AllensInDurban: 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.