Dear Family and Friends:
We have just completed another transfer week, and they are getting harder and harder as we get to know the missionaries better. This latest group was made up of very strong leaders, and we'll miss them a lot. Elder Andriarimalala's mother sent an email in which she described her mixed feelings in sending him on his mission - sad to lose his company, happy to have him serve - and the excitement she feels as he is returning. She said she could understand how hard it must be for us to send our "sons" home from their missions...but too bad: it's her turn to be happy!
It's a good thing we also get new missionaries IN during transfer week, to keep our spirits up! We got four new elders this time, and a great new couple, the Bartholomews, from Sandy Utah. We didn't get the photo taken with the Bartholomews, so they will be on the next blog - which will be soon, as Steve wants to tell "in his own words" about organizing the Ezakheni Branch out of the "twig" that meets in the butchery.
In the meantime, Hunter and Morgan are (finally!) back in school. They really love being in long pants - some of the new Grade 8 boys mistake them for matrics and greet them ("Morning, sir.") which they are loving.
Basketball practice has started for Hunter, and Morgan will have Athletics (track) two days a week and rugby pre-season two days a week. Plus schoolwork; plus 6 am seminary; plus some correspondence work to keep them caught up with schoolwork at home.
The only glitch to some of this is our new "load shedding" program. KZN has grown faster than it's power supply, so they are rotating the electricity in different areas to save on usage. They've sent out a schedule, which lists four different times of day, M/W/F or T/TH/S/Su, when the power COULD be off. The day after the schedule arrived, the power went off - but it wasn't any of the times scheduled for the outage. Bottom line: work while the power is on, because there's no guarantee that it will stay on! (Isn't there a hymn about that? Work while the sun shines...)
Last Thursday I had the best time ever, taking 200 school kits, 100 hygiene kits, and 70 blankets to the Tyburn Primary School. This is a government school, built in 1972, and never refurbished in any way, that has 900 "learners". Only 29% of the children can afford the meager school fees, and many live in "informal housing" on two nearby farms. Some have to collect water at the river and boil it for use. None of them have electricity, or plumbing, or blankets, or school supplies, or even food. And a few are not allowed by their parents to come to school because they are providing for the family by begging on the street.
In spite of all this (and 65 students crammed into some of the classrooms) the school is making a real success of teaching these children, and encouraging self-reliance and hard work. It was very impressive. The elders have been involved there in many ways in the past, and I hope we can do more for them. The boys in the picture above were all involved in an accident before Christmas: 6 of them were riding in the back of a bakkie (pickup) and one was killed in the crash. They are 9 years old. The one who was killed had been looking forward to using a KFC certificate he had won, to buy his first ever chickenburger. I plan, NOT as Sister President Mann, but just as me, to send out an email with more details and pictures about the school, in case anyone wants to help make a difference for some wonderful kids.
We set out this afternoon on a mission tour with Elder Gareth Hill, our Area Authority, and his wife. It should be really fun - they are very nice, and good with the missionaries. He was formally the Durban Stake President, when there was only one stake, and the Hillcrest Stake President when it was divided, and a member of the mission presidency, so he had pretty much presided over everyone here even before this calling came last year.
Well, I'm off to pack, and pick up food for the zone conference lunch, and more school necessities for the boys, and to make out a detailed list for the office elders, so they can "tend" the boys while we're gone overnight. Isn't life fun?
Love you all,
Mom/Grandma/Susan/Sue/Sister President Mann
ps In our sacrament meeting last week, Brother Rawlings talked about temples, and he mentioned that in 1968, he and his wife and 3 children were sealed in the nearest temple: London. In order to get there, they sold their house... Anyone made it to the temple this week?
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