Newcastle, Ladysmith, Dundee

Click on this link:
Ladies of Ladysmith Branch

"How Great Thou Art" sung by the sisters in
Relief Society in the Ladysmith Branch.
Click on the link above to hear them :-)

We have just returned from another assignment in the Newcastle District.  We went to church in the Ladysmith Branch.  What a delightful group of Women!  We arrived a bit early for sacrament meeting and as we were seated in the chapel waiting for the meeting to begin a lady seated a couple rows behind us began to sing "The Spirit of God".  Slowly a few others joined her then Chris & I joined in and soon everyone was singing.  :)  There was a keyboard in the chapel but no one can play it so all the hymns were sung unaccompanied.  (I am still the poor struggling accompanist in our ward but I didn't tell that secret and besides, hearing unaccompanied singing with all the levels of harmony not from a book was just stunning!)  It was a beautiful meeting.  In Relief Society the closing song was just so beautiful!  Sure it wasn't Mormon Tabernacle Choir but it was the sound of pure voices from the heart singing music not written on a page.  I love that kind of singing.  After the prayer I got brave and said "Sisters, that was the most beautiful How Great Thou Art I have ever heard.  I would just love to take it home with me to remember you by.  Would you mind singing a verse of it again for me to record?"  They smiled big and obliged me :)  Then we all hugged and a sister gave me a notebook with elephants on it and said it was to remember her by. :)

Our Sunday School lesson was taught by brother...hmmm...I'll remember soon...He gave a wonderful lesson from the book of Judges.  We learned that our blessing and strength come from the Lord and that when the Lord commands us to do something, He will help us accomplish it.  We talked about Sampson and how crazy it was for him to tell Delilah about his hair (which was a sign of his covenant with the Lord).  We learn from this that when we violate our covenants with the Lord, he may take away our spiritual blessings.
       
I thought to myself, if only he knew who he was!  If he knew that his story would still be told 1,000's of years later - that it would live on that long, maybe he would have been more wise and fulfilled his purpose. What a different story it would have been.  Isn't it tragic that he changed his whole life's story with just a few words!  It's like David...changing his destiny by entertaining one tempting thought instead of dismissing it. Joseph of Egypt's story lives on as one of greatness.  He rejected similar temptation.  I wonder how different I would live if I knew my story might be told a thousand years from now.  Verse 21 in chapter 16 tells us that the Philistines put out Sampson's eyes and bound him and threw him in prison. If we live true to our covenants it will help us resist Satan's efforts to blind and bind us.

Ezakheni Branch.  The brother on the right was teaching me to say
some Zulu words that have a click sound in it.  I've forgotten them already

We spent over a week in the district visiting Ezakheni, Ladysmith, Dundee, Madadeni 1st & 2nd & Newcastle.  We went over financial records and taught about budgeting and living within our means.  We instructed on correct principles for dispersing welfare and many other things.  The Dundee Branch President asked us to come and speak to the members in Sacrament Meeting about these principles.

We spent the night in a thatched roof room.  We could hear the crickets singing their night songs so loud through the thatch!  It made me miss our Spyglass house, sleeping with the bathroom window open so we could hear the frog chorus in the nearby pond.  I love those night noises. :)

Sunday School class outside in the sunshine

The end of the week we went to the Dundee Branch which was held in a school.  We spoke in Sacrament Meeting which took place in the auditorium with plastic stacking chairs.  Everyone picked up their chairs afterward and moved them outside into the sunshine for the Sunday School classes.

School etiquette

In Relief Society the president announced the lesson and then said "after the lesson we would like Sister King to come up ad speak to us."  ha ha!  The teacher gave the whole lesson in Zulu.  Of course I didn't understand any of it but I did feel the spirit (as I played with a little toddler they called Pancake) and I knew what to say to the sisters after the lesson was over.

Pancake and her Mama

Pres & Sister DeClerk are the only Caucasians in the branch.
They drive a long ways each week and provide a meal for the
missionaries after church. 

There was one day that we did not have a meeting so we went to the Drakensburg Mts nearby.

They had an aviary and horses and a petting farm.  Ah! :)

Who doesn't love a walk in the woods. Tall trees feel like great grandfathers who lovingly stand guard to shelter and protect us.  These grand daddy's were the kind that you nearly have to do a back-bend to see the tops of them!

These peacocks would like to come in and be house pets

On our way home we stopped at the Talana Heritage Museum and some battlegrounds. Talana means "The shelf where precious items are stored."  It had artifacts from the war time and some rooms made like a coal mine.  Working in a mine would be so very hard...crawling around like a mole in the dark and never being able to stand up straight.

Wars include battlefields, rounding up the troops, weapons, wounded, dead, stretchers, helpers, soldiers, sorrow... Whether Africa or elsewhere, isn't interesting how war looks the same no matter where it is?

A plaque from the community of Dundee reads
"Let battle pride and warrior lust henceforth lie silent in the dust."
If only that could be.  Someday it will be so.