Sue loves her plants in the pots and window box just outside our front door. This is such a lush, green country. It's nice to have a bit of it so close. Tuesday morning as we were leaving for the office, Sue noticed a little something extra in the window box. You can see how huge it is! He stayed for about two days and then was gone.
You can also see the water pipe. Because the buildings here are all brick, the pipes for everything run on the outside. It never freezes, so no insulation needed.
We have not been so good about our evening walks. It seems to be either raining or too hot/humid, or we stay at the office too late. But we did walk on Friday.
The Mission is starting to grow again. Seven new Elders came to us on Saturday. Well, six new and one returning.
President Lines always says that he doesn't believe they are really coming until they show up at the airport and walk out of baggage claim. The Lines and the two Assistants went to the airport at 8 a.m. on Friday morning--but there was no Elder Alviana! They waited until Security told them there was no one else in baggage claim. They talked to the people at the ticket counter, and they said his ticket had been canceled. His whole trip has been very odd. When I emailed him last Monday about coming on Thursday, he had heard nothing about it! And the itinerary we had showed him leaving from Sao Paulo--but he was in Rio de Janeiro. We weren't sure if he was coming or not. Finally on Wednesday evening, President Lines was able to get in touch with the Church Travel person in Brazil, who assured us that Elder Alviana was in fact in Sao Paulo and ready for his flight to Africa.
They all came back from the airport and had to wait a few hours because Brazil is five hours earlier than South Africa. President Lines was told that the itinerary had been changed--but no one had bothered to send it to us. Elder Alviana was not really due in Durban until 5:50 p.m. Ken can see the charges that Elders put on their Mission Support Funds debit cards in real time. Sure enough--there was a charge for pizza in Johannesburg about 2 p.m., so we knew Elder Alviana was really coming.
Then Saturday morning it was back to the airport for President and Sister Lines and the two Assistants. There were 6 more Elders to pick up, coming from the USA -- via Atlanta, Amsterdam and Johannesburg.
This time they took a bakkie (pick-up truck) and the nine-passenger mission van to get six more Elders from the USA. These Elders were all originally assigned to South Africa Durban Mission but could not come because of COVID restrictions and closed visa offices. They had all been serving in various parts of the USA for three to six months. (There were supposed to be seven Elders, but one coming from Oregon did not get his COVID test results back in time, and so he couldn't get on the plane.)
After leaving the airport, the new missionaries always get to stop by and visit the grounds of the Durban Temple.
Elders coming on Saturday is a new thing. In "normal" times, they flew to Johannesburg for three weeks of missionary training, and then came to us on a Wednesday morning. They would be over jet lag and ready to be sent out with new companions to an area of the mission to go to work. Now they get COVID test on Monday, results back on Wednesday, fly on Thursday-Friday, stay overnight in Johannesburg because the flight arrives so late on Friday night, and we get them at the airport on Saturday morning. They then stop at the Durban Temple for photos on their way to the Office.
We do Pizza lunch and orientation. Ken takes each Elder for a short drive around the neighborhood to make sure they can manage to drive on the left side of the street. He also talks to them about driving rules and financial arrangements. Sue collects immunization records and gets medical privacy releases signed. She collects passports, cash dollars, and USA phones to go into the safe until they go home. We give them each a certified copy of their passport to carry around. Changing cash dollars to Rands is bothersome and expensive. It's easier to just get Rands out of the ATM at any mall using either their Mission (MSF) card or their personal card.
The Assistants talk to them about security, safety and phones. The Social Media Elders talk to them about the current Mission Facebook campaign.
They all think it's about 4 a.m. when we start this, after they've been flying for three days. Who knows if they will remember any of it?
Since some of them are going four-plus hours west, it is too late to send them to their areas on Saturday, and President Lines does not want them traveling on Sunday. They have spent today with other companionships and will drive to their new areas on Monday morning.
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We had a lot of load shedding this weekend. It was supposed to be 8-10 a.m. on Saturday. Sue forgot and had English muffins frying. They had to wait two hours, but the power came back on at 10 a.m. and all was well. We had a lazy morning at home while others did the airport run. But we knew something was wrong. Sue tried to call and order pizzas about 11:30 a.m. from the mall nearby, but their online ordering was down, and they never answered phone. She ended up ordering from another place about 5 km away. We went to the Office at noon to get ready for the arrivals, and there the power there was still out! This was so strange. We live halfway between the office and the mall. We had power at our apartment, but both the mall and the Office were still out. It came back on about 1 p.m., so that was good. It gets really stuffy and hot in the office with no air conditioning. But then it went out again at 4 p.m! It was not scheduled for load shedding according to the handy load shedding phone app! We were done with our part of the day, so we came home about 5 p.m. Our power was on!
On Sunday we were able to attend church with the Molweni Branch for the first time in a year. This is the Branch we are assigned to. They used to meet at a school in their area, but because of COVID, they can no longer do that. So they are sharing the building at the Hillcrest Stake Center and will meet about once a month. Most people here do not have unlimited data on their phones. It's expensive, so they don't do Zoom church like we do in the US.
Exactly a year ago, we visited with Branch President Vuzane and his family at their home. They had a two-week old baby, so his wife and baby stayed home. The Howells (who we replaced) wanted to see the new baby before they went home.
The baby's brother's name is Nephi.
Elder Banda and Elder Manamela are the companionship now serving in Molweni. But Elder Manamela is being transferred on Monday morning as part of the big move with the new Elders.
We also had load shedding twice on Sunday morning. Hillcrest was all shut down from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., so the power came on in the Church just as we were singing the closing song. We could tell it was happening because all the traffic lights through Hillcrest were off. In the USA that means four-way stop. Not so here. In South Africa that means, go a little slower through the intersection. We were home from church a little before 11 a.m., and then we had scheduled load shedding from noon to 2 p.m. Tomorrow we are scheduled for midnight to 2 a.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. The midnight shift is Sue's favorite--just sleep through and be oblivious. Tuesday it should come 8-10 p.m. Those evening ones are the hardest because it gets dark! We have a small electric lantern that keeps us going a little bit. We prefer mid-day. The office has backup batteries on the computers and Internet, so we can keep working, and the rooms have windows to keep it light.
The puzzle makes slow progress. One elephant eye got connected this week, and a piece of forehead is together, although not connected to anything else yet. It is working from the lion and leopard towards the middle slowly....
That’s crazy to have all the power shut offs. We are SOOO spoiled in the US and take so much for granted. You are doing a great work helping these young people adjust who are so far from home!
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