Our Mission to South Africa

Hello family and friends.  We are serving a mission for our church in South Africa.  We have been assigned to the Africa Southeast Area office serving as executive secretary.  We are excited to help in the area of the world on a mission.  Because we will be serving in the office, our posts might be a little mundane, however there will be trips and visits that will be so exciting to post.  For example, in July we will be participating in a Rhino Rescue to help protect this endangered animal.  So, off we go to South Africa for our 18 month mission.  Once we left San Jose airport, the adventure began.

Chuck's brother, Curt and his wife Michelle, were on the same flight to Salt Lake City.  That was a comfort!

5 Days in the MTC

We checked into the MTC on June 1, 2015 for 5 days of training before heading over to Johannesburg.  It was nice that Kelly and Tessa were able to drive us down to Provo from their home in Farmington.  It wasn't overly dramatic or difficult saying goodbye to them knowing we would see them again in 5 days!  Just in case you didn't know where we were going, we pointed it out on the big map in the hall.  Elder Mike Taylor is a former member of the Saratoga Ward.  He and his wife oversee the training and comfort for all of the missionary couples.  It couldn't have been a better week because they were close by taking such good care of us!

. 

The first two weeks in the Africa Southeast Area

Once we arrived in Johannesburg, the Jones's gave us some good long days of training.  There is still a lot to learn, but life goes on.  Our first Sunday we visited the branch in the Munsieville Township with the Barton's.  We were surprised when we ran into Josemar and Cecilia from Angola in the ASEA office.  They both are returned missionaries and were sealed in the Johannesburg Temple. What a great example for the members in Luanda.  They were in town for a temple attendance week with their daughter, Amanda.  They are expecting their second baby.  Joy of joys to see them.  After about 10 days of training the Jones' head for home for a much deserved rest and relaxation with their family.  We will never be able to replace them, but hopefully they trained us well!

Father's Day in Soweto

Father's Day we found ourselves attending the Protea Glen Ward in the Soweto Stake.  Elder Johnson came up with a wonderful father's day gift for the members.  He set up a shoe shining booth and any man who wanted to sit a spell, got his shoes shined and a delightful visit - all for free.  We visited this ward building back in 2000.  It was good to get back and see the growth in the area and the wards.

Good days in Johannesburg

Really good preparation days in Johannesburg consist of exercising in our living room while watching the BYU station, shopping for wonderful African treasures, and enjoying our first steak dinner at home.

Interesting Weekend in SA - June, 2015

This is a little slice of life for us in this wonderful country.  Because of power problems, they have 4 hour blocks of "load shedding" when you are without electricity.  Liz was just staring dinner when the lights went out.  Lucky for us the Wilson's (our office couple in the Portugal Porto Mission) had leftovers so we ate and played 3 hours of Mexican Train dominoes.  Great evening!  Today was our 3rd Sunday in South Africa.  We visited the Cosmo City Branch.  This little girl just wanted to touch my hair, so I tied her shoes while she stroked away.  The chapels for a lot of our congregations consist of portables that they call Speed Space.  It works really well.  Instant chapel and rooms with a central, covered area for congregating complete with a makeshift baptismal font.  Inexpensive but very functional!