Not Your Everyday Walk

Hi Everyone,
A couple of weeks have slipped by since our last email so I guess it’s time to update you.  We are still working with about 6 PEF candidates to help them plan a career.  Two of them are too young to qualify for a PEF loan at this time, but we are still teaching them about the process of selecting a career and getting the required education.  When they get out of High School they will be much better prepared; and while they are in their last year or two they might be better motivated to do well in school if they know it makes a difference.

So many people drop out of high school and they can never graduate until they pass a standard test given to everyone.  The longer they drop out, the harder it is to pass the test so they can graduate.  There are several in our village branches who are in their 20’s and have not graduated.  Most drop out around the 10th grade.  We have a 23 year old young man who is preparing to go on a mission, but he keeps failing the test—and it only requires 30% to graduate.  We keep reminding them that the alternative to getting an education and career is to sell mangos or bananas on the street like so many do.  Every village and city is lined with dozens of sales booths along their streets selling fruit and other miscellaneous items.

A couple of weeks ago Alice went to a District Relief Society event in Polokwane.  While she and the ladies were attending the event, three of us men folk went to a local animal refuge and did a walking tour of about 5 miles. They did not have any people-eating animals so we were safe, but they had a large variety of other animals such as giraffe, eland, antelope, gemsbok, hartebeest, rhino, nyala, etc.  We saw several on our walk.  We go on a walk several times a week in the city, but this was my first walk in the wilds.  It was very refreshing.

The trucks here on the highways are larger than those in the US.  Instead of the 18 wheelers, they have 26 wheelers.  They are longer and usually wider than at home, and have two pivot points.  They seem to maneuver them pretty well here in the city streets but you definitely want to stay out of their way.   I told you a little bit about driving on the two lane roads.  In order to pass someone, since there is usually too many cars coming both ways, people coming in each direction with move over close to the outside shoulder so there is room for someone to pass up through the middle of the road.  I think I mentioned that before.  What I didn’t mention, it that the person who was granted space to pass between the cars usually turns on his flashers for two cycles after he has passed as a thank you to the car who moved to the edge of the road to let him/her by.  Then, the car who was thanked frequently flashes his high-beam headlights once to say
“you’re welcome”.  This is just an interesting courtesy one experiences while driving.  Most people do not stop at stop signs—just slow down to see if it is safe to keep going.  And more and more people do the same at signal lights. And of course, cars almost never stop for people except on rare occasions—even at crosswalks, etc.  Pedestrians take their life in their hands.

We just returned today from a three day trip to Nelspruit and KaNyamazane.  We visited a seminary class at KaNyamazane on Saturday, and attended church and met with teachers at Nelspruit on Sunday.  We took a different route there so it took about 4-1/2 hours instead of 4 hours to get there, but we went over some beautiful mountain passes.  For some reason there seemed to be a lot of cows, monkeys, and baboons on the roadsides this time. The seminary class was very good.  The students participated well and were motivated to learn.  We try to teach the students that learning in class is their responsibility;  teachers are to guide and provide opportunity.  Most students do very well and there are no behavior problems.

We went to something very similar to a county fair last week in Tzaneen.  It was very interesting to walk around.  They had animal exhibits, food exhibits, rides for kids, etc. just like we have a home, but on a smaller scale.  We were very impressed with the number of different varieties of chickens that had been entered in the fair.  We had never seen or heard of most of them.  Many were unusual and beautiful.

I just got go-ahead to start my every  six-month financial audit in 5 branches and the district.  They will probably get completed in August if we can schedule everyone.  This will give us a little change from what we usually do.  Then, this Friday is a zone conference and we will be attending that on Saturday.  Mom and Sister Mihu will be preparing lunch for the mission president and his wife as well as all the missionaries in the zone.  This occurs periodically.

The young missionaries prepared lunch for us and the Mihus one Sunday.  We usually provide lunch for them on Sunday.  One Elder Marowa is from Zimbabwe and he made pap.  Pap is made from ground corn meal boiled in water and is like mush.  Elder Scanlin is from Utah and he made chili.  Together they tasted like tomales.  Great lunch!!  Pap is the staple food here and is bland but with chili it is nice.  It looks like play dough.   People eat it 3 times a day because it is cheap.  Sometimes they have meat or vegetables with it.  It is gross without something with it.  The villagers eat with their hands not utensils.

It sounds like it is soon back-to-school time for all of you.  The school year here starts in January so they are coming up the end of their school year. They have a shorter summer vacation, but have a lot of vacation days throughout the year. We hope all of you kids enjoyed wonderful summer vacations and are excited to be back in school.