20 March 2010 – Saturday

A good, hectic at times, day for us. We left early to go shopping for a food order to take to Port Durnford and to pick up a few things we need for feeding the elders tomorrow. We have filled so many orders over the last 14 months that we can do it rather quickly. Elder B used once told me that he could fill a food order in 10 minutes – it takes us more like 15 but he is younger.

We went back to our house to unload the things we bought for ourselves because we would be gone all day. I then loaded up our braai and a drink dispenser that the Hafens had left and took them to the Richards Bay chapel so Theunis DeKlerk could use them for the YSA beach party that was planned for today. We had asked him how we could help before we had to go to Esikhawini for piano lessons and he said that he had it under control.

We delivered the food order and was greatly surprised to find that the elders had been working on a section of the trail to homestead that we always worried about getting hung up on. It certainly made the trip more enjoyable. As we were driving past the PD chapel we saw Quintin, Fufu and Siya waiting for a taxi to take them to Richards Bay and the beach party. We told them we would take them to the Esikhawini Taxi Stand when we finished delivering the food.

Since there is a KFC right next to the taxi stand, we decided to eat there. As we were ordering we started getting calls from some YSA asking to be picked up at the Richards Bay Taxi Stand as the weekly announcement advertised. I gave each caller Theunis’ phone number and hoped he could handle them all. For the next hour or so we were making regular calls to him saying where people were waiting for him to pick them up…he did an amazing job of doing just that.

While we were eating I called the Esikhawini/Port Durnford elders and invited them to have lunch on us. I wanted to talk to them about the two young men we taught yesterday and to thank them for fixing the road. We also told them about a call we got from a neighbor of the young men who they told about what we had taught and wanted us to teach him also…it is pretty good when new investigators invite their neighbors to hear the gospel.

After lunch we dropped by sister Tembe’s house to see how she was and to look at the service the missionaries had done earlier in the day for her. I really should have taken a picture of the pile of weeds and debris the elders had gathered up from her garden area. They have more to do but they had made a good start.

Sister Tembe told us that she can now walk around the outside of the house four times without her walker or even her cane. This is a real miracle as at one time she was told she would never walk again. She is a very determined woman – she says that she is going to get well enough to go back to work as a nurse. If anyone could it would be her.

We then went to the Mthalanes where Mary checked Solo and Musa’s mission papers to make sure everything was OK . We think they are now complete so we will take them to Durban on Monday and let President Mann look them over. Mary then taught 3 piano lessons in a very hot chapel.

As we finished at Esikhawini I called Theunis to see if we could help ferry the YSA from the beach to their taxi stands. He said he could use the help so we enlisted the Griesmers to come with us and we each packed four young people in our cars and drove them to where they could catch taxi’s – think vans – to their home areas. It was a very successful activity with about 40 YSA coming together for the afternoon. As we were leaving Theunis talked about the next one he wants to have in a couple of months. I am very happy to see the YSA program moving forward with little help from us. It means if there comes a time when there are no couples in RB the program will probably keep right on going.

Once they were delivered the four of us went to the mall for a nice dinner at Ocean Basket. What was better than the food – which was very good – was the chance to spend some time talking to the Griesmers about what they had done today and other things. They are a great couple and are enjoying their weekends working in Engwelezane – I told them they should move here for the last four months of their mission – but I think they will just come up for the weekends.