April 10-April 17th taking shupes to beach giving out bracelets

After our trip to Namibia, we attended church at Secunda on Sunday. The primary children were given rubber-band CTR bracelets created by our son-in-law, Darin. He sent 100 of them to give to the children of Africa. Here are two very happy customers in primary.









Even the young women wanted to get into the act, so here are three of them proudly displaying their bracelets!

We decided we needed to make a trip to Durban to pick up a wedding present for our son and his soon to be wife. We saw something there that we thought would be perfect, but we didn't get it while we were there and didn't find anything else we thought would be as perfect, so we needed to go back to Durban and get it.





Sister Shupe, who works with us in the Public Affairs office and her husband who is a lawyer down the hall are from California and Elder Shupe is a surfer, so the idea of the beach really appealed to them. We decided we could squeeze in the trip from Thursday the 10th to the Sunday the 13th, so I got online looking for a hotel on the beach 'deal'. After much searching on the internet, I found a hotel called 'Belaire Suites' that said they were on the beach with views and they were very reasonable. I booked two rooms and hoped for the best.


It is about a seven-hour drive with stops, but the Shupes are very entertaining, so time passed quickly. Elder Kyle drove, since we have been back and forth many times. This was our first trip that did not totally involve Church work, so we all felt a little relieved to get some time off. The Shupes were worried about what kind of hotel I picked, especially when I told them how reasonable it was. They were giving me a hard time, until we walked into the lobby and found the hotel was wonderful! The low price was just a bonus.

Both our rooms had an ocean view. The rooms were large and nicely appointed and breakfast was free and consisted of a full breakfast bar of hot and cold choices. The lobby was modern and the people were friendly. The restaurant hooked to the hotel had delicious food and we walked just a few steps and we were on the boardwalk on the ocean...not bad Sister Kyle.








The Shupes were thrilled with the choice and the fact that the 'boardwalk' was right outside the front of the hotel. Elder Shupe was a bit disappointed that there weren't much waves and the Bishop that knows the best surfing spot was out of town that weekend, so he had to content himself to walking on the beach, but it was still great and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!







The cool thing about the boardwalk is the many restaurants and places to rent bicycles, skateboards, surfboards and many other fun things. We saw runners in a race, kids and adults on bikes (some tandem) or skateboards. Everyone seemed to be out enjoying the beautiful weather. We enjoyed it as well and stopped at the ice cream shop that Sister Shupe had been salivating for since we got there.





On Friday, we went to Victoria's Market to get the sculpture. We were amazed that it was still there. We shopped some with the Shupes but they were not serious shoppers, so we just picked up a couple of things and then drove around the area to give the Shupes a feel for Durban.


We also checked out the stadium where the World Cup Soccer was played. It is pretty impressive and even had bungee jumping from the roof of the stadium for those adventurous (And I might add crazy) souls.




Saturday evening we went to the Cinquinis' flat (our old flat) for dinner on the rooftop of the garage (Why didn't we ever think of that?). Other than risking our lives climbing up on the roof with food and plates, it was lots of fun and the weather was beautiful. The mischievous monkeys were nowhere in sight and the food was delicious. The Cinquinis really know how to put on a party! They also invited the mission office couples and it was fun to catch up on all the Durban activity. What great couples we serve with here in Africa. We love them all!

4Reasons Group

After dinner we went to Berea Chapel to catch a concert by a singing group from Mauritius, one of which is LDS (a wonderfully talented soprano). Actually all of them were amazing. They sang very uplifting songs and all had operatic quality voices, but sang inspirational songs we all recognized.  Their sponsor stood up and told us that he saw them perform at a church event and decided they were good enough to actually make money doing this, so he has helped promote them and brought them to South Africa to test their performance with paid tickets.


 It was well worth the small sum to hear them perform. I am sure they will do really well in the future. Their group name is 4Reasons. Watch for them...It will not be a surprise if they eventually make it big! The tenor (with ponytail) is most amazing. He received standing ovations, but all were GREAT! What a fun evening.


Sunday we attended Berea Ward and saw a lot of familiar faces.We felt right at home there and enjoyed all of the talks. We introduced the Shupes to some people and they enjoyed seeing a good representation of a mixed race ward.

All in all, we had a great trip and got back with no problems. Everyone was relaxed and happy and we were especially pleased that we got the gift we went there for. Excitement was in the air...only a week before everyone arrives for the wedding.