11 September 2009 – Friday

It was a good news – bad news morning for us. The good news came in a letter from Bob that told about meeting a man – David Nelson – in the temple who was a missionary in Inglewood over 40 years ago. He served in our area for 9 months and had dinner at our house every week. He told Bob that he has wonderful memories of that time and the things Mary and I shared with him. He said that it ranks as one of the two or three best times of his life. Mary remembers him very well but I have to admit that I only remember him vaguely – one of the banes of my existence is a poor memory. But once again I am reminded that just by living the gospel and loving others, you can have a great effect on others without ever knowing it.

Bob’s Letter – BTW today is his birthday!

Hi,

I just wanted to write and tell you about something that happened in the temple last night. After preparation meeting, I have about 20 minutes before my first assignment. I was walking through the locker room and one of the other Ordinance workers stopped me. He said that he had wanted to talk to me since I had started working there but had not had the chance. He said he had heard me say that I had grown up in Southern California. He said that in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s he had served as a missionary in southern california. He was assigned to an area for 9 months and knew and worked with a man named Bill Pier. As he said that, I said, that is my Dad. He asked me if I was sure and I told him that if it was So. Cal in the late sixties it had to be my Dad. I asked him if the area he was in was Inglewood and he said it was, and I told him that it was defiantly my dad. He told me that when he had heard my name he had wondered if I was related to this man, but had no thought that it would be my father. He then proceeded to tell me that in the 9 months that he was assigned to the area he worked close to Dad and also a man named Dennis Clarke. We talked about our housed in Inglewood and that we lived in front and Dennis and his family lived in back. He also said that he and his companions had dinner once a week with Bill and his family. I told him that if he had eaten with them once a week he also ate with me and I would have been 6 or 7. He told me that in the intervening years when he thought back on his life that those nine months were in the top 2 or 3 times where he was truly happy and how much of that was due to the two of you. He could not remember Mom’s name, but I told him that at that time she went by Mary Ellen. I told him that you are on your second mission, this one to South Africa, and that when you returned in 10 months it will be to Provo. I offered to give him your email address, but he said he doesn’t really use email. I also told him that I am sure we can set something up and when you get back we can all get together. His name is David Nelson. I hope you remember him. I did tell him that I did remember that when we lived in Inglewood I do have some memory of a time when we seemed to have the missionaries over a lot. He went on and on about the two of you and the Clarke’s and how much you influenced his life. He almost came to tears a few times when talking about you. To me that was a great experience. I know that you have influenced many people in your lives, but to have someone tell me how much you meant to them at such a deep level really touched me. Thank you for being you. I love you both and am so glad for the examples you have been to me and for our family.  I hope this means as much to you as it does to me. If you wanted to send him anything send it to me and I will print it and give it to him.

Love you,  Bob

We spent most of our day in Port Durnford and Esikhawini. We bought and took a food order to a family in Port Durnford and visited a couple of other families while we were there. We really need to get to know the Zondi family better as they seem to be a good source of Priesthood for the branch. In Esikhawini we visited members and then attended the Youth meeting where we and the elders ended up pretty much running the meeting. However I think that as the YM and YW presidents get counselors and start working together it will improve. There were a lot of the young people out but since it is exams time and others are matricing – that is getting ready to graduate – some stay home to do homework and study.

It is hard to describe what Port Durnford and Esikhawini is like just after school lets out for the day. For up to an hour – and in Port Durnford longer – the sides of the roads and the roads themselves are teeming with youth. From the young 5 and 6 year olds who seem to often walk to and from school alone or in groups to the bustling high school students they spread out over the landscape as they head home. Since schools – even the small rural ones – require students to wear uniforms, there are groups of maroon, blue, and many other hues clustered together as they walk. Each group slowly shrink as the students come to their street or home until the one who walks the furthest walks the last section alone.

Since we are leaving for Kosi Bay tomorrow I finally got around to making reservations for our night stay and talk to brother Iris – I have no idea what his last name is – who is the leader of the little group who meets in his tailor shop each Sunday. I am looking forward to sharing Sunday with them because I imagine it will be much like it was 175 years ago when the church was still young and little congregations were meeting in homes.

We called Bob to wish him Happy Birthday – actually he ended up calling us – and found that there was a problem with the downstairs bathroom – the leak we thought we fixed obviously was not fixed. Hopefully Nate can fix it once he gets home if not it is likely to cost us a bundle to have it professionally fixed.

10 September 2009 – Thursday

Dark rain clouds still cover the sky. I am not going to complain because at least this keeps the heat down.

We spent the morning getting ready for the rest of the day. Not having a working printer or copier means we must figure out what we need and take it down to the RB chapel to print and copy. I guess we will just have to break down and get a new one because it is going to take forever to get ours fixed.

While we were at the chapel the Richards Bay District was having their DDM. We had some of elder Weaver things that we returned. We found out that sister B was at the doctors because she does have Tick Bite Fever…she is certainly going to remember these last 6 weeks. When I called she said it would be fine and I hope she is right.

When we were finished with the copying we headed to Esikhawini and our meeting with President Malinga. I was surprised to see him dressed in his work clothes because it was supposed to be his day off. It turned out that he got a call from work asking him to come in because they were short handed and the man he is replacing has already worked 16 hours straight. But we had time to discuss what I had come to share with him. Hopefully it will help him with his call.

We then went to the Esikhawini chapel where I put up the wall clock that a member donated. It is not going to be of great use because you not really read it from the stand but it will make the donor happy. Then we went through the branch list and tried to make sure our map had every member marked and their name recorded so we can transfer this to our new map. There are still some major questions but we are getting closer.

It was time for lunch and we went to KFC – about the only choice we have in Esikhawini – before heading for Port Durnford and our English class. On the way we stopped and visited Gabi’s mother who is unfortunately dying of cancer. It is so sad to enter the small home with dirt floors where she lay on a thin pallet. She shares the room with her 97 year old grandmother. Mary was inspired to give her a picture of the resurrected Christ and she was very happy to get it. She carefully laid it by her head and kept glancing at it.

When we got to the Nzama’s we were happy to find gogo Nzama feeling much better since she started eating. We had just her and Thandi Nzama for our class as Temba has a new job that keeps him away.

Youth at Port Durnford was rather hectic and of course started late. They were not at their best behavior today. Mary introduced them to two more Articles of Faith and then played a matching gamew with them. After the game I talked to them about the Atonement. We have found that many members do not really understand the atonement and it’s importance. None of the youth really knew why the atonement was important and how the Savior overcame both physical and spiritual death. They really do need more basic teaching and I do not know how they are going to get it without Sunday School and Seminary. It leaves a big hole in their knowledge of the gospel.

We had to stop and get some groceries on the way home so we just beat the sun setting as we drove into the garage. Since summer is coming and the days are getting longer we changed youth back to 4:00 at Port Durnford. It will be interesting to see if that increases attendance.

While I was indexing and about 80% through a batch I decided to darken the highlighter. What I did not know was that to do this the program has to close and of course I lost everything. I learned two things – don’t change highlighter in the middle of a batch and save the work every 10 names. The third thing I learned is that I can still lose my temper at an inanimate object.

Another unusually thing happened tonight. Mary fell asleep on the couch – that is not unusual – and did not wake up and go to bed. Usually when I start turning off lights or moving around she wakes up but not tonight. I ended up turning off all the lights and going to bed with her happily sleeping away. I did leave on the light on her side of the bed so she did not wake up in a completely dark house. She must have really had an exhausting day.

1 3/4 mite day?

These pictures are from the upgraded Hubble telescope…how great are the works of the Lord.

09 September 2009 – Wednesday

What a difference a day makes – 24 little hours. Where yesterday was bright and clear, this morning it is gray and overcast. Later we ran into rain and so my beautiful clean car is now not so beautiful and clean.

 

I was trying to get a picture of a construction truck that we have ended up following a number of times. We can tell it from other trucks because of the way the sign on the back is bent – unfortunately I missed the shot. But then it probably is not very safe to take pictures while driving – even at a stop sign. The big, black bird with the white head and white underwings surprised us when it flew down and started eating some road kill – we did not realize it did that since we always see it near water and figured it ate bugs and such. I guess you get your food where you can find it.

We were up and out of the house fairly early as we needed to go to Port Durnford and picky up sister Chirwa to take her to the clinic in Richards Bay. My selfish side thought that we should have just given her transportation money and we could have spent more time at home this morning. But as we drove to Port Durnford to pick her up and then back to the clinic, I felt that we were doing what we should be doing. She told us about how she and Thandi Nzama had visited a sister on Sunday who had not been coming to church and she said she would come next Sunday. She told us about another sister who is very ill and needs to go to hospital. She also told us about how her leg hurt and so walking was hard for her.

She had to go to the clinic because she is trying to get a government disability pension and they are making her go to a number of doctors. They have managed to drag this on for over a year and she still does not have her pension.

We dropped her off and told her we would call her when we were going to leave for DDM and if she was done we would take her back to the taxi stand in Esikhawini. When we called about two hours later she was still at the clinic patiently waiting for her turn. They are used to waiting for medical help – usually for 4 to 7 hours.

 

Everyone sings at DDM – it is good to see Sister B feeling well. On right – our fearless District Leader Elder Babeeyo.

DDM was a little long but there was some excellent information shared. Elder Musemare gave a good talk, they sat district goals. I suggested that they extend the one week of obeying exactly that President Mann asked for to the full cycle and see how the Lord blesses them. They thought this was a good idea and adopted it.

The Bartholomews came and sister B looked and felt great. The only problem was that she has a very nasty tick bite on her neck and so now she has to wait for 8 – 10 days to see if she gets the fever. We are hoping that there is so many antibiotics in her system that she will be OK. She thinks she got the bite while in Durban but that the tick had got into her luggage when we were in Tembe a couple of weeks ago. She certainly does not need any more illness.

After the meeting we left the elders and the B’s eating pizza and we went to the mall to have lunch at Spurs. When we were finished eating, I was not feeling good at all so I suggested we call President Machaka and tell him we would not be there for PEC meeting so I could take a nap before we went to visit with President Malinga. I gave him what I needed to talk about over the phone.

I had a good nap and while I did not feel 100% I felt well enough to go to our meeting. We were about 75% of the way to Esikhawini when we got a message from President Malinga saying he would not be back in time. When we called he said it could be hours so we found a place to turn around and headed back.

After a quick visit to Meernsee to check out the art store there to see if we could get some supplies for Bungumuse to paint some things for us, we went to the Richards Bay chapel where I made some copies of articles out of the May Ensign that I want to give to people. While we were there I looked through what they had in the library and came across some World Wide Leadership Training manuals from 2001-03 that had just the information that I thought the branch presidents needed to be trained on.

I mentioned to Mary that if our copier had not stopped working and if we had met with President Malinga, I probably would not have found these materials. Now tomorrow when we meet with him we will be able to give him more training to help him in his calling.

I managed to index 125 names this evening. I am trying hard to average 50 a day because that means in a year I will have done about 18,000. I also read some of the WW Leadership material I picked up earlier and it is interesting how the format changed from single talks to interactive talks between two and three of the 12 to role playing. Rather going from lectures to demonstrations. I think the talks work best in the written form while of course the demonstrations work well either live or by DVD.

Another 1 ½ mite day for me.

08 September 2009 – Tuesday

Woke to a beautiful morning in Richards Bay. Our car was filthy so I took it to the car wash early to avoid waiting in line. I was the first one there and opened the wash. While they are washing the car I stay inside so when it comes time to move it to the detail area I am ready. This also gives me the opportunity to read from the scriptures or Ensign for 20 – 25 minutes.

Today I took the May Ensign and continued to re-read the conference talks. As usual each talk that I read was special and I learned more. I am going to copy President Monson’s talk “Be of Good Cheer” and give it to Ayanda Mlondo because it talks about loosing love ones and how knowing the gospel makes this less tragic.

Elder Bednar and Elder Stevenson’s talks were for me. From Elder Bednar –

“There is a difference between church-attending, tithe-paying members who occasionally rush into the temple to go through a session and those members who faithfully and consistently worship in the temple.”

Even though I have served in the Provo temple for years, I am afraid I am still one of those who ‘rush into the temple.’ Of course we are now far from the Joburg temple and will probably only get to go one or two times while on our mission, but when we get home hopefully I will remember Elder Bednar’s comment and establish a regular time to go to the temple. But just as important is preparing to fully participate in the session and not just making it through. Elder Bednar points out it should be temple service not just going getting it out of the way.

Elder Stevenson’s talk was comparing our home with the temple. He said:

“Not only can we turn the doors of our homes to the temple, or the house of the Lord; we can make our homes a “house of the Lord,”

So not only does our car now look bright and shiny but also I have been taught once again by the special men and women who have been called to guide the church in these days.

When I got home I spent way too much time working on the pictures Mary and I took over the last few days – especially those we took yesterday in Imfolozi. It takes time to download, caption, and edit 60 – 70 pictures. But I got it done, caught up my journal, and am getting ready to head to Esikhawini.

When the meeting we had planned fell through we decided to explore Esikhawini and see what the Hafen’s had marked in the GPS. So we turned it on and got out the maps. We then drove through the town and stopped at each member’s home we came across. Some were on the GPS and some were not. We also found some people had moved and some were away to school. The experience was made more interesting by the fact that most roads do not go through to ad adjacent areas so you have to go out to the main road and enter at a different point.

We had lunch at the KFC and the traffic guard pointed out that our license plate was falling off. I checked it certainly was. It turns out they put them on using double-sided foam tape. I imagine the regular washing caused some of the strips to come lose.

We also stopped by the Esikhawini chapel where we found elders Musemare and Mokopotsa doing service by cleaning up a garden plot. Actually elder Musemare was doing most of the work as elder Mokopotsa said he was not a gardener.

We toured all of H section and decided we would do J section on Friday. In between time we hope to get new copies of the city map that we have been using so we can mark it more clearly with where the members live, the names and phone numbers.

We then headed to Meernsee to run some errands. We checked the mail and found we actually got some mail from home – Olivia sent us pictures she had colored of us as missionaries. This was the first mail we got from home and we loved it. We ended up managing to do everything we had planned except we did not make it to the city offices in time to see if we could get new maps. They close at 3:00 and we got there at 3:10. So we have at least one more thing to do tomorrow. I also ran into the Barts in the mall – something that has not happened lately. They were coming for a late lunch and I was just leaving after getting some money from a ATM. Sister B seems to be feeling better and that is great.

Once we got back to our boarding it was a normal evening of reading, writing, indexing – I am trying to do one batch a day – and working on a new puzzle Mary started.

For some reason as I was reflecting again on what I had read this morning, I came to the conclusion that charity – the pure love of Christ – has no room for selfishness. I thought of elder Koelliker’s comment that Christ’s work and glory was to do God’s will. This seems to me to mean that Christ goal was to never put himself and his will first. That does not mean that he could not enjoy life – in fact it meant that he could enjoy life to the fullest. Obeying God’s will is the only way we can truly get the most out of life. Each time we put our own will and our own self first, we take away from the fullness of joy that we could have had.

I think this could count as a 1 ¾ mite day.

07 September 2009 – Monday

A p-day that was spent driving over 300 kilometers, visiting two game parks, missing a turn so we went about 100 kilometers out of our way, and being detoured off the toll road because of an accident so we went another 20 kilometers out of our way. But it was all fun and other than being tired of driving, it was an excellent p-day.

When we got back to our boarding we just relaxed, read, did indexing – Ohio is easier than Wisconsin – and went to bed rather early. Mary called Cindy and wished her happy birthday. Since they talked a long time last night, they did not have a lot more to say tonight.

They say pictures are worth a thousand words so here are a few thousand words about the day.

We went to the left and entered the Imfolozi side of the park. We are getting pretty good at spotting game so when we saw this spot in the shade of a tree a few hundred yards away we got out our binoculars and found this Rhino enjoying a rest from the heat of the sun.

Impalas are everywhere and I seldom take pictures of them, but Mary does and here are three good examples of what we saw yesterday only they were in groups of up to 30 animals.

We usually also see lots of nyalas but this time we only saw this one male. However he was a good looking one and was happy to pose. We figure this tree was supposed to be on the other side of the world – here it is just upside down. I wonder which way birds sit on the branches.

We saw lots of giraffes today. I like the way we caught this one picking the leaves off one at a time. We see a lot of the backs of animals. Mary took a number of pictures of these two giraffes and was finally rewarded with one at least turning its head.

We came across a large family of baboons eating leaves. They pick them off one at a time so they keep busy. They were on both sides of the road and the middle guy just sat and stared at me as I stared at him. I wanted to take a picture of the back end of one but Mary said it was gross. So giraffe behinds are OK – baboons are gross.

We actually came across these two large rhinos lounging in a mud pile before we saw the one above resting in the shade. One of them was nice enough to get up and pose for us – the other one could have cared less. They were about 20 yards away from the car.

As we drove out of a camp area, we came across these two wildebeests on one side of the road and the zebras right across from them on the other side. It was almost like they were placed there so the tourists would have something to look at up close and personal.

We were happy when we got to this direction sign because it meant we were less then 5 kilometers from the gate. Along the way to the gate we came across this signed that warned us that there might be water in the upcoming dip. But it is pretty much dry season so there was not and we were just as happy. After we left Imfolozi we came across this wild animal standing in the middle of the road – it felt like we were back in Swaziland.

After leaving Imfolozi we had a nice drive to Ophathe Game Reserve and went in to see what was there. We found out that most of the Reserve can only be seen in a 4×4 vehicle. But we drove around on some nasty gravel roads and ate our lunch – rusks and drinks – while looking at this waterhole. Nice view and there was a herd of impalas feeding in the trees nearby but nothing came to drink. This is a huge reserve and has both black and while rhinos so we might rent a 4×4 and come back to see if we can finally see a black rhino up close. It has a beautiful reception center with a number of people on duty but it does not seem to be a very popular place for visitors. When Mary signed us in on the 7th the last group before us went through on the 3rd.

06 September 2009 – Sunday

Up and out by 7:00 so we can pick up Presidents Nyawo and Nkosi for PEC meeting. After PEC we headed to Port Durnford for the regular meetings. There were not a lot of people at the meeting because some were working and some were recovering from the funeral. I really felt some of the testimonies – especially President Zondi’s as he talked about those who were not at the meeting and how we need to love them back. After sacrament the members kind of mill around but we got them organized. Mary taught Primary and YW mixed, Elder Richey pretty much taught Young Men, and I taught a combined men and women’s class.

I asked them what was the biggest problem in the branch and they almost simultaneously said that it was the less active. So we sat and talked about what each of them might do to help get one person who was not at church today here next Sunday. Each of them had good ideas and are committed to trying to love the inactive back to church. It will be interesting to see  how it works out. We will not be able to beat PD on Sunday but I will ask Elder Richey who comes.

After the meetings we took Thandi Nzama and her children as well as sister Chirwa to see gogo Nzama. She is looking much better and has started to eat again. I think she will be back in health by next weekend. After that we drove Thandi and sister Chirwa to sister Joyce’s road so they could visit her and see why she has not been coming to church. So they got started on re-activation right away.

While we were at the Nzama’s I found that one of our front tires looked very low, so we decided we better get some air in it. There is only one petrol station in Esikhawini and luckily we know where it is. We went there and got some fuel – I know it was Sunday but I hate to take free air and not give them some business. I have the same problem using a restaurant or fast food place’s toilet without buying something. Anyway we filled up the tank but by the time we had finished there were four or five cars lined up to get air in their tires.

Since we had actually been at the station the longest, I got out and started talking to the men who were using the air hose. We talked about a number of things including the US. After they had finished with their tires, they did mine and so we did not have to wait for everyone else.

We arrived at Esikhawini just before they let out of the last meeting. I was excited to see brother Mavundla at church. I made it a point to go over and talk to him and tell him that. I hope that our talk a couple of weeks ago helped him decide to come.

I talked to president Nyawo and president Thusi for a short time. I think they had been talking about holding Presidency meeting. I certainly hope so. While Mary taught her piano class – only two of her students come almost every week – I helped lock up the buildings. We once again ended up the last folks to leave and so I end up locking the gates as we left.

The rest of the day was spent at our boarding eating, napping, studying, indexing and checking in to see how our family was doing. Taylor and Spencer had engagement/wedding invitation pictures taken. They are a good looking couple.

05 September 2009 – Saturday

This was kind of an extra P-day for us that the Barts. We had our usual morning except the Rawlings had to leave to go to see a track meet that was about 2 hours away. Grace left a nice breakfast for us and we ate early before the Bs were ready. After breakfast we finished packing and then loaded the car – and we really did load it – so we could leave to meet the Sessions at the Essenwood Saturday Market.

When we arrived it reminded me of any of the many craft markets we have seen around. The one it reminded me most of was the Berkley market. I would bet that some of the same African masks are sold there as we saw spread out in this park.

There was not much we really felt a need to buy but we did end up with some things we liked. Some we will keep at home and some we will give to family and friends. I guess all told we managed to burn through $100 US by the time we were done.

The one funny part of the experience happened when I was bargaining with a young vendor over a shadowbox that had carvings of the Big Five. He started at R220 but quickly went down to R200. About that time Elder B walked up and asked me what I was doing and I said that I was trying to decide if I wanted to pay the R175 that the salesman had offered to sell it to me for. The look on the young man’s face was one of shock – of course he had not offered that price at all but he did not want to lose the sale. So he offered it for R190 and I said OK and paid him the R200 he had offered earlier. He was very surprised and thanked me. I told him it was too bad that he did not take the R175 price because if he had I would have given him the original R220 asking price.

After everyone had had their fill of shopping we went looking for a place to eat. The Mexican restaurant we wanted to go to had failed and was being re-modeled. The steak house we next chose did not open until 6 on Saturdays for dinner. We ended up across the street at a place that had lots of customers. The food was pretty good – nothing special but at it was filling and the company was great.

Once lunch and the visiting was finished we said goodbye once more – the Bs and the Sessions have become very good friends – before getting into our cars and heading home. I managed to doze through much of the trip home – I am glad that Elder B prefers to drive. There was more talk about the branches, what we might do if no couples come to take the Bs place, etc.

There has been no indication that any couples are coming to Durban and of course the first one will become the mission office couple. President Mann just could not function without one. Hopefully there will be two by the end of October and one couple will come here to Richards Bay. If not we will just have to do our best and seek a lot of help from the Lord.

When we got home, unloaded everything, and said goodbye to the Bs we realized that there were a few things we really needed from the store so I almost immediately hopped in the car and headed out. One important thing was air freshener – luckily the dead mouse smell had pretty much disappeared from the bed room but we wanted something to take out the last of the lingering smells. We have no idea where the mouse actually died but some day in a drawer or under something the dried remains will show up. Mary is far from thrilled with that idea.

04 September 2009 – Friday

We woke at our usual 6:00 am and leisurely got ready for the day before eating a delicious breakfast with the Bartholomews.

Zone conferences are mainly for the young missionaries but couples always learn something important.

Today’s conference started with President Mann showing some charts about the missions in the area that showed that our mission was behind the other missions in baptisms. He then told how Elder Koelliker’s comment about President Hinckley’s challenge to double the number of baptisms at first seemed like just a call to increase baptisms and besides he is not into setting number goals for baptisms because it can lead to baptizing every 14 year old girl or boy in South Africa. But then one morning he woke up at 4:00 and was told that it really needed to be done. He once again kind of brushed it away. The next morning at 4:00 the same message came to him and he finally got the message that the South Africa, Durban mission needed to do something to increase conversions.

I noticed that the statistics show that the mission holds its own for finding and progressing investigators, What it does not do well is get them into the waters of baptisms. I wrote in my notebook that we are as good as any other mission in the area for getting men on base and advancing them to second and third, but we do not do well in RBIs.

President Mann of course knew this and that is why the conference focused mainly on the Conversion process. The missionaries were introduced to a number of new tools to help them better plan for teaching each investigator. They had a couple of exercises  to show them how to use the new planners.

The highlight for me was when Elder Weaver – that is Elder Peterson’s new companion – told about the experience he recently had where for the first time he felt the spirit as he taught the gospel and wonderful it felt. He said it came because he had started to live the missionary rules that included waking on time, personal study, etc. He said that he had started to do that because Elder Hoosier as District Leader had asked the district to start doing it. Now Elder Weaver is not a new missionary so he has had many opportunities to teach, but he had been selling the gospel instead doing missionary work. It was a moving testimony and I am sure everyone felt the spirit. It brought tears to my eyes.

Later I spoke Elder Peterson about the experience and he added a detail that made it even a better spiritual story. Because Elder Peterson is the DL for Richards Bay they were supposed to come down to Durban on Thursday night so they could be here for a 7:30 meeting and so they would have had to cancel the appointment that Elder Weaver testified about. But the companionship felt strongly that they needed to keep the appointment so they called and got permission for them to stay in RB for the night and then get up at 4:30 am to make sure they were at the 7:30 meeting. They agreed to do that and went to their appointment and the rest just followed. How wonderful it is when we let the spirit guide us even when it means getting up at 4:30 am.

The president went through the mission equation of Faith + Exact Obedience + Hard Work = Miracles. He asked each of the missionaries to be exactly obedient to the white handbook for one week.

After Zone Conference the couples, including the Manns went to the mall and had a nice lunch. We found that the Johnsons had been officially changed to be the new mission office couple and are being trained by the Sessions. As we sat there it was realized that this would be the last time the five couples would be together. The Sessions leave before the next Zone conference which will be held in Richards Bay instead of Durban, a month later the Barts will leave, and then in January the Johnsons will leave.  When the next couples conference is held in February, we will be the only couple still serving.

After the late lunch we went back to our B&B and spent the rest of the day reviewing what we learned and relaxing. For dinner we ate some rusks and hot chocolate. Later the Rawlings went to the stake musical night and so the two couples sat around the living room just talking about family, mission experience, and life in general. It was a good evening as we got to know each other more and could share some of the joys and sad events of our lives. It is interesting that two couples who live within 30 minutes of each other in Utah, got to share an evening together some 10,000 miles from our homes. Missions are really great experiences.

It was a spiritual 2 mite day.

03 September 2009 – Thursday

I slept well but when I woke up I found that Mary had not and so she had got up and starting packing for our trip to Durban. My morning was filled with packing, getting a load of laundry started, ironing some shirts, and posting to our blog. It is good to be up to date in the blog – at least with the text. When journal writing becomes a chore it is hard to do. I just got back from a quick trip to the mall where I got some cash from the ATM and bought a paper for Mary.

The B’s picked us up and we headed off to Durban. We stopped at Ballito – a very nice town on the coast – and had a nice relaxed lunch and looked around a couple of shopping centers. They have lots of stores and getting many more. This is a very well to do place to live and visit.

As usual we stopped in at the mission office where I bought PMG for Esikhawini YM and we had a good time visiting with the Sessions, Manns, and of course the elders. I got a great shot of Elder Lemmon hiding under the desk to avoid doing something.

We then went to Little Haven where we settled in to our familiar room garden room and basically lounged around the rest of the day. Grace fixed us a nice dinner which the couples ate with her and her husband Vic. We went to bed early so we would be rested for the Zone Conference tomorrow.