Visiting Wards and Branches

 The last two Sundays we visited two wards and one branch.  We have students all over the place so we have needs to contact them occasionally and therefore go to many units.  In the six Sundays since we have been here we have been to seven units.
This is the Mpumalanga Ward young adults (plus a few extras).  Many of these are PEF students.  They are a great bunch of young people.  Many of the young men are  returned missionaries and serving as young men's leaders, ward clerks, elder's quorum president and such.  They are truly the leaders of tomorrow.

 Today we visited the Umbedula Branch.  Like the first Sunday unit that we visited this, branch meets in a little school under very humble circumstances.  This is the Primary.  It was somewhat chilly (for them, delightful for people from Burns, Oregon) so they were meeting outdoors in the sunshine.  Gaye gave the teachers cookies to give them for a treat after the picture.

 This gives you an idea of the locale around the little school.  This is the townships--though far from some of the worst.  Most of these homes have electricity and running water.  Many do not.  In the dark days of apartheid, the people of color worked for the whites in the cities but had to be out and back into the townships by dark--otherwise face arrest.  It is these situations where getting an education can make all the difference for these young people.

 The complex of the buildings at the little school used for the Umbedula Branch.  Here again a Sunday School class was meeting outside for the warm sunshine.  If you look closely you can see an extension cord running across the lot. They have to do that for power to the building where they have Sacrament Meeting for the CD player they use for music.

 These are Mpumalanga Ward children getting a snack after church last Sunday.  It was fast Sunday.  Kids are kids the world over.

Saturday night, last night, we went to a Young Single Adult talent show here in the Pinetown Ward building.  There were about 130 young people and they put on quite a show.  Some very talented singers and really talented dancers.  A couple of people read poetry and were stunningly good.  But a young man who has cerebral palsy (moderate) who is waiting for a mission call, stole the show.  You had to listen pretty intently to understand and it got really quiet.  I cannot recall the exact wording but he had memorized most of a talk given at General Conference about What Keeps Me Awake at Night.  The part that just captivated  the audience was something like this, in a small part:  What keeps me awake at night?  The fact that my Heavenly Father knows me individually among all the millions and millions of people that He has created.  What keeps me awake at night?  The fact that Heavenly Father  knows of my imperfections and incompleteness and loves me anyway.  What keeps me awake at night?  Knowing that if I follow my Savior Jesus Christ that He can make me perfect and complete.  That made a few damp eyes in the audience and when he finished the young adults gave him a standing ovation.  All in all, it was quite an evening.
This week (Tuesday) we travel to north to Richard's Bay and Swaziland again.  We were going to make a big loop over into the Free State to Bloemfontein but the students there are not ready with their paperwork so, we will just come back home about Friday.