Surgery and catching up -- week 85

 Usually the week after Transfers we sit back and have a calm, quiet, almost-lazy week.  Not this time!

Monday we were cleaning up from Friday and Saturday.  While we were driving home from Bethlehem, President & Sister Lines and the Assistants cleaned out all our paraphenalia from the Pinetown chapel and dumped it into the office.  Things had to be put away and Sue had to go through all the orientation folders.  Ken was paying bills -- as always.

Tuesday morning we did more orientation -- this time for Elder Black.  He's the one who didn't arrive until Saturday morning.  He was sent immediately out to his area to serve, but President did assign him to someplace in Durban so he could easily come to the office and do all the paperwork, driving test, etc.  The fun thing about Elder Black is that he is from Pleasant Grove, Utah, and was friends with our grandson, Spencer Mills, who is currently serving a mission in St. Louis, Missouri.  We took this photo and sent it immediately to Elder Mills.

Tuesday afternoon Sue was supposed to go out to Hillcrest Hospital to do the pre-admissions stuff for Ken's hernia surgery, but that all got sidetracked.  A triple of Elders way out west in Thaba Nchu (ta ban' chu) was in a car accident.  They ran a non-existent stop sign and t-boned a woman.  They are all new in that area and had not yet learned that the town just writes STOP on the street.  Stop signs get knocked over all the time and the town was tired of replacing them.  The Elders were telling her it was her fault, and she called her husband who came and took their car keys away!  It wasn't a bad accident -- cars still drivable, no one hurt.  But we had to call the fleet manager in Johannesburg.  He drove down there the next morning and smoothed over everything and the Church is paying to fix the woman's car. 

Wednesday morning we were out the door at 5:30am to get to hospital admissions by 6:00.  Sue got off at the wrong offramp from the freeway, and then went the wrong way when she got back on.  We were only about 10 minutes late.    Then there were problems with the pre-admission stuff that should have been done the day before. Hillcrest is a beautiful modern hospital about 25 km west of where we live. We have Aetna medical insurance through the Church, but almost no one in South Africa will accept it.  So we pay with mission credit card and Sue has to do the paperwork each month to get all the medical bills reimbursed.  But we forgot that we have a $2,000/day limit on our card.  Hospital bill was more than that. We put 1/2 on the mission card and 1/2 on our personal card.  That's going to be a reimbursement mess that isn't even started yet!

Ken was due for his hernia surgery at 7:30, but missed that, and went in finally at 8:30.  

Sue went to the hospital restaurant for eggs benedict.  He was back in his room before about 10:00.   It all went just fine.  

Laparoscopic surgery is amazing.  Just two small band-aids on his stomach, and all is well.  Then it was just wait time.  He had to keep down liquids and urinate before he could go home.  That all took awhile.  The doctor finally showed up after 4:30 and discharged him. 

 Funny thing of the day.  Before the surgery the nurse (a "Sister" in South African) was asking Sue all the standard questions -- any allergies, what drugs does he take, height and weight.  I said 5 foot 9 and 170.  She looked at me wide-eyed.  170??  Oops -- that's  pounds.  Everyone here measures in kilograms.   I guessed about 75.  He's actually closer to 77kg, but 75 is close enough. 

Ken stayed home and convalesced on Thursday and Friday.  Sue went to the office, and it was just busy!  No idea why.  She went to the post office on Thursday -- had to double park, dashed in to get whatever was in PO box.  Back at the office realized there were two packages to pick up.  One for an Elder in Bloemfontein.  Good timing.  President is going there on Saturday.  Sue will get it from the PO on Friday.  Oops!  Friday is a national holiday -- Heritage Day.  

So, back to the post office.  Sue noticed the women tellers were all dressed in beaded and/or African dress.  And a woman in line had on a wonderful fancy sari.  Of course!  For Heritage Day! 

Friday Sue went to the office -- just for a couple of hours as it was a holiday after all.  Ha!  She had three projects to finish -- baptism form entry for the week, submit Aetna claims for August, write mission History for August.  Baptisms are supposed to get done on Wednesday each week.  The other two are done monthly -- theoretically before the 10th.  She left the office at 4:30 with the baptisms done and Aetna claims started.  Those got finished at home on Saturday.  History is barely started....

But we did celebrate Heritage Day on Friday night.  We were invited for dinner at the Hubrichs downstairs.  We usually go out on Friday night, and often together.  But Ken wasn't really feeling up to that, so Hubrichs invited us just to their flat.  They made tacos and we brought root beer.  Those are definitely our heritage!  And Elder  Hubrich wore his new African shirt.

Friday was a holiday, but the workmen were out putting up the traffic signals in our neighborhood.  They are called traffic robots in South Africa.  We've talked before about the long-long time it has taken to finish this intersection.  It's been all done with stop signs everywhere for a couple of months.  We actually like that.  It's such a crazy intersection that everyone knows they have to slow down and take it carefully and watch out for others.  We don't think we are going to like it when they turn the robots on.  There will be four lights between the office and our flat -- in less than 1 km.  We think it will just slow down the commute.  And McDonalds isn't open yet, but there have been regular non-construction employees seen in the neighborhood.  It could happen any day soon.

When Sue woke up on Saturday morning there was a message on her phone from 6:20am.

Hey Sister Allen, looks like  we need a new mattress and a plumber. At about 4am we woke up to half inch of water in parts of the boarding. A hose between the wall and the sink burst. We got the leak stopped and the standing water cleaned up. The mattress we had on the floor got soaked and we don't have water to our bathroom sink. Sorry for the trouble.

 

Sue called Andre.  He is our handyman and salvation.  He will go anywhere in the east side of the mission and he can fix anything.  He called back later in the evening to say the plumbing was all fixed, and the Elders also told him that when they use the toaster the circuit breaker trips.  Andre looked at the electrical panel and said it was all wired wrong, so he fixed that, too.  He is fabulous!  And his wife cuts our hair, besides.  

They had a mattress on the floor because they are in a temporary triple companionship.  We have eight of those right now!  That's not the usual plan, but with so many new Elders we didn't have enough trainers.  Some are one Elder training two newbies.  Some are two Zone Leaders training one newbie.  

We have spare mattresses in the MTC flat, so I called the Assistants to deliver one up to the aptly-named Waterloo flat.  They said they could do it late-afternoon.  All is now sorted -- as the South Africans would say.

Saturday for P-day outing Ken didn't feel like walking around, but Sue and Hubrichs went to "The Mushroom Farm."  It's an area with 15 or 20 small shops and a couple of restaurants that is just across the highway from the Hillcrest hospital.  One of the restaurants is a bakery with terrific kinds of breads.  We had lunch and wandered the shops.  

Then we went up the road to an amazing place full of metal sculptures and stone carvings.  Lazarus is the owner.  He does the metal work and his father does the stone carving.

This is a made-from-junk Harley Davidson replica.  President Lines is a huge motorcycle buff.  We think he should take this home with him.

Sue would prefer a life-size T-rex in her garden.

Or maybe a Cinderella coach?

Sue came home and finished on the above-mentioned medical reimbursement work.  Progress!

Sunday morning Sue went for a walk.  It's been a while!  Spring is definitely here.  It was 80F today and is supposed to be 89F tomorrow!  The flowers are so beautiful.

We have two big bushes like this in the yard of our building.  They have the most amazing smell.  Walking through the parking lot the smell is so strong.  You don't even have to walk up to the bush.  And the flowers are either white or purple -- all mixed together.

Walking down the street, the jacaranda trees are blooming.  This is strange, because at home they bloom in July.  That should be January here. 

And there are more beautiful azaleas.  This bush had the densest flowers ever seen.   

Sunday we got to go to Church again!  It's been a long time.  We think it was mid-June when we last went.  It was a small-but-happy group of Molweni Branch that met in the Hillcrest chapel today.  

It's a 30 minute drive from their area, but COVID kicked them out of the school building they were renting.  They have land purchased to build a chapel in Molweni, but that will take a while.

We have an emergency group of 5 Elders living in the MTC apartment this weekend.  The Hubrichs fed them dinner last night.  We sent over cereal and milk for breakfast, and PB&J for lunch, and then invited them to our flat for dinner, and the two Assistants, too.  Sue made a huge pot of macaroni and cheese.  We just barely have room for 9 around the table and sitting on the couches.  

But the best was dessert -- root beer floats!  It was a new thing for our African Elders.

New Elders! -- week 84

It has been quite a week!  We received 25 new Elders on Friday and Saturday.  We were scheduled to get 26, so only having one not make it is one of many miracles this week.  The most we have ever had arrive at once before was 11.  This took things to a whole new level for preparation, organization, orientation, and logistics.  Twenty-two of them arrived on Friday morning.  Two were already here because they are South African and did MTC with us.  One more had COVID test problems and so arrived on Saturday morning and missed all the hoopla.

First, before the arrivals, we had to sadly say Goodbye to three wonderful Elders who have completed their two years of service.  

Elder Jordan Russell came back shortly after we did last December and took the Mission's use of Social Media to a whole new level.  That has kept the Mission going during all the lockdowns and restrictions of COVID times. 

 

Elder Jerrick Stastny also went home with us on the evacuation flight and came back in December to serve in Durban, and then out in Dundee, and back south of Durbin.  He stayed strong in some tough times and places.

Elder Siyasanga Mananga was one of our heroes.  He is South African, so  he stayed here during all the lockdown times.  He is an orphan, and the only Church member in his family.  He is a little older than most of our missionaries, who are 18 to 21 years old.  Elder Mananga will be 27 today.  Happy Birthday!!  He is the one who did so much of Ken's job, and worked with Ken over Zoom during the eight months that we were home in 2020.  He is a great young man!

Seeing these Elders go home is always hard.  We do grow to love them all!

Most of this week was spent preparing for Departures and Arrivals.  Sue printed all the paperwork needed for orientation.  They are all so tired by the time they get here.  We tell them lots of things and give them a folder to collect all sorts of papers.  Then we tell their Trainers to go over it again during the next six weeks.  Each new Elder is assigned to be companion with an experienced missionary for at least twelve weeks for training.  That system works well.  

Thursday afternoon we went to the Pinetown chapel to set everything up.  

That is about 20 km (14 mi) west of the Office.  We usually do orientation at the office and dinner at the Mission Home, but there just isn't room in the Office or the Mission Home for that many people!  We had the Elders serving in Pinetown area come and help us set up tables for orientation and for meals.  It all looked pretty good!

The arriving Elders leave their location in the USA sometime on Wednesday morning.  Ten of them were coming from the Provo Missionary Training Center.  Two were already here in Durban doing MTC training remotely.  The other 14 were in temporary missions around the USA.  They were all supposed to meet in Atlanta for a 7pm red-eye to Johannesburg.  They arrive there too late to clear customs and get the last flight to Durban, so they stay overnight at an airport hotel and take a 6:30am flight to Durban.  That's the theory.  It actually happened that way for 21 of the 24 coming from the US!  Not bad.  Two Elders coming from Tacoma Washington had their travel-required COVID tests not come back in time, but they went to Seattle airport and got a test there and were put on a flight from Seattle to Amsterdam to Johannesburg.  They only arrived a few hours late and still stayed in the hotel and arrived with the others on Friday morning.  Whew!  We had one Elder who wasn't able to do that, but he did get his COVID test and flew one day late, so he arrived on Saturday morning.  He missed orientation, but President Lines assigned him to an area close to the Office, so we'll do his orientation on Tuesday.

So we were out the door at 6:30am on Friday and at the airport to greet them from their 7:30am arrival. 

We took two 8-passenger vans and three 5-passenger bakkies and the Mission President's 6-passenger SUV.  Ken is in the foreground with his video camera going, of course.

 It took all that space for people and baggage.

Ken made a video of the arrivals and first transfers, which you can watch here:

Sept 17 New Missionaries

And then we stopped by the Durban Temple for another photo op:

Hurrah for Israel!!

Then we went to Pinetown Chapel for the day.  

The Elders all arrived starving, of course.  They had checked out of their hotel rooms at 5am.  It was now 9:30am, so the first order of business is breakfast -- muffins, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, juice boxes, fruit.  All done ahead by Sister Hubrich and sitting out ready to grab.

Sue had divided the Elders all into groups of 4 or 5 and set up a rotation around six stations:

• Secretary stuff -- Sue

• Medical, housing, nutrition stuff -- Sister Hubrich

• Financial/vehicles stuff -- Ken

• Driving test -- Elder Hubrich.  ("Remember to signal with blinkers, not with wipers, and stay on the left side of the street!")  At least he let them do the test in the Corolla, and not in a bakkie or van.

• Missionary purpose, daily schedule emergencies & phones -- Elders Bascom & Mokhoanatsi (Assistants to Pres. Lines)

[Oops -- missed the photo]

• Social Media in the Mission -- Elders Hill & Kholobile

Each station got 20 minutes, and all during that President Lines was also taking each one for a ten-minute personal interview.  He usually likes to do 30-45 minutes, but that can't happen with 22 Elders!  

Then it's time to eat again.  Pizza delivered, of course.  Except the driver got lost and couldn't find us.  There is another church on the same street that comes before ours, and he was trying to go there.

In the afternoon the Elders had a little down time to do some writing, some personal study, and to call their families!  They were supposed to wait until it was 7am at home, but they got anxious and called too early for some families!

We may think it's 2pm, but to these Elders it is still 6am, and they have been up all night.

We suggested that they take their chairs outside and enjoy the beautiful day -- especially because sunshine is one of the best ways to get your body-clock reset to South African time.  We are GMT +2, so nine hours ahead of California.

While they did that, President finished up the interviews, and then he and the Assistants decided who would be assigned to what area of the mission.  He doesn't like to do the assignments until after he has met the new Elders.  

Sue went back to the office to copy all the passports and visas so that they could get certified as true copies by President Mkhize (Mission Presidency counselor and an attorney.)  We keep the passports in the office, and the Elders carry the copies with them.  She also scanned all their COVID immunization cards and Driver's Licenses, if they had not sent copies earlier. 

Ken and the Hubrichs took the two mission vans and rented trailers to pull behind them on Saturday for Transfers.

We had all the Elders pull their suitcases out of the various vehicles and line them down the halls of the church.  Then later Sue made signs for the walls listed by area of service, and the Elders put their baggage there, sorted by area, so we could pack the trailers, bakkies and vans quickly in the morning.

We all met back at Pinetown with the Elders about 5pm and they were told to which area they would be going.  There is a big map on the table and they all sit around so they can get some sense of where they are going.

Then it is time to eat again!  We had our near neighbors, Amiena and Fahdli Toyer do the catering again.  Roast beef, garlic potatoes, butternut squash, salad.  All very yummy!

And Sister Lines made her famous cakes.  For this crowd she did three of them.  They are absolutely amazing.

After dinner there was a testimony for all of the Elders -- but only two minutes each or it would have taken all night.

Six of the Elders came and stayed overnight in the MTC apartment in our building.  The other 18 stayed in the bunkhouse at the Mission Home.  It has 20 beds, but we decided to split up the group.

At 5:45am Saturday morning we piled the Elders staying by us into the one van the Hubrichs were driving and the bakkie we were driving and headed back to Pinetown to start Transfers. 

It turned out we were one seat short in the cars, so we took President Lines 6-passenger car and left him with the bakkie for the day.

We drove the car with three Elders and a lot of baggage to Ladysmith (2.5 hours west), needed to pick up one more Elder there.  Then we were on to Bethlehem (two more hours west).  We followed a van carrying seven Elders and pulling a small trailer full of more baggage.

This is the crowd we had at Ladysmith.

And here are those who were at Bethlehem.  Elders Viviers and Naisbitt drove down from Bloemfontein to pick up the Elders who will be serving up there.

Two hours behind us, the Hubrichs left Pinetown in a van pulling a trailer and arrived in Ladysmith to meet up with those going up to Newcastle.  This is the group then.

On the way home we stopped west of Durban in the township of Mpumalanga to deliver a bike helmet for big Elder Wardlow, which had been brought from the US because we couldn't find one large enough in all of Durban.

It was a lot of driving.  Sue did nine hours behind the wheel.  But we enjoyed talking with the new Elders, finding out about their lives, and telling them about life in South Africa.  They will go on to do good things.

Ken and the Hubrichs then got up at 4:15am again on Sunday to watch the BYU v. Arizona State football game.  Sue joined them to watch for the 4th quarter about 7am -- a much more civilized hour. It was another BYU victory, 27-17.  Notice the goodies to go with the game.  Sister Hubrich made chocolate chip cookies, and Sue found A&W root beer at Takealot!  Ken is a real root beer fan, and it is not to be found in regular stores here.  But we've now found him a good supply going forward.