{"id":1819,"date":"2009-07-23T11:39:34","date_gmt":"2009-07-23T18:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pierfamily.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/23\/22-july-2009\/"},"modified":"2019-08-21T14:52:46","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T21:52:46","slug":"22-july-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pierfamily.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/23\/22-july-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"22 July 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

22 July 2009 \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u201c Wednesday<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

A beautiful bright morning in Richards Bay. The days are getting longer which means spring and then summer will soon be upon us. I am looking forward to spring but not summer.<\/font><\/p>\n

Our dear friends the garage door folks showed up a little early this morning for what we hope is the last time. They are nice people but enough is enough\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u00a6I just realized I never talked to them about the gospel. I forgot the first lesson of missionary work \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u201c ask everyone!<\/font><\/p>\n

I was reading the Church News from Morning News and it seems one of our chapels in Florida lost the copper tubing and condensers from their air-conditioners. This sounded more like something that would happen in South Africa than the US but it just goes to show that there is crime everywhere.<\/font><\/p>\n

Yesterday as we were coming out of Esikhawini we had to detour around a rear-ender wreck. It occurred about 500 yards from where we had ours a couple of months ago and I bet it was caused by the same thing \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u201c someone stepping out to cross the road in front a truck. The car that ran into the truck looked like it had not touched it\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122s brakes \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u201c luckily it did not look like anyone was seriously hurt.<\/font><\/p>\n

I found it interesting that as I was doing personal study by reading in the Liahona I read Elder Allan Packer\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122s talk. In it he relates a story about how he heard his coaches voice in the midst of action on the field and related it to how if we familiar with how the Holy Ghost \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u02dcspeaks\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122 to us, we will know what to do. I obviously did have that closeness this morning.<\/font><\/p>\n

I am really enjoying reading these talks for the second and third time. I remember in his closing remarks, President Monson urged members to read the conference talks when they became available. He said \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153I urge you to study the messages and to ponder their teachings and then to apply them in your life.\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d Words of wisdom of a living Prophet given to all the church and especially me!<\/font><\/p>\n

Mary spent much of the morning making a Liahona. Although it is not made of brass, it is certainly of curious workmanship. I told her she was spending a lot of time on something that will be on stage for about 2 minutes or so. I think I will make a stand out of cardboard so it can sit on stage the whole show \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u201c then at least it will have its 15 minutes of fame.<\/font><\/p>\n

The Richards Bay elders called and then came by. It seems that elder Babeeyo left his scriptures and PMG at the chapel after\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>ZDM and since we will see him later in the day we will return them. The elders also picked up the Books of Mormon that we have had out for them since before All Zone. <\/font><\/p>\n

We headed out to the mall so I could buy another AC\/DC converter for the keyboard. I also got some money. While I am thinking about that, Elder B tried to use his Wells Fargo VISA card to make a purchase the other day and it would not work. He called the Wells Fargo and he was told that due to the high level of fraud, Wells Fargo and some associated banks have blocked all credit card transactions from South Africa and Turkey. He was told all he had to do was call and tell them that he was going to use the card\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u00a6which is rather hard to do from a mall in South Africa. Luckily they have did not block getting cash from ATMs or we would be in real trouble. Our other major purchase of the day was a 25 cent dowel that Mary is going to use to make the spindles on her Liahona. <\/font><\/p>\n

We made it easily to Esikhawini in time for our PEC with president Machaka and took care of some things that were needed because of the welfare orders we filled yesterday. About 3:00 I got a SMS from the elders saying they were doing baptism interviews and would be 30 minutes late. We decided we could do our part and leave \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u201c which we did. <\/font><\/p>\n

At the Esikhawini chapel we got things ready for the roadshow practice while the youth finished up their seminary class. Unfortunately only 5 students were at seminary so we did not have many to work with for our rehearsal. But we did what we could and we will hope that come Friday we will have a decent amount for one of two final run throughs. <\/font><\/p>\n

After the meeting Mary had a short piano lesson with Yaya Mathe. She seems to be starting from scratch \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u201c as most of them are. It will be interesting to see how things turn out with the five or six \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u02dcstudents\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122 Mary may have for the next year. While I was waiting for them to finish, I saw a man walking down the street and said hello. I found out he was married with three children and had a job. However his family lives on the homestead and he rents a small place here. He only gets to see them when he has enough money for transport. I did not take his name but I did give him a \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153Who are the Mormons?\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d and invited him to church. <\/font><\/p>\n

We of course had to drive home in the dark again \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u201c far from a fun experience. On the way we stopped at the mall again. I went to the grocery store while Mary got us some fish and chips for dinner.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n