Saturday, June 8th Groundbreaking Ezakheni Branch

We got up Saturday morning about 6:30 am for our breakfast with the Wildings, but they called at 7:45 to tell us they had to rush out to help an Elder with a problem, so they agreed to meet us at 9:15, so we could follow them to the site. When we got there, Elders, leaders and members were trying to help carry chairs from the old meeting place to the site where the new building would be. There was no truck to carry the chairs, so they put one of the long church tables in the trunk with half of it hanging out and started stacking chairs on the part hanging out. They had to make several trips, but it was certainly resourceful.
Their current building used to be a butcher shop and slaughterhouse that sold meat to the neighborhood. There was one large room where they held sacrament meeting at one end and did baptisms in a fiberglass pool at the other end of the room, by the garage door where they used to bring in the sides of meat. Creepy! There were only two small rooms, one for the primary and one for whoever got there first. The primary room was so small, that I commented they must have a small primary. I was told that they had at least 20 children meeting in that small room. Wow, was all I could say. I will never complain again when I think a classroom is too small. That is the amazing thing about these people...they never complain, no matter how bad their circumstances.

There was a building outside that looked like a storage shed. I was told that they bought this for the priesthood to have a place to meet. Originally it had ceiling fans and was nice by their standards, but it got broken into and not only was the fan stolen, but all the electrical parts in the walls, etc, plus any lesson books or other items that they kept in there. This happened twice and they finally gave up. They now keep the door open for light and hope for a nice breeze in the summer.



Thus is the reason for a new building that is secure, with a locked gate around it (normal for Africa). They had a photo of the new building posted just inside the door to their current building. Every time I looked at it, a member would stop and say, "Isn't it beautiful? That is our new building." I had to write a story about the ground breaking for the newsroom, so I just copied it below, so you can see what happened, plus I will add a couple of other comments at the end.








On Saturday, June 9^th, members and leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Ezakheni, South Africa township picked up a shovel and turned over the soil to officially announce the lot where their new chapel will be built. The District President and Elder Miller were the first to pick up the shovels and turn over the dirt to signify the beginning of constructing a new chapel for the saints of Ezakheni.

Plans for New Building

Plans for the new chapel were on display and construction was due to start immediately after the ceremony. Of course, as usually happens in African events, they were not ready to start at 11:00. They were waiting for the tent (awning) to be erected, the sound hooked up and the people to come that were speaking. The wind was blowing so hard that I was sure the entire awning was going to blow the awning away carrying the two skinny guys that were trying  so hard to put it up. When everyone was there and ready to start, the sound guys finally showed up and began wiring for sound. The Branch President asked everyone to be patient. We were patient, but they never got the sound to work, so we started about an hour late and did the ceremony without a microphone, even with the wind howling in our ears. Non of the members seemed to mind.


Voices singing “The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning,” while the gusty winds threatened to collapse the make-shift tent, seemed to parallel  the years of meeting in an old butcher shop/slaughter house for their worship meetings.

(Leaders in attendance, Left to Right) Elder Craig Miller -  Elder Scott Wilding -  Ezakheni Branch President, Titus Egwuatu - Former Ezakheni Branch President, Amos Moloi – New Castle District 1^st Counselor to the District President, Mthenjwa S. Gamede New Castle District 2^nd Counselor to the District President, Samuel Mbhele - New Castle District President, Thamsanqa Ngubane

Elder Kyle with Amos Moloi

Also in attendance was Amos Moloi, the first Branch President of the Ezakheni Branch about ten years ago. He spoke about the history of the branch that originally met in Lady Smith. Members had to take a Kombi from Ezakheni to Lady Smith each Sunday for services. President Moloi and others helped pay for this service. The members longed for a place to meet in Ezakheni and were eventually able to rent another church’s facility on Sundays, because this church had their services on Saturday. President Moloi tells of the time the church officials of the other church told them they could no longer meet in that building. They had nowhere else to meet, so they were faced with having to go to Lady Smith again in kombis for their Sunday service. The members prayed they would be able to stay in Ezakheni and when their leaders went back to plead for the opportunity to continue to meet in their building, that they had been praying that he would change his mind. They were told that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint members must have powerful prayers (“Perhaps you can pray for our members, " he said), because when he asked the members again, they said the branch could still meet there. They met there until another building became available, a former butcher shop/slaughter house.

Leaders of the Branch were the first shovels to break ground

Although the building was not ideal, the members gave thanks for a place to call their own. As the Ezakheni  Branch continued to be faithful and grew their members, they were finally granted their own building, to be built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as a place for their members to not only meet for Sacrament service on Sundays, but for children’s activities, youth seminary, institute and activities, as well as women's group meetings and other member activities. The Ezakheni Branch President spoke about this being a long journey and that Heavenly Father takes us step by step until we reach a level where he wants us to be.

He then said that they had reached that level and were being rewarded by this new building. He congratulated the members on taking those steps and remaining strong in their faith. He is shown above turning over some dirt with Amos Moloi.

When Elder Craig Miller, Counselor to the District President, spoke, he said that as they sang the song about the “Spirit of God”, he hoped they felt the Spirit of God in their souls and would reach out to the community and serve them. Pointing out how it would not be long before the youth of the church would be on missions or become teachers to other youth, or young women leaders and branch/ward priesthood leaders, Elder Miller asked the members to think of this building as a beacon to all the people who live in Ezakheni and to continue to do things that will help the branch grow, like creating strong families (as families are the center of this Church), doing service for the community, inviting others in Ezakheni to come to the church services. He said that with blessings come responsibility and members had a responsibility to be good examples by studying the scriptures, praying often and performing service for others.

Elder & Sister Wilding with Elder and Sister Miller

Elder and Sister Wilding, along with Elder and Sister Miller, were instrumental in hurrying this new building along. Both Sister Wilding and Sister Miller expressed a deep love for the people they work with. They are serving an 18-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as unpaid volunteers who donate their time to serve the people of South Africa.

With construction due to start on the building directly after the groundbreaking ceremony, the mood was one of appreciation and excitement. Everyone wanted to have a part in breaking ground with the shovels. A couple from each group was asked to come forward and dig in the shovel. Although shy at first, eventually they all 

took part and enjoyed being a part of this amazing day.

 The beautiful young women above would not take a turn with the shovel and were embarrassed to get their picture taken...not so different from the girls in the US.

We then went to lunch with our public affairs person for New Castle. Her name is Nokuthula Zikalala. Her ride was the Millers and they had to leave, so we told her we would pay for her to take a taxi back to New Castle (about two hours away). She picked a place that served hamburgers, steaks and ribs...a very modest place. She ordered the largest thing on the menu, which was a combo ribs, chicken and steak along with spinach and some other vegetable and french fries. And, she is a small woman. She asked us first if she could order it and explained that she didn't have breakfast. She then took part of it home, so we figured that might be her only meal of the day. She was very organized and we talked a lot about the projects in her area...helping hands mostly. They have a lot of things going and she seemed on top of it all. Her only problem is a lack of transporation and a branch that has it doing all kinds of things in addition to her calling as PA director. It was good we got to talk to her, but it was weird dropping her off at the taxi by the side of the road to ride in a van with 12 people she doesn't know for two hours. The people here are used to doing it. It is their main mode of transportation, but it was hard to do.

We then went back to Peaches and Cream and relaxed a bit. I sat out on the porch and read my book until it got too cold to be out there. We went to bed early. The wind and excitement took their toll, but it was a good day.