Daily Archives: July 26, 2009

26 July 2009

26 July 2009 –Sunday

It was rather hard to get up and going this morning but we made it to Esikhawini in time to open things up and go to PEC. I thought for a while that we were not going to have any PEC but President Thusi arrived about 10 minutes late and apologized. Unfortunately no one else showed up except us and the missionaries. But we had a pretty good PEC anyway. I was glad to hear that they had organized Home Teaching and that they would give out assignments later today in Priesthood. Also they are going to sustain brother Mthalane as YM President for the branch.

We were also the first to arrive at Port Durnford, followed again by the missionaries and then President Machaka. At 9:00 when it was supposed to start there was one sister and her child in the chapel. We finally got started at 9:15. While we were waiting I got a call from President Baldwin asking me to have the same brother Mthalane as District YM President. He had been trying to call Elder B without success so he could do the same in their two branches. I told him I would try to contact him. When he did not answer their phone I called the elders and they got him for me.

After sacrament President Machaka had each of the youth come up and tell about their experiences yesterday. Mainly they said they had fun and liked the food. The last speaker was Ayanda and she gave a great talk. She had made notes while she was at the activity and also wrote after she got home. She covered just about everything and we were really proud of her. I hope that the meaning of the activity will not disappear quickly from her and the other youth.

There were just over 20 people at Sacrament and I wondered where many of the others were. I told Mary that instead of going to the other hour of meetings that we should go out and visit some of the missing members and see if they were OK. We started by going to Sister Joyce’s where we found she had gone to Durban but we came across Sister Chirwa and her cousin. Sister Chirwa could not come because she had to meet with the local Chief so he could approve of a transfer of land from her cousing to her.

We then visited Gabi’s homestead – Gabi was at church but her father was not. She said that he mother was feeling better, but when we got there we found that she is still very ill and her husband had stayed home to help take care of her. He is going to take her to the hospital tomorrow. Earlier we found out from Thandi Zama that her mother was still sick and was not eating anything. We suggested she try chicken broth soup and see if she could keep it down. As I was writing this I had the feeling that we should make some tomorrow and take it to her.

When we were finished there, we headed for Esikhawini where we were able to take part in the last 30 minutes of RS and PH. After the block, Mary played for choir practice and then had her piano class. While she was doing that, I locked things up, had a good talk with Elder Mbithi about the idea that the brethren now testify of that this the True and Living Church and what that meant. Elder Mbithi and I seem to often end up sharing thoughts about the gospel. Earlier I had given him Elder Hollands great talk at the Mission President’s Training about the Holy Ghost as your other missionary companion.

By the time we got home we were both tired so after a lunch of leftovers, we both took rather long naps.

While I was checking on Facebook, I found that our young friend Vita from Jogya was online and Mary and her had a good chat –while they were chatting two others contacted her including Looky another Indonesian friend. It is a great thing to be able to stay in contact with friends old and new but as I read in an article, most of what is written is lost for future use. No more large files of written on paper letters with thoughts and ideas of the times to be archived.

As usual we went over to the Barts for Sunday dinner with the elders. It is always a great time to meet and discuss what is going on and trade experiences – both recent and past. We have a strong group of mainly seasoned elders in Richards Bay at this time and they all have had interesting experiences while on their missions. Almost all have been robbed – elder Muthoka a total of 5 times including one where he was pistol whipped. But in almost all cases the elders were not being wise and therefore put themselves in danger. In talking to them they do not make a big thing of these kinds of experiences. They just consider it part of their missions. The thing that makes any elder who has been robbed or car jacked the maddest is when the thieves take their scriptures. Another thing I learned is that often the robbers seem nervous because they were raised Christian and know that they are robbing ministers of Christ.

Elder Richey said that when he and his companioned were robbed it was near the church and one of the robbers took the keys for the church and then looked at the church, decided that it was not a good idea to rob a church and threw the keys on the ground.

As the missionaries were leaving, Elder Musemare  came back and showed me the middle finger  of his right hand. He had shut it in a car door and the X-rays came back that it was not broken. But when I tried to straighten it out it hurt very much. I referred him to Mother Bartholomew who suggested we splint it. So we used two sticks out of Magnum ice cream bars and some surgical tape the Bs had bought by accident. I am sure it really hurt for us to mess with it but other than cringing a couple of times he bore it well. The Bs will probably take him in to have it checked again.

We were headed home just after 9:00 and in bed by 10:00. So ended another interesting day in the South Africa, Durban mission for us.



25 July 2009

25 July 2009 – Saturday

Youth Activity Day in Richards Bay…and a busy day for the couple missionaries. First let me say that the day went so well mainly because Sister Bartholomew is 1000 Gorilla for work in a 120 pound body. I have no idea how Elder Bartholomew can keep up with her. But that may be why he seems to catch a quick nap whenever he gets a chance. The pair are amazing and a perfect example of how much good a missionary couple can do in an area. BTW –neither of them would agree with anything that I wrote here.

The day early for us as we made sure we had everything we needed for our two branches’ roadshow. The car looked somewhat like a travelling circus car. Swords, banners, a sheet of metal for thunder, backdrop paintings, costumes, and on and on, all to be fitted in.

We arrived a little early at the Richards Bay chapel so we could unload everything. We then helped set up tables, put out crocodiles, etc. We were lucky because the Enseleni branch youth showed up very early and helped clear off the stage, set up chairs, and generally be of great service.

Over the next hour, the youth begin to arrive. I did not see either of our branches arrive so I called Fufu and she assured me that they were on the way. Not long after that Esikhawini arrived but I did not see Port Durnford. I was starting to worry when they came around the back of the chapel. I found out that the little stinkers had arrived a half hour before and had decided to practice without letting anyone know that they were here. I could have kissed them – but of course that is not allowed.

I really could go on for pages about the experiences that I had this day but to keep it short, the first part was spent with learning activities including a section where sister B showed the video by Elder Packer about Crocodiles. Then she said that we never knew where they would find crocodiles that could grab them. She suggested that there might even be some in the chapel. They finally got the idea and looked under their seats where we had earlier stuck 6 posters with different crocodiles such as bad language, sexual impurity, etc. We then broke them up into 6 groups and they had to come up with a presentation that told the dangers their crocodile posed for them as LDS youth and what they could do to overcome it. They all did a great job.

Then President Baldwin talked to them about a number of things but mainly gave a no nonsense review about sexual immorality. What chances they are taking physically and more important the spiritual consequences. He told them that any Young Adult who was found to be immoral would be excommunicated.

After the program we fed them a good lunch that was cooked by President and Sister Vesi. We, the Bs, the Vesi’s and others produced about 80 plates of curry, salad and squash in about 15 minutes. Then we put together the same number of desserts. It is amazing how much some of those skinny little young people could put away.

Then came the roadshows and they were amazing. All of them did a great job. I told our two branches that the important thing was for them to have fun and I think they did. We were really proud of how well they did and I only lost my cool three times.

The Enseleni branch has a large group of older youth that have some great leaders among them. They wrote their own script, put together their own props and costumes, and practiced three or four times a week. Sister B did have to tone their original script down a bit but the result was magical. The show mainly showed the temptations they faced each day in the townships that tried to get them to let go of the iron rod. Each temptation drew away a few people but in the end three of them made it to the tree of life. Then they all came on stage and sang a medley of church songs. I got tears in my eyes as I felt the spirit of these LDS youth who must work every day to stay faithful in a society that tries to drag them down. Add to this that most of them have very little in the way of earthly goods, and I even have greater respect for them.

After the roadshows it was time to start cleaning up and getting them on their taxis so they could go home. We were lucky again because none of the taxis came on time so we had a lot of help in putting things away. I was given the money and task of paying the taxis drivers once they arrived. The last one did not come until almost 45 minutes late and the only reason he did come was that we finally called him. When he arrived it was obvious that he had been sleeping.

After they were gone we had to pack up all the things we brought and help Sister Wilson and Sister Baldwin start to get the building ready for Sunday service. The biggest problem was that one of the youth had thrown up in one of the class rooms. They had eaten much too much of rich food that they were not use to and never made it to the bathroom. This is not something they teach you about in the MTC.

Once we were done the Bs joined us for dinner at the mall. We had an excellent meal but none of us could eat more that ½ of what we ordered. This was strange because I do not think any of us really ate any lunch. However we all drank a number of glass of water or Coke Light. I realized that I did not drink anything from 8:30 in the morning until 5:30 in the evening. No wonder I was thirsty.

We bid the Barts goodbye and quickly traveled home. I unloaded the car – I was not going to but we needed a couple of things that were at the bottom of the piles so it seemed like the easiest thing to do – and then basically collapsed until bed time.

What a wonderful day we had and what joy comes from working with the youth of Richards Bay district.