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.