Busy Busy

Time for another update!  This turned out to be a busy week.  Early in the week we went and gave our second session  for our first perpetural education fund  candidate.  It was a very good experience.  We couldn’t get into the church so we picked him up from the store where he was working and went to his house for a lesson.  It went very well and he really wants to better his life.  His home, which he was renting, was larger than many.  It had three or four rooms with basic unpainted brick walls and concrete floors, but it was very clean. 

We found out that the world’s biggest (in diameter) tree was located about 15 minutes from where this person lived so went paid a quick visit there.  It is called a Baobab tree and was over 153 feet in circumference.  There was a hollow section within the tree and they made a bar out of it.  It is claimed to be about 6000 years old, based on carbon dating.  We see on the map of this part of Africa that there are a few such trees.   We took some photos and will send some home eventually.

The next day we received a call and were told that they had a new car for us so we took a 200km round trip to meet someone half-way from Jo-burg and get it.  It is a very basic Chevrolet Aveo, probably a model you have never heard of, but is brand new and very clean.  We don’t think it rides any smoother or quieter than the older one, but we were anxious to receive it since we will be doing a lot of traveling and the other one had over 100,000km on it.

The day after we received the new car we drove to a place called Nelspruit and then to KaNyamazane to meet with a combination of seminary and institute students, teachers and priesthood leaders.  We had a good visit and it turned out that the senior couple we stayed with knew Duane and Faye Gold very well.  We came back a day earlier than planned, but plan on returning in about a month when all of the teachers are called.  It was a beautiful drive there as we passed through an area known as Blyde Canyon and saw waterfalls, the canyon, a place called God’s window, etc. but unfortunately it was overcast for most of the trip.  The drive was quite long, about 4 hours each way.

While driving we had to stop for goats, cows, pigs, monkeys and baboons which were crossing the road at different times during our travels.  There are no fences between the farmer’s animals and the roads so one must always be on guard.  And of course, things like monkeys and baboons have no boundaries, so one can never take his eyes off the road.  Also, we didn’t want to wreck our car on the very first day!

We will try to skype everyone on Christmas day so leave your computers on.   We received a Christmas Card from President Monson, mailed to the address of our residence.  Since we have no box here where we live, the mail man just throws mail through the gate and sometimes someone will see it and pick it up.  I don’t know which is the most important keepsake—the card we received or the mark of tire tracks which are embedded on the outside of the envelope!   We’ll have to send him our p.o.  boxJ.

This week we tried our first papaya and leche fruits, and had a couple mangos.  Gradually we’re expanding our new types of foods.