Eating lunch was perhaps the favorite activity of the day but the roadshows also got a lot of applause. One branch did Ammon converting the Lamanites…Elder Bartholomew came up with the costumes for the sheep. These two young men did a great job on stage. They would have one best sheep of show if there had been such a reward. The Enseleni branch had a tremendous show that showed the temptations that youth and adults face everyday in the townships. The young man who dressed as a wanton woman did so because they decided that it was not right that any of their young women should play such a role. What great young men to think that way about young women.

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I am sorry that I did not take a picture of the great Port Durnford backdrop that was designed by a non-member. It was about 17 feet wide and 7 feet high. Everyone was impressd by its quality.

After they put on their shows we took group pictures. Port Durnford on the left and Esikhawini in the middle and right. As you can see we asked them to do one serious and one crazy photo – can you tell which is which? I can’t – they both look normal to me.

26 July 2009 –Sunday

It was rather hard to get up and going this morning but we made it to Esikhawini in time to open things up and go to PEC. I thought for a while that we were not going to have any PEC but President Thusi arrived about 10 minutes late and apologized. Unfortunately no one else showed up except us and the missionaries. But we had a pretty good PEC anyway. I was glad to hear that they had organized Home Teaching and that they would give out assignments later today in Priesthood. Also they are going to sustain brother Mthalane as YM President for the branch.

We were also the first to arrive at Port Durnford, followed again by the missionaries and then President Machaka. At 9:00 when it was supposed to start there was one sister and her child in the chapel. We finally got started at 9:15. While we were waiting I got a call from President Baldwin asking me to have the same brother Mthalane as District YM President. He had been trying to call Elder B without success so he could do the same in their two branches. I told him I would try to contact him. When he did not answer their phone I called the elders and they got him for me.

After sacrament President Machaka had each of the youth come up and tell about their experiences yesterday. Mainly they said they had fun and liked the food. The last speaker was Ayanda and she gave a great talk. She had made notes while she was at the activity and also wrote after she got home. She covered just about everything and we were really proud of her. I hope that the meaning of the activity will not disappear quickly from her and the other youth.

There were just over 20 people at Sacrament and I wondered where many of the others were. I told Mary that instead of going to the other hour of meetings that we should go out and visit some of the missing members and see if they were OK. We started by going to Sister Joyce’s where we found she had gone to Durban but we came across Sister Chirwa and her cousin. Sister Chirwa could not come because she had to meet with the local Chief so he could approve of a transfer of land from her cousing to her.

We then visited Gabi’s homestead – Gabi was at church but her father was not. She said that he mother was feeling better, but when we got there we found that she is still very ill and her husband had stayed home to help take care of her. He is going to take her to the hospital tomorrow. Earlier we found out from Thandi Zama that her mother was still sick and was not eating anything. We suggested she try chicken broth soup and see if she could keep it down. As I was writing this I had the feeling that we should make some tomorrow and take it to her.

When we were finished there, we headed for Esikhawini where we were able to take part in the last 30 minutes of RS and PH. After the block, Mary played for choir practice and then had her piano class. While she was doing that, I locked things up, had a good talk with Elder Mbithi about the idea that the brethren now testify of that this the True and Living Church and what that meant. Elder Mbithi and I seem to often end up sharing thoughts about the gospel. Earlier I had given him Elder Hollands great talk at the Mission President’s Training about the Holy Ghost as your other missionary companion.

By the time we got home we were both tired so after a lunch of leftovers, we both took rather long naps.

While I was checking on Facebook, I found that our young friend Vita from Jogya was online and Mary and her had a good chat –while they were chatting two others contacted her including Looky another Indonesian friend. It is a great thing to be able to stay in contact with friends old and new but as I read in an article, most of what is written is lost for future use. No more large files of written on paper letters with thoughts and ideas of the times to be archived.

As usual we went over to the Barts for Sunday dinner with the elders. It is always a great time to meet and discuss what is going on and trade experiences – both recent and past. We have a strong group of mainly seasoned elders in Richards Bay at this time and they all have had interesting experiences while on their missions. Almost all have been robbed – elder Muthoka a total of 5 times including one where he was pistol whipped. But in almost all cases the elders were not being wise and therefore put themselves in danger. In talking to them they do not make a big thing of these kinds of experiences. They just consider it part of their missions. The thing that makes any elder who has been robbed or car jacked the maddest is when the thieves take their scriptures. Another thing I learned is that often the robbers seem nervous because they were raised Christian and know that they are robbing ministers of Christ.

Elder Richey said that when he and his companioned were robbed it was near the church and one of the robbers took the keys for the church and then looked at the church, decided that it was not a good idea to rob a church and threw the keys on the ground.

As the missionaries were leaving, Elder Musemare  came back and showed me the middle finger  of his right hand. He had shut it in a car door and the X-rays came back that it was not broken. But when I tried to straighten it out it hurt very much. I referred him to Mother Bartholomew who suggested we splint it. So we used two sticks out of Magnum ice cream bars and some surgical tape the Bs had bought by accident. I am sure it really hurt for us to mess with it but other than cringing a couple of times he bore it well. The Bs will probably take him in to have it checked again.

We were headed home just after 9:00 and in bed by 10:00. So ended another interesting day in the South Africa, Durban mission for us.

25 July 2009 – Saturday

Youth Activity Day in Richards Bay…and a busy day for the couple missionaries. First let me say that the day went so well mainly because Sister Bartholomew is 1000 Gorilla for work in a 120 pound body. I have no idea how Elder Bartholomew can keep up with her. But that may be why he seems to catch a quick nap whenever he gets a chance. The pair are amazing and a perfect example of how much good a missionary couple can do in an area. BTW –neither of them would agree with anything that I wrote here.

The day early for us as we made sure we had everything we needed for our two branches’ roadshow. The car looked somewhat like a travelling circus car. Swords, banners, a sheet of metal for thunder, backdrop paintings, costumes, and on and on, all to be fitted in.

We arrived a little early at the Richards Bay chapel so we could unload everything. We then helped set up tables, put out crocodiles, etc. We were lucky because the Enseleni branch youth showed up very early and helped clear off the stage, set up chairs, and generally be of great service.

Over the next hour, the youth begin to arrive. I did not see either of our branches arrive so I called Fufu and she assured me that they were on the way. Not long after that Esikhawini arrived but I did not see Port Durnford. I was starting to worry when they came around the back of the chapel. I found out that the little stinkers had arrived a half hour before and had decided to practice without letting anyone know that they were here. I could have kissed them – but of course that is not allowed.

I really could go on for pages about the experiences that I had this day but to keep it short, the first part was spent with learning activities including a section where sister B showed the video by Elder Packer about Crocodiles. Then she said that we never knew where they would find crocodiles that could grab them. She suggested that there might even be some in the chapel. They finally got the idea and looked under their seats where we had earlier stuck 6 posters with different crocodiles such as bad language, sexual impurity, etc. We then broke them up into 6 groups and they had to come up with a presentation that told the dangers their crocodile posed for them as LDS youth and what they could do to overcome it. They all did a great job.

Then President Baldwin talked to them about a number of things but mainly gave a no nonsense review about sexual immorality. What chances they are taking physically and more important the spiritual consequences. He told them that any Young Adult who was found to be immoral would be excommunicated.

After the program we fed them a good lunch that was cooked by President and Sister Vesi. We, the Bs, the Vesi’s and others produced about 80 plates of curry, salad and squash in about 15 minutes. Then we put together the same number of desserts. It is amazing how much some of those skinny little young people could put away.

Then came the roadshows and they were amazing. All of them did a great job. I told our two branches that the important thing was for them to have fun and I think they did. We were really proud of how well they did and I only lost my cool three times.

The Enseleni branch has a large group of older youth that have some great leaders among them. They wrote their own script, put together their own props and costumes, and practiced three or four times a week. Sister B did have to tone their original script down a bit but the result was magical. The show mainly showed the temptations they faced each day in the townships that tried to get them to let go of the iron rod. Each temptation drew away a few people but in the end three of them made it to the tree of life. Then they all came on stage and sang a medley of church songs. I got tears in my eyes as I felt the spirit of these LDS youth who must work every day to stay faithful in a society that tries to drag them down. Add to this that most of them have very little in the way of earthly goods, and I even have greater respect for them.

After the roadshows it was time to start cleaning up and getting them on their taxis so they could go home. We were lucky again because none of the taxis came on time so we had a lot of help in putting things away. I was given the money and task of paying the taxis drivers once they arrived. The last one did not come until almost 45 minutes late and the only reason he did come was that we finally called him. When he arrived it was obvious that he had been sleeping.

After they were gone we had to pack up all the things we brought and help Sister Wilson and Sister Baldwin start to get the building ready for Sunday service. The biggest problem was that one of the youth had thrown up in one of the class rooms. They had eaten much too much of rich food that they were not use to and never made it to the bathroom. This is not something they teach you about in the MTC.

Once we were done the Bs joined us for dinner at the mall. We had an excellent meal but none of us could eat more that ½ of what we ordered. This was strange because I do not think any of us really ate any lunch. However we all drank a number of glass of water or Coke Light. I realized that I did not drink anything from 8:30 in the morning until 5:30 in the evening. No wonder I was thirsty.

We bid the Barts goodbye and quickly traveled home. I unloaded the car – I was not going to but we needed a couple of things that were at the bottom of the piles so it seemed like the easiest thing to do – and then basically collapsed until bed time.

What a wonderful day we had and what joy comes from working with the youth of Richards Bay district.

24 July 2009 – Friday

Happy Birthday to Mary…

About 5:00 I was awaken by a noise that I at first thought  was a clock ticking but it turned out to be water dripping off the roof and hitting a piece of plastic. It was so annoying that I had to get up and move the plastic. It is very cold this morning and the heater barely makes a dent. If we were going to live here any amount of time, I would put A/C – heaters in at least three of the rooms. I told Mary that when  summer comes I may remember this cool weather with fondness.

We spent the morning finishing up details for the costumes and props for Esikhawini’s roadshow. Among the things that got done: the swords got their aluminum foil blades, fishing poles got line and hooks, and the Title of Liberty got ironed.

I worked on some extraction of the 1920 Texas census. It was one of those maddening sheets that when the writer took his time, the records are very clear. But if he hurried or did not leave himself enough room, the names are pretty much unreadable. That is not good when it is a given name but when it is a family name it means that they may never be accessed.

I read an interesting article in Mormon Times this morning about Alex Boye. He is a former black rock star who is a member of the Church and was while be was part of a rock group. He quit because he did not like the atmosphere. He now sings in the Tabernacle Choir. Reading the comments was almost as interesting as the article. I am surprised how many people who do not have a good opinion of the Church post comments on almost any article about an LDS celebrity or situation. I would think they had better things to do with their time.

Without comment from our local paper: – Patna India: Farmers in and eastern Indian state have asked their unmarried daughters to plough parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials say.

“This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue…until it rains very heavily” said an official from Banke Bazaar.”

I gave Mary her choice of having lunch or dinner out on her birthday and she chose lunch. So we went to the mall and ate at ‘Elephant and I.’ While we were eating the Barts came by and wished Mary a happy birthday. I would guess either one or both couples are in the mall sometime around lunch almost every day.  While we were there Mary bought some needed office supplies.

Of course the wind and the rain continued right up until we were on our way to Esikhawini. However by the time we got there it was only drizzling so most of the young people came. What made the rehearsal difficult was that a few of the main characters did not come or did not come on time. But to make up for that, some who have not been for weeks or had never been to a rehearsal came. Unfortunately we had one very bad piece of news – Sphelele who is a new convert and was also one of the main characters came very late and explained that due to school, she could not be in the play on Saturday. All of us were very disappointed.

The dress rehearsal was – to say the least – a minor disaster. Mary reminded me that it is said that a terrible dress rehearsal means a great performance. Well is that is true Esikhawini is going to have a wonderful roadshow tomorrow. But – as I have to keep reminding myself – that perfection is not the goal here. The goal is for the youth to work together and enjoy themselves.

Once we had cleaned up the chapel, put the chairs back, and loaded up all the props it was again turning dark. But the traffic was light – which was completely different from when we were going to Esikhawini a few hours earlier –and so we made good time coming home.

The evening was spent getting a few props made – we needed 4 more swords and some more robes – and making sure all the bases were covered. It will be a great relief to get this over with.

During the day Mary got lots of Happy Birthday notices on Facebook, through e-mail, and even by talking to Cindy on the phone. More people may have tried to call but for some reason the phone went right to voice mail. I could not figure out why this happened so I am going to have to call Vonage and ask them what to do.

As President Mann has often said – Another day in Paradise.

The producer, director, costume designer, and Liahona maker all in one with Lemuel. The other pictures caught most of the cast in their beautiful costumes. They should be great on Saturday.

we found this ball of curious workmanship – or in this case workwomanship…

We really needed it because later in the day a terrible storm came up and this strange compass showed us the way home.

23 July 2009 – Thursday

22 July 2009 – Wednesday

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.

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…I just realized I never talked to them about the gospel. I forgot the first lesson of missionary work – ask everyone!

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.

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 – 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’s brakes – luckily it did not look like anyone was seriously hurt.

I found it interesting that as I was doing personal study by reading in the Liahona I read Elder Allan Packer’s 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 ‘speaks’ to us, we will know what to do. I obviously did have that closeness this morning.

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 “I urge you to study the messages and to ponder their teachings and then to apply them in your life.” Words of wisdom of a living Prophet given to all the church and especially me!

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 – then at least it will have its 15 minutes of fame.

The Richards Bay elders called and then came by. It seems that elder Babeeyo left his scriptures and PMG at the chapel after  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.

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…which 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.

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 – which we did.

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.

After the meeting Mary had a short piano lesson with Yaya Mathe. She seems to be starting from scratch – as most of them are. It will be interesting to see how things turn out with the five or six ‘students’ 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 “Who are the Mormons?” and invited him to church.

We of course had to drive home in the dark again – 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. 

I completely forgot about an experience we had on Tuesday as we drove from the Richards Bay chapel to the mall. We came around a bend and there was this huge tree limb covering over 1/2 the street. According to the man whose car is under the tree, he and his family had just gotten out of the car and into the house when he heard a loud crash and came out to find his car buried. He was upset but also thankful that no one was hurt. Because the curbs are low and slanted we were able to drive around the tree and continue to the mall.

Also yesterday we saw this woman with the load on her head and managed to get a shot. I did not notice her striped socks until I was editing the picture. We miss a half dozen good shots of loads being carried each day. But if Mary is carrying the camera at ready, we do not see anything worth shooting.

21 July 2009 –Tuesday

Unfortunately the up coming road shows are starting to press upon Mary. She woke way too early and could not go back to sleep because she started thinking about everything that still needs to be done.  It will be good when the activity is over and we are back to more normal days.

Our morning meeting with the garage door folks came off right on time and we once again have an operating garage door opener. However they will be back tomorrow morning to make one more adjustment to make sure the problem does not occur again.

I have spent most of the morning working on the blog, answering e-mail and checking up on Facebook. It is good to see that Cindy is busy with looking into genealogy and scanning in pictures. She writes to Mary with questions. Last night we happen to be online when she was and she had a nice chat with Mary. Between blogs, social networks, and chats, we are able to pretty well keep up with what is going on at home.

Last night I finished President Uchtdorf’s talk on discipleship. One quote that struck me was, ”Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the blessings of faith by standing on the sidelines…” How true this is and I would add that we need to be doing what the Lord wants us to do not what we want to do. Of course in the best of worlds they would be the same thing. As Christ said “Not my will but thine, be done.” That would be a good sign to hang in our houses.

I was reading some of the newspapers on line this morning and got to reading an article on home funerals and burials. It was interesting that there are midwives who help families handle home funerals. I wonder if there are any that help with births and also help with burials…portal to portal service so to speak. I loved this practical thought and wondered about the bookcase idea – we always are looking for new places to put books and records in our house.

“Mr. Lakin, a woodworker, makes coffins specifically for home funerals. Ranging in price from $480 to $1,200, they double as bookcases, entertainment centers and coffee tables until they need to be used.”

Our day got busy at about 10:15 when we left for Zone Development Meeting. Elders Mbithi and Richey did a good job getting everyone involved. I especially felt the spirit as each companionship talked about how they found a family headed by a father to teach. Last ZDM they had set a goal to find at least one each week per companionship. Elder B said that if they wanted to achieve this goal that they should keep it in front of them at all times so that it would be in their minds and prayers. A couple of the elders mentioned that they did this and that it helped them to center their thoughts and their actions.

The Enselini elders remembered to bring the keyboard from their boarding. It did not have a converter and plug but later I tried the one we bought the other day for the new keyboard and it worked fine. Now all I need to do is get another converter and Mary will have two keyboards and the branch keyboard to use in her piano class.

After ZDM we headed off to Spars where we bought food orders for two families out in Port Durnford. By the time we were finished with that we had just enough time to grab a quick lunch at McDonalds. Then it was off to Port Durnford to deliver the orders and to gather the youth so they could practice for the road show. I drove out and picked up Gabi and as we were walking from the car to the chapel she said “we need to get serious.” At that moment I got the feeling that I needed to talk to the youth about this. So I asked Mary – who was starting to do a run through – to let me say something. I told them what Gabi  had said and that it was true. That it was their road show and they had to decide if they would become serious about practicing or if they should just forget it. I told them that Mary could not sleep because she was worrying about the show and that was not right. I said that we would leave for 5 minutes and they should spend that time talking about what they wanted to do and if they would commit to getting serious.

By the time we got back they were practicing the singing and they said they wanted to do it. Mary then ran through everything two or three times and we will come back Thursday and do a costumed run through. I encouraged them to study their lines and the words to the songs because we only had the one more practice and then they would have to put it on.

I am thankful that I was listening to the spirit when Gabi made her comments and that the youth rose up to the challenge. They are very talented young men and women, they just need a couple of leaders among them who are willing to take charge in a way that the others will follow.

We need to somehow get across to them that they can overcome their poverty by getting a good education.  A number of them did not go back to school because they did not have something they felt they needed – one needs shoes and one needed a 80 cent haircut.

Rather late in the evening I started to shut down the computer but decided to check to see if anyone in the US was on Facebook that I could chat with. I ended up having a brief chat with Glenn Roberts who we served with in Indonesia and then saw that Gentry was on line and started chatting with her about what she has been doing, etc. After a while I decided it would be easier to just call her on the Vonage phone and did. So I got to talk to Gentry and McKay for a while. It was quite fun and it was a good way to wrap up the night or about wrap up the night. I did read more of the conference talks from the Liahona before finally turning off the light on a good day on our mission.