27 May 2010 – Thursday

Our morning was filled with Rob fixing our gate so it would open automatically and Martin fixing our garage door so it would open all the way. Both of these men are great people to know and I felt good when I said goodbye to Rob and mentioned that there would be another couple coming soon after we leave. He said that is fine but what if they were not as friendly as I was. I told them I was sure they would be.

We went to DDM at Richards Bay but I spent most of my time getting up to talk to people who came in or on the phone. A young white returned missionary who lives in Kloof but is trying to get a job at a college in Empangeni came by with his mother and we had a nice talk about the district. He wants to live in Empangeni and go to the Engwelezane branch. That would be a great help to the branch and president Mngadi could have a counselor who was raised in the church and knows how it should work. I am certainly going to try and pray him into the job.

President Vezi came by and I needed to talk to him about Port Durnford’s material order for next year. I had written a suggested one and asked him to look it over and make any adjustments he felt was needed. I also gave him a stack of Sacrament Meeting agendas because they were out.

From what I did take part in, I thought  elder Dimene did an excellent job as DL. It was well planned and informative. He is a fine and humble elder who is doing all he can to get the missionary work moving in Enseleni. Elder Webster seems to be coming right along and is gaining confidence each day.

After lunch we headed for Port Durnford with a short stop in Esikhawini to drop off some white baptism forms for the elders to pick up at the Mthalanes. Elder Lerios sounds much better today and hopefully is on the mend.

We picked up two of Mary’s English students and so she had a full house at the Nzamas. While she taught I tried to find the rattle that is bugging me greatly. I thought I had found it earlier when I discovered a loose bracket but tightening it did not solve the problem. I have one more place to look and if I do not discover the problem there I will probably just give up and live with for the next 6 weeks.

We had four of our 6 young people for Youth. We had a short lesson on reading the scriptures – Thandi Nzama could not be there – worked on memorizing the theme and then we played some games related to the theme and the Book of Mormon. Lugani once again did not show up for Youth or piano – he said that he has been staying late at school for music. I need to ask him if he is in the band.

I called President Mann to ask him about a couple of meetings and what was going on in the mission. I caught him at one of those rare times when he could talk. He said that he had seen Elder Nare – now brother Nare – and that he had lost almost 70 pounds. The president asked the Allreds to take him to a good doctor and it was discovered that he has TB with his lungs almost filled. Hopefully he will recover his health but there is a question if he can ever sing as well as he did.

After youth we drove to the waterfront and had dinner with the Bs at the Thai restaurant. We had a good meal and talked about a lot of things that are going on in the district and about some of the people who are trying hard to live the gospel in areas and a culture that make it very hard. It is really good to have them here even for just 10 days.  Not only are they good friends, they also give us insight to the people that we have not and will not develop.

While we were at home, Cindy called and just chatted with us for a while. We really enjoy calls from family and friends.

26 May 2010 – Wednesday

We were just about to leave for DDM in Empangeni when we got a call from the Davises saying that they were on their way to meet the Swazi Wilsons at the petroport to exchange a young lady who is about to leave on her mission. They asked if they could meet with us and give us some registrations for a couple of  the elder’s car.

We met them at the RB Chapel and they gave us the registration and we gave them a report on the extra keys we have. They also asked us about going to the game park on the way back and we told them what we thought was the best part to see in the time they had.

DDM was good – elder Reeves is still trying to figure out just what he wants to do as a district leader. We talked about planning and how to improve it. Elder Lerios is still not feeling very well and I am a little worried about his fever. If it does not break soon I will insist he sees a doctor.

After DDM we had our usual Wednesday lunch at KFC. I called president Mngadi to see if we could meet with him but found that he had the flu and sounded terrible. Earlier I had called president Vilane and he sounded great. Hopefully he is no the way to full recovery.

We then went to Esikhawini where Mary taught English to sister Ndlovu and I went to see brother Machaka. I did not have a chance to talk to him on Sunday about his release and wanted to see how he felt about it. He mentioned that now he could go to Zimbabwe for his new passport because he did not have to be here each Sunday. Hopefully he can soon do this so he can finally get married.

I spent the rest of the time going through my phone and changing the names so they would make sense to the new couple. We will leave both phones for them – actually we will take them home so we can give the phones to the them while they are in the MTC.

After English we drove to Port Durnford and spent some time talking to Bongumusa’s mother to give her a copy of the book on running a small business. Mary then gave her a copy of the Proclamation on families and told her how important families are in the church. She tried to convince her that Bongumusa should be allowed to attend the Monday evening YSA meetings so he could have a social life.

Our last stop was at the Chirwas where we gave her the new lock and keys we bought yesterday so she can lock up her house and everyone could have a key. We talked to her about how Sandile’s mission application was coming. We then took the new short cut back to Esikhawini and home. There is an interesting section that I would not try if it was really wet but it cuts about 5 minutes and a K or two off the trip.

In the evening I went to the RB chapel to pick up some certificates that President Nyawo really wanted for members. President VanThiel was busy teaching a Seminary lesson on being a missionary so I sat in and added a few thoughts.  It was good to sit and listen to the president teach and to share the time with some of the RB members.

After the class President VanThiel found out that the certificates were not there for him to sign. In the past I would have probably been unhappy about this but I guess I am learning some patience because I told him I understood and we made arrangements to get them tomorrow. This obviously counts as a tender mercy.

Later I called the Mickelsens and surprised them by being the first call on their new phone. They had sent us the number earlier in the day via email. It sounds like they are settling in well and will keep busy.