NOT quiet! -- Week 75

Last week we said it was quiet.  This week definitely was not.  Lots of news this week.  Any of you who watch the international news know that South Africa, especially the area around Durban, has had a week of civil unrest.  We are glad to report that the difficulties have mostly died down and we are fine.  We don't know who made this video, but it celebrates today as Nelson Mandela Day and what he stood for.

But at the beginning of the week we weren't so sure the week would end this way.  Thank you for all your prayers!  The South African Council of Churches includes Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Islamic, and other faiths.  They all together declared today a day of Prayer for Peace on Nelson Mandela Day in South Africa.  On the announcement, they quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14

South Africa needs some healing right now.

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We live in a neighborhood with one entrance that splits into three cul-de-sac roads.  Each goes down the ridge of a hill into a very wooded/jungly valley.  We call it MGM -- Mottramdale, Grace and Monarch, after the names of the roads.  It is very much a mixed-ethnicity area, all loyal to the democracy of South Africa.  Lots of Arab and African Moslems, but also many Hindu and Christian Indians, as well as Christian Whites and Blacks. 

At the bottom of the map you can see the large Westwood Mall.  Behind that down the hill is Westwood Estates--a very large modern apartment complex.  

Where the red square is on the map, we now have a neighborhood watch 24-hour guard, and at least one of the men is legally armed.  The street has small barricades that make you slow down to get through.  No one comes into the neighborhood without their permission.  We have had strangers try to sneak in.  Yesterday a man said he was there to read water meters.  He was escorted down the street by a guard's car.  He drove in and right back out again.

We walked up to the entrance to see the setup, and as you see we collected trash in a black plastic bag.  While other areas were truly trashed this week, here it was mostly the neighborhood monkeys that constantly scatter trash whenever they get a chance.

The nearby mall has been closed since last Sunday.  Because of our neighborhood protection it is one of the notable ones that was not looted at all.  

The problems started last Monday.  That night some of the men in the neighborhood did a patrol, but not too organized.  Tuesday there was a meeting at the K-12 Islamic school at the corner of Grace and Mottramdale led by our next-door neighbor Muhammed the neighborhood president. 

About 40 people showed up, mostly men.  They organized into three-hour shifts at the top of the neighborhood, and at the bottom of each road.  Monday night there had been strangers in the woods down the valley trying to get to the mall. They were flushed out by our watchmen.

That meeting ended at about the time for afternoon prayers at the school mosque, so the Moslem men were invited in for that.  Elder Hubrich, the Church Humanitarian Service Missionary who lives downstairs from us, announced that he would like to lead a prayer with everyone else who was there, and he gave a wonderful prayer for peace and safety.

We have an online WhatsApp chat group for the neighborhood, and it has been VERY busy this week.  On Friday morning, Elder Bascom, one of the Mission President's Assistants who lives in our building posted this to the group:

Good morning :)

My name is Elder Bascom. I live on Mottramdale. I am a representative of Jesus Christ here. I left my home in America to come and serve in South Africa and teach people and uplift those around me. We see now that there is much turmoil in our country, and I have tried to cope and deal with watching good people get their homes and businesses destroyed and their livelihood ruined. It didn't make sense, it seemed unfair. In my study of the scriptures today I found something that I found extremely touching. (Disclaimer: my intent is to spread love and hope. Not my religion. I feel as though we can find commonality in these verses as we strive to understand God)

We read:

 "34 And they were lifted up in pride, even to the persecution of many of their brethren. Now this was a great evil, which did cause the more humble part of the people to suffer great persecutions, and to wade through much affliction.

35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God."

So why do bad things happen to good people? To make good people better!! Through the sanctification of their souls. Through fasting and prayer. Though faith in God and yielding our hearts to him. May we grow in humility, in faith in whatever form that takes, and trust in the sanctification process. These trying times will only make us better. If you need a prayer, a message of hope, or a listening ear give us a call please, we would be happy to help. God bless 🤍

A few days later one of the neighbors contacted Elder Bascom asking to learn more...

We love that so many people in South Africa are people of faith.  Sister Hubrich took a photo of this car recently, and we all love it.

We have seen so many miracles this week.  We can't even write them all.  The most personal to the mission is the Hubrichs.  They came just three weeks ago, and their mandate is to find places where they can partner with local organizations and offer help as needed.  The Church does this all over the world.  In Africa a huge emphasis has been on digging wells and piping water in rural areas.  There is also a world-wide effort to donate wheelchairs.  We saw that in Russia, and it is happening here also.  But, there have been no new projects since the Lunds were evacuated out with us in March 2020.  They worked from home in the USA to finish up where they could.  The Hubrichs came hoping to make some connections and start new projects.  This unrest has brought out all those organizations that serve the needy to work together.  The Hubrichs have managed to connect with several in surprising ways over the last few days.  

We were standing in line on Friday morning for groceries.  One of the women managing the line stopped to talk.  She is on the board of a large non-profit that houses 400+ physically and mentally handicapped adults, and provides day-school for 700+ disabled children.  That was a connection that the Hubrichs probably would not have found in another place!  They exchanged phone numbers and email and will more formally connect next week.  There were other fortuitous connections made  at other places.

The grocery lines were amazingly long on Thursday and Friday.  This one went on for about three blocks. And once you got in you were limited to 15 items. We drove by on Thursday, but there was no place to park within a half mile of the mall, so we gave up.  

We came back at 6:30 am on Friday because they said there was a pensioners line -- for us senior citizens -- starting at 7:30 before the Checkers and Woolworths stores opened at 8:30.  But the store opened late, and they let the people who had numbers from the day before in first.  That was those who were still in line when the store closed.  

Sister Hubrich stayed in another, shorter line at Pick N Pay.  She mostly bought items for two other flats in our building where people cannot get out at all.  This is across the street from a girl's high school.  Traffic calming is their word for speed bumps.

Long line into a store, going past a recently burned-out car.

Friday afternoon there was a meeting for the whole neighborhood and 100+ people showed up.  They talked about short and long term plans.  The neighborhood has also arranged for food trucks to bring in bread, milk, flour, etc.  It is distributed from the school.  We don't need anything, but the four young Elders who live in our building went over to help unload a semi full Saturday afternoon.

President Lines has been doing Zoom meetings with the four senior couples.  Two are here in Durban.  One is 2.5 hours west in Ladysmith.  The other is eight hours west in Bloemfontein.  Those last two cities are just fine.  Everything is normal.  

So, the Van Heerdens in Ladysmith made arrangements with a Church member there to order a bunch of food for Durban.  The woman runs a store, so has access to wholesalers.  They dropped a load of staples at the Van Heerden's home in Ladysmith on Friday afternoon.  On Saturday we drove half-way to Ladysmith.  

There's a great restaurant in the middle of nowhere called The Windmills.  They grow their own vegetables and meat.  We did a little shopping and got some great sourdough bread.

The restaurant was closed, but take-out was open.  We took Elder Kholobile and Elder Hill with us because we wanted a Black South African just in case there were any issues.  Van Heerden's are Afrikaans South African.  On Monday the rioters and their leaders had burned 32 trucks with semi trailers on the highway we were traveling.  But by Saturday there was no sign of any of it.  The roads were all clear.  Traffic was light, but there were lots of trucks on the highway going both directions.  It is the main road between Durban and Johannesburg -- like I-5 between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

We met, had lunch, and then each drove the other's bakkie home.  

Theirs was full of food coming to The Windmills.  Our new one was thus full of food leaving to go back to Durban.  It was slick and easy.  The trucks all belong to the Mission, so it doesn't really matter who has which one.  We brought the food back to the Mission Home for storage, except for nine loaves of fresh bread, nine liters of fresh milk, and 17 packages of 60 eggs each.  The milk and bread we shared out to local missionaries in a hurry.  The eggs are in the office and will be distributed on Monday, when we are also getting a shipment of food from Johannesburg.  Should we have future food issues we have direct connections with a wholesaler, the Church's area office in Johannesburg, and with Pick N Pay.  (The bishop of one of the local LDS wards here is the CEO of the company in KZN province!)

Friday Elder Hubrich got home about 6pm and realized he had wanted to collect wood for the fires for those standing watch  all night.  We got together and took two Elders and went into the woods behind our house, gathered wood, and piled it into the back of the bakkie.

The problem was that it was dark.  Sue was carrying a lantern but couldn't hold that and carry wood, too.  Then she realized she was wearing a favorite very long scarf.  She tied the lantern around her neck and then could carry a big pile of sticks up out of the gully, around the building and up two flights of stairs to the bakkie.  When we had a good pile we drove it to the front gate.  The watchers were quite appreciative.

Early in the week we were takng our daily walk all inside our gate.  It's a good workout!  Ken decided to show off and he ran up the hill -- twice!  Elder Hubrich did it five times, and then walked it five times.  But he is also a marathon runner.  Ken measured, and the hill is a 16% grade.

Some Mission things went on normally this week.  We had our usual Thursday Zoom meeting of the social media group.  Elders Odundo and Russell came to join us.  They normally live out in south Pinetown/Umbhedula.  But they had no electricity for three days, so moved into the empty MTC flat in our building.  They have now gone back home.

Oh yes, the MTC!  We were supposed to have two Elders from Johannesburg and Cape Town join us to start their Missionary Training Center work on Tuesday.  But on Monday the freeway between us and the airport was blocked by rioters, so their MTC work has been delayed for a bit.  We are not quite sure when they will come -- probably on the next Transfer date in six weeks.

This shutdown has not stopped the missionary work.  The Elders are all still teaching like crazy on the phone.  But we have really terrible cell service to our building down in the valley.  The Assistants who live upstairs from us often sit out on the back of their bakkie to teach via phone.  Better reception up there.  And today we attended a baptism in Maseru, Lesotho via Zoom.  

We did well at the beginning of the week, eating sparingly in case our food had to last a long time.  Ken lost five pounds.  Since then, not so well keeping to a diet.

Breakfast today -- above mentioned sourdough bread French toast with blueberry syrup.  Yummy!

Our neighbor, Elizabeth, made us donuts again.  She brought the Hubrichs about two dozen, and us six.  They all got shared with the men guarding the street, and some others in our building who cannot get out much.  And then Sister Lines came by with some of her amazingly decorated cupcakes.  She is an artist, as we've mentioned before.

And in other wonderful news:  Ken has been working for several years with the Iowa Mormon Trails Association to put a plaque up near the spot where Mary Ann Morris Allen, first wife of Daniel Allen, his great great grandfather, died and was buried in an unmarked grave along a trace of the Iowa Mormon Trail.  The monument is in place and will be dedicated in a ceremony on August 7 as part of the 175th anniversary commemoration of the Iowa Mormon Trail.  The event is generating a lot of publicity and will be video recorded by a professional team for posterity.  More at iowa-latter-day-saints.org and on Facebook at "Iowa Mormon Trails Association" where the backstory is found.