21 October 2009 – Wednesday

We spent the morning organizing paperwork and making plans for the day before heading up to the DDM for the Empangeni District. Although it ran a little long, it was a good DDM. We got to know a little more about each of the elders , including why they decided to go on a mission. They set some interesting District goals including one to find each day until they found one new family to teach. It will be interesting to find out how they do in keeping that one.

The Empangeni elders are teaching 3 or 4 families at this time. In fact other than poor Port Durnford, all the areas are doing well. The main problem seems getting the investigators to come to church. I suggested in any family where there are youth, that they try to get them to the Youth activity so they can make friends and have fun. I also suggested that they take the RS President, Branch President and others with them when they go so they will get to know a number of people so they will feel more comfortable coming.

After the meeting the elders enjoyed the Chelsea buns we brought. Elder Maremela went first so he could give a demonstration on the correct way to eat one. He is a very funny young man. One of the things most of the elders mentioned was their favorite sport. Elder Maremela is a big man and you would guess he played basketball, soccer, or rugby. It turns out that he did not play any sports – he was just not interested. This is very surprising for any young man and even more so with someone his size and agility.

During the morning I got a call from the Mickelsens saying they would be coming to RB to start working with the Engwalazne branch. Since they had already arranged a meeting with President Mngadi for tomorrow, I cancelled the one I had scheduled with him for today. Instead we went back to Richards Bay had some lunch and picked up the two bikes that we had completely tuned up for Esikhawini elders. They had to almost rebuild them and this caused me to decide we would inspect the bike regularly to see that the missionaries were taking care of them.

We then took the bikes to the Esikhawini chapel where we met with the missionaries. They were very happy to get them because they have been walking everywhere and sometimes it was a long distance between appointments.

As we were leaving the chapel, we got a call from a non-member woman who we have been trying to help get a job without and success. She has great qualification and is probably too qualified for many jobs and too old for others. She said they had no food but since none of her family are members I could not direct her to branch president for help. We try not to just give people food or money but we also could not let a family we know go hungry so we bought a pretty good selection of basic foods and took them to the homestead. Along the way I thought of a way we could help but also let them feel like they are no beggars. They were very happy to accept our suggestion for re-payment and insisted on giving us a head of lettuce from their small garden.

By the time we finished there it was a little late to do anything else so we drove towards home. We used a sand road that was quicker and smoother than the main paved road. We will not use it after a major rain but for a while it is a good short-cut between Esikhawini and Port Durnford.

We did make a short detour to Meer n See and the Barts boarding to tell Hans that some people would be using it from Thursday through Sunday so he could have the beds made, etc. I also picked up the surge protector/back-up battery unit that Elder B said we could have. Now at least there is a hope that if there is a lightening strike our computers will not be toast.

All in all a good day – close to 2 mites.