Recovery -- Week 76

Food!  That was the emphasis this week.  For us, and for others.

On Monday our Westwood Mall finally reopened, but only from 9AM to 2 PM, and the parking lot was not opened.  We stayed away.

President and Sister Lines, the Hubrichs and about ten Elders went to help with a clean-up project that had been organized by the Hubrichs in one of the neighborhoods of Durban.  We didn't get to go because the office was closed all week last week, and we needed to be there to accept various deliveries that had been postponed and to catch up on what we couldn't do from home.  [But after 8 months of working from home in 2020, we are pretty good at keeping up while outside the office.]

We don't see President Lines "dressed down" very often!

Tuesday we received a large truck full of food from Johannesburg for missionary supplies. Originally it was going to come in a bakkie (pick-up), but there was way too much.  Instead we got half of a large almost semi-sized truck.  Originally it was going to be unloaded at the office -- haul everything up to the second floor.  Instead we decided to take it all to one of the local chapels.  Much better choice!  Lots more space, and only a half flight of stairs.  We had seven Elders and four Senior missionaries to do the unloading and sorting.  

Sue likes to do this organization stuff.  She had made signs to put around the walls of the Cultural Hall on where to put each kind of food -- flour/sugar, canned goods, fruits, veggies, pasta, cereal, etc.  

Once it was all unpacked and sorted, pairs of people were given a "grocery list" for each boarding (apartment.)  They took one bag of oranges, 3 cans of beans, 2 bags of rice, etc, etc, etc.  We made piles in the middle of the room for each boarding.  Once those were all done we decided who was going to take it where.  It was a lot of food!

One blessing was that the Hubrichs were going up to Hillcrest that afternoon and already had plans to go up to Richards Bay the next day--about 2.5 hours north.  They could deliver to the six boardings up that direction.  But there was no way they could get all that food into their little Toyota Corolla.  One boarding would fill the trunk, another would fill the back seat.  We put the food for Hillcrest and Molweni (close to each other) into their car.  Then we put all the food for those six boardings up north into the Assistant's bakkie.  Hubrichs could drive that on Wednesday.  We divided up the other piles between all those who were there for delivery.  There were 22 boardings all together.  

Everything left over (not much!) was picked up by President and Sister Lines and taken to the Mission Home bunkhouse.  (That's the extra missionary housing at their home.)  It will be saved for future needs.  That is President Lines in the bakkie loading food.  We usually get the young Elders to do that, but they were all gone delivering.

Wednesday was office work in the morning, and then we went out to do a couple of boarding inspections.  That should have been done the week before, but we were a little distracted.  When we arrive, we always invite the Elders to go "shopping" for cleaning supplies out of the back of our car.  These are the KwaDabeka Elders near the Church in Pinetown.  

First we had gone up to Umbhedula in the township north of Pinetown.  We got totally lost.  They live on Nixon Road, just off Reagan Road. [This neighborhood is called Washington Heights.  Who named this after USA Presidents?] Google Maps thinks that Nixon goes through north through a hillside -- but it doesn't.  It took us to the green circle on the map.  Anyway it is a looooong way around to get back to the other end of Nixon where we wanted to be -- see the green line.  

We called the Elders and told them we were lost.  They told us to put the Marianhill Engen petrol station into our maps.  Once we were there, then we'd get the correct directions to their boarding.  Yes!  It worked.  And Sue has since submitted a correction to Google Maps.  We'll see how long it takes them to fix it.

Thursday morning we had Zone Conference--on Zoom, unfortunately.  Because of the uproar the week before, President Lines did not want anyone to plan on traveling for Zone Conferences.  We did not know how long the unrest would last, and we need to keep everyone safe!  We did not do a screen shot of our Conference, but Sister Hubrich did one of the Durban Zone on Friday.  She is as good about taking photos as Ken! 

After Zone Conference we went with the Lines to get our second COVID vaccines.  We are all done!  Hurray!!  There were about three different places we had to wait in a queue--but they had lots of chairs set up, all spread out, so it wasn't too bad.  The whole process took about two hours.  It was longer than before, because just this week they lowered the eligibility age down from 50 to 35.          

When we got to the second of three check-in places there was a little stir because we were not in the computer system.  

We each had our paper proof of the first vaccine, but evidently no one had entered us into the EVDS -- electronic vaccine data system.  They just entered us there, and we were all set.

Ken learned there is an advantage to his Parkinson's induced shuffling walk.   After the last check-in as we were going to wait in the last queue for the actual jab, someone pulled Ken aside and sent him straight to the nurse, and me with him.  They said it was because he is old.  It turned out the man who pulled us out is also a member of our Church in Richards Bay and recognized our missionary name tags.  We were in no hurry and had to wait for the Lines anyway, but we appreciated the thoughtfulness.

We worry about all those in the western USA suffering from the heat and fires.  There are regularly fires around here, too, but they are generally planned.  It is now winter, so fields are being burned regularly.  Friday morning as we looked out the office window we saw the hillside between us and the University of KwaZula-Natal was on fire.  But it just burned down that hill and up to the top of the ridge, and then stopped.  We think they spray fire-retardant along the edges of the planned fire.  It burned all the grasses but left the large bushes and trees. It is a large nature preserve between us and UKZN.

Friday evening we went to dinner with the Hubrichs at Lupas -- the favorite Italian restaurant in Westville.  We forgot to take a photo of the good food, but did a picture looking in the mirror on one wall, with the restaurant name behind us.  Then flipped the photo backward, so the name looks right in the mirror.  The miracles of modern phone/cameras!

Saturday we did an airport run for President Lines, as he had other obligations.  

First, we saw off Elder Ntusi.  He is from Ezakheni--about 2.5 hours west of Durban.  He is starting his mission in Johannesburg.  He was brought to the Mission Home on Saturday morning by a driver so that President Lines could set him apart.  That is a special blessing that makes him a Missionary for Jesus Christ for the next two years.  He has an older brother who is serving right now as a Missionary in Botswana.  We then took him to the airport.  He had never been to an airport before, let alone on a plane.  He thought the airport was huge.  It is actually pretty small compared to some we have been in.  We told him to wait and see how much bigger Johannesburg airport is!

Then just after we saw Elder Ntusi off through security, we walked from Departures to Arrivals in time to welcome Elder Masenya, arriving from Johannesburg to start his mission with us in Durban.  We brought him to our West Victoria building and put his belongings into the MTC boarding in our building where he will live for the next two weeks.  Then we took him out to lunch and grocery shopping.  It is a new thing for many of these Elders to shop and cook for themselves!  Sue showed him how to make a menu list for the week, and then use that to make a grocery list.  The Elders only get about $75 every two weeks for groceries, so they have to live frugally.  It's a good learning experience.  His companion, Elder Tom, is coming from the Eastern Cape, south of Durban.  He will arrive on Monday evening.

The Elders are burning through electricity, as we have a real cold snap here.  Highs in mid-60's in Durban, and mid-40's out west are very unusual.  I guess we're sending all our warm weather to western USA.  [Sorry about that.]  Sue had to go to the office this afternoon because she was missing a pre-paid electricity PIN for one boarding.  She locked herself in!  She could not figure out how to get the security gate open from the inside.  Ken had to walk over, and she dropped the keys out of the second story window to him in the basement parking lot so he could come in and open the gate from the outside.  She is home and the Elders out in Bloemfontein have more electricity, and all is well.

Since we didn't get our P-day on Saturday, as usual, we are going to take it tomorrow.  More about that next week!