12 November 2009 – Thursday
It was hot today! But not nearly as hot as they say it is going to get come December and January. Looking at pictures of snow does not seem to help. Luckily we spend a good part of our time in our lovely air-conditioned car. At least enough to cool us down between visits and classes.
I got the car washed this morning so the hand-prints that had been decorating the sides for the last few days have disappeared. We spent part of the morning getting everything ready for our English class and PD Youth. It is amazing how much time is needed just planning and getting things together. Then of course half the time you get to the class and you find you left something at the boarding.
We were bunked by the Richards Bay district for DDM. When I called elder Weaver he apologized and said that he woke up this morning thinking it was Wednesday. I must say that is a new excuse. With no DDM we had time to take care of a few errands that we had been putting off including paying our water bill.
We were just finishing lunch at Maxis when Sne Mthalane came in and we talked about the Youth Convention on the 28th. I had talked to him about getting more information out to the branches as to what kind of banner they were to make. He was on his way to buy material so everyone would have the same size and quality. Since we met with President Vezi on Tuesday while we were eating and today Sne, maybe we should just get an office in the mall so everyone could come in.
Our English class is growing. Today sister Chirwa brought a neighbor. Unfortunately Temba and gogo Nzama were not there – we have not see Temba for two weeks now. The new sister who came knows almost no English so I ended up taking her to another area and working with her one on one. It was rather fun and she taught me the Zulu words for tree, bee, sleep, sweets, foot and feet. Hopefully I will remember them so I can show off next time.
Youth at PD was pretty good. We challenged them to read the Book of Mormon before we are released. They need to read about 2 pages a day and they said they would. We will see how they do this coming week. Siya and Fufu are speaking this coming Sunday and I said we would come on Saturday and help them prepare their talk so they do not just read it from a Liahona. After our lesson, we played games: Book of Mormon Bingo and Book of Mormon Match Game. They truly enjoy games but are a little competitive. It is just a shame that there is not more family support for the youth – that is a home with a righteous PH leader. However a number of them have strong gogos and perhaps we can get them to start holding FHE, Family Prayer and Family Scripture reading.
Neither the Nzama’s home nor the PD chapel have even a fan to help cool things off. Mary seems to hold up pretty well but I have to continually wipe my face and neck to keep from drowning in perspiration. It would not be too bad if the breeze that seems to come up in the afternoon would move through the chapel but lately it has been blowing the wrong direction.
We were only home a few minutes when the RB elders called and asked if they could come over and make a baptismal program for Sunday. Of course we invited them over and Mary showed them how to use the template to make one. They did an excellent job and it is good to have them do it instead of just doing it for them.
As they were leaving Elder Weaver told us that they had an unhappy landlord because they keep setting off the alarm when they come home. For some reason they can remember how many rings means it is off. They are set it off twice in the last two days and it is waking up the landlord’s baby. Elder Weaver is afraid he might ask them to move if they do it again.
This morning as I was waiting for the car to get washed – a 45 to 60 minute task – I re-read most of the July Ensign. I really should re-read the Church magazines more often. Almost always some article that did not really connect with me the first time I read it, is just what I need to read later. Although the articles in the Church magazine can not be considered scripture, often they seem like they are.