04 April 2010 – Sunday

Out of the house before 7 to go to Esikhawini’s PEC, then to Port Durnford for Testimony meeting, and then to Richards Bay to watch last night’s Priesthood session of Conference. Although many members were away, there was still a good attendance at the branches – Enseleni had about 65 and led the district. When I asked Elder Dimene how it went without President Vilane there, he said everything went well.

We spent the afternoon getting things ready for feeding the elders while listening to the Saturday afternoon session on the computer. Some of the elders arrived in time to join us at 6:00 to watch the Sunday morning session and the rest came later. I must confess that I will need to watch the session again because often my attention was elsewhere.

Elder Zondi really liked the potato salad. He had never had it before but once he tasted it, he came back for seconds and then took some home. It is interesting to watch some of the elders try foods that are new to them. I have to mention that elder Lieros carefully pointed out to me that he put catsup on his ham sandwich. I do not think he eats any meat without catsup and he pretty much drowns fries in it. Reminds me of how the Indonesians put hot sauce on everything. At least elder Lerios does not put catsup on brownies.

It was a good Easter Sunday for us. We got to hear the simple but strong testimonies of the Port Durnford saints and were fed by the spirit of the conference talks. Then we got to share dinner with a fine group of 12 elders who are trying their best to bring others unto Christ. This is our 4^th Easter in a row away from home but I know we are where we should be.

03 April 2010 – Saturday

We met the Zone Leaders at Esikhawini and drove out to meet with the Shandu group. Bongani brought one new friend who did not say much. Fortunate had written down lots of questions that we answered. The hour quickly went by and there were times when the spirit was definitely in the room. Fortunate, Goodman and Bongani each committed to come to church tomorrow. The new man did not. I must remember to ask Bongani who he was.

The elders had another appointment so they could not go to lunch with us at KFC so we dropped them off at their car and went without them. KFC was very crowded. As with last week the longest line was for ice cream cones but today it was out the door.

After lunch we went back to the Esikhawini chapel so Mary could have her piano lessons. Sazi, Musa and Sthembiso came for their lessons and we have pretty much given up on the other two. I tried to repair a garden hose but had bought the wrong size connectors. I will give it another try on Tuesday.

We then came back to our boarding so we could watch the Saturday morning session of conference on the computer. It took me a while to get things working but once I did it was like watching it on TV – a small one of course – at home in Utah.

Although all of the talks were good, I especially enjoyed Sister Beck’s and Brother Anderson. There were a couple of quotes in Sister Beck’s talk that I want to print out and suggest to the RS presidents in the branches that they give copies to each sister. One was from Eliza Snow and one was from President Kimball. Brother Anderson talked about the Church in Haiti and how it responded to the earthquake. The Haitian mission president it 30 years old – talk about youth in leadership positions.

We stayed up to watch the start of the afternoon session to hear the statistics. The Church did not hit 14 million this year but it will next year. Convert baptisms are down to around 280,000 but new children of record are up to almost 120,000 so it grew by 400,000 less deaths last year. I wonder how many deaths there are in a year? I know there are many actives as well as less actives who die but are left on the rolls for years before they are removed. Unfortunately the convert baptisms are not doubling as President Hinckley suggested they should – they have actually gone down about 50,000 a year since he made that challenge.