On the 4th of July with some other missionary couples we celebrated David's birthday by having lunch at a revolving restaurant, enjoying the panoramic view of Durban. Xoloni Mbatha, our little missionary from our Branch One that we have been working with and preparing to serve his mission in Cape Town, was also set apart while we were in Durban. It was exciting to be there for this blessing. Pres. Mann also gave Elder Dibb a blessing before his surgery. It brought so much peace and comfort to both of us; it was very wonderful.
Our major message for July was Elder Dibb having sinus surgery on the 7th of July by Dr. Williams in a good hospital in Durban. We have felt blessed to have been referred to such a caring and careful ETN Doctor. The surgery was actually done in a room they call Theatre 7. Apparently there is a screen on the wall that can be viewed by the specialists during the surgery. The surgery was successful and he was able to breathe better immediately after the surgery. It was a hospital overnight stay and we he was released the next morning. We were asked to stay in Durban for the following eight days because of the warmer/kinder weather there. Fortunately for us another missionary couple finished their mission and left for Utah on July 1st and we were able to stay in their apartment during the time we were there for the conference and the surgery. We sure appreciate all the phone calls and emails that we received. It was kind of a long week, but Elder Dibb made the best of it by completely reading the Book of Mormon.
On the 16th we came back home...back to doing some visits and training a new Primary presidency and RS counselors individually. Also back to teaching classes; one Sunday both of were in different Sunday School classes teaching after we learned about the need a couple of minutes earlier. Elder Dibb did some temple recommend interviews prior to the branch temple trip. I continued planning our District YSA Conference. The YSA Committee has helped me get a good program planned. Our theme is 88 People Like You and our invitations are of fold-out paper dolls. We were able to get our posters distributed to the five branches.
On way back the following week, for Elder Dibb's follow-up appointment at the doctor's office, we stopped at our po box to pick up any mail. In our box was the laboratory invoice so we carried it with us to pay for it at the hospital. By doing this and paying early, we received nearly a 30% discount. An obvious tender-mercy. Another obvious tender mercy was walking into the "Game" store to discover that the very stove that we were interested in was on sale and could be delivered within two hours. We do feel blessed with so many blessings, and I don't know how many we don't even notice.
We had a fun Christmas in July & Birthday FHE Dinner here at our home. Four of our Elders, including Elder Dibb, had birthdays during the month. They loved the funeral potatoes, ham, green beans, red raspberry jello, and gold butternut [all the Christmas colors] with rolls and Birthday cake and ice cream for dessert. We also watch two short Christmas videos.
The end of the month brought the sad news of my best friend from high school having died from health complications. Sherrie Glenn Crawford was also my maid of honor.
On the other hand, at the end of the month, I got to Skype with Clark and see and hear him read a Fat Mat readers book; he was four years old on June the 21st.
David is still having some headaches and nausea, but Dr. Williams gave him a very strong anti-biotic and it has helped. In spite of not feeling well, he gave an excellent talk to the Rotary Club about World Food Hunger. They really liked it and asked a lot of questions after the dinner and presentation.
A couple of fun things: we found a Reese's Nutrageous candy bar; it was worth the $2.00. You know you have been in South Africa too long when you get excited to find the toothpaste you bought has a flip lid! In the grocery store we were re-looking for the "tin" of black beans. Finally the store clerk took us to them; they were next to the toothpaste. That was interesting, then we noticed that they were Organic... so therefore they were stocked in the "Health" and Beauty Dept. of the store.
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