21 September 2009 – Monday

We and the Bs escorted the elders on a zone activity to the Umfolozi game park. Mary of course loved the experienced – she really would go on a game drive everyday if we could. We had elders Musemare, Babeeyo, and Otieono in our car.

We got to see elephants, cape buffalo, rhinos, kudu, nyala, warthogs, crested guinea fowl (well at least one) giraffe, zebra and wildebeest. Most of them were quite close with the elephant about 20 yards from the road. All in all it was a very successful activity.

In the evening Mary and I went to dinner at Spurs where they have buy one, get one free burger night. So we had rib burgers and there was enough that we brought about half of it home. I used the night to catch up part of this journal and to do some indexing. I am falling behind in my goal to average 50 a day but will keep plugging along. I am enjoying doing the Indiana census because they usually write very clearly.

22 September 2009 – Tuesday

We went with the Bartholomews up to Kosi Bay to pick up a mission car that had been hi-jacked from the elders and had been recovered by the police. The trip up went smoothly with only a little drizzle now and then from very threatening skies. When we got close to Kosi Bay we called the contact number we had and were told to go up to the border and ask for the constable.

So we dutifully drove up to the border and basically hit a stone wall. After some minutes of frustration and another call to the contact number we had we found that the car was not at the border, the contact person was actually spending some days in Richards Bay, and that the constable we needed was back at the police station outside Kosi Bay.

Of course we had no idea where the police station was so I suggested we get Iras and him take us there. However we were saved this by a tender mercy from the Lord in the form of a gracious couple who seeing our distress not only led us to the police station but helped us find the correct constable.

It of course then took a couple of hours for the constable to take care of some other business and get our paperwork done. In the mean time I had found the car and we had determined that it was not going to go anywhere soon. We also discovered the ‘jail’ where prisoners are held. It appeared to be 2 large cells – one for men and one for women. When they saw us they called out to us in a friendly way – I have no idea what they thought we could do for them but we were happy to wave back.

The constable told us they had recovered the car when they stopped a group of men who were planning to hold up a business. They caught one of the men and he has been in the jail for about a month. The others got away but they found 4 guns in the car.

We got all paperwork in order so that all that needs to be done now is to arrange to get some one to go up and tow it back to Richards Bay. It is going to cost a lot of money to get it towed here and repaired. But I guess it is cheaper than buying a new car. I think there have been 3 mission cars hi-jacked since we got to South Africa.

While we were in the area we went to the municipality and the library to see if there was any way we could rent the library for holding church on Sunday. It turns out that you have to get the approval of two different groups of administrators and they never agree on anything. We also found that Iras and the missionaries had pretty much done all that could be done. Our last chance is a very formal looking letter from the Church assuring all concerned that they will be responsible for the rent and any security expenses. If it is meant to be it will happen.

We had a nice lunch at the lodge where we stayed last week. Their hamburgers were so big that it was impossible to eat them without squashing them way down. I ended up using a knife and fork to eat mine. I got a good picture of sister B trying to get her mouth around hers.

Again the trip home went well and along the way we got to talk about a number of things relating to the branches, the schedule for the next few weeks, and of course about their going home. Once we got back to our boarding we found that we were very tired so after a quick trip to the store for something for dinner we pretty much relaxed.

It was easy to see the hand of the Lord in the day. Not only in providing the couple to guide us to the police station, but also for softening the heart of the constable who at first said that there was no way we could get the car because it was evidence in a pending case to change his mind and come up with a way to solve the problem. Now we just need to start praying that the two groups will agree to let us rent the library.

23 September 2009 – Wednesday

We did not go to DDM this morning because we needed meet the Barts at Happy’s crèche to make sure everyone agreed on what was to be done for her wedding on Saturday. Earlier Mary and I had run a number of errands including getting some special paper, some printing done, cleaning my silver ring so Happy can give it to Patrick as a wedding ring, and buying some electronic parts to hopefully solve a problem with the speaker system at Esikhawini.

Later we met with President Machaka for PEC before visiting some members. I felt a real need to visit one sister who is blind in one eye. Her house was out of the way from where we were and there were a number of other members we had not checked out but I told Mary we needed to visit her. When we got there we found that she had been ill – Mary knew this but I did not – that she had also fallen and cracked some ribs, that she had no food or electricity. We gave her some money so she could get electricity and food and told her that we would tell president Malinga so she could get some help.

After visiting her we went to the Esikhawini chapel where I found that the electricity was out and the part I bought would not fix the speaker system. The power being out meant that the presidency meeting would have to be cancelled or moved somewhere else. I explained to presidents Malinga and Nyawo some things that I thought were important and gave them some supplies. I also told them that it was very important that they hold their meeting so they could get things organized.