02 July 2009 – Thursday
I spent most of the time we were home this morning reading from Mosiah 7 -9. Then inspired by the comment in Mosiah 9:3 about Zeniff and his people being smitten because they were slow to remember the Lord, I started writing my District Council talk on the 12th.
I decided to use Moses’ brass serpent as a lead in to my talk on tithing and fast offerings. I was sure that the scripture included a statement that said “while those who looked at the serpent lived, there were those who did not have faith enough to look and died.†I was greatly surprised when neither Numbers nor Helaman’s account says anything about there being anyone who does not look. I mentioned this to Mary and she was also surprised.
“I will rely on the arm of Jehovah to guide through these last days of trouble and gloom. “
We had a lot of errands to run before going to teach our English class. We made a list and decided the order to do them. Our first one was to go to the Richards Bay chapel and measure the stage. When we got there the gardener told us someone had broken a number of the outside lights. I walked around the building and found 6 light fixtures broken. I called bishop Holder in Durban and told him the problem. He told me he would come up today and see for himself. I also mentioned that there was a hole in the back fence which was probably the way they came in. Later when the Bartholomews arrived for their DDM, elder B told me that the hole had been there for a year. My guess is that this time it will be fixed.
All of this put us about 30 minutes behind schedule to get to the bank. Once there I had to wait in line for about 15-20 minutes – and I think the air-conditioning was off because it was hot – to get my two checks cashed. As I have mentioned before it is not easy to get a check cashed in South Africa. By the time I got out of the bank another half hour of our day was gone.
We decided that we should check on getting meat for the upcoming braai to celebrate president Machaka’s engagement. The butchery that we were told to go to was closed but there was another one close by so we went there. At least I did but Mary saw some things she would need for the road shows in one of the stores along the way and stopped to buy them. This stop was not on our list but it saved us looking for them elsewhere.
We then stopped to get some lunch at Maxi’s – they have excellent food for a reasonable price and we seem to stop there about once a week for lunch. The staff is getting to know us as the people who want a glass of ice with a little water in it.
After lunch Mary went out to the car while I went and paid the rest of the Telkom bill. Once again I found myself in a line but it went fairly quickly and I had time to stop and get some cash out of the ATM. We would have still had time to do at least one more thing but while she was waiting for me she realized that she had left something important for the Youth meeting at the house so we had to run back to the boarding and get it. At least this gave us a chance to put our leftovers in the fridge.
We had our three main students for our English class and it went well. I am not sure how much it is helping them but we enjoy it and they want us to keep coming back. It also ensures that our YW president goes to the Youth activity and that is really helpful to us and important for the youth.
It took a while to gather everyone but we ended up with a good turn out. They were able to get started on the scenery and had a run through on the show itself. The young people seem to be really interested and I think it will all come together in time.
We did get some sad news about one of the non-LDS young women who had been coming regularly to Youth. She was the only one who did something with her genealogy and had learned the first six Articles of Faith. Unfortunately her mother has said that she could not attend any more meetings because they go to another Church. I am thinking about going over to see the family and try to at least let her come to Youth meeting and be in the road show.
We dropped a number of people off at their homes before wending our way out of Port Durnford in the rapidly falling darkness. We stopped on the way home at the pharmacy and the store to get a few things and we were really happy to pull into our garage at the end of a long – and I think fruitful – day.