Monday, August 12 - Cape Town here we come

Monday we got up and finished packing, washed a few items of clothing, fixed Prudence and her husband some breakfast and then Sean and his wife came by in their van to drive Prudence and her husband back to Joburg. The David Glen Hatch crew and Murdocks were getting their own transportation to the airport, thank goodness, because they had oodles of luggage. Murdocks were flying back to Joburg and we were going on with the DGH group to Cape Town. We met up with all of them at the airport. By then it was lunchtime and Elder Kyle and I were having a bite at Wimpy's.

Some of the young men wanted to go tie shopping because Elder Murdock told them that the airport had ties with the big five game on them that they could not find elsewhere. Of course, they were also more money. Elder Kyle went with them to check out the ties and when one of the boys who was trying to buy a tie for his dad only had American money and another's credit card wouldn't work, he bought them the ties and they gave him their American money. The boys were very happy to get their ties. Others brought large wooden giraffes that they had to try and bring on the plane. Their luggage kept growing with all their purchases.

The last time we had been to the Durban airport a man saw Elder Kyle's badge and started telling him about how his wife was a member of the church and his son was on a mission. They had a nice conversation and then his wife appeared about the same time I did and she was from Hillcrest Ward and served us lunch before the family history fair. We got a chance to thank her and visit for awhile to find out they were moving to back to Cape Town and she was going alone to scout out the place.

This time at the airport, a woman saw Elder Kyle's badge and approached him. She was there with her two sons and their wives. One son and his wife met while they were both on a mission in San Diego. The mom and her sons were both from South Africa, but living in Utah, and the girls were from the US. She brought them over to show them South Africa. She said her husband had died about four years before in an accident so it was just her and her two boys. An interesting coincidence is that she had spoken to Sister Zackrison when a mutual friend told her they were coming to Durban and she called her to see if she would help her deliver things to an orphanage that she was trying to help. Sister Zackrison had mentioned this lady at our recent FHE meeting. What a small world.

The last time we flew to Cape Town, we flew on Mango Airlines and this time we flew on Kulula Airlines. Nothing was free on either airlines, but it was only a two-hour flight. Once again the DGH group had arranged their own transportation from the airport, but they did not have time to go to the hotel first to drop off their luggage, so they went directly to the Mowbray Chapel to do a fireside for the young single adults and single adults. This means that we had to have vehicles that could haul eight people, plus driver and all their luggage back to the hotel. So when we arrived, we rented a 7 passenger van and a high councilman from the stake offered to drive his van of about the same size to transport the DGH crew and luggage wherever they needed to go while they were in Cape Town. Brother Herm was an Africaner guy with a thick accent and the nicest guy. We don't know what we would have done without him, because he knew the area and we could follow him in our van. The above photo shows Cape Town in front of Table Mountain... breathtaking and the clouds are always low like this, most of the time covering table mountain at least part of the way.

When we arrived at the Chapel, there were three pianos, so they could all practice. The building was unlike any building we have ever seen...kind of a modern design, even though it is pretty old. High ceilings and windows made it very pretty, but the cultural hall was not behind the chapel, like most other buildings. Luckily the chapel was pretty large, so it worked out okay with the amount of people who showed up and apparently the baby grand piano was very nice...they all liked it.

It was terrible weather, lots of wind and rain, and when it rains in Africa attendance goes down, because most of the people have to use public transport and have to wait outside to catch the vans. We were a bit worried if anyone would show up, but it was all in vain as we had a good crowd. An older English guy who was there insulted my English...said the Americans ruined the language, but other than that, they all were very sweet, fun and glad to be there. Elder Kyle conducted and said a few words about DGH and then Dr. Hatch took over and introduced the others.

This fireside was also good, but Dr. Hatch was obviously trying to make it different than the other one and left our some of his best stories, but added some others, so it was still good, but we could tell he seemed tired...like he was finally suffering from the busy schedule, but his piano playing was wonderful and perhaps better than the fireside at Berea, so it evened out. He had Nate play "How Great Thou Art this time and it was very powerful. He played a medley of hymns that included "Let Us All Press On", "Come, Come Ye Saints," and "Fount of Every Blessing" and had Ammon play, "Because I have been given much." He also played the medley he played with "I am a Child of God" and told the same story. He encouraged them to listen to music that inspired them to do good and to have the Spirit and to use that spiritual music for enlightening their souls.

He also had Lauren play her classical piece to show the audience how classical music can also inspire. She plays these hauntingly beautiful pieces that show real emotion and does it so masterfully that its beauty almost brings you to tears. Each pianist has his or her own style. Nate is a big guy and seems to play a lot of powerful pieces with plenty of loud fast pieces in his arrangements. The 14-year old does that too and he is small. Ammon can play anything well and showed his versatility by playing different types of pieces. Courtney plays different types of pieces as well, but seems to play more soft ones. All of them play similar to DGH, because he is teaching them and imparts his style which is flamboyant and powerful...an emotional feast.

After the fireside, the real fun began as everyone wanted their pictures taken with part of the DGH group. Marianne was the most popular and she didn't even play that night, but Lauren was as well. The guys seemed to want a picture with a pretty woman.

The women wanted to talk to DGH and all the guys and they were very sweet to try to talk to everyone who wanted to meet them. These guys in the photo on the left were very funny. They wanted photos on their phones to show their friends, but couldn't get the cameras to work, so wanted me to take some photos. Then they couldn't figure out how I would get them the photos...they didn't have texting on their phones (They call it SMS). It was too funny. Finally they said they would call us and we could sent the photos to the number they called from. It remains to be seen whether that actually happens or not.

I spent a lot of time trying to get pictures for everyone and Sister Burger was making a DVD for the whole crew to take back to the states with them. It would contain photos from all the concerts on their tour and wanted all my photos as well. Unfortunately, my cable to download from the camera to the computer was nowhere to be found, even though I remember putting in the briefcase, so we scrambled to find a replacement, but no one in Cape Town had the right one. Finally one guy told us to get a card reader instead and after many mishaps we found one and were able to download the photos.








Elder Kyle even wanted his photo taken with these two very large guys, who were very sweet and all smiles, but seemed pretty tough at first.









Everyone in the DGH group were treated as celebrities and loved the people who were so interested in them. It was a fun thing to witness, especially after we got to know these young people. They all have good hearts along with all that talent and they were thrilled with anything that involved helping people, no matter how small. They would have stayed there all night talking to these people if they could.

This lady walked right up to Greogory and they started talking and laughing. I had no idea what they were talking about and was surprised that G. was so gracious, because he didn't seem easy to talk to, but he was very sweet to the ladies that wanted to talk to him. He also played during the fireside and they were very impressed with his talent. He is 16 and I am very impressed too.

 Nate was asked for his autograph several times. They must have gotten a great kick out of that. DGH also announced that Nate was going on a mission when he got home, so they were asking questions about that as well. Nate is a very well adjusted young man and very sweet and thoughtful. He has played the piano for several years but cannot read music. His last piano teacher told him he would never be amount to anything as a pianist unless he learned to read music. He changed piano teachers and DGH said he was a great talent with or without reading music and he has progressed masterfully since that change. He got a standing ovation at the Chatsworth concert.

Of course DGH was the man of the moment and conversed easily with everyone. Because of him Elder Kyle now likes classical music. That is saying a lot. Ha.

The man in the middle is Larry Calver, who is our public affairs director in Cape Town. He arranged everything for this concert and his team worked really hard to make it happen. He also got the brother who is driving his van and toting the DGH crew around. Thus you can see that public affairs is alive and well in Cape Town.


 The Ward supplied us with food afterwards and great company. I asked this one lady near the end who prepared all the food and she admitted that she and her husband did it. I thanked her and asked if I could take their picture. She got all flustered, but they smiled big for me and I think appreciated the thank you.







We left in pouring rain and a very cold night and headed for a restaurant where we were planning on having a little surprise birthday celebration for Nate's 18th birthday. We went to Spurs, because they sing an African version of Happy Birthday and bring a desert with a sparkler on top to the person having the birthday.





Sister Burger's family lives in Cape Town, so they seemed to show up wherever we went and they were there this night. They were quite the characters and Sister Burger kept trying to fix up her neice with Ammon...I don't think they were suited at all, but were going along with it. We all had dessert and sang Happy Birthday. It was a nice thing to do and I am sure he appreciated it.

Brother Herm stayed outside by the vans to make sure they were not broken into, because all their luggage was still in them. It was raining and cold, but he stayed in the van. What a nice man.

We then went to the Holiday Inn Express, where we were all staying, and thanks to Brother Herm, we found it without too much problem. We unloaded all the luggage and went up to our respective rooms. It was another good day and Elder Kyle drove the other huge van with ease!