Ennerdale Branch

About 45 km south of Johannesburg is the small community of Ennerdale.  Debbie and I had an opportunity to visit the Ennerdale Branch of the Church today.  The building consists of 5 temporary structures clustered together. They contain classrooms, bathrooms, a chapel, branch president and clerk’s offices, and a kitchen.  In the courtyard (open to the sky) is the baptismal font.  There is a nice lawn surrounding the building.  The lawn also serves as the parking lot.

A unique feature about this property, is that this cluster of buildings and parking lot only occupy about a third of the land.  The local members received permission to turn the rest of the property into a garden for raising fruits and vegetables.  This allows the members to supplement their food supply as well as learn to be self-sufficient.

When we arrived at the Ennerdale Branch, the young men were holding a car wash to raise funds for camp.  We appeared to be their only customer.  I believe that the Lord directed us to show up on this particular day just to bless their lives.  We asked them how much they were charging to wash our car, they replied 25 Rand (about $2.50).  5 young men went to work on our car.  (We just had our car washed a few days earlier.)  Not only did they wash the car, but they vacuumed the inside including every crevice they could find, wiped down the upholstery, removed the car mats and vacuumed them and shook them out, they polished our tires with shoe polish, wiped down all the door frames (even the areas you can only see when the car door is open), washed the windows, shined the chrome, took out the trunk (boot) mat and vacuumed it, cleaned the inside of the trunk, and then offered to wash the engine (but I declined).  We gave them the 25 Rand plus a 75 Rand tip.  THAT WAS THE BEST CARWASH EVER!  These young men know how and want to work.  Unemployment is high and cruel.  I’m pretty sure that our contribution may be all they earn today due to the location being on a side road deep in the community with almost no drive by traffic and also most of the local members cannot afford to pay for a car wash.  The young men invited us to come back next Saturday for another car wash. :)  

We toured the garden area.  It was amazing in that we saw a wide variety of healthy plants including cabbage, corn, chard, brussel sprouts, lettuce, potatoes, and carrots.  They have built a large greenhouse so they can grow crops year round.  From somewhere, they acquired some wooden pallets.  They have salvaged the wood and built raised boxes for the garden.  What a wonderful project that I’m sure causes the Saints to grow close together as a Branch.

Our visit to see the saints in Ennerdale was inspiring.  They are self-sufficient, energetic, hardworking, and have big smiles.  They are following the example and pattern set for us by our Savior, Jesus Christ.