Some of the keys and fobs used daily.

Sunday was a beautiful day.  Not too hot and quite pleasant. Larry had not driven in Swaziland yet, but we had been loaned a mission car to drive for the weekend.  Driving in the Swazi traffic and driving on the left side of the road, is a bit of a challenge, especially in the beginning.   One good thing  is that Sunday traffic is not as heavy as it is during the week.

We planned to go to the Evangelical Bible Church, which we attended all the time we lived here in Swaziland.  I should digress a bit and tell you that living in Swaziland comes with a huge bunch of keys. Naturally,  we have a key for each door.   Each outside door also has a gate which has a padlock. Interior doors and windows are linked to the burglar alarm, so doors and windows need to be closed securely.   Interior doors also have keys. We also have a gate to our yard and then a gate from our ‘compound’ to the main road.  The gate to the main road is opened electronically with a button on the key ring.  This is not unusual to have all this security in this part of the world.  Some areas, which we would call subdivisions or perhaps gated communities, have a guard who takes your name and license number and notes who you plan to visit.  After securing all windows and doors, one must set the alarm by pressing one of the buttons on the key ring.  There is a little red light in a window of the house that shows whether or not the house is properly secured  and the alarm is set. If the light does not come on, then one has to unlock the door gate, the door,  any interior doors, check windows and once again lock everything and try again.

Sunday morning, we had secured the house and set the alarm, and started off.  We arrived at the gate and it would not open for our button, nor for the button with the car keys.  So we went back to the house and deactivated the alarm unlocked all the doors and Larry called the only neighbor who was home.  He was on his way to church, but came by and programed our button to open the gate. We finally made it to church, but we were a bit late. Later we discovered that our gate key does fit other padlocks to gates that go through a field.  We could open those two gates and get out that way if we cannot unlock the main gate.

Another thing that we need to remember and get used to again, is that the cars also have alarms.  After you are in the car and start it, there is a hidden button that needs to be pushed to deactivate the anti-thieft device. If that button is not pushed, the car stops.  There is a way to get it started again, but not something one wants to happen in the middle of a busy road.  That little hidden button is not always easy to find

We had a very nice surprise when we arrived at church.  The Council for the Evangelical Bible Churches in South Africa and Swaziland were visiting.  One of the pastors on the Council was Pastor Matham, who was the pastor of EBC (Evangelical Bible Church)  Manzini when we first arrived in Swaziland.  It was such a pleasant surprise to see him once again.  After a very enjoyable service.  One of the pastors challenged us from Exodus 14, a well known story with new insights. We were also pleasantly surprised to discover that the church was having a pot-luck after the service. We enjoyed curry dishes and other very tasty food and fantastic fellowship and renewing of friendships.  Very blessed.

After church, since we did not know if we would have a vehicle for the rest of the week, we decided to go grocery shopping.  We found nearly everything on our list to get us through the week and the prices were, for the most part, quite reasonable.