Just as we were ready to leave for the B’s boarding for another load, I read a letter from Sister Mann to Mary about the coming District Conference with a number of questions from Sister Koelliker about the district, branches and the Saturday afternoon meeting that she will speak at. Sister Mann thought it would be easier for Mary to answer sister Koelliker directly so she sat down and spent some time answering the best she could.
When she was finished we went to the other boarding and while Mary talked to Bessie about her trip to England for 2 months, I loaded up the car with more goodies. I think we have two more car loads and then President Vezi can come for the big things that are left. Hopefully he can do that on Friday and that will clear out the boarding.
We then motored up to Empangeni and that districts DDM. When we got there I noticed the car was not in the driveway so I called Elder Wengert to find out if why he called earlier was to tell us that there was no DDM. It wasn’t but DDM was moved to Richards Bay so the zone could practice their skit for All Zone. It seems that elder Kitili – the new District Leader – had forgotten to call and tell us of the change.
We decided to skip going to DDM and go back to our boarding to unload the car and then have lunch before heading to Esikhawini and things we needed to do there.
We had English class with Sister Ndlovu and her daughter at their house. Then we went and had a quick PEC with President Machaka before going to Zama’s house to exchange electrical converters.
This morning when I looked for my scriptures I could not find them. I even asked Mary to pitch in because she often finds things that I look right past. But even she gave up and I decided that I must have left them at the Esikhawini chapel. Since we needed to give one of Mary’s students a new voltage converter for her key board, we stopped at the chapel first. I looked in a number of places and was just about to give up when I found them in the chapel. The reason I had not looked there first was Mary assured me that she had not seen them there when she closed up after piano lessons on Sunday.
Our trip to Zama’s house was not fruitful –she was not home and neither was her keyboard. So we headed off to Meerensee and the B’s old boarding to start moving things out so we can turn it back over to Bessie and Hans to rent out. But first we stopped along the way at the new KFC for lunch. We hurriedly ate our lunch because the air-conditioning was set so low that Mary almost froze.
We packed up a number of boxes and filled the car before heading back to our boarding. We then spent the rest of the day going through all the things we had brought as well as re-organizing what we already have. As Mary pointed out we basically were going through supplies and other items that go back at least 3 couples – the Beazers, the Hafens and the Bartholomews. We divided things into items we will keep, items we will give to the library, items we will give to the branches, and things to be thrown away.
By the time we had finished – well at least well along the way to being finished – it was well into the evening. Once again we did not really have dinner – just grabbed things while we worked. It was not what I could call a great missionary day, but we did get things done that needed to be done.
I forgot to mention that it was cloudy, drizzled or rained all day. Nice weather for the work I was doing.
A very bland P-day that included running some errands and going out to a nice lunch at Mug and Bean, but mainly we just hung out around the house. It of coursed rained but not hard. We – well mainly me but Mary did seem to agree – just did not have much desire to go out and do anything very far from home. I managed to use some of the time to catch up all of our photos and get some of them on the blog.
I did get the FAX working so President Mann could send us some things we will need for District Conference. In the evening Elders Maremela and Disjon came over to down load some charts off the internet – the stats for the Zone are pretty flat.
We decided not to go to Enseleni today because Mary wanted to have piano practice at Esikhawini. She had missed yesterday because of the Youth activity and next week is District Conference. She did not want to go three weeks with out any lessons.
Once everyone got there, there was a good turn out for PEC at Esikhawini. I was especially happy to see that the Elders are bringing completed missionary reports to the meeting and encouraging the presidency to act on giving new members callings. President Thusi was worried that asking new converts to accept callings might drive them away and the elders pointed out that there were many callings that did not make any great demands on their time but did make them feel needed and a part of the branch.
We then headed off to Port Durnford where of the speakers were all the youth reporting about the Youth Convention yesterday. Lindani gave a great review and others did OK but for the most part the thing that every speaker talked about was how great the food was. I guess the way to a youth’s heart is through their stomach.
We stayed for part of the second hour but once the classes got a little settled – not an easy task – we started back to Esikhawini. As we approached the buildings, I saw President Malinga walking towards us so I stopped and offered him a lift back to his home. He had just got off of night shift at 7:00 and so he had not had any sleep. We found the branch presidency had spoken at Sacrament meeting and that was just what was supposed to happen. President Baldwin wants the branch presidencies to speak one Sunday a month. Later we found that the same thing had happened at Enseleni – it is reassuring to know that the branch presidents do listen to our coaching.
After sacrament meeting Mary worked with two of her piano students and found that Sazi Mthalane has been asked to play a solo for the Christmas social. Mary thinks he will be able to do it…it will certainly give him a good reason to practice each day. While she was doing that I tried to help sister Khumalo with her computer skills but found that she had a book that would help her much more. She just needs to carefully follow the steps in the book and she will gain a good basic knowledge.
I then talked to President Nyawo about a number of things. He mentioned this morning that he wanted to have branch goal of having an actual building for them to meet in. I told him that this was a great goal to work towards but it had to start with the keeping of the basic commandments of family prayer, family scripture study, FHE, full tithe paying, home and visiting teaching, and being involved with missionary work. As the branch did these things – starting with the leadership – the build will just come. The longest journey starts with the first step.
After the last of her lessons we dropped president Nyawo off at his home and came back to our boarding. After lunch and a nap – we got things ready for the missionaries to come for dinner. Mary cooked BBQ Beef, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, toasted rolls, green salad, jello salad, and drinks. For dessert they had brownies and ice cream. I thought we had cooked way too much food but other than the green salad there was little to take home. We took pictures of the new elders in the zone and zone pictures. also had the new elders fill out information sheets so we can put them in our mission book.
As always we enjoyed having the missionaries in our home for a couple of hours. It is fun to see them chow down, talk to each other, and share experiences. Elders who came out together but are not companions especially seem to enjoy a few minutes of relaxing together. I took a number of pictures and it is great to capture their enthusiasm and friendship. All too soon it is time for them to leave for their boardings so they can be obedient to the mission rules. They of course take any extra food with them.
 For some reason I completely forgot to post any pictures of our trip to Durban earlier in the month. I had promised Sister Mickelsen that I would share the spice pictures below so I will take the opportunity to post a few others that I think are interesting.
They take their hot spices seriously here – Mary is glad they do not sell this spice in the US. I am sorry that we did not buy some of the KFC Spice to see if they really have the exact formula.
While we were at the B&B we saw these nests. The birds strip the palm branches and weave them into this really nice closed nest. Unfortunately they do this right over the swimming pool so the Rawlings must knock them down so the bird dropping do not disturb their guests. The last picture is our view out door.
Sister Swazi-Wilson enjoying swinging while her husband is off bird watching. The Mickelsens do not have to go far for their morning fruit. This bunch of bananas is growing about 15 feet from their front door. Talk about fresh fruit! Tika is not at all shy about sharing the shade of our room.
Enseleni branch arrived before we did so I took their picture. The other groups came one after another and quickly mixed and were impossible to gather together. Each branch made a banner depicting one of the virtues that are part of the theme for the year – here are four of them. 50 – 60 worthy youth and their leaders came to the convention.
Each person who came got a T-Shirt. Ngeniswa, the District YW President was one of main organizers and conductors of the event. It was a great experience for her and the other District and Branch leaders as they put together a full day of activities. Nonhlahla is a YW leader in Enseleni and pretty much organized the branch for the event.
The youth were divided into four groups for the games and instruction. As you can see I asked for one or two nicely posed pictures and then let them have a wild one…they really can do wild!
The elders pitched in through out the day, but were especially helpful when it came to serving food. The water balloon toss was one of the favorites. If you managed to get wet, the warm day quickly dried you off.
One of the main reasons that the activity went so well was that there was an excellent turn-out of adult leaders. This shows three leaders from Esikhawini and Ngeniswa enjoying the food and the shade. President Vezi and his lovely wife provided the food. On Sunday at Port Durnford, the one thing the youth mentioned in each of their talks was the quality and quanity of the food. Just to show that elder did get to taste of their labors of serving, here is Elder Reeder chowing down.
It was a wonderful day – we got to see how couple missionary work paid off in Richards Bay. It was not us who did the work – it was the Bartholomews and the Hafens. We just got to see the results and share in the joy.
The event was an all day Youth Convention where worthy young men and women – over 50 – in the Richards Bay District came together. Those who came had to have a recommend from their branch presidents and a permission slip signed by their parent or guardian.
What made it so great was that the District Young Men and Young Women leaders, a member of the District Council, and the District Presidency, did all the planning and ran the event. All we had to do was help Port Durnford youth paint a banner – they designed it themselves – and show up. Every other banner, all the games, all the speakers, all the food, and all the transportation was done by the YM and YW committee or the branch presidents. They did use the outline of a program that Sister Bartholomew printed off the internet not long before they left for home.
Our main contribution was to bring a few things – sticky putty for putting up the flags, pens to sign Book of Mormons, three table cloths and extra Book of Mormons in case they were needed. We did help with the serving of food and I took a lot of pictures. But other than that we basically could sit back and just watch everything work. There were of course a couple of problems – they had to break up a fight and breakfast arrived a little late, etc. but none of them were the fault of the committee.
Not only that, but every branch except little Port Durnford had either their YM and YW leaders or a member of the branch presidency there to help. Esikhawini had four leaders there to help. Two of the missionaries were deeply involved for most of the day. I think Elder Weaver and Elder Reeder had as much if not more fun than the youth.
Everything ran so well that Mary and I were even able to get away for a couple of hours for a quick nap. I have decided that I am not as young as I used to be.
When President Baldwin started his talk at the end of the day, he mentioned that this was the first Youth activity that was all home grown and how proud he was of those who organized it.
After the Convention was over and we were in the parking lot paying the taxis’ and making sure that everyone made it home, Sister Ngeniswa Matanzima, the District Young Women’s President came up and started thanking us for all we had done. I stopped her and told her that we had done almost nothing but that she and the rest of the committee had done it all. She broke in to a big smile and said it was the first time that she had been in on the complete planning of an activity and that the next one would be even better. That smile and confident statement was worth a whole mission.
We did not even have to lock up – we drove off with the Richard Bay elders were still getting in car and would close the gate behind them.
A perfect day was capped off by a delicious dinner with the Mickelsens and their visiting son Nathan at our favorite Thai restaurant at the harbor. We somehow spent the better part of two hours eating and talking. By the time we got home we were happily exhausted – the end of a great day.
Our morning had to be slightly re-arranged because the gardening crew came over to work on our yard. Much like the car wash they take their time but do a good job. I had to call Justice – their boss – to come over and translate some instructions to his crew because I could not quite get across what I wanted done. I told Justice it was my fault and not his men’s.
I managed to get my check cashed. As a tender mercy I got the same teller that I had on Wednesday. I have to confess that I thought it was another teller and was at first disappointed when my turn took me to what I thought was the wrong window. But the sweet teller quickly acknowledged that she was the one who helped me before and she quickly – at least for South African Banks – cashed my check.
It had been alternating between raining and drizzling all morning and it continued that way all day. I of course forgot to put in an umbrella so we managed to get wet from time to time.
We went from the bank to Esikhawini where we took a card and candy bar to sister Myeza who turns a young 82 tomorrow. Since we will be at the Youth Convention all day, we decided to do this a day early instead of a day late. She was thrilled with the attention and when we sang Happy Birthday to her she jumped up and shook our hands again. While we were there, sister Mkhwanazi – the other of my ‘young ladies but only 77 years old – came over and she was able to translate anything that needed translating. It is wonderful to see how grateful these humble people are for any act of kindness.
We then ran over to Port Durnford and picked up their banner so Mary could finish putting on the scriptures. It really does look good and I am proud of the youth for how well they worked together. Not just in Port Durnford but everywhere.
During the day I came up with a number of things that I thought might cause problems tomorrow with the Youth activity but each time I called Sne, he told me they had taken care of it. Even when I called to say that they might want to make a plan for if it was raining hard and he said they had spent the morning doing just that – they had Plan B. Basically the Youth leaders have adapted the two day program that Sister B had printed out before she left into a one day program. Next time I am sure they can find their own program on the inter-net or make their own plans for their activities. It is wonderful to see all the effort the Bartholomews and Hafens put in to show them how a program should bear fruit. We just get to be true shadow leaders – and not even very close shadows.
Our afternoon was spent in Enseleni teaching English to President Vilane and then being there for Youth. About the time Youth should have been starting President Vilane started asking me questions and we spent over an hour talking about different things going on in his branch. For a number of them I just got out the Church handbook of instructions and we went through the relevant parts. We did talk about some callings he was thinking of making and I explained to him that the presidents of Auxiliaries should be given the opportunity to choose their counselors subject of course to his agreement. I also mentioned that when you released a president you also had to release their counselors and so the whole new presidency needed to be sustained.
He is a truly excellent and humble man and wants to do things right. I enjoy working with him and he is so eager to learn and do things right. I encouraged him to have the AP come early to fix the sacrament and not have the elders do it each week.
Youth was rather unorganized and when Khulikani came in where President Vilane and I were working  to mention that, I told him that he was the YM president and needed to get things moving with a song and prayer and then play some games. A few minutes later we heard them singing and when we finished our meeting we found them playing a game. All Khulikani needed was someone to tell him it was up to him.
After Youth we did some shopping and it was raining fairly heavily. Of course we did not have an umbrella – I had taken it out when I thought I was going to have a tire changed – so we managed to get rather wet. But as Mary often reminds me, we would not melt.
So it was a good day. Often I feel like we could do more and we probably could but I think that is true no matter how much we do. I feel that we are touching lives and making the branches stronger. That has been my goal since we came on our mission. To help prepare the branches to stand on their own so if there are no couples here, they will still move forward.
Our errands for the morning were to go grocery shopping and try once again to cash my check. So Mary went shopping and I went to the bank. Since the line was long and the manager who helped me yesterday was not in evidence, I gave up my task.
We went to RB DDM – that is Richards Bay District Development Meeting. While we were waiting for the elders to arrive Mary made copies for the English class and I read D&C 50 again. As I read verse one I realized that it was because the assembled Priesthood had come to a unity about what they wanted to know and then asked with sincerity that this great lesson on how the Spirit was necessary for true teaching came about. Although as individuals they were not perfect, as a unit they had a power or strength that brought about a great experience.
After DDM we took our groceries home and fixed a light lunch before heading out again for Port Durnford. As we drove through Esikhawini we saw Bongomusa walking along the road so we picked him up and gave him a ride home. Then we stopped and picked up three of the gogos that are attending the English class at the Nzamas. We had 4 of them and Thandi for class. Gogo Nzama and Tembe did not come – it is probably a good thing since there was no where for them to sit.
Mary taught four of them while I taught the gogo with almost no English in another area. I decided I needed to teach her the ABCs because she had no idea how to sound out a word so she had to memorize it and this was not working well. Since we really could not communicate, it was lucky for both of us that Zinhle – a young woman who is a long time investigator – came over and took over the teaching.
After English we took the now four gogos home and Zinhle to Youth. This is the first time she has come to Youth since the Roadshows. I must say getting four large sized gogos in the back seat of Tiida was really something and I drove very slowly over the dirt road because I was pretty sure there was not much clearance under the car.
When Youth started I thought it was going to be a disaster because it looked like only one or two could work on the banner at one time. However Mary got things started and then I managed to come up with a way that almost everyone ended up with a brush or a pen in their hand. In this way everyone had a part in the creation and was kept busy. I was disappointed that a couple of they young men did not make it until very late and one did not arrive at all. But I am learning to just love them for who they are and try to help them gain a testimony that will carry them through the hard parts of their lives.
We ended up spending two hours at Port Durnford so by the time we headed home, the over-cast skies and light rain made driving not a lot of fun. But we arrived safely and fixed fried eggs sandwiches on Portuguese rolls for our Thanksgiving dinner. I decided this is the first Thanksgiving in my life that I did not have a turkey dinner with either family or missionaries. But it did not seem like a sacrifice at all – it just seemed that we did what was right and needed to be done.
Later in the evening we called our children and talked to almost everyone except Brian and Ryan. I was happy to find out that Bob and Cindy’s family were having dinner together. Jim and his family were in Michigan with Kristy’s family. Tom and Shauna were at home and we think Brian was at his girlfriend’s. The news that Brian had a girlfriend was a nice surprise for us. Cindy said that although they were not coming for dinner with the family, they were coming to Taylor’s reception later in the week.
Funny Story – Part 2 – I forgot to tell about the other funny thing we found out about yesterday. Since we drive by or come to their house about 4 times a week, the children associates us with our car. The youth told Mary yesterday that every time they see a blue car drive by they say “There is ‘How are you.’
As usual our day had successes and disappointments. I went out early to get the car washed and was happy to see only 3 cars in the line. While I waited, I read from D&C 50 and made some notes. This section has become my favorite and I just wish I could remember everything it says. I think one of the reasons I like it so much is that it so personal – that is the Lord talks to the gathering of elders ‘face to face’ and reasons with them to answer a question that is causing great friction in the young church.
Of course the meat of the section is about the role of the Spirit in teaching and hearing the Gospel message. Something that will never change and I am afraid not really understood by many of the missionaries for much of their mission. They have a hard time distinguishing between a convert and a person willing to be baptized. A convert is not just willing to be baptized they feel they must be baptized. Anyway it is a great section for missionaries and all teachers of the Gospel to study.
We went to the B’s boarding and told Hans that we would not be keeping the boarding after the end of the year. We then started moving things to our boarding or took them to the RB Chapel so they could be used there. We only took a very small bite out of what is going to be a lot sorting and moving. Our PO Box got us 4 advertisements and the maps to be used to plan for a branch up in Kosi Bay. This will not happen any time soon but perhaps by the time we leave it can at least be considered.
As we just reviewed the rest of the day I realized we mainly bounced around between the Richards Bay Chapel, the mall, Esikhawini, Enseleni, the mall, the harbor and home. We did get the yarn to Mama Zulu where we found that her grandson has been ill. We got the sign for Enseleni, had a meeting with President Machaka, made a couple of dozen phone calls and got more permission slips for the Youth Convention to Sne. We were bunked on our English lesson, we missed President Vilane, and the restaurant where we wanted reservations will be closed all day for a wedding. Oh and after waiting for 30 minutes, I did not get a check cashed because they could not verify the signatures. For the last one I managed to keep my cool – maybe I am learning a little patience.
High on the positive side is how well the District YM and YW leaders are handling the Youth Convention that will be held on this coming Saturday. We have been calling the leaders regularly to see what help we could be and they keep telling us that they have things in hand. When I ask them about different aspects of the activity they have already addressed them. I am not sure how the Convention will turn out but much like the YSA activity that was held just before the Bs went home, it success will be the result of the District and Branches efforts and not ours.
I should mention some excitement or lack there of in our driving experiences of the last couple of days. Yesterday as we drove between Enseleni and Esikhawini on the N2, we came upon a very recent accident where a log truck dropped one of his trailers’ load of logs across about 2/3rds of the lanes. Luckily the cab and one of the trailers stayed upright but the rest of the load looked like a very large stack of Lincoln Logs.
Today as we attempted to drive between Richards Bay and Enseleni, we managed to get behind a huge truck that was transporting what looked like a 50 foot long, 10 foot in diameter tower. It was escorted by a number of police cars that blocked traffic so that it never had to stop. It was moving at about 10-15K an hour and we could not get by it, so we decided that we would be better off going to Esikhawini and then to Enseleni and hope that we did not run across any other obstructions.
We did have one more experience when in Esikhawini we found that there a new way to get from one side of J section to the other. All the maps we have show the streets dead-end but they are wrong. This is important because it means we do not have to go out to the ring-road every time we have appointments on opposite sides of the section.
