Nine Months Already?

Well, at long last we are updating our blog.  We know it sounds trite but we really have been busy doing the same things as before.  We can't believe how fast time is flying by.  If we stay for 18 months, we are half-way through but we may extend.  We haven't quite decided.

Here is Elder Nuzman loading a food order into the boot of our car.

 In March we had a very exciting visit from Nicole, Jeremy, Aurora and Eve.  Oh how great it was to see some family!  We took a few days off and just enjoyed being with them.  They met many of our friends here and we even traveled to Swaziland.  Of course everyone here immediately fell in love with them and they now ask about them all the time. 

Thandie Nzama and granddaughter, Eve, Nicole, Aurora and Jeremy
Thandie taught Nicole how to make putu (mealie) and sugar bean curry

Nicole and family visit the Port Durnford Branch

Gabriel, Shaka, Gugu and Mellissah Sanchaze,
Nicole, Aurora, Jeremy and Eve in Nseleni

Elder Nuzman, Aurora, Eve and Sister Nuzman at Timbali Lodge in Swaziland

Jeremy and the girls enjoying the Indian Ocean at St. Lucia

Eve wanted to see hippos on her birthday.

Eve and Aurora gaze at the beautiful scenery at the game reserve

Here we are at the Port of Richards Bay

Our car that was stolen was finally found out in the bush.  There wasn't too much left of it.  They even took the wheels.  We will never recover any of the other things that were stolen, but most everything has been replaced.  We still feel very blessed that we slept through the whole thing.

We also had a visit from our grandson, Owen, who sent himself as a paper image.  We were to take him around to all the places we go and take pictures of him in the various surroundings.  We had a lot of fun with this project and hope that he will like all the places we went when he receives the pictures at his school.  Of course it would have been even better if he had been here in person.

Here is Owen at the beach in Richards Bay

Owen with the Elders

Owen meets the Vilanes

Owen in the sugar cane

We thoroughly enjoyed General Conference; perhaps we enjoyed it too much.  We watched all the sessions via internet and hooked it up to our tv so we could watch it with the elders.  Then a week later we capped out of internet time and we realized that all the sessions plus theYoung Women's broadcast added up to about twelve hours.  So we used our portable modem for a couple of weeks, sparingly, and now we are back in service as of May 1st.  So we can Skype again! 

Watching General Conferrence

Saying goodbye to Elder Denning at the last transfer

Once again we are teaching two seminary classes and are starting a new English class.  Keeping up with the elders really keeps us busy as well.  We routinely inspect their cars and boardings and have zone and district meetings with them.  We have gotten so attached to them and now some of them are going home to their own countries.  We haven't been able to face the fact that we may never see them again in this mortal existence.  Oh, what giants they are in the gospel!  They will be future leaders throughout the world.  We surely have learned to love them and they are so kind to us.

We had the priviledge of taking Elder Sandile Chirwa to the mission home to be set apart for his mission in Johannesburg.  He is from Port Durnford.

Sandile Chirwa says goodbye to his family.

A few weeks ago President Vezi of the Port Durnford branch heard noises coming from a chicken coop by his house at night.  He went out to investigate and once inside the coop discovered a python killing his chickens.  He couldn't get out the door of the coop so he called for someone to bring him a spear and he wrestled the python until he was able to kill it with the spear.  It was three meters long.  It was a female and now he is watching for the male which is much larger.

President Vezi, a true Zulu warrior



Last week we took a couple of days and went to visit our friends who are serving in Swaziland.  We wanted to visit their branches to see how things are done there.  While we were there we made a quick trip to Kruger National Park.  We were so excited to finally get to go there.  We had a marvelous time and saw all of the Big Five.  The leopard was back in the trees and we saw his long tail held high in the air.  It was awesome! 

These children dance on the side of the road to attract
customers to their family curio stand.

An impala in front of the elephants

A blue wildebeest

A hippo enjoys the water

This cape buffalo walks toward the road with its baby still nursing

This monkey is enjoying a piece of bread that was part of a loaf
that we saw stolen off of a picnic table by another monkey as the
people were setting out their lunch.

Our good friends, Elder and Sister Blackburn

Our first spotting of a lioness

One of our favorites, a giraffe

Plastic bags are hung over the bananas to protect them
from the monkeys

Here we are enjoying Africa!

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:

Challenges Bring Forth Blessings

Goodness, can it be mid February and we don’t have our blog updated? Time is quickly passing, faster than we would like to believe. January started with a bang. Saturday morning, January 01, 2011 we received a phone call from Elder Hudson in Ladysmith asking if we had a burial kit. I told him we did but I would have to go to the chapel to get it. He indicated he would come and pick it up. Security had not been working on the building for some time and when I got into the building and opened the library (walk-in safe) everything was on the floor and I thought, “ what a mess in here” and then I glanced up and the ceiling had been kicked out. The building had been broken into and robbed. They gained entrance through the roof and cut the steel mesh and pulled it away and kicked in the ceiling. Later that day we had been invited over to the district president’s home for a braai (South African barbeque) and we had a wonderful time. The Baldwins are a wonderful family.

The pool built by President Baldwin and his sons.  It really looked  inviting!

During January there were two more burglary attempts on the building. On the second attempt the guard chased them off and the third attempt ended with the guard being sliced with a machete and then beaten by five men. He was able to set off the alarm which scared off the robbers. He had to be taken to the hospital to be stitched up. Now the guards are ordered to shoot to kill by the security company. We have had no more problems and the alarm system is now up and operational.

We assisted with transfers on January 11th and had to drive the bakkie (pick-up) down to Durban, to deliver Elder Rainibe and bikes and brought a brand new elder back, Elder Ngwenya, from Zimbabwe. He is doing great. The bakkie was a beast to drive in town (5 speed on the floor) and I had to shift with my left hand. Not fun. We were exhausted when we arrived home that evening.

Goodbye Elder Rainibe.  We will miss you!

Welcome Elder Ngweyna from Zimbabwe

Trainer, Elder Tualufo with his greenie.

January 13th we accompanied Elder Ndhlovu to court. He wanted our support, as he was run over by a hit and run driver back in November. The elders had been able to get the license number so the driver was caught. The judge came down hard on the man; some jail time, R6000 fine, and driver’s license revoked. No damages were awarded; I think because the elders had no idea of proper court decorum and were disruptive (talking among themselves) during the proceedings. Live and learn. A large part of our time is spent assisting the elders with their various needs. We love these young men and see them growing into great men of God.

Elders Nuzman, Mwita, Castleberry, Hall and Fisher
having lunch after DDM. at McDonalds!

    We had the opportunity to work with a family who was investigating the church, the Sunchaze’s. They are a father led family of four. The mother is a school teacher and has been battling cancer. They were baptized on January 16th and Elder Nuzman was able to perform his first baptisms in many years. He baptized the father and the son. We check on them as often as we can and have done a couple of family home evenings with them. We were blessed to be able to teach them the Eternal Marriage lesson. Such spiritual experiences.

The Sunchaze Family
Mellissah, Gugu,Shiangalah and Gabriel

The Sunchaze Family with the Elders who baptized them.


Family Home Evening with the Sunchaze family

 Yvonne had been feeling under the weather for a couple of weeks but just kept plugging away. She had been battling a fever off and on, headaches, body aches and then started breaking out. We had to go to Kosi Bay to visit a small group where we both spoke and visited less-actives. We stayed at a lodge overnight and Sister Nuzman asked me to check on a sore behind her knee, I recognized it as a tick bite. We couldn’t get her into a doctor until Monday. Sure enough that is what it was. She was put on a strong antibiotic, given a pain reliever and an antibiotic ointment. It has taken several weeks but she is much better but still doesn’t have the stamina as before. Since then three of the elders have had tick bites and the same symptoms.

January 26th we started our two seminary classes again after the summer break. We have some choice young people in our classes. We are trying to get them ready for a temple trip (Johannesburg) in late March. After seminary in Port Durnford we stopped in to visit Thandie Nzama’s grandmother, who lives next door to her. What a delightful lady! She is in her nineties. She only speaks Zulu but just kept hugging us and told Thandie that she really loved us. She supports herself by selling mats that she weaves while sitting on the ground. They use the mats to sit on and even sleep on. She insisted that we take a sack of lemons from her tree.

Sister Thandie Nzama, her grandmother and Sister Nuzman

We had the opportunity to visit the De Klerks (members of the Richards Bay Branch) at their farm, 2 ½ to 3 hours west of us, for our preparation day and we took an extra day. It was a great visit and what an operation they have! It is very remote and isolated. They are building a large home on top of high hill overlooking their huge tract of land thousand of hectors. We were able to go with them as they sold milk, bananas, mangos and other produce. They are a wonderful couple and have had two sons assisting them with this operation.

Driving across one of three rivers we had to cross

They literally see no neighbors. Their water supply comes from
springs from atop the mountains.

Paul and Susan De Klerk and Elder Nuzman sorting mangos

Want some bananas?

One of the frogs we met in the house.  They eat all the bugs!

Family compound where we sold fresh and sour milk and bananas

Holding out several Rand to pay for what she purchased

A beautiful view from the house

Some of the neighbors several kilometers from their house

We had to leave on Tuesday morning and on the way home we were nearly hit by a semi. It scared us more than anything. Luckily the only damage to the car was a scraped bumper and fender. The truck tried to pass us on the left as we were making a left turn and to top it off the truck driver left the scene. We had appointments we had to get back for and we were almost late. Never a dull moment. The worst part was having to call in the accident report as Elder Zweifel has been inundated lately with accidents by the elders. Having one of the couples in one, as well, I’m sure was no fun.

We were lucky this is all the damage we incurred.

We finally broke down and bought a tv. The elders like to come to our boardings for DDM (district development meeting) and we have been using our computer to view training DVDs. It would take us a day or so to get our computer back functioning each time. It gets very lonely in the evenings and we have resorted to talking to our geckos in our kitchen window for social interaction. We will now occasionally watch mission appropriate DVDs and we can use it for training also. We will leave it for the next couple when we leave.

One of our gecko friends.  See the eggs she is carrying in her abdomen?

Sometimes they come inside to see us.

                                             

Elder Nuzman preparing for a talk.



 We have a transfer session coming up and we anticipate being hit hard. We always are sad to say goodbye to the elders who have to move on. We grow so attached to them but we always know that there are some new great young men coming. In preparation for transfers we have to visit all the boardings and do inspections and also inspect their vehicles. The elders really did a great job this inspection!

Our Richards Bay District Elders came by to say goodbye.
Elders Hall and Mwita are leaving us.  Hope we can keep in touch.

From Empangeni District we say so long, Elder Jensen .

And God be with you, Elder Shannon

Following are some pictures we thought were interesting:

 

Watch out for hippos.  We see this sign on our way to the post office.

Watch out for cows.  They roam free here.

One of many beautiful trees.

Houses in Ngwelezane, a township.

This beach is about 15 minutes from our house.

A ship coming into the port of Richards Bay.

Ships waiting to come in.