17 January 2010 – Sunday

It was a very busy day until after 2:00 and then very restful. Great weather – overcast, slight dampness in the air, and a pleasant breeze much of the day. It was very cool for summer here – everyone enjoyed a nice Sabbath.

We picked up president Nyawo and brother Nkosi for PEC at Esikhawini. There is still a number of PH leaders who do not make it to PEC and some training needs to be done, but they have only been in for about two months so it will take some time. It was great to have president Thusi with us just a week after his accident.

I interviewed brother Malinga and brother Nkosi about the change in the Elder’s quorum presidency. Hopefully this will help get the home teaching going and some of the less active visited. If I accomplish nothing more than getting home teaching firmly established in Esikhawini I will feel the 15 months here was worthwhile. It is something that has been tried and failed for many years – going back to when they were part of the RB ward.

We then drove to Port Durnford for sacrament. It was good to see Quinton and we talked about how he might help get some of those who are missing back to church. 25 members and no investigators…the missionary work is not going well at all there. I am worried about some of the families who are not coming – in a branch as small as this it does not take too many being gone to make a difference.

After sacrament we went back to Esikhawini where I took care of sustaining and setting apart the new Elders Quorum presidency and then watched three young men be advanced in the priesthood. I am glad I stayed because they forgot to confer the AP before ordaining one young man to be a deacon. I spoke to Elder Wengert about how for us who have been in the church so long and have taken part in so many ordinations it comes easy, for the members in South Africa it is still pretty new as most of them have been in leadership positions for only a couple of years at the most.

Because of the business at Esikhawini we were late getting to Enseleni. However they started a little later than they usually have been so we did not miss much. I had a brief meeting with president Vilane and we will meet again on Tuesday to fill out the quarterly report.

By the time we left Enseleni we had been to three branches and one of them twice. It is great to be able to meet so many members – it is too bad we have such a terrible time remembering all their names – and enjoy their spirit.

We had an appointment with the father-in-law of the man who we rent from. They are going to put not one but two air-conditioning units in the house next Saturday. What a blessing that will be and we can return the portable unit that we bought that does not work properly. Maybe we will survive the winter here after all. Also we can not recommend the boarding to the next couple who comes to RB when we leave.

We enjoyed reading the Mann’s and Mickelsen’s blogs for the week. Each couple has such different experiences and yet all share the excitement and satisfaction of serving our missions. Too bad more couples do not take advantage of serving one or more missions – they do not know what they are missing.