Well, here we are....Sunday night, 30 July, with all of our bags packed, food given away and most of the cleaning done. Tomorrow we will leave for the airport, in the afternoon, for a 16+ hour flight to Atlanta with 2 hours to get through customs & immigration and find our next gate; a four hour flight to Salt Lake City THEN a 6 1/2 hour layover until we board our one hour flight home to St. George. So, roughly, we are looking at a 30+ hour day before we get back home. We are excited to see family, neighbors and friends!
What a ride this has been!
July has been the busiest month since we have been here with over 500 patrons visiting the Family History Centre. This last week flew by because we were all by ourselves and we were busy, busy, busy every day! We had large groups come to the temple from Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo, Uganda, Angola, & Madagascar. From South Africa they came from Cape Town, East London, Port Elizabeth and Durban. Plus many members that live in the Jo'burg area. We truly love these beautiful people. They are friendly, warm, welcoming, humble, faithful and spiritual. It is not unusual to have them tell you about dreams they have had. Dreams where ancestors have come to them and told them they needed their temple ordinances done so they could progress. It has been an amazing experience - one we will miss but will cherish always.
The last of the pictures!
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| This picture doesn't do justice to this beautiful quilt. It was a gift to us from the couple, Evan and Diana Lambinon, we trained in the Alberton Ward. The ward where we froze every Sunday. Sister Lambinon made the quilt which features all of the symbols of South Africa. She said that she wanted us to have something to remind us of South Africa once we were back home. We were absolutely "blown away" when we saw this. The back is red fleece. When I first opened the package I saw the red fleece and started to laugh because I thought it was a red fleece blanket since the Alberton Ward is so cold! I thought it was an appropriate gift coming from the Lambinons because everyone bundles up when they go to church there. When I opened the "blanket" and saw the quilt all I could say was "oh, my gosh", "oh, my gosh"! We will treasure the quilt and our memories of this great couple for many years to come. |
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| A day out with a few of the temple missionaries. Feeding the giraffe at the Rhino and Lion Game Reserve |
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| We shared our giraffe food with the little guys who were looking on. |
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| She was so gentle. Her eyelashes were to die for....so long and dark. |
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| At one point, she tried to eat the bucket I was holding! |
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| More residents at the reserve! |
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| Beautiful grounds to roam around in at the reserve. |
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| The white lions were active and amazing to observe. You drive through the reserve in your private car and it is advisable to keep your windows rolled up. |
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| Young males! |
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| They really were very cooperative and we got lots of photo ops with them. |
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| This is one of my favorite pictures. She and another female were walking down the middle of the road and she finally decided to step to the side to let the cars pass by. |
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| I think this is a Duiker but I'm not sure. It is definitely one of the smaller antelopes here. |
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| Very friendly little guy. |
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| Beautiful Eland antelope! |
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| Sunday training at the Ridgeway ward. |
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| This is what the parking area outside the area offices looks like when out-of-town and out-of-country patrons pack up to go home. |
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| We liked this shot because these two were in knit hats and winter jackets! It was an absolutely gorgeous day but as you can see in the next picture - it wasn't really cold. However, you must remember that it is winter here and to these people it is very cold. Especially for those coming from the north where it is much warmer than Johannesburg. |
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| Allan in his short sleeve shirt in the middle of winter! The weather here is wonderful! This was our last day to work in the centre and the last time to walk around the temple. We have loved serving as ordinances workers here in the Johannesburg Temple. We hope we will other opportunities to serve as temple workers. |
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| The building behind the man in the center is the "Gate House" where I spent a lot of time watching children who would be joining their parents inside the temple so they could be sealed together as a family. It is on the temple grounds but not attached to the temple. |
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| This was the last day for a month that the temple would be open. They will be closed for approximately 5 weeks for maintenance. |
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| Our monthly dinner group night. We were pioneers who walked and walked and walked to our neighbors flat for a "spud bar". Fun night! Last time we would see most of these missionaries. |
Yes, all good things tend to come to an end......however, we know that good things await us back in the good ol' USA!
Next mission?? Who knows!?!
