Transfers and Temple -- week 54

It's been another wonderful week in Durban.  We had Transfer week, and we were able to attend the Durban Temple--twice!

The Durban Temple was dedicated as a House of the Lord on 16 February 2020.  We first arrived in Durban on 12 February, just in time to attend that wonderful dedication.

It closed in mid-March 2020, reopened for a bit in Sept, Oct, Nov 2020 and then was closed again.  It opened again after COVID-19 restrictions on 16 February 2021. 

In honor of the anniversary, our Social Media team, Elder Russell and Elder Pettijohn, made this fun video for the Durban Stake Facebook page.  They did the design and recording.  Ken did the editing.  

Temple attendance is still highly restricted to one or two people in a session who are going for the first time, and up to 16 people total.  Normally missionaries attend the temple for the first time with their families before they start their missions.  But with all the temples closed almost everywhere, we had six new missionaries here who needed to go for the first time.  For three of them who are from South Africa their parents were able to come and join them.  We were able to attend on Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon with two Elders who did not have family come with them.  It was so good to be there and feel the special Spirit in this sacred place.  

On Monday we had another Senior Couple arrive in the mission to help.  Hooray!  It is Elder and Sister Van Heerden from East London -- about 700 km (400 mi.) south of Durban.  They served a mission here earlier and had been home about 18 months.  They are going to live out in Ladysmith to support the missionaries as we spread back out to western parts of the mission.  

Tuesday was the last day of Missionary Training Center in the Mission Office.  We are sorry to see these wonderful Elders leave us.  It gets boring in the office with no one there but us two.

However, they were most excited to get out of that stuffy room where they stared at screens all day.  They are now out with their new companions doing real missionary work, and that's great!  They are Elder Slater, Elder Lusuko, Elder Bibb, Elder Mere and Elder Davies-Ogunshakin.  Elder Slater is from Cape Town.  Elder Lusuko is from Zambia.  The other three are from Johannesburg area.

They were sent out to their areas, but this was a very small Transfer Week, as we had no one going home at all.  We wrote last week about Elder Raralevu going home, and now we have no one else leaving until 2 April!

We went to the Temple on Tuesday with Elder Thwala.  He is from Ladysmith and was leaving the next day for his missionary service in Cape Town.  He was actually supposed to fly there on Tuesday morning, but he delayed his mission start by one day so that he could attend the Temple first.  Otherwise he would have gone to Cape Town for his first three weeks of training, and then flown back to Durban for a day to attend the Temple.  This worked out better.

Back row:  Elder & Sister Allen, Sister & Elder Van Heerden, President & Sister Lines

Front row:  Elders Mbonyana, Thwala, Van Orden, Alotsa & Chola.

On Saturday afternoon we went to the Temple again, this time with Elder Banda. He received his mission call to South Africa Durban almost a year ago and was supposed to be here in June 2020 from his home in Zambia. Of course in June the borders were closed, so he finally arrived in Durban on 1 February 2021 after serving seven months in the Zambia Lusaka Mission.  Currently his companion is Elder Manamela from Johannesburg.

It was a beautiful day in Durban, as most are.  Those attending the temple with Elder Banda were (L-R) Back row:  Elder & Sister Allen, Sister and President Lines, Elder Banda.  Front row:  Elders Chifarimba, Mokhoanatsi & Manamela.

Saturday was also Elder Allen's birthday, so after the Temple session, we went out to dinner with President and Sister Holmes and Elder & Sister Futter.  The Holmes are the Temple President and Matron.  Futters are Counselor and Assistant Matron.  They all live in the Temple housing just across the driveway from the Temple and serve for three years.

President and Sister Lines were not able to come with us, but Sister Lines is an amazing cakemaker.  She made a beautiful cake for Elder Allen.  She left it in the fridge in the Temple housing and presented it to Ken after we finished in the Temple.  She does gorgeous delicious cakes for any little occasion.

This cake needs a little explaining.  Last November when we were getting ready to come back to Durban, President Lines called and asked us what kind of vehicle we would like.  With so many missionaries transferred away, the mission has lots of cars.  Our choices were between a Ford Ranger pick-up, a Renault Duster (small SUV), a Suzuki Ertiga (small SUV) or a Toyota Corolla.  Sue chose the Duster--a good medium-size diesel.  Ken said "No, what I really want is an electric self-driving Porsche."  President laughed.  We got the Duster.  However, the request has become a running joke with us, so the cake has a Porsche attached to a 9V battery on top.

The Temple is in an upscale neighborhood just north of Durban and near the beach called uMhlanga.  We drove down to the beach with the Holmes and Futters and went to dinner at the uMhlanga Arch, an area next to hotels and close by the beach with lots of restaurants.  

We ate in a food-court kind of place where we got a good salad from one stand and yummy burgers from another.  

After dinner we came back to the Temple housing and shared the beautiful cake. 

And the cake had another surprise!  Sister Lines cut some cake out and filled the middle with M&Ms! 

Sunday morning we went to Church in Pinetown again, hoping to meet our friend from the gondola ride, but he didn't come.  The Elders have connected with him, so maybe they will see him next week.  We will be gone--off on a great adventure.  Stay tuned!  [How's that for a cliff-hanger.]

Sue is not even going to post a photo of the puzzle.  Maybe five pieces got put in this week, and Sister Van Heerden did two of them!  

But Sue has been knitting.  She finished her slippers a couple of weeks ago.   

Sue also has been doing knitted knockers. This is all she has done since we arrived in early December.  What are these?  Explanation here.

The yarn store where Sue shops here has connections to the local cancer hospital and will help distribute.  They have done these before -- even though they were invented Washington state, USA!

It is summer and everything is in bloom. In this tropical humid climate the flowers are gorgeous.  This plant was growing next to the Church parking lot.  Flowers are about 6" across.

And this tree was across the street.  There are many of these trees around with lots of bright, bright orange blossoms.  The photo doesn't do it justice -- too much back light.

We can't forget a monkey picture for the grandkids.  This tree outside our living room window is home for a big troop of monkeys.  We see them running in and out of it a lot, but seldom does one sit still long enough for a photo.  This monkey is about 40 ft high sitting on a fairly thin branch.  There is a very steep hill going up behind the tree.