February 14-20, 2016

Valentine gift from Elder Hind to Sister Hind

President and Sister Zackrison came to church at Madadeni today. President spoke in Sacrament meeting. The members love to hear from him. Sister Zackrison went into the Young Women’s class. She enjoyed our lively group. After church we went with Brother Mlambo to visit his grandmother. Sunday was her 90^th birthday. She loves cake. I baked her a cake a few months ago and I promised to bake her another one for her birthday. She said she liked my cake.

Celebrating her 90th birthday with a piece of cake

On Monday we had Zone Conference. We watched the church World Wide Missionary Broadcast and then we were taught by President Zackrison and the APs. We loved listening to the leaders of the church teach us how to be better missionaries. It was very inspiring!

We bought pizza and green salad for lunch. Then they had fruit and cake for an afternoon break. 

Newcastle Zone  February 2016

After the conference the President asked about the cottage meeting in Madadeni. We told him we would show him the way if he wanted to go. He followed us out to the meeting. We were a little late because of Zone Conference so the lesson was in progress when we got there. At first the members didn’t pay much attention to the late arrivals. Then someone noticed the Zackrisons and there was a scramble to make room for them and we could tell that people were excited to see them there. Brother Danisa gave a good lesson on being prepared to meet God and then President Zackrison was asked to speak. He expanded on Brother Danisa’s lesson and then he went on to talk about the possibility of turning the cottage meeting into a branch. It could happen soon. We were happy to be there with the President and his wife and we were happy they got to see the good things going on in Madadeni Section 7.

We left the meeting right away so we could get back to Newcastle for our Family Home Evening. We knew it was going to be kind of crazy because the 6 missionaires from the Southern part of the District are spending the night so they can have a Zone Activity on Tuesday. We had decided to just play some games. We played Family Feud. As we were about to start President and Sister Zackrison came in the door. We guess he wanted to see what was going on at our house every Monday night. Anyway they got into the spirit of things. Who knew that President Z was so competitive? It was a fun evening. We ended the gathering by eating ice cream.

Saying good-bye to Elder Sixaba - he is going home

Family Feud - Elder Fransen and President Zackrison

We went visiting with President Nkosi this week. We visited an elderly woman that hasn’t been able to come to church for a long time. This is the third time we have come to see her. The first time we sat in the living room with her but that last two times we have visited her she just stayed in bed. She is being cared for by her daughters and granddaughters.

We also visited Bro Makhumbo. He is a very interesting man. He was converted to the church back in the ‘60s before the church was actively proselyting to the black people. He had a white friend at work that gave him a Book of Mormon and taught him about the gospel. Because apartheid was the law of the land at that time he could not go into an LDS meeting house. So he stood outside the doors each Sunday and listened to the talks and music from there. He was not the only black person that was doing this so the church built a chapel for black members. He was eventually baptized and went through the temple.  

His temple garments had all worn out and he had asked us if we could get him some. The members here usually get their garments when they or someone they know goes to the temple. There is a distribution store on the temple grounds. Anyway we arranged to have some sent to us from the mission office and we took them out to him. He was so happy! Small things can bring such joy. He also wants us to find the friend that converted him. We are going to see what we can do.

Elder Hind, Petros Makhubo, and President Nkosi

Elder and Sister Needs from the Area Office spent Friday night with us. They were kind enough to take us out to dinner at the Pint and Pig Out (a nice pub near us). I usually don’t order pasta when I go out to dinner but we haven’t eaten much pasta since coming here so a steak and pasta dish sounded really good to me. It was delicious! It was even a little spicy which I don’t normally like but I really enjoyed this dish. I am going to have to go back there and have it again sometime.

Elder Hind was in meetings with Elder and Sister Needs most of the Day on Friday and Saturday. He also traveled to Ladysmith with some of the District leaders for meetings down there. I went to the Saturday morning meeting but stayed home for the afternoon meetings so he could transport the district leaders to the Ladysmith meetings. The Needs traveled to Durban on Saturday evening. We enjoyed having them here but may not be seeing them again as they have had their mission call changed. They have been asked to be the office couple in a new Democratic Republic of Congo mission that is opening in June. This will be an adventure for them. It is a big change from their current mission.

Unusual flower

Madadeni

Madadeni