Week 11--March 17-23

Monday, March 27th: Today Elders Robinson (St. George, UT), Bond (Las Vegas, Nev.), Ballamis (Kayesville, UT), and Buthelezi (Johannesburg, SA) left East London and went to Cape Town to have a farewell dinner at the mission home before flying home tomorrow. We FedEx'ed to the mission office an auto accident report, Elder Kuome's medical papers, and Elder Pappoe's passport. Because tomorrow is such a big transfer day, we decided to purchase additional duvet inserts so we could do a complete exchange without doing laundry in between exchanges. We took a couple of hours of diversion and visited the East London Acquarium. We saw for the first time the penguins of South Africa which inhabit the coast around Cape Town. Then we went to MD and tried to find Yo, as well as some less actives. Tobeli helped us find the houses, but none of them were home.

Tuesday, March 18th: Within mission transfer day. We had elders departing from the airport at 8:00am(2) and incoming elders arriving at 11:30am(4). At 11:25am 2 arrived on the bus, and at 1:45pm 4 departed by bus. It was an extremely busy day. We met all the incoming elders and took their photos with their new companions. We make 3 copies--one for us and one for each of the elders. We also delivered clean duvet inserts to all incoming elders and picked up inserts that were used by departing elders, which we will launder.

Wednesday, March 19th: The day started with a 8:30 phone call from the King William's Town elders who were in EL doing a puppet show at a local mall on eating healthy and The Word of Wisdom. The call to us was that the elders needed food storage containers for their boardings. We also received 7 cases of Books of Mormon from Joburg which we had previously ordered. At 10 am the Searle's came and we spent a few hours with them. We drove up the coast and made reservations to visit a wild animal park with them next month. We treated them to lunch at Lavendar Blue. The Searle's were down from Queenstown for a doctor's appointment at 2pm. In the evening we met the Aprils and home taught 2 families. In one house, Sis April ended up sitting on 2 pillows on the floor because of lack of furniture. At the other home, we met with a yw-age girl who is the only person in her family who is a member. We met outside under a tree just as it was getting dark because their house was too small to accommodate 4 additional people.

Thursday, March 20th: Elders Cobia and Lyman, fresh from the Provo MTC, arrived at the EL airport at 10:45am. We met them about noon at the Pic 'n Pay grocery store. One of the MD elders' cars is in the shop getting the window fixed and so we took Elders Burke and Warren with us to MD. We showed them the new church that is being built, visited the Mgitidi family and invited them to the temple preparation class, and went with the elders to their appointment. We also dropped by the Bishop's home to get a clarification on Karen's speaking assignment in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Sometimes these good African folks do not communicate very well, even when we can understand their English!

Friday, March 21st: Made a quick trip to the airport to pick up the mail. At 10:30 was District Meeting after which we made a few deliveries to Elders and then came home to work on Institute class, temple prep class, and Karen's Sacrament Meeting talk. The majority of the elders in one of our districts are suffering from what appears to be a mild case of food poisoning--diarrhea and vomiting. We bought all the elders chocolate covered marshmellow Easter eggs as a treat. We were quite surprised to find that here in South Africa Good Friday is a major holiday as well as the Monday that follows Easter, giving them a 4-day weekend. School is on a 3-week vacation after having been in session for only 2 months. The new school year begins the middle of January. We saw a lot of people dressed up and going to church on Good Friday.

Saturday, March 22nd: The EL elders had their District Meeting today. We had to get a slow leak in our tire fixed so did not attend their meeting. After we locked up the building we went out to MD where the MD elders were holding a free car wash in the church parking lot. They told us that it was rather slow in the morning, but in the afternoon they were somewhat overwhelmed. While the patrons' cars were being washed, they were invited to come into the chapel where some of our elders explained some of the doctrines of the church and gave out Books of Mormon if the people wanted one. We stayed just a few minutes.

Earlier in the day we met an older gentleman whose name the Bishop had given us to contact. Before we even got out of the car, he came up to Stan's window and indicated that he was a member of the church. He invited us into his home where he told us about his conversion. He was told about the church by someone he knew and respected--President Jadda who is now a counselor in the Stake Presidency. He was taught by the elders and joined the church. He went into a back room and brought out a letter dated about a year ago from President Egan to "prove" to us that he is, indeed, a baptized member of the church. He is a man of about 70 years of age, in good health, has never married, and lives with his older sister. He said that the reason he doesn't come to church is that he doesn't have money for taxi fare and it is too far to walk--a story we have heard many times before.

We also visited with Bro Lubelwana about coming to the temple prep class. He shared with us the moving story of his conversion to the church. He has been a member for about a year. He said that about 5 years ago he had a great job and things were going very well for him. He said that if he had met the elders at that time, he would not have been interested at all. But then he lost his job, his 2 cars and most of the furniture in his house was repossessed, they were expecting another child, and he and his wife were fighting all the time because of money matters and his depression. She asked him for a divorce and he responded by saying that he would go to his family for 3 weeks and then they would talk about it. When he came back he said that he wanted the family to stay together, but it was her decision. They decided to work it out. It was at that time, when he was working on the roof of a neighbor's house, when he saw 2 young men in white shirts and black name tags walking up the road. They greeted him and asked him if he lived there which started a conversation that resulted in him inviting them to his home. He said that these circumstances made him humble and teachable. He attended church with his wife who was active in another denomination. She asked her preacher for a leave of absence for that first day. He said that after the 3-hour block of church he wanted to stay longer and learn more. The next week his wife asked her minister for a few weeks' absence. As you might guess, they were baptized a short time later and have been very active in the church ever since.

Our Institute class today went well, but our numbers were small. A sister from the ward just returned from her mision to London, England and most of the Institute class was at the party at her house. Today was a perfect day weather wise--very comfortable all day.

Sundy, March 23rd: The temple prep class went very well, 11 attended. The lesson was "The Temple Teaches the Plan of Salvation". There were many comments and a few questions were asked. Karen's talk in Sacrament Meeting went very well also. She was assigned the topic of "Christ's Betrayal by Judas Iscariot".

Hope all is well with you and your family. Love to all.

Elder/Sister Allen; Karen/Stan, MOM and DAD; Grandma/Grandpa