Sorry we are slow in posting. We were hoping to have more photos, we've been on the road a lot and we've been extremely busy when we've been home, as you'll see below. Here's a quick summary of the past three weeks:
Sunday, 3 May 2015 - What a week this has been! The week started with a national holiday on Monday, Freedom Day, and ended with another national holiday in South Africa on Friday – Worker’s Day (Labor Day), so the area offices were only open three days this week. On Friday, May 1st, we had awakened for the day but, because of the holiday, we were still lounging in bed, when Martha got a call from her sister Liz soon after 7:00 saying that their father had just passed away (11 pm April 30th in St. George, Utah). The next day was our big missionary reunion and we were set to leave early Monday morning for a week in Cape Town and the Mission Presidents’ Seminar for the Africa Southeast Area prior to moving out of our apartment, which was sold by the owner the Church has been renting from, and to move into another apartment upon our return. Then our daughter Ali comes to visit the next weekend. All of this suddenly made life feel overwhelming for us over the weekend, especially for Martha! Unexpectedly, in our busiest month ever, we are flying home again so soon for another sad occasion so Martha can be with her family and speak at the funeral.
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| Egan SACTM Reunion in Johannesburg, 2 May 2015 Pictured, left to right - Back row: Emily & Jaxon Martin, Cieron Fearch, Liezel Schwulst, the Egans, Sandile Mdanda, Marvin Mahlangu and Justin Greyling, Middle row: Donovan Schultz, Robert Nel, Mark Pearl and his daughter Juliet (son Daniel is around somewhere), Xolani Mthabela, Khanya Ngqisha, Monde Skosana, Thulani Nyoka, Thulani Buthelezi, Musa Nzimande, Siphiwe Dinana, and Werner Heydenrych. Front row: Wives Kelly Schultz, Andrea Nel, Genevere Pearl, Nokulunga Nyoka, Lebo Skosana, Sister Mahlangu, Goganomang Buthelezi, Reneilwe Nzimande and Yanga Dinana. |
Sunday, 3 May 2015 - What a week this has been! The week started with a national holiday on Monday, Freedom Day, and ended with another national holiday in South Africa on Friday – Worker’s Day (Labor Day), so the area offices were only open three days this week. On Friday, May 1st, we had awakened for the day but, because of the holiday, we were still lounging in bed, when Martha got a call from her sister Liz soon after 7:00 saying that their father had just passed away (11 pm April 30th in St. George, Utah). The next day was our big missionary reunion and we were set to leave early Monday morning for a week in Cape Town and the Mission Presidents’ Seminar for the Africa Southeast Area prior to moving out of our apartment, which was sold by the owner the Church has been renting from, and to move into another apartment upon our return. Then our daughter Ali comes to visit the next weekend. All of this suddenly made life feel overwhelming for us over the weekend, especially for Martha! Unexpectedly, in our busiest month ever, we are flying home again so soon for another sad occasion so Martha can be with her family and speak at the funeral.
But when we paused and thought about it, the timing turns
out to be absolutely perfect, right between two trips to Cape Town that we
really would have found very difficult, if not impossible, to miss or reschedule.
And Martha was able to Facetime with her dad several times in the past 3 weeks
including the very day he passed away. But, needless to say, it has been a very
sad week for her, and our minds have been in several places at once with so much
to plan for.
It’s mindboggling to realize that, although we have just
been on our mission here three months as of yesterday, we have already been to
Ethiopia, Namibia and Ghana and are planning our third trip to Cape Town and
our second trip home to the USA and are getting ready to move into our third
apartment! In a few short weeks, we’ve lost a grandson and now Martha’s dad!
The South Africa Cape Town Mission reunion in Johannesburg
was a complete success, attended by 42 people – 21 returned missionaries; from
as far away as Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth; 13 spouses, 6 children
and 2 guests (the Sixishe sisters, originally from Queenstown and attended Rhodes
University in Grahamstown, both in our mission). Bob hadn’t seen any of these
former missionaries of his for 7 to 10 years, and they were so excited to see
him, to meet Martha and to be with each other. They all came dressed like
missionaries, in suits, white shirts and ties, and looked so good! More photos will be posted later.
We began the reunion with a temple endowment session that
eight of our missionaries were able to attend, and Martha and Bob were the (only)
two session officiators. There were 14 patrons in all. It was Martha’s first
experience as a session follower (or as an ordinance worker, for that matter)
and she did great! It was Bob's third time officiating an endowment session in the
Johannesburg Temple.
Everyone gathered for mingling and refreshments at 3:00,
and we had a formal meeting at 4:00, where we started with “Call to Serve,” and
ended with the Cape Town Mission Song. In between, we recited D&C 4 in
unison, just as the missionaries used to do at all zone conferences, Bob introduced Martha and she
spoke, and we had about a dozen one-minute updates and testimonies before Bob
concluded at 5:00. Then we took a group photo of those who were still there,
and we continued mingling and visiting and taking photos until about 8:00. It
was really a fun and glorious occasion for everyone who was there. We had
several who had RSVP’ed that couldn’t make it at the last minute because of
illness, transportation issues or other changes in plans, but we were totally
surprised by others who didn’t RSVP and just showed up. It was a long and
eventful and fun day and kind of took our minds off the sadness at home. Today
was a great day at church and a day of relaxing, planning and packing, and a
lot of communication with Martha’s family at home.
Sunday, 10 May 2015 – The Cape Town Mission Presidents’ Seminar was a wonderful experience and also allowed us to have plenty to focus on to distract us from the sadness at home in Utah. Our ride to the airport Monday was at 5:00 am and we had three busy days in Cape Town. For Bob, it was like old times mingling with the Area Presidency and mission presidents in the very same room where they had the Mission Presidents' Seminar in Cape Town in 2008. We stayed at the V&A Waterfront Hotel and had beautiful weather and inspiring meetings.
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Martha and her mom at her dad's grave dedication, flanked by her four sisters |
We made the long flight home to Utah overnight on Thursday
and enjoyed a very
comforting viewing and funeral service for Martha’s dad Friday and Saturday. A family lunch was held at Martha’s sister Brenda’s Saturday afternoon, and it was a great opportunity to reunite with lifelong family friends and relatives. We
hosted a Mother’s Day family dinner for about 35 family members at our home in
Sandy today. It’s a bit surreal to be home and in non-missionary mode, and we
even feel a bit out of place here, but we are so very glad we came and were
able to spend four wonderful days with family. The jet lag hit us hard after
the funeral and family time on Saturday. Martha was running on adrenaline,
after going about 48 hours without any sleep. We got home about 5:00 on
Saturday evening and decided we both really needed a nap… we woke up at 7:00 Sunday
morning! We’re both in a bit of a daze today but doing much better. We fly home
Tuesday morning and will be back in Johannesburg late Wednesday night so we can
make our apartment move on Thursday.
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