18 January 2010 – Monday

It was a nice P-day for us. We spent the morning buying and delivering some food orders to families in Port Durnford. We love to be greeted by the children at one home who thinks our name is ‘How are you.” Some of the members do not have money to pay even the very modest school fees or to buy shoes for their children. Yet even with these problems they serve in the church by walking many kilometers to visit other members and to check on their needs.

After making the deliveries we headed for Enshowe to go to the aerial boardwalk above the Dlinza forest. We had heard about this since we arrived here and had been looking forward to experience walking through trees.

The boardwalk runs about 35 feet above the forest floor and there are some amazing trees growing along the walk. At the end of about 400 foot walkway there is a tower that goes up another 35 feet or so which gives us a wonderful view of the surrounding area. We were not really above much of the forest canopy so there was not the see of green that I saw when we visited Eureka hot springs and I climbed the 100 plus foot tower there.

What was amazing was the quiet – other than a few employees, we were the only people there. I should not say that it was truly quiet because there were sounds of some insect that might be a cousin to the crickets at home that kept up a continuous drone for most of the time we were there.

After the boardwalk we went to the Fort Nongqayi Museum Village. There we ate a very nice lunch at their restaurant that sat among beds of beautiful, blooming agapanthus. As soon as we saw them I was reminded of Dona’s beds that were in bloom each summer when we visited there. I certainly miss all my family that are waiting for me on the other side.

There was an interesting exhibit in the fort that told the story of the area and the native and other troops who were stationed there in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. It also told about the great Zulu chiefs who lived in the area and how they came to be subjected to the British.

There was another exhibit at the fort of native beadwork. Using trade beads the different tribes and areas developed elaborate designs to be used on clothing and decorative pieces. Unfortunately the sun reflecting off the glass of the cases made taking pictures difficult.

The final and perhaps best exhibit was the craft museum. Mainly it had pottery and woven pots and baskets from different areas and periods. It was built to house the 3000 piece collection of a missionary couple who lived and ministered in the area but who had to leave when the husband got ill.  To help the natives earn money they developed a demand for the crafts and in this way thousands of Zulu families were blessed. What made the experience special was the curator who was able to tell us about how the pottery was made and about some of the artists who’s works were on display.

The drive to and from Enshowe is on a two lane road that went through some beautiful valleys and across rolling hills. The fields are full of cane, pineapple and in some places citrus trees. The multi-shaded green landscape stretches up into the blue of the sky. Well today it was more gray-blue then blue-blue but that was good because it kept down the temperature. All it all it was a nice 6 hours of getting to know about this amazing country and it’s history.

At one point in the early evening 6 of the elders showed up at our boarding so Elder Wengert could print out the weekly graphs that show how the zone is doing. They were here only for about 15 minutes but having them around even for that short time makes the day a little brighter.

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.

15 January 2010 – Friday

Slept in until 6:45 – sorry about that President Mann – and woke to a beautiful morning that is likely to turn into a blistering afternoon.

My morning reading continues in Alma and his preaching to the people. As I read Alma 8:15 and the angels’ message to ‘lift up thy head’ I thought of the D&C 121 where a discouraged prophet is told that he should stop feeling sorry for himself because God is with him. A little further along in 8:24 Alma declares that he is ‘the high priest over the church of God’ and has ‘been called to preach the word of God among all this people.” That brought 3 Nephi 5:13 to mind where Mormon says almost the exact same thing and we repeat it at almost all missionary meetings. I am certain that President Monson could say the same thing.

We are now waiting for President Vezi to come to pick up a desk to add to other things he is taking to the Empangeni boarding. He is picking up a mattress at the RB boarding, the desk from us, two mattress bases at a store and taking all up to their boarding so the two elders can stop sleeping on couches and the floor.

We got a call from the Mickelsen’s who are making plans to come to RB next week to work with some young people who are interested in a PEF loan. It is too bad that they live in Southern Utah because I think we could easily be good friends with them if they lived closer to Provo. They are a fun couple who seem to have many of the same tastes that we do.

When President and sister Vezi arrives he tells me that he was late because he ran out of fuel and had to walk to get some. Since there are not gas stations on every corner here, he may have had to walk a long ways. He also wanted to talk about a business he would like to start but does not have the capital to get it going. This is the same problem that we saw in Indonesia.

Once the Vezi’s were on their way we immediately left to do some errands and eat some lunch before heading up to Enseleni. One of the errands was to get the mail which included two more packages from the Bartholomews. When we had time to open them we found lots of licorice – black, red, and chocolate – Crystal Light – real Hersey’s chocolate chips – and much more. There were a number of things to be given to the members in Enseleni and Engwelezane. The Bartholomews hearts are still here in South Africa.

At Enseleni Mary taught President Vilane English while I worked with Khulekani on his mission papers. We found that the doctor did not do a TB test which is mandatory before he can send in his papers so I am going to have to make another appointment for that.

We then attended Youth and showed the introduction of the new theme DVD. Only about 60% of the Youth were there. I think the month lay-off made some of them lazy and we will have to try and do some interesting things to get them excited again. We left as Nonhlahla and Khulekani were about to play games and then hand out the Seminary manuals for this year. I do not know what they will do if Nonhlahla moves to Joburg and Khulekani goes on his mission. Hopefully some of the others will rise to take up the leadership of the youth.

In the evening I finally got caught up all the pictures but did not get around to posting them on our blog. We did get a nice note from Elder Mendenhall’s mother about reading our blog. Later I looked at her blog and found that he has served in Richards Bay and taught Khulekani. I thought it was a nice coincidence that now just about 17 months after Elder Mendenhall watched his baptism Khulekani is getting ready to go on his mission. Maybe Elder Mendenhall can go to the temple when Khulekani does – President Mann allows missionaries to go to the temple with their converts.

14 January 2010 – Thursday

I had an interesting morning with a variety of experiences – some good and some not as well.  As usual as I reading in Alma I came across thoughts that hit home. As he spoke to the church in Zarahemla he asked the same question that I asked on Sunday – that is would I be able to stand before Christ and hear Him say – “Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth.” (Alma 5:16) All of Alma 5 and 6 is worth re-reading often. I especially found Alma 6:6 about the people “fasting and praying often in behalf of the welfare of the souls who knew not God.” I certainly should include those who do not have the gospel in my prayers more often.

When I went to get some meat out of the freezer for a party at Port Durnford this afternoon, I found that all the trays were frozen in place. It seems our self-defrosting frig is not self-defrosting. I then had to spend a good deal of time getting the drawers out and then getting rid of the accumulated ice. This was not on my planning sheet for the day.

I had another bit of excitement when Mary’s AOL Mail account went into a loop. When I tried re-starting the computer to see if it would fix itself, a note came up that it could not find the system to boot. That did not sound good but when I unplugged the power, took out the battery and then re-started; everything started working fine – including the AOL Mail. I did find some comfort in the fact that when I went to AOL Help I found that many people were having the same trouble and they had put up a special Help section to try and solve it.

I finally got around to downloading Mary’s camera and started editing the pictures. Every time I wait too long to take off the pictures I swear that I will not do it again – but of course I do and so instead of being a pleasant experience it is a drag to name, edit and re-size 50 to 100 pictures all at once. I also managed to catch up posting my journal to our blog – another case of procrastination on my part.

We called and found that there will be no DDM today so we are taking that time to get ready for English class and Youth. We had promised the PD Youth for the last three weeks that we would have a party. Unfortunately between the holidays, our being sick and then an unexpected (at least for us) Zone Conference, we have had to postpone it a number of times. But today we will have it and Mary is using the extra time to bake a cake.

As we headed out to teach English and then have Youth at Port Durnford, we stopped along the way to pick up a few things we would need. Ken’s Trade is basically a party supply shop where we get the plates, cups, utensils, napkins, and delicious chocolate that we use for everything from games to dinners for the elders. It is run by a very nice Afrikaans couple who have had it for years. Like many older couples their only daughter and her family have moved to the US because they could not get work in South Africa. So when they finally decide to stop working they will either sell their business or just close it down.

When we arrived in Port Durnford I noticed that my beautiful clean car of yesterday morning is now dusty and dirty on the outside but the inside still looks good. Mary taught English to her group of gogos while I tried to get the ham to defrost enough that we could use it for sandwiches later.

We had our usual group of six youth – missing only Gabi who has not returned since she disappeared for a few days over a month ago. I keep trying to get in contact with her but she does not answer her phone and when we visit they say she is away. We will just have to keep trying to reach her.

We showed the introduction to the 2010 Youth theme on my computer and then played a game of BoM Match game. I used the game to try and teach them some things from the BoM but I am not sure how well it worked. We then fed them ham sandwiches, chips, pop, chocolate cake and bananas. They loved the ham sandwiches. Fufu devoured her first one – they got two each with ham heaped high on hamburger buns – but slowed down for her second. Thobani was thrilled that we did not bring KFC because he really does not like chicken. I cut the cake Mary made this morning into huge pieces and they all ate them.

We left them sitting around the table finishing off their cake, bananas and the last of the soda pop with Siya and Lindani in charge of seeing that the mess got cleaned up. I think we will run back there tomorrow to see how well they did.

I talked to Siya again about going on a mission and he seems really interested. I am going to suggest to President Machaka that he gives him a searching interview and if he thinks Siya is ready he should recommend him for the MP. It is great working with the young people – there is such hope for their future if we can just keep them active and living the gospel.

13 January 2010 – Wednesday

Since I wanted it to rain today, I took the car to be washed. The morning was quite fair but soon after I got home from the car wash it clouded up and by the time we left it was drizzling. At least the inside is quite nice and clean – the outside of course is clean but water-spotted.

Karen Bartholomew called to see which package we got yesterday. Mary had a good talk with her and found out she is still not well – they still have no idea of what is wrong with her. That has to be very frustrating for someone who is so full of life as sister B. Hopefully they will figure it out so they can come back to Africa on another mission.

At 9:00 we went to the RB chapel to see President Mann and make sure it got opened for his meetings with the elders. He gave me authority to take care of some changes at Esikhawini. We then went up to Enseleni to pick up Khulekani for his doctor’s appointment. He was excited about getting this done so he can send in his papers. While he was getting checked out we did our grocery shopping – it is scary what we spend on food. Especially since we do not eat all that well and often eat lunch out.

Khulekani got done at the doctors just as we were heading back to see how he was doing. We then took him over to the hospital for his blood test. Mary needed one also but she could not get it at the same time because she has to come fasting for 12 hours. Since by then it was just noon, I called president Mann to see if they were going to have lunch somewhere and he suggested we meet at the mall. So we had lunch with Khulekani, President Mann, and Elders Holmes and Crowther. It also allowed President Mann to see Khulekani sans dreadlocks.

After lunch we drove Khulekani back to Enseleni and went to try to visit Thandeka to find out how she was but we did not find anyone home. A neighbor tried to help but then remembered it was clinic day and so she would be there.

Our next stop was Esikhawini where Mary gave sister Ndlovu an English lesson while I went over and visited Wenzile Thusi to see how he was recovering from his accident. I was amazed to find that other than some slight bruises and scrapes on his legs, he was fine. His mother showed me a picture of the car and I was again reminded how blessed he was to just be alive. He goes back to work on Friday – just 6 days after a head on collision with a truck. Before leaving Esikhawini we made a quick stop to see elders Vinson and Dishon about their bike tire problems. I guess we are going to have to try solid tires because their tubes are a mass of repairs.

We drove up to Ngwelezane to help out with youth. While waiting for the whole group to gather we played some Skip-O and some BofM match game. Aftermost of them got there, president Mngadi talked to them about making plans for the future for about 25 minutes. I got to add a very short thought about making sure we live tomorrow a little better than we did today. We finished up with another round of the match game which we had to end quickly because the guard wanted to close up the library so he could go home.  We gave the kids some bananas and said goodbye until next week.

It was a good day and kind of made up for Tuesday being just an ‘errand’ day.

One fun thing that came up was that President Mann kidded Khulekani at lunch about wanting one of his dreadlocks for a souvenir. Later the President called to say that Elder Nare gave him two of Khulekani’s dreadlocks and he was going to use them as book marks in his scriptures! That means the magic Ostrich scriptures now includes real South African dreadlocks.

11 January 2010 – Monday

It was a beautiful P-day and we went to the game park. We did not see a ton of animals but ended up seeing enough to make the trip well worthwhile. It was nice just to be out and around after a couple of weeks of being too sick to care what we did on P-day.

On the way home we took a detour to Esikhawini so we could help president Machaka with a problem. All in all we traveled a little over 300K.

12 January 2010 – Tuesday

It was one of those days when we were very busy almost all day and yet we did not do much missionary work. It started with Mary going to the podiatrist to see if she could get rid of the fungus growing under

While she was doing that I made appointments for Khulekani to see the doctor and dentist for his mission application. Another stop was at the bed store where I bought two bases for the elders up in Empangeni. While I was at the shop, I had a nice long conversation with the two Indian ladies who run it. We talked about Christianity and told each other about our churches. I will go back later with some literature and how to get to the RB chapel. The day pretty much continued that way with us running around getting small things done.

10 January 2010 – Sunday

A very normal Sunday for us with PEC at Esikhawini, sacrament at Port Durnsford, and then up to Enseleni for another sacrament and then Priesthood. The only real difference is that I was the District speaker in both sacrament meetings and there was some District business to conduct. I had done some thinking about the topic – The Lord’s Health Plan – but as usual I pretty much worked off inspiration. I did use Titus 2:11-the end as an opening. Talking about how we were being prepared to be Jesus’ unique or special people and that the Word of Wisdom was part of that preparation. I also spoke about how in the Word of Wisdom the Lord pointed out that there were men who wanted to addict people to tobacco, alcohol, and drugs to make money. I mentioned that the first thing the Dutch did when they landed on the cape was to give tobacco and whisky to the native chiefs so they could make them addicted.

I think the talks went well – I felt especially good about the one in PD and OK about the one in Enseleni. Elders Nare and Tseguna said that they thought the talk in Enseleni was good and direct. I hope they helped someone to keep the Word of Wisdom.

In the evening the elders came over for dinner. They staggered in over almost an hour’s time and it was hard to keep things warm for the late comers. Actually it was hard to keep food at all for the late comers. I should not be surprised but they went through 11 pounds of beef, 6 pounds of mashed potatoes, 4 ½ pounds of corn, lots of toasted rolls, salad, drinks and topped off with a liter of ice cream.

I took pictures of the new elders and had them fill out information sheets about themselves. We are keeping a journal of the elders who served with us in Richards Bay – I wish we had started it when we were in Swaziland.

After seeing the elders off bearing all the left-overs – Elder Wengert put roast beef, gravy, corn and rolls all in the same plastic bag. I guess he decided that they would all get mixed up in his stomach so why not let them start out that way – we cleaned up. Mary puts things away and I wash the piles of pots, pans, bowls, etc.

09 January 2010 – Saturday

Drove to Enseleni and picked up President Vilane and Nonhlahla for a seminary meeting at Richards Bay. Luckily we went early because they changed the time without tell us. We arrived just as they were handing out the supplies and all we had to do was load them up and say goodbye.

We then all went to Engwelezane and President Moloi’s son’s funeral. It was an interesting mix of Zulu and LDS –including a talk in Zulu about the plan of salvation. I knew it was the plan of salvation because the speaker quoted from Moses in English. After the funeral I spoke to President Moloi and he said that when another son died in early 2007, Elder Bartholomew took care of everything including conducting the funeral. Since we did not hear about the death until Friday there was little we could do to help. But President Mngadi did a good job of conducting the services.

After the funeral we took President Vilane home and then took Nonhlahla to the mall. We grabbed a quick lunch at McDonalds and then went to Esikhawini for piano practice. Only two of her students showed up – I do not think she has had all four show up on the same day.

After piano lessons we started home. Along the way we were stuck in traffic for quite a while. There had been a head-on accident. When we went pass they were just starting to tow away the car and truck that had hit. The truck was badly damaged but it was the car that really was crunched and we wondered if the driver had been killed.

***Note – On Sunday morning President Nyawo told us that his counselor, Wenzile Thusi, had been in a serious accident the day before. We then realized that was the accident they had been cleaning up when we were going home. Mary said she had thought the car looked like his but since we see many like it, she did not say anything at the time.

We found out that he had some head and neck injuries and was in ICU at the Richards Bay hospital. The RB elders had gone and given him a blessing. On Monday he was moved to a regular room and when I called today – Tuesday morning – to see if he could have visitors I found that he was already home. I talked to him for a minute and he sounded fine. He hurts a little but there seems to be no major or permanent damage. He is truly blessed to have survived that terrible accident with so few injuries.

07 January 2010 – Thursday

Mary was in 7^th 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.

06 January 2010 – Wednesday

We take our time driving down to Durban. We stop at Bolito to do some shopping and have lunch. Unfortunately the grocery store does not have any Dr.Pepper or Bugles. The computer store does not have any 8G memory sticks but they have 4G for 1/3 of what I bought 8G ones just 4 months ago. So I get two 4G sticks for the Elders Kekana and Ketili and save them for R100 less than they expected to pay.

When we call the Mickelsens we find that they are through with their Zone Conference but have PEF business they need to take care of. They suggest the couples get together for dinner instead. We are for that and arrange for them to call us to tell us where and when.

When we arrive at Little Haven the Rawlings are gone. It seems I did not communicate to Grace that we would call if we were not coming. But their helpers are there so they call and are told we can have any room as we are the only guests tonight.

We spend the afternoon relaxing. Sister Mickelsen calls with the information about dinner and luckily I know approximately where it is. I say luckily because the restaurant is not in the GPS. Even with knowing about where it is, I manage to drive pass the exit and must work our way back to the right place.

The Mickelsens, Johnsons, Markums and ourselves are joined by Sister Mann for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The service is a little slow and the food was OK but none of this mattered because we all had a great time talking about the mission and what we were doing. The Johnsons and the Markums will be leaving in February as soon as they train their replacements. Sister Mann mentions that the boys will be going home a couple of weeks before them. This will make it possible for the mission home to have some re-modeling done before the new mission president arrives. It may seem that there is a lot of talk about leaving but none of us are trunky – it is just something to talk about.