25 April 2010 – Sunday

It was a very eventful day in Richards Bay. It started with us picking up the Esikhawini walking elders because the Zone leaders were up at Kosi Bay. I then went to Esikhawini’s PEC and I think we got quite a bit accomplished.

President Baldwin had called me yesterday to say that he wanted to show conference in Esikhawini and asked me to have Port Durnford join them. I called president Machaka so he could let his members know and arrange transportation.

President Baldwin came well prepared for the meeting – he even brought black plastic bags to cover the windows. There was an amazing turnout – 101 for the first two hours and 67 for the second. Anyone with small children really could not stay for the second hour.

After watching some of the first session we went to Richards Bay to take part in the baptisms. What a wonderful day with 8 baptisms from Engwelezane and 3 from Enseleni. I got to help get all the Engwelezane candidates and PH clothed in white and serve as a witness with Elder Reeves as the other. There was a great spirit at both baptisms. Elder Zondi got to do one of the Enseleni baptisms. What a great weekend for him. He got his mission call last night and got to baptize someone today.

The Mickelsens came up this morning and went to the Enseleni meetings. They said that the room was packed. They then came to Richards Bay to join in their baptisms. After the baptisms I loaded all the clothes – and there was a pile of them – into our car so we could wash them.

The Mickelsens followed us back to our boarding where we enjoyed a nice dinner and then played Mexican Train. After that we worked on our blogs before heading off to bed.

I called President Mann to tell him about elder Zondi’s call and then sent him a text message about the baptisms. I did not mention that next week there will be five or six more baptisms. We are winning.

24 April 2010 – Saturday

We start the day with one of Grace’s delicious breakfasts before heading to the Essenwood craft market. It is always a mistake for us to go to a market like this – especially if we are already primed to buy.  We ended up with more than we should have bought but we did not buy as much as we could have in the two hours we spent there.

The morning was overcast and quite cool – I loved it – and by the time we approached the Empangani turnoff we were getting some rain. We caught a quick lunch at KFC before going to the Esikhawini chapel so Mary could teach her piano lessons. Only three of her five students came but one had sent a SMS saying they could not come and the other does not come while it is raining because he has to walk a long distance.

While Mary taught her students, I had a chance to talk to some of the RS sisters who arrived for a meeting. It was not very well attended because of the rain and the lack of transportation. After the lessons we headed home, stopping only to buy some things we needed for Sunday dinner with the Mickelsens.

During the day we called Elder Zondi and asked him and his companion to please stop at our boarding before they went home for the evening. We also invited the RB elders to stop in so they could be here when he opened his mission call.

Elder Zondi had no idea that his call had arrived so when I gave him the enveloped he was shocked. We called his parents so they could share in the experience. He was of course very excited about opening the envelope and reading the call to us and his family. I got some great pictures of his face as he found that he was going to the Joburg mission and has only about a month to get ready. 2 of those weeks will be spent still on his temporary mission here in RB.

It was a wonderful way for us to end this day. Another righteous son of God willing spending two years of his life in serving the Lord by bringing the gospel to his brothers and sisters.

23 April 2010 – Friday

We drove to Durban today so we could drop off two boxes that the Manns were kind enough to allow us to put in their container and to pick up some Elder Zondi’s mission call and other things that the elders needed. Also so we could go to Essenwood Market to get some things to take home to our kids and grandkids – also of course a few things for ourselves. We made our usual stop at Ballito to have lunch and to pick up some food items that we can not get anywhere else. We also were able to get things for Sister Mann.

It was a beautiful day for the drive down the N2 with miles after miles of green fields of cane or trees. The sea shows up from time to time on our left reminding us that we are just a few miles from the beach.

After stopping in at the mission office to do the necessary dropping off and picking up we went to Little Haven to check in for the evening. As always we were greeted like family by the wonderful Rawlings. We will miss this fine couple who after Sister Mann was the first members we met in South Africa.

We had decided to go to a pub where we really love their food and started calling the other couples to see if they wanted to go with us. We were happily joined by the Mickelsens, Coxes and Davises for an evening for good talk and good friends. We love to share the experiences of the other couples. Each of us have different calling so many of our experiences are unique to one couple but there are of course many that we all have. We did not want to stop but we finally broke up the party went home.

21 April 2010 – Wednesday

We started the day by going to the hospital for what we hope was the last time – at least the nurse said Mary did not have to go back. Then we went to Esikhawini to solve a problem for Sbongele Nvlovu before going on to the DDM meeting at Empangeni. It was a well run meeting that concentrated on training on the ‘How Great Shall Be Your Joy’ program for working with members .

After lunch I spent way too much time on the phone solving problems and then letting people know what was going on. During the afternoon we found out that the nationwide strike was finally over so we might get our trash picked up some day. Unfortunately the office that prints maps had closed down during the strike and will not be open until Monday.

In the evening I went to the Richards Bay to meet with Calwyn Baldwin for a couple of hours to catch up paperwork.

22 April 2010 – Thursday

It was a very usual and unexciting Thursday for us. We went to DDM with Richards Bay, ran some errands then on to Port Durnford for English class, Youth and piano lessons