13 September 2009 – Sunday

Woke to a beautiful morning at  Kosi Bay – sun and wind so that while it was warm it was not hot. Which proved to be perfect because like Port Durnford and Esikhawini there is no air-conditioning at Kosi Bay.

We did not have time to order breakfast from the restaurant – they did come around and asked us – so we had rusks. We have become very fond of rusks and take them with us wherever we go. They can be used as a main course or as a snack. We said goodbye to the owners of the lodge and told them we would be back in a couple of months.

We arrived at Iras’ shop just as it was being opened. We help set up for church and then I interviewed the two recent converts for receiving the Aaronic Priesthood. They are brothers but one knew more English than the other so I could give him a searching interview and discuss the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood. The other brother did not understand English as well so I had Iras translate for me.

Sacrament meeting of course started late but there ended up being either 34 or 38 in attendance. Since there are only 14 members in Kosi Bay that is a lot of investigators or at least believers. Kosi Bay is probably much like the house churches in Paul’s time. A few members, a few investigators and a few believers.

There was a wonderful spirit in the sacrament meeting. We contributed the water from our cooler. I am not sure where they get the water when the missionaries are not around. I think I will speak to President Baldwin about providing some operating funds for Kosi Bay. They get as many to sacrament as Richards Bay and Port Durnford – they just need more members and more Priesthood. It would be nice if someone had a car.

Two of the sisters spoke and gave excellent, well prepared talks on love and service. Mary spoke on her favorite scriptures – one of which had been used by another speaker. I spoke as the spirit moved me but mainly based on the talks by President Monson at conference. Since there was a large number of non-LDS there, I spoke about my own conversion and how important prayer was in knowing that this was the only true and living church on the earth today. I admonished the men to be spiritual leaders in their homes. I closed with my testimony and I felt edified.

After sacrament the women stayed in the ‘chapel’ and the men went out in the ‘mall’ area. I should mention that Iras’ shop is in a group of shops that is kind of like a series of strip malls. Everything is pretty well kept up – even the toilets while not up to US standards were still quite neat and useable. They were certainly better than what you found in public toilets in Indonesia.

As we were separating Iras said “Elder Pier what are you going to teach the Priesthood today.” Since I did not know I was going to be teaching anything, I suggested we take the Priesthood Duties manuals and I would teach out of them. Since two of the men would had been sustained to receive the Priesthood and be ordained Priest, I gave a lesson on the duties of a Priest. I think it went pretty well but I did not get as much participation as I would have liked. I am not sure how much had to do with my teaching and how much was because of the language barrier. But I think that things were taught that are necessary and hopefully Iras will start teaching more from the manual.

Mary went to Relief Society and said that the teacher was well prepared. She also mentioned that it appears that the primary children entertain themselves. Obviously as the group grows, they will need to call someone for Primary. Mary said she will bring some things for the children next time we come up.

After the meetings Iras and one of his assistants ordained the two new members. They had done this before so I held the ordinance information card while they performed the ordinance. Iras gave a wonderful blessing and his assistant did his best. There was a good spirit in the room.

After this Iras gave me some tithing and we closed up the shop. I suggested to Iras that he use part of the day to visit those who did not come to church today – I think that there were at least 4 members not there. I also gave him some training material and told him we would talk about it when we came up in a couple of months. I would love to spend a month or so in Kosi Bay so we could do more training. It would be wonderful if there were enough couples that one could be assigned to Kosi Bay.

I need to mention one more experience. After the meetings I started talking to one of the men and found that while he was not a member he had actually started meeting with Iras on Sundays to discuss the gospel before there any other members in the area. He comes every week but he has never joined. As we talked he explained that he liked to hang with friends and that he did not keep the Word of Wisdom. He told me he knew the Church was true but he just could not stop. I gave him some encouragement but only he can make the change. I asked him if there was anything I could do for him and he said he would like a tie like mine – I was wearing one of my Indonesian ties. I immediately took it off and gave it to him. Hopefully it will remind him of our conversation and help him make the right choices.

The trip home was very pleasant. We stopped for lunch at the Weavers and for fuel at the Petro-Port. With those stops it took us just over 3 ½ hours to make it home.

We just kind of unwound from all the driving until it was time to go to the Barts for dinner. Mary called Nancy Campbell and talked for 30 minutes or more. She can spend more time talking to Nancy than any other person she knows. While she was on the phone, I down-loaded and edit the pictures from the week-end.

We had a great time at the Barts. Unfortunately sister B is still not well from her tick bite nor her headache but she will not let that stop her from doing what she feels needs to be done before they head home. They told us that they made their reservations to go home a couple of weeks early but that they will end with a crescendo. We will really miss them and I am not sure how we will handle everything that needs to be done in the four branches but we will do our best and trust in the Lord.

Sister B shared with us the story of how they got their call. It seems after they turned in their papers they were told that they would not be issued a call until Elder B got his diabetes under control. Since that would take months they were crushed. They had a holiday to Hawaii planned so they went. When they came home their mission call was waiting for them. They were taken completely by surprise to a point where they had their stake president call to make sure there was no mistake. He was assured that the call came from the 12 and so here they came. As usual the Lord knew what He was doing because they and the Hafens were the perfect couples for the needs of the new district. It is another testimony to me that this is the Lord’s church and he is in charge.

After the meeting we came home and Mary worked on the puzzle while I put pictures in the blog. It was a 2 mite day for me.