Going to South Africa

Shortly after Brent got home from Burundi, he started having some worrisome medical problems. We were concerned enough to called the mission doctor. He sent us to the hospital here to see if they could run tests that he felt were needed. It was a resounding "NO."

So, Dr. Merrill decided that we needed to go to Johannesburg to have the tests done. We were grateful for his and President Packers support. The Congo is no place to have medical issues!

Brent's appointment was sent for the next week, but we felt amazingly calm (very much unlike me) and went forward with our usual work. Every day as we worked on mission business, people kept saying, "We could get this done so much easier if we were in JoBurg. Oh, you're going there! Work on this (whatever it was) if you have time." By the time we left, we had a list of 7 people we needed to see in Johannesburg in order to facilitate mission affairs.

A few days before we went, Pres. Packer and Elder Frogley gave Brent a blessing in which Pres. Packer boldly promised that they would find nothing that would detract from our work. The next day all of Brent's symptoms stopped. We felt even more peaceful and even wondered if we should cancel our trip. Dr. Merrill encouraged us to keep the appointments and we agreed that we should. My Dad would have said, It's good to have a belt and suspenders."

So, on Sunday, August 29th we flew to Johannesburg for a week.

It was a flight out of the past and into modern times. Johannesburg is as nice as any city in the US. It's a modern, lively city where people drive cars, wear western clothes, and life seems much like it is back home, except for their delightful S. African accents and hearing Afrikaans. We felt like we had jumped in a time machine instead of a plane & returned to 2010. We were just amazed at everything we saw.

The airport is organized, modern, full of shops & restaurants & quite a contrast to Lubumbashi.

Sunday night we were invited to dinner at the home of Sister and Elder Renlund of the First Quorum of the Seventy. They also invited Sister and Elder Koelliker, of the Seventy & the Area President and Dr. and Sister Merrill. We had a wonderful evening. We have come to greatly love and respect the Renlunds. Their leadership and devotion to the people of Africa and the Lord's work is an emormous blessing. They're also just great fun to be with. Elder Koelliker and his wife, Ann, are longtime friends of my brother, Allan and his wife, Carolyn. So, it was fun to renew that acquaintance and feel their wonderful spirit and their concern for this area, and the Merrills are just wonderful, remarkable people.

The White House is a very beautiful old home, where the Area Presidency lives and works.

We stayed with Elder and Sister Wood from Fairbanks, Alaska in their FLAT in Dukes Court. He is the executive secretary to the Area Presidency and her huge responsibility is to processes missionary applications, among other thing. We had a great time with them. They made us feel totally at home, even providing chocolate for Brent and ice cream and strawberries for me. We felt like we had made great new friends. All the senior couples who work in the area office & temple live in Dukes Court. It's been described as a senior missionary dorm and it's filled with wonderful seniors, whom we loved meeting.

Together in Woods' "FLAT" at Dukes Court

Monday before Brent's doctor's visits, we walked with the Merrills across the street to Killarney Mall. It's a REAL mall with clothing, furniture, shoe, hardware, cosmetic and even grocery stores! So much was available to buy! We were like wide-eyed kids in a candy store as we looked at all the things that we wouldn't even have noticed a year ago. Now they are wonderful to us.

Killarney Mall also has a dentist's office. I had chipped a filling several months ago and although it was giving me no problems, we decided to have it checked. We walked in the dentist's office and he had free time and got me in immediatley. In an x-ray he discovered that the chipped tooth was fine, but another tooth was starting to have problems. Had we lived in a place with good medical help we might just have observed it, but he felt it could be a real problem in a month or two. So we had it fixed. We felt very blessed that we had gone to South Africa and discovered this problem before we went back to a place without good medical or dental care. In the Congo, when two missionaries had tooth problems, the dentist just pulled their teeth. What a great blessing it was to find that problem now and have it treated in South Africa!

Dr. Merrill and Sister Merrill were such a wonderful help to us. They took us to all our appointments and helped us through every step of the medical maze, fixed wonderful meals for us, but mostly they became good friends to us. They are quite remarkable and inspiring people. They are in their mid-seventies and they are serving their 5th mission. One was in the Pacific Island and four have been in Africa. They had three children and adopted five others. A few years ago they sold all their possession, divided their estate between their children and now they serve missions, with short trips home where they stay with each family before they return to the mission field. They are full of wonderful stories, wit and wisdom and every minute we spent with them was a joy.

Tues. Sister Renlund took us to a wonderful African antique store called Amatuli. It felt like we were in a museum filled with wonderful antiquities and we loved looking and buying. The challenge was limiting our purchases to just what would fit in a suitcase.

There was so much to choose from. The mask on the end made of ivory

Shields, spears and ceremonial metal horses from the Ivory Coast were tempting.

We bought some wonderful things to help us remember Africa. They came from all over-Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Cameroon, Mali and Kenya. We lined them up to see what we just couldn't live without and ended up buying them all. After you make your purchases, a young women cleans and polishes them for you and they look twice as wonderful.

After shopping we were able to attend the temple with the new missionaries from the MTC.

It was special to be with elders. The day before we went to S. Africa one of our elders asked us how he could get his ancestors' names to the temple to have their work done. He handed us a pedigree chart filled with names and dates. He and his father were the only living people on it. Again we could say that we were going to South Africa and could take care of that for him. We took his pedigree chart with us to the temple. He had only first names and birth years, but they told us it would work. It was one of those things that was made easier because we went there.

We were able to go to the temple a second time on Thursday with the Renlunds and Watsons, of the area presidency. It was really wonderful to be in the temple after over a year away. We didn't think that we would have this blessing, since the temple is out of our mission boundaries.

After our temple session Tuesday we were invited to dinner at the home of the Ericksons, a security couple who had come to Lubumbashi. We had a great evening renewing our wonderful friendship. During dinner we commented on the excellent meal and they asked us if we liked the meat. We did, even after they told us that it was ostrich meat. It was very good and did not taste like chicken, but like very lean, tender beef. That's what we call adventures in eating-African style!

Wednesday we spent the whole day at Milpark Hospital. The medical care was first class. The doctors and nurses were capable and efficient. The whole experience was as painless as possible. (Easy for me to say, right!) Dr. Merrill was with us every step and was very helpful and so reassuring. All went well and they found nothing, just as Pres. Packer had said would happen. We felt like the Lord had really blessed us through our mission president's blessing and competent medical personnel who had reassured us that Brent was ready for service.

Having passed all his tests, we were now ready to go to work on the concerns of the mission, so Thursday we headed to the area office. There we found people who could help us with our every need. Brent got all the key players together for a meeting and it was very productive. Even one person who Brent needed to see was at the area office, although he normally doesn't even work there. It was like pieces of a puzzle were putting themselves together to solve the problems and serve the needs of the Lubumbashi Mission. Even I was able to meet with the man in charge of baptismal records and get our concerns resolved.

I also got to spend some time shopping again with Sister Renlund. I had a delightful morning and lunch at a little outdoor craft fair. Then it was on to the African market. A quick trip through the market and my "shopometer" was full for the day. Sister Renlund really went out of her way to take me places and make my visit full of shopping fun. What a great lady she is.

On Friday morning Sister Wood made arrangements to go to the home of a textile artist named Brett. His wife makes beautiful jewelry. We went to his little shop and bought some really great Batik things. They're made by putting wax on fabric, painting the fabric and then removing the wax to display the design. They are just fabulous. He also designs pillow, purses, aprons,

etc. with combinations of batiked fabric and Congolese Cuba cloth. They are amazing.

We saw weaver birds' nesting over their swimming pool. The birds build their nest over water to protect their babies from predators. They hang upside down & weave pieces of palm leaves into the nests.They continually make and abandon nests, sometimes making several nests a week.

Friday evening just before sunset the Woods took us to Zoo Lake for a little walk. It's a beautiful park in the middle of Johannesburg. The weather was perfect and the place was delightful. Being from Alaska, the Woods love the outdoors & have found many ways to enjoy nature while living in a big city. This is one of their favorite places near Dukes Court.

Beads are a very big item in South Africa. I bought a little beaded necklace and thought I had resisted all the other things made of beads, but in the park we found a woman selling a beaded rhino. She said it took her just a day to make it. I just couldn't pass it up. Sister Wood found a giraffe that she too had to have. The ladies did a few touch ups on them before we took them home. So, where will I put a blue, beaded rhino in my house? I'm not sure, but somehow it will!

We ended up getting reassured about Brent's health, accomplishing mission needs that would have taken us months to do from Lububmashi and having a great time thanks to so many wonderful new friends.

Our last day we decided to become total tourists. It will take another blog to do day seven.