18 October 2009 – Sunday

Woke at about 3:30 and could not go back to sleep so I sat up reading until I gave up and had breakfast.

We were out of the house by 6:50 and drove to Esikhawini to pick up President Nyawo and tried to picku up President Nkosi but he was not ready but made it to PEC anyway. Sne Mthalane joined us but the elders arrived 30 minutes late when we were almost done. I took some of the time trying to encourage them to do their home teaching.  After PEC Sne told me that he was applying for a PEF loan so he cango to a school in Durban that specializes in teaching cargo handling and paperwork. He feels it is a good specialty for South Africa and that it pays well. I think he is doing the right thing but the branch is really going to miss him. Mary met with sister Khumalo while I was at PEC as a District RS Presidency.

We then drove to Port Durnford for Sacrament meeting. It looked like almost no one was going to show up but by the time it started a half hour late, there was about 30 people in attendance. After sacrament we stayed long enough for President Machaka to ordain Lindani as a priest and give brother Chirwa – who was baptized two weeks ago – the priesthood and ordain him a priest.

We then stopped by home for a snack before going on to Enseleni for their branch conference. The Bs were there being busy as usual making sure everything was ready for Sacrament. We only talked to them for a minute before sitting down. We were surprised when President Baldwin stood at the beginning and announced that they would leave during the meeting to avoid a big goodbye scene. We were disappointed because we never really had said goodbye to them. During the meeting Elder B passed me the keys to their boarding and that was about it for parting. Like so many in the audience we really would have liked a parting hug and handshake before they left, but we understand their decision. Unlike the people here, at least we will get to see them again in about 9 months.

The highlight of the talks was President Vezi mentioning how a Book of Mormon that he found in a pile of magazines that he bought at a used book store. That ‘accident’ changed his life completely.

After sacrament we left to go back to Port Durnford so I could spend some time training Presidents Machaka and Zondi. President Zondi has only been a member for a year and is going to conduct his first sacrament meeting next week. I gave them a couple of suggestions and some homework from the 2004 WW Leadership meeting on Bishoprics. I think this will help them understand their callings and hopefully help President Zondi feel more confident.

We were going to make a couple of stops in Esikhawini but found out the people would not be home so we will do it on Tuesday or Wednesday. We finally got home at about 5:00 after a long and fruitful – I think – day. With the Bartholomews gone, I think we will have many very busy days – especially Sundays.

I was so tired that I almost immediately lay down and napped for two hours. Mary finally woke me because she was afraid I would never go to sleep tonight. I told her that I did not think that would be any problem. I spoke to sister Mickelsen for a few minutes about Elder Holland’s talk “Divine Companion.” Sister Mann has asked her to transcribe the talk from the DVD so the elders can all have a copy. She had read in my blog that I was making copies of it for the elders in the zone. She was hoping that I had access to the whole talk but I had to tell her all I had was the report in the Church News.

The rest of the evening was very quiet and restful. Mary’s knee gave her trouble through out the day but she did not let that slow her down. However she was glad to be able to put it up on the couch and let it heal.

1 7/8 mite day! Always room for improvement.

Note: I just realized that I did not mention that Saturday when we got home from Esihkhawini we had almost no water pressure. We thought that because we had forgotten to pay our water bill and so they reduced our pressure until we did. It is not legal for them to completely cut off the water so they leave enough for people to get some drinking water and if they are patient to get enough for washing up a little. But there is not enough for taking a shower or washing clothes. Since by the time we discovered this it was too late to go pay the bill, we were resigned to the fact that we would not get showers on Sunday or Monday morning.

However when we got home from the dance on Saturday night, lo and behold the water pressure was back up. It must have been a system problem for the whole area and they fixed it while we were gone. When I found this out, I said a prayer of thanks and I will pay the bill first thing Monday.