FRIDAY
We got up early and drove to Johannesburg from Nelspruit.
It was another beautiful, scenic drive!
We stopped for a little break at ALZU and the girls found these
Squeezy treats ~ sweetened condensed milk in a tube in all different flavors!
Our first stop in Johannesburg, was Olives and Plates, where all the senior couples in our mission were eating lunch together. We missed their Thanksgiving gathering the day before, because we were at Kruger with the girls. So we just stopped by to say "hello" and meet the Groesbecks, a new couple serving in Nelspruit.
Senior couples in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission
L to R: E/S Oliver (Eden, UT), E/S Todd (CO), E/S Fugal (ID), Us, E/S Rees (Cedar City), Pres. and Sister Leavitt (Cedar City), E/S Truman (Cedar City),
and E/S Groesbeck (Mapleton, UT)
We went from Olives and Plates to Rosebank Mall to the big Arts and Crafts Market there. First, we got some lunch and it was a hot day, so we got "Crushers" at Fourno's. YUM! (Lemon & Mint, Apricot Peach, and Lemon & Cucumber)
A Christmas tree at Rosebank Mall
After shopping for a few more souvenirs, we went back to Fourno's for gelato!
The office was closed, since the office couples were at the senior couples' gathering,
but we took the girls to see the mission office, MTC, S&I office and the Florida chapel which are all in the same complex.
From there we checked into The Protea Hotel nearby.
It is named after these protea flowers.
This was the view from our window at the hotel that night!
Bob's oxtail soup at the Porterhouse Restaurant where we went for dinner.
It looks like all we did was EAT!! Haha!
It's just that we usually remembered to take photos whenever we were sitting down to eat.
The end of another WONDERFUL day with our kids!!
SATURDAY
The view where we ate breakfast at the Protea Hotel
We started the day doing baptisms at the Johannesburg Temple. We got there at a perfect time....between two big groups of youth! Bob did the baptisms and confirmations with Amy & Ashlyn. We walked around the temple afterwards,
taking lots of pictures of the beautiful grounds.
The cute young man who took our picture, had to get a selfie with us!
Jamie took this panorama photo of the Johannesburg Temple from the back.
...
The view of Johannesburg from behind the temple
It was a beautiful day, but a bit windy!
The flowers were SO pretty!
Taking a shortcut between the temple and the parking garage...
We stopped by Cambano and Sons ~ a very fancy store with lots of souvenirs
and they did their last bit of shopping in South Africa.
This is the entryway to the showroom.
We went to the HUGE Mall of Africa before heading to the airport and got some lunch
at the SPUR Restaurant, one of MANY of the most popular restaurant
in South Africa and Swaziland.
South Africa's famous malva pudding with caramel sauce and ice cream!
Strolling the mall before we headed to the airport....
O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa
Jamie got a text at SPUR, saying their flight was delayed an hour. That meant that they would miss the connecting flight in Kenya and would have to stay there 24 hours to wait for the next flight!! So Jamie stood in line for an hour and they were finally able to find a flight straight through to Atlanta, GA with 3 available seats!! Hooray! They left at 9:00 pm and arrived in Atlanta at 6:30 in the morning Atlanta time (which was 17 hours later)! The flight was an hour late leaving, so they missed their connection in Atlanta and had to wait for 5 more hours for another flight from Atlanta to Phoenix! They finally arrived around 4:00 pm Sunday afternoon, which was 1:00 am our time on Monday morning in Swaziland (27 hours later)!! We were SO relieved to get her text that they landed safely in Phoenix!!
Those 8 days FLEW BY!!! It was SO hard to have the girls leave us....
One last good-bye.... What a memorable week!!!
Amy and Ashlyn saved their money and paid for ALL of their flights themselves!
We drove home through a thunderstorm and arrived at 8:00 pm, Saturday night, just as the girls were getting ready to board their flight. We sure miss them!!
Jamie sent this as they were waiting for their flight to Atlanta. In spite of all
the hassles with their flights, these three were troopers!! They ALWAYS smile!! 💗😊
SUNDAY
The Primary children (all 27 of them) did a GREAT job in their Primary Program!
After the program, I went into Primary and gave each one of them a CTR ring that my cousin Beverly (who came with Rick's group) brought to me. (Sister Truman added some on Friday, when we saw her, because there were so MANY children, who came to be in the Program!) Julie's girls, Cambryn, Lauryn and Lydia, made testimony gloves at Girls' Camp and Jamie brought them. So I taught them about the five essential parts of a testimony and gave them each a glove with those truths typed on a paper for them to remember each part. They were SO excited!!
This is Sifiso's mom. She came back to church yesterday for the first time in MANY years! She does not speak English and did not attend school so she can't read.
She came to watch her youngest daughter, Ncobile, who has been attending our branch with Sifiso and was in the Primary Program! What a sweet sister! She was baptized in 1993!
Elder Reneer photo bombing our photo....
We were excited today to hear from Arthur Chikoore (on the left), an RM, who was a ZL here, before he finished his mission and returned to Zimbabwe in October.
He baptized his younger brother this weekend and sent this photo!
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