Family Visit, A Full House and Cute Kids

We had a visit from our niece, Kaitlyn Phillips, and her husband Tim.  They were passing through for a few days on their way to a game reserve down by Durban.  Enjoyed catching up on their lives and going out for good food while they were with us.  We are standing in the back garden of the temple. We had just finished a session and were on our way to dinner.

Just us!

Brent, Charlene, Allan and I had been doing training at a Ward Family History Discovery Day event. Afterward, we were served KFC, juice and rolls.  It was WONDERFUL!  These darling boys were very patient and waited until everyone else had their food before they got theirs.

This a a view of the gardens at the Area Offices.  There is a Koi pond just to the left of the path in the middle. It is a lovely place with a stream running through it, a little wooden bridge and lots of park benches.

Thought you might like to see what the family history centre looks like on a typical Tuesday morning.  These families were all either French speaking from the Democratic Republic of the Congo or were Portuguese speaking from Angola or Mozambique.  If I remember correctly, on this day there were 43 families with about 23 children.  We have translators within the Area offices who will come into the centre to help us when we have non-English speaking patrons.  However, there are times when we are on our own to help and prepare these sweet people for their first time (and, possibly their only time) in the temple.  We know we are getting help from the Spirit when we can communicate without translators and accomplish all that we need to do.  

Most of the time the families arrive by bus or airplane the night before and are with us bright and early on Tuesday.  Their day is over around 6:00 pm; so, it makes for a long day for everyone, especially the little ones.

These first three photos are self-explanatory.....it's a full house!

We have a toy box and the younger kids are usually in that area in the middle of the centre.....

The older siblings will normally go to the sofas to read or sit on the side with coloring books.....We have Family History coloring books in English, French and Portuguese.  We allow the children to take the books with them when they leave.

While the parents are in the temple, the children are brought to the "Gatehouse" to wait until it is their turn to go inside the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity to their parents.

 

There are games and toys in the Gatehouse and snacks are provided.  There is a room with two cribs, two dressing rooms with showers, a kitchen and this common area.

We play music and sing children's Primary songs.....when the time is close, we help the children dress in the white clothes for the sealing ordinance.  

 

This young man was remarkable.  He managed to let us know that he plays the cello and another musical instrument.  He read Book of Mormon stories to the younger children while they were waiting.  Very nice and very personable!  Spoke a wee bit of English  ;)

The young man in the middle was quite a character and took a great deal of delight in teasing his older brother which is the boy on the left.  He had an infectious laugh that had us all laughing.  Kids are kids regardless of where they live or the language they speak.

This beautiful young lady was an older sister to about 4 or 5 of the other children.

This adorable little one everyone wanted to keep and take home.....she was quite the little mother as I watched her kiss the doll baby and take care of it.

As I said before.....it is a long day, especially for the little ones.  We were very, very glad to have older sisters for this sweetie. Some of these children have never seen white people and there are at least 4 sisters helping in the Gatehouse during the two different shifts - most of us white and some wearing white dresses.  We don't speak their language and I am sure it must seem very strange to the ones that are too young to understand all that is going on.

Here is another one that I could have taken home - love the attitude.

Some I could never coax to smile for the camera.......

It took some convincing, but I finally got a darling smile from this little one!

These two are looking pretty tired but it won't be much longer for them.

Love the beads!

The kids love to have their pictures taken and, of course, have to look at the picture after it is taken.  I have never seen rude or unruly children when helping at the Gatehouse.  They are always polite, happy and helpful.  The older children ALWAYS help to take care of the younger children whether it is their sibling or not.  A lot of the children are shy but I think that is because of the language barrier in most cases.

I love Tuesdays when we have several families come to see us.  It is truly beautiful chaos and it is a lot of fun.