24 November 2009 – Tuesday

A Funny Story – The chapel at Port Durnford is behind a member’s house. In the home are three small children who are always happy to see us -  probably because I give them hard candies. From early on we have greeted them with ‘Hello! How are you?’ and they reply the same. This is repeated almost each time we see them even if we are not just arriving.

Today Mary found out from some of the youth that the children think our name is “How are you.” How she found out was that while we were having youth one of the children was squeezing past where Mary was sitting and the other one said something in Zulu that made the youth laugh. When Mary asked what had been said, Ayanda told her that he had said: ‘Be careful, don’t step on ‘How are you.’ Out of the mouths of babes….

By 9:00 when we are getting ready to leave for the day, the clear sky and bright sun is heating up the world to a point where I know it is going to be a two handkerchief day.

We had time before ZDM to get a number of errands run – it is amazing how many things that need to be done almost everyday and how much time is eaten up while taking care of them. I finally approved the sign for Nseleni so this Sunday Elder Tsegula can hang it up.

ZDM was well done by the ZLs – I do wish the elders would come prepared to take notes and did not just listen and hope they remember everything. I think both ZDMs and DDMs would be more productive if this happened.

After ZDM we came back to our boarding so the Zone Leaders could get the activity charts off their e-mail and so Elder Maremela could finally replace the bible he gave away to a new convert. Then we loaded up the car with some material and yarn that we had inherited from the Hafens and took it up to Enseleni to give to Mama Zulu. Unfortunately we did not call to make sure she was at home – she wasn’t so we will try again tomorrow. We then took the N-2 to Esikhawini to get gas, air in one of the tires, and pick up KFC for Port Durnford.

Because of the promised KFC we expected that everyone would be there at 3:00 – Wrong! There were 3 young men on time and the rest straggled in over the next half hour. I guess there are times when even food is not enough motivation to be on time. I took the left-overs to a family we know who does not have much and the son is investigating the Church.

While Mary worked with the youth that were there on getting the banner designed and at least started, I took care of a couple of problems that we had been made aware of by the missionaries. I was able to run down some of the answers but others will take some time. We are always saddened when we find that some of the youth are led away by the ways of the world.

I had the opportunity to talk to Siya about going on a mission. I think that he would be an excellent missionary and want to work with him to build up his testimony and desire to serve. While we were talking he told about the young man whose funeral he attended on Sunday instead of coming to Church. He was 22 or 23 and was just finishing up his Master’s degree. He was at home working on his thesis when he heard a noise and went to investigate. It seems when he opened the door he was shot in the face and killed.  Another tragedy that probably came from the poverty and lack of hope that is so predominate throughout much of the country.

As we were finishing up Youth, I got a call from Elder Johnson that quickly changed our plans for the evening. Elder Barker, a missionary who has been in the country about 7 weeks, needs to go home because of health. He had left some important papers in our Zone Leader’s car and Elder Johnson asked if we could meet he and his wife in Stanger to hand over the folder. After making sure that the ZLs actually had the folder I said sure.

So after wrapping up Youth and delivering Bungomusa to his home, we went to Esikhawini and got the folder. We then drove to Stanger – about 45 minutes from Esikhawini – and waited for the Johnsons to arrive. The exchange was quickly made and we turned around and headed home. By that time it was dark and I was reminded how much I did not like driving after dark – never had and never will. It is especially hard here where the headlights on low are set too close to give a good view of the road ahead and the high beams blind people traveling the other way.  But we made it safely and ended up at the mall for dinner. Then it was home where we basically  collapsed and within the hour we were in bed.

22 November 2009 – Sunday

35 at Port Durnford, 88 at Esikhawini, and 62 at Enseleni – a good turn out on a nice sunny Sabbath. We had a normal Sunday morning with PEC at Esikhawini, Sacrament at Port Durnford, and a visit to Richards Bay to get a second signature on the checks that I could not get cashed on Friday.

While we were at Richards Bay I found out that Calwyn Baldwin had fallen and broken his left wrist. It was serious enough that he was being operated on this morning. I thought how hard it would be for him to keyboard with only one hand. Later in the afternoon we learned from President Baldwin that he fell while he was putting up Christmas lights for a neighbor who did not have a husband. I remembered the adage – ‘No good turn goes unpunished.’

We then went to Enseleni for Sacrament. The elders came early enough that they had everything set up by the time the members started to arrive. It is nice to have the room ready, but I thought that it would be better if they young men got there early and helped with the set up. When President Vilane started sacrament only about 4 minutes late, there was not enough AP there to fill the sacrament table. Mainly there were investigators and non-member Primary children who were on time. The elders had 7 investigators to church including a young couple they are teaching. The branch is doing well but there is a need for families headed by strong priesthood fathers.

Between meetings President Vilane and the two elders gave heath blessings to Baba Justice and another man. It is good to see the priesthood being used. It is also good to see the branch have YW – which includes many of the YSA sisters, PH, RS and Primary. I made sure that after the meeting I told the Primary teacher what an excellent job she was doing. But we do need to get the children to learn more songs.

Speaking of songs, while people were gathering at Port Durnford for sacrament, a primary aged young man sat quietly singing hymns to himself. It was sweet to hear this young voice singing hymns of the restoration.

After the meeting we said goodbyes and drove to our boarding for lunch and an hour of rest before we drove to Esikhawini for a meeting. President Mann came up from Durban for some interviews and we were there to help where needed. One of the highlights of the day for me was listening to President Baldwin talk about how the gospel got started in Swaziland when four LDS families came together to work in a pineapple plant near Matsapha just outside Manzini. He told how when the unit grew too large for their rented building and they moved to Mbabane. He said they fasted and prayed about it because this meant the members in Matsapha – where almost all of the members lived – had to drive 30 to 45 minutes to church where if it was in Manzini it would have been only 10 minutes away. But most of them knew this was what the Lord wanted and the branch quickly grew.  

Our evening was spent with dinner, cooking the meat we bought so it would not spoil before we use it next Sunday, and watching two episodes of the second season of Numb3rs on the computer. It was a good day.

21 November 2009 – Saturday

We had a busy Saturday with Seminary graduation in the morning and piano lessons in the afternoon.

We went to Seminary graduation to make sure the taxis got paid and to fill in where needed. When we arrived at 9:30 most of the people were already there but we were the first with keys. So we opened everything up and got people settled in.  Unfortunately President Maglaca to lost and the meeting started 40 minutes late. Mary played prelude music for about an hour. I found out that there was no provision for plates, cups or napkins so I ran to Ken Trade to get them. I should have known enough to have them in the car – the Bartholomews would have been prepared – but we are still learning.

Once they got started President Van Thiel conducted the meeting and once started it went well. Sister Khumalo and President Van Thiel  gave talks and then three younger members spoke about the importance of Seminary and Institute.

While the program was going on I put out drinks, signed for the pizza, and got everything ready to feed 40 hungry youth. Sister Khumalo and Mary helped serve the food and everything went well. Unfortunately we had to leave before the taxis came to pick-up the youth so I left money with President Van Thiel to pay for them.

We had to go to the Empangeni elder’s boarding to drop off sacrament cups – the order came in this week –and the announcements. We stopped at a small store to buy sandwiches and just made it to the Esikhawini Chapel in time for piano lessons with a young lady who called and asked if she could come early. Of course after all the rushing, she came 45 minutes late and by that time some of the other students had come.

Sister Khumalo called and said she could not make it to our computer lesson so while Mary taught piano for two plus hours, I got to read and take a nap. After her lessons we went to President Malinga’s so I could meet with him, do a little training, and see how he is doing. He is a very fine man who has more than his share of problems but does not dwell on them. He just keeps doing what he feels is right and trusts that the Lord will bless him. 

We had dinner at Spurs. It was rib night so we both had them. They turned out to not be as good as Mary said they were and I wondered if they use a lesser quality rib on their special night. It does not seem like a good idea to me and perhaps it was just an off night. Either way next time I will stick to my rib burger which is always good.

20 November 2009 – Friday

Tires rotated, bought food for Sunday dinner, food order for Enseleni, met with President Vilane, English – 2 students, youth – well organized without much help from us, Mary stayed while I rushed home for pictures and clip board. Slow bus going. Home for evening watched Numb3ers.

19 November 2009 – Thursday

Spent morning doing chores that did not get done on Monday. Rain – lots of rain. Afternoon teaching English and then Youth. Youth was excellent as we reviewed the first 14 pages of the Book of Mormon and talked about what was happening.

18 November 2009 – Wednesday

Goodbye to the Wilsons and Knudsens. Victoria Market with the Mickelsens and Markums. Lunch at Ocean Basket. Drive Home and collapse.

17 November 2009 – Tuesday

We went to Marko to give them our broken printer and found that we had a on-site service agreement and gave us a number to call. At least now we have our receipt so we can get service once we get home. By the time we were done, it was too late to really do anything with the Mickelsens and we knew they had lots of office work to do with all those Patriarchal blessings they down-loaded yesterday and the PEF paperwork that never seems to stop so we called the Johnsons to find out if they would like to go to lunch. The restaurant we went too was very slow in service and while the food was OK, I would not go back again. The best part of the meal was sitting and talking to the Johnsons about our mission experiences and family. 

Back at the mission office we were soon joined by the two sets of Wilsons and the Knudsens. Everyone was interested in which missionaries were moving in and out of their districts. As they look at the ‘I’ll Go List’ it is kind of like opening Christmas presents as missionaries they have learned to love move on to a new zone and perhaps a new calling, while others move in. We had seen the list yesterday so we already knew that Elder Babeeyo was moving to Swaziland to be Zone Leader where his younger brother was also serving. We also knew that Elder Nare was coming to Enseleni. He will be a strength there and he may be able to sing duets with Nonhlahla.

Mission Presidency meeting went for two hours and we covered many subjects. Some of them like tithing settlement, seminary and institute enrollment, etc. do not seem to be directly tied to missionary work but since President Mann is the PH leader for all the districts, he is responsible for all programs of the Church. We also talked about how to have a productive Holiday season. Since many of the people go back to their family homesteads and towns for much of December and into January, the missionaries in the past have at times used it as an excuse to slack off their efforts. If they do, not only is December and January affected but so is the first quarter of the year as they build the teaching pools back up.

This year the President is using this transfer and All Zone for training aimed at committing the missionaries to keep up the excellent work they have been doing. If things go as is indicated, there should be about 50 baptisms in November and 50 in December, with the year ending at about 450 baptisms for the year.

As the meeting approached 6 p.m. there came a rather loud throat clearing outside the door of the office. Not quite like the coughing sound a lioness makes when moving through the brush, but close. It was sister Mann reminding us that we had 6:00 reservations for dinner.

Dinner was at the French restaurant that we had gone to with the Sessions and Bartholomews a couple of months ago and I think a good time was had by all. After dinner we took Sister Mann’s friend Carol Draper back to the mission home so that the Manns could go to the hospital to see an elder who is quite ill and will need to go home to the US to serve out his mission. He has only been here for one cycle but in that time he has had the joy of working in the township and feeling the spirit of the mission.

When we arrived back at Little Haven we were invited to join the two Wilson couples and the Knudsens in a game called ‘Five Crowns’ that was a lot of fun and we managed not to be last – but also not the winners. It was a nice way to end a day of service and fellowship.

16 November 2009 – Monday

The rain continued to fall almost all day. Although it did not make driving to Durban as enjoyable as it might have been, it did keep it nice and cool. In fact it was sweater weather in Durban in the evening.

Our first stop in Durban was the Mickelsen’s boarding. They have a lovely 3 bedroom house with a nice jungle filled with fruit around them. They have papaya – I ate one, mangos and bananas growing on their property. It is like having a fresh fruit stand right outside their door. Of course they have to compete with the monkeys and birds for the ripe fruit but they can get their share.

After a nice visit and making arrangements for them to pick us up for Family Home Afternoon with some of the other couples, we followed the GPS to Little Haven B&B where we will be staying for the next two nights. It is always a pleasure to see Grace and Vic and stay at their nice accomodations.

We had just enough time to get settled in and have a brief nap before the Mickelsens arrived. We first went to the Pinetown chapel where they met with the patriarch so they could download 12 Patriarchal Blessings that he had given over the last week. Sister Mickelsen transcribes them off the recordings and then they are carefully checked a number of times before the finished blessing is produced for the member and the Church records.

We then went to the Griesmers’ apartment for their regular Monday afternoon FHE. Their apartment is high on a hillside in a large complex that can be seen from the Pinetown chapel. They have a lovely view that we could have taken better advantage of it had not been raining.

We watched two segments of scripture discussions on BYU TV. Todays episodes included from D&C 35 to 42 and it is interesting to see how the participants tie what is given there to other parts of the scriptures and to what is happening in the church and the lives of the members today.

After the program we ate pizza, salad and the best Chelsea buns that I have had since we were here. Before tasting these, I thought the ones from Engen were as good as they got, but these were soft and moist and just plain delicious. As we were finishing up Elder and Sister Markum arrived. They had been in meetings about CES all day and were happy to relax a little with friends. The Markums are the couple that our friends the Coxes will replace early next year.

When we arrived back at Little Haven we stopped in to say hello to the Rawlings and were invited to their FHE lesson. Vic had prepared a very nice lesson on Doing Good for Others. It was nice to sit and share thoughts and scriptures about this gospel principle with these lovely people.

Even with the continuous rain, it was a very nice day. As Mary said it was nice to spend some time with other couples.

15 November 2009 – Sunday

Sunday morning is always hectic as we try to make sure that everything we need is packed in the car. This morning we had a small crisis come up. As we were just driving away from our boarding we got a call saying the Engwalezane elders saying they were out of sacrament cups. Since we had some in the back of our car and the Mickelsens were going to attend the branch meetings we ran over to their boarding and dropped off enough cups to get them through the day. Hopefully the elders will re-load before next Sunday or President Mngadi will order some from Joburg.

Even with that delay we made it to the Esikhawini PEC meeting in time. President Thusi picked up President Nyawo and the elders also came. We had a good PEC meeting with Elders Musemare and Dishon giving the branch a very well thought out report on new converts, investigators and in-actives that they were working with and how the branch can help them in fellowshipping, home teaching, etc. Hopefully the leadership will use the report and in that way help the activity grow.

Because the Primary was supposed to put on the sacrament program, we stayed at Esikhawini for sacrament. Unfortunately the rain kept most of the children away or they came very late so they had to go to plan B which was to have Elders Maremela, Dishon and Pier speak. As I could see the lack of primary aged children in the audience – I think there was one when sacrament started – I was pretty much prepared for this before we were asked.

Both elders gave excellent talks and I was especially edified by elder Maremela’s as he spoke about how the Lord qualifies us for the work ahead. He gave examples of how Nephi and others were tempered – my word, not his – to prepare them for the tasks He had for them in the future. He said we also are qualified by the Lord for the work we have to do. Elder Dishon talk was on prayer and it was also filled with the spirit.

I spoke on four things that families needed to do to enjoy all the blessings that God has for us. I used Elder Maremela’s idea that we needed to be qualified for the work and the blessings. The four things I spoke on were: Family Prayer, Family Scripture Study, FHE and Tithing. I pointed out how Prophets had promised us if we did these things our family would be strengthened, we would not lose our children, and the family’s needs would be available.

I felt that I needed to keep my voice slow, quiet and calm – I tend to go into a Fire and Brimstone mode at times. But today I let the spirit do the burning and I think it went well. Most people stayed awake and as I looked out at the audience I could see that most of them were following me. I really felt the Lord blessed me so I could get this important message out to the members. It is something I have wanted to talk about for a few months and today the Lord gave me the chance to use the theme.

After the meeting President Nyawo said that he felt sometimes the Lord had different ideas on what needed to be shared than we may have planned for. He also said something that shows how it is only when we have the spirit with us that we really touch people’s lives. He said that today he felt the same spirit that he felt when he first started coming to Church. 

We left Esikhawini and after a brief stop by our boarding we went to Enseleni for their meetings. We were happy to find that a new church that was to start today and run from 10 – 12 had not used our part of the Library. However the rain really hit the attendance, which ended up under 30, as none of the usual supply of non-member primary aged children came. In fact since there were only 10 people – and four of them were missionaries – I suggested to President Vilane that he not start the meeting until 12:15. It felt strange to ask the meeting not start on time, but it was the right thing to do.

All of the speakers came but one had not prepared a talk and got up and apologized. That meant that even starting 15 minutes late, the meeting got over early.  Instead of breaking into groups, the three primary aged children and their teacher went out and the rest stayed together and were taught about the sacrament by Elder Tsegula.

After the meeting I had a good conversation with one of the investigators and bore him my testimony that the Church was true. I also spoke to President Vilane and suggested that he hold a special meeting of what they call PEC but is really Branch Council Meeting to see how the plans for the Branch Christmas Social was doing. This is important because with District Conference coming on the first weekend in December they do not have many chances to meet before then.

When we drove away from Enseleni at 2:30 I felt very good about the day and what we had accomplished. It is just too bad that when it rains so many of our members who have to walk to church tend to stay home. But it was encouraging that out of an attendance of less then 25 – not counting missionaries – 7 of them were investigators.

When we reached our boarding we had a light lunch and then I took a way too long nap. I did not have any idea I was that tired and it certainly blew the afternoon. We discussed how we really needed to come up with a plan to use Sunday afternoons and evenings more productively.

Elders Weaver and Reeder showed up unexpectedly to pick up a new cell phone – elder Weaver laundered their last one – and some mail. As they were leaving Elder Reeder asked if he could have an ice cream – I thought that it was great that he felt he could ask so I gave them both one for the road.

It is fun to read the other Durban mission blogs –especially that now with the Mickelsens coming up a number of times a month. Sister Mann’s main mission blog is always filled with news from the mission and great pictures – especially of strange signs. This week she had visitors and gave them a tour of the game parks including St. Lucia and Umfolozi which are among our favorites.

Other sites that we love to visit is the Church News and Mormon Times sites where there are always uplifting stories about LDS members as well as reports on talks by General Authorities at the Church Colleges, CES, etc. We also read where it is snowing in Utah – I wonder what it would be like if they got 6 inches of snow in Richards Bay – pure chaos I am sure.

It has been an excellent Sabbath with the Lords hand clearly seen in a number of ways.

While Mary was teaching piano to Zama and other, Sister Ndlovu and her son showed up to clean the buildings for Sunday services. We are going to start holding English classes at her house on Wednesdays.

As I was locking up the chapel after Mary’s lessons I noticed this on the board. It seems the Esikhawini youth were discussing the Youth Convention that is coming up in just 2 weeks. The Torch is the symbol and I think the list on the right must be the activities they are planning to hold.

As we were leaving Zinhle’s homestead on a little used pair of ruts through a field, I noticed this single beautiful lily growing out in the middle of all the grass. I walked out through the wet grass to take a close up. As we were driving away we discussed how that bulb got out in the field. There were no other ones around and it certainly was not planted there on purpose. However it got there, it was a treat for us to see.

The last picture is of the Esikhawini/Port Durnford elders. Perhaps the last picture of all four together in their suits at Esikhawini. Elders Wengert, Musemare, Dishon and Melamare – good elders who are working hard to build up the branches.