Boarding Checks and new Elders -- week 61

We got out of the office this week and visited all around Durban doing Boarding Checks.  

Tuesday we visited Boardings (Apartments) in Amanzimtoti and Queensburgh (pronounced Queensborough.)  But we forgot to take photos in Amanzimtoti.  (It was pouring buckets.) 

Queensburgh is actually in Hillcrest Zone, but we had to stop by there anyway to deliver new Elder Birkeland's luggage!  It had gotten lost somewhere between Atlanta and Johannesburg.  The airline delivered it to the office on Tuesday morning.  We were just getting ready to leave to inspect Amanzimtoti when the delivery man called and said he'd be there in about 30 minutes.  

Queensburgh was not on our inspection list, but we practically drive through there on the way to Amanzimtoti.  So we volunteered to check on Elders Birkeland and Thwani while we were there. We waited for the luggage to show up, then did both inspections.  All is well down south.

Tuesday night Sue finished the puzzle!!  The last bit went fast, because she could try every piece in every possible slot.

Our daughter Rachel had sent this for Christmas.  The goal was to finish it in 100 days.  It was finished with four days to spare!  When we told Rachel it was done she said, "Time for me to send a new one."  Oh, dear!

Wednesday was the monthly Mission Leadership Council meeting.  We don't attend that, but the Zone Leaders do, and their boarding was next on the list for inspection.  We scheduled the other Boarding Inspections for Thursday.

Wednesday night Ken got to do a fun project.  President and Sister Lines have a friend near their home in Gilbert, Arizona, who is from Durban.  She was contacted by an old friend here, Lorraine Willer, and had her connect with the Lines in late 2019.  Long story short--Lorraine decided in May 2020 that she wanted to be baptized, but all churches were all on total lockdown.  So President Lines got permission and baptized her in the Mission Home swimming pool!  We learned that the Church is looking for interesting conversion stories to share with new Mission Leadership couples at their training in June.  They asked for an "audition" video to tell this story.  Four people here got together with Sister Lorraine and told the story.  Ken recorded a 25 minute video with two cameras, edited it overnight, and then we sent it off to Salt Lake City for judging.  We'll see what happens.

Photo from video of President & Sister Lines, Lorraine, her good friend Tina Carvalho, and Elder Mbaki, who taught Lorraine the Gospel almost a year ago.

We started Thursday morning with the Zone Leaders Boarding Inspection in KwaMashu.  These are Elders Effenaar, Christensen and Pettijohn.  They are a trio because Elder Effenaar is going home in three days to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, mid-transfer.  Elder Effenaar spent the first nine months of his mission in Kinshasa Mission, Democratic Republic of the Congo speaking French.  He was transferred to the Durban Mission in March 2020 as part of the "great evacuation."  It wasn't just USA missionaries that went to their home country.  Almost all missionaries everywhere went back to their home country.  By the time the Church started sending missionaries back to their original assignment last December, Elder Effenaar had less than six months left to serve, so he stayed with us.

Our second Boarding Check of the morning was easy to get to--sort of.  Down four flights of stairs, up a steep driveway and up another four flights of stairs.  The KwaMashu 2 Elders Tiyiwe and Lusuko live in the same apartment complex as Elders E, C & P, but in a different building.  Each is on the fourth story--but they call it the second floor.  First comes the garage level.  Then the ground floor, then first floor, last second floor.  But it is still four steep flights of stairs!  We carry extra cleaning supplies in our car, so they walked down with us to pick up what they needed.

Third, we were off to Berea.  We kind of know where that neighborhood is.  We have been to the chapel there several times, and Sue's favorite yarn store is there.  (One Stitch at a Time)  Our records said go to 10 Clayton.  We put that into the Google maps and set off.  We found Clayton street, but could not identify the building. We called Elders Russell and Bascom and learned that they do not live on Clayton Street.  They live on Lena Ahrens Road--about 1.5km away and across the freeway!  Elder Russell told Sue to go to the yarn store, and they are just around the corner!  Their building is named Clayton and they live in Unit 10.  

Last stop of the day was Bluff.  This is the mountainous peninsula that shelters the big harbor in Durban.  It's a beautiful area with views across the harbor and into the city on one side, and out east to the Indian Ocean on the other side.  Elders Lowder and Naisbitt were glad to welcome us. 

Saturday morning Sue did the last two boarding checks--but these were by video.  The Elders were up in Richards Bay and Ngwalezane.  Two hours each way is too long to drive just for a thirty-minute visit.  And these are boardings that the Elders just moved into last Transfer, so they can't be too dirty yet!  We did get a screen shot of Elder Viviers and Elder Slater.

For our activities on Saturday, just read last week's blog.  But this week we only had three new Elders instead of eight.  It was the three who did not make it last week.  They are glad to be here, after only two tries!

Sunday afternoon we did some driving around to deliver various Elders.  We were in a township west of Hillcrest.  It was such a beautiful day!  Sue had to take a round photo from the top of a hill.

Newly arrived Elders in township west of Hillcrest. 11 April 2021 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

And while we were waiting for the Elders, we saw some little boys, maybe ages 8-12, with a home-made go-kart.  They were coming down a steep hill, and we were worried about it getting away from them--until we saw it up close.  It had 2x4's for front and back axles with a wheel attached at each end by a single bolt.  There were two 2x4's on top of each other holding the front axle to the back axle and making the seat.  Two boys were riding and two were pushing.  It needed pushing to go down the hill!  Sue talked to one of them and told him he should be a mechanical engineer when he grows up.

We were able to do a little proselyting this week.  We presented a Book of Mormon in isiZulu to Nick, who washes cars at the Mission Office building complex, and we gave a Book of Mormon to someone we met on Sunday afternoon while waiting for the Elders.