Sun, August 18th and Mon, Aug 19th church in Port Elizabeth

Sunday, we had a choice to attend the 8:00 ward or the 10:00 ward. Guess which one we chose? ha. As it is everywhere we go on this mission, the people were wonderful to us and very happy we were there. The ward seems to be made up of older Afrikaners and younger black people, similar to other wards we have attended in certain areas. The building was very nice. After some discussion, we found that it started out smaller, but had been added on to in order to create the nice large building they now have. The chapel was very red.

We met three elders. No one explained why there were three. One elder was from England, one from Durban and one from Johannesburg. They were all very nice. The one from Durban was new and they asked him to bear his testimony, which was short but nice. He was asking us questions about where we live in Durban, etc.

The first speaker I would guess was a beehive age girl. She had a very strong South African accent and pronounced words very slowly. It was almost as if English was not her first language. It is a possibility that her first language is Afrikaner, but she did a great job. She spoke of love and said that when you love others you are showing that you are a child of Heavenly Father and a disciple of Jesus Christ. She also said that home is the most important place to show love and that as you show love to family that love will grow to make home a heavenly place.

The next speaker talked about not separating ourselves from God. We need to always have a prayer in our heart. Everyone has a few problems with concepts they don't understand. Before he joined the church he was taught only from the New Testament. He explained that he had a hard time when he joined the church about the parts of the Old Testament that talked about God's anger. He wondered if that meant that God kicked the tables and chairs when angry (got a few chuckles for that comment). He had always been taught about God's love and didn't like reading about his anger. He wondered if this was the same God that helped Moses part the Red Sea and save his people from the soldiers or led Lehi's family away from the destruction of Jerusalem to preserve them and more importantly, was this the same God that sent his son, Jesus Christ to suffer for our sins that whosoever believeth in him would not perish but have everlasting life. If it was the same God, then why destroy those who were not righteous? In Genesis God says, "I will destroy men I have created for it repenteth me that I created them. Is God's anger the same as mortal beings? This vengeful God seemed inconsistent with the New Testament. He realizes now that he misunderstood when he thought God's anger was the same as ours. Lehi explains in 2 Nephi: 1:26 that his sharpness-anger is truth...the anger of the Lord is against disobedience. The guilty take criticism to heart, because they don't want to be in the wrong. God's anger involves mercy, love and justice. God chastises people to make sure they are in accordance with his truth. So, when is chastising enough and he destroys the people? The answer in the Book of Mormon says: when you shall cast out the righteous among you, then you will be ripe for destruction. In 2 Nephi 8:16, it says: Woe unto those who disregard truth. In 1Nephi 17:35 it says that the Lord said that fruit when it is too ripe to be used it is plucked out and thrown away. It is too rotten to be saved. And that is what happens to the people who are wicked. When there are no righteous among them and they are all too ripe to be saved, they are destroyed. God gives us prophets and the gift of repentance for our sins to keep this from happening, but when we chase out or kill the prophets and don't listen, we are ripe for destruction. In Sodom and Gomorrah where they were very wicked, it says they had pridefulness, idleness, did not help poor, were haughty and committed abominations. This is when they are destroyed and God starts over trying to reach the people through prophets. God is our father. He loves us and wants us to return to Him. He actually needs us to help him in this quest for righteousness to prevail. Satan has been on earth for centuries...His armies are growing. We need Thomas S. Monson to give us direction on how to protect ourselves from his armies and we need to listen and do what he says.

In Sunday School, our teacher, an older woman (pictured at the front) talked about how hard it was to have to leave Navoo because of the mobs and how it was winter and they had to wait for the river to freeze before they crossed it. She talked about how in 1847, Joseph Smith received a revelation on how the families were supposed to manage their lives...how the members were supposed to live. They did not do what they were supposed to do, so blessings from the Lord were withheld. She then talked about how she heard a lecture from a professor in ancient church history - He held up a candle so that everyone could see the light and asked, "What example do we send to the world He held the candle high and asked, "Is it a good example?" Then he blew out the candle and said, "Is it a bad example." Then he re-lit the candle but held it where no one could see it and asked, "Or, is it a non-example?" A non example means we live a good life, but no one can see it. We keep to ourselves and do not let others see what we can do. When you do not influence lives around you, you are a non-example. When the men of the church during this very difficult time were asked to go to England to preach the Gospel, regardless of leaving their families, regardless that many of them and their families were ill, they went to harvest these people. Wilford Woodruff was having success when he got there and baptized four people right after he arrived. For the next year, they baptized almost 600. Then he was told that they needed him to go to the South and preach the Gospel there. He did not want to leave, because he was having such success where he was, but he went where he was told to go and baptized 1800 souls in eight months. Total successes in England were amazing. They baptized approximately 8000, printed 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon and brought 1000 of the new members to America. This was at a time when they desperately needed these new member's strength to further the work of the Lord. What stewardship does the Lord require of us? Our heritage has helped us so much. As for your callings, how faithful and how committed are you, knowing how much these early saints sacrificed to get the church established? Why work so hard to finish a temple they would have to leave? The assurances contained in the temple of eternal families helped them not falter when they lost family members along the way, knowing that they would be together again.

In Relief Society, we had the same woman for the teacher. Another lady conducted and I think they were both part of the RS Presidency. Our lesson was "Faithful, Energetic Service in the Kingdom of God."  My thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. Lorenzo Snow was dedicated, faithful, industrious and obedient. What does it mean to be an Ambassador of Jesus Christ?> Calling is to assist and raise the spirituality of all those in Africa. Because we have received the fullness of the Gospel, we serve as ambassadors of Christ. God will hold us accountable for the disposition we make of the sacred trust which he has committed to us. D&C 107:99 "Let every man learn his duty and act in the office serving in all diligence."

You exert a certain degree of influence and be it ever so small, it affects some person or persons and for results of the influence you exert, you are held more or less accountable. You, therefore, whether you acknowledge it or not, have assumed an importance before God and man that cannot be released if you wish to sustain the name you bear. Think of a three-legged stool, where one leg is 'faith' another is 'energy' and the third is 'cheerfulness.' Take on leg away and the stool falls. We have so much, we should be the happiest people on earth. Why are we not? When we do all three things, God strengthens us and helps us succeed. In the pre-existence, we covenanted to serve with all three. It is not always easy, but the Gospel was never easy. We need to act in our own callings, not magnify someone else's calling. A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things will not have the strength to stand. Only when we reach our full potential are we ready for exaltation. We should renew our covenants before God and holy angels that we will, with God being our helper, serve him more faithfully during the ensuing year that we did in the past, that our public and private lives will be in harmony with those actions.

Per Elder Kyle: In priesthood meeting everyone is together. There are only two Aaronic Priesthood holders. The meeting is a beautiful example of priesthood brotherhood and rescue of the less active. First an accounting is given by the brethren who the previous week were requested to contact specific brothers who had not attended the week before. I think there were six. The situation of these brothers' needs were discussed and an expression of love and concern expressed. Then the brothers not present today were noted and volunteers requested to make contact and report the following Sunday in priesthood meeting. Two volunteers for each missing brother were accepted and comments about the cause of their absence were made. There were four brothers this week and they were mentioned in the closing prayer. The feeling of brotherhood and concern for the absent Elders was so genuine and commitment strong to bring all members of the quorum to full activity. I felt privileged to witness this outpouring of love among quorum members.

We went back to our cottage and read some more scriptures, but then decided to pull out the chess set that was in a cupboard there and play some chess. I had never played before and Elder Kyle had played some but not for 40 years, so it was a learning experience for both of us. We were pretty even, but Elder Kyle won. It is a tough game. We'll have to practice a lot more.

Monday, we went to breakfast again at the great little restaurant and we both got the yummy French Toast with the blueberry and raspberry topping. Since we were unable to set up any more meetings, we mostly took care of paperwork and got the Internet to work somewhat, so caught up a little bit on work. We packed up our suitcases again, so we could be ready to move out in the morning. We went and filled up the car with gas and purchased a couple of items at the grocery store. It wasn't a real productive day, but we did get some phone calls made and a little work done. We are ready for the next leg of our adventure.