Another African Experience

It has only been a couple of weeks since we belatedly updated our blog but we feel we need to update you now. February 22nd we lost four great elders that we miss already, but we gained four new wonderful elders. What sharp young men they are! We love them already. 

Our new Elders in Richards Bay waiting to go on a game drive:
left to right:  Elders Armstrong, Fokuo, Shokane and Kamara

 Elder and Sister Heninger, the mission public relations couple, came into town on Wednesday, the 23rd, and we had the privilege of meeting them and hosting them. I took them with me to District Council, that evening, and they gave a very enthusiastic presentation to the council. It was close to 9 PM when I was able to come home and I was quite tired. We all talked for a while and then we all retired for the night about 10 PM. Normally we leave our bedroom door open but since we had guests we closed it. At about 4:30 AM Yvonne got up to have a drink of water and went into the kitchen and noticed that the sliding glass door was wide open. I was walking up about the same time and I heard her gasp. She immediately realized the television was gone. We looked into the office and our computer was gone. Then we looked out the window and saw that our car was also gone. We had been robbed, while we slept just a few feet away. They had entered by cutting the lock on the rear steel grate over the sliding glass door and then pried the door open. How blessed we were that we hadn’t awakened and startled them. We looked around and we had been cleaned out and our guests too lost their computer. To say the least it was a sickening feeling, not so much at what we had lost, but that intruders were right in our home just a few feet from us. It is not an unusual occurrence in South Africa but a first for us. The Heningers were scheduled to leave on Thursday but they decided to stay until we were situated. How grateful we are that they would offer to do that, after what they had just been through. They are truly gracious people. Without their help things would have been so much worse as we were now without a phone, computer and car. They had a cell phone and their car which they shared with us. Within the day we purchased a new computer. When it is all put into perspective, it has been a major inconvenience but it is behind us now.

Friday afternoon our good friends the Blackburns, who serve in Swaziland, came and brought us a car and a new telephone from the Mission office. How lucky are we?

Thanks to the Durban Mission we have a new car and a new cell phone!

The Blackburns stayed Friday night and on Saturday morning while Clyde was gone, Sister Blackburn found a small puff adder on our front step. Elder Blackburn got rid of it before Clyde got home (another tender mercy as you know about Clyde’s aversion to snakes)!

"Puffy" the puff adder is no more, but where is his mother?

We had a wonderful visit with the Blackburns, as we always do. We all attended the District Career Fair and District Social. They were both a success. Elder Blackburn met people from his first mission to South Africa as a youth. We had a super evening with the Blackburns, DeKlerks (whose farm we visited a few weeks ago) and the Petersens, the Employment specialists. The Blackburns had to leave early Sunday morning for Swaziland.

Eating fish and chips at the beach with the Blackburns

Elder and Sister Blackburn serve in Swaziland

Chivalry is not dead!  Elder Blackburn wipes the sand
from Sister Blackburns feet after she went wading in the Indian Ocean.

Richards Bay District social, a braai

Elders waiting for the food!

We are getting everything back into order; all new locks, and securing the sliding door; getting training on the security system on our home. We have had to put together our seminary class materials and records, since all of that was in the boot of the car along with many other things. The work goes on in spite of it all. We are wiser now and not quite as naïve. We know we are supposed to be here at this time. We know we were protected while we slept. Thank you for all the prayers in our behalf.



Yesterday, March 7th we went on a game drive with our Richards Bay Zone.  It was a very hot day and we didn't have a lot of time.  Consequently, we saw very limited wildlife but it was great to be together.  It is such a great blessing to work with these strippling warriors!

Our Richards Bay Zone on P Day at the game park
top row left to right: Elder Fokuo, Sister Nuzman, Elder Castleberry, Steve Killick (our guide),
Elders Tualufo, Shokane, Denning and Ngwenya.
bottom row left to right:  Elders Adams, Fisher, Nuzman, Kamara and Armstrong

                                                 We had to wait quite a while for our lunch.

                                        On our way home we had to wait for cows on the road: