Okay, I wasn't sure what to call this page exactly.  My are was Mdantsane.  That is where I did all my work.  But I lived in East London.  It was much safer.

    It took an half hour to drive out to our area.  Mdantsane was hands down my most productive and therefore my favorite area.  I never considered myself a "township missionary."  I had heard all the stories of how great they were and how wonderful the people are, but it meant nothing until I got there!  These where the most humble and happy people I have ever been around.  Until then I had never thought those two adjectives would be used to describe the same thing.  Humble yet happy was the odd thing to me.  Many of the people livedin small two bedroom cement houses.

    The youth provided the greated strength to the growth of the Mdantsane branch.  I feel it gave them something to belong to.  I witnessed it again and again.  As one teenager would start to learn about the church and become involved in the activities that were put together they would tell their friends.  The greatest part is that they had learned for themselves that there was a true church on the earth and they belonged to it.  It was common to go on splits every night with the young men in the area.  They were preparing to serve missions themselves.  When I arrived there was one recently returned missionary - Sive Mahlangabeza.  There was one missionary in the branch that was serving.  When I left the area, two Missionaries flew to Johannesburg to begin their missions.

    As the youth began to join the church, their parents would pay little attention at first.  We were two young men coming into their home.  According to them we didn't have much to offer.  Then as the Couple missionaries, Elder and Sister Banner (who were fortunate to spend their entire 18 months in Mdantsane) would come in to teach the new member lessons, then the parents would take notice.  Many adults eventually joined through this pattern.

    Mdantsane's growth was a miracle to watch.  It is even more miraculous now that I step back and look and all I had the opportunity to be a part of.