A Halloween Post

Not really anything to do about Halloween but posted on that day.  Not much ado of it here in South Africa.  The following is a rundown of our past week's activities.
Elders Roberts and Bangeter at the Ezakheni Branch.  It is unusual for two USA, white missionaries to be together let alone in a township branch.  A funny story.  We have friends in Gresham that told us they had a nephew serving a mission  in South Africa.  So, I looked on our list of missionaries in the Durban Mission and sure enough there was an Elder Bangeter serving here in one of the Durban Wards. Before we were able to visit that ward, he was transferred to a branch in the Newcastle District.  Sunday before last we went to his branch and had this photo taken and were asking him about his aunt in Gresham.  He seemed to not really know her and was not really sure who I was talking about.  Come to find out there are two Elder Bangeters-same first name as well serving in South Africa.  So the nephew must be in either the Capetown or Johannesburg Mission.

This is the Ezakheni Branch Primary.  In total, 32 children in a little 10x12 room.  Wall to wall and it was 95 F that day.  They were preparing for their Primary Sacrament Presentation and singing their hearts out and reciting their scripture and their lines.
They were so well behaved and enthusiastic for the crowded and hot circumstances.  We were not able to see the presentation the next week as we were in the Dundee Branch, see below.

Our star pupils in the Ladysmith Branch.  From left to right, Sibahle Jili going to be a dentist, her mother,  Nomvuzo Magubane-will study law, and Khulisile Nyembe wants to be a physical therapist.  We sometimes have students that have very high expectations, some occassionally beyond their current capabilities.  But, these three are 100% capable of being anything they want.  They are just amazing.  Two already have three offers of acceptance from Varsitys (colleges) and that is not an easy thing in South Africa.  The other, Khulisile is Head Girl at her school which is the equivalent of student body president!  Nomvuzo is in the Ezakheni Branch that we attended on Sunday.  She came in trailing three little children-her nieces or cousins with no adult support.  Then during Young Women's she was teaching and Sister Gunderson asked if she was a permanent teacher.  They answer was Yes, but she is also the Young Women's President. All at the age of 18!

Our efforts at teaching workshops are beginning to result in students completing their online applications for PEF loans.  Some who have no access to computers or need additional help are coming to our office in our flat to complete them.  Above is Nosipho Mkhungo and below is Sinekosi Manukuza.

The Dundee Branch in the Newcastle District.  A few years ago it was only about a dozen people.  Next to Sister Gunderson is Sister Ward.  They live in Newcastle (about an hour away) her husband is a counselor in the mission presidency.  The tall Elder in the back row, Elder Meyers, had a ruptured appendix about 3 weeks ago and had a pretty rough time.  He was operated on in Ladysmith and just a week ago had a drain tube removed.  We really loved this branch-of course by now you know that is true of every ward and branch that we visit.  Dundee is supposed to be getting a building very soon.  We understand that the land has been purchased.  They rent a school for the time being.

The Senior Primary at Dundee practicing for their primary presentation.  When it is nice weather they hold classes outside because of the lack of space.  This picture was a week later than the Ezakheni photos and about 15 F cooler.







I an not sure why the formatting give me problems but I cannot type next to the all the following three photos.  Sister Gunderson spent some time in Primary with this little guy who reminded her of our grandson Harlen.  He was a real live wire.  By the end of Primary though he and Grandma Gaye were best friends.  You can tell just by looking at him that he might be a little mischievous.  Kids are kids the world over.





One of our students at Dundee, Belinda Sabisa with Elder and Sister Ward.  She is matricing (graduating) from high school this year.  Hers is one of the stalwart families in the Branch.  Her grandfather teaches Seminary and he is likely close to 75 years old.  Her mother is Young Women's President and her sister, Angela, is Primary President.

Below is Nompumelelo Kunene working on her application.  I think that I have mentioned that some of the Zulu names here sound so Hawaiian.  When they say them they sound so melodic.  We actually are getting better at the pronunciations.
When we got home Sunday night our daughter Tara and her husband Jerrod had sent us a wonderful Halloween Card.  If you have not seen it you should ask her to send it to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October in South Africa

This is a beautiful little reserve about 5 minutes from our flat.  It has a nice creek and wonderful trails to get a morning exercise.  We would go more often but it does cost a little so this was the first trip.  The parking lot at our flat is not quite as scenic but it is free!

These appear to be Nasturtiums growing wild along the creek

A Mountain Wagtail.  I am nearly up to having seen 100 species of African birds and that without ever actually going birding!

Umbilio Falls from a viewing platform

Same from the  pool at the bottom.  One of the major freeways in the Durban area crosses at the top left.

African Butterfly

We are amazed that plants we see at home only as house plants grow wild here.  These form a vine growing up the tree.

Someone or something got to this skink's tail.

It is now the season when baby monkeys are born.  These were in the parking lot at the Amanzimtoti Ward on Sunday.  They are the bravest monkeys that we have seen.  Usually they scamper away when people get out of their car.  Not these, as the attached videos show.

Something very tender and loving in the way they hold and care for the little ones

These are the sub-adults, what we call teenagers messing with the cars.  One of the ones on the near car was bending the antenna over and pulling on it.  They are just like kids.

After we went to Amanzimtoti last Sunday, we rushed to KwaMashu Ward to catch another session of General Conference.  We mostly have to wait until they receive DVDs from Johannesburg to watch Conference so that is why it was Conference weekend.  Gaye found these young women out in the parking lot between sessions and became best friends with them.  They asked if we were from the missionary factory-the USA.  We told them that when China opens up to missionaries they had better become a missionary factory because the USA will not have enough missionaries for all of that country:-)

This young lady missed the group photo and came and signed that she wanted a picture too.  She is deaf and when we left she signed I love you.  Of course we did know that sign.  As I have said so often the people here are easy to love.

Two photos of Jacaranda Trees.  We must say that Hawaii in all its glory has nothing over the Durban area for beautiful flowering plants.  Now trees with orange flowers are beginning to bloom.

Elders Rakotomonga and Mokoena in the flat.  Elder Mokoena goes home to Johannesburg in about 2 1/2 months so the mission president gave him permission to have the PEF Planning for Success Workshop so he can hopefully get a loan immediately and get into school when he gets there.
Elder Rakotomonga is from Madagascar.  He is reading his emails on myldsmail.org.  This is of course on their P-Day.

An old British colonial building in Pietermaritzburg.  A drive-by photo shooting.

A Brushbuck in the reserve.  They are very small but much larger and longer eared that the duiker that is about the size of a small dog.

Weaver bird with his nest.  The male builds the nest to attract the female and if she does not like it she clips it off and he has to start over.  Sister Gunderson refuses to allow me top make any analogies about that.






A huge grasshopper with  an interesting shield on its thorax.  Brave Sister Gunderson.  All she got was spit upon.

Monkey business I warned her.

More of the monkeys.  We love our mission still find nearly every day and adventure and find the work with the people a very rewarding.  Until next post......

September Activities

 Sorry to have been so long posting.  We have heard from several of you and are glad to know you have noticed.  We will try to do better.  We have assignments to check the young Elder's Apartment at least every six weeks before transfers.  It includes inspection of the boarding as well as inspection of their car, if assigned one.  This is Elder Sincreah on the right and Elder Banda.  They live in an area called Drummond that is in the scenic Thousand Hills area west of Metropolitan Durban.  They asked for screens on their windows because they said that they have snakes in the bush around their flat!  We have seen no snakes there but they certainly could be  some in the area.  As I was checking the car I saw the hole in the bumper (you see in the next photo)and asked what happened?

They said that a lion had bit it!  I said: That is a really good story, very original. Well, it was true.  On their P-day, the whole zone went on a game drive through a little lion park and a lion did come up and sank his fang in the bumper.  Glad it wasn't them.  It made the office fleet manager really happy when I turned in that report.

We went to Hilton College, purportedly the most expensive and exclusive all-boys private school in South Africa.  These girls were from a neighboring all-girls school.  They may be very rich kids but they are far from snobs.  They were ever so polite and well mannered.  They were selling spiral potatoes which appealed to the Idaho girl on the right.





"McKenzie House", one of the very British buildings at Hilton College.  Just for you, Mackenzie Gunderson.

Two future missionaries in the Peitermaritzburg Ward.  We have been teaching a PEF workshop there for the past four Sundays. It is about 60 KM from Pinetown, so we attend a ward or branch in the Durban area and then drive there after Sacrament Meeting for the class.  It makes Sundays go very fast.

Elder Brown and Elder Sapaku.  We also check their boarding.  The picture is in front of these gorgeous lavender and white flowering bushes that have burst forth all over the place.  They smell wonderful.

School children on a field trip.  Uniforms are required for all levels of school, from elementary through high school.  In talking to our PEF students about the uniform requirement, they all like it and realize that it pretty much eliminates the issues over fashion and who has the best finery.  One young lady said that it does away with all the drama over what to wear.  I sense that there is another benefit.  When they get out of high school they continue to like to look nice and dress the part.  Don't ask me where the Terminator picture on one of their buses came from????

Our Planning for Success Workshop Class with Certificates of Completion from the left  Nosipho, Nondomiso, Amanda, Elder Gunderson (as if you could not tell). Phindile, Richard, Nomvula, Suruwani (goes by King) and Nompumelelo.  Great class and really fun to be with.  This is the very best part of our mission and of course the real reason for being here.

Teaching King how to navigate the PEF Website and do the online application.  King is actually from Uganda and is married with three children.

Two of our class from Peitermaritzburg,  Sibusile and Senzo.  We had originally five students but two did not follow through and complete the course.  Bongiwe (not pictured) did a make-up lesson and finished the next week.  Our next workshop will be in Dundee and Ladysmith.  Our plan is to make the 3 1/2 hour drive on a Saturday to Dundee, teach at 11:00 then drive back to Ladysmith and teach annother workshop at 2:00PM.  Then we will drive home.

We found a little park/game reserve about 3 KM from our flat.  It has hiking trails and goes through meadows and jungle.  Great place for our walks when we can make it there.
A termite hill.  As they go, this is a baby, but really quite hard-not just a pile of dirt.  Someone or something had knocked a piece out of this one.

On one of the trails.  Wildflowers are beginning to bloom.

In the jungle on the reserve.  There is a small stream that flows through the property and it is quite dense along its banks.

One of the flowering trees along the creek in the jungle part of the reserve.  We have no idea what it is.

This is a boomslang.  A poisonous garter snake thst lives in the trees.  Years ago, a famous herpetologist was bitten by one of these.  He, thinking that they were not all that poisonous, decided to just record the effects of the bite.  He did so right up to the time it killed him.  They have rear fangs and are not at all aggressive, so he was the first scientist to discover how deadly their poison is.  This was in a glass cage at the reserve's visitor center.

A young black mamba.  Now everyone in South Africa knows these snakes are mean, aggressive, and very fast and very, very venomous.  Not one we ever want to see, except when in a car.  There is an account of one striking the window of a car with people in it as it was passing by on a road.

We heard a loudspeaker from our flat one morning and discovered a three-way track meet at the elementary school that we see from our back deck.  Notice the purple Jacaranda tree in the background. They are very abundant in the Durban area and just gorgeous.

A 400 meter race.  Note that all the participants are bare-footed.  It is on grass though.

We went to Umlazi BB Ward two Sundays ago and came out to find our car trashed with little muddy hand prints smeared all over the front hood, roof, windshield, and on each of the door handles.  We wondered who had done such a thing to our car and then noticed that those parked along the same row had also been muddied.  A couple of men came out and we pointed it out said it must have been children.  They laughed and said baboons then monkeys.  Monkeys, or in Zulu, inkwadu. They had been trying to get into the cars and, if they had, they would have wrecked them.







Nkhosinathi Mthembu one of our PEF Students, his wife and baby daughter at her blessing.  She has her days and nights mixed up and is wearing mom and dad out.  They do not like to let her cry.  Ever heard that before with first-time parents???.