Farewell to South Africa

OH how the time has flown by while we were having fun and serving the Lord as Senior Missionaries.  It is hard to believe that our mission is coming to an end. Where has the past 18 months gone? Certainly it has gone faster than we ever expected.

As we conclude our mission there were many farewell activities to send us off.  First was the traditional farewell breakfast hosted by the Temple President.  All the temple missionaries were invited to the Presidents home where the President said a "FEW" words of thanks and good by.  After his remarks those going home were able to share their thoughts and testimonies.  After that we had breakfast.

After breakfast we all went on a walk about through a local park to walked among the animals of Africa..

After our walk in the part we retreated to a pre-selected restaurant where we had lunch before returning to our flats.

On our last day at church among the Saulsville saints will never be forotton. They had planned a farewell luncheon for us after the block of meetings.  The Bishop expressed his thanks for our service and contributions we had made to the ward.  The Relief Society President expressed her appreciation and love for Jenee for all that she had done for the ward in so many ways.  The primary children sang a few songs for us as well.  Then they called us up front where they presented us with gifts so we would never forget our wonderful experience with the Saulsville saints.

The time for our departure finally arrived and for us to say good by to  the land and people that we have come to love, admire and appreciate. After a lunch with our friends the Peterson's we gathered our luggage and had some of our dear missionary friends take us to the the air port for our departure and a 22 hour flight home.

At 10 PM after a long and exhausting day we boarded our British Airways flight for home.  We flew 10 hours to London and had a 3 hours layover there.  From London we flew 9 hours to Dallas Fort Worth with another 3 hours layover before boarding American Airlines for our final flight of 3 hours to Salt Lake City. We arrived at 8:40 PM greeted by our family and close friends. The grand children were so excited to see grandpa and grandma but not half as much as we were to see them.

Thank you South Africa for an experience of a life time.  We came to know, love and serve with some great senior missionaries who's friendships will endure for all time.  Africa will for ever be a part of our lives and it will be difficult for us to get the African dust off our shoes.

Temple Missionary Farewell

It is a custom for the Temple Presidency to hold a farewell for those missionaries who are leaving for home.  Today, June 24th all the temple missionaries gathered at President Armstrong's residence for a good by breakfast and farewell.  Expressions of gratitude were expressed by President Armstrong for those leaving followed by remarks from Sister Dicken who is returning to Durban after serving 18 months, Elder & Sister Mincks returning to Florida after 23 months and  Jenee and I after serving 18 months.

The Temple will be closing down for another elongated shutdown on July 13th and we leave for home on Sunday July 14th.

After breakfast and saying our good by speeches we went for a walk about at a nearby game park.

Reservations had been previously made for all of us to have lunch after the walk about.  We settled in for lunch at about 2:30 PM and afterward returned home exhausted.

Pretoria Zoological Gardens

Monday May 13th and a few of us had to get out of our flats so we headed for Pretoria to see the Pretoria Zoological Gardens (Zoo).  We had heard a lot about this place so we though we should make a trip and see for ourselves.  I personally thought that it would be anti climatic seeing animals that we had seen in the wild, but after visiting the zoo I was glad for we saw animals of Africa that are not indigenous to South Africa.

Here are just a sample of what we saw.

EMU

OKAPI

WHITE TIGER

SABLE

BONGO

ELAND

After visiting the zoo we set out for our favorite "Fish & Chips Shop" for probable our last "fish & Chip" lunch before we leave for home.

                                                     The Garrett's  &  Eland's

Time is running out before we leave for home so these last moments of fun and adventure with our friends and temple missionaries are important.

Kimberley - Home of the Big Hole

April 27th was a national holiday so the temple was closed, givin us a three day get-away we took advantage of.  With our mission coming to an end soon we wanted to go and visit Kimberley.  I served in Kimberley during my mission back in 1966, my third area of service.

The Garretts, Yorgesens, Jenee and I took off Friday at1:00 PM  after finishing our early morning shift at the Temple.  It is a 5-hour drive to Kimberley going south west of Johannesburg.  Kimberley is located in the Northern Cape Providence almost exactly in the middle of South Africa.

We had reservations at the "4 Carrington Guesthouse" which is an historic home owned by the De Beer family that was renovated into a very nice B&B.

We arrived in Kimberley at about 6:30 PM, checked in and then went to dinner at Annabel's, one of the restaurants just around the corner from where we were staying. Nice atmosphere, fine dining at a reasonable price.

After dinner we returned to our rooms for a well deserved sleep before our busy day ahead of us: up at 7 AM for breakfast before setting out on our adventure.

After breakfast we set out to see the two major attractions in Kimberley: the Big Hole and the Magersfontein Memorial, a monument to the Anglo-Boer War.

Kimberley is known for its fabled Diamond Fields discovered in 1869. The diamond rush equals the gold rush of California. Miners came from all over the world hoping to make it big in the diamond fields of South Africa. The first rock found was an 83-carat diamond that came to be called The Star of South Africa, "the rock upon which the future of South Africa will be built."  The major attraction in Kimberley is the Big Hole, the largest hand-dug excavation in the world.

After touring the mine we headed out for the Battle Field which was about 28 miles south west of Kimberley.  We drove along dirt roads to get there, driving between two game reserves.  To our surprise we saw some game animals that we have not seen up north.

NYALA

BLACK WILDEBEAST

SABEL

After that we stopped for a light lunch at the Milky Lane and then set out for home.  Tired and exhausted we arrived home at about 7:30 PM.  The trip was short but we all were glad that we took the time to visit Kimberly and see its history.