Friday, July 26 the whole gang goes to dinner to welcome BF couple Carliles

Friday, we tried to get caught up on the stuff we didn't get to while away. We also had to get some groceries and check on things at Chatsworth. We spent a lot of time trying to get the woman we got to do the draping paid. The area office wasn't happy with the terms and conditions of her contract, but they wouldn't tell her what they objected to. We had been told for the last two weeks that she would be paid, but it was one problem after another. She finally said, if I don't get paid by Friday, I cannot get the things I need to drape the Youth Centre. We spent so much time emailing and phoning and by the end of the day...no money. We are praying this gets resolved in time, so we don't lose her. I spent a lot of time getting her to cut her pricing, so not to pay her the deposit she requires makes us feel terrible. Hopefully it will get resolved by Monday, as they said.

We stopped by the mission office today to pick up a card with drawings in it for Elder Kyle (Father's Day)...better late than never and there were some really cute drawings of the boat that Lehi's family built (Nephi) to get them across the ocean along with scriptural references, and they were really good! I think we have some budding artists in the family. We met the new couple that are taking the Zwackey's place - the Sutherlands. They are a really cute, but very tiny couple...both are very petite. We will have many opportunities to see them, as they will be at our couple's family home evenings.

We also met the new couple that is going to Bloemfontein to take the Shumway's place. They were a very nice couple from Utah. Elder Carlyle spent his mission in South Africa during Apartheid, when they were not allowed by the government to teach the Black people. He learned Afrikans, which will come in handy in some Bloemfontein neighborhoods. He picked up a couple of Books of Mormon in Afrkans...those words are sure long! They had some trouble getting from the US to South Africa. They accidentally left Sister Carlyles coat in the Chicago airport. Their plane was late to Chicago, so they missed their connecting flight and had to spend the night at a hotel. This caused them to miss their connecting flight from London to Joburg, so it had to be rescheduled. Then they got to Joburg and no luggage. The good news is that they got lots of sleep, because of all the layovers. The bad news is that they had to wear the same clothes for three days and hope that they would see their luggage again and Sister Carlyle really needed her medications. At least she brought a couple of changes of underwear for them in their carry-on.

We decided to all meet for dinner at Ocean Basket at 6PM. The Clusters were already there when we arrived. Elder Stark came but said Sister Stark had strep. The Southerlands were there, but the Holts (who suggested the dinner) had another engagement. Mission President Zackrison and his wife came (They like hanging out with the senior couples and they are very interesting). Elder Stark got a call from the Carlyles that they had gone to the airport, but were stuck in traffic trying to get back. That happened to Elder Kyle and I coming home from the airport the day before, so we figured they would be along in about 15 minutes. Finally they called and said they had barely moved in 15 minutes, so we went ahead and ordered our dinners. Eating dinner in Africa is always slow...slow to get your food ordered...slow to get your food...slow to get your bill, etc. Left to right in photo...Elder Stark, Elder Kyle, Sister Cluster, Elder Cluster, Elder Sutherland, Sister Sutherland, Sister Carlyle, Elder Carlyle, Sister Zackrison and President Zackrison. (This photo was taken after we had eaten and the Carlyles had just arrived. Dessert was ordered, so they wouldn't have to eat alone.)

The Carlyles arrived right after we had finished eating and they looked frazzled. It took them 2 hours to drive from the airport to the restaurant...a 20 minute trip normally. They picked up all but one suitcase (Airlines didn't know where that one was) and apparently it was the suitcase with the most stuff in it. So, they had to stay in Durban one more night, and wear the same clothes again, while the airlines looked for their missing bag. We found out later that the airline called to tell them they found the bag. The Carlyles planned to pick up the bag the following day about noon and then go from there to Bloemfontein. The problem with that plan is that it takes seven hours to get from Durban to Bloem and it is winter here, so it gets dark before 6PM and driving there in the dark is a very bad idea. They must have realized this, because by the time they got to Bethlehem it was starting to get dark, so they decided to stay there and got a hotel recommendation from the mission office. They went to bed and woke up the next morning to find their car had been broken into and their luggage opened with all her jewelry and all her medication stolen and their stuff all over the back seat. All of us missionaries here know that you are not supposed to leave anything inside the car that might invite a desperate person to break into your car, but they either missed that memo or were so tired that they disregarded it. They had to report it to police, which delayed them even further and then they had to drive the rest of the way in the cold with no window in the back seat. I felt so sorry for them. When they arrive in Bloem, Elder Carlyle called to ask Elder Holt what he should do about the car and was told just to duct tape something over the window until it could be dealt with. We don't know what happened after that, but I am sure something else went wrong. They were dealt all the bad things that could have happened. Hopefully things will go well in Bloem where they have that fantastic stake that was just created and those wonderful people. They will soon forget about how awful it is to come here...so sad. We hope to get to see them at couples conference in a couple of months after all of this is behind them with smile on their faces and warm fuzzy stories about their wonderful experiences.