A RUDE AWAKENING
Last night at midnight, I felt so hot, I climbed out of bed, went to Larry's side of the bed and turned the air conditioner on. The unit hangs on the wall right above our bed. As soon as the air conditioner clicked on, Larry bolted up in bed. He was waving and thrashing his hands by his head. I thought I had startled him. Then he slaps his neck, leaps out of bed and acts very strange. Suddenly I noticed what was happening. He had a large cockroach on his body and he was trying to get it off. I saw it running back and forth in his hair, down to his neck, onto his back and then back up to his head. Finally, he knocked it off his neck and on to the bed. I grabbed a shoe and gave it a hard whack! Dead! But it was smashed all over the sheet. I took some toilet paper and removed his body, and Larry crawled back into bed and went to sleep. We didn't change the sheets or try to clean them because we were exhausted. The next morning I removed the sheets, soaked them in stain remover, and washed them twice. The big stain is still there and so are all the "splatters". These cockroaches have black blood/juice/shells or whatever. It is like India ink and worse that permanent marker and does not come out! It is not going to be fun sleeping on those sheets---good thing we are so tired each night. We have discovered that cockroaches often "jump out" of the vent when we turn on the air con---as they call it here.COULD YOU PLEASE PLUG IN THE FAN?
This may seem like a straight forward request. But it isn't. One of the interesting things about South Africa are the plugs or wall outlets. An appliance might have a square plug, a small rectangular plug, round, triangle, large rectangle, 2 prong, 3 prong or 3 large prongs. That means you need to have adapters for each one of these plugs. This is NOT related to changing from 220V to 110V. This is for the toaster, hair dryer or mixer purchased here! When I need to plug in something new, it isn't as easy as it should be. Of course, there is only one outlet in each room and NONE in the bathrooms. So each outlet has a power strip with all sorts of plugs coming from a variety of items---hair dryer, lamp, fan, clock, phone chargers etc. It looks like a serious fire hazard but it is a fact of life here. When we travel (or even go to another church building and want to show a video), we bring a BAG of different plugs and adapters. You have no idea what type/shape/size of outlet will be in your hotel room...and if you do not have the correct adapter, you won't be able to charge your phone or blow dry your hair. This picture only shows a little bit--but you get the idea.
SO GOOD TO BE TOGETHER
Thursday at noon we drove to Durban to our Senior Conference. The senior couples from our entire mission came for a 2 day training. There are 9 couples serving from Durban to Bloemfontein and Lesotho. We drove 2 hours but others drove 8 or 9 hours so we could be together. We receive such strength from each other. We used to have 12 couples, but 3 have gone home and no one has come to replace them. We really need more couples here.We had chicken curry, a very popular South African dish, for dinner. For dessert we had milk tart, another South African favorite. It is similar to cheesecake. Elder Todd loved the food. We visited as we washed the dishes and stayed up too late talking.
Friday morning we began at 9:00 A.M. at the mission home. President Zachrison taught a powerful lesson for 1 hour. It was on prayer. Isn't it amazing that after hearing lessons on prayer for over 60 years, there is still so much to learn??? He shared some new insights and reminded us of things we already knew--but don't always apply. When we turn to the Lord first, we are humbled by the help we receive. When we get busy, or proud, and do things on our own, they never go as well.
For the next 3 1/2 hours each couple took a turn sharing a "best practice" that had been successful for them. There were so many ideas and each one was unique. We concluded that each couple had "found" something had suited their personality...and nothing was the same! It surprised all of us. But each area has its own challenges, strengths and culture. One couple, living in Velkom, had attended a church dinner where they were served sheep brains....and she said they looked and tasted awful. Another sister had pictures of her eating from a PIG HEAD at a church dinner. The full head sat on a platter in the middle of the table as a decoration. They ate everything--ears, snout, tongue, etc. She had a video of her and others eating the snout! Then they chewed sucked on the bones until they were shiny. Yum!
 |
| Listening to President Zachrison. (Chandlers, Hinds, Taylors, Roberts, and Woolstons. Stevensons, Sorensens and Nielsens not in the picture.) |
IT WORKED!
When we arrived on our mission, our mission president did not give us ANY advice or instruction except this: "You have come to South Africa with whatever tools or talents are needed in your area. I don't give instruction or direction. I am caring for 125 missionaries and need the senior couples to be completely self reliant." It was unnerving to head to a completely foreign area with No advice or guidance. But each couple had followed his advice and "found" what the Lord needed to be done! I wish I had space to share all the wonderful things being done. It was another testimony to me of how the Lord knows each of us AND he helps his servants move the gospel forward.
TEMPLE COMING TO DURBAN SOUTH AFRICA!
Saturday we all were excited to be able to attend the ground breaking for the Durban South Africa Temple. The temple site is on a hilltop overlooking beautiful rolling hills. It is near the national highway and people will be able to see it as they drive by. I don't know how many of you knew that the church was building a temple in Durban. It was very exciting news and the people here are overjoyed. We arrived several hours early so we could get a seat. It was VERY hot but we were all so grateful to be able to be a part of the ground breaking. Usually the temples take about 3 years to build, but they have not announced a completion date. There was a short program and then the site was dedicated with a prayer. In this prayer, it stated that the temple would bring wonderful blessings to the people and the country. At the conclusion of prayer, the dignitaries (government leaders, political leaders and church leaders) turned over the dirt with "golden (painted)" shovels. When they were finished, people from the audience were invited to come and dirt over some dirt so we took our turn with hundreds of others. |
| Some of the Gezane family and Zulu family with us. In the center is a drawing of what the future Durban Temple. It does not look "African" but we heard that before the temple was approved, the zoning officers outlined the basic parameters of the design. Don't know if that is true. |
MEMORIES
When each senior couple arrives in our mission, they spend the first 2 nights at The Huntley House B&B, before they are sent to their area. So for this conference, we all stayed there again. What memories! We reflected on how things had changed, how we had changed and what we had learned. What a walk down memory lane. However, we didn't spend too much time thinking, because the days were packed with instruction and it was always late when we got back to the B&B.
 |
| These flowers and bushes were just outside our room at the B&B. We love the gorgeous plants in South Africa. |
Saturday night we all went to dinner at the Cargo Hold--a restaurant along the ocean and next to the aquarium. It has a 2-3 story glass wall that showcases many kinds of sharks in a Shark Tank. Our table edge was touching the glass and it was fascinating to watch these large fish.
 |
| We loved eating dinner with the sharks---especially because we were on the other side of the glass. |
DO I REALLY NEED A HAIRCUT?
For my haircut, I decided to try someone new. The salon was very small and rundown, but it was in a nice area of town. The most important factor was that it was 6 doors away from a car wash. We had been out in the rural areas on muddy roads/paths and the car was filthy. The stylist seemed very nice. As we walked into a small back room for my shampoo, she casually mentioned they were having trouble with the water......very bad news at a hair salon. I sat in the chair and leaned my head back into the basin. The "shampoo lady" (a black "helper") dipped her fingers into a small dish of water and rubbed her fingers into my hair....just a few drops of water...no running water from the faucet. My hair was a little damp, but certainly not wet. Then she added LOTS of shampoo and began to rub until my head was completely lathered up. I wondered how she would ever rinse all the soap out with just a tiny cup of water??? She dumped the little remaining water on my head and that didn't help at all. I was puzzled when she took a pitcher and went outside for quite a while. She came back in with the pitcher full of water and explained she had put a barrel outside and had been collecting rain water for weeks. She dumped the water over my head and I hoped the soap was gone. However, she did give me a wonderful head massage! It was heavenly. I was happy to leave a big tip because the "Shampoo Ladies" do not receive any wages but the tips.What I thought was ironic, is the fact that there was no water in the hair salon but the car wash 1/2 block away was using gallons of water! Puzzling!
COME LISTEN TO A PROPHET'S VOICE
How grateful we are to be able to listen to a prophet of God speak directly to us twice a year. We were able to listen to his talk on the internet (although it was constantly breaking up). As Thomas Monson spoke last weekend, we felt the confirmation that he truly speaks for the Lord.As we listened to the apostles speak to us, we felt so inspired and uplifted. One of our favorite talks was Elder Jeffery R. Holland. We plan to reread it again later. A favorite quote from the talk:
"Brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is so love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. That's the first great commandment. But the first great TRUTH of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind and strength..... "
"Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever. "
HOME SWEET HOME
We love coming home to this giraffe on our front porch. It is peeking around the brick to greet us and makes us feel so welcome. This giraffe belongs to our landlord and has been on the porch for 2 decades. It is sun bleached and worn--but so friendly.
We feel like the luckiest couple to be able to serve the people of South Africa. We are trying to learn from them, as well as share our message. We know the Savior lives and is our Redeemer.
Love,
Elder and Sister Todd
Larry and Sandy
Mom and Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment