14 May 2010 – Friday

 

The Blackburns and us left for Durban at about 8:30 on Friday. We made a short stop at Ballito to pick up a supply of Dr. Pepper and other things for Sister Mann. The Manns have been in Joburg for 3 plus days for a meeting of the Area Presidency and the Mission Presidents – they were in the Joburg airport getting ready to fly home when we called earlier in the morning.

As we were about to get off the N2 in Durban we almost found ourselves in the middle of a traffic accident.  An 18 wheeler all of a sudden swerved partially into our lane about 3 cars in front of us. Luckily everyone was able to avoid hitting or being hit. The Blackburns were some cars behind us and said that the truck had swerved to avoid hitting three vehicles who had bumped each other. The traffic on the N2 where it transitions to the N3 is terrible as two or three lanes always has lots of slow trucks trying to get up the hill and into the correct lane.

But we made it safely to the mission home and shortly after we arrived the Manns pulled in. The President had the phone tight to his ear trying to solve a couple of problems. It is amazing how much he gets accomplished just driving in from the airport.

The Mickelsens were also at the mission home so we had a chance to say hi to them and tell them that we goofed and forgot to bring money or a check to pay for some things they picked up for us in Cape Town. We will get one more chance to pay them when we come in on Monday – they will leave later in that day for home. Elder Mickelsen’s back seems to still be hurting some, but he said that it is getting better. I do not envy him sitting in an airplane for 18 hours with a bad back.

We left the Blackburns at the mission home so they could get some things done they need to do at customs and checked in at Little Haven. We got a chance to relax for an hour or so before heading back to the mission home for my meeting.

The president had completely changed the agenda for the meeting because of what he had learned at the conference in Joburg. Mainly we learned about a new member missionary program – actually it is an version of what the stakes and districts already should be doing – that the area wants to implement. It is based on a successful program in a couple of Joburg Stakes that are doing so well with doing member missionary work that they have no full-time missionaries assigned to them. That means the elders can work where they are most needed to build up small branches. It is an exciting program but will hardly get off the ground before we leave.

After the meeting all the couples – leadership and training missionaries – we with sister Mann to RJ’s Steak House for dinner. Mary and I got lost mainly because we were given the wrong address. But Sister Mann finally got us in the right place.

Other than the really slow service, it was a nice evening getting to know the other couples and some of member of the district presidencies that came in for today’s meeting but especially for tomorrow’s meeting with Elder Hill.

The Baldwins followed us back to Little Haven without any problems except I forgot to turn on my headlights so they had to catch up with us and tell me to turn them on. Once we were in our rooms in the cottage, president Baldwin and I watched the end of the Shark’s rugby game – the Sharks won. Then we watched the last 4 overs of the International 20 Cricket tournament semi-final match between Australia and Pakistan. Australia was way behind and when it came down to the last 6 balls of the match it looked like there was no way they could get enough runs. But the batter proceeded to pound out three 6’s and a couple of 4’s to bring home the win for the Australians. It was an amazing string of hits for the batter and a sad night for the bowler. An exciting way to end a very nice day of fellowship and learning for me.

I forgot to mention that the president mentioned to us that a young elder serving in the Cape Town Mission drowned recently. Four very fine, hard working missionaries who had never gotten into any trouble decided to go to a beach that was outside their area without getting permission from their president. President Mann said that there really was nothing to do in their area.

When they got to the beach one thing led to another and they went into the ocean. One of them got caught by a strong tide and by the time they were able to get him back to the beach he was dead and they could not revive him.

The president pointed out they had broken one rule when they went outside their area, and once they had broken one rule it was easier to break others which led to this tragic death that will haunt the other three missionaries their whole life.

13 May 2010 – Thursday

It was a nice busy Thursday for us. The morning was spent running around getting some errands run, dropping by RB DDM for a short time. While we were there we found out that they are replacing all the drop ceilings in the offices and rooms with solid ones. Not sure why but perhaps it is for security?

Finally got the two nativity sets that we have been promised for months from the Zim artists. Elder Crowther and Sister Mann will be happy to finally see them. The Wilsons will have to wait until we get home for their animal dice and Mary will probably never see her green stone nativity set.

We went visited President Vilane and found that he was still not well. We are very worried about him and his problems. They say that the X-rays do not show any blockage but there seems to be something more there besides simple constipation.

The Blackburns came down from Swaziland on their way to the meeting tomorrow in Durban. We met them at McDonalds and after a quick lunch we dropped their car off at our house and headed off to Port Durnford for our regular Thursday activities. Since we already had a car load I had to act like a shuttle to get everyone one to English class but it worked.

While Mary and Sister Blackburn taught English, I took Elder Blackburn and we visited some families in the area. I wanted to show him the trail we have to take to Sister Chirwa’s home and was really surprised to see that they had bulldozed a nice new wide trail all the past their house and actually right in front of their property. It takes some of the adventure out of visiting this great family.

The Blackburns will have some adventures like this in their work in Swaziland. Getting to the Shongwe house is never going to be made easy and some of the other ‘roads’ are really just two tracks through the grass. But they have a bakkie to drive and we of course do it in a much too low car.

After English we had youth and Siya brought a couple of his friends who seem to fit right in. After the meeting – lesson, games, treats – they told Siya that they wanted to come to church on Sunday. It will be interesting to see if they actually make it.

After Youth we drove to the water-front where we had dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant. The Blackburns have been to Thailand and they liked the spicy food. I was happy to hear them say they enjoyed their meal. They are much more adventurous eaters than we are. It was fun to sit and talk over dinner – we learned about how they met, their family and much more. They have been in the mission for a whole 8 days…what a wonderful adventure they are in for. However they are just now starting to get use to the time change which means they are not waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning.

By the time we got home we were all tired. So after they had a chance to catch up on their e-mail – they do not have the internet where they are staying in Swaziland – we sat around and talked for a short time before heading off to bed.

It was a good day in Richards Bay