15 April 2010 – Thursday

We spent the morning packing up a couple of boxes that we will send home in the Mann’s container. We thought that President Mann could take them back with him after he had finished his circuit. However later I realized that they would be going to Swaziland and there was no way that they could get them over the border without a lot of hassle so we will take them to Durban next week.

We spent the afternoon in Port Durnford teaching English, having Youth and giving piano lessons. Being in Port Durnford is really a wonderful experience. It is true rural – well at least semi-rural – South Africa. Everyone knows everyone and have for years. Some of the families have had lived there for three and four generations. That is why when there is a funeral half the town is likely to show up.

Our next stop was the Richards Bay Chapel where we waited for President Mann to finish talking to the District Presidency before we went to dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant at the marina. We had a good visit with him. He mentioned that after our great first quarter, it seems that Satan has tried to stop the work. Cars have been wrecked, elders have been ill, and there have been a number of companion problems. All of this causes extra problems for the President however the work continues to go forward.

The best news we heard was that there will be a couple to replace us coming in August. We will not get to meet them here but we should be able to see them at the MTC. The President also said he was promised two more couples. One will go to Bloemfontein to work with PEF and CES and one will either come here or to the Ladysmith/New Castle area. That decision will be made by the new mission president.

After dinner we all came home and relaxed. The President caught up with his e-mail and then we talked some more about what is going on in Richards Bay and throughout the mission.

14 April 2010 – Wednesday

The garage door repairman came by and took the motor assembly to get it repaired. I am not sure why he did not do this when he was here yesterday, but he said that it had to do with paperwork. I guess he wanted to make sure it was under warranty.

We then had to dash to make it to Empangeni district’s DDM. Although we had to leave before it was finished they had a good meeting. Elder Kaseke gave an excellent talk on finding. After the meeting we had our Wednesday lunch at KFC and then went to Esikhawini where Mary taught English and I went to see President Machaka. We then tried to visit some of the members but everyone we tried was away for the day. We then went back to President Machaka’s tuck shop so I could reimburse the elders for getting their fridge repaired. As I have mentioned before I often feel like a mobile bank. But I am glad to be able to do this so that things can get done.

There is a municipal strike going on and this includes the trash collectors. As part of their demonstration they throw trash all over the streets. One side of the Esikhawini loop looked like a giant trash can. Hopefully they will get things settled before it gets too bad.