Saturday, April 6th - Family History Conference

Tshabalala -  Family History Speaker

Saturday we got up and at breakfast at our hotel. We then took off for the Bloemfontein chapel. We drove through some very nice neighborhoods and were surprised to see such a beautiful chapel.

We were told that the plans for the chapel were mixed up with a chapel that was supposed to be built in the Islands and they had most of the chapel built before they realized their mistake. This chapel and their membership is still small, but they are growing and the chapel is loved by the members there. The Family History Conference was organized by Sister Nontuli, our PA person for that area. She put together a list of speakers who were mostly non-members, but very knowledgeable about African history. The keynote speaker was Dr. Mathole Serofo Motshekga, the Chief Whip of the Majority Party. The Chief Whip, is the most senior party Parliamentary Office Bearer; is the political manager and strategist for ANC Caucus and acts as a communications link between ANC MP's and the Executive (Cabinet). He is also Very interested in African roots and geneology and a history buff, plus he is friends with Dominic Tshabalala, our area office Public Affairs specialist, who also spoke at this conference. From those two we learned much about African history and then we heard from a couple of people from the War Museum in Bloemfontein and a man who is a DNA genealogy buff, who shared some very interesting facts on DNA and it's association with different areas of Africa, to tell a person where they came from. Apparently, the church helped the war museum transfer thousands of documents into digital files that can be accessed by the computer. The Branch President then gave a beautiful testimony of the importance of family history. They then broke into five classes, each one a different level of family history knowledge, from those first starting to those who were very experienced.

Elder Murdock, Dr. Motshekga, ?, Stake President, Elder Kyle

Break for lunch at family history conference

After the conference split into the different classes, Sister Nontuli asked us and the Murdocks to take the speakers out to lunch. Unfortunately, we had told one of the other Senior missionary couples that we would have lunch at their home with four other couples after the conference. The Wyatts were fixing us lunch. We didn't know what to do, so I suggested that we if it was okay with the Wyatt's that we take the speakers there for lunch with us...supposedly six extra people. The Wyatt's said okay and Elder Murdock sent one of the couples to buy more food. Instead of six people, there were more like 16 and the Wyatt's home was very small, but we made it work. I helped serve up food and we ate a mexican meal that consisted of tortillas, mince (hamburger), guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes and cheese, etc. Everyone made their own. Dr. Motshekga sat on the couch and noticed a triple combination sitting on the table next to the couch. He opened it up and it opened to the picture/diagram of the twelve tribes of Israel, and he said, "What is this? This is what I was talking about. Where did you get this? What is this book of Moses and Abraham? I must have this book." Those were Sister Wyatt's scriptures, and she was not going to let him have them. Luckily Dominique went out to his car and got his scriptures and told Dr. Motshekga that he could borrow them until he got him his own copy. It was amazing...just more evidence that the Lord has his hand in all of this success in Africa. After the luncheon, we got back on the road and traveled to a B&B just before the border of Lesotho, in a town called Lady Branch. We checked in there for the night and Everett and I relaxed while the Murdocks visited the Olsons, a MLS couple assigned to Lesotho, but living in Lady Branch. They watched Saturday mornings conference, while we got much needed rest.

Lady Branch Lodging

Friday, April 5th, off to Bloemfontein, Africa

Visit to Free State

Bloemfontein & Lesotho

After a rocky night waking up three times because my mind would not shut off and jet lag had set in, we got up and went into the area office with the Hatch's. Sister Hatch trained Sister Murdock on the computer and we attended another meeting with Sean Donnelly and Ukhozi FM radio, a local radio station who are community based and try to supply people who need help with those who can help them. We told them about the church and our desire to help people and suggested that they partner with us to help those in need. We gave them a tour of the area office and told them of our humanitarian efforts in Africa, as well as Helping Hands projects.

They were sweet people trying to make a difference and hopefully the church can find a way to help them. The Hatches went to the airport to head for Utah and we packed up our stuff and headed to Bloemfontein with the Murdocks. It was a five hour drive, so we got to see some of the African countryside. We learned about DLA (deer like animals), because there are so many varieties of deer that no one can identify them all. Other than cows, we didn't see any other animals and we could have been in the United States, as the countryside was very similar to places we have been in Arizona and Texas. We stopped at a large, very nice service station for gas. It had a Wimpy's restaurant, which is very popular in Africa and considered fast food, but no food is fast in Africa. They operate at a slow pace in the way they talk and serve at restaurants. So far most people have spoken English, but we still cannot understand most of what they say. Zulu is also a popular language. Afrikaans is a white person language that sounds like German (very long words), but is supposed to be Dutch. There are plenty of them as well in South Africa and especially Bloemfontein and Cape Town. After about five hours, we arrived in Bloemfontein and met up with three other couples for dinner at a mall restaurant. The mall was VERY upscale and the other couples kept saying, "This is not Africa." The entire town was very nice and just like being in the States. It was very hard to believe we were in Africa, except for the large number of Africans working in the mall. The couples were very nice, some were there there as MLS (missionary leader support) and some as office workers or temple workers. They were a fun group and we had a nice dinner. Everett had a plate piled high with shrimp, at least 30 good sized shrimp. The food was delicious. We then went to a hotel and stayed the night. We were very tired.

Thursday, April 4th, BIG NEWS!

Johannesburg Temple at night

We were picked up by the Hatch's at 7:45 this morning to go into the area office. The office is right next door to the Temple, about 10 minutes drive from our flat. We are both suffering from jet lag, but ready to meet the Area Public relations director and everyone else at the office where we will be working. As soon as we arrive, Sean Donnelly, the Area PA Director, says he wants to meet with us before the meeting and we join him in his office. He welcomes us and then starts in by saying that he had been inspired to change our mission to Durban. He said the Durban PA couple have been out ten months and know the ins and outs of the area, so he thought it would be good to bring them into the office and put us out in the field until their mission is over in December. Then we would come back to the area office in Johannesburg to take their place and the new missionaries would go to Durban to take ours. He said he wanted to do that from now on with all the missionaries in the area office, so he would have experienced couples to work there. That was quite a surprise, since we had just unpacked our stuff and didn't know anything about Durban. He also said he had changed the Durban mission and was taking Madagascar (French Speaking) and the other islands by Madagascar out of our mission and he would cover them, since he speaks French and was the Mission President there before this assignment. He added Cape Town to our mission, as the PA couple there, Roberts (Sherry Toler's brother and his wife) were going home and they were not replacing them. Capetown is about 1200 miles from Durban. We will also have Lesotho, Swaziland and other small places in between. He then brought in the Murdocks from Durban, who were just as shocked as we were. They loved Durban and wanted to stay there, where they had established lots of relationships. She even teared up at the news, but we are both here to do the Lord's work and if that is what he wants, we were glad to do our part...until he told us that we would be leaving with the Murdocks the next day to go on a trip to Bloemfontein, Lesotho and Ladysmith (and would not arrive back to Johannesburg until the following Monday evening. Considering how tired we were, this was crazy news. It was a very difficult trip to get here. We had to go back to the apartment and pack up our stuff again and then we had to leave the next day to drive several hours by car with the Murdocks, who we did not know for a four day road trip to other countries in Africa! We just looked at them blurry-eyed and said "Okay."

Dianna & Sean Donnelly,
SE Africa Public Affairs Director

Wednesday, April 3rd - arrive in Johannesburg!

Johannesburg! Finally here with 18 months of  luggage

We have finally arrived! We were so glad to get off the airplane. We got through customs with no problems and then were off to get our mound of luggage. The five Elders and one sister going to Mozambique looked lost and approached us to see what they do next. I felt kind of sorry for them, but we sent them to the airlines booking desk and they sent them to their flight. It's hard to imagine being 18 or 19, first time out of the United States and not sure what to do. By now they are in Mozambique and learning about the African people.




We were met at the airport by Elder and Sister Hatch, the couple we are replacing. They were very nice and got us back to our flat while filling us in on driving on the left side of the road and suggestions for safety while driving or walking. Apparently there are a lot of 'grab and snatch' occurrences, where you come to a stoplight and if your phone or purse is visible from the street, they use a spark plug and break your window quickly and snatch the item. The advice was to keep things out of sight. Sometimes beggars will get close to your car asking for handouts, but they are really scoping out the inside of the car and relaying the info to the snatchers. Elder Hatch said all we had to do was eliminate the opportunity (by putting our things out of sight) and we would have no problem. They took us to our flat, which was on the third floor of the apartment building. We lugged all our luggage to the elevator and up to the apartment while getting instructions on where to park, how to use the electronic gate, etc. Then they left us to rest up and get picked up at 6 pm for dinner. One of the other couples had purchased food for us, so we had bread, milk, eggs, juice, peanut butter, fruit, etc. It was great not to have to worry
about that stuff. We tried to communicate with our children, but the email did not work and we had no phones, so we put in a call to our IT person from the church who was not available until the next night. We started unpacking our stuff. The apartment was large with one large bedroom and a small office, plus a large bath, large kitchen and large living/dining area with big windows. All windows in Johannesburg have bars on them and there was a gate to our apartment with a lock on it and a patio before reaching our front door. I was happy that there was a mall across the street from the complex, in case we needed groceries, etc. After we unpacked, we took a two-hour nap and then Hatches picked us up for dinner and took us to their favorite restaurant where the food was indeed great. We were told that we were expected for a meeting at the area office at 8 am the next morning. We slept okay, but were still pretty wiped out.

Flight to Joburg

Wednesday, April 2nd . . .
our flight to Joburg was to leave at 9PM London time. We went through security and after the most thorough pat down that I have ever had, we got through security and walked to the closest store so Everett could get a drink, but when he reached for his wallet, he realized that he had left his wallet in one of the trays when he went through security. He went back to find it but it was no where to be found. WE said a prayer and the guy checked one more place and found it in the bottom of a tray on the other side of the security area stacked under another tray...just one more miracle.

This flight lasted 10. 5 hours. This flight was the hardest, because neither of us could get comfortable on the plane and could not sleep. They served good food, but it was too cramped to stretch our legs. finally I dozed a short while and when I woke up  I discovered that Elder Kyle and the man next to him were not in their seats. I could hear them talking in the back of the dark plane. I promptly put my legs up on their seats and enjoyed some relief.  When EK finally came back to his seat, he told me that the guy wanted to know about the church... He seemed really interested and Elder Kyle was beaming from the conversation. He will definitely follow-up with this man.

Tuesday, April 2nd at the London Heathrow Airport

We arrived at London Heathrow Airport after an eight-hour flight. We were in economy, which means no leg room, so when the person in front of you puts their seat back, it crushes your knees. Not very comfortable! It seemed to take forever and because of the time change, we arrived about 10:00 AM London time.

Luckily, Shannon fixed us up with American Airlines Ambassador Club/Admirals Club. It was at another terminal, but we got on the tram and went to find it. What a great place to spend 12 hours in the airport. They had private showers, which is basically a total bathroom with a toilet and sink as well as the shower. They also had recliners that fully reclined and a place that was quiet. There was all kinds of free foods and drinks. GREAT. We slept a little, showered, ate and relaxed. We are getting closer to Africa. I will write more tomorrow.

Monday, April 1st - leaving MTC

Today we got ready to leave the Missionary Training Center. We got on the bus at 8 am and it was full of Elders and Sisters all going to the airport. We were sorry to leave the MTC, but also excited to finally be going to Africa! They had to bring an extra truck for our luggage and the bus was a full-sized bus, which apparently leaves every day with the same amount of missionaries.

The other missionaries waiting for the same flight to London

When we got to the airport our plane was supposed to leave at 11:35 am. We went through security and headed off to the gate. We soon discovered that 19 elders and sisters going to Leone France were on the same flight. They were so excited and happy to be going. Unfortunately, our plane was not ready to go until 3 pm because of some technical problems, which meant that the whole group of them going to France were going to miss their connection for London. That's okay because they ended up on our flight to London as well. Fun having so many travel companions, plus another senior couple who were going to London to serve their mission. While we were waiting one of the missionaries from Argentina who flew to Provo to learn French (and spoke Fluent Spanish) saw his parents walk by the area where we were all waiting for the plane to get fixed. They had just flown in from Argentina to SLC  to go to General Conference the following weekend. If we had left on time, he never would have seen his parents (who hadn't seen him in six weeks). Needless to say it was a joyous family reunion. His mom looked at me and said, "Is it okay that we spend a little time with him before he goes...Ha. I pretended I was in charge and said "No problem, if the Lord wants you to see each other before he goes on his mission, far be it for me to stand in the way." Lots of miracles since we have been here. It was a long day and we arrived finally in London with a 12-hour layover before we were to go to Johannesburg. More later on our flight to Africa.