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 while attempting to withdraw some money a man approached him as if offering assistance just as Sister Firth received a phone call. The man concealed his hand from view using a piece of paper he was holding to snatch Elder Firth's credit card. He then quickly walked away. As Elder Courtright approached Elder Firth he suddenly became aware that his card was gone. We notified a mall security guard that was walking by. We found a wifi spot at the nearby hotel and was able to call the states and cancel his card. We then found our way down to the security office where the guards showed us the video of what happened and how he was watching and waiting nearby for this type of opportunity. He also pointed out the man the came up nearby talking on a cell phone who was his accomplice and lookout. We stopped at the police station to give a report. The young man behind the desk seemed a bit put out that we wanted to bother him with this but he seemed to eventually get the idea that we wanted someone to investigate this and catch the guys before they do it again. He filled out the report with a brief description of what happened after taking Elder Firth's name and Elder Courtright's phone number. He then stamped it and handed it over to us. We were a bit confused because this report was not on carbon paper so this was the only copy of the report. After asking some questions we still couldn't get a good answer as to why we have the report and he has no information. We finally gave up and walked away with the report in hand realizing the criminals here have a great advantage over the peace keeping citizen's and the police.

We chalked this up to experience and went out to dinner at a the Fisherman's cottage. A small restaurant in an actual fisherman's cottage that was used during the whaling days. The food was very nice. And we sat outside on the patio under a granadilla tree. I finally got to see what that fruit looked like that is used in one of our favorite yogurts we buy. It apparently is very closely related to the passion fruit.

Elder Firth drove back home to gain some more driving experience. He did quite well. We came across a bad traffic accident that must have just happened on the N2 freeway. There were people stopped to give assistance and they were waving their cell phones with the flashlight mode on to warn people coming up on the accident before the police arrived.

We were grateful to be home and safe.