26 March 2010 – Friday

We started and ended our day’s activities at the hospital. In the morning we went to have Mary’s incision looked at. While she was doing that I went to mall to look for packing boxes – we decided we should start packing up some things and send them home now so we do not have to worry about it later. They should arrive about the time we do. I did not find any good boxes at the grocery store, but Is stopped at Ken Trade and was able to get everything I needed there –including a huge roll of bubble wrap that I think would wrap up the whole outside of the house if we wanted to ship it home.

When Mary came out of the hospital she was happy to tell me that she didn’t need to come back again. We then ran a lot of errands that needed to be done before coming home for lunch.

As we were packing up to go to Enseleni to have English lessons and to help with the Youth activity, we got a call from sister Mann saying that Elder Dimene was having a bout of malaria and was going to the hospital. She asked us to just make sure he was OK and we said we would keep tabs on him.

It turned out that he was so sick that he could not drive so president Vilane drove him to the hospital. This meant that there would be no English class so we dropped off the apples and what was needed for dunking for apples and headed back to the hospital.

They were having trouble getting Elder Dimene registered. Sister Mann had sent a guarantee by fax but they still had not let him into the emergency room. I got the lady to agree to let him go in for treatment while we finished up the admittance paperwork. I signed a dozen places as his parent/guardian and guarantor before he was official.

I spent the next two plus hours sitting with him while they got his temperature down, gave him a shot for the pain he was having in his chest, and re-hydrated him. The first blood tests did not show any malaria so they took an x-ray and told him to come back tomorrow. By the time we got him out his temperature was down and he looked good.

Along the way the Richards Bay elders were a great help. They got the car back to the boarding, president Vilane back to Enseleni, gathered up Elder Zondi, helped with the branch activity in Enseleni, and then came back and got Elder Dimene and took him back to their boarding.

The doctor was very disturbed that Elder Dimene had first got the symptoms on Wednesday and did not come in until he could not function any more. This is not unusual at all. Most elders will not stop serving as long as they can walk and talk.

While lying on his hospital bed running a temperature of 103F or better, Elder Dimene asked me if once they got him feeling better, could he go back to their area tonight. I told him that was not an option. Later when we were getting ready to leave the hospital he asked could they go back to their area tomorrow. That is the kind of dedication that the young missionaries are always showing.

During the day we found out that the Machaka wedding was put off until Sunday. That of course meant we had to re-think what we would do on Sunday. We decided we would go to Esikhawini for sacrament and then go out and get the happy couple at Port Durnford, take them to RB to be married by President Baldwin and then take them home again.

So while our day did not go as planned, the Lord did keep us busy.