Transitions -- week 103

This week we started the transition to having the Taylors really run the office.  Now we say, "What can we do to help you today?"  We should have been gone last week, so they are now the bosses.  And they are doing great!  They understand all the computer systems and are figuring out the quirks of the South Africa Durban way of doing things.  

And we are starting to transition back to being in California.  Sue has been asked to help with a bond-issue campaign for the Ravenswood School District, where she worked for 25 years.  She has done this before, and of the current School Board Members only one was on the Board five years ago.  She had a Zoom call on Monday night with new Board Member Jenny Bloom.  But, the Internet in our current apartment is slow, so when we need more bandwidth, we go sit on the stairs outside the Hubrich's flat.  (You can see the front of Taylor's truck up above Sue's head--and she is sitting on the stairs between the 2nd and 3rd floors.  Our building is really down in a gully.)

Wynn and Bette Hubrich have become amazing friends.  They like to bring little gifts.  They buy yummy Mozambique pineapples from a road-side stand when they drive north and bring back extras to share.

They made a beautiful book of photos from our trip to Nambiti Game Preserve, and brought Ken a Zulu warrior headdress.

Because we had spent all day Saturday driving Elders all over the Mission for Transfers, President Lines told all the Senior Couples to take a P-day another day during the week. And did we ever!  Hubrichs and Taylors joined us for the whole day.  President and Sister Lines came for the morning shopping and then went off to do other things. 

First stop: Umgeni Street in downtown Durban.  Lots of sidewalk stalls selling all kinds of African souvenirs. 

Sue and Sister Lines loved all the African print fabrics.

We watched women weaving straw mats.  They use rocks for the bobbins to hold the threads. 

And then when President Lines wanted a photo of himself with them, they decided he needed to learn how to do it himself.

Second stop: Victoria Street Market.  This is an indoor building with lots and lots and lots of small shops selling everything, including African souvenirs.  

We bought some small gifts for children and grandchildren and some things for ourselves.  Sue bought a new purse.  [The old one was bought in St. Petersburg 3.5 years ago and looked it....]

Ken and Elder Hubrich bought another set of matching wedding rings -- since the one Elder Hubrich had from a month ago had shattered the day after he got it.  We'll see if these last any longer.

The shop where Sue bought the purse was also a spice shop, and it smelled so good in there!  Lots of kinds of curry.

Third stop:  Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga for lunch.  We had never been there, but it is a favorite of the Hubrichs.  

We sat outside on the veranda.

The view out over the Indian Ocean was so pretty.

It looks like we are not the only ones with a monkey problem.  Read the note at the bottom of the menu.

And on the wall by the tables.  Hubrichs said when they were there before a monkey came in, ran across a table upsetting glasses, grabbed a roll, and was gone before anyone could hardly notice!

Fourth stop:  Umdloti Beach, north up the coast from Umhlanga.  Hubrichs are always looking for good beaches, and this is one they wanted to try.  It was lovely, with waves and tidepools

and beach bums

and sand crabs that blend right into the rocks

and bathing beauties

and not-so-beauties.

Fifth Stop:  We went to visit President Futter.  He is First Counselor in the Durban Temple Presidency, but he had a heart attack and bypass surgery in December just before Christmas.  He has been doing well but is feeling confined to home and was glad for visitors.  Since we were all pretty wet and sandy, we sat out on his veranda and had a lovely visit.  We were inspired as he shared some very personal spiritual experiences. 

Thursday we worked in the office and had birthday party for Andre Slabbert.  Sister Lines made one of her fabulous cakes!

And we sent Elder Pettijohn on his way home--finally!  He was supposed to go a week earlier, but tested positive for COVID, so he had to postpone.  He tested positive again this week but had had a positive test from 13 January.  That meant he was over the disease.  Evidently after having it you can test positive for months!  He needed a letter from a doctor saying he was recovered and a copy of the two-week-old positive test.  He made his flights and is now home in Hilo, Hawaii.  Elder Pettijohn was one of the Social Media Elders for awhile, so he had worked in the office, and we got to know him well.

Friday morning we went to the Durban Temple for the last time.  It is a beautiful small Temple.  It will always hold a special place in our hearts.  We had begun our mission with its dedication.  We end our mission with a final session of spiritual enrichment.

Friday night Elder and Sister Lyon were in Durban from Ladysmith.  Their congregation was coming for Saturday Temple visit.  They came a little early to join us all for a senior couples date night.  They are doing well but miss the association with other senior couples that we have here in Durban.

We went to the Cape House Cafe near the Lines' home.  We usually like to sit outside there, but it was pouring buckets of rain, so we were happy to be inside.

Saturday morning we were up and off early to help with a service project that the Hubrichs were part of.  City Hill Church is in Hillcrest, about 30 minutes west of us.  They had boxes and boxes and boxes of donations of clothing, sundries and toys from various places that they were "selling" to anyone who wanted.  

Friday Hubrichs and some of the young Elders helped to sort all the items into piles:  clothing (mens, womens, childrens), kitchen supplies, school supplies, baby supplies, shoes, toys, hardware, etc. 

Saturday morning we had another crew to help with the distribution.

 

Ken monitored the school supplies tables.

 

Sue worked at the bath/cosmetics tables.  

We filled a small plastic shopping bag full of items, and people could get one bag full for 5 rand (about 35 cents).  

They could get a maximum of 10 bags, and they had 10 minutes to do it all.  For clothing they could fill a slightly larger bag with whatever they wanted for 10 rand.  Fifteen people were let into the room at one time.  

This went on all day.  We left at 11:30 for another appointment but heard they managed to get rid of all the stuff.  It was pretty amazing.  

Some people were there at 6am, and the event did not even open the doors until 9am.

We had to leave because we had an appointment for lunch with the Chipara Family in Molweni.  They are a wonderful family with four daughters, ages 9 to 19.  They are refugees of many years from Zimbabwe.  The girls were all born in South Africa, but like most countries (not the USA) the children are the nationality of the parents, no matter if they were born in South Africa.  They bought a lot on a hillside in Molweni several years ago and have slowly built their own home.  They have a gorgeous view out over the Valley of 1000 Hills area.  Monica said that on clear days they can see the ships out on the ocean!  They live about 45 minutes northwest of us, and we are at least 20 minutes from the ocean. But when we looked at Google Earth, they are only 14 miles as the crow flies from the coast.  

It looks very strange by US standards, but it is clean and comfortable.  The lounge (living room), dining room and kitchen is one big room with kitchen at one end and 50" TV at the other.  But the building is made of corrugated tin and they have no running water.  Their dishwashing basin is outdoors surrounded by buckets of captured rainwater. 

We had a wonderful lunch made by Marian (the daughter at the far end of the table) and her mother, Monica.  The young Elders Hall and Hulley were also invited so they could bring us up there.  The Chipara's dirt road is not on Google Maps.

They have another building down the hill a bit that is concrete block, made by Brother Chipara.  It is two good-sized bedrooms.  Their property is all planted with fruits and vegetables.  They gave us some newly ripe corn. 

Nine-year-old Amy drew this lovely picture for us while we were eating.  It now has a place of honor on our refrigerator.

On Sunday our beloved Molweni Branch congregation was back at "their" school.  

We were there with them the last time they met in Molweni area on 16 March 2020.  Then there were almost no live church meetings for almost a year, and when they did come back they could not rent rooms at the school because of COVID restrictions.  They have been meeting in Hillcrest--10 miles away.  There are only 4 or 5 families with cars, so most of them just stopped coming.  Now they are excited to be within walking distance of many church members again.  The Church has bought land to build them their own building, and we are all hoping and praying that will happen soon.

After Church we stopped to take a photo of all the adults who were in adult Sunday School.

We took our farewell photo with Elder Hall (left) and Hulley (right).  Elder Hulley is from Johannesburg area and did his Missionary Training three weeks in our office, so we have gotten to know him well.  He is a wonderful young man who will be a strength to the Church in South Africa his whole life.

One advantage of moving church back to Molweni is that they can meet in the morning, instead of in the afternoon as they had to do when sharing a building with Hillcrest Ward.  What to do with our free afternoon?  We went on a hike with the Taylors to nearby Palmiet.  It is a large nature reserve here in Westville, just behind the mall where we go for dry cleaners.  It is down in the gorge and you feel like you are off in the African jungle.  

We had to cross the river here on the rocks and all managed to get our feet very wet.

We hiked up to a small waterfall and then back.  It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon activity.  We loved being out in this beautiful world God created for us. 

We are going to miss South Africa!

Next Sunday we may be able to write our last blog from California, if we have Internet.  It's hard to believe it's over.  As Elder Taylor says, "Don't be sad that it's over; be glad for the experience."