Are things looking up?

I had a message from my psycologist friend - whom I want to be more than a friend! It was not your usual message, but ended up "Drive safely my precious cargo!" Maybe I'm reading between lines that are not there, but I can see a glimmer of real hope!

Last week she showed me where her kids father had bruised her arm, and was swearing in such a way that an Army trooper would have been ashamed of the language! He thinks he is a tough man, but Ezra Taft Benson, a Prophet of the Lord announced that you become a man when you take your wife to the Temple and marry her for Eternity!
That makes me a man, even though my ex decided that I was not in the same class as the ones she chose instead of me! I still maintain that Real Men dont have to resort to foul language to impress or scare anyone and it is not necessary to physically harm a lady! That is NOT being a man!

I think that Di is starting to realise that I am not cast from the same mould as were her ex husbands were! They were/are not great people - #1 deserted her and #2 was - and is - physically and verbally abusive! I really think that Mrs Steve #1 realised this, but it was too late to change things!

My ex has the idea that she is so desireable (above other fruits?) that she can change the religions of her husbands. I was converted after she introduced me to the Senior Missionery Couple. #2 was happy to live in a state of ignorance and refused to comit to baptism, and #3 has told her outright that he will never change from being Irish Catholic!

She thinks that she is OK in that we were sealed, but this sealing is on condition of worthiness! I dont believe that after how she has treated me - and husband #2 - that she is worthy to be exalted with me. There is more chance of actual snow at Christmas here in Zululand, than of them qualifying for Eternal Marriage! I know that it will take some work for me to get there, but if I do manage this, I will never be asked to live for Eternity with someone whom I dont even like in mortality!

I have an impression that one of my acts that I need to do, is to marry a non-member and then to persuade her to become a member! By being sealed to Michele, I have opened the Celestial Gates, and since my subsequent divorce was not at my insiatance, so I will not be penalised! I dont need to be sealed to her in mortality as I have done what was instructed. I do believe that I will be sealed to a future wife, whilst in mortality! Call me crazy - my ex wife does, but it really makes no difference to me - or my Eternities!

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Yesterday, I was assigned as First Speaker in the Sacrament meeting in Richards Bay. I had drafted a talk on my computer, but purposely left it in my car! I managed fine with no promptings, and amazingly enough I spoke clearly and confidently! People commented to me on something that was raised - ie that I think thare are 2 great things about Johannesburg. 1. The temple in Parktown and 2. The road home! I felt that I spoke clearly, and that the congregation, even in the back, heard and UNDERSTOOD me!

On wednesday I am on my way up to Mooi River, to collect Christine for her holidays! She is spending 2 weeks with me now, then going to her mom, and coming back to me at the end of her holidays!

This kind of bugs me because I gave Michele permission to take Christine to Canada and she (C) has not been to my home since Easter. I give away my time with her and what do I get in return? A kick in the teeth! I feel sometimes that I am not considered by her mother to be more than a sperm donor! I know that one day Michele will have to answer for this, but - like Di - is this coming soon enough?

She (Di) is having problems with a cowardly bully - her ex - who is causing her trouble! I said to her that if he touches her again - he bruises her by manhandling her, not that he is a man - I will personally string him up from the nearest tree by his family jewels! He must not think that because I am disabled, that I am scared of him! I survived a speeding bread truck, a stabbing and a swarm of angry bees! I can survive anything he can throw at me! I MEAN this!

His abuse of her, indicates to me that he is having troubles with his wife, who by the description of a lawyer friend, is a "psycho-bitch". Michele thinks that she is so magnificantly built that all men worship her unconditionally! It really shocked her when I instituted the divorce she constantly threatened that she wanted, but it turned out, she really did not want!

I knew that I had grounds for divorce and was prompted by the Spirit to institute proceedings! That took the wind from her sails since it completely eliminated the threat she thought she held over me! I have never felt happy at not being in control of my life, and I know that Michele did not take this into account! I still get the feeling that she has not forgiven me for showing that I have a backbone, and she - maybe a bit unconsciously - makes choices that really hurt me! Typical bully, the hurts she inflicts are kind of invisible. Di's ex is clever at hiding the fact that he is abusive! That is a sure sign of his being a bully, and he is cowardly to boot! News for him is that I am not scared by him and he had better not cross me! Michele tried to bully me, and came really short!

First day of my life to come?

2 things are terrifying me today:-

1. Christine passed her Learners license to learn to drive - on Wednesday

2. I have been asked to speak in Sacrament in Richards Bay -as First Speaker!

My concerns:-

1. Christine is already planning to drive either my 2.5 litre Porsche (manual) or preferrably my 4x4 V8 Automatic! She has no idea that both are way more powerful - and frankly scary - than my 1.4 litre Opel Corsa. She thinks she can handle traffic. I had a thought that she would be happier with something like a Nissan Bakkie which is a 1.4 litre motor, is not that powerful and is not as fast as either my 2.5 litre Porshe or my 3.9 litre V8 auto 4x4!

2. The members in Richards Bay are way more mature than in the new branches. One member - no names, no packdrill, although I will admit to it that it is a she - has been a member for a few decades, and thinks she knows more than anyone as to what is preached, and who hears the talks! She scares the bejeepers out of me, although I know that she does not actually have the power to do anything - other than criticise every talk - whilst they are talking! Drives me nuts!

Di (whom I am kind of sweet on!) had her Blackberry phone stolen a week ago. Yesterday, she got a call, saying that it had been recovered. That was kind of lucky, as her replacement set would have cost her R 500 excess on the insurance!

She is always losing her phones and I gave her a real cheapie set when she was without a phone before. That has survived being snatched (the thief was tackled by a bystander and the set returned to her!) It is the cheapest that you can buy and she has had it for at least the last 3 years! Her fancy sets are stolen or lost regularly, but the cheapie is still around!

Interesting sights

Ingenuity at its best? In Port Durnford, this is the chapel - at least for now! It is a place that the local members can call home! So it is not a fancy brick built chapel like you get in Utah, but it is what they use as a chapel in the outer reaches of Darkness they regularly have some 50 - 60 members attending. In Polewane (Northern Province between Johannesburg and Zimbabwe) they have a fancy brick built chapel where - if they are lucky - 30 members attend each week! That is part of why I love the members here! They are faithful in the face of meeting in a wooden shack like this! In Sandton, the members are inactive if they dont have this months new BMW to arrive at church in!

So the roads are not great! This photo was taken on one of the better stretches of road. I did blog before where the Roads Department had wasted huge amounts in installing speed humps - tar ones - then a week later (literally) they dug one of these humps out leaving what is called in SA, a donga, that they had to retar! Then they leave roads like this to deteriorate. What is wrong with the government when they go all out to show the world that we are a First World country but ignore some places like this! Sure they have Gautrain between Johannesburg and Pretoria, but in the metropolis there, they dont have (third world) roads like this!

The great news for the members at Port Durnford is that a proper portable chapel - same as they have at Esikhawini - is on it's way and apparently has arrived in Cape Town.

In both Ngwelezane and Nseleni, they use the room attached to the town library! At Nseleni, the library is on the same lot as is the Fire Station. Is that what they call "multi tasking?"

When we were a part of the Durban SA Stake, I used often to get the impression that in Richards Bay, we were on the edge of Outer Darkness! This was because the Tugela River - the border between Natal and Zululand - was treated by the Stake as the edge of their influence! We live north of the Tugela, and therefore effectively inhabited Outer Darkness! I am so glad that we went from the Durban Stake to the Durban Mission. We have come in from the cold - a bit! Is this evidence of "Global Warming"? If it is, the human race has nothing to worry about! I still have a theory that it is Satans influence to get Man to think he is powerful enough to change Heavenly Fathers plans, and to panic that we are destroying what was 'Evolved" for us - as if God had nothing to do with it!

Bad day at Black Rock?????

This morning, I was phoned by my daughter who was really excited. She wrote her Learners License and passed. Does that mean that now the roads are a mite less safe? I know that she had dreams of me collecting her from school next wednesday, putting "L" plates on my V8 auto Landrover and her driving home! The problem is that I need to collect her with my trailer in tow, and that in conjunction with the fact that she would have to drive on the freeway, means that it would be really scary for her! I only started driving on freeways after I had been driving competently for at least 15 years!

I passed my drivers test (not just my learners) at 17, and just after I had passed, we came on a caravan holiday to SA. Because I was legally licensed to drive, I helped in driving the car and caravan on quiet roads! I remember being pulled over by a traffic cop, out in the middle of nowhere, and asked for my license! He was stunned that this tiny school kid was legally in control of a Ford Ranchero (big at the best of times) with a large caravan in tow! That was before we ventured on freeways, taking back routes to the coast!

Since I first came to the coast via the N3 freeway - the one from Johannesburg to Durban - the freeway from Durban up the coast to Empangeni (N2) has been constructed. It is now under repair and sections are not at all desireable. It is not that easy to negotiate - even in a huge V8 vehicle! It can be really scary, even if you have had 35 years of practice. If you are brand new at driving, it will put you off for life! I know she drives on the dirt track to the beach, but the chances of meeting another car is really limited. The speedometer reads less than 10 km/h. She thinks that it is the same thing as a car doing 120 km/h, in 2 or 3 lanes of lunatics who by some chance, have licenses. What is really scary is that there are lunatics out there who have forged licenses and think that they are able to drive! What really scares me is that the average pirate taxi driver is likely not to be licensed! They scare me and I drive a really imposing vehicle that NO-ONE pushes around on the road!

Richards Bay

This was taken from the car park at the Harbour Control tower, looking south(ish) across the harhour entrance. The white surf about mid picture is the surf on the beach where we had the braai. To the East (lefthand side), straight out of the harbour entrance, there were a number of ships waiting to come into the port!

Usually the sea is more blue, but the wind was chopping up the sea, making white capped waves!

You can see the natural dune vegetation at the bottom of the photo, that is usually heavily populated by Blue Vervet Monkeys! On the beach were a number of Surf Kites, where the people stand on surfboards and use a huge kite to get moving at a fair lick!

On Saturday I was invited to attend a braai (barbeque for the slightly less educated) held at Richards Bay's Alkantstrand (Translation - Al = all/every, Kant = side, Strand = beach, or "beach on every side"!)

This Alkantstrand has parking for plenty of cars! The photo is taken from the parking,looking up towards the Harbour Control Building (White building up in the dune vegetation, on the right on the horizon) This is pretty well the best area in the Bay, although I am kind of anti huge crowds. The braai was held kind of behind the camera. I did try to photograph some of the ships waiting to enter the harbor, but typically, I managed to photograph the only stretch of unoccupied Indian Ocean on the horizon.

The afternoon was brilliantly clear, although it was windy! After 4pm, it was kind of chilly - as I blogged before - November (especially the end of November) is usually very warm. That is the reason that I am seriously in doubt that there is a phenomenon such as Global Warming! Winter is getting longer and the hottest month (February) seems to have all of the heat concentrated in our shortest month!

In the first photo, the one arm to the harbour entrance has been built with Dolosses (dolii?) a concrete structure invented specifically so that the waves do not erode the seasand! Amazingly enough they were invented particularly for the construction of Richards Bay harbour! They are like 2 interlocking T forms, end on end and 90 degrees to each other! These Dolosses are kind of interlocking somewhat like massive Jacks pieces.

You can drive out along this arm, past the helicopter landing pad for the harbour pilots to get out to the ships. Apparently you can view dolphins along this drive, although in the last 3 decades, I have never once seen dolphin along here!

Tuesday with clouds

Amazingly, November this year is rather colder than it has been for probably the last 2 decades! As I have blogged before, where is the phenomenon of Global Warming? If we are warming up, why is the temperature at lest 5 degrees Celsius LOWER than it has historically been!

That tiny fact - combined with my belief that our creator would never allow Man to become so powerful as to change the weather patterns - lead me to believe that Global Warming is a theory - myth if you like - and is not forgone fact as the world leaders would like us to believe!

I know that theory started off where the world was covered in ice. What then of the Global Warming since then? If the ice caps are melting, why are we getting colder in Zululand! If anything, it is only that we are warming up from the Ice Age! I personally think that this is a figment of someones over active imagination, generated so that Man is terrified out of his wits by something he has no control over. I suspect that this pleases Satan because we are worrying about Global Warming, so much that Heavenly Father takes a back seat in our consciousness! Now THAT is a theory! - probably with more than a hint of truth!

The theory of Global Warming falls into the same category in my (accident damaged to be sure) mind as the Theory of Evolution. If we 'evolved' to cater for environment changes, why have we not started to develop webbed feet, to cope with the supposed rise in the sea levels when the polar ice caps melt!

The latest evidence of insanity that I have seen on the BBC, is that there are men who are actively searching for other worlds to populate! What gives them the right to think that I believe that my life is so valuable that I need to flee this planet - at huge cost? How are these facts going to be explained in the theory of Global Warming? They are facts to me! Also why is someone elses theory more important than my "theory"?

When Geoffrey Shuttleworth went on a space jaunt, I think it cost him $ 2 million. Does that mean that you can only escape this world if you are wealthy? I was born in Africa, and am glad that I was. Africa is in my blood, and that is not because I have been stung by thousands of bees - IN Africa! The venom of African Born bees, is in my blood - or at least the anti venoms that were created when my blood acted on these venoms, are.

Strangely enough, where I was stung on my right arm, is still painful sometimes! Before I was stung, I experienced no problem in my muscles, but I am not imagining the pain - not that it is sharp pain, but a mildly irritating inconvenience - that will NOT go away! Is this pain a theory? No! You try living with it and then decide!

If man is worried about theories like Global Warming, why does he not do anything about the really poor of the world! They live in squalor with grocery bags - usually plastic - blowing all over the place! This is evident in places like South America (watch "Around the World for Free" and see if this is true) or India (Slumdog Millionaire shows this!) and it is evident that the really poor are more concerned with feeding themselves, rather than being ecologically sound in how they live! Is this a bad thing? Maybe if you waste more food than would feed them for a week, but they cannot afford Garbage Disposal units! I dont even think that they would dispose of any food!

When I was on holiday in the USA, my brother took me to a restaurant where the food on the plate was enough to feed an emerging nation for a week! You eat till you are full, then send back plates with food on! What happens to this? - it goes into the Garbage Disposal and is minced up before it goes down the drain! The average family in Darkest Africa or India does not see that much food in a week, let alone throw it into the disposal system! Just goes to show you where our values lie - depending on what surrounds us!

Amazes me that USA scientists are anxiously engaged in proving that the globe is warming up - when they waste enough food to keep an emerging country alive - and flourishing! That is not to say that I disagree with the wealth of the First World, but I get quite animated when a Third World country (South Africa) is crazy enough to think that they are First World! Trouble is, they spend like they are First World citizens, but they clearly live in third world conditions! Our President (Jacob Zuma) is happy to delude himself that we are First World, because he spends so much time out of the country, that he thinks that we all live a high spending lifestyle! How can he decide that we are First World, if he is never at home! That being said, the poor of SA are no where near as badly off as the poor of India or even South America!

Latest

Today was an interesting one! I was assigned to speak at Nseleni and I tried something new!

I drafted a talk on my laptop - and then left it in my car - on purpose! I was confident that I could talk with power from my heart and did not have to rely on notes! By all reports the talk went as well as I thought and felt it went. The branch president of Port Durnford branch maintains that I am a powerful speaker.

The topic was well chosen by the District President, in that it was on "Listen to your Church Leaders" This was great since I AM a District Leader. I know that the congregation heard me - and understood - because at appropriate points there were gales of laughter - WITH me and not AT me!

I also commented that I have come a long way since I joined the Church, Back 20 years ago, when I was baptised, in a crowd larger than 2 people (1 of them being me!) I would shrink into the background and be almost invisible! Now I can stand at the pulpit and give an audible talk that has meaning to the congregation. It is really not a problem to address a crowd of anything from 50 to 400 people!

I realised that it has been centuries since the last speaker was savaged by a mob of Mormons! Not bad, since the Church has existed since 1830 or so!

I have been assigned to talk as First Speaker at Sacrament in Richards Bay next Sunday! I have found that I can speak easily for the first 45 minutes and after that, battle with contaminated air in the Bay. I find that I sing well(???) for the first half an hour, and then the air gets to me, and I cannot breathe properly. Lesson #1 - If you cannot breathe, you cannot talk! At the end of a race, the runners cannot talk until they have caught their breath! I speak easier in the Bay after I have used my asthma pump!

Back when I realised that I had been robbed(?) of free speach in the accident of the century, I thought that the trachae that kept me alive in my coma, had been damaged (stretched or partialy paralysed) and that was why (I thought) I could not speak. I was subsequently diagnosed with spastic muscles, and the major one is my diaphram - the muscle that controls your air intake! That was kind of shocking, to realise that medically I am spastic! Growing up, I was led to believe - by ignorant school mates - that "spastic" was some kind of moronic lack of brain power! Now I realise that "spastic" refers to the fact that the brain does not communicate properly with the muscles! My accident affected my motor skills, NOT my mental prowess!

I was tested (re-tested) and apparently the accident knocked a few points off of my IQ. Turns out that it did, but only because I now lack the motor skills to complete the questionaire quickly! Without bragging, I have always been a bright cookie and even if I lost some IQ points, I could obviously have afforded to do so! So what if I went from super-genius to genius! I am still a bright little thing! Since I am officially retired - ill health grounds - it makes no diffrence to me!
Maybe this is what scared my ex - wife off! The one blessing is that I have already hit a physical low point, so anywhere from here, HAS to be upward! I still dont know what my IQ was - or is, but then - who really cares! I was third in a bright class all through my senior years at MY school - the one up the road, instead of across the suburb where I wrote my 'A' Level exams!

Todays update

At our District Council meeting last night, I was given the assignment of talking at Nseleni Branch on Sunday. As a District Council we are instructed to talk on "Listening the Leaders of the Church!" Searching the topic in my Scriptures that are loaded in my computer, is a reference that includes the Millenium. It is important to talk on this subject because in a branch in the District, there is an influential member who thinks he can influence who is Branch President, almost as if the Church is a democracy! I have had run ins with one long time member who thinks that the advice she listened to when she was baptized, is still good today! The recent General Conference talk that stated that a living prophet is worth more than a dead one, seems to have gone soaring over her head!

She seems to be oblivious that I am one of the chosen leaders of the Elders Quorum, and she is not! What I have to say on the sunject of the Elders of the Church, is definitely of more worth than what she learned when she was first baptised a member, back just after the Ark beached!

It is interesting to see if some members who need to hear the talk that I am required to give, actually listen to it, or if they will continue to act as they have for so long! They - or more specifically, she - refuses to think that anyone outside of her family holds any Priesthood Authority in the Branch. Recently she acted as if she was the ONLY source of inspiration in he branch, and kind of dismissed me!

She was not happy to leave it as it was, and compleined to her grandson, the Branch President. When she got an unsatisfactory answer from him, she went to his "boss" - the District President (her son-in-law) - and when she got an unsatisfactory answer from him also, took it to the Mission President! She believes that what she thinks, is the Bee all and End all of Church policies. She refuses to listen to the Quorum of the 12, that said at the last General Conference that a living prophet was of more worth than a dead one! She cannot claim that the way things were done when she was first baptised, is the way it still should be done! I was inspired on behalf of one of MY quorum members and had to respond to this prompting! As far as I am aware, that makes me more a (living) Prophet to my quorum than she is - not that she is even a member of the Quorum! Try and get her to think that way will be a huge problem!

I sympathise with her grandson, and also her son-in-law who have to compete with her opinions on how the Church is run locally!

i also know that she threatened to resign her callings - as if that would force the leaders to comply to her way of thinking! I know that the WWoW (Wicked Witch of the West) whom I divorced, only started on insisting on divorce when she moved in with this member! As it is, I suppose I should be grateful to her, because if WWoW had not insisted on divorce, I would probably still be married to her! I suppose that WWoW may not be the kindest way to refer to my ex, but I can assure anyone that it is kinder to call her WWoW rather than what I would like to! Amazing thing is that I live on the East Coast, so pretty well everywhere is west of me!

A date with destiny?

Maybe when you hit the 50 milestone, time speeds up! Things seem to be kind of out of control. We should have District Council meetings every 2 weeks, but they seem to come around much faster. I think it must be because there is so much exciting things to do! Generally, me being retired, I only have Sunday committments for Church attendance, so I kind of live from Sunday to Sunday!

This week is kind of different because the mother of the EQ President celebrated her 44th birthday the day after mine, so we are having a combined party at the branch. At the party will be the Senior couple who took me to lunch at Zanj for my birthday, and my hometeachers who likewise took me to Zanj for Lunch. I am 50 and never before have I had a birthday last 2 weeks - not even when birthdays were special (before I turned 10!)

My most fearful birthday was my 40th. That is the day that I really felt that I was suddenly middle aged! I know that my ex wife had a seriously hard time reconciling herself to the fact that she turned 30! I think that this is a family thing of hers, since her Mom refuses to think that she is older than 25 or so! The way I see it is, you are as old as you feel. This is not a problem until you are 75, but dress 21! I really thought then "Now it's getting serious!" Middle aged was a fact, not some abstract concept!

You think I would be used to sudden changes in my lifes profile. At 31, I was run over and survived - albeit disabled - then again at 44 when I was stabbed - 8 times - and at 49 when I was nearly dead from being stung by thousands of bees! They say that a cat has 9 lives, but humans have only one! I have to feel that I am in my 4th or 5th stage of life. I believe that I have an idea of what the mission in life is that I need to complete! My Patriarchial Blessing talks of a faithful wife, and the woman that I was married to, was certainly not faithful! People say to me that I MUST marry a member of the Church, but I have been advised by the Area office, that I have done what I need to to qualify - at least in part - for my exhaltation. I will get a faithful wife, but dont exactly need to be sealed again to qualify! Sure that would be great, but to demand membership of a woman before I marry her, kind of limits my choices, especially in Richrds Bay. I truly feel that I have been inspired as to who the next Mrs Killick should be.

This inspiration was a surprise to me, one that I know will be a great choice. I need to get her to think that life with me will not always be disabled, in fact I will only be disabled until I pass into the afterlife. Currently we laugh together, and that must be a part of what the Lord intended when He made man - and women! That is something else that I need to convince her of - that there is a point to mortality, and that unlike Darwin felt, man did not crawl out of the slime and evolve! I have a serious hang up believing that we "evolved" and suddenly have the power to be able to destroy what our Creator made for us! Maybe if we have evolved, rather than being created as we are, then maybe we have grown enough in intelligence to be more powerful than God, but that is really a stretch of an overactive imagination - one that I am not comfortable with!

An idea that just occurred to me! If Man evolved, then why is he so similar physically to woman? Did we evolve at the same rate from the slime, only to fulfil different functions? Why are males so much better at driving than ladies? If they were not, how do you explain the fact that Formula 1 is almost entirely a male preserve, and that most rally champions happen to be male? This in no way is to give the impression that male is better - only different!

Game Reserve

We managed to get up close to a number of animals. Typiaclly, before lunch we were in an area that is heaviy greened - plenty of green leaves behind which the animals hid! When we arrived at the Hilcrest camp, we had seen little of the abundant game. Some got up close and we managed to get really close to some game!

Here is a crocodile sunning himself on the rock. Unfortunately it is pretty well the same colour as the rock! In the water (out of shot) is a rather larger crocodile.

The entire Missionery Force in Zululand were there. Here

at a waterhole, they were sitting looking over a waterhole that I last saw water at around a year ago.

Even Dung Beetles are protected game here! They (2 of them) are rolling a ball of Elephant dung. Wha amazed me was that the dung was fresh enough to roll into a ball, but the Elephant were nowhere to be seen!

Everywhere was a lot of water. It was a great sight, as the last time I was in the Reserve

it looked kind of drought striken. Until lunch we did not see a lot

of Game as the bush was kind of green and leafy, superb
for hiding animals! At the Main Gate, we had stopped for

the Elders to go into the toilets for a desperately needed Pee break. Whilst we were waiting, just behind us, an Elephant trumpetted. 3 cars and 15 eyes had drive past this area

and seen nothing of Elephant. It never ceases to amaze me how something as big as an Elephant can escape detection.

I had wanted to start my blog with this, but I found out that the way blogging works is that the first photos downloaded are pushed back by later downloads. You need to plan your blog, so that the first photos you want on the blog are the last ones downloaded! No big problem though, as I can blog meaningfully (at least for me) no matter which way the photos are included in the blog! I have learned something more!

More blogging

Tomorrow, being their Preparation Day, I am taking the Missionaries up to the Game Reserve. I am loking forward to it, not more than the Elders! Amazingly the one looking forward to it the most is the one from Northern Africa somewhere (Kenya if I am not mistaken!) I kind of think that at home, he has virtually no chance to visit a Reserve, since ideally you need a vehicle, and it is not really possible to Game View from a crowded taxi!

Watching the series "Around the World for Free" where 2 people ventured from New York, with no cash in their pockets, and the most terrifying, they left their credit cards at home! I was floored when they visited Barrio's in Chile (or somewhere like that!) and it is obvious that the population there are really poor. It makes "townships" like Esikhawini, Port Durnford or even Soweto look positively affluent, even though there are quite densely populated areas!

I dont think that the natives of SA realise actually how blessed with fortune they actually are! All they can see is that I have 2 cars - a Porsche and a Landrover - and all they can think is "Why can you not give me one of them?" Secret is that not many can afford to run even my Porsche! Amazingly enough a Porsche 944 is less per kilometer to run than is a V8 Landrover. Actually I need a 4x4 V8 to transport 4 Elders in reasonable comfort to visit the Game Reserve. My Porsche barely makes it down my road without scraping all the way down. In the Reserve:-

1. You would stick on the middelmannetjie on the dirt roads AND

2. You cannot see across the grass to view animals!

My Porsche is purely my toy (I AM a Big Boy with a Big Boys toy) and my 4x4 is a DIVINE gift. I am spoilt because I CAN afford them!

I intend to take plenty of photos tomorrow!

Weekend

Amazingly there are houses in exclusive areas where you can look down the garden and you cannot see the neighbours!

This is the garden of the Bed and Breakfast that Christine and I found recently just up the road (freeway) from the home of the Mission President in the Westville area of Durban. This home is on the edge of Pinetown. I am just glad that I do not need to mow the grass! These 2 views are from the verandah of the guest cottage of one HUGE home! In Esikhawini, they would have about 40 homes in this area! Whilst this may be a communistic view, it is admirable if someone has enough wealth behind them to own a home with such a garden! It is huugely peaceful to be in this area, where - like my home - only a few cars a day go past! This home is sited between the N3 freeway to Johannesburg and the N13 from Kloof to Durban. Both freeways are busy, although maybe at this end of the year, the N3 is busier!

I have found that December is THE best time of year to visit Johannesburg, since the infuriating crowds are all down at the coast and Johannesburg becomes almost a ghost city! In Mtunzini, it is THE worst time of year, as even the disabled parking space - only one in the village - is invariably occupied by a lazy beach dweller! They are so lazy that they cannot walk a 2 parking bay distance! For goodness sake, I did not choose to be disabled! Drives me to drink when I cannot park in MY bay at the shops - and I dont even drink! I get kind of possessive sometimes.

Not so long ago, I was with friends in Nelspruit where the Pick and Pay is in a HUGE parking lot. The disabled bays are right next to the entrance AND are covered. When I parked there, my Bishop friend said in amazement "You cannot park here!" until I pointed out that legally, I can! My psycologist admitted that she used to park in the disabled bays at the local Spar store until it dawned on her that I am disabled and by parking there, it was likely that I had to walk far! I have had serious words with some creeps who park there because it is raining and hey dont want to get their hair wet. I have had one who complained that she could legitimately park there, because she had a splinter in her finger! Big Whoop! I often ask them if they WANT to ber disabled, because I could easily arrange that, although I would not recommend it! Disability will not go away, and they dont seem to care! One creep was so abusive when confronted, that he was verbally objectionable and all he got for his trouble, was a shoe impression in his door! I was incensed by his attitude that I kicked his car! Maybe this is not a christian attitude, but maybe the next time, he will think twice about parking in a disabled bay! I kicked his car more for others than for me, although I did feel better after I had kicked his car!

In Durban they lock the wheels and to release your car, costs R 500! This is donated to the Disabled Peoples Association, so it costs heavily to park in the wrong bays at the big centres!

DROUGHT

Recently the Uthengulu town council (Richards Bay, Empangeni, Mtunzini and Gingindlovu) declared water restrictions. Apparently the local dams are low in water due to a drought (It has only rained for the last 2 days, not 2 weeks!) So we cannot wash our cars with hosepipes. My Porsche was really dirty so I parked it in the rain, and wet it with car shampoo! The rain is washing the shampoo off. For a drought, there is plenty of water running in the channels on the side of the road! We cannot water the gardens or wash our cars, but the town council can waste water from the local water tower, that under usual circumstances is flushed out once every 10 years, but if there is a drought, they flush thousands of gallons through the tower every 3 days or so! How thick is that?

Driving down the N2 freeway, the water was flowing off of my windscreen like a tap was out of control. The definition of "drought" obviously has different meanings to different people! In the township across the hill, the residents are complaining because the water that they waste, is not clean water! Then when we have water restrictions, they leave the water taps flowing with millions of gallons of water wasted! Then why do they think that they are disadvantaged? Currently there is a huge movement to push the Indian population forward, based on the fact that 150 years ago, some indentured Indians were sent to Africa. Now they want the white man to give them a heap of money to "apologise" for inequalities started 150 years ago. For goodness sake, they run Mercedes Benz cars, but if their ancestors were not indentured, they would be poverty striken at best! I am viewed in a poor light, because my skin happens to be white!

The black powers had an amnesty a few years ago, where former sins were forgiven. It made no difference that the blacks forgave their problems, but the Indians have not bought into this concept! I am seen as a sinner because white men committed atrocities in the past! Where is the Church view that man is guilty of his own sins and not those of his fathers or brothers? I am seen as guilty by the fact that my skin is of European descent!

An interesting thought that a friend voiced on Sunday!
Crime in SA is seen as a black problem. This is for 2 main reasons:-
The black population is so much larger than the white or Indian population. If there is any crime, you are pretty sure - by default - that a black is involved, by virtue of there being vastly more blacks in existance. It is like complaining in Mexico that crime is due to the mexicans! In Utah there is probably a one in two chance that if there is a crime, it was by to a Mormon!

The vast majority of the population of SA, live on - or below - the breadline! Crime is more of a result of necessity, not so much of desire! If your pocket is picked, it is probably a result of someone desperate to feed his family! Does this make theft OK? Obviously not, but if it means the diference between life and death, it is understandable, if not exactly excuseable!

I was watching a recording of "Around the World for Free" where a person circumnavigated the globe relying on the openness of humanity! What is stunning is the poor areas - worldwide - make places like Esikhawini and Port Durnford look incredibly affluent! The people there feel hard done by because they do not have this years model car in the garage! They refuse to see how well off they actually are, compared to destitution elsewhere in the world!

What stunned me was how genuinely helpful the poorest of the poor are, worldwide! Alex Boylin (winner of Amazing Race 2) decided to try and circumnavigate the world, leaving New York with a backpack for his goods, and no money in his pockets! He managed to locate food and lodging with the average man, and the least problems he had was where the population was poor! In more affluent areas he scored things like plane tickets, but food and lodging was more difficult to find! In SA you find this! The poor are open to those in need, but the rich are isolated - generally behind huge wrought iron gates, and a really long driveway!

I have found this! in the less affluent areas of the country, the population is more ready to speak to you when you ask anything (Real Men do NOT ask for directions - ever!) but in wealthy areas, they are shifty and phone for the cops as soon as smile at you! At Church in Richards Bay, the gates are always open, but in Sandton, they want your crime clearance and a deposit before they even open the gate for you to get into the chapel grounds!

Thought provoking Emails

Today I received 2 brilliant Emails. One was on what students feel are the 7 wonders of the world! One student had the right thought! It is absolutely true that some wonders are present for most, but are not even considered.

For me, my MVA accident of 1992 "robbed" me of 2 things that I realise that I never felt grateful before the accident for, but not being able to do anymore now, really miss!:-

The blessing of being able to breathe easily! I realised after the accident that free speech is not just a political advantage, but a physical thing! The average human does not even think about this! Drives me insane (kind of) when I can see the youth give their testimonies at the Pulpit! They mumble and speak so badly - and fast - that you can barely understand them. Try offering them a free donut, and they can clearly be heard to say "Gimmee", although they revert to their mute normal as soon as the time comes to say "Thanks!" Because I have a diaphram that refuses to do what my brain tells it to, I battle to breathe properly, and hence speak badly! I freely admit that before I joined the Church, crowds of more than 1 person terrified the living excrement out of me! Now I realise that behind the pulpit, the congregation is kind of captive and you can say what you feel impressed to, and they are highly unlikely to spit on you or worse, tear your head off! It has been YEARS since anyone was killed behind the pulpit!

Drives me nuts to see the youth (13 - 18) drag their feet! I feel like laying hands on their behinds and saying "You can walk! Walk properly!"

The other Email that really amused me was one that warned that a cold winter was predicted because the squirrels were gathering nuts! 3 of my friends have vanished, so have they been gathered and stored for winter?

Another new day - part 3

I am the Home Teacher to Breeze Stander and Mark Swartzberg. They have a friend who lives with them, who came down from Johannesburg, to live at the coast - increasing the branch size by one! She expressed a desire to live in Mtunzini - something to do with the closeness of the sea! I do have contacts in the Estate Agency business in the village, so I emailed them to find out if property was available for her to consider!

It is the least I can do especially as I am Michelles Home Teacher, by virtue of the fact that I am Breeze and Marks home teacher!

One responded to ask if the Michelle whom I referred to them, was the same Michelle that was dealing with their letting department. They were unsure, as they did not know her surname or anything beyond the fact of her cell number and the fact that she had been referred by the lady who runs the Hearty Meal restaurant!

Turns out that this is a really small world because the first friends we had in the village were Vic and Orpah Harris. Since Vic passed away, Orpah has started the Hearty Meal. Michelle therefore knows people that I know! That makes this world tiny.

I also have found the blog address of the current senior missionery couple. They were talking of a Bed and Breakfast that they stayed in recently - Ltttle Haven, run by a woman who was recently widowed. When Christine found a bed and breakfast in Pinetown where a friend of hers was helping his grandmother out, had booked us accommodation. Turns out that this bed and breakfast is one and the same! That makes this tiny world seem even smaller!

I wonder if things happen by chance or if we are all interconnected by some
mysterious(???) force! Things that happen, do so for some cosmic reason - kind of like Karma! That way, things dont exactly happen by chance! I do feel that nothing exactly happens by accident.

LIFE this side of the big 5 0h.

Honestly my most life changeing birthday was when I turned 40! That is when I realised "Now it's getting serious!" I admit that at 40, I did not even think about 50! When I left school, 30 years ago, I never had it in my mind that I would be on the bright side of 50!

Sure time is rushing past faster and faster! Before you turn 5, a year took an eternity to pass, but now birthdays seem to come around all too soon!

I have also found that life after retirement is not so bad! I can barely comprehend that I would not be slaving behind a desk, but have the freedom to decide what I do each day. I am so thankful that I have a 4x4 in my garage. I know that this angers those "green energy" freaks! I still think that global warming is a complete hoax, and is a myth propogated by Satan to scare man into thinking he is more powerful than his creator!

People around me are generally making a bigger thing of my age than I do! Sure I look somewhat damaged (timeworn?) but honestly I am grateful to have reached 50, since at 31, I nearly did not survive a load of bread!

I also realise that on a few other occasions, I have nearly been written off, stabbed or stung to death!

We are supposed to keep a private journal, but I see it that if I write anything, I battle to read what I have written. Also what is the sense in storing thoughts and feelings that will only be read after you die! I have feelings now, whilst I am alive. What more can I ask than for people to see the inner me?

Life can be challengeing at times

Even as a retiree, life can be challengeing at times. I am battling with a female member of the branch at present. As far as I understand, she is of the opinion that:-
She has been a member for a long time
Her Son-in-law is the District President
Her Grandson is the Branch President
Her other Son-in-law was the BP when I was baptised.

She thinks that her word is the end of sayings, and she refuses to accept Priesthood Authority from anyone outside of her family, and even then, she still tries to make the life of her long divorced ex a misery!

I know that when Michele changed her mind from seperation to divorce back a few decades now, she was living under the same roof as this member. I know that I was inspired to go through with the divorce, to shut up my ex who constantly harped - vociferously - on the subject, but did nothing. I was scripturally entitled to my decision to go through with Divorce and even now, facts that support my actions come crawling out of the woodwork!

That floored my ex who never thought that I had the guts, and I think it secretly angered this member, especially as a friend of a friend told me a few days before the final court appearance, that Michele never actually wanted Divorce!

I had a disagreement with this member, over what I thought was a fairly small action. I was inspired as a Priesthood Holder to do something that really upset her! She complained to the BP who spoke to me and that should have been the end of it. It was for me at least, but it appears now that she has gotten the District President involved, and because she received no satisfaction from him, has gotten the Mission President involved! The Mission President is coming up on Sunday to see if he cannot put a lid on it, but I fear that she will take things further, to the Area or to the Quorum of the 12, or even the First Presidency!

The huge problem for the Branch President AND the District President is that she is family, and by all reports is making their lives a misery!

I just wonder how she will feel when I move from Senior Council Member to District or Stake President? Maybe I wont get there, as I understand that the Branch President is starting to come apart at the seams and I wonder what lies in my future! Branch Presidency of Richards Bay?

Anyway, Sunday is the BIG 5 - oh! The senior Missionery couple are coming out today to see where I live, and to take me out to Zanj (the best restaurant north of the 5* Royal Hotel in Durban) as a celebration of the fact that I have hit mid way to a century old! I consider that I am fortunate, since:-
I nearly died in the accident of 1992 that left me disabled
I nearly died when I was attacked and stabbed
I nearly died when I was so heavily stung by thousands of bees! This is the only time when I could feel my life draining away! They do say that when you are dying, your life flashes before your eyes. Whilst I was nearly dead, my life did not exactly flash - at least not the fun parts! - but I was never so grateful as to see the doctor with his luvverly bag of divine drugs!

These scrapes with death have made me realise that I have an unfinished mission in life to fulfil before I die! I sense some of what this is, and I look forward to these, somewhat in trepidence and somewhat in gratitude! I sense that I still need to complete this mission. I just hope that it includes marrying a faithful wife, promised in my Patriarchial Blessing! I am working on this, but is it hard enough?

Car repairs

Some of you may recognise the name "Ritchie Ford"! They are the agents for Land Rover, and my Landy needed attention to the exhaust system. It should have taken 3 hours to fix yesterday - 7:30 am till 11, allowing half an hour for cooling time of the exhaust! Anyway, 6 hours later, I enquired what was happening, and the Workshop Receptionist admitted that one of the half trained monkeys had broken a part. It had to be sent to the engineers to be fixed, and at 4:00 it was not yet fixed.




Anyway, I was given this car as a loaner - a Ford Focus auto! Great car but it really is NOT my choice! That is why I drive a Landrover, or if I feel like it, a Porsche 944! On the road, other cars tend to stamp their superior size/driving prowess on the traffic flow. In my Landy, you sit well above the general eyeline of other drivers, and no-one dares to take advantage! If I dont like them, I can slip my Landy into 4 wheel drive - and go over the top of them!

I also love the V8 motor! Plenty of power, to do just about anything - including go over the top (literally) those who are not very road friendly!