16 May 2010 – Sunday
We start with PEC in Esikhawini where they are starting to understand the importance of better planned meetings. I learned that Sne Mthalane resigned his job because it was taking way too much time and he wants to go to school starting in June. Hopefully he will find a part time job that will allow him to get his schooling, earn some money and still be able to fulfill his callings.
We then went to Port Durnford for sacrament. Very few from the Malondo and Zondi family came – which meant that there were about 25 in attendance. We got there early so I went to the Nzamas and gave some of them a ride to church. I found out that Quintin has changed jobs and does not have to work on Sundays. That is excellent news and should really help the branch in the future.
During the meeting I got a call from president VanThiel saying that the RB chapel had been broken into again and that they had stolen the new cutlery, table cloths and some of the baptismal clothes. They had not touched the electronics in the chapel and had not tried to break into the secured rooms. Â Brother Holder is going to have to do something to make the building more secure or this is going to happen regularly.
After their meeting we went to Enseleni and found that President Vilane was still too sick to be there. For a while it looked like Khulekani would have to conduct but brother Chiliza finally showed up and so it got started about 15 minutes late. The attendance was very low for the branch – even the usual group of non-member children was smaller than usual. Later I was talking to elder Reeves about the poor attendance at Engwelezane and he said it was because it rained yesterday. That was a new one for me but I guess people do things they could not or did not want to do yesterday during church.
Following sacrament meeting Mary was tired – she is still recovering from her surgery. I often forget how much that took out of her and how long it is going to take for her to recover. Anyway she felt we should go home so she could rest some before starting to cook for the elders tonight.
It was a strange dinner night for us. Two of the elders showed up about on time and then another group came about 45 minutes late. It was approaching 9:00 before two more came and two never made it. All of it was because they were busy working so I am not complaining but it does make it hard to serve a hot meal when they come over a 90 minute span. Elder Bentley was able to make his Mother’s Day call tonight. His family could not get together last Sunday.
We have found that this group of elders are either not big eaters or they do not like what we cook. I am thinking about serving rice and chicken at the next dinner and see if they like it better. One thing is for sure, they had a great time together. The noise level got so high I could not carry on a conversation when I got a phone call from brother Bartholomew.
He called to say that they are coming to South Africa after all and will be in on the 19th or 20th. Sister B decided that she was going to come regardless of how she felt. They just want to be here and renew their friendship with the members.
After the elders left, we cleaned up and then pretty much fell into bed. It was a good day in Richards Bay.