A Wonderful Weekend-Sunday's Events

Sunday morning we had the privilege of taking Elder Holland, his security man, Ron, and the Director of Temporal Affairs in Johannesburg, to a special stake meeting. It was held in a stake center that is somewhat challenging to get to. As we bumped along the uneven, pot hole filled dirt road, Brent apologized to Elder Holland for the bumpy trip.  Elder Holland's reply was, "Oh, don't worry about me. I'm just an old St. George boy."

We arrived safely at Mont Ngafula Stake Center where there were 1300+ in attendance, with 10 cars in the parking lot, which was more than we've ever seen.  When we arrived, 30 minutes early, the entire stake center was filled to capacity and they were sitting quietly waiting for the appointed time. Sitting on the front row were our four wonderful couples. What a great dimension they add to our life!

 The choir, under the direction of an exceptionally darling young adult who had both talent and spirit, was singing with great enthusiasm.  The sisters wore bright pink blouses and the brethren had matching pink ties. 

 Just before going into the meeting Elder Holland asked us to speak.This doesn't make for a comfortable meeting, but we did our best.  At the end of the meeting we had another very tender moment. Many times, in Africa,  when there's a big crowd they keep the children out of the chapel and have them in other rooms or halls of the building.  That was the case in Mont Ngafula Stake.  But as we were leaving, the little ones sort of surged forward to fill the hall near the exit. Dutiful leaders held them back from mobbing Elder Holland, but he stopped and said, "Where have you been hiding?" He shook a few hand and then looked right at the group and said, "I love you!  You know that I love you!"  Needless to say we exited the building with a large group of children, porting huge smiles, looking on. 
Simultaneously, there were three other meetings being held in the city with General or Area Authorities at each one.  Each had the same kind of attendance we had in Ngaliema, except for one.  In Kimbanseke Stake they had over 3,000 in attendance. They filled every inch of the building, watching on TV's in every room and hall.  Plastic awnings and chairs were set up around the building so that people could hear through the windows.  In all there the General Authorities met with more than 7,000 people on Sunday and about 3,500 on Sat. It was truly amazing. 
After the meeting we drove to the mission home for Sunday dinner.  The other General Authorities and wives, security and the DTA met us there since they had all attended meetings in different stakes.  We sat and visited together in our great room while the finishing touches were put on the meal and everybody had arrived.  

 What an unbelievably great experience it was to get to know these great leaders more personally and to learn from them. They were wonderful and kind to us throughout the weekend. Elder Holland called Brent by his first name all weekend and upon his arrival greeted him with a big bear hug and said, "How's one of our Green Beret mission presidents?" From that moment on we saw many acts of that same warmth and  kindness extended to us and to everybody around us. They are great examples of true discipleship, not only in their public appearances, but in their everyday actions. 

But the weekend was not over. The  best was yet to come as we extended our weekend for two more days.