Thursday & Friday, August 22-23rd East London Trip

We had hoped today to be able to meet with Stake President Bell, but he texted us that he was too busy and apologized that he could not meet with us. All leadership in Africa is overworked, so we empathized and then tried to figure out what to do today. After work on the computer, we decided to walk down the street a bit. Much of the area was still rocks, but the coastline was on our right during our walk and there was a pathway and grassy areas, plus a bench every once in a while to sit on and enjoy the sound of the ocean. We felt pretty relaxed.

All the areas we've visited on this trip are so different. There was a sign talking about it's history: It says: East London is a city on the southeast coast of South Africa, situated in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River and the Nahoon River, and hosts the country's only river port. The unusual double- decker bridge over the Buffalo river was completed in 1935 and to this day is the only bridge of its type in South Africa. Modern day attractions include the East London Museum housing the coelacanth, a prehistoric fish thought to be extinct, discovered live at Chalumna Mouth near East London by fishermen in 1938 and numerous memorial statues. The city is well known as a surfing mecca and its beaches are among the best in the country. East London today has a population of over 400,000 with over 1.4 million in the metropolitan area.

After another yummy breakfast, we drove up this same street to the boardwalk area. We parked and got out to walk on the boardwalk. Just as we began our walk, an older, but articulate man walked up and started talking to us about how he lost his job and couldn't pay the current rent. He wanted to know if he could do some painting for us, but we explained that we did not live there. He then said that the government had made promises that it did not keep and rather than providing new jobs, there are less jobs. He explained that he didn't have anything against whites. The new government was so corrupt that he felt if the white man would come back into power there would be more jobs. He said in the last forty years, he has always had a job and now he has been everywhere and cannot find one. He said if he had R100 he could stay in this place for another month. He sounded so intelligent and so sad. It was hard to believe that he had no place for he and his family to stay. We gave him the R100 and he smiled and thanked us profusely. It was so little, but would keep his family in shelter for a month until he could hopefully find a job. He hurried off, hopefully to pay his rent. It made us smile and feel sad at the same time.

Beautiful East London on south tip of Africa

We enjoyed being out in the sunshine and looking at the ocean, even though the wind was pretty strong. The ocean has always filled me with peace and we've had plenty of ocean visits on this trip. This part of the ocean had a little concrete pool that would be great for swimming when the weather is warm, but today, just nice to look at with the ocean beyond. I remember thinking of my family, the birthdays we missed, the vacation to Disney World, Ryan's progress in his life and though I was sorry to miss those things and more, I felt reassurance that this is where we need to be at this time.

We wandered down the boardwalk and saw a little building called 'The Musselcracker.'  Elder Kyle stopped to get a drink and let me take some photos. It opened about the time we walked up there. I imagine during the warm season this place is very busy. It was kind of nice visiting while we were almost the only ones there. We are so lucky to be able to go to all these places and meet all these people. Often what seems like a sacrifice in our lives turns out to be a blessing (a plug for going on a mission...ha).



We walked down on the beach and watched a guy throw balls to his rather large dog. They were having a great time. The sand went out forever, the tide was out and there was a lot of wet mucky sand, but we didn't see too many shells or anything else of interest (And the wind was blowing hard again), so we walked back up to the boardwalk and headed for our car.

We drove around Gonubie for awhile and then decided to have an early dinner (It was about 4:30), so we headed to a place we saw called 'Guidos' and found that they were not open until 6PM.
A lot of businesses close down in the afternoon and open again at the dinner hour. It's rather annoying if you would like to eat early. We remembered a mall close by, so we dropped by there and went into the Krazy Store, kind of like a dollar store in the states. Prices are very good, but they vary. We found a great deal on books, so we perused the books for quite some time. After buying a few, we strolled around the rest of the mall, but there wasn't much to look at and many of the stores were closing. They also close at 5 or 6 PM. We went back to the restaurant and started reading our new books in the car, waiting for the restaurant to open. By 6:00, we were very hungry, so we ordered too much, but it was delicious, so we gave a good effort...ha.  Diet time when we return from this trip. When we returned, we noticed the yellow moon in the sky partly covered with clouds...It looked like a perfect Halloween moon.

We had another great breakfast on Friday morning and talked to the owners about their experiences owning a bed and breakfast. She told us a Pastor from another church had rented a room took all the liquor from the refrigerator in the room without paying for it. When she called him after they left, he said his wife thought it was complimentary (even though there is a sheet posted with prices - It was called an "Honesty Bar" and you were supposed to mark off what you used). He said he would pay for it, but she never heard from him again. She said that they have had some crazy experiences. We found out that three more missionary couples were coming to stay there in November.

We then packed out stuff and headed for the airport. Our journey was coming to an end. It was a good trip, but we are ready to head back 'home' to Durban and get other stuff done. The airport was small, and my knee did not set off the security (Should we have been worried?), so it was pretty easy. We rode South African Airlines this time and they fed us a cold lunch even though the flight was only about an hour long. Apparently they have meals on every flight. The other two airlines we've ridden on didn't have any food or drink, even soft drinks, without paying for it. We arrived home safely and thanked Heavenly Father in our prayers this night for such a wonderful experience and for things going well at the concert. He is watching over us. Love to all and to all a good night.