Dear Family:
Computer hard drive crashed, got fixed, blue tooth on cell phone won't interface with blue tooth on computer, not fixed, so we're still using the internet cafe! Please bear with us until we get this figured out!
Thank you, Mike, for your email of 14 January. We hope you enjoy working with the new bishopric as much as you did with Bishop Anderson. They certainly gave you some valuable leadership training. Congratulations on reaching the 1-year milestone at work. You should feel a real sense of accomplishment. Having new responsibilities and projects should be rewarding and enjoyable.
Regarding your questions about our mission assignment, first the logistics. We live in Gonubie which is an area of East London, like the Island is an area of Logan, but it is big with several schools, strip malls, petrol stations, etc. There are two wards, soon to be three, in East London, which have a mix of black and white. The township of Mdantsane has three wards, and is a 20-minute trip out of town on the interstate, and there is one ward in King William's Town, which is maybe an hour or so out of town. The four elders there are pretty much on their own except for when we visit for boarding (apartment) and car inspections, zone conference when they come into town, and whenever we will feel that we should go out there just to check on them to let them know they are not forgotten. These 3 areas make up our stake.
Our instructions when we first met with our mission president was to visit both East London and Mdantsane wards and decide where we thought we could be the most help. But even before we did that, it seemed that we were being led to the Mdantsane 1st Ward because when we told people what our instructions were, the response was always the same--"that would be the Mdantsane 1st Ward"! Even the people in that ward said they needed the most help. It is the smallest and most economically challenged of the Mdantsane wards. We will be attending all of their block meetings on Sunday as well as the Ward Missionary Correlation Meeting. We have received official word that we will be teaching an Institute class to the young adults of the ward. We thought we would be teaching Old Testament, but we received word that we will teach "Doctrines of the Gospel". We will teach 6-8 people (hopefully) in the Bishop's home, how often and which day/time is yet to be decided. We intend to talk with the bishop tomorrow to let him know that we are available to receive a calling in the ward. We also help the elders with teaching appointments when called upon to do so. There is one set of elders that ave asked for our help in teaching a husband and wife who are having a little marital discord and they did not feel qualified to handle that part of the teaching. We have met with the family twice and they came to church last week. The 1st Ward will be moving into a new chapel in a few months which is in the ward area. This should increase activity immensely because distance from housing to the church has been a challenge. Most of the ward members do not have cars so to get to church they either walk (for some at least an hour, maybe two) or take a taxi which they don't all have the money to pay. The mission has a policy to focus proselyting efforts within a 40-minute walking distance to the church or, for those few who have cars, up to a reasonable driving time. Once the church is completed, we see where a lot of our effort will be toward finding inactives, reactivation, and fellowshipping in addition to Institute and ward callings.
The other major part of our responsibility is missionary support, including dispensing their post (mail) to the zone leaders who give it to the district leaders to give to individual elders, and supplying the elders with anything they need other than personal items. The boot (trunk) of our car is a mobile shopping center! At district meeting every Friday morning, we just open it up and the missionaries can take whatever they need in the way of cleaning supplies, flea and bug spray, dish cloths and towels, etc. We also fill special requests that they give us ahead of time such as new pillows, clothes drying racks, new fans, frying pans, potato peelers, etc. The inventory really becomes depleted, especially just before boarding inspections, which means going to the Pick 'n Pay (a WalMart-type store without the clothes--not a special store, I just like to say the name!) to load up again.
We are so impressed with the quality of all our missionaries, and especially the zone and district leaders as far as their knowledge of the gospel and leadership skills are concerned.
This week was spent with Sister Nilsson and Sister Johnson (the Sistersons) orienting us more about how to do inspections, where to buy different supplies, and getting to know the area better. We also learned how to put on a luncheon for Zone Conference (52 people). It was a very inspirational, motivational, and spiritual conference. We learned to love and respect President and Sister Egan even more in just that one day! But this is a long enough email for now. More details next time.
It was fun to talk to you, Scott, Julie, and Mike via the international calling card. Sorry we missed you, Swains, but we enjoyed reading your family blog. We did make note of your new phone number. We love reading the Allen Family Blog with everyone's comments. Let us know what's happening in your lives.
We are expecting THE CALL from Matt and Julie any day now! Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. Kisses to Christie, Jordan, Katy, Savannah, and Claire. Bye for now.
Love, MOM and DAD, GRANDMA and GRANDPA
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2 comments:
We loved your letter! We have also created a blog for our family and there is a link to it on your blog (on the right side under your picture).
One of the things that stood out to me was the variety of assignments that you have working with the missionaries.
Another thing that was interesting to hear your "mission policy" about proselyting efforts within a reasonable distance from the church. In Denmark we did this same thing. We would focus our efforts around bus stops and train stations that were on direct lines to the church. Our Mission President was also helped us reinforce the importance of not "baptizing inactive members". In other words, many blessings of the church are found in regular church activity, and when they are not able to participate, they don't enjoy the blessings of fellowship which led to inactivity.
Do you have a physical mailing address? We would like to send a missionary care package to you!
LOL! You're already catching the S. African lingo :) I kinda miss my southern drawl, although people have said I still use southern phrases like "Say what?" and "y'all". It is interesting how different missions work, in addition to proselyting we (I mean my comp and I) focused a lot on completing part-member families and re-activation. I've always felt I should seek out the lost sheep of the ward b/c it's tough to see those who felt the spirit and had a testimony just to fall away. It's hard but there's been a couple of people in the ward (River Oaks 7) that have come back to church. One guy, Spencer, has had a remarkable change. He was inactive for many years and his dad (our ward clerk) asked him to come to church and now 6 months later, he's passing the sacrament and is working on advancing to Elder. Another sister was inactive and is dating a non-member. He's taking the discussions (she sits in as a refresher) and will probably be baptized soon and she hopes they get married in the temple in a year or so. It's great to hear you'll be working w/the inactives, it's awesome to see them come back to the fold.
Checked on the house, everything is fine and dandy. Not much else to report. Love you and those Elders are lucky to have "mission parents" taking care of them! :)
Sure love ya, Mike
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