Cape Town Mission Field 31 March 2019 Day 477 Sunday We went to church but turned right around after about 20 minutes because Sister Courtright's system wasn't very happy. So we are having her rest at home today while listening to the Sunday School lesson online. We are curious about next weeks conference. We've heard there may be some more revelation regarding the length of time that missionaries serve. And there were also some rumblings about the Word of Wisdom changes. It's exciting to have a modern day prophet provide on-going revelation relevant to our day and age. We invited the Firth's over for dinner around 3:00 pm, that should be an enjoyable time together.
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Cape Town Mission Field 30 March 2019 Day 476 Saturday Happy Birthday Alena! Our granddaughter turns 8 today. Awesome! She realized that her baptism with the Stake that would take place today would be in the morning and she was born in the evening. So, since she wouldn't really be 8 years old she decided to wait one month to ensure she is officially 8 before getting baptized. She's a stickler for the following the rules. We will really miss that event but Jackie has been sending us some amazing photo's of the kids. They are getting sooooo grown up. We picked up some bikes that were being repaired and dropped them off at the Milnerton elders then headed back to the office to catch up on some more paperwork. We stopped around 4:30 pm and headed for the mall to watch Dumbo. Alena wanted to watch that on her birthday so we felt like we could be there in spirit. It was a great movie, still, we really liked to original a bit more. Checking our th...
Cape Town Mission Field 29 March 2019 Day 475 Friday We had a quiet day at the office working on leases, baptisms, preparing the Crest Newsletter, etc. In the evening we took the Firth's to Capri and picked up Brother and Sister Forsyth and we went down to the beach and had dinner overlooking the beach and False Harbor. You could easy see the far side of the bay (Gordon's Bay). We had great seafood and it was very relaxing.
Cape Town Mission Field 28 March 2019 Day 474 Thursday We were up at 5:00 am this morning to get Elder Mabanga to the airport at 6:00 am. We had a nice breakfast and chat with him before he jumped on the plane. He only has a 2 hour flight to get home, which is a lot better than Elder Nuitupuivaha who is heading to Tonga and will be on airplanes for many hours. Elder Mabanga Elder Nuitupuivaha Elder Nuitupuivaha served with Elder Reedy as an assistant before working in the East Cape on his last assignment
Cape Town Mission Field 26 March 2019 Day 472 Tuesday We dropped the president's Mazda off at the car shop this morning for service then headed to the post office. We then went to Makro to pick up our weekly supplies. After we left Sister Courtright realized the letters that were in her purse were missing. We went back to the store and the lady who was serving tea and muffins found them next to the chair Sister Courtright was sitting in. Whew! We stopped at the River Club to make our reservations for tonight's dinner with the newly arriving elders. We unloaded supplies then continued working in the office. The new elders arrived and we all went through our training sessions with them. Elder Courtright talks about vehicles, housing, safety, phones, accident reporting, and driver certification. Sister Courtright talks about baptismal records, and paying for packages that come to them in the mail. Elder Firth discusses the use of the MSF (Mission...
Cape Town Mission Field 25 March 2019 Day 471 Monday This morning we stopped at the open air market to buy some fruit for this weeks transfers. We got banana's, pears, and a sack of potato's for a potato salad. We did some office work and Sister Courtright prepared the lunch sacks for Wednesday's arrivals and departures. We then took the Hamilton's to the airport. They've been with us the whole time we've been here working together in the office. They are on their way back to Idaho. We wish them the best. The Hamilton's (the tall one's) saying good-bye to the Firth's who they've been training to replace them this past two weeks.
Cape Town Mission Field 24 March 2019 Day 470 Sunday It was early to church to do another music lesson then enjoy Sacrament meeting. The 1st Branch was having their Branch Conference today with the Stake leaders in attendance. Sister Courtright also had a nice music lesson afterwards. We went to the Firth's for taco's around 4:00 pm then off to the office to prepare for some items we need to manage first thing tomorrow morning. This week is transfer week. Usually our busiest. But we feel it will be manageable since we are only gaining 4 missionaries this time and only loosing 2.
Cape Town Mission Field 23 March 2019 Day 469 Saturday This morning was a day for doing more boarding inspections. We went in early to pick up some items for boarding inspections and had then headed to Meadowridge. Their are only two elders now in this boarding and it is a lot less cluttered. They are doing a nice job but Sister Courtright showed them how to defrost the freezer. We need to get their bathroom door repainted on the interior. We then went to Fish Hoek and looked their boarding over thoroughly. Elder Courtright fixed their kitchen cabinet door that has been off for some time. He filled the screw holes with some putty the last time we were there. We also found another leaky faucet so we decided to pick up a new tap before going home. We went to the Capri Elders boarding and Sister Courtright showed them some tips on doing a better cleaning job in the kitchen. Elder Courtright reset the shower door so it closed better agains...
Cape Town Mission Field 22 March 2019 Day 468 Friday This morning was a day for catching up on paperwork. It was a long day at the computer. We did run out in the afternoon to pick up the rubber stamps that Sister Courtright ordered. There were about 44 of them containing all the addresses and meeting times for all the chapels in our mission. Elder Courtright had to do some personal money transfers through Standard Bank to get them paid since they are not an approved vendor in our system and they don't take credit cards. There's seems to always be a challenge to getting even the simplest things done around here. We called it quits early, around 7:00 pm.
Cape Town Mission Field 21 March 2019 Day 467 Thursday This morning was a day for doing boarding inspections. We went in early to pick up some items for boarding inspections and had some pancakes with the Firth's and Hamilton's then headed to Mandalay. The elders there did a nice job on sealing the bathtub so it stopped the leak that was appearing on the downstairs ceiling spare bedroom. Elder Courtright spent some time repairing the latch on the garage door that was damaged by some neighborhood kids who were pulling on the door to convince the elders to give them some biscuits (cookies). We went over to the hardware store nearby and picked up some garden sheers so they could trim the small patch of grass in the front yard and also a towel rack that hangs over the bathroom door as the one we provided before was just not working. We then headed to Somerset West and met with the zone leaders. One elder pointed out that his shower also had some ba...
Cape Town Mission Field 20 March 2019 Day 466 Wednesday This morning the Firth's followed us to work and we spent the day at the office. Elder Courtright working on traffic tickets, boarding and phone issues, etc. Sister Courtright was working on organizing the back room. She handed out the weekly boarding supplies to the zone leaders. Then packaged up all the supplies going to the East Cape. The delivery man arrive around 3:30 pm. We then ran to the ACE Rubber stamp business where Sister Courtright is having about 40 self-inking rubber stamps made that have all the chapels address and meeting times to be stamped on all the pass-along cards the missionaries hand out. Sister Courtright gave a Book of Mormon to the owners of the shop. They have just recently become Christian's and were excited to hear about our church. We finished up more items at the office just before the power went out again. The load shedding hit the office 3 times today for 2...
Cape Town Mission Field 19 March 2019 Day 465 Tuesday This morning we picked up the Firth's and took them to the office with us. We then picked up the post and made our supply run to the Makro store. We stopped back at our boarding for some lunch then back to work. We spent the afternoon working on clearing up more paperwork and cleaning up the back room that has become a junk room. Elder Courtright unloaded the supplies and filled up the back seats of the Ranger with items we take with us to do boarding inspections. We gave the Firth's a car and they followed us back to their boarding and then they were going to go to the bank. We headed back to the office to finish up. Around about 5:00 pm with picked up the Firth's at their boarding and went out to dinner with them. We decided to try a different spot so we stopped at the Fat Cactus, which we pass everyday on the way to the office. We had no idea what they served there. It was more like a glor...
Cape Town Mission Field 18 March 2019 Day 464 Monday This morning we picked up some supplies at the office then went to the Tableview and Milnerton elders to do a boarding inspection. They are doing a nice job keeping these in good shape. Elder Farer even planted some 'gem' squash seeds in their back yard and they are growing alongside the last cabbage that elder Orro planted. We stopped in Observatory to give a Book of Mormon to a lady at the fabric shop that she met the other day. She was very interested in finding out how Mormonism started. We then stopped at a rubber stamp business to get prices on rubber stamps that we need for adding each chapel address to pass along cards. We then stopped at the River Club for chicken and beef burgers then spent the rest of the day at the office trying to catch up on paperwork. We had to stop at 8:00 pm when the power went out. It goes out on a regular schedule everywhere due to "load shedding". Some way ...
Cape Town Mission Field 17 March 2019 Day 463 Sunday We picked up the Firth's at 7:45 am and went to church together. No one arrived until around 8:30 to open the gates. We were expecting a music class to start at that time but we only had a few students finally arrive around 8:45. We did have some great speakers today, including one brother from the stake who spoke on self reliance. Sister Courtright was asked to lead the Sunday School lesson during the second Branch's service just prior to class because the Sunday School teacher didn't show up. She did a wonder job leading the discussion around the apostle's and their role. We spent quite a bit of time discussing the picture on the LDS.ORG website showing the 12 apostles from our church standing in front of the Christus statue in the Rome Temple visitors center with the original 12 apostle statues behind them. It was a very powerful moment in history. We then had a baptismal service and then h...
Cape Town Mission Field 16 March 2019 Day 462 Saturday We started out by picking up the Firth's and the Hayden's and taking them to the airport around 11:00 am. Elder Courtright and Elder Firth zipped back to the B&B to pick up a carry-on piece of luggage that Elder Hayden forgot while Sister Courtright and Sister Firth checked the Hayden's in. We all met up at the Ocean Basket for some lunch before sending the Hayden's off to Port Elizabeth and their new assignment. We went back to the office and picked up a couple of items the Hermanus elders needed and we dropped them off in Somerset West where the Hermanus elders were meeting up for splits. We drove onto Hermanus and walked along the bay walk and through some of the shops. We then went to the grocery store to pick up a few items for the coming week before going out to dinner. The shops close early on Saturday's and we didn't want to miss them. Afterwards, Elder Firth stopped at the ATM and...
Cape Town Mission Field 15 March 2019 Day 461 Friday This morning we took the Hayden's to her brother, George's, flat in Tokai so they could spend the day with him. We had the Firth's with us so we headed to Fish Hoek and had a lovely lunch on the beach. We let Elder Firth drive us back to the office. He did it quite well. After wrapping some things up in the office we took the Firth's back to their boarding. Elder Firth was driving and he only put our lives in jeopardy once. Once is enough. (The first month is nerve wracking trying to get used to driving on the other side of the road.)
Cape Town Mission Field 14 March 2019 Day 460 Thursday This morning we picked up the new senior couple arriving from Johannesburg, the Hayden's from Tasmania. They spent two weeks in Johannesburg visiting Sister Hayden's family then one week at the MTC there. She grew up in Johannesburg but spent about 15 years in Port Elizabeth where they will be serving. He was a commercial fisherman then later he was a quality control manager at different meat processing factories. We took them to the zone conference where they met the Mission President and his wife and all the missionaries in the south and flats zone. We had a nice lunch then went to the office to set up a couple of items and get them a phone. We then dropped them off at the B&B and her son will be coming by to pick them up this evening. We went back to the office to update a few items before calling a night. The zone leaders stopped by and we shared some wonderful experiences we've ...
Cape Town Mission Field 13 March 2019 Day 459 Wednesday Happy Birthday to our daughter Jackie! This morning we picked up the Bullman's and took them to the Bank in the Howard Center so they could close out their bank account. The banks here are quite painful to deal with and today was no exception. We then headed to the office where Sister Courtright and Sister Bullman worked on the mail and preparing the weekly supply orders for the zone leaders. Elder Bullman and Elder Courtright went up to Tableview to look at a bike problem and they determined that the elders could take it to their local bike shop as it wasn't anything major. We all went to the River Club for a small bite to eat. Elder Bullman saw the sign above the entrance near the putting green that says "The more I practice, the luckier I get" by Gary Player. Elder Bullman indicated that Gary Player comes to church on occasion in Knysna with his wife and daughter who are both members. An...
Cape Town Mission Field 12 March 2019 Day 458 Tuesday Today we picked up the Bullman's and brought them to the office where they helped us a bit before we loaded up and headed for the Bellville chapel to set up the luncheon there. We all enjoyed a nice lunch then cleaned up and headed back to the office to finish up some more office stuff. We dropped the Bullman's off at their boarding around 5:30 pm so they could get ready and walk over to the Mission Home (about 100 yards away) where the Mission President and his wife were treating them to a farewell dinner. The new mission office couple (The Firth's) arrived last Saturday, they are replacing the Hamilton's who leave on the 25th, the Bullman's leave for Cork, Ireland tomorrow, and we leave in November. The Bullman's with the Mission President and his wife
Cape Town Mission Field 11 March 2019 Day 457 Monday Happy Birthday to Jim Hale! (Stephanie's Sweetie) Today we head back to Cape Town via Knysna and then to Port Elizabeth where we will leave the Toyota Corolla we've been driving. The Beal's met us at the airport and they took the car to be given to the new senior couple that arrive later this week. We had a quick meeting with the George Elders before we hit the road and they did a marvelous job cleaning up their boarding following the departure of the other pair of elders. We stopped in Knysna to view the boarding there. It has been under going some repairs by the landlord. There is still an issue in the bathroom (a leak from somewhere) that Elder Courtright will have to manage with the landlord. We had a nice drive to PE and arrived at 4:00 pm, just in time for check in as the flight boarded at 4:30 pm. The flight was short (about an hour and a half) and the zone leaders picked us up from t...
Cape Town Mission Field 10 March 2019 Day 456 Sunday We had a wonderful service at the George Branch. Elder and Sister Bullman gave their departing testimonies about their service here in George and Knysna. It was very touching. There was a lady who saw the sign from the street and came in and joined the Relief Society. She had a great experience and Sister Courtright met her afterwards and introduced her to the missionaries. She really felt the spirit and is looking forward to coming back with her daughters. After church the Bullman's took us to say goodbye to several members that they've grown close to. The first stop was at the Adam's home. It was a small wooden shack home on top of the hill in the Thembulethu township. There were nice gardens all around the shack and it was cool and overcast with a hit of rain in the air. The shack was covered on the inside with plastic wrapping remnants to keep out rain. There was one small table lamp tha...
Cape Town Mission Field 9 March 2019 Day 455 Saturday Wow, the Lord really blessed us this day. Everything again came together as we moved the elders from their old boarding to the boarding where the Bullman's were staying. We made a couple of trips and got their belongings along with a few furniture items to their new boarding. We then went back to the second hand shop and picked up an end table, sofa chair, and carpet. We then returned the truck rental right at noon as scheduled. We left the elders to unpack and setup while we made another run to the Game store to pick up a couple of last minute items. We brought those items back to the elders and told them that they could wrap things up and take our car to do their grocery shopping and pick us up later to inspect their boarding and take them out to dinner should everything look good. Everything looked good, including their new curtains that they put up. So we took them to Rock-o-Mama's for bu...
Cape Town Mission Field 8 March 2019 Day 454 Friday We had a great breakfast at the B&B then the Bullman's showed us several second hand shops and we found a place for the 2 single beds we needed for the missionaries moving into the Bullman's place. We also got a double bed for the spare bedroom at the new senior couples flat. We then headed back to the Bullman's for a senior Skype call with all the other couples in the mission. We discussed several current topics then we listened to the departing testimonies of the Hamilton's and the Bullman's. We had a wonderful chicken curry that Elder Bullman made for us and the other elders that showed up after their district meeting. Elder Bullman and Elder Courtright went to pick up the truck while Sister Courtright and Sister Bullman went to the Game store to shop for all the miscellaneous items we need to install at the new senior couples boarding. We made several trips back and forth between the bo...
Cape Town Mission Field 7 March 2019 Day 453 Thursday This morning we picked up the sandwiches at 6:30 am for the elders traveling back to the East Cape and dropped them off at the park where the elders were playing soccer for their morning exercise. We then got our passports from the office and finished packing then headed for George. We arrived around 2:30 pm. The Bullman's took us to the new boarding for the senior couple arriving in May (the West's). We then went to visit the missionaries to see their boarding and what items they could take with them to the Bullman's boarding that they will be moving into. We then stopped at the Game store to decide what items we would need to purchase tomorrow. They dropped us off at our B&B and we headed for Wu's for Chinese. The waitress recognized us from the last time we were here several months ago. We invited her to church because she really wanted to get to know more about Jesus Christ. ...
Cape Town Mission Field 6 March 2019 Day 452 Wednesday Today was a long, long, day... We were at the office by about 7:30 am, it took a bit longer due to heavy traffic this morning. Sister Courtright began working on her orders for the day and Elder Courtright left around 8:00 am for the police clearance lot in South Bellville. When he arrived he was asked to get behind one other car that was parked on the street. Apparently, everyone was having their morning meeting so they couldn't open the gates yet. Once seen by the "man in charge", he examined the vehicle and stamped it and he thought he was through. But, nooooo. He was sent to the red roofed building to "see the lady" there. Once inside there was no one around but he could hear voice in a closed room with a captains' sign on it. Apparently, everyone there was still in a meeting. After waiting about 20 minutes a whole crew of "ladies" ambled out and set themselves up at th...
Cape Town Mission Field 5 March 2019 Day 451 Tuesday We headed for the open air market just before 6:00 am to pick up some fruit for this weeks MLC meeting. We got into the office around 6:45 am and spent some time going over emails and Sister Courtright washed up the fruit and prepared the lunch sacks for tomorrow. We headed for the post office in the car that we need to get cleared. We had a hard time finding the police clearance office. Once inside they said we were in the wrong place. We needed to go to the office for the southern suburbs. It was only a 15 minute drive away though. Once there we found out they were off-line. So we headed for the Tygervalley Mall to kill some time. We found a Game store and picked up some more curtains. We had lunch at a nice cafe then headed back to the clearance office. The place seemed like you were driving into a junk yard. Once it was our turn the gentleman informed us that we were missing the certified ...
Cape Town Mission Field 4 March 2019 Day 450 Monday Not sure I recall what happened today. It seems a blur. And it really did feel like a Monday. We spent the morning in the office dealing with some more leases and paperwork. We headed for the motor vehicle division with the certificate they requested us to bring last week. It was an interesting experience finding a parking garage, none of the signs are well marked and the one we needed was hidden by a parked truck. Oh, well. We finally made it to the 8th floor of the parking garage (for visitors). Around and around you go. We got the necessary paperwork then headed home. We rested at our flat then went into the office around 6:00 PM to prepare for tomorrow's MLC meeting. We headed home around 10:00 PM. Another long day.
Cape Town Mission Field 3 March 2019 Day 449 Sunday We had great Fast and Testimony meetings today at both Branches. Sister Courtright gave her first lessons today on how to play the piano to groups before and after church. There are several students excited to learn. We left at 8:00 am and were home around 3:00 pm. We had some of our comfort food... goulash. Then we called all our children in the evening and got hold of everyone this week. It's great to hear Cody is doing well in school. Sage is also adjusting and maturing at her college. Elodie is doing very well on the swim team at her high school. Jackie and Jake took the offer to be band director at the high school in Plain City (North Ogden area). This could be their opportunity to finally own a home of their own. We're excited for all of them.
Cape Town Mission Field 2 March 2019 Day 448 Saturday This morning we drove to Paarl to review the elders boarding there. It is about an hour and a half drive. So we decided to see some sights after traveling that far. We found a butterfly and nature reserve on the way. They had some fun critters, butterflies, a skeleton section showing skeletons of all kinds of South African animals, including a rhino. They also had a large collection of tarantula's from around the world. Including a very large one called a bird-catcher. They don't really catch birds, but they are very big. You can walk right in among many of the cages with the small animals, and birds, including a hut with Owl's. Sister Courtright invited a parrot to jump onto her finger in one of the enclosures. At which point he promptly bit her finger. She had to flip it off because he wasn't going to let go on his own. We spent quite a while at the Paarl elders boarding. Elder Courtright...
Cape Town Mission Field 1 March 2019 Day 447 Friday Wow...it's March already. Time is flying by. We went to the Ellsie's River boarding and replaced some curtains, repaired some cupboard latches, and replaced their mini-oven that has a bad hot plate. We also gave them several things to clean, especially some wall washing to do. There are a few more items we need to discuss with the landlord that we'd like replaced; like the vinyl flooring in the kitchen and bathroom. Sister Courtright picked up some Domino's pizza for us to have for lunch but they were pretty small so we only had one slice a piece and left the remainder for the elders. We then headed for home and picked up the bike that was being repaired by Neil at this bike shop just up from our boarding. He also had another bike that he lowered the price on for us. So we took both bikes to the Milnerton chapel where they were having the district meetings. This gave us a chance to ...