We normally get up at 5:30
a.m. and walk but for some reason, the 5:15 on Sunday morning is not welcome.
Our goal is to leave at 6:00 but lately we've been a little later. Maybe
it's because Saturday has been moving day and we'd like a little longer rest. We grab our books - my wonderful spiral hymn book that Sister Leavitt
gave me from the supply closet, our scriptures, and my beginning keyboard kit
and last but not least the "pudding" I promised Bro Sipho. He
said he loved pudding, all kinds of pudding. How was I going to
transport pudding? Fortunately I found out during the week that pudding
is their word for any dessert. So I took a loaf of banana bread - it
would travel easy and sit in the car for about 9 hours easy also. We get
through the 10 traffic lights in Potchefstroom just in time to go through the
12 in Klerksdorp. We turn off to Jouberton and go over about 15 speed
"hills" not bumps, wind around the little cement houses, dirt yards
with ugly dogs barking, arrive at the first garbage heap, turn at the next
garbage heap, dodge people walking - no one worries about crossing the street
in front of a car - no one looks to see if cars are coming - they just cross,
we turn down a dirt road and arrive at the beautiful chapel surrounded by brick
wall and iron fence.
It's now ten minutes to nine, I make a beeline to
the bathroom then go turn off the loud recorded hymns the organ plays and start
playing a soft prelude. The counselor gives me the songs for the meeting
- I check them - should be okay (I'm trying not to revert to the simple hymns
but force myself to stick with the hymn book because I can - just have to
concentrate and not get nervous). We start at about 9:10. There
are never any announcements. There are never any callings or releases. The Branch President blesses the bread and the water (there are priests
in the audience-- we don't understand) but Sacrament is reverent and goes well. Elder Bishop and Sister Bishop are the speakers today. I go first. I chose to talk on Putting on the Armor of God. I thought it went
pretty well but I don't know if half of the congregation understood a word I
said (they speak Tswana). Elder Bishop talks about the church being the
"body" and needing the whole body not just an eye or a foot (I forget
the reference but it's in by Paul). It's excellent. We end on
time - I play a postlude - a little cutie pie girl comes up so I can hug her and
let her play a few notes on the piano. We shake hands - good morning -
go to Gospel Principles class where Elder Litchenberg gives a very dynamic,
animated lesson. He is great - great entertainer - knows the gospel - we
learn much.
Relief Society - Sister Angie says "we're so glad to
have Sister ? here today, we thought she died. We felt so bad
because we didn't know she was sick, I didn't go and visit her and now she's
here alive." I'm dying - trying not to laugh but honestly. Sister Angie is the Relief Society President and she has only one counselor,
Sister Susan. They have trouble getting anyone to come and clean the
church, but Sister Bishop brought a car full of supplies so there's no excuse
but where is the list? Whose turn is it - no one knows. She
hasn't finished the visiting teaching assignments yet - she started the first
of January but she can't get it finished. Angie is great but
organization is not one of her strong points. However, she or Susan
didn't give the lesson which they did all of January, but Sister? reads the
lesson. However, there is some discussion in between the reading. I'm okay with them reading because they aren't confident enough to be
discussion leaders or present a lesson - they stick with the manual and that's
good. And she reads in English.
Then I go back into the chapel and teach piano to two sisters and a young man. The young man is quick and the one sister
does fine but the other doesn't understand a word I'm saying and doesn't have a
clue. We go for about an hour.
Then we sit outside on the porch
of the chapel in the shade for an hour until the elders come back to show us
where Bro Sipho lives. We arrive about 3 p.m. and their house is hot,
hot, hot. It's simple but furnished nice and we visit with him, his
wife, teenage son, older son and his son. I asked his teenage son if he
was planning a mission and he said he needed to be in a better environment with
better friends to prepare. Hmmm, think he just needs to prepare himself
and the MTC and mission will provide the better environment. We have a
wonderful visit with the family and then they serve us oxtail, rice, beets,
sweet potatoes and some other vegetable. It was really good - they eat
the meat right down to the bone but I had to dig around the fat to get the
meat but I ate it all. Then Bro Sipho says, where's my pudding - his
wife served us a bowl with custard, jello, and a slice of banana bread in it.
I said, I guess you're sharing it:) It was very good. We
then had a gospel doctrine discussion. He's just become active the last
few years. He's great and the young man was very interested in our
discussion and stayed to listen. We had a really good time - the boys
did the dishes:) But we had to be on the road at 5 p.m. to get home to our Zone
testimony meeting at 7. Fortunately, my dessert was made and sitting on
the table. We could have stayed longer - I took pictures of the family
and felt encouraged that maybe we could do some good. It's been
discouraging but we need to get into more homes and have visits like this. It's hard because finding people's places is nearly impossible -
addresses are meaningless. The Lord will show the way. I was
encouraged and not ready to tell President we can't make the four hour drive
anymore.
