Nambiti Game Reserve -- week 94

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It is not celebrated in South Africa, but we are thankful for the opportunity to be in this wonderful country, and for all of you at home that we love.  

First, in spite of all the international hype about South Africa and COVID, we are all fine.  Here is the letter we sent to all the families of all our missionaries yesterday, Saturday 27 November:

Dear Families of South Africa Durban Missionaries,
   You have undoubtedly heard the news about COVID spike and new variant in South Africa.  We are aware of this and want you to know that your missionaries are well and safe.  We are taking all necessary precautions.  

Missionaries have been told not to meet in person.  District meetings will be held on video call.  District outings on preparation day are cancelled.   
Missionaries are cautious when they do go out.  In South Africa everyone always wears a mask when out in public.  All stores require a squirt of hand-sanitizer before entering.  Grocery cart areas have wet-wipes available for cleaning handles, etc.  Church meetings all require masks, hand sanitizing, and social distancing.  Every-other row of pews is left empty.  Members are good about this.

The concern about South Africa is not the number of cases right now, but the quick increase in cases, particularly around a University up north near Pretoria.  South Africa has some outstanding scientists who noticed this spike and did the tests necessary to identify this variant quickly.  The rate of cases in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban's Province, is still quite small.  It has a population of 11 million and went from 68 cases on Thursday to 108 cases on Friday.

Just to put it all in perspective:
South Africa   Population 60 million   average cases/day 3459, rate of cases 6/100,000
California     Population 40 million     average cases/day 3319, rate of cases  8/100,000
Utah           Population 3.2 million     average cases/day 1315  rate of cases   41/100,000 

We just want you to know that the missionaries are well and safe and we are monitoring the situation and taking all necessary precautions.  We appreciate the sacrifices our missionaries and their families are making to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ here in South Africa.

With Love,
President and Sister Lines

 -----------------------------------------

Sunday night South African President Ramaphosa gave a nation-wide TV broadcast.  He announced that there would not be further restrictions nor lockdowns, as there is now a vaccine available which will severely curtail the spread of the disease.  He blasted all the "rich countries" for stomping on South Africa about this when they hoarded all the vaccines in the early part of the pandemic.  And the COVID rates in the USA and Europe are far worse than in South Africa now.

Enough of all the bad news.

We spent three amazing days at Nambiti Game Reserve this week.  We also went there last February, and this trip was even better. 

 It was the semi-annual Senior Missionary Conference, so all 12 of us old people stayed at the Springbok Lodge for two nights and went on four game drives of three hours each.  Afternoon drives are 4-7pm and morning drives are 5:30 to 8:30am. 

 Here are a couple of favorite photos, but below is the link to our G-drive folder with 100 photos and videos.  They are amazing!

We ate too much!  Three big meals a day of yummy food was wonderful.  

We stayed in this "tent."  Canvas walls, but concrete floor, indoor plumbing and electricity.

Well, mostly indoor plumbing.  The shower was outside!

 In the middle of each drive we would stop at some pretty place for hot chocolate and snacks.  The weather was cold and we appreciated the lined ponchos provided by the Lodge.  We had a little rain, but mostly when we were not on the drives, so that was good.

We loved watching the zebras run.

And the Cheetahs amble along.  This one is for our granddaughter, Myra Allen, who especially loves cheetahs.

And one of the elephants got up close and personal with the other car carrying half of our group.

To look at the full 100 photos and videos that Ken took and kept, see this link.

From our guide Shaun, we learned the source of the mysterious fog horn we hear every night outside our apartment in Durban.  The sound belongs to a buff spotted fluff tail, a bird that is heard but almost never seen.  Its mating call goes on for hours every night and rivals the noisy throaty frogs we also hear all night every night.  You can listen here.

On the way home on Thursday, we stopped at the Mandela Capture Site.

This is a museum at the spot where Nelson Mandela was caught by the South African Police on 5 August 1952 after which he served 27 years in prison outside Cape Town.  This is a lovely museum about that, and the entire fight against apartheid in South Africa.

It is very well done, with a large display of artifacts, old newspapers, and information about the struggle that returned South Africa to universal freedom of movement and voting in 1994.  There is still a lot of de facto segregation here, but progress was made.  Mandela was elected the first black president.  He and De Clerk, the outgoing white president, received the Nobel Peace Prize for the peaceful transition of power in 1993-94. 

Ladysmith and Leases -- week 93

The beginning of the week was just office work.  Ken continues to process hundreds of receipts.  Sue was trying to negotiate applications and leases for eight new apartments, while Ken gets the new landlords set up as vendors in our accounting system.  A lot of busywork.  

We drove to Ladysmith this week for combined Zone Conference with Newcastle and Hillcrest Zones on Thursday and Friday.  The theme was about a Christ-Centered Mission Culture.

The bottom line: work hard with exact obedience and lots of love and consecration and you will see miracles.  We have such wonderful Elders.  They do love Christ and are working hard to share the message of His Gospel with the people of South Africa.  That is why we are here.

There were a lot of Elders, with three senior couples, President & Sister Lines, and young Sister Nkabinde.  She came just for the photo, as she lives in Ladysmith.  She was one of the four young Sisters who served four months in South Africa a year ago when everyone went to home country during COVID.  She served an 18-month Mission, but in four different missions!  She started out originally called to Uganda but came back to Johannesburg in the initial COVID repatriation.  There were about 20 Sisters living at the Johannesburg MTC on lock down--until one of them got COVID, and it was decided they needed to be spread out.  So she and three others came to Durban and lived in the Temple Patron Housing and did Social Media work.  About a year ago she was able to go back out to a regular mission, but this time they sent her to Kenya instead of Uganda.  No idea why.... Someone serving in two different missions used to be unheard of, but COVID changed that.  However four different missions must be a record!

Zone Conference was on Friday, but we went over a day early to help the Lyons.  They've on been here about two weeks, so wanted some moral support doing their first Zone Conference.  The Elders are in charge of all the meetings, but the Senior couple organize the food, etc.

The Lines always like to stay at a Bed & Breakfast in Ladysmith called "Buller's Rest."  So we stayed there, too, in this lovely thatched-roof cottage.

Sue enjoyed sitting out on the deck getting some office work done in the late afternoon.  We had already gone shopping for breakfast snacks for the Elders and been to the Church building to set up tables, chairs, etc.

President and Sister Lines arrived from Bloemfontein.  They had already been on the road for a week participating Zone Conferences further west and in Lesotho.  We all had dinner at a restaurant called "The Guinea Fowl."  The food was good -- but no guinea fowl on the menu!

We spent Saturday morning with Elder and Sister Hubrich visiting the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.  This is the big beautiful soccer stadium built for World Cup in South Africa in 2010.  Since COVID, there have still been games there, but no spectators allowed.  Just teams and TV crews.  When there are no games, they do stadium tours.  Sue remembered to take her spherical camera, so here are some fun views.  You can take your mouse and spin them around, or zoom in/out

Sky Car station, Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban South Africa 20 Nov 2021. Sky car is broken until sometime next year. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Moses Mabhida Stadium south entrance, Durban South Africa, 20 Nov 2021 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

This is the side where you can walk up the 500 stairs to the top of the arch -- but it is also currently closed due to COVID.  And pre-COVID you could also bungee jump off the top!  We might climb the stairs if it opens before we go home, but not jump off!

We went inside the Presidential box.  They have this beautiful big Protea flower sculpture.  The darker part in the center is all people in the circle with arms interlocked.  And there is a lever that will open and close the petals over the center circle.

We sat in the VIP stands and cheered.  Elder Hubrich is good at that.  He was a cheerleader at BYU many years ago when we all four attended school there.  But with about 25,000 students then, we didn't know each other.

One of the lobbies had this amazing map of Africa.  It looks like a quilt until you get up close, but it is all beads!  It took 150 women three years to create all the small sections and then join them together.  It expresses their wishes for Africa.

We got to go inside the team changing rooms, too. They had uniforms for many of the teams that have played there.  Sister Hubrich is sitting in front of the Germany uniform.  Elder Hubrich is German -- born in East Germany and moved to the USA at age 10.  

Team changing room at Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban South Africa. 20 Nov 2021 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

And we ran out onto the field through the tunnel, just like the teams do!

But the best part of the day for Ken and Elder Hubrich was playing football in that big stadium!  Watch the video! 

And afterwards we had lunch on the Rooftop BBQ in Umhlanga.  That's the ritzy beach town just north of Durban.  So ended our week.

More new Seniors to help us! Week 92

We are so excited that we have three new folks to come and help us in the Mission Office.  When we had about 40+ Elders, we could handle the workload.  We are now up to 95 Elders, soon to be 110, and are feeling overwhelmed.  But there were also some other miracles.

Andre and Vanessa Slabbert (seated) and Helen van Pletzen (right) are going to come and spend three afternoons each week in the Office.  We already know the Slabberts well.  Andre is our handyman, who can fix almost anything in the missionary flats.  Vanessa cuts our hair.  Helen is a friend and neighbor of theirs who wants to come and help, too.  

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...."   Families order packages from Takealot for their Elders, and they are sent to the office.  This was one-day's load.  Most days we don't get this many.  Actually, four of these boxes were for Ken -- a six-pack of rootbeer in each box.  But more about that later.

This week we we spent most of two days doing boarding checks.  We did four on Tuesday and five on Thursday.

Elder Harrild, Elder Mata and Elder Jensen in Amanzimtoti.

Elder H. Evans, Elder Matlapeng, Elder Lusuko and Elder Tinta in Umlazi.

Elder Rigby and Elder Weber in Queensburgh.  (We forgot to take a photo of Elder Hulley and Elder McGlothlin in Chatsworth.)

Tuesday we also found out we did not get the flat we thought we had rented in Pietermaritzburg.  It had already been rented to someone else.  But our second-choice one is still available, so as a miracle disaster was averted.  We didn't have time for another search day.  Other good news this week.  The flat in Bluff (out by the harbor) has been for sale for months and finally sold.  We were worried someone would buy it and kick us out, but the new owner wants to keep the tenants.  Another bullet dodged.  We have to find about eight new flats this month, mission wide.  Losing an existing one would not have helped.  The miracles continue.

Wednesday evening we were able to attend the temple again with half of Hillcrest Zone.  (The other half had gone on Tuesday evening.)  It is such a wonderful place, with a good spirit and reminders of our relationship to God.  It gives us the eternal perspective that we need to get through the trials of this life.

The temple sits on a hill north of Durban visible from themajor highway just where the city changes to countryside.  Most of those hills are sugar cane fields.

Thursday we were out again doing boarding checks.

We started with the Hillcrest Zone Leaders, Elder Manamela and Elder Mbonyana, with their triple, Elder Mere.

Next is Umbhedula with Elder Beck, Elder Boulter and Elder Rader.

We love the garden and pond in front of the Hillcrest Elder's flat.  Elder Thomas, Elder Thompson and Elder Black.  The latter is a friend of our grandson, Spencer Mills, from Pleasant Grove, Utah High School!  Spencer is currently serving a mission in St. Louis, Missouri.

We stopped at the Molweni boarding next with Elder Tom, Elder Hokanson and Elder Hall.  They serve in the Branch we attend.  At each of our boarding stops, the Elders go "shopping" for cleaning supplies, etc., from the back of our car.  Sue had made a plate of snickerdoodles for each boarding, and we also gave each Elder a bottle of the afore-mentioned rootbeer.  We had nine boardings to visit, so Sue thought that 24 bottles would be enough for all of them, with some left over for Ken.  It's usually two Elders to a flat.  She forgot how many triples we have, and one quadruple in one boarding.  That adds up to 25 Elders.  There was one can of rootbeer from Ken's previous order left in our fridge, so we gave that one away, too.  Ken will have to wait for the next Takealot order for his rootbeer fix.  More about these Elders below.

Last stop is all the way out to Mpumalanga.  Elder Ntlhare and Elder Wardlow have a panoramic view from the landing outside their flat.  

Friday we stayed in the Office all day and had almost no visitors.  It was wonderful to have all that peace and quiet and be able to get caught up -- almost, and then something happens that puts us back behind...

So Saturday morning we took off and drove north.  The Hubrichs needed to stay overnight on Saturday in Mtunzini, about 150 km north of Durban.  They had rented a two-bedroom cabin in the jungle near the ocean, and they offered us the spare room.  We agreed!  The cabin was all knotty pine walls and floor with a lovely deck and jungle view.  But we could hear the waves breaking on the beach beyond the trees.

While Sister Hubrich went to her Saturday-afternoon meeting, the rest of had a lazy time.  We sat in the cabin reading and napping, then we went down to the beach--walking through the woods, over the river on the boardwalk, and across the dunes.  We left the doors open. The monkeys in the area didn't raid us. Yet another miracle.

Ken got a kick out of the sign at the beach entrance.  No Shark Nets!!!

It takes more than a shark warning to keep Sue out of the water.  But we forgot the boogie board, and she just had to body-surf.  It was wonderful!  

The beach was almost entirely deserted, and we could see for miles both north and south.  Scroll left-right to see the whole panorama.

 Elder Hubrich took this spectacular picture of the windblown sand.

Ken and Elder Hubrich played a little football on the beach.  

And Ken showed off his lefty tossing form.  

Sister Hubrich came back from her meeting and did a little wading, too.  No neighborhood sharks or crocodiles were seen.

Saturday night we went to dinner at a local Portuguese restaurant.  We met a very nice hostess, Goria, who, when she saw our nametags, shared her love for Jesus Christ.  We invited her to visit Church.

Sue had hake (rhymes with rake) and (huge) prawns.  Ken had a Portuguese fillet (sounds like "fill it") with a fried egg on top!  It was all very yummy.

Sister Hubrich ordered Espetada--chunks of beef on a stick and grilled.  Then served hanging!

Sunday morning we left the Hubrichs behind so they could attend Church in Port Durnford, and we drove home to go to church with our usual Molweni Branch congregation.  Wonderful people there, and a good meeting. (See below.)  Afterwards we had a meeting with some of the leaders, and were told they can move back to their school building!!  Before COVID they met in a rented room in a school in Molweni township.  Since the lockdown lifted, about a year ago, they have not been able to use that.  They have to drive about 15km to meet in the Hillcrest building.  Most of them don't have cars to come that far, so most all have not been to church since March 2020.  We are all thrilled that the group will be together again--maybe as soon as next Sunday.  They love the fellowshipping with all the other Saints.

The last miracle:  Elders Hall spoke in Church and shared the experience he, Elder Tom and Elder Hokansen had had on Friday and Saturday.  Late Friday afternoon, driving their bakkie (pickup) through the fields in Molweni township and dressed in their normal missionary suits, they spotted a woman laboring alone in a plowed farm field.  Elder Tom and his companions felt prompted to stop and offer to help.  The lady directed them to her boss, so they went and found him and extended the offer to help.  He was astounded.  Why would three young men, driving a nice truck and dressed in business suits stop to help--for free?  He stared at their nametags.  He exclaimed as he saw that they bore the name JESUS CHRIST in large letters.  He then disclosed that he had been trying to plant the acre-sized field in corn before he had to leave for a long trip the next day, and he despaired because he knew he could never do it by himself.  So he had prayed.  That's when the Elders showed up.  The Elders went right to work, staying till 6:30pm, almost dark.  The next day, Saturday, they showed up again, this time dressed in work clothes, and they worked until the entire field was planted--corn seeds spaced two feet apart over the entire field.  The man was so grateful.  He told them they were truly angels sent from Heaven.  He then promised to come with them to Church to praise them and to testify before the congregation as if he were a long-time member!  His prayers to the Lord had been answered. 

The Lyons in Africa -- week 91

 No, we did not spell the title wrong.  There are lots of lions in Africa, but this week we got two Lyons.  Elder and Sister Lyon from Firth, Idaho, arrived to serve here with us.  Elder Lyon is a professional artist.  He had a gallery in Arizona and now sells his paintings online: dustinlyon.com

We are so excited to have more senior missionaries!  They served a mission several years ago in Ghana, so they think South Africa is a new and modern country -- which is really is, mostly.  They will be living in Ladysmith, as the Van Heerdens have moved from there to Lesotho.

They arrived on Monday morning, having spent the night in Johannesburg at the airport hotel, as everyone does.  So we had orientation right away.

Monday evening we went out to dinner with the Lyons, Lines, Hubrichs and us to Lupas -- local Italian restaurant that we all like.

Then Tuesday was P-day -- and this time the P did stand for Play, not preparation.  We took the Lyons, with President & Sister Lines, to see the best parts of Durban.  We went to the beach.

The beach in Durban goes on forever.  Below is looking north.

And here is looking south towards downtown and the harbor.  

And Ken brought along his official NCAA football and played a little catch with President Lines.

We all went to lunch at La Rosa -- best Mexican restaurant in Durban.  But we forgot to take photos.  Well, we've been there before and posted pictures.

While we were on the beach, Sue got a phone call from the Durban Temple with a question about the group that was coming on Tuesday evening.  Long-story short -- there was a big mix-up on who was coming and what day and how many we could have in the session.  After lunch we went back to the office and Sue spent the afternoon re-doing the Temple schedule for the next two weeks.  She thought we had reservations for 22 people each in three sessions.  The Temple hadn't seen that, and still had us for 15 people each in five sessions.  So everyone is getting in, but not always on the same date they were told to come.  It all worked out.

We were able to go with the group on Wednesday evening.  We needed the peace the Temple brings after a hectic ten days.

Friday we spent most of the day in Pietermaritzburg.  It is about one hour west of Durban and is the capital of KwaZulu-Natal province.  The downtown has wonderful old Victorian-style buildings.  But we were there looking for a new flat for missionaries.  We are all filled up with what we have now, and we have 15 more Elders coming on Dec 9, so it's time to find more space.  Besides that, we currently have about eight triples.  Missionaries usually are in pairs, so these will need to be spread out, too.  The new flats will be all over the Mission, and other senior couples are looking for places in other cities, too.  We don't have to do the finding, but once found, we have to do the paperwork with leases, getting landlords approved for auto-pay, etc.

The jacaranda trees all over Pietermaritzburg are blooming and the city looks beautiful.  We looked at one flat on the 12th floor of a building.  We didn't rent that one, but loved the view.

The one we decided on has a nice view, too.

This is the flat entrance, kitchen and part of the living room ("lounge" in South African).

While there we stopped by the Church, just to see where it was.  Nice building.  The security gate code is the same for all the churches, so we could get in to the parking lot OK.

Thursday was Diwali -- the Indian Festival of Lights.  In Palo Alto there are lots of east Indians, so we see some celebration there, but in Durban fireworks are legal everywhere, so we loved hearing and seeing all the lights in the night sky, and even some well-decorated homes. 

 

Saturday and Sunday we stayed home and were mostly lazy.  We've been so busy!  This weekend was Stake Conference for Hillcrest Stake where we attend Church.  In times past, that means all of the ten congregations gather together for special meetings.  But in this COVID time, we stayed home and watched the proceedings on Zoom.  It's not as good as being there.  But there were some powerful messages.  President de Wet is the Stake President.  He spoke on Saturday evening about dealing with adversity, and how hard the last 19 months have been.  He had a very bad case of COVID, was in the hospital, and on oxygen after that.  He is a surgeon by profession, so he saw up close the problems in hospitals, etc.  Then this morning he spoke again, this time about the parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish man who built his house on the sand.  President de Wet's house is on a hillside (as is nearly every house in Durban area), and it was slipping!  They had to bring in engineers and put in more pilings along the foundation to keep the house stable.  So he's had quite a year.  But he reminded us that the rock-foundation that we all really need is our Savior Jesus Christ.  If we keep our faith and trust in Him, the trials we face, be they health or house or anything else, will be manageable.

COVID in South Africa is just about gone.  The country is averaging under 300 cases/day for a population of 60 million.  California has 40 million people and averages 6200+ cases/day.  Utah has 3.2 million people and 1500+ cases/day.  In South Africa everyone always wears a mask in public.  Stores require them, and have hand sanitizer at every entrance, with sanitary wipes for grocery carts.  Restaurants take your temperature before you come in.  Social distancing is required for all meetings and gatherings.  The vigilance is paying off with very low COVID rates, and that is a good thing!  Ignoring it does not make it go away.  People are worried about another wave in December/January like last year because families gather for holidays.  We are all praying that the vaccinations will counter that trend.