Sunday, Oct 13 - Wednesday, Oct 23rd visit Hillcrest Chatsworth Pinetown on Sunday

This Sunday, we planned to go to Hillcrest Ward to hear our PA Director's talk (Sipho). Their meeting started at 8:00 AM, then we were going to leave early and go to Chatsworth Ward to see their primary program, then we were going to Pinetown Ward to get another wheelchair. Those were our plans and even though Chatsworth and Hillcrest are on different sides of town, I was sure we could make all three. What we did not count on was the bicycle race that shut down the freeway that we use the most to get anywhere.

Luckily getting there was not too bad, as the part of the freeway that was shut down was the lane going toward town and we were driving away from town. We weren't sure how we were going to get back, but hoped the race would be over on that stretch of the highway before then. We got to Hillcrest Ward okay and listened to Sipho's talk. He was the high council speaker and was supposed to speak to Hillcrest Ward and Kloof Ward that meets after Hillcrest in the same building. He did a great job with his talk and even said some nice things about us, but he was the last speaker, so his talk ended after the hour. We still thought we could make it, so we hopped in the car and took off. Sure enough, the road was still blocked, but we knew there was an alternate highway if we could just get to it. We tried, but could not find a way to get to the highway without going down the blocked off freeway.

Finally after messing around for 35 minutes we scrapped the idea of going to Chatsworth and found a back way to the Pinetown Chapel. We arrived there just as sacrament was about over (Their service starts at 9:00. We went into the Chapel for Sunday School and relaxed a bit.

In Relief Society, the teacher was member of the RS Presidency. She is a tall, thin and beautiful black young single adult. Her lesson was about how we should open our mouths and tell others about the Gospel. She told a personal story about how one of her professors at college was someone she really liked and respected. She had been having promptings that she should give him a book of Mormon, but she would put it off and it never seemed to be the right time. She was worried about what he would think if she shared her beliefs with him...would it cause an uncomfortable feeling between them...would he avoid her? She went as far as writing her testimony in the Book of Mormon and carrying it around in her backpack, but couldn't find the right time to give it to him. One day, she was running late to get to class. When she walked in he gave her a look and told her to come and see him after classes were over for the day. During her other classes, she was worried about meeting with him. When her day at college was finally done, she walked back to meet with the professor. Before she entered his office, she had the thought that he would be alone and this would be the perfect time to give him THE BOOK! Then she immediately scoffed at the idea...after all, she was going in to see him so he could chastise her for being late, not really the perfect timing she was looking for. She walked in and closed the door. He told her to sit and she did. He then said, "What do you have for me?" Knowing that he wanted an explanation as to why she was late, she pulled out the Book of Mormon and laid it on his desk and said, "This." When he asked her, "What is it?" She told him that it was a history of people who lived during the time before and after Christ was born and that it was her most precious book. She invited him to read it. She then waited for him to speak. He picked up the book and looked at her testimony inside. He looked at her and said, "Thanks for this precious gift. We will read it as a family every day." Needless to say, she was very surprised at his reaction, but oh so pleased. She talked about how important it is for us to make the first move and to think of it as a gift that they may reject, but also may accept and urged us to pray for opportunities to share.

After church we got more wheelchairs and put them in the car. We then began our journey to find our way back home. We ran into the same problems. The road home was blocked. I discovered a detour feature in the GPS, so we tried that. It took us on a crazy route that led right back to the freeway that was blocked. We tried again and it took us on a different route, but led right back to the freeway that was blocked. We tried this until we had passed the same service station four times, but finally went into the station and asked a policeman if there was another way back to Westville. He gave us unintelligible directions and we took off. I looked at Elder Kyle and said, "Did you understand what he was saying?" and he said he didn't. By now we are both frustrated and mad at each other. He's thinking that I am a terrible navigator and I'm thinking that he is not listening to my suggestions and has no right to be mad at me.

Finally, I said a silent prayer that I would know which direction to go to get out of this mess. Perhaps Elder Kyle did too, because we found the right road and I spotted signs and directed us the rest of the way home. Normally it would have taken 20-30 minutes, but it took two hours to get home. Neither one of us wants to go through that again.

There were missionary transfers this week, so no FHE with the other couples. Considering how much I had to do for the Conference, I was glad to eliminate something. This week was all about our Senior Couples Durban Mission Conference. Sister Holt and I were busy trying to figure out what funny awards we were going to give each person at our conference. I was busy working on a PowerPoint presentation for our Swazi Couple to use for their presentation on the Lo Bamba young men. Sister Holt and I met with Sister Zackrison on Tuesday to talk about what we were going to do. We shared funny stories that we had heard about the couples. We talked about the meals and who was going to do what. I agreed to investigate the costs and variety of lunch patters from Spars. Sister Holt and I agreed to go shopping on Saturday for silly gifts that we would use for our awards. Separately, that week, we did some shopping and found some things that would work, but we were far from finished. Sister Holt called me to ask if I would help her create a program for the Bednar missionary conference. I spent an hour putting one together. I emailed all couples asking them to share something they did not expect about Africa and any spiritual, uplifting experiences they have to share. After a full week of working on this stuff when I was not working on PA stuff, we finally purchased most of the rest of the stuff at the flea market downtown. We laughed pretty hard at all the silly ideas we were having and really enjoyed shopping together.

Sunday, we attended Kwamashu Ward and they were watching taped conference talks of Sunday morning and afternoon sessions. We tried to discreetly bring in the wheelchairs, but the Branch President announced it from the pulpit and expressed his thanks for the three people getting the chairs. One lady was in a car in the parking lot and Elder Kyle had to take the chair out to the car, so she could get from the car to the building. Another lady came in on crutches and was moving very slow and was grateful for the chair. The Branch President was going to deliver the third chair to the lady who couldn't be there. We had a short break and then they showed the second session of conference. They were all good and we were happy to see our favorite session of conference a second time (Sunday Morning session). Next week will be pretty hectic, but it has been fun.

Monday night was FHE at our flat.

The new couple (McEwens) arrived and we all went out to dinner with them their first night here on Wednesday evening. This included the Sutherlands, Clusters, Holts, Starks, McEwens and us from Durban and the Wildings from Ladysmith and the Lombardis from Swaziland who are both here for the Couples Conference.