Friday, June 14 - Saturday, June 15-hospital dermatoligist-FH fair

Friday we went to St. Augustine hospital to see the dermatologist, so he could see how my skin cancer biopsies were doing. They are doing well, but he still thinks we need to treat them with interferon to make sure they are gone, but we are holding off for another month to see how things go. He did not charge me for the appointment and told me to come back in a month and he would not charge me to take a look. This would never happen in the US. One of my last doctor's appointments there was to get a physical. I was charged $97 for an office visit to check my blood pressure and $198 for an office visit to get a physical (Same appointment!). After I got the bill I objected to two different charges for an office visit and was told that they had to make their money somehow. $300 for basically an office visit????? The regular doctor here charges $38. So, it is much cheaper to visit the doctor here and he actually does something while you are in his office, because he has no nurses. They are making it work. It would be nice if the US could come over here and learn how it is done.

We came back and started working on the family history conference on June 29th. We agreed to get the posters and flyers printed, so we called the copy place and I emailed the files. They said they would be ready by the end of the day. Their prices for color copies are only about 15 cents each. That is less than half of what they charge in the US. The posters were only $15 each and they were awesome. There are some pretty influential speakers coming to the event...at least two of them were at the family history fair in Bloemfontein and both were very good. Plus they have the minister of health from the parliament speaking as well. They have several computers there for people to use after the talks from the invited speakers and many people that know a lot about hunting for family online. It should be very informative.




On Saturday, the little girl, Sonali, from next door came over to 'play'. We started making cards for fathers day, but had to quit, when her father called that they were going somewhere. We agreed to get together after they got back to finish the card. Then Elder Kyle and I left to pick up the posters. After we picked them up, we headed to the mall to get some cash and then had lunch at Spurs. There were at least six birthday parties going on there, so it was a bit noisy (We kept hearing the Birthday song and some cowboy shout), but it was fun seeing all the children, lots with their faces painted looking like they were having a great time.

After we got home, Sonali came over and resumed her Father's Day card creation. While we were working on it, her nine year old brother came over and decided he wanted to make a card too. So, I wrote poems (based upon what they like about their dad) for the inside and printed them out on a heavy card stock. They then proceeded to decorate the inside and outside of the card.


They turned out really cute. They were being so secretive about it, not wanting their dad to know what they were doing. It was really fun. The interesting part was that Sonali was making pictures and designs using as many colors as possible, while her brother asked for a ruler and a black marker. Everything he did was precise and in black and white. I told him he was going to be an engineer and he said that was what he wanted to do. Then he drew a water slide idea that he had. Very cute. Sonali is more of a designer, I told her. She said, "No, I am going to be a doctor...Or...a model." We agreed to come after church. I had big plans for ironing and cleaning...oh well.

Their dad finally came to pick them up and invited us to a prayer service at their flat on Sunday with lunch after. The children's mother died a year ago and it is the Indian custom to have a prayer for those who died on their one year anniversary. We agreed to come after church.

At 5:00, we hopped in the car and headed over to Sipho's home to give him some flyers to give out on Sunday. He asked us in, introduced us to his wife and children and showed us his home. It was a very nice home and neat as a pin. He said they would have to have a Brie and invite us over. I guess this makes us buddies...Sipho is a policeman and his wife manages an office for the government. I've forgotten exactly what she does. Sipho was asking me questions about what to do about his knee. He had been running about 16 K a day up and down hills and was loving doing it (even though his wife said he was getting too skinny), but all of a sudden his right knee was hurting and making a clicking sound. He knew about my knee problems, so was asking what he should do. When I told him to stop running until it healed, you should have seen his face. He loves running.  Then we had to drive home in the dark again through winding mountain roads in the dark...when will we learn?!