Busy end of June and month of July-New Mission Presidents and hosting Ughanda

On June 27th, we were given the assignment to pick up the new Mission Presidents and drive them to their hotel. There were two other drivers also involved, so we could fit all their luggage and them in the vehicles and we needed them all!

Merrills

The Merrills have been called to serve in the Cape Town Mission. They are from Arizona, our home town! I think we would have enjoyed spending more time with them talking about Arizona, but they will be so busy in their new assignment and we probably won't get the chance before we leave.

Mongas

The Mongas have been called to serve in the Republic of Congo Brazzaville Mission. They rode in our vehicle and we had some great conversations. It's great to have someone from Africa (DRC-Lubumbashi) serving as mission president. It is obvious they will both be great in their new assignment.

Thomas

The Thomas couple from Canada will be serving in the DRC Lubumbashi Mission. She is a musician and was very protective of her violin when we were helping with the luggage. They are both very sharp and will do great in their assignment.

Dunns

The Dunns were called to the Johannesburg, South Africa mission. They live in Salt Lake City, but President Dunn was born in Tucson, Arizona...another fellow Arizonan.










On June 28th, Elder Kyle and I were asked to take a group photos of the new mission presidents and their wives with the Area Presidency and their wives; then give a presentation on Public Affairs during the new Missionary Training. It was all a bit rushed and the new mission presidents and their wives were suffering from jet lag, but we got through it and their photos turned out nice.

On July 3rd, we had the opportunity to host Mr. Munuulo and Eva Kentaro from Uganda. They work in the National Records section of the Uganda Government and came to find out what our Church has to offer in that area. Family History is trying to get them to allow the digitization of their records. I think it's hard to believe someone is offering this service for free. They probably wonder what the catch is. Hopefully they learned that there is no catch, just a passion to provide record availability to whomever is seeking to find their ancestors.



We started with a film introducing them to the Church and what we do. We then took them to all the departments to show them what we are doing in Africa, culminating in the Family History Center where they learned just how experienced we are in digitizing and preserving records. The fact that we've done it for South Africa and many other African countries was a big plus. Ms. Kentaro is a lovely lady and Mr. Munuulo was very interested in the technical aspect of preserving records. We ended with a lovely lunch and great conversations. All in all, a great hosting. I take the photos for these events, so it is interesting to see all the different types of people that come through and the various ways the departments are explained to each one. It is so obvious that God had a hand in this work.

Couples celebration of 4th of July

July 4th, we had a Senior Couples party where we answered patriotic questions and played some games to find out how smart we are about American History...not so smart we found out - forgot more than we remembered, but it was nice to celebrate an American holiday after so much time of celebrating South African holidays (of which there are many).






July 8-10, we flew to Botswana with Elder and Sister Humpherys. As a team, we decided to turn over the responsibility of Botswana and Namibia to the Humpherys based in Zambia. They will still also have Angola and Zambia, but Malawi has been give to the Kenya PA couple and we inherited Mozambique and Swaziland in addition to our current Zimbabwe. Both Namibia and Botswana need a lot of attention and the Humpherys will do a great job.

We met with the Mission President and his wife in the afternoon to discuss the Botswana Country Plan and introduce he and his wife to Elder and Sister Humpherys. That went very well...some great ideas from the Mission President. The next day we met with the PA council in the late afternoon over dinner and introduced them to the Humpherys. We talked about PA business, taking photos and writing articles and had a great meeting.




The following morning, we met with Gladys from the Namibia PA Council about the Apostle visit in October (Womba couldn't come, so she sent her PA council person over this area). We discussed what we needed: venues, people the mission president suggested he meet with and gave her instructions to get a council together and make assignments to get this done, so we can present outreach papers to SLC. It was a busy time, but we accomplished much and Humpherys picked up the ball. Before the day was done, he had created a project requisition for Nambia to use for the apostle visit and it was in their hands. They will do a great job.

We then headed back to Joburg and the Humpherys headed back to Zambia. We are such world travelers...ha. When we arrived, Elder Kyle was asked to help create the 2015 budget figures based upon this year and projections for next year. I was busily working on Facebook and Newsroom articles for Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda. I was also asked to post a global article to all the newsrooms. That is not too difficult in the English newsrooms, but I have to get French and Portuguese translations and then figure out what is the title, introduction, subheading, etc. I guess I did okay, as I didn't get any complaints.

On July 18th, we participated in Mandela Day by doing service at the Twilight Center for Children in need. Most of the are orphaned or street kids of all ages. Quite a few people were already there working when Our Helping Hands group showed up, but we worked hard cleaning the kitchen and did some painting. Other volunteers kept taking our brooms and cleaning items, but it was good to see so many people trying to help. Pictured here is Cali from our travel department painting an outside wall in high heels and a dress! Crazy, but she had a meeting to go to afterwards and didn't have time to change.

We had a good time and enjoyed seeing all the things provided by this facility. There were classes for sculpture, jewelry making and others in hopes of helping these children learn ways to earn money and take care of themselves when they get older.

Sandile, pictured here,is the one who got us all together to go to this project. He is great to work with at the area office and is also Bishop of the Young Single Adult Ward in Joburg.

July 24th, we left the office early and headed to Secunda to spend the night, because the following morning we were picking up the Young Women I teach and taking them to an all day stake activity at the stake center in Benoni (over an hour from Secunda). We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast (that didn't have breakfast or heat and it was cold), but we survived and it was cheap.

We picked up the girls at 7AM at the Church and loaded all their gear into the trunk. We thought it would be fun to listen to their conversations, maybe get to know them a bit better as they talk to each other, but it never occurred to us that they would be talking in their native language- Setswana or Zulu, I think! We couldn't understand a word they said all the way to Benoni.





We arrived, got the girls unloaded and their bedding tranfered to the Stake YW president's truck, as they were spending the night at their house. The activity lasted until 10 pm. We made sure they were registered and everyone knew they were there, then said our goodbyes. They were happy to be on this adventure and could have cared that we were leaving them there.





On Sunday, we attended church at Benoni and found the girls right away and sat next to them during Sacrament meeting. They said they had a great time. Their activity on Saturday was being called on missions and making schedules and learning all that would have to be done if they were called on missions. One of the girls was called to the US and the food they told he we eat in the US was hotdogs! They seemed to enjoy it but said it was hard work...ha. They had a testimony meeting and then that evening they had a dance where they learned how to square dance (really?). Line dancing might have been more fun, but they had a good time anyway. I think just being able to go to an activity was a novelty for them. We are so glad that we were able to take them and it allowed me to get to know them better. They are great girls!



July 25 was our son Ryan's birthday...Happy Birthday Son! I remember the day you were born, the nurse said, "Oh what a perfect haircut he has...like he went to the barbers right before he came out. They also said he was a butterball...not so...he was long and skinny...only weighed 6 lbs 2 oz. Those nurses must have been on something...Ha. It was a great day!




July 17-25 was the Ukhozi FM trip to Salt Lake. I will report that on my next blog. Until then...good night.