Plans don't always work out.... week 80

 Monday to Friday -- quiet days in the office.  We are preparing for seven new missionaries next week, and opening new apartments in three areas in September.  Ken just kept paying bills and Sue made more 72-hour emergency kits.

Friday night we had dinner at La Rosa our favorite Mexican restaurant with the Hubrichs (right) and Elder & Sister Martin (left) visiting here from Johannesburg.  The Martins supervise all the Church Humanitarian projects in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar, and some other countries too, I think.  So they are the "bosses" for the Hubrichs.

We enjoyed nachos, enchiladas, tacos, burritos and a good visit.

Saturday didn't quite work out as planned.  A month ago we did the food/bakkie exchange with the Van Heerdens right after all the riots.  They have wanted "their" bakkie back ever since.  We have a bunch of items they need for the new flat that will open in Kestell, so we filled the bakkie and were planning on lunch together again, bringing along the Hubrichs, at the half-way point between Durban and Ladysmith.  But Van Heerdens called Friday afternoon late and said they had a sick Elder who needed some blood tests on Friday, and then visit to doctor on Saturday, so our trip was off.  (The Elder ate some bad chicken but now all is well.)

We were debating about what to do on Saturday when Hubrichs called.  They wanted to visit an open-air market near the Berea Chapel, and did we want to come along?  Of course!  It was such a lovely day.  

Lots of booths selling all kinds of items, from used DVDs to hand-knit hats and bead animals.  Sue talked to the man who made these animals about making her a nativity set.  That's the one souvenir she really wants to take home from Africa.

They had a great DJ playing music even from our 1960's era.  

One woman was collecting donations to help with her rescue animals -- but not your usual cats and dogs.  She had owls, lizards and snakes!

We got home in time for Ken to participate in the Conference honoring the 175th anniversary of the Iowa Mormon Trail held at the Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  It was two days long with lots of different sessions.  There was one on Saturday morning (Iowa time, 4pm in Durban) that talked about pioneer cemeteries and showed a short video of the dedication of the Mary Ann Morris Allen marker that took place on 7 August.  They introduced Ken via Zoom, and he said a few sentences.  Some descendants of Mary Ann were actually present and participated at the dedication.  The whole program was very interesting.  A 17-minute video of the dedication can be watched here.  (There is also a link to the video on FamilySearch.)

We've mentioned they are building a new McDonalds at the entrance to our neighborhood.  It was supposed to open the end of July, but the week of riots pushed things back.  Then it was supposed to open yesterday.  Nope -- major problems.  This is what the driveway looked like as of yesterday.

That big retaining wall was built very early in the process.  The driveway goes up, and then the drive-thru window curves around the building to the right.  

Here's the Google Earth view in mid-July.

Drive up the driveway, place an order on the shady side of the building.  Pick up on the sunny side.  

Except that is the side where the driveway is sliding out.  The right side of the wall should be in line with the left side of the wall -- not sticking out six inches at the top.

We walked up to the top to see the situation there and found they are already digging out behind the wall.  We are not sure how they will fix this problem!  President Lines is a civil engineer.  We'd like to volunteer him to solve this, but we are sure they have their own crew trying to figure it out.  Needless to say, we are not expecting McDonalds to open any day soon.