February 25, 2013

 Since it is p-day and the senior couples haven’t gotten together for a while, Elder Van Sickle set up a dinner meeting in Port Elizabeth for all of us.  We ate at the Blue Waters Café, which is right along the beach.

 
 Rick ordered a pasta dish with springbok in it. Springbok is a small antelope, very beautiful and quite tasty.

I think this satisfies the quest to eat local cuisine…the springbok, I mean.  This is just for Elizabeth…yeah…in Port Elizabeth!!!  It wasn’t bad covered in a great sauce.  Yes, I did taste it.  We drove back to Port Alfred and got home about 9:30…not too bad. It was nice to visit with other couples.  All of us (the Van Sickles, Boyces, Stokoes and us)  enjoyed it.  The only couple who couldn’t make it was the Sherberts.  They had S&I people from Joberg in town.  Right now there are only 5 couples in the Eastern Cape area…there has been 7 couples.  We are supposed to be getting another one in a couple of weeks who will probably be in Grahamstown.

February 23, 2013

 Rick and President Boyce went to the church around 8 am to start the financial audit for the Port Alfred Branch.  Sister Boyce and I headed there around 10:30 as I had to be there for the Young Women’s activity which was games and making pizza.  The Boyces headed to Grahamstown to do their audit around 11 am.  The Young Women started to arrive close to 11, which was their starting time.  

 A couple didn’t show up until almost 12…really quite typical for South Africa.  Of course, they had to ask if they were late!!!  However, the girls had a good time playing games outside after they put their pizzas together.  While they were playing, I baked all of the pizzas, which were small in size, so I could bake 4 at a time.  We also served the green salad and spanspek, which is cantaloupe, actually.  They do have good ones here.  Rick is working on his talk for tomorrow.  He is speaking on self mastery which means he will have to study a lot to know what to talk about.  The Boyces will return tonight and then head back to Grahamstown tomorrow for meetings there, then they go to Port Elizabeth. They have a busy schedule.

February 22, 2013

 We enjoyed district meeting today.  Elder Davuke did a great job as our new District Leader and we had the pleasure of Elder and Sister Boyce attending the meeting , also.  Elder Boyce is the new 1^st Councilor in the mission presidency and has come to do the year-end audit of the branch financial records.  Our is the first on his list and they will stay here with us tonight and Saturday night.  They will go to Grahamstown tomorrow for theirs and come back when that is done.  They are from St. George, Utah and a very nice couple.  They will be great to work with.

February 21, 2013

 We met our new Elder today.  Elder Davuke is from the Fiji Islands.  He’s a big guy just like you would expect from Fiji and very nice.  I think we will enjoy working with both Elder Van Zyl and Elder Davuke.  We will find out more about him when they come over for meals.   That is always a great time to talk and get to know them.  

February 19, 2013

 We did a flat inspection at the Elders and gave them some carrot cake and peanut butter popcorn, (better known here as “crack corn”).  Elder Alexander will be leaving tomorrow for Queenstown where he will continue to serve as a district leader.  He will be missed here.  We have enjoyed him a lot. The Elders came for lunch and we took a few pictures.  We did a few visits in the evening.

February 16, 2013

 We celebrated a belated Valentines day together having breakfast at Fish River Sun with the Elders. After telling the Elders to be on time we arrived 10 minutes late!!  Elder Alexander gave us a hard time…he likes doing that. We went today because the Zone Leaders could be there with us. We had great omelets.  You choose what you want in them and they take it from there.  

February 8, 2013

Last week I dug the hole for the base but before I had a chance to pour the cement it rained and fill the hole up which needed to be bailed out.

 
Next was mixing the concrete the old fashion way, by hand and in a wheelbarrow.

If it hadn't been for Elders Alexander & Van Zyl showing up just when I was running out of energy this project could have won the day.