Hi everyone – pardon me while I skip a week or so of this blog. I talked to Cindy this evening and she suggested that I post my daily journal – something I did when we were in Indonesia.

I doubt if I will do that – my journal contains some private thoughts that I am not comfortable sharing with the world, however I will try to post each day so that things are fresh in my mind.

This morning was wonderful -cool and bright. I spent some of the time catching up my journal. I have not been very diligent these last couple of weeks. I am afraid that I have spent the time over-gorging on the internet.

We had an appointment to meet the Bartholomews over at the Esikhawini chapel at 10:00 so sister B could train sister Mavundla, the new Young Woman’s President and her counselor. Sister Mavundla was baptized on the 31st, confirmed on the 7th and after being confirmed was given her call. Talk about putting new converts to work quickly. She has a great spirit and will do well.

Well Sister B and Mary trained the two sisters, elder B and I talked to the gogos who were working in their gardens that are part of the branch property. These ladies are out almost every day working to grow vegetables to help feed their family while saving some money.

Their gardens are pure sand – there is no soil at all in Richards Bay. So they are constantly watering because the sand soaks up the moisture so quickly. I am looking for a reasonable source of top soil that we might bring in so they might grow more and work less.

After the training we dashed home for some lunch before heading up to Enseleni for a youth activity. Although the Bartholomews work with the youth of that branch, we were especially invited to come.

It was a very special activity because it was thought up, planned, organized, and led by the YM and YW presidents – both who are 19 years old and had never done anything like this before. Not only had they planned the activity, they designed and printed a program that included them speaking.

 They were wise enough to ask the Bs to organize the games and help them with the food. This was necessary because the township – that is a town that was built during apartied to hold the black populaton that was necessary to supply workers for the industries in Richards Bay – does not have a decent grocery store and none of the members of the branch has a car.

The activity was a great succcess. Instead of an activity for the mutual age youth it became one for almost the whole branch and their friends. There was somewhere about 50 in attendance with a good part of them being primary aged and investigators.

When sister B got up to announce the games, she had to take a minute to tell all of the youth how proud they were of them. She could hardly hold back the tears that I know she felt – this was the fruit of 20 months of missionary service and I think the Bs felt this one event more than marked paid to whatever sacrifices they may have made in coming to South Africa for 23 months. They now know that they can go home knowing that the branch is in good hands.

The youth love to play games. Mary and I learned a number of new games that we can use in our branches. Mary and I helped out some with the games and had a lot of fun. We also helped out with preparing the food but the young YW leaders did most of the serving. They made sure each person got their share.

I have never seen better behaved young people than were there today. From Primary Age to Young Adults, they sat quietly and ate their food. It is too bad we can not export this behavior to the US.

I should mention one thing that I have noticed and I am not sure if I have mentioned before. When we give out candy or food as prizes, the winners almost always share with those who did not get anything. I have seen a single piece of candy being divided  between three or four young people. They love to compete and win but they share the prize.

After we got home, we used the newly installed Vonage phone to call Jim at work and Cindy at the dentist office. For a monthly fee of about $30 we can call anyone in the states and they can call us. We can now wish children and grandchildren happy birthdays, etc. and visa-versa. Between the phone and this blog, the family should be able to know what we are experiencing here in South Africa.

Barking dogs! Most of our neighbors have dogs to let them know when someone is approaching their fence. When we first moved in we heard every bark, but recently we realized that most of the time their barking – and it often goes on much of the day and night – is not even noticed. When we do notice it is either very, very loud or we are not doing anything and all of a sudden we realize we can hear the dogs.

So in someways it is the same as adjusting to the call to prayer in Indonesia. At first they would often wake us up but by the time we left it was always surprising to actually hear one of the many calls during the day.

So now it is about 8:15 and I am going to post this and then read what is new at the Church News site.

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.

Sister Mann wrote the following story about Elder Mwita, one of the new missionaries:

“Elder Mwita is our new elder from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He lost his parents when he was young, and spent several years in an orphanage then went to live with an uncle who is a pastor in the Pentecostal Church. While he was living there, he went to free classes to learn English – as taught by missionaries, using “They Shall Have My Words”, and the Book of Mormon. Thnkgs progressed, and he gained a testimony and started attending Church. His uncle warned him that it was the church of the devil – to which Elder Mwita responded “But why would devil teach me to keep the commandments?” “Well, the devil knows the commandments, too…” Hmmm. He attended both Pentecostal and LDS services for awhile, to please his uncle, but when he wouldn’t give up the Church, his uncle conferred with his fellow church leaders, and then kicked him out of the house. Elder Mwita went to the branch president, who found a member family who took him in. And now he’s here – ”

These are just a few of the 30 plus young people we get to be with each week. As you can see from the last picture they are just like young men and women everywhere. They love to learn and they love to play – we try to accomodate them in both areas.

Last week as we were on the road to Esikhawini we saw this beautiful rainbow across the road. When we first noticed it, we could only see a small section but as we got closer it filled the sky.  The last rainbow we saw was in Ezulwini and it was a double.

One of the traditions here in South Africa is on the last night before transfers, the elders in the zone get together for what is known as The Last Supper. Usually this is done on Tuesday night because that is when the zone leaders get informed of the changes. Since Elder B is a member of the mission presidency, they are always in Durban for a meeting on Tuesday. So here in Richards Bay The Last Supper is held on the Sunday night before transfers so the Bartholomews can be part of the tradition. Here are some pictures from the last gathering of the RB zone this past Sunday.

From left to right – The Richards Bay Zone – May 31, 2009, the zone with us, the zone with the Bartholomews.

This picture of the zone with Sister B will bring a smile to anyone who has served with the Bartholomews. Sister B is one of the most dynamic woman I have ever known. I think she runs on love because she never seems to eat anything. She serves huge meals to the missionaries, doctors them, laughts with them and cares for them as if they were her own sons. I have no idea how Elder B keeps up with her – she would wear me out in a week or less. We consider it a true tender mercy that we have the opportunity to serve with the Bartholomews.

Each week we have the privilege of attending one or two District Development Meeting with the missionaries in our zone. In this morning’s meeting each of the missionaries, including Mary and I, took a few minutes to share what we learned during this last 6 week cycle. It is humbling to hear the missionaries talk about how they have grown spiritually during that time. What they have learned about missionary work. A number of them spoke about how they had learned to study and appreciate the scriptures more.

Another thing that I found today is that none of the elders who are being transferred are easing up on the work today. All of them have packed today with teaching appointments. They want the opportunity to help their investigators to accept the gospel and bear their testimony of it’s truth.

I must admit that it is hard to say goodbye to those who will leave tomorrow. Especially those who we will not see again before they go home. What great young men they are and how we have been blessed through serving with them. I am sure we will not forget them and hopefully we will be able to stay in contact with most of them.

I guess we have joined the 21st century or at least the early part of it. On our p-day Mary signed up for Facebook and we have been surprised at how many family and friends we have found there.

I am going to keep up the blog and she will keep up Facebook – or at least once she has mastered how to post pictures, etc. she will. So if you read this and are on Facebook, be sure to let Mary know.

For the first time in four months, we have an internet connection. Hopefully this will mean we will be better able to share the great experiences we have with all our friends and family.

We just got home from going out to teach with the elders. It is wonderful to sit and hear the elders teach and testify of the things they know are true and then to add our testimonies to theirs. We find that most people are surprised when we tell them that we are not here in South Africa to convince them that the Church is true but to help them find out through prayer and the Holy Ghost for themselves that it is true.

Tonight is the end of a 6 week cycle so some of the missionaries will learn that they will start serving in another area on Thursday. There is always a lot of discussion about who they think will be transferred and to where. But not until they are in their boardings will the Zone or District leaders let them know. When we find out a missionary who we have been working with for awhile is going to be transferred we are a little sad, but then we get to know the new missionaries assigned to our area and find out their special qualities and we see the Lord’s hand in their serving here at the time they serve.