Tuesday, July 9th-President Wilfords home

On Tuesday, after checking emails we went to Hillcrest Stake President Wilford's home to get him to sign our budget requisition for the David Glen Hatch concert. He lives in Kloof, which we know nothing about, except there is a ward by that name that meets in the Hillcrest building. It was pretty easy to find. The neighborhood was quite nice and we followed another car in his gated driveway, so all in all easy. As soon as we got in, a huge dog (bull mastiff mix)_came up to us followed by a black poodle (not trimmed). They were so friendly, but I've never been around a dog that big and powerful. When she leaned against me, which she did a lot, she almost pushed me over. I would pet her and she would immediately plop down on the asphalt and show her tummy for me to rub. It happened several times and was very funny. I'll bet she weighed 200 plus pounds...very powerful, named Candy.

The Stake President's home was beautiful in a homey sort of way, with comfy, tasteful furniture and decor that made you want to sink in and stay awhile. The grounds (like most of Durban) were beautiful and I imagined myself sitting by the window reading and enjoying the outdoors. We didn't get to stay long enough though, as he was working from home and pretty busy. His son rushed out as we were rushing in, probably to some sort of sport practice by the look of him and he was very sweet and spoke with a cultured English accent. Yes, we are beginning to tell the difference between the accents. President Wilford is a Clinical psychologist. I put a video of him on one of my blogs.










Then we came back to the flat and got the requisition sent over to the Area Office asking for funds. We also got a call from Elder Murdock and found out that Sister Murdock was still in a lot of pain and they were draining and scraping the incision (without anything to calm or ease the pain of the procedure. It sounds awful, but lots of infection got into her system, so they must get it out. Yuk!

I wrote a poem for her, because I thought she might get a kick out of it when she is better anyway. Maybe I should put it here...okay I will:

ODE TO SISTER MURDOCK (by me)

It started with a pain...a tic...perhaps even more
And the pain got worse...till all of me was sore.
Then things started coming up...not so good at all
But I’m a trooper and withstood the mighty fall.

What could it be I asked myself and got some answers too:
Must be kidneys, darn those Stones...What about the flu?
Or, the gallbladder is really tricky... an ultrasound should find,
But it cannot see a cause for pain...perhaps you’ve lost your mind.

What did you say? Oh I know it hurts badly my dear.
Have you tried Coca Cola...well maybe a bit of beer.
You know my friend had a pain almost like your own,
But she was full of gas and her stomach was o’er grown.

You know my dear that you could see a doctor for your pain.
Oh no, you already did and an infection you did gain?
Surgery?...Well I declare, I did not expect that too
Some will go to any length when they have work to do.

I hope she doesn't think it tasteless! Ha. It was fun to spend a few minutes laughing as I wrote it. I always think I am funnier than anyone else does (except my wonderful children and grandchildren, who appreciate my humor...I hope).

Monday, July 8th-Bookstore at the mall encounter-FHE at Holts

Today we pretty much stayed in our flat's office working on all the details for the concert. I forgot to mention that when we were in the mall, we stopped by the bookstore so Elder Kyle could look for a book. I was kind of bored, but found a discount book and took it to the checkout. The young black man who processed the sale saw my badge and asked what we are doing in Africa. I told him a lot of things and then mentioned the wheelchair give away and the other humanitarian things the church is doing. He said that it was great that a church was finally doing something for the people instead of taking their tithing and telling them to wait for blessings which never come. We then got in a discussion about how many churches there are (He said he was 7th Day Adventist) and how do you know which one is true when they all say they are the one? This naturally led in to discussions about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. He then told me he was studying theology in school.

About that time, Elder Kyle came over with his book and the three of us discussed religion and the Bible. He was a very intelligent, nice looking black man, but when I asked him what area he lived in he got uncomfortable and then said a name I didn't recognize. When I said I didn't know where that was, he said, "It's a township." That means a very poor area. He was very passionate about how the black people needed to pull themselves out of the poverty and backward ways. He talked about how all the children are learning Zulu and said, "How can they ever hold jobs or be anything when that is their only language?" We promised to bring him some reading materials, DVD and Book of Mormon and then went in the next day to give him the Book of Mormon. He was more interested in the DVD that we said we would bring later. But he is a scripture reader, so hopefully he read some of it. I couldn't figure out if he was ready to be converted or if he was trying to convert us, but it was a really great experience and we plan on checking on him again tomorrow or the next day. Unfortunately, the book store is closing the end of July, so he won't be working there anymore, but we have a few weeks before he leaves and we'll find out where he is going. These are the situations that make this mission seem more like a mission. Our badges are amazing in their power to draw people in. I'm glad I have been able to experience that. People here for the most part love Jesus Christ. Just having it on our name tag makes us better people in the black person's eyes... the Muslims and Indians not so much, unless they are already Christian.

I also forgot to tell everyone that Sister Murdock that we mentioned several times in this blog went into the hospital Thursday night for emergency surgery, because her appendix ruptured. She is still in the hospital and they have to open up her incision and drain the infection daily. We cannot figure our how come the doctor did not diagnose the appendicitis when we took her to the hospital last Sunday. They could have avoided this whole scary infection thing that happened when it burst. I looked up the symptoms of appendicitis and she had them all. We really feel bad for her. She has gotten blessings, and we are praying for her recovery and for the infection to be gone, so the antibiotics can be lessened and she can be released.

After a whole day on the computer trying to answer emails and plan for the concert, we stopped and headed over to the Holt's apartment for family home evening (The Clusters on left and Holts on right - Starks not pictured). We talked about temples and how they are built and how tall the Angel Moroni is on each temple and how they used to make the angel and how they do now. There were stories about the temples and some photos. We learned a lot. It was real fun and several of us shared our favorite memories of the temples. We are all waiting for the location of the temple that is to be built in Durban to be announced. Apparently, they are still trying to deal with the local government that is telling them their spire is too high. That is almost comical when you see the things that are built here. There certainly doesn't seem to be any building codes! Ha. Everyone thinks we know, because we are public affairs, but we don't know yet either. We have been informed that when they do get final approval, we will get special temple packets that tell us what to do to prepare for the temple to be built and we will be very busy...wait, we are already busy...I guess they mean we will be even busier.

The upstairs office in our flat where we spend a lot of time

We are trying to plan a trip to Cape Town before the concert there to make sure that all is well before the concert moves to that area. We will be taking care of all arrangements here in Durban when the group of nine pianists come for the concert and fireside. We will have to figure out transportation, meals, lodging, etc. And, they arrive during the wheelchair giveaway right before the concert, so that may be tricky...Ha. When they go to Cape Town on Monday, we will have to go with them and help provide the same services there (while they do a fireside and concert). Do any of you want to come and help? We need help here! We'll make room for you!

Sunday, July 7th-Chatsworth Ward, services and appt with Bishop

Sunday we went to Chatsworth ward again (Indian ward), because we had an appointment with the Bishop after the bloc. There were not many people to begin with, but they started to file in late and ended up having a good group. Late is the Standard in Africa. They have such a nice building. The parking is under the building and it is tucked into a mountain. The grounds are very nice as well. It was fun seeing some of the same people we met before and we thoroughly enjoyed the testimonies that were given. There is always a sweet spirit here during testimonies and the Indian people seem more sure of themselves.

In Sunday School, we talked about not getting offended and forgiving others. The instructor was missing his front teeth, so that combined with his accent made him a little hard to understand. He was well versed in the scriptures and had gone on a mission when he was younger, so he gave a nice lesson. The participation was better in this ward. The people seemed more knowledgeable about the Gospel.

We separated for Relief Society and Priesthood. Elder Kyle was glad to be able to attend High Priest class (most ward here meet all together, because they don't have any high priests). Our teacher talked about self reliance. She wrote money on the blackboard in big letters and asked everyone to comment about the word. Most of the comments were negative and she said, "Wait, money is not a bad thing. Let's talk about what it provides us that is good." They then started naming items like housing, food, clothing, utilities, education, etc. and had to agree that we need money. Then she had the name things they want but don't need. As an example, she put 'Mercedes" on the board and talked about how it's okay to buy a nice car if you have the money, but you don't go into debt for it. She talked about why going in debt is bad and how it can cause you to feel worry and then guilt and then Satan steps in and makes you think you should stop doing the right things, because they make you feel guilty and before you know it, you have fallen away. She explained about how we cannot help other people when we are in trouble...that we don't have anything left to help buoy our spirits of someone else's...that we become not only temporally deprived, but spiritually deprived. She did a good job.

After the lesson, we met with Bishop Chetty about doing a helping hands project for the youth centre. He agreed that he would get people from his ward to come over the Saturday of the concert and clean bathrooms, windows and whatever else needs cleaned. We also talked about how to get people to attend and made plans to get the word out to the Chatsworth community and the Rising Sun newspaper. See the Mandela sign in this photo that they put up at the youth centre.




After church, we saw Rosie (a very nice, very older lady who always talks to everyone. She bore her testimony in sacrament and it was quite entertaining. She always greets everyone and tells them her name (in a loud voice). Sometimes she tells you several times. I don't know how old she is, but other people mentioned that she is REALLY OLD. She gets around with a cane really well and when we went to the parking lot she was sitting there on the steps and looked so cute, I asked if I could take her picture. She posed and then wanted to see the photo. When I showed her, she smiled and said, "Hah!" Don't we have the best times?

Saturday July 6-About our neighborhood in Durban

Saturday is P Day. We slept in a little bit, wore casual clothes and walked to the mall to get some groceries.  I took some photos as we walked with my new camera to try it out and to show you what our neighborhood looks like. Whenever we go walking we have to climb this very steep hill and put in a gate code to get out the gate.







The streets are barely big enough for two cars side by side, so you have to try to walk where ever there is a sidewalk of sorts (asphalt sidewalk). This could change from block to block, so we keep changing sides. We saw a Muslim guy driving out of the gates of this place. Elder Holt runs around this neighborhood. It is supposed to be safe, but we are still taught to be careful. It really was a nice day to take a walk to the mall.



Other homes in the area look pretty nice, like this place with a swimming pool in front. I've never seen a soul out in the yard of any of these places. It seems so odd to us that people do not do anything themselves. They seem to hire black people to do their yard work and they are happy to get the jobs. So not everything changed after Apartheid. There are not that many who are trained to be in management, so a job doing anything is better than nothing.

You can tell from these photos that security is a big issue here...lots of home burglaries, so there is a lot of barbed wire and electric fences and electric gates. It's a shame, but the police don't seem to ever be around, so the robbers have no deterrent.

No matter how nice the house is, it is surrounded by fences and something to keep people from going over the fences. When we first got here, one lady was asking us if we really had yards without fences where people went outside and talked to neighbors. She saw something on TV and couldn't believe that we actually lived like that. I remember telling her that our front yards usually don't have fences and kids play outside and she was really having a hard time grasping that. We take a lot for granted.

This is the street where we go to the mall. It's only five minutes from our flat. What you see in the distance is mall parking. We are pretty sick of the mall, but that is the only place close by to purchase groceries. There are also two pharmacies that we frequent and a store called 'Crazy Store' that is like going to a dollar store or Big Lots, on a very small scale. I like looking for inexpensive items there, like books, kitchen storage, toys, etc.

Buying groceries here is so different. Instead of driving to the grocery, parking and going inside, getting a cart, buying groceries and then going outside putting them in the trunk and home, we usually drive this way and drive underground to park, get a parking ticket out of a machine...go into the lowest level where the banks and post office are...then go up the escalator to the first floor. You get off the escalator in the middle of the mall. Grocery stores and pharmacies are at each end. You go to one end to buy most all the groceries you need, except for fruits and vegetables and meat which are better at the store located at the other end of the mall.

You fill up your basket with groceries and then go to the checkout line where they ask you if you want packets, which means, "Do you want to pay for bags to put your groceries in." I say, "Yes" and then they put the groceries in usual plastic bags. Because you are paying for each one, they pack them with as much stuff as possible - to keep you from having to pay for more packets, but they are so heavy that when you are walking...watch out. Then you go to the escalator down to the parking level and before you get on, you take your groceries out of the cart and carry them down...tricky carrying several sacks of groceries down an escalator.

When you get off the escalator, there is a parking machine. You put your groceries down on the floor and put your parking ticket into the machine where it calculates how much time you have been in the mall and bills you accordingly. Then you try to put money into the slot (In most cases, Elder Kyle has to find the money in his pocket while holding the ticket in the machine, because it will fall out if you don't hold it). Then you have to put coins in until you've paid the right amount and wait until the ticket is stamped paid, before you take it out. You go out to your car, put the groceries in the trunk and drive to the parking machine where you put in your stamped paid ticket, the gate lifts and you exit the parking garage. At other malls, you pay people in orange vests for watching your car while you are in the mall and helping you back out. Just a few coins are expected. How is that for going to the grocery store? Well this day we walked, so we skipped the parking machines, but had to carry the groceries home. They were heavy, but we made it back and took a nap (just kidding).

That evening, I made Mexican food and homemade chips and hot sauce. We actually really liked the hot sauce, so I have made a breakthrough and can make hot sauce now without tomato sauce or El Pato sauce. I use canned diced tomatoes, fresh jalapenos, cilantro and onions and crushed red peppers, oregano, salt, pepper and garlic...put in a blender and it is YUM! Put that with homemade chips and it's almost like home! I then got on the computer and made an agenda for our PA meeting Sunday after church. Sipho called and asked me to make one. I also made some bread dough for rolls. I put it in the fridge so that I could make my rolls the next day for 4:00 PA meeting.

We read the scriptures and discuss every day after dinner. It's a good time and we are buzzing through the Book of Mormon. I look forward to it and it's an easy time to fit it in. Hopefully, we are creating a habit that will stay with us when we return home. Kneeling by our bed to say prayers at night is also a habit we will keep when we return. Sometimes Elder Kyle wants to go to bed earlier than I do, so we just have our prayer before he goes to bed. In the morning we have our own personal prayers and Elder Kyle reads the Bible after breakfast, while I am still getting ready for the day. Ha.

Wednesday, July 3rd - Friday, July 5th - Chatsworth YC meeting-Zulu Day

Wednesday, Brother Rieckhoff and Clive went to the Youth Centre on their own so they could look at the things that needed to be done there that might be a helping hands project. I was working on getting on the Bank of America site to verify or tick off our charges. We have been unable to do that, because we did not have a user name and password. I finally got one and ticked off the charges we made before our card was mistakenly cancelled. Soon after that, we got a message from Clive saying that Brother Rieckhoff (in charge of helping hands for the stake) drilled the director of the youth centre and made it sound like a property inspection. This irritated the director, so we were worried that he might decide to cancel our concert. Since we are not paying for the venue, it would not hurt him to cancel. We worked hard to develop a relationship with this guy and then we get an email suggesting that we look elsewhere, because the director was not cooperating and the electricity was not turned on and he wouldn't say when the place was going to get painted. Yikes. What they didn't realize is that THIS IS THE VENUE. We have posters and flyers already printed and we could not find anywhere else!

So, Elder Kyle immediately contacted the director to see if we could meet with him on Thursday morning. He said okay, so Thursday morning we went back there to talk to him. He was actually very cooperative and told us that there is a local paint store that has offered to paint the place, but he didn't want to push them as to when or they might back out. He also doesn't want us calling the guy. That was his biggest fear that we would get involved and someone was going to say, "Who are they?" Apparently, there are some organizations jockeying for position of ownership or management of the place and the director doesn't want them to think we are trying to get in a position of takeover. Funny, huh? We soothed him and asked if we could at least get it power washed. He said that would be okay, but is checking with the Painting company to see if he can get an idea of when they will do the painting. If we are lucky, it will be before the concert. It's all a waiting game.

While reading our local paper, "Highway Mail", we came across this cute article about one of the schools in the more affluent area having a Zulu Day. Everyone was encouraged to dress up in Zulu attire, even teachers. Elder Kyle cut out the pictures and told me to put it on the blog, so here it is. They also had competitions with Zulu weapons. From the photos, it looks like they had a great time. These outfits are what they sell at the Zulu markets and a lot of the Zulu people actually wear them. I previously posted a photo of Elder Zawackey with Zulu attire on at one of our family home evenings. These boys are wearing basically the same outfit. Cute huh?

There weren't too many black children in the photos, so I am assuming this is mostly a white school, but look how cute the girl in this photo looks. If you go downtown, you will see many grown black women dressed the same. Elder Kyle wants to get our daughter the outfit with the red hat in the other photo. He keeps seeing it at the store and thinking it would look good on Shannon. Of course anything would look good on Shannon, but he is serious...perhaps a Christmas present?

Thursday, we had to go buy a new camera, because the camera repair shop wanted more to fix the camera that what it is worth. So we went to Game and bought a new camera. I am experimenting with taking photos and they will appear from now on.

It seems all our focus is on the David Glen Hatch Concert now.
We are passing out posters to wards and trying to get the word out there. We've put together a list of media and public opinion leaders that we want to invite. We've tried to pin down Lotus FM to see what is going on with the wheelchairs, but they are busy with another project, so are not answering our emails. We set up an appointment with a pressure washer who will come out Monday and give us a bid to wash the mold off all the entry-courtyard walls. We just hope it doesn't wash off the plaster along with it.

Friday night, Solani from next door came over and we finished faces of girls in a book and put on sticker earrings and hair things and colored pencil makeup. She is pretty spoiled, but so cute in her demands...Ha. She is just testing, but I feel bad for her. She never has anyone over that is the same age as here...it's as if she doesn't have any friends. When I asked her why she never had friends over, she said she didn't have any except a girl I met who was 17. It seems odd to me, but TIA.

Tuesday, July 2nd-David Hatch Chatworth draping company mtg, clive ready

Tuesday, we got up early to take the Murdocks to the airport. She was still feeling pain in her stomach. She said it hurt when anyone touched her, but she was trying to keep positive and glad to be going back to the church doctor in Johannesburg.

Work of Vesta Creations for a wedding.

After we dropped them off at the airport, we went to the Youth Centre in Chatsworth to meet with Vesta Creations owner of a draping company. As you can see from the photo, they mostly do weddings. They had given us a bid based upon another bid's measurements, so we wanted to make sure she was not going to change the bid when she saw the place. She was a cute Indian gal and was very positive about our event. She measured and asked appropriate questions and said the bid would be pretty much the same as her original quote. Good news there. We then came back to the office and proceeded to put together a budget based upon the bids we received to drape, do lighting and sound and rent chairs and chair covers for the event. We also have to hire two pianos for the event. The area office wanted the budget by Wednesday, so we emailed it over. It's a lot more than Hatch's budget and so are the other venues, so not sure what the area office will do about that. We are convinced that there is no place available, so this is it minus cancelling the whole thing.

We are still hoping that we can sell some advertising in our program, or get sponsors that we will list in the program, but who knows how much time we will have to do that. Where there is a will, there is a way....I heard that somewhere...The Youth Centre put up a memorial to Mandela, because they think he is going to die soon. We hear that he is hooked to respirators and will die if they unplug, but that is his family's decision. There are many who fear what will happen if he dies, so perhaps that is why they are keeping him alive. They think people will come to the Centre because it was built due to Mandela's orders and many will want to pay their respects. There is a lot of history involving the youth centre, so hopefully we can do some good there giving away the rest of the wheelchairs and providing the community with a classical piano concert (Something most have never seen before). We are thinking of asking those who come to bring a can, bag or box of non-perishable food as entrance to the concert. We can then give the food brought to shelters or other charities. There are a lot of people here without food or proper shelter. The winters are hard on them, even though it is milder here than most places.

Clive Reddy - Public Affairs

We were supposed to meet up with Clive and Brother Rieckhoff at the Centre, but they didn't show. When we got back I emailed Brother Rieckhoff and he said that he thought we were meeting on Tuesday, because he didn't read his emails until Monday and I said tomorrow, so he thought we were going on Wednesday (even thought the email showed it was sent on Sunday afternoon). I guess there is some logic in there somewhere.

This photo is Clive Reddy. He doesn't smile because he has a gold front tooth, but looks very handsome when he smiles regardless. He is a financial planner, college graduate in business and owns his own financial planning business. He is our interfaith PA for Hillcrest and does a great job. He has all kinds of ideas, but his new business is keeping him very busy. Because we are doing this concert in an Indian community, we really need his involvement.

Monday, July 1st -New Mission Pres-Zackrison

Today we took our camera in to a repair shop because it would not close or let us take a photo. We had to go downtown and the lady who waited on us was not very nice...then we rode in an elevator with two men that looked like Bin Laden, but they were nice to us.

We got back to the office and continued to work on the David Glen Hatch venue. We heard that Sister Murdock went to Victoria's Market with the new Mission President's wife and Sister Holt. We thought that meant that she was on the mend.

Monday night was family home evening at the Clusters. The Murdocks were invited, but we didn't know if she would feel like coming, but they showed up and the new Mission President and his wife also showed up...It was a big surprise, since they had just arrived in Africa the day before. They were both very nice, but confident and knowledgeable. We found out that President Zackrison is a lawyer who was assigned as head council to get the temple okayed to be built in Rome. This is what was said on the LDS.ORG website about them serving in the South Africa Durban Mission:

"John Alma Zackrison, 60, and Dorothy Lenore Widtfeldt Zackrison, six children, Edgemont 1st Ward, Provo Utah Edgemont Stake - Brother Zackrison serves as bishop of a young single adult ward and is a former high councilor, stake Young Men president, bishopric counselor, humanitarian missionary in Morocco, high priests group leader, ward Young Men president, Scoutmaster and missionary in the France-Belgium Mission. Of Counsel, Kirton McConkie. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to John Randall and Mary Elizabeth Zackrison. Sister Zackrison serves as a ward young single adult adviser. She served with her husband as a humanitarian missionary in Morocco and is a former temple ordinance worker, ward Young Women president, gospel doctrine teacher, Cub Scout leader, nursery leader and seminary teacher. Born in Oakland, Calif., to John Wendell and Anne Wood Ream Widtfeldt."

And this was written by KSL news in Utah:  "New mission president, John A. Zackrison is a lawyer for Kirton & McConkie Attorneys at Law. Zackrison is most widely known for handling international legal matters for major religions, including the LDS Church. He served on the International Legal Counsel for Europe representing the LDS Church from 2005 to 2009.  Zackrison was called to preside as the president of the South Africa Durban Mission."

They were very interested in the senior couple missionaries and asked us each to tell a little about ourselves. He actually raved about senior missionaries and how important they are to the mission. He also said that he is very into public affairs and will fully support our efforts because he knows how important it is. All in all a good time.