21 June 2009 – Sunday

We had a very busy morning because we had to pick up the Esikhawini elders at their boarding and take them to church. Since we needed to be there in time for PEC at 8:00 that meant we had to leave our boarding before 6:45. But everything went smoothly and president Malinga held a good PEC meeting. After the meeting I met with brother Khosi , the elders president, and we agreed that he would come on Saturday at 1:00 for some training. So we are set for a busy Saturday.

When the meetings were finished, there started an interesting series of events.  I left Mary at Esikhawini and rushed off to Port Durnford to help elder B sustain and set apart the two counselors that were approved by President Mann. I was almost there when my cell phone rang and the Barts told me that they had been at the PD chapel but no one showed up. So they had left and gone to the Esikhawini chapel to set apart the new counselor.

I immediately turned around and got back just in time to say goodbye to the Bs who had finished with the setting apart and was heading to their branch meetings.  As I was sitting in sacrament meeting during the opening prayer, my cell phone went off. Usually I remember to turn it off but this day I forgot. I was rather embarrassed as I tried to silence it without any success. When the prayer was over I went out to find that the Bartholomews had called to tell me that one of the counselors in Port Durnford had come late and they were heading back to sustain and set him apart. I decided I would not join them.

The Young Women put on their Sacrament Meeting program and they did great. Some of the talks were a little short and some were hard to hear, but they all did their best and the spirit was strong. At the end of the meeting the traditional Fathers Day gifts were handed out.

During Sunday School and Priesthood, president Malinga kept me rather busy answering questions and helping him with things that he was not sure how to do. I love this man because he desires to do what the Lord expects of him and he wants to do it right. It is obvious that he loves the members of the branch and knows many of them very well. I think in 6 months the Esikhawini branch will be more than able to stand on its own – which they may have to do if no new couples are called to the mission. At the moment, other than the couple coming in July, there is no indication that any more are coming.

They do have the advantage of having 10 fathers – Port Durnford does not have one family headed by a father – and the members own 7 or 8 cars – again PD does not have one.

After the block meeting Mary held her first piano class and there 6 people stayed for it. A couple of them have had some lessons and one even has a keyboard. Mary thinks that by the end of the year someone should be ready to start playing for sacrament.  It is wonderful to see how the members are interested in learning and growing. It will be interesting to see how many come to our English classes.

While Mary was teaching piano I answered questions that President Malinga had about some things. It is a shame he works shifts because if he was available each Sunday the branch would greatly benefit. But to look on the bright side, this way his counselors will get some good opportunities to develop as leaders.

While I was doing the Utah indexing this afternoon, I came across a last name that I thought was Flyyare and of course got a nice pink error message. I looked and looked and that is what certainly seemed to be there. But when Mary looked at it she immediately said – “That is Flygare, I have seen it before.” When I changed the spelling, the pink disappeared. That is why Mary is an arbitrator and I am still doing indexing.

In the evening we went over to the Bartholomews’ to take part in their Sunday dinner for the missionaries. The Bs seem to greatly enjoy feeding the elders and the elders certainly enjoy the weekly feasts I am sure it will continue until they go home. It is a good way to see how the elders are doing, learn what is going on in the branches, and to just enjoy the gathering of missionaries.

During the day I got a nice Father’s Day e-mail from Jim with a short sound clip from Olivia wishing me Happy Father’s Day. It is amazing what you can do today with e-mail and I will save that clip as I would save a card.

20 June 2009 – Saturday

What goes around, comes around – so the saying goes. The other day I called Tom and Shauna without thinking about the time difference and so it was about 2 am there. Luckily they did not answer so perhaps they slept right through it. Well this morning at 1 am the Vonage phone rang and of course it woke me up. It was a wrong number. It took me about 30 minutes to go back to sleep.

My thought to ponder today from President Uchtdorf’s recent conference talk:“The more we are filled with the Spirit of God, the more we extend ourselves to others. We become peacemakers in our homes and families, we help our fellowmen everywhere, and we reach out in merciful acts of kindness, forgiveness, grace, and long-suffering patience…This is the peaceful way of the follower of Jesus Christ.” (pg 76)

A headline in Mormon News- ‘Global hunger reaches 1 billion.”

This strikes close to home because today we will be delivering two food orders to members in Port Durnford. One of them includes a young woman who is dying of AIDS and has not been able to walk for a number of months. She really wants to live but knows that her life expectancy is very short.  A woman born in South Africa in 2008 is expected to live 41 plus years. In Swaziland it is just over 31 years.

We bought the food we needed and then stopped by the Richards Bay chapel where there was to be a special CES – no one can get use to S&I – meeting for the youth. I was the first one there with keys so I got things opened up and then dashed to Port Durnsford. We now know our way around well enough to get to most member’s home. I even managed not to get stuck in visiting one of the homesteads that is out on the plains. After we were through there we headed back to Esikhawini where they were to hold a presidency meeting. Even though one of the counselors could not come because of work, it went well and a lot got talked about. I made arrangements to have a training meeting with the new 2^nd counselor.

After that meeting it was back to the Richards Bay chapel where we arrived just in time to help the Barts give out the pizza and help clean up. The meeting was well attended and thanks to a self-less sister from Esikhawini who has a car, most of the youth were able to be there. 

During the evening I continued to work on indexing. Between the Pennsylvania and Utah 1920 census, I found that the one from Utah was much easier to read.