Margate, South Africa

Two hours South of Durban is a small coastal town named Margate.  It was our second trip to visit the newly constructed chapel and help them prepare for an Open House this weekend.  The people are very friendly and welcoming.  Many people come to vacation at the beach in Margate and I can understand why because the landscape is so beautiful, with fresh air and blue, blue skies.  The members use to meet in a rented building, so they are very excited to have a new chapel.  They didn't meet all the regular criteria to have a new building, but the faithfulness, and obedience to tithe paying from the members has brought about this great gift.  Something else I noticed was that the building is kept very, very clean.  I mean really, really clean!  I know they are so proud (righteous pride of course) and grateful for receiving this blessing in their lives.  Elder Cinquini and I feel bad we will not be able to attend the Open House because we leave tomorrow for Swaziland to meet with the humanitarian couple about some projects they are starting in the area.

I Graduated!

I finally did it. I drove to the mall all by myself!  With a city of three and half million  it's not easy to drive the streets, especially on the opposite side of the rode. 

African Decor

I think I might have gone overboard on the African decor. Shopping here is so much fun!

Family Home Evening

Every other Monday the senior missionary couples get together and have Family Home Evening.  Its a time to get to know eachother better and share a message.  Our turn was last Monday and Elder Cinquini divided the boys and girls and gave each team some odds and ends to build something they thought would SAVE THE WORLD.  It was fun to hear them laugh and giggle as they worked on their inventions.  When they were all done each team stood up and described what they had built.  THEN.....Ed took the men's creative invention, which was a bee pollinater, (because all the bees are dieing and there is no one to pollinate plants) and crumbled it up!  Then he walked towards the girls and they screamed and hid their finger nail dryer (Yep, that was their invention).  They didn't want to see their hard work crushed, but one of the guys came over and grabbed it and said," If ours gets destroyed so does yours."  We were all laughing pretty hard by now.  Then Ed asked the question, How did that make you feel?  Well everyone felt terrible.  They had worked so hard and then it was destroyed in seconds.  Ed explained that everyone has a vested interest in something even if they don't do it well, and others can discourage or inadvertently hurt others feelings.  For example if a friend says they are learning to play the piano which has been a life desire and you say, your too old, it takes years, you dont have the time to do it well, it may descourage that person from pursuing their dream.  We should be mindful of other peoples feelings. Good message.  My job was to make dessert, so I made strawberry crepes with homemade whipcream.

Elder Adrus demonstrates their Bee Pollinator.  The plate actually spins.

Sister Sutherland, Sister Adrus, Sister Poelman show off their fingernail polish invention

 

 

 

 

This beauty is outside my front door.

 

Airport

Elder Cinquini loves to get his shoes shined at the airport. It only cost $2.00 

Bluff Ward

The mission president has asked us to attend the Bluff ward when we are in town.  Today was our first visit and we received a warm welcome.  At first glance is appears to be mostly blacks.  I saw four families that were white (mostly older people like us.). The Bishop looks young, he's been a member for seven years but looks very capable for the job. The church building is large but older.  We're excited to be able to set down some roots and call a ward our family. 

We just returned from our conference in Jo'burg and met some fantastic members from all over South East Africa.  Kenya, Swaziland, Congo, Zambia, Angola, Keya and Mozambique to mention a few.  At our work table alone there were five languages spoken.  Only one sister had an interpreter the rest spoke English. It is humbling to discover how much money the church pores into these countries to help  people better their lives no matter what their nationality or religion.  If you go to LDScharities.org you can see a few of the projects the church focuses on.  Several times we have partnered with Red Cross and Catholic Charities.  Humanitarian goes where ever there is a need and has many different projects throughout the world.  These projects are funded by the members of the church who donate to humanitarian aid. 

We love being here and we love the people.  I understand better why  young missionaries spirituality grows so much while they are on their missions. It's nice to be able to devote your whole day to doing good works and talking about the Savior Jesus Christ.  You wittness a lot of sadness, yet the people are so humble and happy .  They are excited to be in the church and learn about the restoration of the gospel. They talk of God so naturally and are not afraid to speak out about their beliefs to anyone.  What a blessing to be here!

Our next trip is to Swaziland at the end of the month to follow the Humanitarian couple around as they make contacts at a hospital for neo-natal training of nurses.  The Eggetts will be leaving soon and wanted us to put names and faces together for the next Humanitarian couple that will follow them.   I've also heard there is good shopping there.  Love you all.
 

Ukhozi FM

Monday was Sarah's last day, but she was kind to follow Ed and I as we attended a meeting at Ukhozi FM regarding a delegation that is planning to travel to Salt Lake, UT in July to broadcast the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and meet with BYU students.  There was good engery in the room and afterwards they asked if some of our leaders would like to go "On the Air" for a few minutes.  Most of it was in Zulu, but the Mission President spoke, National Director, and Bishop Sabela.  They asked us not to post pictures from inside the radio studio, so I'm going to honor that until they give the OK, but it was fun to be there.  Sarah ended up taking notes for most of the meeting and then coming home and typing them up for Sipho the Public Affairs Director.  I was glad she was there to help. 

Ezakheni Branch Visit

We drove to Ladybrand, picked up Nokuthula (her name means mother of peace), and stayed at an empty senior couples flat.  It was a pleasant three bedroom, nothing fancy. Nokuthula and Sarah are about the same age and both are interested in making a difference.  On Sunday we visited a small branch called Ezakheni where the members were very friendly.  Sarah was invited to a Sunday school class which she thought was the Youth group, but turned out to be the Young Single Adults.  They meet in a rented building, but in a couple of months they will have their own building. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the hose running through the chapel (never saw that before)  to the back of the room so they could fill the font for three baptism after church.

The third hour Sarah went to Primary to be with the children.  It was very croweded and very hot with no air conditioning.  

Primary children in Ezakheni Branch

The children love to have their picture taken.

Howick Falls

After we left the Market we traveled up North to Howick Falls for more shopping and sightseeing.

 Anyone for a Warthog chop?

Elder Cinquini is negotiating a price for his African mask.



Howick Falls



If you look closely you can see people washing their clothes at the top of the falls

 

Sarah's Visit

I was so happy to see Sarah! We had a really good time meeting people, shopping and exploring Durban.  Becauce we only had five days, it wasn't enough time to show her all the beautiful countryside however we did make it down to the beach twice.  I'm so proud of the work she is doing in Kenya, she truely loves the people and I know she will do a lot of good in that country. 

 We visited a great African market where we engaged in a lot of shopping. This sister has a shop there and directed us a fabric store and  a very tasty Indian restaurant for lunch.  The area isnt the safest, and every time we walked back onto the street she would check us to make sure we had our cell phones tucked away.  While shopping in one store we heard a rugus outside and saw someone being pulled down the street, but we didnt go investigate.

One evening we walked along the boardwalk at the beach.  Sarah and I stuck our toes in the water, but we noticed that no one was on the beach after dark so we didnt stay long.

  We got up early Saturday morning to have breakfast at the Shlongwane Farmers Market.  The missionaries are there with a booth talking to people about a new pamphlet "The Family" which encourages people to record their family history.  We told them we'd help them dress up the booth a bit, so we are working on getting them some new posters.

Mandela Capture Site

 I had to add these pictures because it was so amazing.  This was the capture site of Nelson Mandela which they have turned into a tourist site with this amazing piece of art.  If you stand in the wrong spot you only see tall pieces of steel sticking up in the air, but if you stand on the correct viewing pad you can see Mandela 's face outlined.  I don't know how they did it but it was awesome to look at. 

On this particular Saturday we drove the midland meander North of Durban.  It was a beautiful pleasant day to visit shops and drive through the beautiful countryside.  We had lunch at a popular roadside craft and food shop.  Elder Cinquini and I shared this healthy lunch at an outdoor restaurant called Piggly Wiggly.