2008 05 25 - Another "Week That Was"

Dear Everyone:

WHEW! This has been some kind of week! I think I'll just set it out like an agenda, as if we had known ahead of time what was going to happen.

Tuesday

Farewell dinner for Elders Ogbonna, Ricks & Riley, and the other 10 of us from the mission home and office

Wednesday

10:10 Airport for goodbye to Elder Ogbonna, and welcome Elders Ang'ila, Kitili, & Uwuor (Kenya); Holmes (South Africa); Basooma (Uganda); Hamilton, Kuamoo, Lemmon & Summers (U.S.A.); and Nyamombe (Zimbabwe).

Interviews, training, dinner for 24, & testimony meeting

Thursday

New trainer orientation, transfer meeting

Friday

Zone leader council, lunch for 20

Call from a member is Durban looking for humanitarian aid for refugees (800 by then) trying to avoid anti-immigrant violence that has been taking place in Johannesburg - rising prices, & high unemployment are starting to have an effect on some people). The Red Cross is giving the people 1 meal a day, but that's about the only organized help going on. Steve calls the Area Presidency for counsel, and Elder & Sister Ricks (who are in Lesotho) for information on supplies.

Saturday

6 am - Elder Johns & Elder Allred, the assistants, head for Johannesburg in the bakkie for hygiene kits

7:30 am - Elder Eddy & Elder Rothenberger, the office elders, head for PicknPay and load up another bakkie with 100 loaves of bread, 34 bottles of peanut butter, & 45 bags of apples and oranges, which they then drop off at the central "soup kitchen" (the Catholic Cathedral) downtown.

7:45 am - Steve takes Hunter and a load of his teammates to Durban for their rugby game.

8:30 am - I take Morgan and a load of his teammates to Westville for game. (Note: all 7 of these boys had stayed over Friday night at our place.)

10:00 am - As Morgan's game begins, Steve calls to tell me Hunter has just been carried off the field on a stretcher (don't panic, he's fine) and loaded in an ambulance with a twisted knee. After Morgan's team wins their game, I trade Steve places at the hospital, so he can go to the 2:00 Priesthood leadership session of the Hillcrest Stake Conference. Elder Russell Nelson and his wife, and Elder & Sister Young from the Area Presidency were here.
After x-rays, Hunter & his friend Jubz and I wait for awhile; the technician decides he wants the doctor AND an orthopaedic surgeon to look at the x-rays, too. There is one on call, but he's operating. Finally they wrap Hunter's leg up, give him crutches, and send us home, with instructions to see the orthopedic surgeon on Monday. So we still don't really know whether it's pulled ligaments, torn ligaments, or a crack in a bone - I assume if it were anything huge they'd have told us, so meanwhile he's taking pain pills and enjoying being waited on.
3:30 pm - I drive up to Hillcrest for the adult session of the stake conference, and Steve and I both speak (briefly). My talk, ironically enough, was based on rugby!
8:00 pm - The assistants arrive back in their assigned mission (!) with 300 hygiene kits.
Sunday
10:00 am - Hillcrest Stake Conference. Steve & I both spoke (even more briefly!) We actually had a pre-meeting program that listed all the speakers, with their time limits - like 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes. Keeps the meetings a lot more on time! Hunter stayed home, but his friend Jubz came and shook hands with Elder Nelson and got a hug.
1:00 pm - Elder Johns and Elder Allred deliver the hygiene kits, and some soccer balls downtown.

Reading this over, it doesn't look as busy as it felt, so add in setting tables, doing dishes, driving the carpool for 6 am seminary and to and from school, homework, laundry, grocery shopping, getting talks ready, plus getting our zone conference assignments ready for next week... Well, I guess it doesn't look any busier than any of your weeks - but it felt pretty crazy!

So, there you go! Just another week of proselyting (not!). Later this week I'll post a blog with Steve's new member missionary effort - Walking the Neighborhood. Meanwhile,
Love to Everybody!
Mom/Grandma/Sue/Susan/Nurse/Taxi Driver/Public Speaker/Whatever!