Happy New Year!! We are here in Provo at the MTC. Checked in this morning. We still don’t have visas, but the travel department (after they finally received our applications last Tuesday) said they thought they could rush them through and so to come on as scheduled. So far we have oriented, and divided into study groups. We will have the opportunity of learning how to share and teach the gospel to “investigators”. These investigators are volunteers with temple recommends, but pretending to be non-members. They told us we would be televised so that the teachers could observe us. He said these episodes were sometimes very funny and could be compared to America’s Funniest Home Videos. Sounds a little scary to me. It should be a fun week. We have already met some other great couples. Elder and Sister Brown from Virginia we met at the training session in Salt Lake last Thursday. They are going to be assistant area auditors in Trinidad (West Indies Area).
Our auditing training was helpful. They gave us a 3 inch binder full of instructions, charts, diagrams, etc. which we can use in training priesthood leaders. There was also included a DVD with the same materials, but we will probably be in some areas where computers, projectors, etc. will not be available or we will only have a small number to train. The binder must weigh at least 5 pounds, so we were glad when they offered to mail them to us in Africa. We barely made the weight limit on our baggage coming to Salt Lake. One impression is that the Church is a huge business and is run very well. Most large business would be envious with our small amount of financial defalcations (theft by personnel) and losses. The procedures are all there to prevent such losses, but there are problems when procedures are not followed or known. Thus our job is to help train those who handle the Lord’s funds. We are a little nervous, but excited too.
January 15, 2012
My 74th birthday and Tom and I are living in Duke’s Ct. in Johannesburg, South Africa. This evening we had the Howes, Howells, and Elder Lewis (other senior missionaries) over for cake and ice cream. Tom made a great chocolate cake and fixed dinner for me. He is definitely a keeper.
Early last Monday morning we left on a bus for the Salt Lake Airport and 26 hours later we found ourselves in the airport in Johannesburg at 5:00 pm Tuesday. We didn’t sleep very well on the plane and it seems like we skipped over most of Tuesday. Elder Ralph and Sister Edie Howes greeted us and have been very good hosts taking us shopping, introducing us to everyone at the area office and taking us to church today. They will also take us to the ward we have been assigned to, Tembisa, next week.
It is hard not to compare Africa to our first mission country, Japan. It is not as densely populated as Tokyo. The landscape is beautiful, green and colorful. So far we have had a thunderstorm every afternoon except yesterday. The storm on Friday was strong enough to break the glass in one of our flat’s windows that was slightly open. All the signs are in English and some in Afrikaans. When we went to the temple yesterday there was Afrikaan signs on some of the doors. The food is good, somethings are a little better – the melons and pineapple – somethings not as good – the ground beef and bacon. Our apartment is three or four times the size of the one in Kichijoji. We have a living room, a full size dining table, and a decent kitchen. The bedroom is about the size of the one at home and has a king-size bed. The flat is well furnished and we have no complaints. We were able to hook up to the internet immediately and the vonage phone. So we have made and received some calls from home.
We will be traveling. One of our first assignments will be to go to Durban, SA. There have been several new local assistant area auditors called. We will train some of them in their responsibilities. We will be working with the Howells who have been patiently training us. They go home in August; we will need to then be able to train their replacements. The missionary couples here talk about the trips to animal parks they have taken. I’m sure we will have those opportunites also and will take any who come to visit to see lions, hippos, and other wild animals.
January 22, 2012
Our first big rain since our window was broken. A couple of wastebaskets and towels prevented any water damage. Hopefully someone will come tomorrow to replace the window.
Some interesting things we have noticed about the people here: 95% of them are black or colored. There are a few Indians and these women wear veils over most of their faces. The black women wear colorful clothes without much regard to whether their head scarves and other attire match in color or design. Everyone we have met is very friendly. Their big white smiles are pleasing. The congregations sing out more than the ones at home. They have a special handshake. Shake hands normal, grab thumbs and then palms again. The people dress like they were of moderate income, but their houses are quite small and some houses are ramshackle huts with tin roofs.
Yesterday we ventured out to another shopping mall. Killarney Mall across the street is very convenient for buying groceries and we have gone there several times. We wanted to buy another phone which had a speaker function so that we could both listen and talk at the same time. We went to a Makro store about 24 km from here. Our GPS guided us there ok. The freeways are very good. The Makro store is like a giant Cosco with cartons of goods stacked to the ceiling. A giant forklift gets them down or puts them up in place. We didn’t notice that the prices were much cheaper than in Killarney, but there was definitely more choices. We couldn’t find powdered lemonade, but we did get a phone. We also looked for a printer, but decided to get the one we saw at the Matrix store in Killarney Mall.
Tuesday night we went with the couples again to see the movie “I Bought A Zoo” with Matt Damon. It is supposedly a true story of a family in San Diego. I liked the story and the little girl in it.
This week the office was carpeted. Our office was done late Thursday night and Friday morning. We had to move everything except the heavy furniture into the supply closet. Friday morning Tom and I had a welcome interview with President Cook of the Area Presidency. He is over the auditing function for the Area. This is his first assignment as a general authority. I am looking forward to working with him. By the time our interview was concluded we could move into our office. The Howells had left for the morning because we were unable to get in the office. So Tom and I proceeded to untangle all the cords and hook up our phones and computers again for the four of us in the office. It took over an hour, but we got it done with the exception of being able to connect to the internet. We called the tech people and in a few minutes they finished the job. We felt pretty good about being able to get all the wires right.Thursday I was surprised when a few of the office employees said they were going to celebrate my birthday. They brought in cake and ice cream and a platter of chicken, potato wedges and corn on cob. They bought vanilla pudding in a carton and poured in on the cake (no icing). It was very good. Since we couldn't work due to the carpet, we walked around the beautiful grounds surrounding the office and then next door to the temple. The temple will be closed for the next two weeks for cleaning. We had an appointment with President Armstrong. He set us both apart as ordinance workers before we went on the 5:00 session.
Rebecca Jacob’s (Tom's sister) funeral will be this coming Monday morning. Tom and I are sad not to be there. He wrote some memories of his sister and sent them to his nephews, Doug and Reed. I am happy we got to visit with her before we left Salt Lake.
