When we went to Durban before going to the Couples Conference we went over to the Griesmers to have FHE with them, the Coxes and the Mickelsens. After watching an hour of BYU TV on studying from Isaiah there was some good food and then a high-stake poker game to see who had to pay for dinner.
I am of course kidding but Elder Griesmer did show us a card trick that is pretty amazing and the picture shows Mary and Elder Mickelsen practicing it. One of the blessings of being on a mission is sharing experiences with other couples who are about the only ones who really understand what you are talking about.
These are some of the last pictures we have of Elder Wengert who ended his mission here – the elders say that he died in Richards Bay but sister Mann does not care for that term. Maybe we should just say he passed here? He said that the first thing he was going to do when he got home was to eat some of his grandmothers real Mexican food. However until then he seemed to enjoy our taco nights.
Mary waiting to go in to have her first operation – she did manage to smile. A couple of weeks later she could get up and walk around so we went and visited the ICU ward where she spent over a week recovering. This is just one of the many nice nurses that she got to know during her long stay. She really hopes she has said goodbye to all of them for the last time.
When we finally got her out the first time, she went right back to work. First there was Zone Conference in Durban where we got to greet the arrival of our friends the Coxes who are now serving as the CES couple for the mission. Mary and Bob Cox pretty much grew up together in the Lennox Ward. The elder in the picture is Elder Weaver who is from Texas and who we really grew to love because he is really crazy…especially when you mention anything about Texas. Elder Mann had to show off his new hat from Lesotho.
Mama Zulu in Enseleni had to have her picture taken with one of her big pumpkins. I think it weighed more than she does. Mary with the two sisters we took to Durban to get their recommends signed. They are from Engwelezane and have been members just over a year. The last picture is our good friend Sister Mickelsen helping a student apply for a PEF loan. The Mickelsens get up to see us about once a month and we really enjoy their company.
Elder Reeves and Elder Kitili were first in line for food – Elder Reeves was a runner before his mission and can put away more food than anyone we have had here since Elder Maremela. Elders Moremong, Dishon, and Mutraiswa filling their plates. Elder Mutraiswa does not seem to smile for pictures but loves to laugh and smile any other time. It is great to have the elders come over for dinner a couple of times a month.
07 March 2010 – Sunday
The missionary white handbook says that the missionaries are to be out of bed by 6:30 – for the third day in a row I was up and taking a shower by a little after 5:30. I think couples are on a slightly different schedule than the young missionaries.
We decided that I would go to Esikhawini and Port Durnford and then she would join me for Enseleni. It was a good plan and pretty much worked out but there were some additional blessings.
The Esikhawini PEC was short a number of members but they did get a number of things done. Elder Larios and Knosi are good about getting the missionaries there on time – something that has not been true since Elder Mbithi left the zone. They also came with prepared missionary correlation reports so the President Nyawo knows what is going on in the branch. He had gone out with the elders to meet the new converts in their home and I suggested they are given a good home teacher right away.
I then went to Port Durnford for sacrament meeting and was surprised to find that none of the Chirwa family was there. 20 minutes after the meeting was supposed to start Sandy and Thobani came and I found out that one of their older brothers had been put in jail because some product was missing at work. Although still recovering from having the flu sister Chirwa was going up to see him.
As I was taking the sacrament, I felt the need to go and see sister Chirwa and I found her walking from her house to the road to catch transportation. I decided I would drive her to Empangeni so we could talk, she would get there without walking a long ways, and she would save money.
She is sure he is innocent and she found no cosmetics in his room. Hopefully he will be released soon. He had been giving the family a good portion of his pay each month and it has been what has kept them in electricity and other necessities.
After dropping her off I thought about the need to call President Mann, President Baldwin, and President Nyawo. The first two I called just to inform them of the problem and the last to see if he had any advice on how we might help the Chirwas get him out of jail.
I picked up Mary and we went to Enseleni for their services. President Vilane was not able to start the meeting until almost 10 after because there was not enough PH there to pass sacrament. Once it got started it was an excellent meeting with lots of people bearing testimonies. You realize how many YSA women in the branch when six or seven in a row share their testimonies.
Before the meeting I asked Khulekani if he had his police clearance yet and he said no. This was very disappointing because that is all that he needed to send in his papers or so we thought. After sacrament was over I went out and made a number of calls to let leaders know about the problem in Port Durnford. One call was to President Mann and after telling him about the arrest, I happened to mention the problem with Khulekani’s clearance. He informed me that as long as he had the receipt showing he applied for one he could send in his papers. I had never heard that before and when I told Khulekani we both rejoiced. He will get the receipt tomorrow, get interviewed by President Vilane and then on the 18th he can be interviewed by President Mann.
During PH, President Vilane took my advice and separated the Aaronic Priesthood from the older group. I went with the AP and we had a wonderful class with everyone getting to take a part. It is much better than when they are all together and most of the Youth do not participate much.
Along the way I got a call from Calwyn Baldwin asking if we could postpone the audit that we were going to have at 3:00 until Wednesday evening. I was happy to do this because we were going to have the elders over for dinner and this would give me a chance to help Mary get prepared. Also I thought I might get in a nap. I did not get the nap – the afternoon just slid by – but I did my part in preparing the house and the food for the missionaries.
10 of them arrived before 7:45 which is very unusual. It turned out that some of them came fasting so they were eager to end their fast and eat. We had ham sandwiches, baked beans, and a huge fruit salad. I am not sure all the African elders were thrilled by the selection but I think they got their fill. Dessert was big moist brownies and custard. Elder Tsegula and Elder Dimene came a little late but quickly caught up.
This particular group of elders seems to really enjoy each other’s company. All zones that we have had do to some extent but these come in laughing, laugh while they are eating, laugh when they are through and are still laughing as they left.
After cleaning up and washing the dishes, we collapsed. A good day in Richards Bay for the most part – hopefully the Chirwa young man will be able to soon re-join his family.
I finally remembered to take a picture of Mary and her newest companion – her pump. I do not imagine that most women are going to want to have a hernia operation just so they can get one of these beauties. We are always happy to take people to have their patriarchal blessing. Some day I will remember to take a picture of Partriach and Sister Jaba who are very warm and kind people.
While waiting for the Patriarch to give the blessings we went to the Pottery Shop outside of Ballito that Sister Mann found. They have lots of things to see besides the pottery they sell. We thought the striped cat on the shelf with the zebra patterned pottery was a nice touch. The big pig did not even open it’s eyes when we walked around it and took pictures. Wish I could nap like that. The cat and the artist share the same water cup – hopefully the artist does not drink from it.
The shop includes a playground for children and has a gorgeous view of the ocean. It had a better view before they started building homes down at the sea shore. We bought a bowl and vase decorated with a guinea fowl feather pattern.
06 March 2010 – Saturday
We were up by 5:30 and got ready so we could take three members of the Esikhawini branch to get their patriarchal blessings. We picked up sister Tanya Mathe and then the Mavundlas and headed off to Ballito. The weather was perfect and the landscape along the way is gorgeous. There are Kilometer and K of green cane fields between K after K of tree plantations. Here and there are homesteads, sometimes with three generations of buildings – round mud and wattle huts, round concrete homes, and then the new ranch-style house – all on the same lot, side-by-side.
As usual we got there early but Patriarch Jaba is always ready. We dropped off the three members and continued on to Ballito where we did some shopping – I had to get a new charger for my cell-phone because I left mine down at Pumula Beach. We also found they had real, made in the USA Bugles. Now if they just got in some A&W diet root beer I would be in heaven.
After shopping we went out to the Pottery Gallery that is just off the M-4 and spent a couple of hours looking at the animals, buying a couple of pieces of pottery decorated with Guinea fowl feathers designs, and having a piece of freshly made carrot cake. We then found a quiet place to just sit and read until we got a call that the Patriarch was done. On the trip back to Esikhawini, everyone got good naps except me…I must say that I was jealous.
We then went to the chapel where Mary gave three piano lessons. She did not seem to get tired so maybe she is almost fully recovered. When we were finished we hurried home so we could unload the groceries we bought in Ballito before going to dinner with the Griesmers.
We had a wonderful dinner and visit with them at the Thai Wok down in the Tuzi-Gazi waterfront. Elder Griesmer loved the sweet and sour stirfry with prawns that the Mickelsen’s discovered the last time we ate there with them. The Griesmers had a good afternoon of visiting members in Engwelezne. It gives them a chance to meet with the people in their homes which is a special part of being missionaries. They are actually called to be the Employment Resource couple for the mission which is what we did in Indonesia.
After bidding goodbye to them we went back to the Richards Bay chapel to make copies of the Home Teaching message for the branches. We found Colwyn Baldwin there putting in some of the cabling for the new computers that recently arrived. We are hoping that no one breaks in and steals them as they have done in other chapels in the mission.
When we got home there was a fax from the Esikhawini elders for a baptismal service they will have tomorrow. Two members of a large family is being baptized and hopefully the rest will join them in the near future.
We got a call from the Bartholomews and we talked about everything that is going on in the branches. They may be living in Utah but their hearts are actually here in Richards Bay. Sister B said that she felt that all they needed was to come home for a couple of months between missions and then head out again. Her children are capable of taking care of themselves and each other while their parents are needed in the mission field. I wish more couples would understand this and not use the needs of the family as the reason for not going on many missions. With 30 to 50 High Priests in a ward and 200 to 300 in the Stake, who needs another one…but how much they are needed to guide and train the twigs and branches in so much of the world. BTW Mary is hinting at another mission more often – so I do not think it is any longer if we are going out again but when and then where.
So it was another busy but wonderful day serving together here in South Africa.
I was up early because I needed to take the car in for it’s 60,000K service. I even managed to get the trash out to the curb before I left. The trip to Engwelezane went quickly but then I had to wait over an hour to get a ride back to our boarding. I could have asked some of the elders to pick me up and take me home, but I do not like to ask them to get up that early.
However we did ask the Enseleni Elders – Tsugula and Dimene – to take Mary to the hospital to get her pump cleaned out. They arrived about 20 minutes early and insisted on using that time to sweep out our very dirty garage. At the couples conference we talked about how couples help elders but no one pointed out how the elders are always ready and willing to help us when we need them.
After making the garage beautiful, they took Mary to her appointment. Later when I called to see how they were doing, they said they were using the time to do contacting at the mall. They ended up with 20 new contacts – I think the Lord blessed them for their service and their efforts.
While Mary was gone, I did some house cleaning. We had not cleaned under and behind the bed since we got here so I should not have been surprised at the amount of dust that had gathered during those months but I was. The daily breeze off the ocean seems to push dirt through any small crack and this house has more than its share of them.
It turned out that Mary had to keep her pump for at least another week. But at least now she knows how to turn off the beeper that comes on when there is a problem so if it goes off during a meeting she can silence it and fix the problem after the meeting.
In the afternoon we got a ride back to the dealer and picked up our car. On the way home we did most of our shopping for feeding the elders on Sunday. We are going to keep it simple so Mary does not have to do a lot of cooking. By the next time we feed them, hopefully she will be back to normal.
In the evening we got a call from the Hafens asking about some of the members. It seems that once you get the people of the Richards Bay area in your blood you never forget them.
We had a wonderful Couple’s Conference at Pumula Beach – the last time this group of couples will all be together. We shared experiences, testimonies and love. President Mann recorded the couples talking about their experiences and is going to put together a short recruitment DVD in hopes of encouraging other couples to come to South Africa on a mission.  There really is no way to share the feeling that is there when a group of couples gather together.
Perhaps it is all summed up in the simple statement by one of the sisters – “It is all true.†All I can add to that is ‘Amen.’
We drove the Vans back to the mission home, picked up the mail and headed home. Along the way we made a short stop at Ballito for a late lunch. Once home we unpacked the car and settled in the evening. However we got a call from a member from Enseleni who was at the Engwelezane hospital and had no way to get home. So we went and picked her up and took her to her boarding. We would have not thought anything about it during the day, but at night there are parts of the drive that is rather interesting. But since we knew where we were going we did not really worry but we were careful.
Before we could drive to Durban to be closer to where we were going for the Couples’Conference, we had to go to the hospital to let the wound nurse work on Mary’s pump. It kept getting clogged and beeping at her. While she was getting that taken care of, I did some shopping.
Since the pump was again functioning and Mary was not too tired we packed up the car and drove to Durban. We went straight to Little Haven and soon after settling in we went to the Griesmers’ boarding to have family home evening with them, the Coxes and the Mickelsens. We watched the scripture discussion on part of Isaiah on BYU TV – I must confess that I still do get very excited about most of Isaiah. I am glad that his writing speaks clearly to many members but other than a chapter here and there, it is all Hebrew to me. Maybe when I get to see him on the other side he will be able to explain what he was saying in simple terms that I can understand.
After the broadcast we had some delicious chili dogs and chips. Our donation was one of our bags of Bugles. When dinner was over, elder Griesmer showed us a card trick that is really very good. I got some pictures of Mary and elder Mickelsen playing – I plan to use them as blackmail material in the future.
After the party broke up we drove back to our boarding and passed the time until the Van Blankensteins who are serving in Lesotho got in. As we were talking we found that sister Van use to live in Gardena and we knew her mother from our time in Torrance North. By then sister Van was married and not there but we knew many of the people in Gardena that she did.Â
Although only our dear friend Sister Mickelsen questioned me about what happened to my blog posting, I decided since I had most of February already written in my journal, I decided to post it just in case someone who had nothing else to do might read it and find something of interest in our experiences.
13 February 2010 – Saturday
I had a rather busy early Saturday. The first call was from President Nyawo who wanted to make sure that the Career Workshop that was postponed last week was really going to be held this week. Neither of us could get President Van Thiel on the phone to confirm so I did some calling around and he called me.
My next call was from the Swaziland Wilsons asking if I could fax them the sustaining list for a District Conference. It seems all of their district computers were down. So I called Calwyn Baldwin who agreed to meet me at the chapel so he could print it off for me. He was agreeable so I quickly dressed – no shave and no tie – and met him there. While I was getting this I got to see President Van Thiel and Vanessa Baldwin – it was a rather busy place for a Saturday morning.
As I was leaving the chapel with form in hand, I received a call from President Baldwin asking me to let the branch presidents know that there would be a special training meeting on Tuesday night for all the branch presidents, elder quorum presidents and the branch Family History Consultant. A couple from the Area is coming in to give some special training on Family History. Since as far as I know, none of the branches actually have a FHC, we are asking the presidents to either call one on Sunday or to bring someone who they may call to that position. My big concern about a meeting at night is how we can get the people who must use public transportation back to their homes safely.
For some reason Mary is very tired this morning so we are not going out until it is time for her piano lessons at Esikhawini. Hopefully by next week she will be strong enough that we can go back to working full time.
14 February 2010 – Sunday
The only break from our usual Sunday activities was that after PEC at Esikhawini, we went to Richard Bay to interview and sustain brother Burdick to be the branch clerk. I had a nice interview with him and found that he had been with the US department of defense and had met his wife through the internet. She is South African and after he retired they found a home in Manzini and moved here. He has a good spirit about him and they should be an excellent addition to the branch. We had sacrament at RB so that I could have him sustained.
We then went to sacrament meeting at Enseleni. It does not seem to matter that president Vilane has been diligent in starting almost on time for months now, many of the members just do not arrive on time. So it always looks like there will be no one attending and yet by the time Sacrament is over there is 50 to 70 people there.
After the meeting President Vilane talked to me about some families that needed food orders and we talked about what they needed and how he might help them become less dependant on the Church for food. I kept reminding him that he had the authority to give any help he felt was needed and that in the long run he must make the decisions – I am willing to give some counsel but he is the Lord’s man on the ground. He is such a humble servant and really does go around the branch checking up on the people.
15 February 2010 – Monday
In the morning we went shopping for three food orders. By the time we were done Mary was not feeling well – she did too much over the weekend- so I took her home and then went to Enseleni to deliver the food. I was sorry to find that Thandeka was not at home and her phone was out of service. I really wanted to see her or at least talk to her because President Vilane said that she was not looking good. If she is not eating and taking her medicine she will probably be dead in a few months. There is nothing that can be done for her because she can not get back into the TB hospital again. It is sad that so much effort has been done by others to keep her alive.
16 February 2010 – Tuesday
We went to Zone DM in the morning and Elders Larios and Nkosi did a good job training. I liked the fact that they only set only 2 zone goals. We got to role play investigators who were being taught and committed. I got to ham it up a little and got those who watching to pay more attention. I was pleased with the way Elder Dimene over came my inattention and got me to agree to a small commitment that I would probably keep.
In the evening we went to a District Training meeting on the new Family History program at Richards Bay. Elder and Sister Reed came from Joburg to teach it. We were happy to see all the branch presidents came and most of them had their elder’s president and some had their newly called branch FH consultant with them.
I had promised the Presidents who do not have cars that if they came, we would get them home. Lucky for me Elder Mavundla came and so he could drive the Esikhawini group home. I had asked President Baldwin to please take President Vilane’s group back to Enselini. I then needed to take President Machaka and Quinton back to Port Durnford. Since I did not feel good about doing this alone, I asked President Vezi if he would come with me. I decided if I got hi-jacked it would be good to have someone who spoke Zulu with me.
The trip to Port Durnford is interesting even when the sun is shining on a rainy night it is a little intimidating. It did not help that President Vezi told me to only pause at the robot because that is where the hijackers wait to jump on the hood and point a gun at the driver. Of course nothing like that happened and I never really felt concerned, but I will say that I kept a prayer in my heart much of the way.
The only real problem we had was that the trunk latch keep coming loose and I had to get out in the rain and shut it. I finally gave up and tied it with my tie and drove home. Mark Deplooy had taken Mary home so by 9:30 we were safely back in our boarding.
17 February 2010 – Wednesday
I went down to the panel beaters to see if they could fix the boot latch. They did their best but it really needed to be replaced. Unfortunately they had missed this fact when they had done the repairs and of course had no replacement latch on hand. They did some temporary repairs and assured me that it would hold until the new latch was available.
One good thing came from this. It turned out that Morris, one of the men who helped me, had been contacted by the elders and they were teaching him. When he told me this, we talked a little about why he was interested in learning more and it turned out his current church could not answer some questions he had and he said he felt rather like Joseph Smith.
After returning from the shop, we packed the car and headed off to Durban for the Zone Conference tomorrow and to have dinner with the couples and Elder and Sister Watson of the Area Presidency. We had met them soon after we arrived in Swaziland when they came through for last years’ mission tour. Later we had the opportunity to meet them in Joburg when we went with a group of members from Manzini to do temple work.
It is always nice to stay with the Rawlings at Little Haven. They are such kind and caring hosts. Mary really needed to rest before we went out. Unfortunately it was raining on and off so I could not repeat my sunbathing of last week when we were here.
We decided to go to the mission home so we could either go with or follow someone to the mall. We still are not sure which mall is which. So we got to travel with the Manns and the Watsons to the Westville mall for dinner. During the dinner we had a good time talking to the Mickelsens and Watsons who were sitting near us. We were also happy to have a few minutes to visit with the Coxes and see how they were adjusting. Bob said that they were pretty much in synch as far as sleeping was concerned and they are already busy with the CES work and becoming part of their branch. After dinner we went back to the mission home where we picked up our car and took the Watsons back to Little Haven.
Unfortunately the latch on the boot did not stay closed and I had to stop a number of times to shut it. I talked to Elder Johnson and he said tomorrow he would take it to the panel beater that we give lots of business and get it fixed. Of course that did not help tonight so I had to stop and shut it until I just gave up and drove with it flopping in the wind.
18 February 2010 – Thursday
After a nice breakfast, we took the Watsons to the Berea chapel for Zone Conference. Once again we made the trip with a flapping boot lid. However during the meeting our dear friend Elder Johnson got it repaired so we could drive back to Richards Bay in peace.
It was an excellent Conference with the highlight for me being talks by President Mann and Sister Watson. The hour that the president spoke just whizzed by. He is so positive while also giving strong counsel. Sister Watson gave an excellent talk about how the Articles of Faith can be used to teach many of the principles of the gospel.
19 February 2010 – Friday
We drove back to Durban with two young ladies to have them interviewed by the President. Turned out that they were too young to get their endowments but can do baptisms for the dead. I am just glad that the President did not spend 4 or 5 hours driving to Richards Bay for this.
20 February 2010 – Saturday
Morning spent shopping for dinner tomorrow for the elders. Stopped by the RB chapel to make sure that everything open for the S&I meeting. On our drive there we picked up Sne Mthalane as he was walking from the mall to the chapel. We talked about Solo and Musa getting ready to turn in their mission papers.
In the afternoon we went to Esikhawini where Mary taught piano to four students. I had a chance to talk to one of them about helping him find a job. Not an easy task here in South Africa. I recently talked to one of the managers of a local grocery chain store and he said that some days they get 50 unasked for CVs dropped off at the desk.Â
Because I managed to leave our phone at home when we went to Esikhawini we missed having dinner with the Griesmers but we did meet up for a few minutes at the RB chapel so I could give them some things for President Mngadi. They had spent part of their day visiting less active members and we gave them some suggestions about how they might get closer to them.
21 February 2010 – Sunday
Since we are going to prepare dinner for the elders this evening, Mary thought she should limit her church going to Enseleni in the afternoon so she was not exhausted by the end of the day. So I went to Esikhawini’s PEC meeting and it was quite good. I do need to work with President Nyawo a little more on preparing for the meeting but it is coming along. I just wish we could spend two solid months with the branch and attend all of their meetings. But unless the Lord drops 2 or 3 more couples into the Durban mission in the next week or so it is not going to happen.
I then went to Port Durnford for sacrament meeting. It is always an interesting experience since I never know when it is going to start and who is going to speak. The president almost has to wait until people get there to make most of the assignments. I volunteered to help pass the sacrament. I have not had a chance to do that in years and it is a blessing to serve the Lord’s sacrament to the members. I am afraid that the opportunity is often wasted on the youth.
I then went home and picked up Mary to go to Enseleni for their sacrament meeting. President Vilane once again did a good job getting the meeting started almost on time. They need to get the AP there early to help prepare the sacrament and set up the chapel. Brother Michael, a convert of a month, gave a good talk. I am not sure how much was his and how much he got from a conference talk but just to see him get up and talk was uplifting.
We came home after sacrament so Mary could rest before starting preparing dinner. I did the mashed potatoes – I am not a great fan of peeling 10 pounds of them – and did most of the setting up. We had roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn, drinks, and fruit salad. They liked everything but I have to say that some of them really loved the toasted hamburger buns – elder Demine ate 3 ½ of them. Elder Larios has not been feeling well and is lactose intolerant so he did not have a great time, but he could not resist coming back for seconds on the roast beef. I told him if he did not go to the chemist first thing Monday morning I would call Sister Mann. He and elder Nkosi insured me he would be there.
This zone of elders seems to be closer than some we have had. It helps that three of them are from the same ward and have known each other for years. I asked them why the ward had such success in getting young men out on missions and they agreed it was the bishopric working with them and having lots of activities. It is something we really need to get the branch presidents here to do.
After we said goodbye to them, the elders all stood around their cars talking. They did not want the evening of friendship to end. We on the other hand cleaned up and headed off to bed. It was a good Sunday for us.
22 February 2010 – Monday
It was another P-day where we did not do much of anything. The zone leaders came over to print off their charts. Elder Larios did go to the chemist and he thought the pills were already helping.
We thought we would go to a show, but there was nothing on that was we felt were worth seeing so we bought a new puzzle and came home. We did stop at Hi-Q where I gave them the bill for the rental car. It will be interesting to see if they pay it. I think they know that they are responsible for the cost but parting with R8000 will not be easy for them.
We then spent the rest of the day just relaxing. In the evening we got calls from a lot of different people needing help or information. I really wonder how the world got along before cell phones – especially here in Africa where most of the people never had phones in their homes. I guess you just went out and hoped that people would be home or would remember to come to meetings.
23 February 2010 – Tuesday
I spent part of the morning catching up the last three days of this diary. I have been less than diligent in writing each day and from past experience I am sure this will continue in the future. I have now been keeping a pretty good journal for over four years – I think that is the longest I have ever managed. The closest I have come before was when Tom, Bob and Cindy went on their missions.
As I was reading in Alma about the missionary work of Ammon and Aaron I thought about how the Lord works in different ways to prepare people to hear the gospel and how missionaries must use the spirit to know how to teach.
We went to Engwelezane and had a nice visit with President Mngadi about what needed to be done for their temple trip on Friday. During our visit we found that there were two sisters who needed their temple recommends signed so we made arrangements to interview them tomorrow.
I have comeback to this journal almost 2 weeks later. My excuse is that later in the day we found out that Mary would have to go back in the hospital to have her incision drained and to see if there is any infection.
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Here are some highlights of the rest of the week.
Tuesday after seeing the doctor we went to the RB chapel and met the Mickelsens who had come up to help a couple of members with their PEF loans. While we waited we had a nice visit and continued it after they were through over a delicious lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant. It is right on the water at the small boat harbor.
On Wednesday morning we went to the hospital and started to check Mary in. It turned out the hospital needed a new letter from the mission saying that they would guarantee payment. Thanks to sisters Johnson and Mann that got done and they begin to process her in. Unfortunately they did not get her checked in before I had to leave to do the interviews we set up yesterday. We had already agreed that I would go do the interviews no matter what was happening at the hospital.
The interviews were great spiritual experience as one was with a woman who was going back after a long absence from the temple. She shared her joy about going to the temple and how wonderful it was when she went for her endowments many years ago. Â It is just too bad that the temple is Joburg is so far away that the members here in Richards Bay are lucky to be able to go once a year.
After the interviews and solving another problem that came up, I returned to the hospital to find my companion safely in a room. The operation that was supposed to be at 2:00 pm ended up being at 7:00 pm and took only a few minutes. The doctor cleaned out the incision and put in a drain that went to a portable pump. By about 9:30 she was back in her room, wide away and without any pain. When the results came back from the lab, they said there was no infection and that was a great blessing.
Thursday I got a call from Mary saying they were going to keep her one more day to make sure everything was OK. So I went to part of DDM for Richards Bay where I was given the opportunity to bear my testimony of the Book of Mormon.
In the afternoon I went out to Port Durnford for Youth but only two of them showed up and they were quite late. I guess they thought we would not be coming. It was disappointing because I had a good lesson and some fun things to do but since I am working on patience it was a good exercise.
In the evening I visited Mary – she really was tired of being in the hospital. Luckily the doctor had already said she could go home tomorrow after he checks one last time.
Friday she got to come home and Saturday she taught piano lessons at Esikhawini. I am afraid she did a little too much because she was very tired by the time we got home. While she was teaching, I had a good talk with my one of the members about his circumstances. I did not realize that there were 7 members in his family and besides the little he makes at odd jobs,  the father’s pension was their only income. I arranged for him to slash and clean up the garden area so the gogos can start working on getting it ready for planting.
Friday after getting Mary out of the hospital, I went to Enseleni to teach English and help with Youth but it turned out that the Minister(ess) of Agriculture for the province was visiting the township and they took over the library for a luncheon. So instead of teaching English, I talked to Khulekani about what still needed to be done to get his papers in for his mission. He still has not got his police clearance which is holding up everything.
On Sunday I went to Esikhawini for PEC and then Sacrament. The plan that after their sacrament I would drop by Richards Bay and take care of some business that only a member of the mission presidency could do. Then I would pick up Mary and we would go to Enseleni’s sacrament.
Everything went as planned until some things came up at Richards Bay that need attention. By the time I was finished there it was too late to go to Enseleni so we just stayed home. I think it was actually a blessing because even after a restful morning Mary still was very tired. I am not sure missing sacrament can be counted as a tender mercy but it seemed to be for us.
February was a difficult month for us, but the Lord blessed us in many ways. Mary would have had the same problem with the old hernia operation no matter where we were and I doubt if she would have had any better care in the US than she had here. I think doctor Kelling was a little more cautious than some doctors might have been but he did what he felt was right to protect Mary from getting an infection that would have kept her in the hospital for months instead of weeks.
