Daily Archives: December 19, 2014

Back to Vereeniging for Zone Meeting…

This post took about a dozen tries to get into the blog but it was worth it because of the great missionaries that are shown here. The ‘Best Zone in the Mission’ we were told is true – that the Vaal Zone leads the mission as far as reaching the mission goals for the year!

19dec14 - ZT - Agapantha 19dec14 - ZT - Aga White among the purpleThe chapel was surrounded by beautiful beds of purple agapanthus and I found this single white one hiding among them.

19dec14 - ZT - Elder Reese 19dec14 - ZT - Best Zone

Elder Reese greeted the zone and mentioned that it truly was the leading zone in the mission! Way to go elders!

19dec14 - ZT - Elder McAllister piano 19dec14 - ZT - Elder Gray leads

There are a number of elders in the zone who can play the piano. Elder McAllister played some of the prelude music but when it came time to sing elder Dutson took over while elder Gray led the music.

19dec14 - ZT - Elder Togiatomai 19dec14 - ZT - Rami, Mukasa

Elder Togiatomai is the other Zone Leader. He is a Samoan who lives in New Zealand. Elder Rami and elder Mukasa before the meeting.

19dec14 - ZT - Singing - Finns, Old, Liara, etc. 19dec14 - ZT - Whitesides, Rogers More singing elders – in this picture you can just make out elder Dutson at the piano. Elder Whitesides with elder Rodgers.

19dec14 - ZT - elders after 3 19dec14 - ZT - elders after 4 19dec14 - ZT - elders after 2 19dec14 - ZT - elders after After the meeting we gathered in the parking lot for brownies and apples. It was our and the Dummer’s way of saying thank you to the elders for sharing their experiences and love.

19dec14 - ZT - Orange Farm Car

I thought we had seen the dirtiest car in the zone yesterday but Elders Thompson and Dutson managed to find a very deep mud puddle and was lucky to get the car through it with only a coat of the mud to show for it.



A Very Busy Thursday…

As the next transfer date draws close and the Thursdays before it are Christmas and New Years, we took this Thursday to do flat inspections at the Vereeniging and Ennerdale boardings. We are very fortunate that there are four sets of elders living in one complex and two in the other. So although we do 300K of driving to get there and back, we only have to make two stops.  IMG_7378 18dec14 - HI - Veer - Reese Closet

The Zone Leaders get inspected first because they must leave for Jakarta to pick up mail, supplies, etc and get them back to the zone. Elders Reese and Togiatomai have a very neat and clean flat. Elder Reese must have the most organized closet in the mission – he even rolls his ties and puts them in rows. He explains that it makes choosing much quicker.

18dec14 - HI - Sharpeville Rogers, Whitesides 18dec14 - HI - Sharpeville Christmas Tree poster

Our friend elder Rogers and his companion elder Whitesides serve in the Sharpeville area. Elder Rogers informed me that he was wearing his contacts. They had recently been robbed while walking home but were unharmed and the thieves even left them their watches. I liked their Christmas tree poster with pictures of family and friends as ornaments. 18dec14 - HI - SB2 - Kankunen, Hentunen reading 18dec14 - HI - SB2 - Kankunen, Hentunen The Finnish duo of elders Kankunen and Hentunen are currently serving in the Sebokeng 2 area. They carefully checked the supply list to see if they were missing anything. 18dec14 - HI - SB1 - Sipri - Kalani, 18dec14 - HI - OF Johnson, Dutson Sebokeng 2 has elders Sipri and Kalani while the Orange Farm district has elders Thompson and Dutson. Elder Thompson won our heart when he gave us fresh baked banana bread that was so delicious we rated it up with the best we have ever eaten.

18dec14 - HI - Enner - stilgoe, board 18dec14 - HI - Enner - Gray, Stilgoe

Elder Stilgoe stands next to the Ennerdale missionary activity board that shows all investigators, progressing investigators, less actives they are working with and recent converts.  Elder Gray is in his second transfer of being trained by elder Stilgoe. As I talked to elder Stilgoe he feels he will be transferred in January.

18dec14 - HI - Sharpeville dirty car

We thought this mission car would win the dirtiest award until we saw the Orange Farm car on Friday.

18dec14 - Klerksdorp statue 18dec14 - Keep Ikageng CleanAfter we got back to Potch from our housing inspections, I went to Jouberton to help elder Dummer give a sister a blessing. While I was doing that Mary taught a piano lesson and started Seminary and Activity night. When we passed through Klerksdorp I took a picture of one of the bronzes that are along the N-12 and shows two people with picks either dancing or trying to kill each other.

I also took this picture of a sign near the police station. We have always thought it was funny because it appears to keep Ikageng clean you need to use a funeral service. Although there are lots of funerals on most Saturdays, we have never seen any stray bodies lying around Ikageng. So we guess they are efficient in keeping the city clean.