Chapman's Peak

One Saturday afternoon we decided it was time for another little scenic drive. The Harms had already done the Chapman Peak drive, but they said it was so beautiful that they would like to go again. It is only about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from our flat and is a different way to get to Cape Point---where the Cape of Good Hope is. We first drove through a forest--it was much denser than this and looked like Yellowstone Park as you drove - trees on both sides. At one point the trees thinned out and we saw these grape vineyards in the distance. This shows a little of the country-side so you can see how they farm.

After we got past the forest, we came to a little bay called Hout Bay. It was very picturesque and we especially loved the whale clooud that formed on the mountain as we stood there! Can you see it?

Here's a better picture where he even has an eye and it looks like he is about to eat a little fish. Funny how there are clouds on top of all three peaks. We only stayed here a few minutes.

We were hoping to see the sun go down into the ocean, but of course it was cloudy again. We thought this sunset was very striking and really loved the clouds here. There is a huge cliff at this spot and they have put up a mirror to help you see around the bend in the road. We were going the wrong direction to use it. Seemed strange.

Below is a tunnel-like retaining wall that was created to protect the roadway from falling rocks. This road has been closed for a long time while they built or repaired the wall. You drive through the covered part so quickly that we didn't have time to snap a picture. Then you drive a little further under a rock ceiling kind of thing---I guess you can see it in the picture! We think we will get a better picture next time! The road has a toll booth that charges you coming and going in order to pay for all the work! It was about $8 American each way, but it was so worth it for the beautiful landscapes and sunset we saw. As we drove around a bend in the road, we saw this beautiful white sandy beach without a soul on it. It was a lovely, warm evening and it was a surprise not to see a few beachcombers out searching for shells. I was dying to run down there!

We were watching the sunset which was fiery orange and it was so beautiful it was hard to tear ourselves away, but then we noticed this pink ribbon of clouds that went clear across the sky. It looked like a lost piece of wrapping ribbon! We were so interested in it, that we didn't turn around for a while and then we turned 180 degrees and saw the beautiful sunset on the picture after this one.

The sunset was becoming more beautiful by the moment and every few seconds was a different exciting view.

The ribbon got pinker and pinker and lingered over the mountains for quite a while. We lingered there in the same spot and turned one way and then the other snapping photos all the time. It was so hard to pick the ones to put on the blog.

Finally it really started to get dark and we had to leave this wonderful spot and count on the camera to hold the memories for us. Goodnight all - we love you and pray that all will be well with you in every way.

The Valentines Dance

In mid-January Elder Herbert and I heard the news that there was going to be a dance put on by the Young Men and Young Women of the Langa Branch for Valentine's Day. I have to admit we were a little skeptical that it would even happen. But some of the Young Women leaders really got excited about this activity and started having dance practices. We thought they were just practicing so they would know how to dance and then when we happened on a practice one afternoon at the church, we realized they were going to have a floor show and all of them were going to do ballroom dancing. This is what dancing with the stars has done! I like it!

They worked so hard ----gathering dishes from their homes and buying decorations. They spent all day that day preparing food and decorating the room. I was shocked when I saw the lovely table settings with a menu on each plate and organza table cloths. I have to admit that Valentine's Day is lots more fun when the weather is warm. No one had to wear an ugly coat over their party dress. They actually had a talk on proper dress and morals before the dance started. Some of the girls went out afterwards and pinned their necklines up so they wouldn't have such a low neckline---so here is the beautiful dress (that they probably borrowed from a friend and it doesn't fit them just right) and there are safety pins at the nekline. I love that!

Below is a picture of me and my two of my best friends in Africa---Sister Mazwi who is my visiting teaching companion and Sister Matshaya who is Relief Society President. They both got so dressed up for the evening and I wore my dorkiest clothes!! I had lots of red clothes I could have worn---all the teenagers were in red or pink---even most of the boys. Next is Brother Sekori---he is the man that holds the Branch together right now. He is a counselor in the Branch Presidency and he is at every meeting and tries to have activities. He is a returned missionary that still struggles with the cultural issues that keep his people from living the gospel. We really love him.The picture above is is a better picture of the tables where you can see the plates are all different because lots of people brought them from home. The flowers were plastic ones that are at the church every Sunday. They put them in little vases. They served three courses - first starters - vegetable salsa, and rolls---then they gathered the plates and silverware and washed them all and served the main course - grilled fish (really good) potatoe mash and stir fried vegetables. They served the dessert in mugs from the kitchen - I made it---carrot cake of course!
The girl in the flowered skirt is Nongamso---she is one of the girls I am teaching piano. She is the one that is just beginning. She is the cutest thing and tries so hard to go ahead in the book.
She is younger, so she had to dance with her friend instead of a boy. The picture below shows some of them dancing----this was not their exhibition dance because each couple danced alone. We didn't take pictures during the dancing because we were afraid it would throw them off. They were concentrating so hard!

Even Grampa and Gramma Herbert had to "cut a rug" a little bit. They thought it was pretty neat that we knew how to dance. I heard some of them saying, "Wow, Elder Herbert can really dance!" All the couples wanted pictures and we had to print them some copies. So Elder Herbert was taking pictures in the corner most of the night! I don't think they have many pictures of themselves. You can sort of see the decorations in the background. This is Brother and Sister Sekori - He is a returned missionary, but they haven't been able to get to the temple yet. They are in our temple prep class and hope to be able to afford to go to the temple in November. It costs between 2500 and 3000 rand just to make the trip, which is about $400 American. They travel a little over a thousand miles on the BUS! to get there.

This is Tshwane and her friend. She just graduated from high school and is going to start college next semester. She is the one who speaks six languages. She wants to be an economist and is trying to get one of the PEF loans to go to school. She comes and plays the piano with me and plans all the music for sacrament meeting. I've only met him a couple of times - he doesn't come to church and isn't a member. They were the stars of the dancing!

This is Brother and Sister Mogkosi. He is in the Elder Quorum presidency. He went on a mission too and now works at Budget Car Rentals, so he has access to a car pretty often. She is the Primary President and they have a cute little boy. They are going to the temple in March or April and they are coming to our class too.

This is Simpiwe who has all the women after him. He forgot to get his clothes washed and they weren't dry for the party. The girls were upset, but they got over it. Here he is with Zintle (Zint Lay)

This just shows the decorations a little bit more - I couldn't believe all the trouble they went to and where did they get all this stuff? A young Women leader who works for a caterer brought a lot of it and taught them all to dance and made the most fantastic meal.

Here is a shot of the whole group as the evening was ending. Everyone was pretty happy and having a great time. Now you've been to a Valentine's Party Langa style! We had a great time--hope you did too!

Fun in Langa

Here we are at the Langa Community Centre. They have this little mosaic and some of their artwork displayed here. I love this picture because it shows some of their talents. There is a lizard and a duck up on top of the wall that are carved I think. We got a map of Langa here and were very excited to have it. They have a walking tour you can take of the city, but we haven't had time to do it. It seems like it might be a little scary to be walking here ---there are some people here who really hate white people.

We saw these women walking along the road in Langa. There are always women carrying things on their heads. If you look closely you can see a baby on the back of the woman in front. They don't buy baby carriers, they just wrap a blanket around their middle with the baby on their bac

Here is a close-up of the baby-carrier. I thought I had already posted this, but I looked through my blog and didn't see it. They just lean forward and throw the baby and the blanket onto their back and tuck it in in front like you would a towel around you after your bath. I can't believe it stays on--and the babies seem to like it .

This man was driving his horse and wagon along the bridge over the freeway. It was quite a contrast. We see one like this about every day usually with a couple of kids in the back and some things they have collected to take home and work on. The poor horse is always seems to be running or trotting---we are thinking the horses probably don't live very long!

Here is a picture of two of our favorite people in the branch. This is Nozuko whose home I wrote about in one of my very first blogs. She is a single woman with no children who desperately wants to get married and have children. Things look promising in this picture with Simpiwe, her good friend---don't they make a cute couple? He is probably about five years younger than she is and not nearly so ready to settle down. He has several of the women in the branch after him and he is not ready to choose at this point. We are really rooting for Nozuko, but we like the others too! Simpiwe is a new member of less than a year. Nozuko is coming to our temple preparation class and hoping to go to the temple this year---married or not! She has been a member for about two years, has a great job, and seems to be very independent. She is the Young Women's President and comes to everything at the church - they both do. Simpiwe was just called to be the Branch Mission Leader and is doing a very good job. This was taken in our little chapel at the Langa Branch.

The picture below is our investigator, Samantha and her boyfriend whom she lives with and their new baby. Her boyfriend is Zamile who is a member of the church who has not been active for a while, but decided to clean up his life when he learned that Samantha was expecting. She came to live with him then because he wanted to care for her. The missionaries asked us to come and talk to them for a while about marriage and how to get along ---they tend to fight a lot. Some days they want to get married and some days they don't!! We now go every Wednesday and discuss the gospel with them. Zamile's mother also comes to church, but is not a member. She doesn't speak English well and it makes it hard to teach her, but she loves the scriptures. They all do - they read all the time and have lots of questions when we come. This was taken on one of the hottest days of the year - we were all just sweating in their little house with very little air moving.

These kids were outside Zamile's house after we came out. They wanted to wash our car for 200 rand! that's about $25! We take it the service station and get it washed and dried and vacuumed for 50 rand. They even paint the tires black with shoe polish and polish the dash inside. Zamile's mother is in the back with the white hat on - whe felt bad she missed the picture inside. We'll get some more pictures of her. This was the first day of school for these kids and some of them still had their new clothes on. They were just excited to have school started again. I think they get pretty bored during the breaks.

I haven't added the pictures of the cake baking to the blog because I put them on Facebook one day. I was there and I was anxious to add them. I decided to put them here for those of you who don't do Facebook. We met on Saturday afternoon at three---that is the time they love to have Enrichment meeting. We try to be done by five, but it has been six or later all three times I have been there. Funerals are always on Saturday, in the morning, so they often come straight from the funeral to Relief Society meeting. On this day Sister Matshaya gave a lesson on developing their talents that was very interesting to them.
We talked for quite a while about what their talents were and how they could develop them. Of course only these four ladies were there because everyone comes about an hour late. I know, I know lots of people come late in the US too, but usually not half the crowd and they don't expect you to wait until they get there to start! In the picture above we are grating the carrots for the carrot cake. I brought my little food processor to show them. I told them we didn't have to use it, but they insisted they wanted the latest technology. Some of the people whose families have been in the church for a long time are able to afford some of these things. I think it cost us about 220 rand which is about $30 American money. Sister Matshaya acted like she had one. They had a lot of fun playing with it. They all wanted to show in the picture how they were helping make the cake so they grabbed some of the ingredients for the picture! So cute! Sister Sekori who is holding the carrot and the baking soda is one of my favorite people. Her first name is Thandeka or Thandy for short- the th is just pronounced like a t so it sounds like Tandy. She is so loving and giving and tries so hard to please everyone. You'll see her in some more pictures as time goes on.

Sister Matshaya (the Relief Society President) is the one with the scarf around her head. She is usually wearing a hat at Enrichment because she has just come from a funeral and they must cover their heads at funerals---men and women. It is a sign of respect - I think for God, but it might be for the family of the person who died. Her name is Ntombelanga Gertrude---yeah, that's why I just call her Sister Matshaya - everyone does---and sometimes they call her Mama Matshaya. She is also one of my favorite people - the sweetest woman and very devoted to the Church. I found out this week that she is a debt counselor for some company and she goes to people's homes and helps them set up schedules to overcome their debt. She is a very intelligent woman.

The two girls in the center and their Mom showed up at about four pm and were disappointed that we already had the carrot cupcakes in the oven. But they set right to work getting the chocolate cake made. They love to clown for the camera and Elder Herbert would peek in about every 15 minutes and they would strike a pose for him and joke around with him. The lady sitting in the front is a stalwart of the branch. Her name is Lawandlekazi Mavula---she teaches seminary to the youth---I'm not sure how often they have it. I think it is about once a week in the afternoon. Sister Xoliswa Mokgosi is in the gold shirt on the right - She is the primary president---and Sister Matshaya's daughter.
Here are the cakes as they are finished and cut for serving. They had to try the chocolate frosting on a couple of the carrot cupcakes, but they decided the white cream cheese frosting was better on them. By this time Samantha (with the orange scarf) and her baby had come. Samatha is the one who loves to bake, but has no oven. We found out this week that they actually have a stove and the burners work. It is just that the oven doesn't work. Elder Herbert is going to try to fix it, we just have to find a tester so he can tell if the wiring is bad or the switch. She is very excited to have it fixed.
This picture has another of my favorite people - Sister Signoria Mzaifani. She is the mother of the two cuties. She has a beautiful singing voice and is the music director for the Branch. Her husband is a counselor in the branch presidency. She has a little sandwich shop in her kitchen and you can stop at her house and order a hoagie type sandwich with the fries right inside the sandwich---I think it is her own idea and is very popular with the locals. Her house is kind of like the Ross Park Drive-in with people dropping by every few minutes ordering sandwiches and she just keeps talking to you and cooking and taking care of her grandkids all the while. She is very generous and always makes a fuss about my clothes and how I look. We trade compliments every Sunday - but she looks so fantastic and has the most amazing clothes that they tell me she makes herself. Sandwiches don't start until lunch time, so I guess she gets that done in the morning!

Sight-seeing in Cape Town

Here is my sunset for this week - they are so amazing - I can't resist! This was taken in Langa on one of the evenings as we were leaving. This is from just north of the church building. Also, I found the red tree, so I'll add it here before I start. The trees continue to dazzle and amaze us. I think I can do another whole blog of trees!









A couple of weeks ago, Elder and Sister Harms from Mesa Arizona invited us to go site seeing with them in Cape Town. They have been here about 3 months longer than we have and know the area a little better. They have also traveled the whole mission because of their job - Public Affairs - they are assigned all of South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, and who knows what else! They are so fun and we have enjoyed getting to know them so much. Here is a picture of them!




The first place they took us they had not intended to go to, but we saw the church as we were driving and asked about it, so we drove in to take some pictures. This is the St. Marks District Six Church. The pic below shows a plaque put on the church by the people who saved it. Sorry I don't have a great program for zooming in on pictures---but maybe you can zoom in and read it. It says, "To Those Who Pass - Remember the thousands of people who lived for generations in District 6 and were forced by law to leave their homes because of the colour of their skins. Remember the St. Marks District Six church and the community who resisted the destruction of District Six." It is a very sad chapter in the history of South Africa. The Church was built in the 1700s. I remembered reading about this in the book - The Covenant and it was very real to me.



Here we are outside the old church. It stands in the middle of many modern buildings - a testimony to those who saved it ---of the unfair things that happened back in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The white people who controlled the government moved all of the black people out of their lovely small homes they had here and put them outside the city - they gave them ground, but no help to rebuild. They destroyed everything in the area - just bulldozed the homes and the other churches and planned to build a beautiful white community here. The people who went to this church stood firm and insisted this was a historical place and set up such an outcry that this church alone was saved.

As we walked around outside, we noticed signs that there were not tours on Saturday, and were disappointed we wouldn't see the inside. I saw a large wooden door and for some reason I decided to try it to see if it was open and it was! We went in and called to see if someone was there and found a very old man - 82 who was creating floral arrangements for Sunday. He said he had been doing this since 1954! He wants to retire, but they won't let him. He allowed us to go into the chapel. This is a picure of one of the stained glass windows. You can see the pulpit where people speak here too.

In the picture below, I am up near the pulpit and the Harms are in the pews. Elder and Sister Harms came here to church when they first got here to get aquainted with the area. The people in charge noticed them right away because of their name-tags. During the meeting the man in charge suddenly invited Sister Harms to come up and say a few words! She went to the front so shocked and bore her testimony that Jesus lives and God is our Father. They loved it! This was a very special honor for them and totally unexpected. She spoke right there at the podium that showed in the last picture-- above her head---I wish we could have been there!

The picture below is looking back at the doorway to the chapel--there is a beautiful wooden carving above the entry-way. I loved all the archways. People still come in taxis on Sunday to worship here. It is a tradition for many families who now live 15 to 20 kilometers outside the city.

Now we move to the Castle of Good Hope - a beautiful old Fort built near the ocean to protect the city against invaders. This was our original destination when the trip began. Sorry we did not get a picture of the entrance. I left a spot for it here!

Here we are on top of the Castle. You can see Devil's Peak on the left and Table Mountain on the right behind us. This is really not very far from our Mission Office. This is right downtown. Those doorways and windows behind us were places where the military worked and stayed, but now they are rooms where artists have their studios. It was so fun to visit with them and look at their work. We look like we are staying pretty healthy, huh. Need to get some of the weight off again! Too much time at the desks!

The next three pictures were in the artist's studios---they were right there working. We were not very smart and did not take pictures of some of the best art - I guess we felt that would not be very nice---they wanted us to buy some. But why didn't we take pictures of the artists!! Couldn't tell you--maybe we'll go again and we'll be smarter! The highway designer I am married to loved the picture below, but it was too expensive for our budget and I was not prepared to have a freeway hanging on my wall. It was so realistic - you felt like you could walk into it. I am pointing to a speed limit sign - that says 80---that's all it is ---a circle with an 80 in it. They have them with 100s in them too - in fact I think they go up to 120. Of course it is kilometers per hour, not mph! Missionaries are not allowed to go over 100, but couples are free to follow the speed limit. Woo hoo!

I thought this was a great idea for a chair for the "naughty spot" - for those of you who haven't witnessed The Nanny Show - I can't remember the real name of it - the children have to go the naughty spot until they are ready to behave. If you can't read it, it says, "Sit down and Listen." Might be a good chair for husbands and wives to take turns sitting in---not very comfortable however. This was a wooden stool - with high legs. For children - maybe a bench!

The picture below shows a tile made by the artist that is a favorite saying this year in South Africa. We are seeing it and hearing it a lot. I would have liked to have had this, but Elder Herbert wasn't interested in the tiles. We'll probably end up with T-shirts!

We should have known that Elder Harms would get into the program later when he showed such an interest in the cannons at the Castle. This picture gives you an idea of how large it is. It is actually a pentagon in shape and was built to protect against invasion. This is only half of the pentagon. . . . there ia a center wall. It was built between 1666 and 1679 and is the oldest surviving building in South Africa. After 1678 it was the center of civilian, administrative, and military life at the Cape until the settlement grew and some functions were moved away from the castle.

Below, the cannon firer is explaining all about the cannon. A Levis artist who wants special damage done to levis put them there so the cannon can make them "one of a kind". They evidently get a good price if they have gunshot holes! They did not put a ball in the cannon, because the first time they did, they blew out several windows in the castle.

And so ends the adventure of the Herberts and Harms at the Castle of Good Hope. Elder Harms heard the man teaching us about the cannon make a disparaging remark about Americans and their holey levis or something, so when the man offered to let someone to pay 50 rand (donation to the Cannon Historical Firing Club) to fire the cannon, he pulled his money out quickly and said - if you will take back that comment about Americans. Everyone got a good laugh, but the man did not take it back. But Elder Harms paid anyway and was very gracious with the man. So the cannon was fired and blew the bottom out of the levis and we were all amazed at the power of that tiny cannon. By the way, Elder and Sister Harms are here on a Public Affairs Mission to increase positive awareness of the church, so he is much more aware of little remarks than we are---we did not even notice the remark! We love you all - stay strong and remember the Herberts who live in South Africa and their remarkable friends - the Harms!

Happy New Year---may it be the best ever!

We are so happy today and wanted to share a few new things we have seen in Africa. I posted some pictures of the Langa Christmas Party on Face Book today too. We have had some sweet experiences with the sweet people who live in Langa these last few weeks. Yesterday we visited a little couple we have been working with. They have a new baby and it is so fun to see new babies, I was so thrilled to visit. They had been having some arguments and things and the Elders asked us to visit alone and talk to them about their relationship. They aren't married and you can guess most of our thinking was that they need to be married. He is a member of the church and she is not, so the Elders have been teaching her the gospel. They are so sweet and trying so hard to understand what life is all about. Then his mother came into the room from outside and saw us. She rushed to me and hugged me and said she was so glad to see us and she was crying and we realized the troubles were much worse than we thought. We were so glad we took a few minutes to go and talk with them. We hope it helped them. It is always like that---the people are so glad to see you and cling to you. They so much want to better their lives.

This is a sunset on our way home from an evening church meeting in Langa. You'll probably see some more of these because the sunsets are often beautiful. That's Table Mountain in the background.

The trees here have been flowering so beautifully all spring. They also grow in fantastically strange ways. We have taken so many pictures that it is hard to pick between them! Here are a few of our favorites.

This is little purple and big blue who grow in front of a cute little white cottage that looks like it came from a storybook. I wish you could see the Dutch influence in many of the homes here. Don't you just want to move in?

As we walk every day at 5:30 we often see these weird, scary-forest trees that make you want to stop and look at them. This one is especially fun. It reminds me of the trees that reached out and grabbed Snow White in that scary part of her movie!

We usually walk in the road because the sidewalks are so narrow and there is no traffic at that time. When you're not quite awake you tend to wander all over the road. I can't believe we had the good sense to take this picure!

Here is our favorite little sticker bush right outside the gate to our office. Those are not toothpicks---those are the thorns on the bush. I would not want to wander into this on a dark night.

I think I took this through the car window, but I like it too much to throw it away. This is Joe Fish---a restaurant right across the street from our flat. On warm nights they open their wall and you eat out on the patio. They make great garlic shrimp -yes, they have heads and are unpeeled. They eat the shells here -crunchy! They also have crumbed mushrooms and chips (french fries) which make a great snack once in awhile!

This is Joe Fish in the daytime. You can see how close we are to them because that is our gate as we are pulling out of our complex. The columns on the side lead to the mall we go to that has a grocery store, a department store, a video rental place (we haven't tried it yet) a pharmacy where we can get our prescriptions (they call it a chemist). It is great having everything so handy. I took the pic because of the tree, but we enjoy this little place so much that it has become a favorite. We have a special waitress that we always try to get. She always picks on Vic---she came by the table one day and he had some water spilled. She wiped it up and said, "Stop being so messy!" Since then she and Vic are always having fun picking on each other.

We can't decide why the trees grow this way. It must have something to do with the wind, or maybe the climate, or maybe that's just the way God wanted them to be---fascinating.

This one takes the gnarly prize so far. Be sure and let us know your favorite and we will go and climb up in it and take a better pic. Or maybe we will go and post an award next to it.

This is our street! About halfway down that road is our building and our little flat inside. This tree guides us home! She is an amazing sight from any side.

On the right is a handy service station with a McDonalds inside. Don't hope for a quick meal---seems to take at least 20 minutes or maybe it was just a bad day. We never eat there!! Who would go here when we have Joe Fish?

This is actually the first tree we saw that was full of flowers. A huge blue tree! It surprised us so much that Vic actually stopped the car and we took a picture---that is really rare as you can tell from my pictures. Well, it looks blue to me. Vic says it is probably purple, but it's pretty amazing either way.

There is still a red tree that I can't seem to find right now, but you get the idea---the trees are amazing. I'll put it in somewhere else. We have a lovely place to live with lots to do every day. I am going to end this blog before I delete any more pictures accidentally. I try to delete the spaces and end up deleting pictures. I always end up with huge spaces between and I don't really see why. If you know, email me or leave a comment! I will just leave them and hope you understand---maybe it wasn't too bad!!