07 January 2010 – Thursday
Mary was in 7th Heaven this morning. She got to take her first long soaking bath since we left Durban for Swaziland. I finally had to mention that if she did not get out I could not take my bath and we would be late for Zone Conference.
At the Zone Conference President Mann spend most of the time just going over all the tools that the missionaries have to work with and then has a couple of exercises that concentrate on certain areas. The graphics that show the growth of the missionary work over the last 2 ½ years are quite impressive. The one that I think is the most important is the one that shows that in July 2007 there were 9 missionaries out from the Stakes and now there are 44. It is projected that there will 60 out in 2010. What a power these missionaries be when they return. In two or three years there will be a pool of Priesthood talent that will make each stake and district hum. We are lucky to be a part of the vibrant feeling of the mission at this time.
The conference started with a video about an actual traffic accident that resulted in the death of a missionary. It was told by 3 people who were there soon after the accident occurred. There was no room for laughter in this video – we all sat quietly and reflected on what was being described.
We helped Sister Mann with the servicing of the pizza. She has it down to such a system that I think she could do it in her sleep. 48 elders were served and finished eating in less than 25 minutes.
We said goodbye to the Manns and headed off to the Mickelsens. Other than getting a little lost – I missed another turn – we had no problem finding their boarding. I still am amazed at how narrow and the steepness of their driveway. It will make a great sledding hill if it ever snows.
We spent the time talking about when we could take a couple of days off to go on a trip through the midlands together. With the Markums and Johnsons leaving in February, it will probably be just us and the Mickelsens that will be going. We set the dates and we will each look over what is available and make suggestions about what we would like to see and do.
The drive back to Richards Bay was interesting because Mary wanted to do some sightseeing. But we ran into two problems. First we could not find any roads that said they went where we wanted to go. We finally just started going down a very bumpy but pretty well maintained road that seemed to be going the right direction. We had gone a few Ks when I looked at the gas gage and realized we had not filled up since leaving RB on Wednesday and the tank was quite low. Since we had no idea how far it was to the beach I decide we had to turn around and find a station.
When we got back to the R102 the GPS said we had 16K to go to the nearest station. So headed that way and hoped that it did not send us to some strange little pump in the middle of nowhere like it did once before. We never found that one but luckily made it to another one without running out of gas. This time we found a really nice station right on a road that took us back to the N2 and home. I count it as a tender mercy from the Lord that I happened to look at the fuel gage before we were too far from a station.
The trip home from the station was a cinch – Mary would have enjoyed it more if her tooth did not hurt so much. We did stop at the pharmacy so she could get something for her tooth. It turned out that the pharmacy has an on-site clinic where a woman looked at her tooth and told her it was abscessed. She suggested some anti-biotics to help fight the infection. The consultation and two kinds of antibiotics cost a total of R51 – about $6. Mary’s doctor visit on Tuesday was less than about $30. Who says you can not have good heath care for a reasonable price.
When we got to our boarding we were both rather tired. I knew I was tired because I did not immediately unpack my suitcase as I usually do. All I did was get out my computer to make sure it made the trip without any problems.
Mary called Shauna and told her about her tooth and what the woman at the clinic said was wrong. Shauna suggested what the dentist should do to take care of the problem until Mary could get back home and up to Oregon to get it permanently fixed. It is nice to have the Vonage phone so we can call home at no extra cost.