Mon, Sept 9 - Tues, Sep 10- made dinner for FHE- airport to Johannesburg to pu people for training

Monday we went to the store for some last minute items for our Family Home Evening dinner that I was cooking for the couples and having at our flat. Previously, I discovered a pasta bolognese sauce that I didn't like much for pasta, but thought it would work great for Sloppy Joes with some hamburger added. It was really good on whole wheat buns, so that's what I fixed for dinner. I also fried up some chips and made hot sauce and guacamole. I made two huge salad and a crock pot full of pinto beans, plus a chocolate cherry cake for dessert. That took the rest of the day, because some cleaning and table preparation was required. Elder Kyle swept the floor, set up the tables and planned the lesson for the evening..

We had a good crowd, five couples and the Mission President and his wife. We had to borrow a couple of plates, but other wise handled the crowd with seating and utensils. We enjoyed everyone's company and the meal, then Elder Kyle gave a lesson.

The lesson was information and discussions about Muslims and the Indian Population here in Durban. We learned a lot about what they believe in and how they worship. Everyone seemed to have a story to tell about their own experiences in different areas. The main thing we discovered was that we are all children of God, that He loves us and wants us to love one another. We also learned that although we have different beliefs, we believe some of the same things. It is always good to respect and tolerate the differences.


When everyone started to leave I wrapped up the extra food that I could not freeze and sent it home with the Holts. Then I made sure that I had all the photos I needed for the articles I was going to write for the Newsroom put on my memory stick and then we finished up some last minute business before we left turning in for the night.

Tuesday we headed for the airport to Johannesburg. It was rather uneventful. When we arrived, Abraham was there to pick us up. He wasn't holding a sign with our name on it or anything. When we asked how he knew it was us, he said, "Your kidding right? Oh, two old people with missionary tags, maybe...ha. He apparently works full time for the church and one of his jobs is picking people up at the airport. We were really glad to hear that, because we have no desire to drive there ourselves and he is an expert. He also was picking up Samantha Moyo from Zimbabwe who would be involved with the Mormon Newsroom stories in Zimbabwe.

Sunnyside Park Hotel in Johannesburg

He took all of us to the Sunnyside Park Hotel, our home for a few days, and of course it is beautiful. It is near the area office/temple site and has a free buffet breakfast daily. Unfortunately, Samantha did not have a reservation, and we stayed to make sure she got one. Then we got to our room thinking we had the rest of the day to relax, but as soon as we did that the phone rang. It was Elder Murdock and he seemed surprised that Abraham dropped us off at the hotel. He wanted to come and get us to listen to a phone call from Salt Lake regarding the changes in the Mormon Newsroom. So, we left a few minutes later and went to the area office. The phone call was really not that helpful, since I had not been trained yet, but it was nice to see everyone.

We finally left there and went back to our hotel with the Murdocks to meet up with the couple from the Congo, the Bybees, and Samantha so all of us could have dinner together. They are a very nice couple with some interesting stories to tell about the Congo. It made their mission seem really hard. The mission is French speaking and both of them served missions in France. He has a masters degree in French and archaeology. He has been a librarian for the church for 25 years. She had cancer and decided not to do chemo or radiation. After reading up on alternative methods of treating cancer, they changed their diet to Vegan instead and she is doing real well. Her doctor is still not thrilled, but they are happy about it. I could not believe how many vegetables and fruit they ate. It was a good example of how we need to eat to keep our bodies healthy. They are adding some meat and dairy on this mission because when they went through their pre-mission physicals they found that they were both very low in Vitamin B12. Africa is a good place to do this, because they have never used the additives that the United States has used. No hormones and all their vegetables and fruit are organic.

That's all for today...more exciting news tomorrow!