18 May 2010 – Tuesday

In the morning we bought the food order and delivered out to Port Durnford. The recent rain made some of the roads quite interesting to say the least. I am still hoping to get through our mission without getting stuck so badly that I have to call the elders to dig us out.

While we were in Port Durnford we talked to Sandile Chirwa about getting his medical and dental check-ups done this week. It is going to take quite a bit of time to get his papers ready – it turns out he does not have his national health immunization card so he will probably have to have all the shots. But what ever it takes to get him ready, it will be well worth it.

We tried to visit Bongamusa’ mother to see how her business is doing but no one is home. We hope that now that we got her a little boast in selling, she will be able to expand it to a point where it helps take care of her family until Bongamusa finishes the university and gets a good job.

We stopped in at president Machaka’s to get some papers signed and he then caught a ride with us back to Richards Bay.

It is the time of the year when they start burning the cane fields and the air quality starts to go downhill. As we drive the roads around Richards Bay and on the way to Durban we see the cloud of smoke and haze over everything. I really did not notice it all that much last year, but for some reason it is really standing out. Since this is the early part of the harvest, there are still not many fields being burned each day. I am not looking forward to the next few weeks when the harvest gets really going.

We spent the afternoon doing what we would have done yesterday if we had not gone to Durban for Zone Conference. I decided to get the car washed and while I was waiting a man sat down and started talking to me. He had seen my name tag with ‘Jesus Christ’ on it and started sharing how he and his family were having a hard time. It had been going on for about a year and seemed to be financial and also family harmony. After we had talked for a while I got his contact information and then put him on the phone with the missionaries in Empangeni.

He told me that he and his family pray three times a day and that he really has been praying about what he might be doing wrong and asking for help from God. As I was leaving I told him that I thought that God had a hand in us meeting at the car wash because I had not planned to get my car washed today but since we had been on so many muddy roads it seemed the things to do. I have had a number of contacts with people that I have turned over to the missionaries. None of them have led to any baptisms but that is OK because everyone has free agency. The important thing is just to keep trying to bring others unto Christ.