05 November 2009 – Thursday
I like to take part of the morning to read articles from the Church News site. Today there was an excellent article on the reaction of the members in Japan to the announcement of a new temple for Sapporo. It was touching to read the stories of these faithful Saints who have been praying for a temple on their island. A number of them said that they prayed for a temple while trying to attend the temple in Tokyo more often.
Another article from the archives had the “directions for singing” were included in the preface to John Wesley’s 1761 hymnal. I loved 3 and 4.
III. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find a blessing.
IV. Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. . . .
I like the part about singing as a cross to bear and the promise of a blessing.
In the morning we went to a good DDM at Richards Bay – the elders focused on how to set baptismal dates. When we were done there it was time for lunch and then we had to hurry to Port Durnford for English class and then Youth. We have a new member of our English class – Sister Mlondo. Unfortunately Tembe did not show up as he said he would – I am not sure he will ever be baptized.
Youth was short but good. Almost all the youth came to the meeting. It was so hot in the building that I suggested we hold it outside. I do not think that is a good idea so in the future I think we will come early and open up the building before English so it might cool down by the time for Youth.
We shared Bishop Burton’s comments on learning the 13th Article of Faith and then worked a little on their talks. Next week we will break it into smaller groups so we can work on individual talks. I also promised them lots of time for games. I gave them a short talk about some of the concerns we had for them and all the youth in the district as they are faced with so many worldly things each day. We left them talking to Thandi Nzama about Seminary – she wants to teach it but no one wants to stay after Church.
We had a quick trip back to our boarding so there was time to heat up some of the left-overs before I went to District Meeting. President Baldwin runs a good meeting and we got a lot done. After our meeting the District YM and YW met with most of the council to discuss the YM and YW convention on the 28th. While that was going on I went with Calwyn and got the tithing sheets for all the branches, corrected some records and got new branch lists for the presidents. I also got the interview list for the branch presidents so the can know who they should be interviewing each month. Hopefully this will help them get closer to their members.
After the meeting I drove Sne Mthalane to the bus stop so he could get a ride home. I would have driven him all the way to his house but he did not want me to go to the trouble. Because of his job at the mall, he is use to using the bus to get home at night.
I am thrilled about the fact that the District YM and YW leadership is doing all the planning and assignments for the Convention without any help from us. We continue to remind them that we will be happy to help in any way we can, but they – along with Brother Mark Deploy of the District Council – want to do it themselves. It is a big step for them and hopefully it will be a great event so the next time they can have it over two days instead of one. The Hafens and Bartholomews should be proud of how well they trained the youth leaders to a point where they are capable of planning and carrying out a major event on their own.
While we were at the Nzamas for English Zinhle Khanyile came to pick up her sister and surprised us by saying she will be at church on Sunday. She is the young lady whose family stopped her from coming to Youth and Church just after the Roadshows. They felt she was drawing away from the family church. Hopefully this means they have softened their views and perhaps we can even get her back to coming to Youth.
As I was writing about Zinhle I remembered at DDM yesterday when Elder Kekana was using the section on Christ Like Attributes as part of his talk, I re-read about patience and how the lack of this attribute show a lack of faith that the Lord really is in control of His plan. At the time I was reminded about how upset I got when none of the branch Presidents showed up for the training meeting. But as I think about the same attribute this morning (Friday) I relate it to how sad and upset I felt when Zinhle had to stop coming to our meetings. But the Lord knew her and worked on the hearts of her parents.
It was close to being another 2 mite day.