OCTOBER NEWS FROM STANLEYS - SOUTH AFRICA

Michael arrived in the US on 12 October. It is so good to be back together after 7 weeks apart.

I spent most of the time with my sister and brother-in-law, Sharon and Dave. Sharon has some health issues and I was able to accompany her to a few doctors' appointments. It gave us a lot of time together - something we haven't had in a long time.

Michael had a pretty rough 7 weeks. For quite a lot of the time he had no water at our house. There is a bit of debate about whether it is broken pipes from old age or sabotage! Whatever the cause, there are many areas that have been without water. Then for a few hours there was no electricity. Because of that, he spent quite a lot of time with our girls - which was a blessing! At least he had water and people around him.

Also he was bitten by a dog shortly after I left. Because he didn't know anything about the dog, he went through the rabies treatment. He did see the dog later and it looked ill, but the owners assured him it was sick from eating rat poison!

He had to make a trip of several hours to meet with the finance committee before they drew up the financial report. He asked Rebecca, our 19-year-old granddaughter, to travel with him for companionship. She was able to visit an aunt and uncle while he was in his meetings.

Just before he left for the Conference he was notified that Heather Kernan, a former fellow-missionary, had passed away. On Sunday when he arrived for the Conference church service, he was told that John had passed away. He thought that the person was confused, but then learned that indeed both Heather (age 88) and John (age 96) had passed away - her on Wednesday and him on Saturday. John had phoned about 6 months ago and asked Michael to speak at his funeral. He consulted with other church leaders and booked a flight to East London to be at the funeral
on Tuesday. He had to fly from Kimberley to Johannesburg, stay overnight and then fly to East London. He missed the check-in in Johannesburg by 3 minutes and had to buy a ticket on another airline to get to East London. He arrived at the church for the 12 noon funeral at 12:05! He spoke at the funeral and then he spent the afternoon with John's daughter and family. They enjoyed reminiscing!

He returned to the Conference on Wednesday and presented his last treasurer's report on Thursday! It was well-received and accepted. Later that day elections were held and new officers were elected. We are both relieved that he is no longer treasurer!

The Conference ended on Friday morning, but he decided to drive home on Saturday. Since he had some time, he decided to go and take some pictures of an old church site in Kimberley. While he was taking the picture, some young men came up and spoke to him. As he turned away from the "leader" he felt something hit his chest and turned to see the man running away with his mobile phone! He gave chase, but couldn't catch up. He returned to the pickup to find that, while he was gone, someone stole his camera case out of the pickup! He had the camera with him, but lost the battery charger, connecting cables and case!

We have now settled in with our friend, Richard Eckman, in Kimball, Minnesota. We will be visiting several of our supporters over the next two months. Our plans have changed a few times, but our plan is to return to South Africa at the end of December for some family events. Then we will return in mid-May to visit the rest of our supporters.
Pray for safety as we travel and for God's protection over our family and house while we are away.

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