While the elders were out playing sports I took a walk around the Pinetown chapel and took these pictures. The palm tree with the soft pink flower growing out of its trunk was a first for me. I thought all palms flowered from the top.

Once you get them out of their suits they pretty much look like any other 19-22 year old. Elders Nare and Lwanga in their green soccer outfits served together in Swaziland while we were there. Elder Richy struck his usual pose for this picture. He was helping load President Mann’s box. I did not get the name of this elder but if there had been an award for the wildest sports outfit, he would have won going away.

Pictures – not even a movie – can catch the full flavor of what it is like when 100 elders, 10 couples, and others are all packing up to return to their areas and boardings. This is a massive transfer experience where hopefully the right missionaries and their luggage get into the right cars or bakkies. Of course there are also the last hugs being given and pictures being taken. We left before most of the others so we missed them pulling out of the chapel lot. I think we will stick around until the very end when this happens again in December.

16 July 2009 – Thursday

Slept well but again woke too early. We got busy and packed our bags and I took most things out to the car before we ate breakfast.  Since we needed to be at the Pinetown chapel by 8:00 we asked to have breakfast earlier then yesterday. The owner – Bronwyn – was more than accommodating and we all enjoyed another nice breakfast together. We had our picture taken with the Wells – they were leaving for Swaziland today – and then hurried off to the conference.

As usual the teaching highlight of the conference was President Mann’s talk. However one of the missionaries serving in Durban North took ten minutes to talk about his companionship success story. It seems that Durban North was considered an area that no one wanted to be sent to because no successful missionary work had been done there in a long time.

He said that the first day that the companionship were together in the area, they covenanted that they would follow the mission rules exactly. They then started fasting and praying each Sunday for success and as they started to get some investigators the fasted and prayed for them by name. Their dedication and keeping their covenant paid off and recently they had 15 investigators at church, some of them with baptism commitment dates. It shows that the mission equation – Faith, exact obedience and hard work does equal miracles.

The conference then broke for a couple of hours so the missionaries could go play soccer. This is something they really look forward to. Unfortunately while they were in the parking lot of the school where they were going to play, two of the vehicles ran into each other so Elder Sessions – he is in charge of the cars and bakkies –  did not have a good morning at all. Luckily none of the elders were injured but a good amount of damage was done.

While the elders were out playing we sat up for lunch and then sat around talking. When they were done, I once again found myself on the food line. Actually elder Bartholomew and I had the opportunity to make sure that the elders did not take more than their allowed portions and with the help others keep the line stocked with sandwich makings. Things went well and amazingly enough there was even a good tray of meat and cheese left over. Something we did not think was possible.

After lunch everyone kind of pitched in and cleaned things up. Sister Mann was back by then –she actually got back while we were still feeding the gang.  She is very organized and is super about getting things done.  You can see the love she has for the missionaries and visa versa.

Once lunch was over the missionaries started moving elders and their luggage around so everyone would get to the right area. It is amazing to see what appears chaos in the parking lot work itself out until everyone is in the right vehicle and heading out.

We said goodbye to all our fellow couples and headed to the mission office so we could pick up a keyboard and lesson book for Mary’s piano classes. Hopefully we will get two more before too long and then those who are really interested in practicing will have one.

By the time we were done with that it was late enough that I cancelled the idea of taking the back roads home to Richards Bay so we could do some sight seeing. I think Mary was somewhat bummed but understood that I was tired so she did not complain.

As we drove home I realized it would be too late to do any visiting so I thought we might see if we could go and see the new Harry Potter movie. Mary thought this was a good idea – but I am not sure it made up for not doing some sight seeing on the way home. We were really lucky and only had to wait 15 minutes for the show to start. We both thought it was well done – the 143 minutes flashed by – but left a lot out that was in the book. I think they should have made two movies of each of the last three books and not just the last one. They could have included more of the books, there would not have been so long between movies, and they could have made a lot more money. 

One thing I noticed is that although the movie has been out only 2 days, the theater was less than 5% full. Even at $3.50 a ticket not many African families can afford to go to the movies. Someone who works in a store might make $6 for a days work and have to pay 25% of that to get transported to and from the job.

After the show we came home, unloaded the car, fixed some dinner – at least I did – and then caught up this journal.  It has been a wonderful 3 days that were rather physically tiring but spiritually invigorating. It is great to be on a mission in South Africa.

I spent most of the night catching up this journal and captioning a batch of pictures so I could put some on the blog. I got some good pictures at the aquarium and at the restaurant.

Us and the Wells at the B&B after finding that our sons and their families are in the same ward in the Chicago area. Two pictures of the Knudsens and Klinglers dipping their feet in the Indian Ocean. A little later Sister Klingler shared with me her special spiritual experience where she felt the great power of the atonement.

Mary is looking at the pictures in her camera and in the background is the ship that hold this wonderful aquarium. The other two pictures are of the Durban beach that stretches down to the Million Dollar Strip of hotels. There were few people on the beach or in the water this morning because it is winter and it was quite cold. I am told that from October to January the beach will be quite crowded.

Just three of the many photos we took. We especially liked the grinning shark – I think he just had dinner or he was looking for some.

15 July 2009 – Wednesday

We slept very well and then gathered with the other couples for breakfast. As we sat around and talked we found out that the Wells’ live across Provo from us and that their son and his family are in the same ward as Jim and Kristy. In fact their son is Stake YM President and Jim is the Ward YM President. They had both just gotten back from the stake campout for the summer. You never know who you are going to run into when you go on a mission.

After breakfast the Klinglers, Knudsens and us went down to the beach and then to the Sea World type aquarium. The Wells did not go because they went yesterday. When we got to the beach, sister Klingler wanted to go into the surf and have her picture taken in the Indian Ocean. They had done this before but when their computer got stolen for the second time, they lost all the pictures of their mission. I happily took pictures of them and the Knudsens enjoying the gentle Durban surf.

As the couples were washing the sand off their feet, I spoke to sister Klingler and asked her what was the spiritual experience they had that caused them to change their mind about going home after their home was robbed the second time. She told me that they had decided that they did not want to stay in Africa any longer but they had made arrangements to go see an orphanage so they felt they should go. She said that as they were going through the facilities and met some of the children, they had the spirit of peace come over them and they knew they should stay and finish their mission. She said that she felt for the first time in her life that she really started to understand Christ’s great atonement and how it could wipe away all her pain and struggles.

As she shared this experience and her testimony of the atonement  I could feel the spirit flowing. We talked about the fact that it was impossible to put into words what she felt but the spirit could testify of the truth. This was one of those times that is spoken about in D&C 50 where both of us were edified.

The aquarium is build in an old cargo ship and is excellent. Since we had only had a couple of hours before we had to head back so we could be at the conference by one, we only got to see a little of the shows they put on but we did get to see all the aquarium and take lots of pictures. We talked about coming back some future time when we could see all the shows and other things that are there, but there is so much we want to see in the time we are here, I doubt if we will go back.

The conference started at 1:00 and as we walked through the groups of elders it was great to see and hug the ones we have had the honor of serving with in Swaziland and Richard Bay. It is also awesome to see them greet each other and the smiles and laughter that comes so naturally.

The first hours of the conference was spent on finalizing the sections of a new mission tool the president and assistants have been working on for a couple of months. It is aimed at bringing large number of new  missionaries who will be coming in over September and October up to speed faster. It is basically a book on how missionary work in the South African, Durban Mission  is best done. It is based on successful missionary experience in the different areas. This is needed because what might be a good plan for a white area in Durban may not work at all in Swaziland. What might work in a township in New Castle may not be right for Port Durnford.

We then broke for dinner, where I got to help serve the meal. I started with dishing out the salad and ended dishing up the apple strudel. We developed an effective system that kept things moving while making sure each elder got a reasonable portion of the food. We of course ran out of food before the missionaries got their fill – that is got to go through for the third time – but we did pretty well and no one went hungry.

After dinner there was a testimony meeting. A number of the testimonies touched me. Elder Schlenker and elder Brusch’s were especially good. Both are heading home on Friday so this was these next two days are goodbye days for them. They had to stop the meeting before everyone who had gone up had a change to share their testimonies. I am sure that if it could have gone an overwhelming majority would have taken the opportunity to give theirs. But president Mann wanted the missionaries in their boardings by the usual time, so at 8:40 he had it stopped.

What a wonderful day it was for us. To share a day with fellow missionaries and to share the spirit of sister Klingler and others testimonies lifted my spirit. Even the experience of bantering with the missionaries as they came through the food line was great. The Lord truly blesses his missionaries.

Saying farewell to your missionary is always hard and you can see the love that the family has for Nkule – second from left in the picture. The second picture is a view from the window of the revolving restaurant. Note the ‘angels’ looking over the city of Durban an interesting effect from the reflection off the window. The Knudsens are the newest couple in the mission and are serving in Newcastle with the Klinglers.

Some of the couples we serve with and of course our Mission Mom. On the left are the Klinglers who stayed at the same B&B with us. The Sessions are the office couple who are probably the hardest working of all the couples. Elder Sessions is in charge of the fleet and he keeps very busy trying to clean up the messes the rest of us make. Sister Mann is alone because the president just had too much to do to eat with us. Besides watching over the health of some 100 elders, she is also a rugby mom for their two sons and all their friends. She is one of the most positive persons I have ever known and her level of energy is amazing.

The first two pictures from left to right – Elders Wells and Markum, Sisters Markum and Wells. The Wells are from the area office and the Markums are S&I (CES) missionaries. The Johnsons are serving in Durban as proselyting missionaries. They were the ones who drove us to Swaziland a few days after we arrived in South Africa.

It is always wonderful to get together with the other couples in the mission so we can share experiences. Each area is different but many of our experiences are the same. The one thing that we find we all have in common is the love that we develop for the people of South Africa. Not just the members but those non-LDS we meet throughout our service. They are a wonderful people who are full of love for family and others. They remind us a lot of the people of Indonesia who no matter how little they had were clean and were always open to a smile.