Durban Temple Groundbreaking

We were fortunate to get an invitation to attend the Durban Temple groundbreaking so we made the 6 hour drive with Elder and Sister Egan for this momentous event.  The land is atop a beautiful green hill with refreshing breezes blowing in from the nearby Indian Ocean.  Durban is hilly, much like San Diego, but much greener.  The day was very warm and everyone was taking cover under their umbrellas.  When the event started and we were asked to put our umbrellas away, I was worried that we would melt.  I know that the Lord sent the tender mercy of a cool ocean breeze that came up just minutes after the start of the groundbreaking.  Zulu Prince, Mangosuthu Buthelezi was in attendance and just after he turned his shovel of dirt, he delivered one of the most beautiful addresses about the importance of families, and couples staying faithful to each other, and the good things that the Church is doing in South Africa.  It was amazing.

Chuck's fun missionary responsibilities

Chuck is responsible for new and changing unit boundaries.  When the Nairobi Kenya Stake decided it was time to divide, they drew up the new boundaries and submitted it to the Area Office.  Chuck got approval and the stake was divided.  You can imagine everyone's surprise when they brought out new maps after the stake conference.  The maps that had been submitted to SLC had the dividing line between the 2 stakes going vertically.  After the conference they submitted a revised map with the dividing line running horizontal and with twists and turns for the ward/branch divisions.  Chuck and Sister Egan literally spent days trying to make sense of the new dividing lines before they could submit them to SLC for final approval.

Last Saturday, Chuck stayed all day to help out with the Area Council.  It includes all Area Seventies within the Africa Southeast Area.  One fun activity he had them learn to do was how to locate their home on their ward maps.  One of the Seventy from the Democratic Republic of Congo was still recovering from his first ever plane ride to SLC for General Conference.  When they pulled up the map of his ward, he literally couldn't understand how to locate his home because he had never seen an aerial map and it was difficult for him to comprehend.  Fortunately they helped him understand where he lived looking down on his home.

Randomness

Sometimes I only have a picture or two to show what our life is like in South Africa.  We got to go to a Josh Groban concert.  He used an amazing local choir and we had a fun evening with the Egans at the Dome.

How close can a senior missionary park next to the post without scraping it?  Apparently this car was parked so close to the post that we couldn't even get our hand between the post and the car.  Our fleet manager says this is the #1 damage to church cars by the seniors - scrapes from getting too close to the plethora of posts in parking garages.

We stayed at a hotel in Durban that had a very small rooftop pool.  You can imagine our surprise to find this huge buoy hanging close by in case someone was drowning.  All they had to do was reach out and they could almost touch both sides of the pool!

On the drive home we stopped at this tourist spot.  How would you like to be known for your fast meat pies and the cleanest toilets in South Africa?  Quite the distinction, wouldn't you say? Surprisingly the Auzzie voice on our GPS knew the directions to this place without us putting in the address - it must be that famous!

Just what is a cluster anyway?

We have these units in South Africa that we call clusters.  They aren't groups and they aren't branches.  Essentially they create a temporary unit that is still part of a ward but the members have trouble getting transportation to the ward building.  They find a school or something similar to rent to meet in and a member of the Bishopric is assigned to help grow the cluster and train the priesthood leadership. Typically after a few months the cluster has grown and strengthened enough that it can be turned into a branch with leaders from within.  This past Sunday we took Elder and Sister Pace (Temple missionaries) to the Mohlakeng cluster.  They will be assigned to help strengthen this unit.  It took us about 50 minutes to get there and we only got lost once.  But the spirit in this small cluster is amazing.  They meet in a pre-school for the 3 hour block.  The Pace's are so happy to be attending church here.

Easter Week and April Fools Day

While the Area Presidency was away for 2 weeks for General Conference, we held a Kubb tournament on their front lawn.  We ate lunch in the gazebo and then played the boys against the girls for 3 days.  If I'm not mistaken, it was a tie after the 3rd day. Good thing!  

When we drove into the office on April 1, you can imagine our surprise to find Elder and Sister Johnson had staged an April Fools joke for everyone.  By way of explanation, there is a koi pond with many beautiful fish at the bottom of a stream.  He had posted signs as we drove in saying, "Fresh fish".  Then he had set up his fishing pole and a cooler asking people to help fund their mission by catching the fish for a price.  He and his wife make mission life fun for the rest of us!

Umfolozi Game Reserve

On the way home after a long weekend, we self drove through the oldest game reserve in South Africa, Umfolozi.  We saw so many animals up close and personal.  We saw elephants, zebras, a tortoise (a first sighting for us), many rhinos, including 2 that found a water hole and were wallowing in the mud.  We also came upon a huge herd of Cape buffalo.  They have pretty elusive until now.  They were protecting 2 babies and were taking their sweet time to cross the road, which created a traffic hazard for the cars.  

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St. Lucia and the Hippo Estuary

The main reason we came to Richards Bay was to visit the hippos.  We rode on a boat and saw many hippos in their family groups. We also saw a crocodile, a fish eagle, and a hippo that had abnormal tusks growing out of his cheeks upwards instead of down like the others.  It was a great day, although very windy, which kept the hippos low in the water.

Richards Bay

Over the Easter holiday,we drove 8 hours east to Richards Bay, on the coast of the Indian Ocean and just above Durban.  It was a restful trip.  Besides visiting the hippos we had a great FHE by Elder Jubber.   All 10 of us crammed into their bungalow for his wise, spiritual words. We also traveled north to Cape Vidal and stuck our feet in the warm water.  Unfortunately it was very windy and the waves were breaking funny, so we didn't go swimming.

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