30 August 2009 – Sunday

We got a call from Elder B saying that Doreen Mlondo had died. When we asked when, we found it was yesterday afternoon soon after I had left after dropping off President Machaka with the chicken for the HH group. I found that really strange since last night I had called someone who should know and asked that he call us if she died. Since at the time I called she had already been dead for 7 hours and he knew that I must say the new this morning was a great surprise.

I was with the missionaries when Elder Richey got the call to ask for a blessing on Doreen. He seemed a little puzzled and it turned out that they had earlier in her illness given her a blessing. I explained that he could either anoint or not as the spirit moved him and that he should only say what he was prompted to do. I am not sure what they said in the blessing because we arrived just as they were finishing but about an hour after they did, she stopped her struggled breathing and was at rest. The family then could start mourning and prepare for the funeral. I once read that funerals were not for the dead but for the living.

We went to Esikhawini for PEC and sacrament – it was great to see most of the PH leaders there for PEC and hopefully the more often they do this the better they will become. Two of the leaders spoke about going home teaching and since that is the first since we have been here, that is great.  Now if we can just get the number to increase each month that will be even better. President Nyawo later shared the spiritual experience he had doing his first HT visit. I told him he needed to share that as part of his testimony or in a talk.

One of the sisters who is going to the local university gave a wonderful talk on the need to keep the commandments so we can get blessings. Brother Percy – a resent convert gave a talk on Love. The elders had helped him by providing a PMG so he could use the Christ Like Attributes section on love as a basis for his talk.

After sacrament we went to Port Durnford so we could pay our respects to the family. As we were driving along the PD road we saw everyone was out with barrels, buckets and anything else that could hold water. We had seen this before in areas where they did not have running water but since PD does have it we were surprised. We came across a water truck with lots of people around it getting all their containers filled. I decided that maybe there were sections that did not have running water and we just had never been in the area on the right day or at the right time. Later we found that the water to PD had been cut off for a couple of days due to some repairs and the water trucks would come until it was back on.

The effect of the water cut off, the death of a member, and the Helping Hands project yesterday really got to the attendance at Port Durnford. They had a total of 13 and that might have included the missionaries. We paid our respects and I had a chance to talk to Ayanda for a while. She seems to be doing OK but she is of course very sad because of losing her mother.

I am going to keep the rest of the day really short. We took President Machaka with us to Esikhawini so we could later take him to Richards Bay for the audit that was scheduled. Mary taught one piano student while I took President Nyawo home – he was going with a group to PD to pay their respects. It turns out that he was with the elders when they first knocked on the Mlondo family door so he feels very close to them.

We then took Presidents Machhaka and Malinga to Richards Bay and dropped them off. Next we took some important papers to the mall and delivered them to one of the Nzama daughters who had left them at home. I took Mary home, had a quick meal, packed up a few things to take to our presidents who had no chance to eat any lunch, Elder B and I held a 2 ½ hour audit with all the branch presidents and the district clerks. It went pretty smooth but there are some things we need to get cleared up before we turn in the audit. I am just glad I had elder B to guide me – he had held two of these with Elder Hafen so had a pretty good idea of what needed to be done. I think the branch presidents really learned a lot as we went through the audit items one by one. They realized that they needed to be extra careful while dealing with the Lord’s money and keep good records of expenses. All of them are humble men who continue to grow into their callings. They face great challenges because of lack of Priesthood, trained leaders, and many problems. But none of them complain, they just try to do their best with what they have. Someday they will be awesome PH leaders of stakes and wards.

After the audit I ran our two presidents back to Esikhawini. President Machaka took a taxi back to PD and I took President Malinga to his house. Then it was finally home where I relaxed for 15 minutes before starting to help Mary get everything ready for the missionaries coming to dinner. We had 10 missionaries – 3 of them were new – and the Bartholomews for dinner. We were really happy to have Sister B with us for the first time in 3 weeks. She is feeling better but is still taking it easy. She looked great and I noticed that she could stand to put on her glasses – something that she has not been able to do for a long time. They are such great people and wonderful, caring missionaries – they deserve to have a peaceful and spiritual end to their mission.

Here are the three new missionaries – at least new to Richards Bay – and their companions. On the left is Elders Peterson and Weaver. In the middle are the Zone leaders Elder Richey and Elder Maremela. On the right are Elders Muthoka and Otieno. The latter pair had a hard time finding our house. It did not help that they first went to the Bartholomews before learning that dinner was at our boarding.

 

These are the companionships that did not change. On the left Elders Babeeyo and Mholo. On the right out Mutt and Jeff pair, Elders Mokopotsa and Musemare.

The elders seem to enjoy the BBQ beef – elder Weaver, one of the new transfers from Swaziland, loved it. He had not had any BBQ since he left Texas. Elder Otieno, another new one, wolfed down a huge plate that I had warmed up for him and his companion – all by himself. Luckily there was some left for elder Mathoka. BBQ Beef, corn, rolls, green salad, fruit salad, chocolate cake – it was elder Mokopotsa’s birthday party – and ice cream was consumed in large quantities. Elder Weaver said he lost 20 pounds or so while serving in Swaziland. He aims to gain it back while serving in Richards Bay.

Before they had to leave, we took some pictures of the new missionaries and of each companionship. We cleaned up Elder Peterson’s memory stick – he had a ugly virus on it – and he was able to get some of our pictures that he wanted.

Once they were gone we finished cleaning up and I started on writing today in the journal. It was a sad day, it was a good day, it was a day of service, and it was a day of growing. Only as a senior couple could we possibly have the experiences and the great blessings of this day.