Elder Hind was asked to bless another baby on Sunday. This was his fourth baby blessing. He loves it when he is asked to do this.

This little one is about one  year old and believe me she was not happy about being blessed.
The braids are extensions, they make her look a lot older.

We watched a Young Single Adult Devotional after church today. It was broadcast through the satellite dish at Madadeni chapel. The church is real anxious for the satellite system to be up and running for conference so this was a test run. They have had satellite in the Madadeni chapel for a number of years but things break down and then it takes a while to get it running again because we are so far out in the boondocks. So this year we won’t have to wait three weeks to watch conference.

Monday was cottage meeting and FHE as usual. We played bingo for FHE. Many of the people did not know how to play bingo but they enjoyed it once they got the hang of it. We gave away packages of cookies for prizes.

Tuesday, we had to drive our elder with the injured elbow down to Ladysmith see an orthopedic specialist. The hospital wanted him to follow up with a specialist because they found a tiny fracture in one of the bones in the elbow. I couldn’t find a doctor in Newcastle that could see him right away so we decided to go to Ladysmith. Our elder was worried that he might have to have surgery but the doctor told him wear his sling for the next four weeks and gave him some exercises.

The Ladysmith hospital is on a hill
The view from the hospital.

While we were there we visited a sister from Newcastle who was hospitalized in Ladysmith. Elder Hind and Elder Agyeman gave her a blessing. She was happy to have visitors.

We had ZTM on Wednesday. We made lunch for the elders. They want to do ZTMs more often so we are thinking we may not do lunch every time. Just snacks some days and lunch every other time.

Every day brings the blooming of new kinds of bushes and flowers in our yard.
This is a pink flowering bush with a white flowering bush right behind it.

A beautiful but unusual flower in our yard

President and Sister Zackrison came into town on Friday and took us to dinner at Ocean Basket. We had a nice visit and a good discussion. They are in town to train the new district presidency on Saturday and to conduct a Zone Conference with the elders on Monday. And President will be doing all kinds of interviews between times.

On Saturday I had a Personal Progress activity planned. However, I only had two girls and one leader show up and one of the girls was really late. I decided a long time ago that I would do what I am supposed to do and do the best job I can. If people choose not to take advantage of what I am doing then that is their choice. I refuse to be discouraged by it. I have had good attendance in the past so I am not going to worry about it.

Learning to make cinnamon rolls.

We pass this tree on the way to Madadeni. We call it our elephant tree. There is just
a few seconds as we go around a curve that the tree looks like an elephant