Along with the normal things I do most mornings I have decided to try to add doing some indexing. If the writing is legible I can do 50 names in about 45 minutes. I think it fits into our call as missionaries because we are helping to do missionary service for the dead. Isn’t it wonderful that through the web anyone can do indexing from anywhere in the world. I am doing 1920 Pennsylvania and Mary is arbitrating 1920 Utah.

I also try to read any new stories on the Church website. They are all uplifting and some give me ideas on things we can do here in South Africa. I especially enjoyed a story in Mormon Times called “He Healed the Hurt” about Brigham Young as a father. Once we got out and around, we spent most of the morning doing some errands that just seem to build up. They included buying more electricity. As I think I have mentioned before, you buy blocks of electricity and on the receipt is a pin number that you have to put in the meter in your boarding. If you let it run down to 0 – everything shuts off. I also needed to buy air time for our cell phone – it is amazing how quickly we use up airtime and of course if we run out we can not call anyone but they can call us. We both also had our hair cut. I was rather worried because it was Friday morning and I thought it might be busy. It was – it turned out that there were some major school graduations later in the day and moms and daughters wanted to make sure they looked their best at the ceremonies – but since we only wanted hair cuts they were able to take us right in. Total cost for the two of us $10 – that is less than we paid in Indonesia. Our afternoon was busy. President Machaka called and asked me to stop by before we went to youth in Esikhawini. Of course I said yes and we talked for a while about some welfare needs. We then went to Esikhawini where we were happily surprised when a good number of young people came on time. So did the new YW president and her counselor – now we just need to get an active YM president.

Since something was scheduled for 4:00 we were only had time for a short meeting and so Mary spent it all on the road show. They decided on a theme – The Title of Liberty – and a group to write it. There was also so discussion of those who could help with the scenery and costumes. We only have 5 weeks to get it all together and that is a little tight so everyone will have to work together.

Once that was settle we gave those who thought they knew the first 6 Articles of Faith. One young man almost got them 100% right and Mary convinced me to give him his reward. Sister Khamalo then said them all perfectly so she got the bonus for being the first. A couple of others passed off the first two and now only need to work on the next 4 to qualify.

After our meeting, we got to hear from brother Mthalane who just returned from serving a full mission in Ghana. He is the first full-time missionary to serve from Esikhawini. He answered questions about his mission for about 30 minutes. He told a couple of conversion stories. It seems in Ghana that the people put a lot of faith in dreams and so a number of times the missionaries were told that the person had dreamed they were coming or something they dreamed happened as they were investigating. He mentioned that one of the most difficult changes that an investigator must accept is that we are not in any way Pentecostal – even in the Catholic Churches they play drums and may speak in tongues. He also said that there was no way for him to truly explain all the blessings of a mission to anyone who has not been on one. He is a very strong young man and should be a great help to the branch.

After Mutual and the missionary discussion, Mary gave her music student a short lesson. She has two others who want to learn – one even has a keyboard. So as soon as Mary can get some more course materials she will start teaching them. When she was done with the lesson we once again got to drive home in the dark but there were no burning fields to awe us tonight.

After dinner as I read the April 1998 talk of Elder Maxwell and came across this: Our Heavenly Father has described His vast plan for His children by saying, “Behold, this is my work and my glory–to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39; emphasis added). Consider the significance of the Lord’s use of the word work. What He is doing so lovingly and redemptively is, nevertheless, work–even for Him! We, likewise, speak of “working out our salvation,” of the “law of the harvest,” and of the “sweat of the brow” (see Moses 5:1; see also Inspired Version, Gen. 4:1). These are not idle phrases. Instead, they underscore the importance of work. In fact, brethren, work is always a spiritual necessity even if, for some, work is not an economic necessity.

Thus I speak to you as good young men, including seven fine grandsons listening tonight, among them two missionaries and three recently ordained deacons. I remind you that the gospel of work is part of “the fulness of the gospel.” Though joyful, missionary work is work. Though joyful, temple work is work. Alas, a few of our underwhelmed youth work all right, but mostly at trying to please themselves.

The reason I put this quote in my journal is that I have been trying to get away from saying I work in the temple and instead say I serve in the temple. Elder Maxwell’s excellent talk reminds me that while work is a four letter word, it is a good four letter word. So I guess I will go back to working in the temple, doing missionary work, and work at indexing.

Naartjie Season: Has come to the Eastern Cape and so we can buy rather freshly picked naartjies for very little. Today we picked up 3 big bags of this delicious close cousin to the tangerine for just R50 and took them to Mutual – everyone loved them.

Today is our 49^th wedding anniversary and while I did not forget the date, I did manage to forget to buy a present for my beautiful bride. My only excuse is that we are together almost 24/7 but there are times – last night at the mall was a perfect example- when we are not together. Mary surprised me with a beautiful tie from Swaziland that has the big five on it. She had sister Wilson buy it and the Bs brought it back with them when they visited Swazi about a month ago. I can not even take her out to dinner because there is no time.

I have been reading and re-reading Elder Maxwell’s talk from the Oct 2000 conference and have tried to remember some of his great one-liners:

God’s plan is not a plan of pleasure; it is the “plan of happiness.”

Brothers and sisters, there are so many personalized prisons!

Granted, some sincerely wish for more power in order to do good, but only a few individuals are good enough to be powerful.

The rouge of recognition is so easily smeared away.

How ironical that some go “into a far country,” leaving the nourishing family garden –in which there may be some weeds – and go into a desert with its tumbling sagebrush.

The distance to “a far country” is not measured by miles but how far our hearts and minds are from Jesus! Fidelity, not geography, really determines the distance!

Love, patience and meekness can be just as contagious as rudeness and crudeness.

Yet some proudly live “without God in the world,” with gates and doors locked from the inside!

Moments are the molecules that make up eternity!

Spirit sons and daughters of God need not be permanently put down when lifted up by Jesus’ Atonement.

By paying more attention to what we are rather than exclusively to what we do, our public and private persons will be the same – the man or the woman of Christ.

Isn’t it marvelous, brothers and sisters, that God, who knows everything, still spends time listening to our prayers?

Each of those are worth pondering. My favorite – probably because it strikes close to me is :”The distance to “a far country” is not measured by miles but how far our hearts and minds are from Jesus! Fidelity, not geography, really determines the distance!”

The lost electric razor cord episode: Yesterday I realized that my electric razors – I brought two – were probably running low on charge. So I went into the kitchen and looked in the bowl where I knew the recharge cord was and found that it was not there. Over the course of the morning I spent about an hour looking everywhere I thought it could possibly be but to no avail. I decided that I would either have to try and buy a replacement cord or get some regular razors.

This morning I could tell one of the razors was about to stop so I once again started looking. After much frustration, I went back to the bowl where it should have been – and where I had looked a number of times – and lo and behold there it was. Now I am sure I could not have missed it all the previous times I looked so some gremlin must have moved it and then put it back early this morning.

Vincent – our excellent Telekom man – came by at about 9:30 to find out why we did not have any internet. As he was working and not getting any closer to figuring out what was wrong, I asked if it could be because we had used up our 3 gigs of download space. It turned out that was exactly what the problem was. We – but mainly me – had used our month allotment of data in two weeks. In fact we had used 4.5 gigs. So I had to get on the phone and agree to buy another 3 gigs of data to keep having access to the internet. I am going to have to be more selective in the size of files I download

Once that was fixed we headed off to the bank so I could cash a check from the district. Unfortunately someone had marked it for deposit only and they could not cash it. Since we were to have District Council Meeting tonight, we decided we would have a nice lunch at the mall instead of dinner. Mary chose ‘Mug and Bean’ and so there we went. When we tried to drive into the parking structure the lady in front of us could not get in because the automatic parking machine was out of tickets. So line of  cars waiting to get in had to back out and find somewhere else to park. I decided about then it might be just one of those days.

After lunch we were too early to go to Port Durnford so I suggested we go to the fabric store and buy some print fabric to make into wall hangings. We ended up blowing almost $18 on three large pieces that should just about cover all the large areas that are still blank. My contribution is bright orange with wildlife scenes.

We then were off to our English class. As usual we had our three stalwards – including brother Thebe who just started taking the lessons. We were joined by a friend of Thandi Mzama who is also starting to take the lessons. So our class has become a missionary tool.  

Since we could give her a ride and her mother could take care of the children, Thandi came with us to mutal – the first time she has been there since we arrived. Her non-LDS friend also came along. It turned out Quinton was not in town so we still have never had both of them there at once but he promised to be there next week.

By 3:45 – it is supposed to start at 3:30 – we ended up with something over a dozen youth there. I stood outside and made sure they went in as they arrived. Mary appointed Siya to conduct the meeting and he did a pretty good job. The first thing was the opportunity to recite the first 6 Articles of Faith and Gabi did it! Since she was the first – and it turned out only – one to do it, I gave her a bonus of an extra R20 and she was thrilled.

The rest of the meeting was used to start working on the Roadshow and I contributed an outline using Nephi being tied to the mast on the way to the promised land. I think it can be a good one and they put together a committee to write and oversee the program. All in all it turned out to be a very good meeting.

Earlier we found out that the District meeting was cancelled for tonight and so we could just head home. On the way we saw another couple of cane fields being burned. I am sure we will see lots of those before we head back home. Of course the sugar folks have this down to a science. The field we saw burning last night was fully cut by the end of today and they will start loading tomorrow. In one or two days the field will be emptied of cane and probably within a week it will be ready to start growing the next batch. I need to get a picture of a loaded cane truck – they are huge and obviously there are no litter laws about how much can fall out or fly off when they are moving.

I spent most of the evening reading and writing. I need to come up with another scenario for the Esikhawini youth. I have a couple of ideas but neither of them really seem to work. So I will need to think and pray some more so I can hopefully have something by the time we meet tomorrow.

I was not sure I would be able to post this evening because we lost our internet earlier in the day. Maybe it was the Lord telling me I was spending too much time on the web, but since I was trying to access a conference report when it crashed perhaps it was the other guy?

We went to District Development meeting this morning. Sister Pier’s slightly burned and undercooked banana bread/cake was a hit with the elders. But of course the elder tend to devour anything sweet. But seriously it was very good and amazingly moist. They ate most of it before the meeting because one of the group of elders was late. Elder Makono was taking his test for his learner’s permit. Unfortunately he crashed and burned – don’t worry it was a written test.

DDM is always an uplifting experience. To sit with 7 elders and the Bartholomews and share what is going on in each area, spiritual experience and some training from the District Leaders is one of the anchors of the program. In the meeting we had one elder who was having rather serious problems with an ulcer, another who has had back pains most of his mission, and the usual assortment of normal illness that seemsto be always going around, but in no case did this slow up the work nor bring real complaints. They just want to get well so they can work harder. I am always amazed at the strength and spirit of the elders we have served with.

After DDM we grabbed some lunch and then headed off to Esikhawini to meet with president Machaka for PEC. The elders reported that they are teaching some families and are starting to teach one of the men who has been attending our English class at the Mzamas. We are thinking of holding English classes in both branches on Saturday and the missionaries think they will be well attended. I have more hope for Esikhawini than Port Durnford by we will see. The president was excited about the calling of two counselors – he has pretty much been handling it alone up until now. He also reported that he plans to become engaged soon.

Our next meeting was with president Malinga of the Esikhawini branch. President Malinga is taking a computer class during his month off. He felt the need to know how to use a computer for everyday use. Some day I will write about how this wonderful, and humble priesthood leader overcame a poor education to hold a good job.

While we were waiting for him to get home from his class, we spoke to his lovely wife. She came from Mozambique and her first language was Portugues. So when we told her we were going to start English classes in a couple of weeks, she volunteered to be our first student.

We try to spend an hour or so with him each week to train him in his calling. He really wants to learn and is always telling us how grateful he is for our help. I keep reminding him that we are only advisors and that we have no authority in the branch. He embarrassed me a couple of Sundays ago when he talked about how I was helping him become a better branch president. Today we mainly talked about presidency meeting and the need to get home teaching organized. I suggested that he make that the main point of the presidency meeting.

On our way home from Esikhawini we were able to witness the burning of a cane field. At least we got to see the last few minutes. What an amazing site -a wall of crackling fire against the darkening sky. I tried to take some pictures but nothing – not even a movie – can capture the beauty and raw power of the wall of controlled flame. The field that was burned was one that we felt would soon be harvested. The bright green canes had turned to a field of soft tan.

 Next we stopped at the mall to go grocery shopping. Almost all the stores in the mall except for restaurants and grocery stores close up at some time between 4-6. Checkers – where we went shopping – stays open until 8:00. Checkers in on the second floor so we wheel our cart into an elevator to get down to the parking garage. Since it was after 6, it was not hard to pick out our car from the couple of dozen spread over the large parking structure.

When we got home, unloaded and put away everything, I checked and found the internet was back so I was able to write this post.

But before I post it I want to write about President Uchtdorf’s May conference talk during the  priesthood session. I had enjoyed listening to it at Mbabane the day after it was given and I had read it at least twice since the Ensign came out, but this time as I read it, but this morning when I read it again, it’s messages really struck home. I guess it triggered some of the other recent talks I have read about how distractions caused by paying too much attention to the things of the world can take our time away from the eternally important things of the spirit. I know that at times I let things that really interest me take time away from doing what I have been called to do here in South Africa. They are not bad things they are just not what I should be doing at the time.

I have often taught in class that it is not the choices between good and evil that will trip many of us up, but the choices between the good we feel comfortable doing and the good the Lord wants us to do.

Hi everyone – pardon me while I skip a week or so of this blog. I talked to Cindy this evening and she suggested that I post my daily journal – something I did when we were in Indonesia.

I doubt if I will do that – my journal contains some private thoughts that I am not comfortable sharing with the world, however I will try to post each day so that things are fresh in my mind.

This morning was wonderful -cool and bright. I spent some of the time catching up my journal. I have not been very diligent these last couple of weeks. I am afraid that I have spent the time over-gorging on the internet.

We had an appointment to meet the Bartholomews over at the Esikhawini chapel at 10:00 so sister B could train sister Mavundla, the new Young Woman’s President and her counselor. Sister Mavundla was baptized on the 31st, confirmed on the 7th and after being confirmed was given her call. Talk about putting new converts to work quickly. She has a great spirit and will do well.

Well Sister B and Mary trained the two sisters, elder B and I talked to the gogos who were working in their gardens that are part of the branch property. These ladies are out almost every day working to grow vegetables to help feed their family while saving some money.

Their gardens are pure sand – there is no soil at all in Richards Bay. So they are constantly watering because the sand soaks up the moisture so quickly. I am looking for a reasonable source of top soil that we might bring in so they might grow more and work less.

After the training we dashed home for some lunch before heading up to Enseleni for a youth activity. Although the Bartholomews work with the youth of that branch, we were especially invited to come.

It was a very special activity because it was thought up, planned, organized, and led by the YM and YW presidents – both who are 19 years old and had never done anything like this before. Not only had they planned the activity, they designed and printed a program that included them speaking.

 They were wise enough to ask the Bs to organize the games and help them with the food. This was necessary because the township – that is a town that was built during apartied to hold the black populaton that was necessary to supply workers for the industries in Richards Bay – does not have a decent grocery store and none of the members of the branch has a car.

The activity was a great succcess. Instead of an activity for the mutual age youth it became one for almost the whole branch and their friends. There was somewhere about 50 in attendance with a good part of them being primary aged and investigators.

When sister B got up to announce the games, she had to take a minute to tell all of the youth how proud they were of them. She could hardly hold back the tears that I know she felt – this was the fruit of 20 months of missionary service and I think the Bs felt this one event more than marked paid to whatever sacrifices they may have made in coming to South Africa for 23 months. They now know that they can go home knowing that the branch is in good hands.

The youth love to play games. Mary and I learned a number of new games that we can use in our branches. Mary and I helped out some with the games and had a lot of fun. We also helped out with preparing the food but the young YW leaders did most of the serving. They made sure each person got their share.

I have never seen better behaved young people than were there today. From Primary Age to Young Adults, they sat quietly and ate their food. It is too bad we can not export this behavior to the US.

I should mention one thing that I have noticed and I am not sure if I have mentioned before. When we give out candy or food as prizes, the winners almost always share with those who did not get anything. I have seen a single piece of candy being divided  between three or four young people. They love to compete and win but they share the prize.

After we got home, we used the newly installed Vonage phone to call Jim at work and Cindy at the dentist office. For a monthly fee of about $30 we can call anyone in the states and they can call us. We can now wish children and grandchildren happy birthdays, etc. and visa-versa. Between the phone and this blog, the family should be able to know what we are experiencing here in South Africa.

Barking dogs! Most of our neighbors have dogs to let them know when someone is approaching their fence. When we first moved in we heard every bark, but recently we realized that most of the time their barking – and it often goes on much of the day and night – is not even noticed. When we do notice it is either very, very loud or we are not doing anything and all of a sudden we realize we can hear the dogs.

So in someways it is the same as adjusting to the call to prayer in Indonesia. At first they would often wake us up but by the time we left it was always surprising to actually hear one of the many calls during the day.

So now it is about 8:15 and I am going to post this and then read what is new at the Church News site.

Without going into a lot of details, I can say we had an interesting last 7 days.

We were been able to go out with the elders to meet a couple of their investigators: a couple who are running their own accredited school and are looking to add on to their house so they can expand and a very friendly Afrikaans family that can trace their family back to the early 18th century in South Africa.

We have met with the elders in District Development Meeting and in a three zone conference in Durban. In both meetings we were challenged to increase our spirituality and to be more effective in our missionary work.

We received calls to serve in the Richards Bay District. I was called to be on the District Council and Mary was called to be 2nd Counselor in the District Relief Society. As part of her new calling she will be conducting the Relief Society section of the District Conference on Saturday. I will be mainly working with the YM. Luckily for me I will be working with Sister Bartholomew who has most things already organized for a Super Saturday that is coming up at the end of July.

We had the opportunity to meet with president Malinga of the Esikhawini Branch and help him prepare for his first ever PEC meeting. Then on Sunday I attended that meeting and was pleased to see that even though it was pouring rain, most of those who should attend was there and on time. The branch presidents here in Richards Bay have served only 15 months or less and had no experience in leadership positions. They want to learn how to fulfil their callings and soak up information and ideas like sponges.

Later on Sunday I was able to participate in the confirmation of the three people who were baptized last Sunday. It was a great privilage to stand in the circles and feel the spirit of the blessings given to each of them. One of those baptized, brother Thembu, told me that after his baptism last week, he slept very soundly. His soul was filled with peace.

Also on Sunday I taught the Aaronic Priesthood about how priests could ordain other deacons, teachers and priests. Then two of the young men had the opportunity to confer the priesthood and ordanin others. We had all the priests stand in the circle. The smiles on the faces of those who participated was worth leaving our home and our family for these 18 months.

We also managed to get lost. As I have mentioned the homesteads inPort Durnford are, for the most part, located on sandy roads. I do not think there is any dirt in all of Port Durnford so they are not dirt roads. These roads in many places merely two tracks through the trees and fields. We were going out to try and meet with one of the young women and we thought we would have no trouble because we had been there before with the elders and knew it was marked on the GPS.

Unfortunately the GPS is not really aware of all the little roads that wander around and sure enough we found ourselves lost. We tried to ask directions from people who were walking or working and they tried to help but we still could not find her homestead.

We had just turned around for the last time and were headed home when we saw her walking towards us across a field. It turned out we were just across a large field from her home and she had seen us driving along the road. The reason that the neighbors could not help was because we pronounced her name incorrectly. But even with making all those mistakes, the Lord watched over us and got us where we needed to go.

On Thursday and Friday we had the opportunity to meet with the youth from the branches. Like all youth there are times when they are just not ready for what we want to teach but for the most part they are great. We are working on learning the Articles of Faith. Not only to learn them but to learn what they mean. It is one thing to know what the first principles and ordinances are and another to know what the word principle and ordinance means. The same thing is true of songs. They love to sing but often they sing words that have no meaning to them.

Along these same lines, on Friday we met in a members home out in Port Durnford to teach an English lesson. We started a couple of weeks ago with three students and this week we had five. They ranged in age from about 12 to 80 something. Their ability to understand English vocabulary – not to mention grammar- was from almost nil to not bad. The one thing they all have in common is the desire to learn and that is what needed most. The hour we spend teaching them each week flies by and we can not stay over because we must hurry to Esikhawini to meet with the youth.

I almost forgot that on Sunday we had dinner for all the elders in the zone at our house. Last week was transfers and we said goodbye to elders Clark, Kiserema and Emaneke and got to meet elder Richey, Peterson, Babeeyo and Mholo. This is elder Mholo’s first area and he is lucky to be trained by elders Schlenker and Babeeyo while serving in the Empangeni area. I am surprised to find that I did not take a picture of the new zone – I will have to do that today when we have Zone Development Meeting.

Sister Mann wrote the following story about Elder Mwita, one of the new missionaries:

“Elder Mwita is our new elder from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He lost his parents when he was young, and spent several years in an orphanage then went to live with an uncle who is a pastor in the Pentecostal Church. While he was living there, he went to free classes to learn English – as taught by missionaries, using “They Shall Have My Words”, and the Book of Mormon. Thnkgs progressed, and he gained a testimony and started attending Church. His uncle warned him that it was the church of the devil – to which Elder Mwita responded “But why would devil teach me to keep the commandments?” “Well, the devil knows the commandments, too…” Hmmm. He attended both Pentecostal and LDS services for awhile, to please his uncle, but when he wouldn’t give up the Church, his uncle conferred with his fellow church leaders, and then kicked him out of the house. Elder Mwita went to the branch president, who found a member family who took him in. And now he’s here – ”

These are just a few of the 30 plus young people we get to be with each week. As you can see from the last picture they are just like young men and women everywhere. They love to learn and they love to play – we try to accomodate them in both areas.

Last week as we were on the road to Esikhawini we saw this beautiful rainbow across the road. When we first noticed it, we could only see a small section but as we got closer it filled the sky.  The last rainbow we saw was in Ezulwini and it was a double.

One of the traditions here in South Africa is on the last night before transfers, the elders in the zone get together for what is known as The Last Supper. Usually this is done on Tuesday night because that is when the zone leaders get informed of the changes. Since Elder B is a member of the mission presidency, they are always in Durban for a meeting on Tuesday. So here in Richards Bay The Last Supper is held on the Sunday night before transfers so the Bartholomews can be part of the tradition. Here are some pictures from the last gathering of the RB zone this past Sunday.

From left to right – The Richards Bay Zone – May 31, 2009, the zone with us, the zone with the Bartholomews.

This picture of the zone with Sister B will bring a smile to anyone who has served with the Bartholomews. Sister B is one of the most dynamic woman I have ever known. I think she runs on love because she never seems to eat anything. She serves huge meals to the missionaries, doctors them, laughts with them and cares for them as if they were her own sons. I have no idea how Elder B keeps up with her – she would wear me out in a week or less. We consider it a true tender mercy that we have the opportunity to serve with the Bartholomews.

Each week we have the privilege of attending one or two District Development Meeting with the missionaries in our zone. In this morning’s meeting each of the missionaries, including Mary and I, took a few minutes to share what we learned during this last 6 week cycle. It is humbling to hear the missionaries talk about how they have grown spiritually during that time. What they have learned about missionary work. A number of them spoke about how they had learned to study and appreciate the scriptures more.

Another thing that I found today is that none of the elders who are being transferred are easing up on the work today. All of them have packed today with teaching appointments. They want the opportunity to help their investigators to accept the gospel and bear their testimony of it’s truth.

I must admit that it is hard to say goodbye to those who will leave tomorrow. Especially those who we will not see again before they go home. What great young men they are and how we have been blessed through serving with them. I am sure we will not forget them and hopefully we will be able to stay in contact with most of them.