A Moving Experience

It’s Sunday, Feb. 22^nd in Joburg and a very hot and beautiful summer day, quite surprising since yesterday was overcast and cool, almost like fall. What a week this has been! We woke up Tuesday morning and while driving to the office commented about how our jobs were beginning to seem quite routine – going into the office every morning, and at the reception desk Bob would go one way and Martha the other, then we’d meet for lunch, go back to the office, and ride home tired from another day at the office. Then, on Wednesday everything suddenly changed, including our routine.

We stayed home Wednesday morning because nine flats needed to have pin boards installed (large framed bulletin boards) and Martha was in charge of the project, being the property manager now, and had the keys to all the apartments that needed the boards, so she accompanied the installation crew while I worked from home until she was finished. One of the flats, #301 on the 3^rd floor, was vacant and newly renovated, and as soon as she walked in, Martha was taken aback by the spaciousness of the flat and how light it was with all the windows, and she wondered if anyone was scheduled to move in. Long story short - By the end of the day, we had made arrangements to move into the new, larger 1,650 square foot 2-bedroom flat on Thursday.



Our pin board with 8x10's of all 10 kids and families

When we arrived at the office Wednesday afternoon, Jessie, the Area Physical Facilities Manager, told us he had a desk for Martha and would be moving it into my office, so we now work side-by-side all day!

Our new flat is a very spacious 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartment that feels much more like home than #119 did, and almost everything about it is a big step up from what we have been living in for our first 2 weeks. Our home office also has two desks in it side-by-side. We took the day Thursday and moved everything from one apartment to the other. Since then, we have had to address some technology glitches, but now we’re back online, and we are loving our new digs. Photos later.

Friday night we were invited to a braai (barbecue) at the Johannesburg mission home by President and Sister Dunn and had a delightful evening with the Dunns and the Glen Holmes family. Glen Holmes is president of the Benoni Stake in Johannesburg and his daughter Emily is married to our former SACTM missionary Jaxon Martin, who were there with two small children, and Glen’s son Daniel is married to Camilla, the daughter of Elder Christoffel Golden of the First Quorum of Seventy, who was Area President back in 2005-08 when Bob was mission president in Cape Town. The Holmes’ other son Reuben is a newlywed and was there with his wife, Megan, and a long-time buddy who recently returned home from a mission to the Netherlands. The meal was delightful, and the company was great! President Holmes’ brother, Leon, is mission president in the Ghana Kumasi Mission and Leon’s son Ryan is the stake president of the Cape Town Stake, so Bob is now very acquainted with three Presidents Holmes.

It was stake conference yesterday and today at our Soweto Stake, and it was an absolutely fabulous experience. Neither of us had ever attended an all-black stake conference, under all-black leadership and presided over by a black African Area Seventy. It’s a nice, huge stake center and it was packed – maybe close to 1,000 people. And the conference was beautifully orchestrated and presented with some fabulous talks, both assigned and spontaneous. And four of Bob’s former missionaries (Elders Lubisi, Nyoka, Nzimande and Buthelezi) were in attendance with their wives and children. They were so excited to see Bob, give him big hugs, introduce their wives and children, and meet the new Sister Egan and have their photos taken with us. Elder Nyoka said, Hi, Momma!” when he met Martha.



With the Lubisis

 



With the Nyokas

 



With the Nzimandes

We have become good friends with the Dunns now, having been with them virtually all weekend. We loved being in their mission home Friday night, then they were at stake conference – Sister Dunn spoke Saturday night and President Dunn spoke this morning and was the speaker at our senior missionary zone conference/fireside tonight at Duke’s Court. They are fun, capable people.

It’s been a very eventful week, and we are loving our African experience.