A "Jinxed" week

 Just one more sign that summer has arrived in Durban.  These beautiful purple flowers don't last too long on the trees and when they start to bloom they are very light purple and just before they fall to the ground they turn this beautiful dark purple.  When they fall on the ground they make a purple carpet.  It is quite spectacular. 

Last week I made the mistake of mentioning that there had been no accidents that week.  Well......Monday morning President and Sister Zackrison came in and said that when they were in Richard's Bay they came out and saw that the passenger side of their van had some "small" scrapes.  They had no idea how they got there.  We told them that that is what all the Elder's say and we thought they could come up with a better story than that.  Wayne went out to look at it and there was more damage than just the one side.  So, that was the first car that needed to be repaired and then we had two more calls that day about accidents.  Gratefully, none were serious and no one was hurt.  It also gave Wayne lots to do filling out and sending in accident reports and then arranging for all the repairs to be done. 

This is a car that we saw Saturday at the store when we went to get groceries.  We thought we should bring one home for Kalani and Mealii.  What do you think?

I am going to tell this weeks adventures a little out of order.  I am going to tell you about what happened this afternoon first.  That's right!  You can tell I have a monkey story.  We had just finished a delicious lunch and I was looking out the window and in the trees were two monkeys.  We were watching them and all of a sudden we heard some loud noises from the Stark's apartment upstairs.  Stark's had been away all weekend and we knew they were not back.  We thought we had better go and check on what was going on, because sometimes the Stark's will leave their kitchen window open a little bit, and we know what can happen when the window is open just a little and there are monkey's about.  Wayne went upstairs and sure enough - the window was open and when he looked in the window - there in the kitchen were two monkeys, helping themselves to some bread on the cupboard.  So he banged on the window and the door hoping that they would get frightened and leave the same way they had come in - through the window.  Then he tried the inside wooden door and it opened.  Then he scared the monkeys out through the door.  He pushed the kitchen window  and the door closed and came back down to our flat.  When he tried to come into our flat - there was a very angry monkey sitting on our ledge.  You can see him in the picture above.  He would not let Wayne come in.  He kept charging him.  I was washing the lunch dishes and there were monkeys all over.

 This monkey was on the stairs, just watching me through the window.  Wayne was trying to get back in the flat, but the monkey above just was not having any of it.  Our screen door was open, and the monkey just reached over and was going to open our wooden door.  Wayne hollered at me to get something to chase the monkey's away.  Since I didn't have Grandma Holt's shot gun by the back door, I used the next best thing and ran for the broom.  I opened the door and chased about 4 monkeys away so that Wayne could come home.

 I think the monkeys could smell the delicious dinner that we had just eaten and they wanted to come in and have some too.  I however, was not willing to cleanup after them.  When the Stark's got home, they had a mess in their kitchen to clean.  We went up to explain what had happened.  They had been mopping, and wiping down cupboards etc.,  even though it was the Sabbath.  I think the "monkey's were in the kitchen" or the "ox was in the mire" or something like that. 

We also found a gecko in the bathroom this week.  Wayne chased it around and round trying to catch it and get it back outside where it belonged.  However, it was faster than he was.  It finally settled on a shampoo bottle that was green and I think he felt safe there and it just stuck on the bottle as Wayne picked it up and carried it outside where we set it free to eat the bugs outside our flat.

We discovered last weekend that Wayne had picked up some ticks when we were in Tembe Elephant park and he began to feel feverish, achy and flu like.  We were worried that he might have "tick bite fever" and so Monday he went into the doctor and sure enough - he had 4 ticks that were visible.  The Doctor gave him some tetracycline and after 24 hours he was feeling much better.  We have seen the appearance of a couple more since, but since the round of antibiotics they were not going to fester like the first ones did.   

Monday morning was  busy and hectic as we had lots of Elders in the office - "treat" day - of course, and then later in the afternoon we had a staff meeting to go over some much needed concerns of upcoming events.  We thought we were going to get 6 Kenyan Elders on Wednesday and there were some decisions that had to be made about that, as well as the upcoming Elder Bednar visit.  As it turned out we did not get the 6 new Elders, but we did get some other business taken care of.  Monday night was FHE at the Clusters home, where we learned that they are being transferred to Newcastle.  They are in our mission, but they are under the direction of the area office and they want them to do PEF and Employment in that area of the mission.  There will be another couple come in to work in Durban doing much the same thing.  The McEwan's will arrive in October. 

The mission couples that we meet and work with on a mission become such great friends and I hope that after we all return home that we will find opportunities to get together and share further experiences and memories.  Being in Durban has given us opportunities to work with and serve more couples and missionaries.  This is one of the many blessings that have come in the 2nd half of our mission.

Wednesday Elder and Sister Wilding came to Durban to pick up a mission call that had come for one of their members in the Ladysmith area.  He had been waiting for a very long time for it to arrive, so Wilding's came to get it so they could deliver it to him directly.  We had a lovely supper together that evening, enjoying one anothers company and then the next morning, Wayne watched the office while I took them to Victoria Market for a few hours.  We had a great time together. 

Thursday and Friday were much quieter as the Stark's were out of the office (went to Joberg for the weekend), the President was gone and we were alone.  It was a nice end to a week.  However, tomorrow morning will come with a bang and things will hop again.

Now for family news......

 Kalani as a senior, must choose and carryout a senior project in order to graduate.  For his senior project he is coaching the Platte River cross country team.  Here he is with a couple of the members of the team that he is coaching.  Obviously they are winners - by the ribbons they are sporting on their shirts.  I am sure he will do a great job and we can't wait to hear how his project finishes.  Michelle and Mealii are in St. Louis this weekend, Michelle is chaperoning the soccer team.  I haven't received any pictures or reports on how the team has done.

 Last Sunday, we received a smile box from Rod, with many fabulous pictures from their Stake "Legacy" experience.  I thought I would share a few of them with you all on our blog. 

 I absolutely loved this picture of Jenn.  You look so beautiful Jenn!

You can see Jenn (Emma) has feinted as Rod (Joseph) has just been tarred and feathered.

 I have just included a few of the pictures.  Each one of the pictures were amazing and I could feel the spirit of the event.  I know that the youth of the Red Deer Stake have had their testimonies strengthened as they re-enacted the experiences of Joseph and Emma and the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Such a handsome couple!

This scene was the martyrdom of Joseph Smith.  This was just when Joseph watched his brother Hyrum being shot.  

Thanks Rod for sending all these photos and I am awaiting the video clips that you will send later.

I almost forgot to tell you about the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation today in the KwaMashu Branch.  They asked me to play for the primary children to sing.  I had never practiced with them singing with a piano and I had no idea what songs they were singing until it started.  However, like all Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentations, they always turn out and the spirit is amazing as they share their testimonies, their experiences, their beliefs and their singing.  I felt privileged to be a part of it.

We continue to be blessed as we serve in this part of the world.  We are so grateful that our family is blessed as we are so far away.  As I spoke with a member of our Home Ward Bishopric this last weekend about a dentist appointment for Mom, I reported to him that we would be home early in December.  He asked us which Sunday we wanted to speak in Sacrament meeting and I chose the last Sunday, as all our children should be there.  So, December 29th will be when we report in our Home Ward. 

We love and miss you all.

Mom and Dad