17 May 2010 – Monday

 We were up way too early but it was necessary so we could leave for Zone Conference in Durban.

We stopped by the Mickelsen’s on our way to the conference so we could pay them for all the goodies they got for us in Cape Town. They were busy getting everything beautiful for the couple who is coming in a month to replace them. We spent just a few minutes with them before wishing them God’s Speed for their trip home. One of the many blessings of our mission was getting to know them and we are looking forward to seeing them in Utah.

We made it the Berea chapel quite early and were the first ones there. Sister Mann soon pulled up behind us and we were soon joined by some of the Richards Bay elders. We all had to stand around outside because no one had a key. Luckily our friend Elder Makona – who we served with in Swaziland and Richards Bay – showed up with the key to let us all in.

The conference was as always up lifting. I am always most impressed by President Mann’s positive presentations. Even when he is giving bad news or chiding the elders for some of their behavior, he finds a way to keep it positive. He really has learned how to ‘rebuke at times with sharpness’ and then ‘showing greater love.’ The elders all know that he loves them and would do anything he could for them so they take his ‘rebukes’ and counsel to heart.

He told the story about Elder Packer giving a talk to the new mission presidents where he talked about all the things that mission presidents – and couples – might worry about as they leave their homes for three years. He told them a number of times not to worry about them because the Lord would take care of them. Then after a pause he said “And if he doesn’t, So What.” 

As he said this I recalled how as we thought about what might happen to our house and the many things that are in it, I had told Mary that the worse thing that could happen is that it would burn down and we would lose everything. We then decided if that happened we could live with it. Once we had decided that, we could pretty much forget about the material things we were leaving until we got home.

The highlight of the conference for me was president Mann talking about what he had learned on his mission. He said that at the recent conference in Joburg the three mission presidents that would soon be released, talked about this.

He learned to truly love people. He talked about sitting in the emergency room with a missionary surrounded by people with injuries or illness and loving each of them because they were really his brothers and sisters.

He said he learned to truly trust God. He learned to trust and expect revelation for the mission. He mentioned that as soon as the new mission president stepped off the plane, he was released and would no longer have revelation about the mission.

He learned to make every minute count – he wants to be able to say I gave my 2 mites each day of my mission.

Learned what it meant to truly be obedient. He already knew this intellectually but on his mission he learned what it meant to be exactly obedient.

Learned to let go of the past. What happened before does not matter. What matters is what you are doing now and in the future.

He said he learned that the mission equation was actually life’s equation. Faith + Obedience + Hard Work = Miracles is how to succeed no matter who or where you are.

He learned to love and trust 340 missionaries.

After the meetings Sister Mann directed the taking of Zone pictures. She pointed out to president Mann that it would be the last time they had Zone conferences and so the pictures would be the last chance to get pictures with all the missionaries. Once our picture was done, Mary and I then took care of handing out the pizza and brownies. The Manns and the Davises needed to go back to the mission office to make sure the Mickelsens made it to the airport on time for their flight.

After all the elders had been fed, we left the assistants in charge of cleaning up and locking up so we could head start home. The drive was uneventful except we tried to go to Nyoni Crafts but called it off when we found that it was 17K on a dirt road with no idea what we would find at the other end.

We decided to stop at the PO box to see if the package from Cindy and Bob had arrived and it had. When we got home and opened it there were many great treats for my birthday and Mary’s Mother’s Day. 2 bags of real Fritos, a bag of chocolate covered cinnamon bears, a number of bags of Red Vines, some 2.75 reading glasses, a nice Mother’s Day card, some seasonings that Mary wanted, and some root beer extract for making real root beer. It was much like Christmas for us.

About the only thing that happened during the afternoon was we got a call from one of the branch presidents asking us to help with a food order for one of their members. We will take care of it in the morning. For most of the evening we just relaxed and watched an episode of Midsomer Murders. It was a long but good day for us.