Without going into a lot of details, I can say we had an interesting last 7 days.

We were been able to go out with the elders to meet a couple of their investigators: a couple who are running their own accredited school and are looking to add on to their house so they can expand and a very friendly Afrikaans family that can trace their family back to the early 18th century in South Africa.

We have met with the elders in District Development Meeting and in a three zone conference in Durban. In both meetings we were challenged to increase our spirituality and to be more effective in our missionary work.

We received calls to serve in the Richards Bay District. I was called to be on the District Council and Mary was called to be 2nd Counselor in the District Relief Society. As part of her new calling she will be conducting the Relief Society section of the District Conference on Saturday. I will be mainly working with the YM. Luckily for me I will be working with Sister Bartholomew who has most things already organized for a Super Saturday that is coming up at the end of July.

We had the opportunity to meet with president Malinga of the Esikhawini Branch and help him prepare for his first ever PEC meeting. Then on Sunday I attended that meeting and was pleased to see that even though it was pouring rain, most of those who should attend was there and on time. The branch presidents here in Richards Bay have served only 15 months or less and had no experience in leadership positions. They want to learn how to fulfil their callings and soak up information and ideas like sponges.

Later on Sunday I was able to participate in the confirmation of the three people who were baptized last Sunday. It was a great privilage to stand in the circles and feel the spirit of the blessings given to each of them. One of those baptized, brother Thembu, told me that after his baptism last week, he slept very soundly. His soul was filled with peace.

Also on Sunday I taught the Aaronic Priesthood about how priests could ordain other deacons, teachers and priests. Then two of the young men had the opportunity to confer the priesthood and ordanin others. We had all the priests stand in the circle. The smiles on the faces of those who participated was worth leaving our home and our family for these 18 months.

We also managed to get lost. As I have mentioned the homesteads inPort Durnford are, for the most part, located on sandy roads. I do not think there is any dirt in all of Port Durnford so they are not dirt roads. These roads in many places merely two tracks through the trees and fields. We were going out to try and meet with one of the young women and we thought we would have no trouble because we had been there before with the elders and knew it was marked on the GPS.

Unfortunately the GPS is not really aware of all the little roads that wander around and sure enough we found ourselves lost. We tried to ask directions from people who were walking or working and they tried to help but we still could not find her homestead.

We had just turned around for the last time and were headed home when we saw her walking towards us across a field. It turned out we were just across a large field from her home and she had seen us driving along the road. The reason that the neighbors could not help was because we pronounced her name incorrectly. But even with making all those mistakes, the Lord watched over us and got us where we needed to go.

On Thursday and Friday we had the opportunity to meet with the youth from the branches. Like all youth there are times when they are just not ready for what we want to teach but for the most part they are great. We are working on learning the Articles of Faith. Not only to learn them but to learn what they mean. It is one thing to know what the first principles and ordinances are and another to know what the word principle and ordinance means. The same thing is true of songs. They love to sing but often they sing words that have no meaning to them.

Along these same lines, on Friday we met in a members home out in Port Durnford to teach an English lesson. We started a couple of weeks ago with three students and this week we had five. They ranged in age from about 12 to 80 something. Their ability to understand English vocabulary – not to mention grammar- was from almost nil to not bad. The one thing they all have in common is the desire to learn and that is what needed most. The hour we spend teaching them each week flies by and we can not stay over because we must hurry to Esikhawini to meet with the youth.

I almost forgot that on Sunday we had dinner for all the elders in the zone at our house. Last week was transfers and we said goodbye to elders Clark, Kiserema and Emaneke and got to meet elder Richey, Peterson, Babeeyo and Mholo. This is elder Mholo’s first area and he is lucky to be trained by elders Schlenker and Babeeyo while serving in the Empangeni area. I am surprised to find that I did not take a picture of the new zone – I will have to do that today when we have Zone Development Meeting.