04 November 2009 – Wednesday
Beautiful day with enough cloud cover to keep the temperature moderate but enough clear blue sky to frame the wonderful landscapes of the area.
After a productive morning of scripture reading and pondering we headed off to DDM at Empangeni. It was an excellent meeting with lots of sharing of ideas and experiences. Before the 4 Esikhawini elders came, Elder Babeeyo talked about how he was mugged just two weeks after getting to Durban. He lost just about everything including his brand new Quad and his shoes. But it did not slow him down and now he can talk about it and smile. Later Elder Wengert complained that he has never been mugged or even threatened so he will not have a good story to tell his children and grandchildren.
I brought up my concern about there being a number of young men who will soon be missionary age but are not inclined to go on a mission. I suggested that the missionaries might take them with them as they teach good investigators and also spend some time telling them about how going on a mission has changed their lives. I am going to try to figure out other ways to raise the desire to serve in more of the young men.
After the meeting we went to Esikhawini and had lunch at KFC. There is one young lady there who knows us well and always smiles when she sees us walk in and waves as we leave. Maybe some day she will ask us about the church.
We spent the better part of an hour with President Malinga talking about lots of different things. As we were leaving I got a commitment from him that he would go home teaching before Thursday’s Presidency meeting. I really hope he does it so he can urge the other members of the Presidency to do theirs.
After this meeting we had time to go and visit a couple of sisters. Mary talked to Sister Joyce about Primary and then we talked to sister Ndlovu about painting her living room and arranging for English lessons. She told us that she had a part time house cleaning job for 3 days a week. This was great news as she really needs the income.
Our next meeting was with President Machaka for a PEC. The elders called and said they would not be coming. I was pleased that he had ordered sacrament cups – a small thing but he now knows how to order supplies for his branch via the internet. We covered many subjects in a very short time including the branch social they are going to have on Saturday afternoon. We also talked about new callings and other small things that need to be done in the branch. It was the most productive meeting we have had with him.
We left him and drove to Enselini so we could drop off a birthday present for President Vilane’s youngest son’s birthday. We were excited because today is our granddaughter Olivia’s birthday. However when we got there the Vilanes told us that there was a mistake in the records and his birthday was really the 14th. We gave him the card and candy bar anyway.
We then had a long meeting with President Vilane as he had a lot of questions that came up during the Branch Correlation meeting on Sunday. Most of it had to do with Budgets – President Malinga brought up the same subject – so we gave him some council and told him to ponder and pray about how much should go to each auxiliary. We also talked about some problems with the Young Women – he feels that he needs to hold a special fireside for them about Chastity. Finally there was a discussion about the branch Christmas Party – everyone on the council thought it was a great idea and they are going to schedule it for the 13th of December. Before we left we arranged to hold Family Home Evening at their house next Monday – Sister Vilane has been trying to get her husband to hold it so hopefully this will get it kick started.
So it was a tired but happy missionary couple who finally drove back to their boarding as the sun was setting.
Today was Olivia’s 5th birthday so we called and wished her a happy one. Mary actually did all the talking and near the end she mentioned that we were sorry that we could not be at her party. Olivia asked why not and when she was told we were half a world away she realized which Grandma she was speaking to. She thought she was talking to Kristy’s mom in Michigan!
The rest of the evening was quiet and relaxing – we needed it.
I would rate this as a full 2 mite day.