Stitt Family Adventures

Well, it's been an action-packed six weeks for our family! Here's where we were and what we were doing (mostly in pics). Thanks to my family members for sharing their photos with us. (...If you notice an especially nice shot, you can be pretty sure it was taken by one of my brothers-in-law!)

Saying goodbye to Susan and heading to the airport: Michele and the kids flew to Salt Lake City on 17 July. (Susan was dressed up for a birthday party that evening)

So grateful to Michelle who house-sat and dog-sat for the 5 weeks we were gone.

While we were gone, Jeff mostly traveled and worked in Africa. But he did get to see the Springboks take on the All Blacks with his friend Andrew. The Springboks played brilliantly for 70 minutes. Unfortunately rugby games are 80 minutes long.

All the posterity of Doug and Carol LeMon (except the aforementioned Jeff) traveled to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park for a reunion to celebrate Doug's 80th birthday!

Ann, Chloe, John and Sara hiked a slot canyon with Wendy & Brian

Wendy, Lori, Shannon, Denise and Collin at Bryce

As you would expect for a LeMon gathering, there were silly games

Spencer

Brian

The uncles were good sports

And there was great food. Jeffrey especially loved the food!

Everyone gave Grandpa 80-somethings to celebrate his 80 years. Kate gave him this book of leaves and flowers collected from South Africa.

AND--Happy 54th anniversary to my parents--still playing racquetball, still serving together, still dating, still in love!

It was great to have Steven's family spend a few extra days with us in Alpine

And John and Kate loved getting extra time with Rebecca, Ann, Stephanie and Sara from Seattle

One night, the cousins staged their own "Cupcake Wars." Yeh, we were all winners.

And the puzzle people in the family completed this doozy of a jigsaw

It was wonderful to reconnect with so many people we love!!

Elder Vizzinni from Joburg

Sister Chazen also from Joburg

Amy

Kelli and Kylie

Mikun

Ashley

Debbie

Charlyn

Melanie

Rose

Julie

Hilary and Sherry

Mindy and Claire

Rachel

Uncle Paul and Aunt Pam

Erica, McKay and Rich

Nancy

Karisa

Ok, Kansas City friends...this is Kitty Lamping whom I haven't seen since she moved away when were six. She reconnected with my parents and came to see me when we were in Utah!

Harrison and Sheri

Elder Riley who just finished serving in Joburg

We also attended the Linton Family Reunion

Wendy and Lawrence "Chan" Memmott (age 96)

My great friend Ardene from Minnesota, who is also a Linton!

Grandpa's Garden

Picnic in American Fork Canyon with G&G (just like old times)

John and Michael attended a week-long youth camp at BYU-Idaho

While John was at camp, Kate and Michele stayed with Lori's family in Rexburg

Learning to fly-fish with Uncle Brian in Targhee National Forest

Huckleberry picking

Sand dunes

Jeff arrived in Utah to share the last two weeks with us!

Anthony and his family flew in from Missouri and we enjoyed a lovely evening in AF Canyon.

Kate celebrated her 11th birthday at Boondocks and In-N-Out

(hats courtesy of Jessica)

Sam, Spencer and Peyton

Corbin, Lethe and Kayden

We spent a perfect day at Deer Creek Reservoir with the Barlows

John earned his driver's permit!

Jeff's brother Rob came to visit

We hiked and toured Timp Cave

John and Kate spent a day at Antelope Island with the Adams

Then Jeff and I joined them for a magnificent supper (my family now wishes I made gravy)

The same day, we were so happy to catch up with Minnesota friends, the Saunders

and the Evans!! So awesome.

Too soon, it was time to say goodbye. On our last evening, my parents took us to dinner at the Garden Room on Temple Square.

We said one last goodbye to the Barlows

Jessica

And we popped over to the Judsons just to make sure they didn't get to bed too early for the 2nd day of school!

The time was too short. And it was exhausting! We didn't get to see everyone we would've liked to see, and we didn't take photos of everything we can still picture in our memories. But it was a wonderful trip and just what we needed--to reconnect in the US!

Now we are back in South Africa and here's the news:

The rand is 13.60ZAR /1 USD. This is horrible for people here in SA, most of whom rely on imports for business. Most of the time we've lived here, the rand has been in the 10.00's.

The government has tightened up regulations for foreigners like us to transfer money.

Our former gardener Charles died from HIV complications last week. He was a cheerful, hard-working man and we will miss seeing him in the neighborhood.

Susan went to Harare on leave and took things for the house she's been building. While she was there, her home was bulldozed and looted. The members of the city council are all pointing at each other and none are taking responsibility. But the politicians' vendors are back, trying to resell the building materials to the victims of their bulldozers. Jeff is working on getting an NGO involved to see what kind of recourse Susan has, because she paid for the land. She is devastated, as you can imagine.

We went to a really fun braai at the Cunninghams' last Saturday. There was a huge bonfire, live music and lots of socializing. We love South Africa and its diverse people and diverse experiences. There is always a lot to try to understand and a lot to be grateful for.

Here's what we were up to in June and July!

Bob & Liz Cowan visited from the US. They were great ambassadors for South Africa when we first considered moving here. Every good thing they told us has been TRUE!!

Some of the young single adults from church (and John) came over for a game night. We have so much fun with these great people!

John began his certification in scuba diving.

Here he is at Miracle Waters where he did his first 3 open water dives and explored a submerged school bus, an SUV, and a plane.

Kate attended a "space dance" at her school

For the first time, I received a paper check for rands here in South Africa. I emailed my personal banker to ask how to deposit a check. I received the reply "Due to the confidential nature of your request, we are unable to answer your question over email." So I went to the bank where we have an account and asked if I could cash the check (for about $40). The teller said "No" because the check was written from an account with another bank. So I filled out a deposit slip. Then I went to the teller. She passed out to me a blank deposit slip and told me to fill it out. I said "I just gave you a filled out slip." She said "But you wrote in red ink." So I completed the slip in black ink and sent it through. Then she looked up my account and said "This check is made out to Michael (that's how she read "Michele") and the name on the account is Jeffrey so I can't accept it." I said "I'm MICHELE and I am also on the account but since you can't have joint accounts in South Africa, Jeff's is the name on the account. Please look somewhere else and see if you can find my name." She did and she found me and accepted the deposit. ...Apparently there is a bit more bank fraud here in South Africa than I'm used to. ...Just hoping I don't get another check any time soon!

John had another scope and biopsy that demonstrated that going off fish and nuts has completely eradicated his throat issues!

We said goodbye to Mavis with lunch at Mugg & Bean (Charnell, Michele, Stephanie, Pumza, Mela, Meno, Mavis). We miss her and her family but are excited to see them in Utah!!

Kate attended her friend Hayley's birthday party. Probably about 40 kids plus their parents there!

This human hamster ball was a hit!

Our friends the Berichons returned to the US this month. I will really miss all the laughs with Stephanie. John will miss Grace who became his good friend as they did math and gymed together several times a week.

Nomthi's birthday at Licorish (Michele, Nomthi, Marilyn, Charnell)

And Ephraim & Nomthi's 25th wedding anniversary celebration. Highlights were hearing everyone's advice for a long and happy marriage and listening to their friends sing. Oh I love it!

Our vet sponsored a family braai. They were running a contest of "who looks most like their dog?" Guess who won?! (Since we think Emma is beautiful, we'll take that as a compliment)

Emma, Mosa (vet's nurse), Wendy (vet), Kate holding our prize basket

Remember when I said that the dog would NOT be allowed on my bed?!

Kate prepared for riding class. She had fun at pony camp during a school break.

Our friend Pume is the lead "urchin/diva" in "Little Shop of Horrors" ie. she sings lots of amazing, soulful solos! Last stop on the tour was Joburg. Charnell and I went to see her.

Marilyn taught Kate and Michele how to do silk painting.

Here, Kate is modeling the silk scarves we made.

For the 4th of July, we went with the Calls downtown to an American style BBQ restaurant (they even "imported the smoker from Texas!"). And it was delicious!! (Charlotte and Kate).

Then we attended a party at the Magnums' where we showed all our South African friends how Americans celebrate. Kate did well in the bubblegum blowing contest.

John and Angus almost won the crepe paper wrapping contest.

This is Busa, Mela's daughter. So she literally is planning to marry John. She writes him notes, tells her school friends that she and her husband John have a dog named Emma, and gives him hugs every Sunday at church. Busa calls me "Auntie Michele" but I could get used to "Mama Michele." She is SO cute!

The rolling blackouts continue. Kate and I went to see "Inside Out" and about 30 minutes into the movie, the theatre went pitch dark. We all had to use cell phones to get out and then stand in lines to get vouchers from cinema employees with tiny flashlights to return another day.

Some very sad news: Two friends have been attacked at gunpoint at their homes recently. They live on agricultural holdings which are rural and not very secure. One friend was shot a few times but is recovering well.

And a Zambian family at church was using candles during a blackout. They fell asleep and their home caught fire. The father and 2 children survived. The mother and another child died from smoke inhalation. With Nomthi, I've spent a lot of time with this family. They have lost everything. It is so very sad. But to see their family pull together has been beautiful. One of the most powerful memories I will have from my time in Africa was listening to the mother's 11 siblings sing together at her memorial service.

Love, Michele

John & Jeff go on a Trip!!!! (Special guest writing by Jeff)

In late June, John & I went on a trip. We were supposed to go to Nose Be off of the northern tip of Madagascar to go sailing for a week. The trip started out normal. We flew from Johannesburg to Antananarivo (the capital of Madagascar) on South African Airways.

For our first stop, we went to the heart of the financial district (above). Yup, 4 buildings over 4 stories....I got to dine on a Zebu Fillet (it was really tough) and John had pasta carbonara which he described as pasta, with gristle and a raw egg on top.

The next morning, we went to Church at one of the 2 stakes in downtown Antananarivo. It was really neat to see how the Church is growing there.

But after Church, we found out that there was a problem - Air Madagascar, the national airline had gone on strike - it is the only airline that flies from Antananarivo to Nose Be. And driving was not an option because there are not proper roads. The tour company, trying to be helpful, offered to put us on a charter for 850 Euros each, one way. We would have to share with another couple (Honeymooners - Charlotte and Macomb from the UK) and two pilots - and our luggage.

There was only one LITTLE problem:

Yup, that's right - 6 people + luggage in that plane. I did some quick math and figured out that the luggage was overweight and declined to get on. After walking all over the airport and looking at various airplanes that wouldn't fit us all(Yes, the same one that serves the commercial airlines - you can't do that in the States), we found an old medivac plane - complete with hospital bed and Ebola Stickers - that was big enough for us to all fit in. The plane was slightly beat up (dents in the propellers, a few parts missing - you get the picture) but looked like it was good for one more flight, so we asked how much.....they wanted 8,000 Euros each way for the 4 passengers. At that point, I nearly needed the Medivac plane because I about had a coronary.

So, being the rational people we are, John and I decided to go with our new friends and see if we could leave Madagascar.... The only places we could go were Johannesburg (no seats), the Seychelles (no seats), and maybe Mauritius. Air Mauritius had cancelled the three prior flights and had already cancelled the next day's - and they said it might not go out on Sunday. We hurried over to the terminal and tried to buy a ticket. The Agent assured us that there were plenty of seats - but only because they couldn't issue any tickets at the airport, as the machine doesn't work on Sundays (TAB!). After assuring us that no one in the airport or downtown could issue us tickets because Air Madagascar was on strike, it looked like we might be out of luck. But then Jeff called Air Mauritius in Mauritius and got someone who would issue a ticket over the phone with a credit card.

This is a picture of the four of us, who are now very good friends after a day of trials smiling as we head out to Mauritius!

What was Mauritius like, you ask? OK, this is a canned shot - but you get the idea

We were really lucky. When it looked like we were going to bail out of Madagascar, I called the same place that Michele and I had gone to the prior year.....and they surprisingly had a room for us!!!! It was the Oberoi - Highly recommended! John loved the virgin mojitos as much as his Mom and I did.