Fabulous Reunion Weekend in Durban

 

Egan SACTM Reunion at Durban Mission Home, Saturday, 27 February 2016
Back row (l to r): Siyabonga Gwala, Matthew Walsh and Saige, Pres. Egan, Sandile Mdanda, Sifiso Mkhize, Paul Kriel
Front row (l to r): Sister Egan, Anele Gwala, Rylee Walsh, Caitlin Walsh, Zamambo Mkhize and Irene Mkhize

Today, March 2nd, is our 13-month mark, meaning we have just 5 months left on our mission. We spent a lovely weekend in Durban from Friday through Sunday, 26-28 February, staying at the Protea Hotel Edward on the beach. The drive from Johannesburg, through the Drakensberg Mountains was spectacular and green, and the missionary reunion on Saturday at the mission home was an amazing evening. All five of Bob's former elders who live in the Durban area and served in the Cape Town Mission from 2005-08 were in attendance. The three married ones brought their beautiful wives, and their 3 daughters. It was a most fun and memorable time. Lots of laughter, love and reminiscing.



Scenery on the way to Durban

Our hotel, the Protea Edward, center, on the beach, from the pier

Soon after we arrived Friday night, we were met at our hotel by Paul Kriel, who volunteered to be our tour guide and show us Durban. He drove us north up the coast to the newly announced Durban LDS Temple Site (groundbreaking announced for 9 April) and showed us the sights along the way. The temple site is beautiful, at the crest of a hill, with a spectacular view of the surrounding rolling hills and valleys.

 

Bob's former missionary, Paul Kriel, now a Durban Stake high councilor,
shows us the site where the new Durban Temple will be built, starting with
the groundbreaking ceremony on the 9th of April

Durban LDS Temple site




The temple construction site has been fenced in with a locked gate

One of the amazing views from the Durban Temple site



 

A monkey sits in the driver's seat of a Caterpillar on the site

The upscale beach properties at Umhlanga Rocks, just below the temple site

The lighthouse at Umhlanga as the storm approaches

 

Dinner with Paul

Paul took us to the aquarium to see the sharks and, just as a major thunderstorm and torrential downpour hit us, he led us to a buffet dinner above the aquarium, with a live Salsa band.

Saturday, we spent the morning walking the Esplanade along the beach, watching the people and enjoying the warm sunshine and light ocean breeze. There was a surfing competition underway, right in front of our hotel. In the afternoon, we bought the refreshments and drinks and made our way to the mission home for the reunion, which went from 6 to 9 pm.

With the Gwala Family at the Reunion

With Paul Kriel at the Reunion



Laughing with Sandile Mdanda at the Reunion




Mkhize Family at the Reunion

With Matthew Walsh, his wife Caitlin and girls Rylee and Saige at the Reunion

 

Three generations - grandfather, father and son - Elder Gwala, left, trained Elder Walsh, center, who trained Elder Kriel

 

On Sunday, we were invited by President Sifiso Mkhize, branch president for just two weeks, to join his Mbhedula Branch for church and be the sacrament meeting speakers. We met in a pre-school in the township on the top of a hill overlooking Durban and, in the distance, the Indian Ocean. Then they invited us for dinner afterward in their humble 2-room cinderblock home, with a corrugated metal roof, where they have rented for 6 years as they save to buy their own home.

The Insizwakazi Pre-school where the Mbhedula Branch meets, near Pinetown



At 8:55 only the branch presidency were there, but by 9:10, there were over 100 in attendance!

Pres. Mkhize, center, and his counselors, get ready to start the sacrament meeting

Looking toward the front door of the
 Mkhize home from Zama's room.
 

Sister Egan and Zama, 6, in her bedroom at the Mkhize home.
  She showed Martha the family photo album and was so happy
to have us there!
 

Our dear friends, Elder Bob and Sister Sharon Berg from Utah/Texas, who were our host couple when we
arrived here, completed their Area Public Affairs mission yesterday, March 1st, and headed home to Houston

Sinikiwe



Martha models traditional beaded Ndebele attire by Sister Desiree Tshilo, head of Sinikiwe at the Mokoka Library

On Wednesday, we went on an outing to the township of Daveyton to visit an organization called Sinikiwe, a Xhosa word meaning "women who share their God-given talents with others." They work out of the HP Mokoka Public Library and string beads in traditional African (Zulu or Ndebele) style. The two ladies who head up this non-profit organization are Sister Desiree Tshilo, a member of the Church, and her non-member white friend Jenny De Nysschen, an expert in the dying art of lace-making. Jenny's husband Leon is a bee-keeper, and together they are teaching bee-keeping in the community as well as beading and lace-making. But, more than anything else, they are teaching unselfish service and self-reliance. Women throughout the community volunteer to string beads and their supplies are donated until they are able to buy them themselves through selling what they make.

Two potential customers admire the beadwork

Samples of the women's beadwork on display in the library



More examples of the handicraft of the Sinikiwe women



Sister Shanna Parmlee, the Area President's wife when Bob was in Africa 9 years ago, entrusted Martha with some money to invest in entrepreneurial African woman who are involved in worthwhile causes and promote women becoming self-reliant. Martha shared that at a luncheon at the mission home with Sister Dunn and a group of local LDS women, one of whom went home and shared that information with her mother, Desiree. Desiree and Jenny showed up at our office the next week and shared their Sinikiwe concept and invited us to come and visit their operation. We were impressed then and are even more impressed after visiting them in Daveyton. This looks like an ideal organization to invest in.

 

Martha with Jenny De Nysschen, wearing an "I Love Bees" button

A sample of Jenny's lace work

 

Jenny's husband, Leon, the bee keeper and instructor



Jenny & Leon De Nysschen

Volunteers busy doing beading, on a totally volunteer basis

Socializing and beading seem to go well together



Beading with a grandson asleep on her lap



Local women keep busy and productive in a fun, social way

The "grannies" hold a meeting every Wednesday in the library, and they loved watching Martha try on African clothing.
 Once dressed in her African attire," Granny" Martha decided to join the grannies, at least for a photo or two.





We also welcomed three new senior missionary couples last week, Brent and Charlene Lee, who were serving here as humanitarian missionaries when we got here, but left the day after we arrived. They have returned to Johannesburg to serve in the Family History Center, along with Brent's brother Allan and his wife Cindy. They call themselves the ElderLee's. We took them with us to a wonderful Soweto Stake Conference on Sunday and had them over to our flat, with Elder & Sister Walton, for Sunday dinner. The third couple, the Gattens are a Public Affairs couple and got here just in time for the annual National Public Affairs Directors conference at the Royal Elephant Hotel and Conference Center in Centurion, where the PA directors from 23 African countries gathered, including some dear friends of ours, Suzan Apodi Mwanga from Uganda and Womba Makuwa Nashiwaya from Namibia. We met them at the Royal Elephant and took them to the Cattle Baron for lunch.

 

Dinner in Flat 410. Left to right, Liz Walton, Charlene Lee, Cindy Lee, Martha, Chuck Walton, Brent Lee and Allan Lee

Dinner at the Cattle Baron in Centurion with national Public Affairs directors Sussie Apondi Mwanga of Uganda (left)
and Womba Makuwa Nashiwaya of Namibia, dear friends in town for the National Public Affairs Directors Conference



At the Royal Elephant with Sussie and Womba

 

 

Happy Valentines Day!



After dinner at Mike's Kitchen with Joyce Tahla Modie, her husband Modise (left), son Ryan and brother Obekeng (right)

 

Happy Valentine's Day! It's not a real holiday here in South Africa, but you do see the promotions by the candy and card companies, although we couldn't find any African valentine cards to send home to family. 

This past Wednesday, 10 February, we spent another evening at the Johannesburg Mission Home welcoming the new MTC President and his wife, the Ashtons from St. George (Elder Mavin J. Ashton's son Steven, my age) and said farewell to four senior couples who are leaving soon for home.  

Bob was asked to officiate at a sealing session on Friday, during our normal temple shift, for two sisters who work in the Area Office. He was surprised and thrilled when the first couple joined the group in the sealing room. It was former Cape Town sister missionary Joyce Tahla Modie and her husband Modise, all the way from Gaborone, Botswana!  

Two brethren from Kampala, Uganda also joined us (one was Jimmy Carter Okut, stake president of the Kampala Stake). An ordinance worker, Ian Evans (another if Bob's former missionaries) rounded out the group. We enjoyed a wonderful sealing session using only family names provided by the patrons.  

We invited the Modies to join us for dinner afterward and treated them to steaks and ribs and great desserts at Mike's Kitchen. Their son Ryan and Joyce's youngest brother Obekeng (Praise),who is about to submit his mission application, also joined us.  

We also enjoyed dinners with two other of Bob's Cape Town missionaries. We invited Robert & Andrea Nel for dinner in our flat on Saturday the 7th, and Wayne & Tara Muller invited us to a braai (barbecue) at their new home in Roodekrans, near Krugersdorp, the next Saturday (yesterday), along with Sister Bobbi Swanepoel. Unfortunately, we forgot yet again to take a photo with the Nels. 

 

Wayne Muller (left) with his wife Tara and son Rogan (left)
and daughters Bree (center) and McKenna (front) with Sister
Bobbi Swanepoel and her dog Louie.

Sister Bobbi took this photo so Martha could be in the picture

 

Primary kids and cupcakes after Protea Glen Branch Primary

Martha's most accomplished piano student, Brother Mlu

In Church today, Martha played the music for Primary again, and even got top lead a few songs and teach the kids how to lead music. Afterward she taught her piano student Mlu his first lesson in two months because he left for the "festive season" in about mid-November and just returned. While he was away, he practiced on his cardboard keyboard or any piano or real keyboard he could find, and he finished the beginning lesson book and is now working on actual hymns from the simplified hymn book. She was blown away at the progress he made, while her other students found reasons not to practice at all through the holidays.

We are thoroughly enjoying our mission and feel so blessed to be able to serve here in Africa, where the Spirit is poured out in abundance and the growth of the Church is truly phenomenal.

Recycling Rubbish the Jozi Way



The process of recycling rubbish in Johannesburg is unique, inexpensive and efficient and an entrepreneurial success

The recycling of rubbish in Johannesburg is unique, to say the least. Consumers are not asked to voluntarily sort their rubbish into recyclable and non-recyclable containers, like we are at home and is done in many countries and cultures these days. Instead, everything goes to the same rubbish bin (South African for garbage can) and the sorting is done later.

Early in the morning on garbage day, low-paid black laborers, alone or in crews, go through everyone’s trash and sort out the bottles, plastic, paper, etc. that are eligible for recycling, and they put the recyclable goods into a large fabric container on a flat trolley with wheels and a steering handle, and move on to the next rubbish bin row of bins. It should be noted, that they leave the bins and surrounding area well-swept and tidy, better than if they had never been there, and the bins are about half-full when they leave.

Some recyclers are self-employed, while others  work for African entrepreneurs

 

Plastics, bottles, paper and cardboard cartons and boxes are removed and put in containers

Some loads can get very tall and heavy, and the steering handle doubles as a brake

When the recycling container is full, it is pulled by hand, seemingly always uphill, to the nearest recycle center, where the rubbish pickers are paid for their work (by quantity and quality) and the recycling process continues. We are amazed every Tuesday, as we go for our walk or drive to the Area Office, to see this entrepreneurial process in action, up and down the streets of the neighborhoods in Johannesburg. It seems so organized and efficient. And the workers seem happy earning their daily wages.

This is not a government project or even government-sponsored, but truly an enterprise that handles the process far less expensively and more efficiently than the government could ever do it, so the government simply allows it to happen. And everyone seems very happy with the end result every week. A whole lot of jobs are provided to otherwise unemployed Africans. One company works daily to improve the quality of the containers and another the trolleys, to keep enhancing the process as it goes forward.

 We have much more respect for these recycling workers than those who just go to the streets begging (left, always in the middle of the road at busy intersections, in dark clothing).

We also have respect for the many self-employed snack men, like this one on Riviera Road, who sets up his little "shop" at 6:30 every morning and sells snack chips and candy all day long to pedestrian passers by and seems to make a living.


 

Summertime in Joburg and Primary Music

The street  entrance to a home in Cluny Street that we walk past on one of our morning four mile walks in Forest Town

This sign suddenly showed up on our walk along Upper
Park Road and threw us for a loop. What could it mean?

We have been walking almost every morning, 5 days a week, for 6 km (4 miles), from 6:00 to 7:00 am, and have found the early morning summer weather to be cool (50's) and beautiful. We now have several enjoyable routes we can choose from, through either nearby Forest Town or Houghton Estates. During the day, it warms up into the 80's, and for awhile was in the 90's. We're now getting a lot of afternoon and evening rains, hoping the drought may soon be over. We are thoroughly enjoying the summer weather and all the beauties that surround us here in Johannesburg.



Last Sunday, Martha began accompanying the primary children for the last 30 minutes of the 3-hour Sunday block, balancing a borrowed keyboard on her lap, as a favor for the primary chorister, Sister Phanyaphanya, who is fantastic with the kids and they love her. They learned a new song, "If I Listen With My Heart, I Hear the Savior's Voice," and they did so well and were so cute. When the music part of sharing time starts, they remove all the chairs from the room and have the children sit on the floor. They had never had a piano accompaniment for their music before. After primary, all the kids ran up to Martha, one at a time, and thanked her by hugging her legs.

Sister Phanyahpanya, in the colorful orange and gold outfit leads the children in "If I Listen With My Heart."
She has 5 children, including the older girl in green, and another on the way. She is putting sweets (candy) in
 a popcorn box as a reward for singing reverently and well. When finished, there was a sweet for every child.

Martha loves helping with the primary music

Every Sunday, on our commute to Church, we pass two or three congregations,
who meet out under the trees, all dressed completely in white. We are told that
they are part of the Christian Zionist Movement