Kimberly, the teachers and the big hole.

These two ladies are our teachers in Kimberly ward.  They are very dedicated and wonderful Teachers.  On Friday May 23, 2014 we had the privilege of meeting with these sister to go over seminary and institute records for the year and get ready to close the first term and open the second term.  It was a delightful late afternoon that we got to spend with them.

Margaret Tihabisang teaches seminary.  She is a professional teacher by trade.  On Friday afternoon she shares her talents and testimony with a large group of students who love the gospel and love seminary.   Most of her students come to the chapel early (One comes shortly after noon some days) and wait for her to get there from school.  Many of them have not had much to eat and they wait for their teacher until 5:00 for class.  These kids are amazing.  Sister Tihabisang often brings a bit to eat to curb the growling stomachs.
 

This is Mpho Oliphant.  She is a dynamite institute teacher packed into a very petite  body.  If I could bottle her enthusiasm and sell it, I would make a fortune.  She bubbles with excitement about the gospel and her students.  She has been teaching for two year now and has been a member for only 5 years.  She has the most amazing personality and truly cares for others.  She is one of the choice daughters of God.

Here in South Africa we all help each other out because the distances are just so great between the wards and branches.  Sometimes we call on the Carliles (MLS) missionary couple and sometimes we help them out.  We were going to Kimberly already so we loaded our car with missionary stuff that had to be given to the missionaries in Kimberly.  We were anxiously greeted by three young men, because one of the things we were transporting was a missionaries wallet that had been left in Durban when he was transferred to Kimberly.  It had the card that payed for the electricity and the missionaries were getting pretty worried they would soon run out.   Luckily we got the wallet to them before they were out of electricity.  Two other missionaries received heating pads and were very grateful.  They have been cold.  Other things were a table, some stuff for an open house and who knows what all else.  It is fun to be so anxiously greeted even if it is not really you that they are happy to see.


After we took all the stuff to the missionaries we went to see "The Big Hole"  In Kimberly there is a diamond mine.  It is the largest open mine, in the world, that was dug using shovels and human labor.  It was quite massive when you imagine how difficult it was for those men to have dug it using shovels.

We watched a twenty minute movie that told about the mines and how the diamonds were first discovered.  it was very informative and quite fun to watch.  It made the rest of the tour much more fun because we understood what we were seeing and realized just what an impressive accomplishment this truly was.

This gives some good information about the size of the hole and the  diamonds found etc.

You can see part of Kimberly at the top of the picture.  The city actually surrounds the mine.

Elder Edington is on the observation deck were you look out over the hole.  It is pretty awesome, unless you are afraid of heights.  It gives you an excellent view of the hole and the surrounding areas.

This is just a garbage can but I like the advertisement for the "Big Hole"

You can see the water down in the hole through the railing on the deck. The whole is much deeper that what can be seen.    It is part way filled with ground water.

It is really hard to get a feel for how big the hole is from the picture but it was massive.  It was a bit scary to think of those men trying to dig the hole and remove the dirt.  I still do not see how they were able to get the dirt up the sides of the hole as it got deeper and deeper.  According to the movie some men did lose there live when land slides occurred.

After we observed the hole we went in an elevator that took us underground to see the underground mines.  There where old rail cars and equipment used by the miners.  We went through some tunnel and into a large room where we saw displays showing and telling how Kimberly was founded, a timeline and lots of information about how diamonds are formed.  One of the neatest parts was the glass vault that we entered where we got to see all different kinds of diamonds.  I never realized that there are lime green and yellow diamonds.  I knew there were blue and clear diamonds.  They had replicas of all the really famous diamonds.  Some of them were actually found at the Kimberly mine.  This was truly a wonderful and exciting adventure in Kimberly.