Evening Walk along the Gonubie Beach

Nice walk down on the beach this evening there was a great deal of foam on the beach.  The crane was enjoying the evening at the beach as well.  We managed to get down to the beach close to low tide.

The Thomas Family "Great Choosing"

This evening at 10:00 PM I participated with my family in what has been called the “Big Choosing”.  Byron had completed an inventory of Mom and Dads possession (which Trisha helped him type up) and the family had gathered at my parents  home in order to divide up these items between the family.  It was an enjoyable evening that went on for more than two hours.  I found the experience peaceful with no conflict with any of brother and sisters. 

We started the "choosing" with Cindy and then when up and down in order giving each brother and sister the opportunity to choose something.  Most of my brothers and sisters were choosing something that one of their sons or daughters might have wanted.  I was grateful that I was able to pick some of those items that were of interest to my daughters.

I am grateful to my brothers and sisters for the loving way this was done.  I am sure that our Parents looked down with love and gratitude in their hearts for the manner in which it was done.

Finally, I took the pictures above as the evening progressed.  I would like to come to the defense of Uncle Brad who was not taking the time to pick his nose.  His hand was just beginning to gesture to someone to the right of the picture and I just happened to take the picture at the "incorrect" moment.

Uncle Byron carried the phone around from room to room as he showed us what was being picked by my brothers and sisters.  Uncle Brad was very busy as he went from item to item with sticky notes labeling who chose what as things were being picked.  I asked my sisters, who were scurrying around to sit for a moment so I could take their picture.  These two are some of Heavenly Fathers finest.

Elder Pulu goes the the Doctor for his toe - AGAIN

Today we had Elder Pulu and his companion, Elder Taylor, drive down to East London from Mthatha in order to have his toe looked at.  Sister Thomas had found a Podiatrist for him to go to.  His toe, after all this time (three months), is not getting better.  The Doctor found that his ingrown toe nails had not been taken care of correctly and had grown back on both sides of his toe.  The Doctor removed them both.  His toe will be sore for a while.

We discovered Elder Taylor does not like to see the sight of blood.  He was getting close to dry heaving when we discussed the need to change the dressing every other day.  He is expressing himself about the whole thing in the picture.

Picking up the Elders who flew into East London

Finally, near the end of our day we were able to pick up the new missionaries at the airport and deliver them to the church.  We arrived a bit early compared to the meeting time we agreed with the Zone Leaders so we had some time getting to know the new Elders.  We had each of the new missionaries tell us a little bit about themselves.  They are thrilled to be here and are ready to go to work.

From left to right:  Sisters Thomas & Stapley, then Elders Mariner, Stapley, Mchunu (returning to be a MD Zone Leader), Chapman, Dean, Ludvigson, Hoffman.

Lunch with the Stapley's at the Shangha Restaurant

While we were picking up and delivering, the Stapleys were out doing some errands.  We managed to catch up with them for some lunch at the downtown Shanghai restaurant.

Elder and Sister Thomas have a quiet monent at the Bus Stop

Elder and Sister Thomas have a quiet 30 minutes waiting for the bus to arrive at the Windmill Station in East London.  It began as a clear warm day and while we were sitting here waiting for the bus, a squall blew in from over the ocean and we were chased back inside the building.  As luck would have it, the Elders unloaded their baggage from the bus in a down poor.  Just another normal day in the life of a transferring missionary.

Transfer Day Morning with the Van

We met all the Elders who are flying to Cape Town at the Church at 6:30 in the morning.  This worked out well.  There is a special feeling that we have each time we send a group of Elders through the security check point.  Some of them are on their way home while others are being transferred to Cape Town.  There is a possibility that they will not be coming back our way and we may not see a young man that we have grown to love.  Heart breaking and heart warming all at the same time.