Vivie & David

During the month of April we tried to meet and visit with some of the Newcastle Branch members, including the ones that our new Branch President wanted us to visit. It seems like most of the people we would try to see were not at home, but then we learned as we endured, then blessings came and we found them at home.

We enjoyed getting to watch General Conference at the Madadeni bldg. We got to see both of the Saturday sessions and the Sunday morning session. How awesome it was to get to be part of the Solemn Assembly and in sustaining our new prophet, Thomas S. Monson.

After Elder Dibb prayed for us to be able to help people, we had a couple of full days of activity where one event after another just seemed to unfold. They were full of tender mercies of timing and being at the right place at the right time to be available to help others. For example we were bringing one sister that found us while we were visiting at the Madadeni hospital and needed a ride to Newcastle just as we were getting ready to come here. We were about less than 5 minutes away from the taxi rank when we got a "SOS" call from another member needing some immediate help and we were like almost around the corner of where he was. It is just so wonderful to feel as though you were an answer to someone's prayer and I am happy we could be there for them.

For the Newcastle Branch, we traveled to Vryheid and Volkrust, cities that are in the outlying areas of the branch. We got to go and visit with some of these members that do not get to come to church because of the distance. However our branch's new second counselor is from Danhauser which is also quite a distance away. This family has a large family and they have to choose which family members get to go by taxi to church

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Elder Dibb trained Bro. Sabisus from our new computer DVD training that we as Missionary Couples created. It is basically a revised handbook with more detailed instruction for the needs of the Saints in South Africa that mostly serve in Branches. I trained a new YW President, a RS President and then an Enrichment Counselor from those DVD's and Elder Dibb trained a new branch YM president.

We have been assigned to "clean up" the Newcastle Bldg. I found a Primary President's handbook that was like the one I used when I was a Primary President in Tucker, Georgia [which was quite a few years ago]. I also found some Blazer A & B Primary packets and more rather old materials. It was kind of fun, but they were part of the two loads of stuff that got taken to the dumpster.

I was asked to come back to Madadeni One and do a Visiting Teacher Workshop for them. So from some of our training materials, I used the foundation of basic VTing information and made it into a booklet for them. But most of the effort went into getting photos of some of our sisters posing as Visiting Teachers from both of the Madadeni branches and the Newcastle Branch. I was able to get all of the needed photos into this booklet form. At the end of the workshop I gave the booklet to them and oh they were so excited and happy! It was worth all of the effort. Oh yes, some of these photos were also included in our training DVD's and it was fun while doing the training and they would exclaim "Oh I know her".

Our Xoloni from Branch One, that we have been 'parenting' in preparing for him to get his mission papers submitted, received his mission call. He was called to the South Africa Cape Town Mission. He will miss having our friends, Bob & Kathy Egan, as his mission president by only 3 days. Oh well. He'll get to start new with the new mission president.

Other newsworthy notes could include getting a call asking us up to pick up our little 17 year old mother from the maternity ward at the hospital and taking her home. The call came in about 10 am and she had delivered the baby about 8 pm the night before. After having giving someone else a ride like this once before, I am beginning to believe that the government must pay for just so many hours in the hospital. What a way to begin life alone as a new mother.

Another weekend we had Roberta Wilson from Tacoma, WA stay overnight with us. She is a convert of almost a year and decided to sign up for the Peace Core and was assigned to be here for two years. She lives in what we call a Granny Flat [a one room accommodation behind someone else's home which is about the size of a one car garage]. She was so happy to be invited to come here and to be able to take a hot shower and go to church with us. She is a much braver woman than I am.

Other events are some of the same but with a new twist. For David’s sinus infection, he decided to go to the doctor; who gave him a good shot in the behind and he came home with several prescriptions. One week I made and served Cinnamon rolls for the missionaries at our District meeting. For Seminary, the students still wanted to attend during their school "holidays". We were studying Exodus so we spent 2-3 class periods watching the beloved movie of "The Ten Commandments".

Sometimes you wonder if you are helping/serving/doing enough. I had one interesting experience in where a Young Single Adult girl was waiting to talk with her Branch President to get a Patriarchical Blessing recommend. I just happened to pop my head into the Branch President's office afterwards and he just happened to ask me a question about a temple recommend.

Apparently after the Patriarchical Blessing interview, she mentioned she would like to go to the temple to do some temple baptisms. He was planning on giving her a temple recommend.

The more I thought about this, the more I realized what could have happened if I had not been there or if the branch president had issued her a regular temple recommend. She could have gone to the temple. The temple worker at the recommend desk would have had her come in and a very good possibility would have been that she would have gone on a regular temple session as an unedowed patron. Think about that. Well it just goes to show you the mercy of the Lord and how he is watching over all of His loved ones.

A couple of other interesting notes:

I gave someone an Article of Faith card, and she is asked "How much does it cost?"

Another one is that Ray Holder, our area physical faciliites director who is an very hard worker, was telling us how how he went to his new area where he had to do a lot of digging and a lot of work as some of the natives were watching him. When he got finished they said to him: "I've never seen a white person work so hard."