Hi Everyone, My wife is forcing me to write, she said it is my turn. so here we go, ready or not. We have had a tremendous month. When we went on mission, if any one were to tell me how hard it would be, i would not have believed them. It has been so hard to deal with all the different personality's in the church. It is such a diverse country and the church is experiencing so many growing pains. It has so many cultures colliding and the church is in the middle of it all. You have tribal rituals that still play a huge part of their lives. You have this world economy that is playing a huge factor in all of this. As the first presidency put it in conference, they want sustained growth, they want people remain active and going to the temple. With a people so humble and meek, it is in there culture to be incredibly selfless in there desires and wants. So many of them are hungry and only want a great job. It is this hunger issue that really shakes there faith some how. On e of the bishops took his first councilor and there wives and children in there little car and drove 14 hours all night to attend the temple in the morning. It was the councilors first time to go to the temple and be sealed. They had everything planned out to the penny. They had a great time and made there way back. Upon arriving back all that they had money to eat for two weeks was just bread and a little rice. what a great sacrifice. It really make me question if i would do that. what faith they have. We love these people so much. they are such a great people.
Last fast Sunday we fasted for our area and our mission. The bishops here are so young and faithful. They have so many people to take care of. We were having transportation issues in the wards trying to get people in to Port Elizabeth to turn in resumes for jobs. We had our bosses boss come out with one of the employment specialist. When they arrived we had several people ready for them to see and talk to . That night we had a large gathering at the stake center with all the bishops and there ward councils. That night everything that we had hoped for took place in one meeting. the information that was given to every body at that meeting answered so many questions as it pertains to welfare and employment. It helped the Bishops and the Stake to better understand there rolls in each of there callings. It removed a whole lot of the hard out of our mission. The next day the miracle continued as we traveled to East London where we have been trying to get open 3 employment centers for 4 wards that have the highest unemployment in the eastern cape. the Area office and the stake presidency have been having some rough times together. We went to the stake center that evening at the appointed time to meet with the stake leadership. Once again heavenly Father heard and answered our prayer and every thing got worked out. We are now in the process of opening them up. We really hated being in the middle of it, all we wanted was to help the people. We knew that something had to happen so the people of the lord would win. It is all matter of who comes first, the lord and his people. It makes it so easy to fight for our savior and his people because we love them both so much. There is no doubt who is running,leading and guiding the Saviors church. he lives!!!!!
Elder and Sister Van Sickle
3 Versailles Ct, Verdun Rd, Lorraine, Port Elizabeth, 6070
Cell: 083-251-7791
