Saturday August 17th in Port Elizabeth-met brother Andile and stake president Neku

We woke up this morning in our cottage in Port Elizabeth and it was freezing. We had a little portable heater in the bedroom, which helped, but it seemed pretty cold in the rest of the house. When we arrived on Friday, the landlord told us about this amazing restaurant to go for breakfast :

"It all began with hunger on a Madagascan beach back in July 2006... And then an old man on an old bicycle answered our craving for great bread; with his bike stacked high with fresh baguettes the taste and experience was something to cherish and it was something we wanted everyone back home to enjoy. And so with that the name Vovo Telo was born, taken from a place and a moment in time where the inspiration first took hold of us. Richmond Hill, Port Elizabeth, soon became our home... Artisan baking masters came to share their skills and experiences with us. Fresh aromas would drift down Raleigh Street through the morning air, and people would come to investigate, watching us at work. Over time, our customers began to realise what artisan baking was all about and eventually, they would even begin to bring their own fillings for our freshly baked bread and sit and eat them on our stoop. So we thought it was only hospitable to put down some tables and chairs, and perhaps offer a perfect coffee to go with that morning croissant.

From there, options expanded into a range of sandwiches, pastries, light breakfasts and lunches that you can enjoy at any of our bakeries today...To some bread is bread. To us bread is our passion. Do you dream of the perfect loaf of bread? We do, and it is what we strive to achieve everyday at our bakeries. This perfection doesn't end at our breads; we want each plate of food and each cup of coffee to be a magical experience. Come into our space and see where your imagination takes you."

Okay, we were sold, so we went there for breakfast. The place was extremely busy and very quaint. It used to be a house, so you almost felt you were eating at someone's home (That invited the whole neighbourhood). It seemed pretty yuppy, with well dressed 30 somethings, but a few old folks like us and a few children were also mixed in. It was obvious that this was a favoured restaurant in the area. It took us about two minutes to walk there, but we had to wait for a table. Since many of the dishes were based upon French dishes, we ordered French Toast. It was made from Brioche bread and covered in a blueberry, raspberry fruit mixture with Marscapone whipped cheese and honey on top...very dietetic...ha. The orange juice was fresh squeezed and all was very delicious. We also took some sandwhiches to go for lunch or dinner.

We discovered after we left Cape Town that Elder Kyle had left his suit coat behind. We called the hotel and they said they found it but we would have to arrange getting the jacket shipped back to us. With bad internet, we were not able to do that. Because our meeting with the Stake President was not until 4:00 that afternoon, we decided to tackle some shopping for a new coat. It was very cold and Elder Kyle was embarrassed to meet the Stake President without his suit coat. We also needed to find a bank, so we asked GPS for the nearest shopping and headed off to find it. Actually, we were only a five minute drive to the shopping district street with shops on both sides of the street. After we parked it did not take long to find a store that sold men's clothing. We found a very nice, but reasonable jacket and pair of pants and thought they were not a perfect fit, they worked well enough that he could wear them to the meeting.



After going home and changing clothes, we drove to the chapel...the GPS worked beautifully with the address typed in. We noticed that neighborhoods here in Port Elizabeth were more like the ones we have back in the states. There were neighborhoods with good sized lots on flat streets, not at all like hilly Durban. Of course the usual church code for the gate surrounding the Chapel did not work, but a man came out and told us the code to get in.



Brother Khanti Andile (Pictured) from the High Council was there to meet us and we waited a few minutes for Stake President Sinethemba Neku to get out of a meeting. Brother Andile talked to me about his one-year-old little boy and what a terror he is. It was pretty funny. He is a very nice man.

Both men were very nice looking, intelligent men and very eager to learn about public affairs. President Neku, who is new to his calling wanted to make sure he understood what was expected of him in the public affairs area. We taught them for about an hour taking turns explaining how public affairs is supposed to be about finding ways to help the Stake reach it's objectives. They were very interested in being involved with public affairs and asked good questions that confirmed their interest. We gave them the website address for public affairs, which has the most current training information and we agreed to send him a copy of the manual, which President Neku seemed very interested in having. Both men look very young and I would suspect have been on  fairly recent missions. Returned missionaries are the core of the church leadership in Africa and the key to the church's continued success on this continent.

We felt very good about this meeting and developing a relationship with the stake leadership. We will be communicating with Brother Andile on this in the future, as he is the high councilman over Public Affairs.

We arrived back at the flat and still the internet was not working properly. We called the owner again, but the problem was not able to be worked out. We decided it was too cold and windy to go out again, so we ate our sandwiches purchased after our breakfast that morning. By then, the food was not great, but sufficient.

I finally got the internet to work long enough (but only on booking.com) to reserve lodging in East London. I found another one on the beach...should be fun.