13 July 2009 – Monday

We had a mission business morning and a lazy afternoon and evening. In the morning we were out rather early so we could do the elder’s boarding inspection early enough that they could have some activity before they started doing their e-mail, etc.

But our first stop was behind the Super Spar where we picked up some cardboard that we will need for our road show. We were digging through a pile of trash when one of the men took pity on me and let me have some of the good cardboard that they stack up for re-cycling. The area where they keep it is basically a large trash bin – about 8 meters by 8 meters – and not what I would consider a great place to spend most of my day. But to them it is a job and a job here is like finding a seam of gold.

When we finished with that task I remembered I left the cell phone at the boarding so we had a 15 minute detour back. The boarding inspections went quickly. Other than some mold in one of the bathrooms and a freezer that needed to be defrosted, both boardings were clean and in good condition.

Elder Schlenker was just about packed for going home and some things he was going to give away spread out over the furniture – we did not count this soon to be gone clutter against the boarding. I tried to remember back to the last days of our mission to Indonesia, but remember little. The main thing we did was pack up a whole apartment and put it in storage. That is one thing we hope to avoid here, but who knows!

After the boarding inspections we went to Esikhawini where we dropped off the road show scripts with sister Mavundla so she can have a practice while we are gone. Then we drove to Port Durnford to do the same with sister Nzama. On the way back we came across Bongamusa – the non-member young man who drew and painted our back-drop for the roadshow and we gave him a set of pastels so he could use them in his drawings. I will probably later give him some paints.

We stopped for lunch at the Mall and of course ran into the Bartholomews. But this time we had already eaten and they had just got there. Actually it was Mary who ran into them while I was looking for a Standard Bank ATM so I could get some money for our trip to Durban. I had to go into the bowels of the mall because the ATMs near the entrances are almost always short of cash and so I can not get as much as I need. It is nice that the dollar is getting a little stronger against the rand but it seems the 10 to 1 days are long gone.

The rest of the day – except for a quick trip down to the store to get cupcake papers – was spent at our boarding. I managed a nap and caught up the blog – at least the writing part. Hopefully sometime tonight I will get some pictures into the blog.

For those who are interested in other South African missionary blogs the Mickelsen’s keep a nice one with weekly pictures: http://arlosandy.blogspot.com/

Of course there is also Sister Mann’s delightful blog with even more interesting pictures.

http://durbanmission.blogspot.com/

If you have been reading the blog you know that we have been to the St Lucia Estuary twice in the last 30 days. Here are pictures of some of the things we saw on our trips.

On our second visit we took the road to Cape Vidal and along the way we came across 2 large cape buffalos who let me get closer than I probably should have been and posed for me. The picture of the bay with what looks like a pile of rocks along the shore is actually one of a herd of hippos resting in the shallows. At another stop along the way there was a shallow pond that was the happy resting place for another herd of hippos – these we could get much closer to. I would have gotten closer except for signs such as this:

July 4th might have been Indepedance Day for the US but in Port Durnford it was Engagement Day for James Machaka – the president of the Port Durnford Branch. He is the tall handsome man on the left in the first picture. We did not get a picture of the bride to be because by the time we had to leave she was not dressed for the occasion. The next picture is sister Joyce and friend. The party was held at her home – she was acting like the mother of groom. The guests are shown waiting in the tent for the program to start. I had to show one of the men getting a haircut and shave so he would look good for the party. The clippers kept stopping and a substitute pair did no better. It seemed for a while that he would have a very unusual hair style for the day but they finally got a pair that allowed him to complete the job.

Last week we were on our way to teach English at the Nzama home when we came upon Gogo Nzama carrying her latest purchases home. We of course picked her up and took her to her homestead. The sack on her head is a large bag of dog food – she is holding on to it because the dogs were jumping against her because they know what it is.

The first time the Hafens brought us out to visit the Nzamas, I thought he was turning into a creek bed but found that it was the road to their home. I am not looking forward to doing this during a rain storm.

The last shot is from a larger road near their home. There had been a lot of sugar cane fields burned off over the last two days and the sky was thick with the smoke and particles so we had beautiful but very unhealthy sunsets. This picture captures both the bright orange sun and the thick cloud of smoke hanging over the whole area.

There is a tradition here that all the elders in the zone gather at the Bartholomews for a last Sunday dinner as a zone. So the picture on the far right is the last zone picture – some of them will be transferred on Wednesday. The other four pictures are the elders that came into the zone 6 weeks ago – Left to Right – Elder Peterson, Elder Babeeyo, Elder Mholo, Elder Richey. Elder Richey has been serving with Elder Mbithi as Zone Leaders. Elders Baybeeyo and Mholo – our greenest missionary in the zone – have been serving in a three some with Elder Schlenker. Elder Schlenker – the handsome missionary on the far right in the front row  – is from Canada and will be heading home on Friday.

One of the privilages of being a senior couple is getting to know and serve with the amazing elders that come on missions.

12 July 2009 – Sunday

Up early so I could try to get my talk on tithing organized – it did not work – and then get off to Esikhawini for PEC. I thought at first that once again there would be no PEC meeting but brothers Thusi and Nkhosi showed up just after 8:00 and with the elders we had PEC. They still need more training on what PEC is about and we need to make sure the others who should be there make it but hopefully in a few months it will be fully functioning.

Branch conference at Port Durnford went well. There were lots of people there we did not know, including – so we found out later that night – an investigator couple.  All the talks were good  but President Vesi’s and President Baldwin’s were especially powerful. The only thing that took away from the meeting was a number of crying children. The mothers were pretty good about taking them out but as it seemed that soon after one stopped another one started. Since there is no sound system – there is no electricity – it was difficult to hear all of any of the talks.

Almost as soon as the meeting was over, we said goodbye and headed to Nseleni so that I could speak. We did not know how long it would take so of course we were almost 30 minutes early. However the elders were there starting to set up and we got a chance to say hello to some of the members. President Vilante arrived well in advance and probably could have started on time but he chose to wait for more people to arrive so it started about 15 minutes late.

The branch meets in the local library and today they about filled the largest meeting room. The count was 71 – a large number for them – and it included 15 investigators and their numerous children. What is exciting is that there were at least two babas there with their families. Something that is very much needed in the branch for leadership.

Mary was asked to give a short talk and bear her testimony. I then spoke for about 20 minutes on tithing. I felt that it went well. I tried to explain the great blessings that come from paying tithing and that the Lord could not give us these blessings unless we paid our tithes and offerings. I also tried to keep it simple.

I must mention that the chapel was very quiet and reverent before the meeting and during the sacrament. Since there must have been 30 primary age children in the congregation, that was very much unexpected. When it comes to reverence, the wards in Utah could learn from these branches. I also was glad to see so many young men – 12 to 18 – in the branch. In 3 to 6 years when all of them have been on missions and come home again, the branch will be rolling in priesthood.

We left after sacrament and came home. For some reason I was exhausted and ended up taking a nap in the chair. The afternoon seemed to fly by and it was soon time to leave for the Bartholomews to have the Last Supper of this transfer.

We were the first ones there but soon Elders Torgerson and Meistre arrived and we were able to talk about the Enseleni branch. Elder Thorgerson said that he thought my talk on tithing was perfect because they were going to teach the commandment to one of their families and this laid the groundwork. Earlier I had asked elder B how many were coming to Enseleni when they arrived on their mission and he said they averaged in the 20’s – now they are getting 3 times that many. Much of it has to do with a couple of the missionaries who have served here recently. They got the youth excited about doing missionary work and now they are kept busy with referrals and always have someone to go out with them when they teach. In other words member missionary work is going the way it should.

As always the B’s provided way too much food. After filling themselves up, and sending off their reports, the elders sat around for a while talking about who might get transferred out and where they might go. I have been kidding elder Mbithi that he was going to be transferred to Newcastle. I of course have no idea if he will be transferred and certainly not where he might serve next. It will be interesting to see what happens.

We know elder Schlenker will be gone because he heads home on Friday. It is pretty certain elder Makono will leave but he has only been here 4 ½ months. If he goes it will be the second time we have bid him farewell – he was with us in Swaziland. Because of All Zone Conference they think they will get transfer news on Monday night instead of the usual Tuesday.

11 July 2009 – Saturday

Another gap in this blog because I did not take the time to sit down and write at the end of the day or early the next. Each of the missing days were spent out serving in our branches – mainly working with the youth on the road shows.

Today was busy because of a farewell party for Sister Nonkululeko Mazibuko of Esikhawini branch who is leaving next Wednesday for her mission in Ghana. They had a slumber party at sister Khumalo’s for the Young Women on Friday night and then a party today. Sister Mavundla, the  Young Woman’s President, organized it all and when she arrived at the chapel today she said that she was exhausted and too old for slumber parties. But she pitched right in and got things set up for this one.

Mary helped with decorations and I ended up being the taxi for running around getting things that were left behind or came up short. In one way it was really good because I learned where a few people lived and I am now more comfortable driving through the township. I also used the time to set the sprinkler to water some of the gardens – I decided that I could do this whenever we had meetings at Esikhawini to help the sisters with their gardening.

The party was scheduled to start at 2:00 but as usual it was about 3:00 before things really got going. Most of the people who came were women and of course all the youth – including those who came mainly for the food. They had a nice program with Elder Mokopotsa as host and a number of speakers including Sister Mazibuko.

I spoke with the soon to be missionary a couple of times over the last couple of days and she is of course a little anxious about what it will be like to be away from home for 18 months in a completely strange country. It helps that elder Mathalane recently returned from the same mission and has been able to tell her something about what to expect. He had wonderful experiences there and told her about how it really was the best two years of his life.

Speaking of now brother Mathalane, he got a good job as one of the managers for Mug and Bean, a restaurant in the mall we have eaten at a few times, almost as soon as he got back. Unfortunately they are short one manager and for a while he must work on Sunday. However he is able to attend sacrament meeting before heading to work. Once they fill in the last position he is hoping to be able to get Sundays off. I am sure the Lord will bless him so he can.

I helped cook the worst and then clean up. I must say that the sisters here are very good at cleaning up after a party and I was surprised how quickly things were made ready for tomorrow’s services. I then helped lock up and the elders closed the gates behind us. While we were taking sister Mavundla home we came across one of the articulated buses that they use here broken down almost in the middle of a major intersection. It seems that one of the axles broke and it was not going anywhere until they got something big there to lift it up and then tow it to be repaired. Luckily there was room to go around it or we would have had to make a very big detour to get to her home.

We made a stop at the grocery store to get things for tomorrow. While I was doing that, Mary bought some fish and chips from a new take away restaurant near the store. By the time we got home it was pitch black and of course I had not left any outside lights on because I was sure we would be home before they were needed.

We had been home for a few hours when we got a call from the Barts asking us if we could take some things to Esikhawini for them. We agreed to meet at the Richards Bay chapel. When I hit the switch to raise the garage door, something snapped and it stop working. To make a longer story short, we are now parking our car outside until we can get someone here to fix whatever is wrong.

One more story about the day. When the program ended and the eating started, the gogos – grandmothers – and a couple of other women sat in a circle so they could talk while they ate. I stopped by and talked to them for a while. I mentioned to them that single women could go on missions so if any were interested they could put in their papers. Sister Mhate said “So they give you a companion when you get there?” and I said “Yes but unfortunately it is another woman.” This completely broke her up and she almost choked to death because she was eating when I said it. The gogos here are amazing and have a wonderful sense of humor while being very responsible.