"OH, THERE'S MY RING" 30 March 2016

The groundbreaking for the newest temple on the African continent will take place on 9 April 2016 in Durban, South Africa.  The Durban Temple was announced in October Conference 2011; we received our mission call to the South Africa Durban mission on 9 November 2011; served two years from March 2012 - January 2014 in Swaziland which is in the Durban mission.  All this time we were sure we would be there for the groundbreaking of the temple, but it never happened.  You can't believe our disappointment.  And when we came back we had no thought of actually being here for that momentous occasion.  But here we are in South Africa and the groundbreaking is just around the corner.  But we still will not be part of it live, unfortunately.

   

The people in Durban are so excited to finally have their temple.  I want to share this special story with you extracted from an oral history done a few weeks ago...
Garith Hill presided over one of the branches in the stake at the time that the Johannesburg temple was being constructed.  His responsibility was to counsel with each active family in the branch and suggest an amount that they donate towards the building of the temple.  The process was known as an assessment.
"It was a challenge for me because, basically, we were given the instruction by our priesthood leaders to call the membership in and tell them this is how much the Lord expected them to pay," said Brother Hill.  "It was a very spiritual experience for me and for many of the members.  Because many of them responded that they did not know how they would be able to pay that money.  But, miraculously, within months of them having received that assessment, most of them stood up in fast and testimony meeting and told of ways that the Lord had blessed the, and enabled them to pay the amount we had asked of them."
Brother Hill went through the same process with his own family.  "So, I went to my wife and I told her, this is what the Lord expects us to pay.  And there was no way that we would be able to meet that assessment, ordinarily.  And so, we looked at what assets we had that we could sell.  My wife, Lyris said, "I don't need my engagement ring anymore.  I'm married now and we are sealed in the temple, "  She took off her ring and she said, "Let's sell this and it can go towards our assessment for the temple.'  We sold the engagement ring and paid the money, "said Brother Hill.  Nowadays, whenever the Hills travel to the Johannesburg Temple and Sister Hill sees "a little twinkle in the wall" she says, "Oh, there's my ring!"

The faith and sacrifice of hundred of members during these years helped to prepare their hearts to receive a temple in their own city many years later.

Lyris and Garith Hill