Future Elders -gfh

Elder Henrichsen and I had a great surprise at the end of our day! Two of our YSA young men from Ennerdale Branch came in with the Ennerdale elders dressed in their white shirts and ties looking very much like "real" elders with member missionary badges on their chests. Pride has been a member 6 months and Ntokozo has been a member only 3 months. They are both planning on serving a mission as soon as they've been members a year.

Elder Mawejje and Elder Ndlovu are great missionaries and are wonderful examples to these young men.

A Tender Mercy -gfh

This afternoon I had a visit with the South Africa MTC President's wife. She said "Have I ever told you about our mission secretary when we were mission president before?" She said that the job was too difficult for the secretary but she didn't tell anyone. The secretary just didn't do the work. No one knew how difficult it was for her. She was just shuffling papers until about six months later. She said "It was a disaster!" Then she said "President and I know what your job involves and it's BIG". I guess The Lord knew that I needed that extra reassurance today. It was a "tender mercy". I'm overwhelmed most of the time but there is no backlog! I don't think....but I'm always discovering something else I should be doing. And my job is nothing compared to the other couple who deal with medical and cars and Elder H who handles all the mission $$$$! There always seems to be a 'crisis' that has to be dealt with. We take turns holding each other up.

Later today one of the elders who is one of the Assistants to the President was searching for some papers. I asked him if he had given them to me because I have a file called "publish" where I put papers they want to distribute to the missionaries. He said "No, but I should have. You have all the answers". Then he said "WOW Sister Henrichsen, you're THE secretary of THE WHOLE mission. That will look really good on your resume." I laughed and said "As if I'd ever want to go looking for another job like this one." The pay wouldn't be as good!

Aarrghh! -gfh

So....visa renewals are the "bane of my existence" here in the office! I've mentioned the stress involved before but it continues. With each transfer there seems to be an elder who is right on the verge needing perhaps as few as three extra days to complete his mission and catch his departing flight. Of course I keep up with all the visas and work with the Area Office who are really the experts. But because TISA (This is South Africa) the rules change regularly. What worked well last week no longer works and new hassles are involved. The "easy" renewals I guess are the ones where the missionary needs another year on his visa. With this the missionary needs a medical exam, a chest X-ray to determine he/she is free of TB, finger prints taken at the local police station with a signed declaration that a police clearance with be obtained within six months. This is plenty of hassle because the missionaries need to take time out from missionary work to get this accomplished and then the police clearance is needed from their home country (a whole other story). It is not like in the states where these facilities are conveniently located. Some of the missionaries have to travel 2 or 3 hours to get them and usually it all cannot be accomplished on the same day. So, we deal with that.
But my latest frustration is the very, very short extensions needed. First we were told the missionaries could get a Holiday Visa for 90 extra days. No med or X-ray or police clearance needed. Just proof of departure i.e. itinerary. Then it was changed to proof of financial ability to be able to stay for the extra days which required a bank statement. You've got to be kidding! The bank statement for our missionaries shows about $30 remaining..if they are lucky. So that wasn't acceptable. We tried to get Home Affairs to accept a letter from The Mission stating that all financial responsibility will be covered by The Church. No deal! Another option was to have the missionary cross the border into another country i.e. Botswana or Swaziland and get a stamp on reentry giving 30 extra days. Sounds simple. But no longer possible unless done on the very last day of the Visa (and that involves hassle and timing and travel). Well, there are all kinds of complications and issues to deal with. And additional ones for our missionaries who might be serving for three months in Botswana because that is a different country with different rules.
(You know what...this is making me feel better just typing this out. :-)

Our latest is a missionary who needs ten days to complete his mission but with only three weeks left. (The paper work for visa renewals takes at least three months) President had me call him and ask him how he felt about going across the border in to Swaziland (his home country) and back the next day to get his visa stamped for extra days. He was really worried about that. He did not want to see his family or didn't want them to know that he was back in Swaziland. He wanted to serve every last day as a missionary and not have the distraction. Very awesome BUT!!! He decided to take things in to his own hands and went to the Home Affairs to see what he could do to get his visa extended and he wouldn't have to go "home" to do it. He called me back all excited with a plan that he was given. Well, when I contacted the Area Office that this had happened the missionary was in big trouble and the Visa Boss wanted to know who had told him to do that!! Evidently there have been cases in the past when a missionary has done this and there were bribes and alterations made to visas, etc etc. MISSIONARIES ABSOLUTELY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS! Now we know..but we hadn't told the missionary to do it. He did it all on his own.
So now, our Visa Boss from Area Office is going to take this elder and his companion across the border to Swaziland on the last day of his visa. They will spend the night and be brought back. No fines. No bribes. No penalties. No seeing family. He said he will see that all is accomplished with no problems. sigh. Until the next time. I have to admit that there are times when I vote to just send them home early to avoid all of this.

Remember Vusi? -gfh

Remember Vusi? Well he arrived last transfer! He is just as delightful in person as he was in his description of himself in the email he sent.
"I AM VUSI IN SD(ELDER MAMBA),I AM SO HAPPY THAT I WILL BE SERVING IN JOBURG MISSION VERY SOON.I HOPE I WILL LOVE THE MISSOIN SO MUCH.
I WILL REPORT @THE MTC ON THE 19 AUGUST 2010.
VUSI IS A VERY FLEXIBLE SOMEBODY,WHO SMILES ALWAYS.VUSI LIKES JOKING SO MUCH.VUSI IS SOMEHOW SHY BUT NOT MUCH.
I WAS SO HAPPY TO RECEIVE A LETTER FROM PRESIDENT POULSEN.
THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
VUSI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

"Water Water Everywhere and Not A Drop To Drink"-gfh

Monday the water was off in our area! Things got a little tense at the office as we strategically planned our day around no toilets, or hand washing. Luckily we have bottled water supplied so thirst wasn't a problem but drinking was limited to avoid other problems. When we returned home that evening we realized that the water was out there as well and we were not prepared for this and needed to get some water stored. This is the first time this has happened in our area but we've heard of this problem with other missionary flats.
We made it through the night hoping the water would be back on by morning. Didn't happen. We "faked" it as we got ready for the office with Elder H feeling really bad about not being able to shave. :-) The good news was the water was on at the office when we arrived and while out running a few errands we stopped by the flat and checked if we had water yet. YES! All was well.....until......

We opened the door to our flat at 5:30PM and were greeted by the sound of gushing water and inches and inches of water everywhere!! Yes, I had remembered to turn off the faucet I had checked earlier in the day BUT one of the other faucets had been left on from earlier. And to help create the disaster a wash cloth that had been in the sink was sucked into the drain and plugged up the drain so the water was gushing out of the faucet and slashing onto the floor.



Three hours of literally bailing water until it got down to the "soaking up & wringing out towels" stage we collapsed into bed feeling very old and achy but also very grateful it was not during our freezing winter weather or not muddy and yucky like some have experienced with real honest to goodness flooding. We are also grateful for our hard cement floors with very thin carpet and no padding! (something we have been known to complain about before). Now we will keep windows open and fans going until things dry out.
(No pictures were taken of Elder H because his casual clothes were left on the floor and thus were sopping wet. He did his bailing in his skivvies.)

More Frosting On The Cake! -gfh

Saturday we were off to Ennerdale to do some home teaching. We only had one appointment and it's a forty minute drive each way but we knew that the sister needed our visit.
As we visited in her home she shared her concerns. She is a single woman in her middle forties who has a twelve year old son and "the old man" (that's what she affectionately calls her father)who is frail and in his eighties. She has needed to earn some money and accepted a job which has taken her out of the home from Sunday afternoons till Friday nights leaving her 12 year old son and 80 year old father to care for themselves all week. She deeply feels her responsibilities as the mother of the home but she is also the only means for income. There were tears and a very sweet prayer. We know she receives strength from our visits.
We then took our chances and went to visit a very less active family who hadn't returned our calls. The older daughter and son were home but the parents were not. She is one of our YSA's. We chatted and then she gave us an invitation to her 21st birthday party in two weeks. That was such a good sign that she would want us to attend. So that was a very positive visit.
THEN....we had one more family to visit who is also less active and very hard to connect with and hadn't replied to our messages. She is also one of our YSA's, a single mother of two girls who lives with her brother. We had gotten conflicting word on the brother. Some say he is a member some say he isn't. Well, she wasn't home but he was. Our knock actually awakened him at 3:00PM. (he had gotten home about 2:00 from his night shift.)We visited at the door briefly AND THEN HE INVITED US IN!! Elder Henrichsen asked the perfect questions and we had a wonderful visit.
Our home teaching day turned out to be awesome! The Spirit definitely directed us in our calling.
Now what about Sunday? Well, we arrived at Ennerdale in time for our meeting and the President asked us if we would go pick up Chantelle....the sister who wasn't at home but her brother was! She wanted a ride to church. We turned right around and drove the 20 minutes to pick her up. She had just returned from her night shift but wanted to attend church. We were so delighted to pick her up even tho we were "late" for sacrament. She attended my YSA class and nodded off occasionally. Before saying goodbye I gave her a big hug and told her how much I admired her decision to attend church even though it was very difficult for her. She had made the right decision and I am sure she knew it also.
My YSA class was filled to the brim! If things keep going like this we will out grow our little classroom. The problem is there isn't a bigger room for us to use! We have wonderful gospel discussions in the class with some seasoned members and many only a year or newer in The Gospel. The Spirit testifies and we all learn together. Right now we are working earnestly with an eye single to attending a temple baptismal day in December. There will be some growth and changes necessary for some but we are praying for everyone to be there!
So if you were to ask us how our weekend was....We would say FANTASTIC!! Our work in Ennerdale branch is "More Frosting on the Cake"!

Payday -rh

Every so often things happen that warm our hearts. A few weeks ago, we had two consecutive days where we were paid by the missionaries. The first day, there had been a funeral at the adjoining chapel. Two of the missionaries attended because of a teaching situation they were in with the family involved. At the luncheon following the funeral, they were given some of the leftover food (because they are missionaries). Instead of rushing back to their flat with the goodies, they came and shared with the office staff. Since I know how important a full belly is to missionaries I was very impressed AND touched that they would share with us.
The next morning, two other missionaries brought in some cupcakes they had personally made. They were big, tall, yummy cupcakes. But wait, that’s not all. They also brought Elder Watts and me each a tie. They hadn’t gone out and bought us ties – they had come in a package from home, but it was great to know that they were showing their love for us. We made these ties official memorabilia by having the missionaries sign and date them.
At the next transfer day one of the Elders in his short testimony/advice for younger missionaries talk, extolled the virtues of the office couples and went on (probably a little too long) about how hard we work and what a great job we do for the Elders and Sisters out in the trenches. It doesn’t get much better than this.
These experiences put a smile on my face for several days. They were real “paydays” for us.