Our South African Journal

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

After a very hectic week we were looking forward to a relaxing Sunday. It is good to go to church, take the sacrament, hug and shake hands with our friends and fellow branch members. We love our branch.




The pleated skirt and beaded collar are traditional Zulu.
The t-shirt is not.

After church we just went home had a bite to eat and took a nap.  I love Sunday afternoon naps. Later some of the elders said they came by and rang the doorbell but we didn’t hear it so they just came in and grabbed some Book of Mormons because they were out of them. Next time we will lock the doors.

We had a good crowd for FHE on Monday. We had a lesson based on Elder Kevin Pearson’s April Conference talk called “Stay by the Tree.” It is a really great talk. We then played Charades using a game app on my tablet. Everyone really loved that.











We were excited to have 11 YSAs show up to our Eternal Marriage class on Wednesday evening. We are really having fun with this class. What great young people! We are so blessed to be here!! It is days like this that make us so happy to be missionaries. This has been such a great experience.

We planted a garden this week. We put in a bunch of tomato plants. Even though we have several nice garden spots in the yard they don’t seem to get enough sun. So we had to put them in a rather small area. We also planted tomatoes in some other plots in the yard. We will see how they work out.  I think we will put in some peppers in another plot sometime  next week. There is no hurry because they have a long growing season here.


Elder Hind misses his big yard. If it were up to him
he would fire our gardeners and do all the work himself.

Elder and Sister Clayton came into town on Friday evening. They will stay with us while Elder Clayton helps with the district financial training meeting on Saturday and then does some branch audits on Sunday. Elder Hind is very involved with this and finds it all very interesting. He also enjoys all the new things he is learning. Sister Hind finds it all pretty boring and is glad she does not have any responsibility in this area.

Elder and Sister Clayton love to play games and they taught us a new card game. Then they proceeded to beat us at the game. We are happy to be their victims. Elder Clayton also loves to work with wood so he and Elder Hind always have a lot to talk about.

Saturday was a busy day. Elder Hind and Elder Clayton had the financial training meeting in the Madadeni Chapel and I had a Personal Progress activity in the Relief Society room. The brethren had confiscated all the tables in the branch for their meeting so we had to work on our laps.  We worked on our crazy quilts. I am tired of them and would like to move on to something else but I also want as many girls as possible get them done.

The YW working on their quilt blocks. Sister Clayton photo bombing my picture.


The branch and district leadership learning how to handle branch and district finances
Meanwhile Elder Hind was learning how to do branch finances along with the leadership from the branches in our district. We were in Madadeni from about 9 in the morning to about 3:30 in the afternoon. Then Elder Clayton and Elder Hind had to go to the Newcastle chapel and do an audit there. Sister Clayton and Sister Hind went home and took a nap.

That evening the Claytons took us to dinner at the “Pint and Pig Out.” It is a pub hence the crazy name. But the food and service were good.

Elder and Sister Clayton are serving as Area Auditors.  They work in Joburg.
They will be going home in 2 months.

We came home after dinner and let the Claytons beat us in another card game. We are determined to get better at these games.



2 comments:

  1. I'm so happy to hear about your increase in attendance to your Eternal Marriage class! Word must have gotten out about the awesome class the Hinds were teaching. I find it interesting that Dad finds the finance stuff interesting. Maybe finances should have been his career choice.

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  2. Oh and yes...lock your doors next time you take a nap! Those are some pretty crazy missionaries you are serving with (enjoyed watching the videos)!

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