Road Trip! And Happy New Year! Week 99!!

President Lines was feeling badly about us not ever getting to Lesotho (pronounced Lesu'tu).  He also needed to appoint a new Assistant to the President last week.  When he knew the Assistant should be Elder Peterson--currently serving in Lesotho--the road trip was on.  How to get Elder Peterson to Durban mid-Transfer?  Go pick him up of course!  And we could go along with the Lines for the quick trip.  We left first thing Tuesday morning, drove the 7.5 hour trip, with a stop for lunch.

We have seen this dam before on the way west, but now we have had so much rain that water is pouring over the top.

We arrived at the hotel in Maseru.  Lesotho is one of three countries in the world totally surrounded by just one other country.  The other two are San Marino and The Vatican, each in Italy.

Lesotho declared its independence from Great Britain in 1966.  Why was it not included in South Africa originally?  From Quora: The short answer is that the inhabitants of what is now Lesotho were ornery and didn't roll over to British hegemony, so they were not included in South Africa with its more controllable people. 

Maseru, the capital, is about 5200 feet high.  This is the view from our hotel room.

It looks like most other small cities -- population 330,000.

After checking into the hotel we went over to the Church.  They have a lovely building in Maseru where two congregations meet.

We saw the Elders there. President Lines took the opportunity to have individual interviews with the six Elders in Maseru, because there were no regular Zone Conferences this Transfer, due to the Zoom conference with Elder Golden a few weeks ago.

While he was doing that, Elders Viviers, Peterson and Birkeland took us for a quick shopping trip.  We needed two things to "prove" we had been in Lesotho.  The first was the passport stamp.  The second was this Basuto blanket.  The shopkeeper taught us how to properly wear it, with a large safety pin to hold it together.  

Men wear it pinned on  the right shoulder so they have use of right hand.  (We didn't bother to tell the man that Ken is left-handed.)

Women wear it pinned in the middle so they can use both hands -- not as warm, but better for working and holding babies, we guess. 

The lowest point in Lesotho is higher than the lowest point of any other country in the world.  And its average elevation is over 7000 feet, so warm blankets are a necessity.  Its main export is water to South Africa.

We had dinner with the Van Heerdens at the hotel.  They are now serving full-time in Maseru to support the young missionaries in Lesotho.  We currently have 10, and hope to be up to 14 soon.

Wednesday morning Elder Peterson was brought to the hotel to start the trip back to Durban with us.  His former companion is Elder Viviers.  He is from Durban but started his mission in May 2020.  He was originally called to Ukraine, and was learning Russian remotely from the Provo Missionary Training Center from midnight to 8am for two months.  Ken has been sharing his on-line Russian Word of the Day with Elder Viviers all this time.  He has become a special friend.  

He never did get to Ukraine.  By the time he could get into Ukraine his time there would be too short, so he decided to stay in the Durban Mission. But since his family lives in Durban, as soon as Bloemfontein area opened up he was sent there to serve, and now to Lesotho.  So he does get to serve a "foreign" mission!  We had a fond farewell with him.  We won't see him again until he comes to visit us in California (we hope!).

We took Elder Peterson inside for breakfast with us in the hotel, and then piled in the car for the long drive home.

President Lines drove the whole time both ways.  He does like to drive, and that is a good thing.  Ken sat in the back seat and took pictures.  South Africa really is such a beautiful country.  Here are some of the favorite photos he took, mostly through tinted windows, traveling at 50 mph in the Golden Gate Highlands.

We spent Thursday in the office catching up.  Friday Ken went to the office, but Sue started cleaning the new apartment that we are going to move into this week.  Next Saturday Elder and Sister Taylor will arrive!  We have about three weeks of overlap.  Since we have to pack up and move anyway, it's easiest if we move elsewhere and let them move in and get settled.  The "MTC" apartment in our building is empty, so we are moving in there.  Yes, the Elders cleaned it when they moved out three weeks ago, but it was cleaned to teen-age boy standards.  They did a great job on the fridge, but Sue went through and pulled everything out of every kitchen cupboard to wash and sort.  She went back on Saturday afternoon with Sister Hubrich, who tackled the bathroom.  Now it is spotless.

It is the middle of summer here.  It was tempting to go to the beach, but they are really, really crowded, and COVID is spiking here.  However, the Mission Home has a lovely swimming pool.  President and Sister Lines have lived there 2.5 years.  He has only been in it once--to baptize someone during lockdown.  Sister Lines had never been swimming in it!  We decided that had to change.  We planned a braai (BBQ) and swim party for New Year's Day. 

It was wonderful.  We swam and gabbed.

Ken set up the camera on a tripod and set it for ten-second delay while he ran around to get in the photo.  He jumped in the pool and splashed us all just as the camera snapped.  That's why everyone is laughing.

We had a wonderful lunch under the thatched-roof patio by the pool.  We each brought meat and other food to share:  Seven-layer dip and fresh watermelon and fruit salad and broccoli salad and strawberry lemonade.  An amazing summer picnic.  We all ate too much and loved the quiet.  President Lines was amazed that no missionaries called him for several hours.  That is unheard of!  And Sue got a little sunburned.

Ken took this wonderful picture of a hadida ibis bird walking around the pool, and just in front of him you can see a dragonfly that was buzzing over the water all day.

A lovely beginning for a beautiful New Year.