Reflections. . . .

Africa and her people have certainly left footprints on our hearts. We will never be quite the same again. We will reflect on this wonderful experience for many years to come. We'll remember, with fondness, the almost 800 missionaries we were blessed to know and share time with.

We will think on the many challenges the Africans were faced with when they listened to the missionaries and embraced the gospel. Some were disowned by parents, many were persecuted by family and friends, but they persevered and stood strong in spite of all the opposition. They found a new "family" and new friends and a different lifestyle that brought them a peace they had never experienced before. Their lives were forever changed and they were so anxious and willing to share that new found happiness with others.

We watched missionaries come from all over the world and find "brothers" and "sisters" in the MTC that they will never forget. Relationships they will treasure for a lifetime as they learned to love and respect each other's culture, background, and tradition.

We will never forget the time we spent in the temple with many of the African Elders as they received their own endowments and then to be able to also do the endowments for their parents and grandparents and witness the sealing of them to each other. Several African missionaries were also sealed to their parents and it was a very sweet experience not only for them, but for the rest of us as well.

We loved seeing Brother Mark Mocke, our MTC Manager, interact with the missionaries and help them to have fun when it was time to have fun. He will always be famous for his jokes and riddles and games. He established a rule that if anyone left their chair out at the dining room table they had to sing a Primary song. We heard a lot of Primary songs! He also loved to challenge them to a game of ping pong. In eight years there were only a few that could beat him.

Mark is also a powerful teacher and an inspiration to the missionaries and they learn much from him and are motivated by his leadership.

We came to recognize and appreciate all that goes into helping a young man or woman make choices in their lives that lead to his/her becoming a missionary. The love, example, encouragement, and teaching of not only parents, but family, leaders, friends, Bishops, Branch Presidents, Stake Presidents, and others. Then as they enter the MTC to have wonderful teachers, to have the love and support and wisdom of a tremendous Area Presidency and Seventy, to enjoy the helping hand of so many amazing temple workers and senior couples, as well as those dear family history people who come to the MTC and help the missionaries trace their ancestry so they can do the work for many of them while they are here.

We will always have a soft spot in our hearts for those who cooked and cleaned for us at the MTC. They were friendly and kind and their smiles were infectious. Most would have to get up at 4:00 in the morning, leave their homes by 5:00 walking 15 minutes to the train. They would then ride the train for 45 minutes, switch to a different train and ride another 45 minutes and then walk for 30 more minutes to get to the MTC.

Another plus for us was meeting and interacting with so many wonderful couples that served in South Africa. We enjoyed having family home evenings together, going out to dinner, and shopping at the African markets. These couples became dear friends that we will always be grateful for.

We were fortunate to be able to travel when the MTC was closed down for deep cleaning and repairs. We visited the beautiful seaside, saw the incredible Drakensburg Mountains, toured the wine country, and enjoyed a few fantastic safaris in the bush. Africa is beautiful! A huge percentage of her people will never see any of what we did. That makes our hearts sad.

We were amazed at how talented the African people are with their hands. They can take a piece of tin, a block of wood, some beads, paper, fabric, banana leaves, tree roots, or plastic, and turn it into something beautiful. Everything we bought was handcrafted by the Africans, never did we see "Made in China."

Most of all, we feel a deep gratitude to our Father in Heaven for giving us the opportunity to serve in the South Africa MTC. We look back and recognize how our testimonies were strengthened, our knowledge of the gospel enhanced, and our love for the Savior grew even deeper.

We felt the Lord's helping hand every day as we tried to be an influence for good and a righteous example to the missionaries. He guided and inspired us as we taught them and tried to help them focus on what matters most.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Joseph Smith is the Prophet who restored it back to the earth in these latter days. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and goes hand in hand with the Bible. Thomas S. Monson is a living Prophet who, under the Father's direction, teaches and guides us today. For this we will be forever grateful.

Welcome home to the USA! Very surprised and excited to see Robyn at the airport!

Our Family Home Evening Group of Senior Missionary Couples bids us Farewell. . . . Such GREAT people!

Ken and Janet Reber take our place at the MTC

We had this group for two weeks and then turned them over to the new President and his wife. That was not easy. . . . They were teriffic as usual!

The last group we will send off from the MTC.

We were a little teary eyed as we had our departure meeting with this group because we knew it would be our last. We will have one more group come in and have them for two weeks, but the new president and his wife will see them off. With that group, we will have had 766 missionaries come through this MTC on our watch.

This was a wonderful group of missionaries with a lot of talent. We were happy that so many could sing and play the piano because it made our Christmas celebrating very nice.

On the first row, the last one on the right, is Steve and Sylvia Peterson's grandson. He is Stefenee's son, Karson Cook. Such a fine young man! He went to serve in Kenya.

One of the missionaries, Elder Kagame, came from Uganda, but was born in Rwanda. (last row, second from the left). He had quite a story. His father was a polygamist and had two wives and ten kids. He had an affair with E. Kagame's mother and she became pregnant. She was just out of high school. She was so young and had no way to care for him so she took him to a convent for the nuns to raise. Then she went to work. When E.Kagame was 8 mos. old, his mother got in a train crash and was killed. E. Kagame's father was a Colonel in the army in Rwanda during all the civil unrest there and during the genocide. When the genocide was about to happen, he got his children, wives, and other relatives (36 in all) and hid them out in a house in Rwanda. The Hutus set the house on fire and all 36 were killed. At that time E.Kagame's father went to the convent and got him. He was 7 at the time. He took him to Uganda where they would be safe. He raised him up and even sent him to college. He came to us with a degree in business. His father passed away last year and so E. Kagame has absolutely no family at all. He lives by himself in his father's place.

Elder Kagame did some work for a volunteer group called Help International. They entrusted him with millions to oversee certain projects for them. He would chart the progress through e-mails and send them pictures as well. Other people they had entrusted before took the money and ran, but they quickly learned that they could trust E. Kagame. They are now paying for his mission because they were so impressed with his integrity.

The way that E.Kagame found out about the Church was one day he was coming out of the university and he saw two missionaries. He had seen them around Uganda several times and wondered about them. He wondered why they all had the same name, "Elder." This time he decided to go up and talk to them and find out who they were and what they were about. They put him in touch with the missionaries in his area and invited him to Church as well. He had the lessons and gained a testimony over a three month period. He said the gospel completely changed his life.

Mission President's Seminar - November 2011

Since I forgot to take a picture of the Cooks who visited our Sacrament meeting yesterday, this shows a picture of them on the front row far right. (Click once on pic). You will remember his talk in October Conference entitled "It is Better to Look Up."

Christmas Eve at the MTC

We had a very fun Christmas Eve and Christmas Day here at the MTC. On Christmas Eve we had a sort of "Family Home Evening" where we sang the traditional Christmas songs and told of our Christmas traditions, conversions to the gospel, and why we chose to come on a mission. Then President read to them out of Luke while Silent Night played in the background and then we all joined in singing Silent Night. When it was over, we gave them all a stocking stuffed with candy, ties, sox, deodrant, a CD, etc. etc. We learned that most of the Africans do not give or receive gifts for Christmas like the Americans do so it meant a lot to them to get a gift. Then we went into the dining room and had root beer floats. Remember it's summer here, not hot cider and hot chocolate time. :)

On Christmas Day we had an extended Sacrament Meeting where some of the Elders gave talks, and others sang to us as quartets, districts, etc. Elder and Sister Cook of the Southeast Area joined us for the meeting and both gave wonderful talks. (I totally forgot to take a picture of them!) We had about a half hour after the meeting ended until lunch so we all got in a circle and they were able to ask the Cooks any question they wanted. It was so nice and we were wishing we had had more time. The Cooks stayed and had Christmas lunch with us and the missionaries got to visit with them on a more personal basis. The staff went all out with the lunch. They fixed us turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, rice, pap (made out of ground maize which they call mielie meal. Pap means porridge and is a very thick consistency), salad, and Malva Pudding with custard sauce. They put table cloths on the tables and it was very nice.

After lunch the missionaries e-mailed home for a couple of hours and then we showed them The Testaments. After dinner we had a testimony meeting interspersed with music. It was a very spiritual meeting and a nice way to end the day.

(Click once to see them "up close and personal").

Elder and Sister Renlund visited our meetings today and gave us wonderful instruction

Elder Renlund is the Area President for the Africa Southeast Area. We have enjoyed them so much these past two years. He was a counselor for our first year and a half and then became the President. He is a heart surgeon and she is an attorney.

He told us an interesting story of something that just recently happened in the DR Congo in Kinshasa. Elections are going on so there is a lot of unrest. The missionaries have been told to stay in their apartments and not go out. They have been sequestered for the past two weeks and the couple missionaries and the President and his wife have been here in Johannesburg because they are "targets." The President told the missionaries to still get up on time, do their personal study, their companionship study, etc. A new missionary and his trainer had just started their companionship study when just minutes later shots rang out and bullets hit their bed. If they had not been obedient and slept in or lounged on the bed they would have been killed. "Obedience brings blessings; exact obedience brings miracles." This was truly a miracle for being exactly obedient when it would have been very, very tempting to just sleep in and lounge on the bed.

The YSA came and sang to the missionaries

Elder and Sister Porter, who teach institute and supervise the YSA students, had an evening where they baked Christmas cookies and wrote Christmas letters to the missionaries. They came over and sang to us, handed out the letters, and left the cookies which lasted about 5 minutes! It was such a nice thing for them to do! The missionaries loved it!

Beautiful Birthday Flowers from Dean

Our Dear, Sweet Ruth passed away yesterday on my birthday. . . . She is on the left.

Our hearts are heavy and sad as we think about sweet Ruth. She was the kitchen manager here. Ruth was a wonderful lady and took good care of us and the missionaries here at the MTC. She is one of the reasons I am several pounds heavier now than when we came here two years ago. :) Always a smile and a hug and a good meal! She will be greatly missed by all of us. Ruth joined the Church in 2008. She loved the missionaries and they loved her!

Good-Bye Elders and Sisters. . . .

This group was wonderful! They had lots of musical talent so we were able to enjoy their singing, piano playing, etc. Four of them did the Temple work for their parents and/or grandparents. Sister Nampiima, on the right, did the work for her Mom. Three of them were the only members in their family. They were all very excited to serve.

A "Touch of Christmas" at the MTC. . . . .

" The 'Spirit' of Christmas is the Spirit of Christ - the spirit which causes us to show forth love and have compassion. It's the spirit that helps us have patience and a desire to be righteous and obedient. It's the spirit that makes us unselfish, that helps us care more for others than for ourselves, the spirit that evokes kindness, the spirit that makes us want to serve others."
Elaine Cannon

" The 'Business' of Christmas is to reconcile differences, to heal wounds of the heart, to heal quarrels with relatives, business associates, neighbors, friends, etc. Forgive, forget, and move on."
Elaine Cannon

" The 'Blessing' of Christmas is to fill us with determination to make the next year better."
Elaine Cannon

"Never did the Savior give in expectation of receiving. He gave freely and lovingly, and his gifts were of inestimable value. He gave eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and legs to the lame; cleanliness to the unclean, wholeness to the infirm, and breath to the lifeless. His gifts were opportunity to the downtrodden, freedom to the oppressed, forgiveness to the repentant, hope to the despairing, and light in the darkness. He gave us his love, his service, his life. And most important, he gave us and all mortals resurrection, salvation, and eternal life."

Howard W. Hunter