy Night

Because of the lockdown, all gatherings were canceled, and no fireworks were allowed.  But Heavenly Father is always mindful of His children and their 'needs.'  He provided us with a spectacular light show that went on and off for several hours.  Ken made videos of it, while Sue sat serenely working on the 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle.  We had originally invited the five young Elders in our building to come and join us for New Year's Eve and to help with the puzzle, but that party got canceled by the lockdown.  We had our own popcorn and sparkling apple juice and a quiet evening at home -- except when the building was rattled by the lighting and thunder.  You can watch a bit of it here.  All that roar in the background is the rain!  At least no fires were started.  Out last big thunder and light show was at home in California on 16 August.  That one started hundreds of forest fires that destroyed thousands of homes, and some of the fires were not totally out until a couple of weeks ago.

Speaking of jigsaw puzzles, our daughter Rachel gave us this one for Christmas.  It's the South African Big-Five animals -- lion, cheetah, elephant, rhinoceros and wildebeest.  

But 2,000 little pieces?  This puzzle is liable to take a while.

We'll post a progress photo each week.  It took us two days to get the borders, and the eyes of the cheetah.

Our mission has started to study the New Testament together for the beginning of the new year.  We are reading about four pages per day, and recording thoughts and insights from what we read.  If you want to read along, here is the schedule.

This is why we are here -- to help others Come to Christ.