Transfer Week - eeish!

Monday morning - the beginning of Transfer week!  Elder Kuwanatsoka, Elder Steed and Elder Gideme - all hard at it, trying to get everything ready.  They all worked so hard to get all the details worked out, the bus tickets bought, everyone where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there.  However, there were a few glitches in the plan that created a lot of havoc.  Gratefully, everything worked out in the end, but the stress in the mean time was pretty high. 

Elders Bingham, Maring, Holt's, Shaw, and Steed

These were the departing Elders that we had served with in Lesotho during the first half of our mission.  We feel so privileged to have worked with them.  The departure dinner was delightful and the testimony meeting following was as usual a mission highlight.  This group of elders had some amazing leaders and very talented, hard working elders.  There will be a big hole left while the remaining Elder's learn to step up and fill their shoes.





We didn't get home Monday night until about 10:30.  There was a lot of clean-up to do from feeding 26 people.  The Condie and Simkins family joined the Elder's and it was great to meet these elders family.  We were so tired when we got home and arrived to find that our bedroom window got left open Monday and the monkeys came visiting while we were away.  Wayne had slipped home earlier in the day to find them in our apartment.  He chased a moma and a baby out the window but didn't have time to clean it up.
 

There were banana peels and orange peels all over the floor in the kitchen. The cupboards were covered with juice and slime.

We found a trail of banana peels and orange peels all the way into our bedroom and up onto the window sill and down the walls.

Needless to say, I was not a happy camper having to clean up this mess when I got home.  Wayne washed off cupboards and walls and I picked up the peels and vacuumed and washed the floors.  I hope we learned a lesson and will not leave the window open again.  I was particularly annoyed because we had just bought bananas and oranges and they were so delicious.  I guess it was thoughtful of us to share them with the neighborhood monkeys.

Tuesday morning was a very busy day.  I dropped Wayne off at the mission home so he could drive a bakki out to the airport to pick up arriving Elders and their luggage.  I went into the office to prepare for the 15 arriving Elders.  I got a phone call about 9:00 AM that two of the Elders who were leaving to go home were at the airport and the airlines had no record of their flights.  They had their flight itineraries with them, but the airlines couldn't find them on their computers.  I quickly phoned Salt Lake City travel to find out what went wrong.  I got some one out of bed and she checked and couldn't find their flights either.  About an hour later, she was able to rebook their flights for that afternoon and they flew out about 4:00 PM. They were still able to arrive home at the time their parents were planning to pick them up at the airport (gratefully) but that was not a great start to our day.  Wayne spent the entire day running passports, visas, drivers licenses and temple recommends over to me to photocopy and then back and forth to the mission home as we oriented new elders and got elders tested so they could drive, etc. etc.  We realized that with some last minute switches that President Z had made, we had two non-driving Elders in a car area and so that had to be changed out.  We had one elder transferring into Leribe that did not have his VISA situation worked out, so he couldn't go into Lesotho.  That entailed switching some other elders around.  President took so long interviewing in-coming Elder's that the Elder's leaving to go to Swaziland didn't leave until 5 PM, making it midnight before they got where they had to go.  We didn't get home that night until 8:00 PM as we had to take some Elders to the bus station to catch a bus to Bloemfontein and Bethlehem.  What a very very long day.  We were just so grateful for all the mission couples throughout the mission who worked so hard to get everyone where they needed to be, and didn't complain when everyone was 4 or 5 or 6 hours later than they were supposed to be.  The couples work tirelessly to get the job done.

Wednesday we worked hard to get all the transfer details worked out, all the paper work done and all things in order so that we could get away for two days.  We were so ready!

We met the Lombardi's at the Tembe Elephant Park for a few days of R & R.  We were greeted at the Lodge by a group of beautiful young girls singing a welcome song.  We left that afternoon for a game drive with Vossi our game driver.  Tom was his tracker and we  were joined up with another couple from the Durban area that we had never met before - Adele and Tom. 

This is the whole crew.  Holts, Lombardi's, Tom (tracker) Vossi (guide), another fellow from Capetown who joined us Friday afternoon and Saturday, and Adele. Adele's husband Tom is standing on top at the back.  Adele would provide wonderful treats at our stops for refreshments.  She had cheese, crackers, nuts, billtong that Tom had made himself.  He is a hunter and he made Kudoo biltong and beef billtong.  We had a great time.

We stayed in 5 star tents.  The accommodations were really quite grand.  You really felt you were right out in the middle of the wild.  You could hear the animals in the night and the birds woke you in the morning.  You showered outside in the open air (surrounded by a wooden fence).  There was much of nature inside the tent (spiders, moths, bugs and more bugs)  Its just a good thing that bugs don't bother either of us.

The elephants were really quite wonderful.  They have some of the largest elephants, with the biggest tusks in Africa.  This day at this water hole we counted 20 elephants that came and went after a drink and a bath.  Along with the elephants there were nalla, kudoo, and impala all coming for a drink.  We even saw some warthogs that joined in the party.

Some of the elephants got right into the water and submerged themselves right in.  We decided these were the young bucks getting ready for their Friday night dates (getting themselves thoroughly cleaned up.)  They would get all wet and then come out and go over to the sandy dirt, snuff some up their trunk and then throw it over their back, legs and stomach.  Once they were all powedered up with dirt they would wander off - I think they were going cruising for the good looking girl elephants.

The next day we saw giraffe at the water hole.  They are still my favorite African animal.  They are so graceful and beautiful. 

 The park held some pretty impressive Rhino that we managed to find late one afternoon just before the sun started to set.

 This was the sun setting just a few minutes later.  We managed to find some lions about this same time, but it was too dark to get very good pictures.

This lovely lizard was sunning himself on this branch, just hanging out having a little nap.  We found him on this same branch one other afternoon a few days later. 

It was delightful to be able to wear casual clothes, only have to answer the phone 6 or 8 times a day (rather than 38 - 40 times a day) and just be able to relax and hang out for a few days.  I am sure this will be our last break before we go home and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

 These are some of the girls that served our meals, and treated us so nicely.  The staff at the Lodge are all local people and they were so delightful and friendly. We wanted to take them home with us.  The lodge provides a means for the people in this community to support themselves and their family.  There is not a lot of industry to provide employment for the people in this part of Africa.

 Every night when we got home from our game drive we would gather around the fire and visit till they called us for supper.  The meals were delicious.  Each night we were served some sort of local game like kudoo, impala and wart hog.  They were very tender and tasty.  I don't know if I am just getting more adventuresome or if this cook was especially talented, but I tried and enjoyed everything that was served.

Saturday night after supper we had some special entertainment come to put one a show for us.  One of the workers started by telling African stories around the fire till the singers and dancers arrived.  He was such a delightful story teller - he was even almost as good as you Spencer!  Then this men's choir came and sang local folk songs, dancing as they sang.  They harmonized so beautifully and we had a great night before we had to head home in the morning.

 We got up early Sunday morning and got packed up and right after breakfast we headed to the Kosi Bay Group.  This little group of Saints are just south of the Mozambique border. They meet in a tiny tiny little building behind a garage.  There is not usually any Priesthood holders here, so we came prepared with bread and water so that they could have the sacrament.  (The group leader was killed about 9 months ago and now they only get to have the sacrament when the Elder's or the Sr. couple from Richard's Bay come up.  Today, however there were two Priesthood holders there, one of them being a visitor from Pietermaritzburg. 

This is their chapel.  It really is as small as it looks in this picture.  Counting us, there was 12 in attendance.  Wayne conducted, and he and I both spoke.  Then Wayne taught the Sunday School lesson.  He did a great job.  We had also brought treats for the five little children that were there (and the big children too).  There was a sweet spirit there and the scripture that says "Where there are a few of my saints gathered, there will my spirit be also", came to my mind.  Before we started the meeting we had to dust off the chairs and sweep the floor to get the room ready.  The women that were there were strong and so happy to be able to partake of the Sacrament.  We really do take this sacred ordinance for granted each Sunday.  We just expect to be able to go to church and have it there, prepared and ready for us to partake.  This little group meets Sunday, whether they are able to partake of the Sacrament or not, so when they can have the Sacrament it is an especially nice Sunday for them. 

Well, it is late and I will close this weeks "blog" with a little bit of family news.  We received a phone call from Rod today when we got home letting us know of his new church calling.  He has just been called to serve as the Stake Young Men's President.  He will continue to serve on the Stake High Council, but he will be responsible for the Young Men and Young Women rather than for Missionary Work.  Life just gets busier and busier - right Rod?

We love you all and are so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to serve a mission in this beautiful country.  We are mindful and thankful for the blessings the Lord continues to pour out upon us daily.  We are grateful for family, good friends and mission friends who bless our lives and teach us good lessons.  Thank you for staying in touch!

We love you all

Wayne and Barb