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.