Our Mission to Swaziland & Johannesburg South Africa

We just returned from Johannesburg today. We drove over on Tuesday, so Bob could go to an ENT for his sore ear. Wednesday and today there was a senior couple gathering in Johannesburg for the couples in our mission. We first drove straight to the Mission Office to say "good-bye" to Elder Powell who was leaving to return home to New Zealand!

After the doctor appointment, we did a bit of shopping at Thrupps and Rosebank Mall's African Craft Market, then we went to dinner at La Rosa Mexican Restaurant on Tuesday night. It was just the Wagners, Boyers, Fugals, Jensens, Sister Leavitt and Bob and I. Bob woke up Tuesday morning with a really sore lower back but we went to SA anyway.... Tuesday night it was feeling worse and Wednesday morning he could hardly get out of bed and could barely walk! So he stayed in the little bungalow where we slept this time, behind the mission home, all day long on Wednesday! 😥 I went to a fabric warehouse, Chamdor, with the Jensens, then he insisted I go to lunch with everyone at a FUN restaurant called Olives and Plates.

I also went to the temple with the other couples in the afternoon, but Bob just couldn't do it. That night at 7:00 pm, he was able to walk very slowly down the driveway to the mission home for a light supper and visiting, even though he was really in pain. This morning, they were going to a museum, etc. but there was no way he could do that .... so we just drove home, stopping at a couple of places to pick up a few things we can't find in Swaziland. (Salted tortilla chips, corn tortillas, enchilada sauce, refried beans and flour tortillas at Azteca.)

Elder Powell from New Zealand

The traffic in Johannesburg is awful. This was 6 pm

on our way to the Mexican restaurant.... We aren't use to traffic like

this at all, living in Swaziland!

I always get a kick out of the spelling on signs here....

This fabric warehouse was HUGE!!

I found this cute African fabric for the YW to make these cute cases for

their Personal Progress books, journals and For the Strength of Youth

pamphlets, all of which they JUST received for the FIRST time! I got them from

Johannesburg 2 weeks ago.... (They have waited for 2 years to receive YW materials.....!? They will need to get started to finish in 1 1/2 years before the program is changed.) 😊

Lunch at Olives and Plates on Wednesday

Left to Right: Boyers, Sister Palmer, Wagners, Jensens, Sister Willis, Sister Foxx,

Leavitts, Fugals, Me, and the Todds (from Denver, who we just met yesterday)!

Fancy schmancy dishes we ordered...

The desserts were amazing, but we didn't order any.

All 14 of us serving in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission

(We had no one to take the picture but wanted the Leavitts in it too, so they took a selfie!

Julie's Miranda entered the MTC on Wednesday in Provo and

was able to stop by Temple Square to see Sister Spilsbury on her way!
We are SO proud of these granddaughters serving missions!!

It is FALL here! We saw a LOT more trees in Johannesburg with leaves

changing color than here in Swaziland. Many trees have already dropped

their leaves and are bare there! But I only got this one photo....

We also saw flowers there that we haven't seen before.

I just LOVE all of the flowering trees

here in Africa!! They are GORGEOUS!!

Interesting bushes....

We stopped at a Burger King for lunch!
(Something we don't have in Swaziland!)

We met a cute family that is moving from Joburg to
Swaziland in September. They gave us their name and phone number.
Their little girl had the most BEAUTIFUL big brown eyes! I wanted a
picture of her. But when she smiled her cute smile, she scrunched up her eyes...

Google maps are great to get us around Johannesburg when we have
no idea where we are going! But today, it took us on a crazy route through
townships.... I snapped this quick pic.

I never get tired of the beautiful mountains between Joburg
and the Swaziland border... You just can't capture the scenery out the window!!

Saturday night and Sunday, we had several of our elders come over to use our laptops and WiFi to Skype home with their families in Brazil, Tonga, UT, ID, and Queen Creek, AZ for Mother's Day. We also got to Skype with Sister Spilsbury in SLC and Elder Wold in OK (for just a few minutes when he was skyping with his family). It was GREAT!!

Temple Square missionaries get to have their family come ONCE during their mission.

SO Julie's whole family went to SLC and had Maybree (Sister Spilsbury) take them on an hour tour and then have lunch on Saturday. On Sunday, they went to her Sacrament Meeting and all five of the kids sang a special musical number! SO....since Maybree didn't need to call home on Mother's Day, they said she could call US in Swaziland! FUN!

Below, Elder Pace (who left on Monday morning for Madagascar),

Elder Nogueira from Brazil and Elder Siale from Tonga play around

with silly suckers while Elder Sinclair was skyping his family. (I also made

carmel popcorn for the elders who came to Skype at our flat.)

We got up EARLY last Monday, to pick up Elder Myeni in Manzini and take him to
King Swati III Airport 1 1/2 hours away, to fly to Johannesburg, then to Kenya
and on to Sierra Leone where he will serve the last 18 months of his mission. He has served here in his home country, while waiting for 6 months for a visa to Cape Town ! He was finally re-assigned to the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission.

The sunrise was SO pretty!