2010 03 28 - Happy Birthday Sara & Eva!!

Dear Birthday Girls and Everyone Else:

We've just made it through another crazy transfer week, gained 4 tremendous new missionaries, said goodbye to 10 future Church leaders (home wards and branches, take note), had two cars damaged, scheduled 3 sets of booster shots (4 sets to go), sent 2 elders to the doctor, and performed an Easter Cantata.

Well, not all of us performed the Easter Cantata: only Elder Niemand, Elder Alexander, me, and a choir from various wards in the Hillcrest Stake. It was very fun, and sounded WAY better Sunday night than it did at ANY of the rehearsals. It was pretty crowded in the choir seats, though, with all the angels the choir director had prayed to come and help us!

I haven't done any major singing for quite awhile, and found myself singing in the car on the way home from rehearsal in Hillcrest: We Five and John Denver, of all things! And I remembered all the words. It just goes to show you that teenagers CAN learn...too bad it was only song lyrics...
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CAUTION: Mothers who get nervous, please skip this paragraph!
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I have been thinking lately about carjacking. The Westville public library/civic center/ lawn bowling/tennis court complex has a set of booms that are raised and lowered as cars go in and out. Last week I had to "sign in" with my name, license plate# before I could go in. That must have proved too time-consuming, so this week the guard just handed me a card that I had to return when exiting. I asked, and it was because they've had some carjackings lately.

A few days ago, the Rawlings, who run Little Haven B&B, lost their car to carjackers while Sister Grace was at the hairdresser. It's the 11th car they've had stolen over the years.

And a few months ago in Newcastle, we had a missionary carjacking. Fortunately, the police were able to get it back for us. Even more fortunately, the sergeant involved started taking the missionary lessons, and now he and his family are about to be baptized. So although wickedness never was happiness, it can occasionally contribute to happy consequences!
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I learned a few things from the Easter Cantata, and that reminded me of a few other observations I've made lately, so here they are.

Life lessons: small but totally irrelevant

1. Sally DeFord is an international favorite.

2. Narration of any kind sounds better with a South African accent.

3. The sharp edges of a packet of sheet music fits right exactly into the healing wound from carpal tunnel surgery.

4. She also serves who only waves the piece of cardboard to dry the just-mopped floor at the mall.

5. Six minutes waiting for BBQ dipped bites at KFC is way longer than 6 minutes spent reading a good book.

6. If a crew is working on a digging project in the mission home yard, there is a 90% chance one of the "chappies [will] hit the irrigation line" and the water will be turned off - indefinitely.

7. An elder is three times more likely to hit a cow in Ezulwini, Swaziland, than anywhere else in the mission.

8. A woman can work as a flagger in a flourescent vest and still look fashionable, if she wears a high-crowned, wide-brimmed woven sun hat - with her hard hat perched on top.

9. A man can still be tough who when angry doesn't swear, but says "It makes me so cross." (This man, I might mention, is also over 6' tall, used to carry a revolver in his car until he started working for the Church, and now carries a taser.)

10. Biscotti is not as easy to make as it looks.

So there you have it. Now I have to work on my powerpoint for zone conferences - Steve asked me to speak on the Prophet Joseph Smith. He did a very thorough presentation on the Prophet long enough ago that it's time to repeat. Only I can't do it his way, so I plan to shnake a few of his slides and then put together my own presentation. This is one (of many) of the fun parts of the mission!

Love,
Mom/Grandma/Sue/Susan/SisterPresidentMann

ps I got a cellphone call during office devotional; I answered in case it was a medical issue? It was Hunter, wanting to know the name of the bread that the Jews ate in the Bible, that was flat and hard. I knew the answer to the question, but am mystified as to what brought it up???