What a wonderful Christmas!

December 30, 2012

We hope you had a Merry Christmas, and we wish you a very Happy New Year.  It is difficult to think that we are at the end of 2012.  It has been very eventful and a year that has changed our lives in so many ways.  It has been difficult getting into the festive spirit of the holiday season partly because the weather here is not the snow and cold that has typically accompanied Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s for us.  However much of the reason is because we have become acquainted with and love people who celebrate much more simply because they don’t have so much of what we take for granted.  They celebrate with family being the primary focus, with modest meals, and simple gifts.  In Kinshasa, we saw very few Christmas decorations.  However, as I went back I found they had even put up a Christmas tree in the park in front of our apartment.

Here in Johannesburg we have seen a few more but still not to the extent of the lights, hustle, bustle, and decorations in stores and homes back home.  We find that this has been good and not a bad thing.

I was able to make a quick trip back to Kinshasa last weekend to fetch our "stuff."  

This is Kinshasa and the Congo River from the plane as I arrived.

I left Friday morning and got back Sunday night.  International travel in Africa takes a whole day even though the actual flight is only about 4 hours.  Therefore, all day Friday was travel up to Kinshasa and all day Sunday was spent in returning to Johannesburg.  Therefore, I only had Saturday to do all the packing, settle things at the mission office, and visit with those involved with PEF to try and settle some of the issues still open.  It was a good visit but at the same time very difficult to see people that we have grown to love and very possibly won't see again.  I was definitely kept busy trying to get everything done that needed to be done, but I really couldn't spend more time there because I wanted to be back for Christmas with Laraine.

Elder van Gass went with me to give me a traveling companion.  He actually has responsibilities for all of Africa and needed to visit the Congo to explain his services.  He went with a carry on bag so that he could check two of my bags on the way back.  That way I would have the ability to check two bags for me and two bags for him giving me four bags.  I definitely needed them all.  I tried to bring back some of the spices we brought over with us from the states and some food items that we had recently purchased.  That almost proved to be a mistake because at customs in Kinshasa they were questioning if I had unallowed items.  Finally, a supervisor came and asked me what I had.  She finally said if I would pay a fee, she could let me go.  I was happy to pay the fee so I could continue with what I had packed.

The planes were late and I arrived back in Johannesburg at the apartment at 10 PM.  Even though it was late, we stayed up unpacking just because it seemed like an early Christmas to have our "stuff" again.

Monday was Christmas Eve and we were invited by President Wrench of the temple presidency and his wife to spend the day with them and their family.  We sat in the back yard next to the swimming pool because the weather was so warm. 

In the early afternoon, the sisters went inside and made homemade tortilla shells which were going to be used for the Christmas Eve dinner.  Laraine was tickled to learn how to do it because you can’t buy good shells here. 

About 4 PM we headed to their daughter’s home where we joined their family and some friends for a Christmas Eve celebration.  The Wrench family is a special family and every year invites those who can't be with family for the holidays.  The children were swimming in the pool when we arrived.  

When they finished, they put on a little Nativity program to a reading which was really fun and helped us focus on what we are really celebrating. 

After the program, we ate a wonderful dinner using the tortilla shells.

We visited while we ate and enjoyed visiting with the full time missionaries serving in the area.

Then we gathered while gifts were exchanged.  The temple presidency made sure each missionary couple received a simple gift also.  

It was a great day.  Christmas was a little more casual.  We didn’t get up at the traditional 6 AM.  We had a leisurely breakfast and then opened the Christmas gifts we received.  There are so many wonderful people who have tried to welcome us. One missionary couple even gave us a small tree to brighten our apartment for the season,   

We actually had more Christmas here than we would have had in Kinshasa.  We definitely needed President Uchtdorf’s message from the First Presidency Christmas Devotional as he told us how important it is to be good receivers of gifts, because we were the receivers and not the givers this year.

Later we had been invited to a progressive Christmas dinner with the missionaries in our building who serve in the area office.  Salad was in the first apartment.  Main course of chicken, rice, vegetables, and relish tray was in the second apartment, and dessert was in a third apartment.  It was very nice but what we looked forward to the most was visiting with our children and grandchildren.  With the 9 hour difference, we were just about through with our day as they were just getting started, but how we appreciate technology that allows us to talk with and see family so that we experience Christmas with them rather than feel so separated from them.  We feel so blessed to have such a great family.  We want them to know how much we love them and appreciate their love, prayers, and support.

We are becoming better acquainted with the temple and are able to serve where asked.  This week a group from Kenya came for their own temple work and to be sealed as families.  They come from a small village and spoke mostly Swahili.  In fact, there was one of the sisters who spoke but couldn’t read Swahili.  We have headsets for the endowment sessions but in initiatory, at the veil, and in the sealing, it was harder to make it that special experience that we want them to have.  The first day they are there doing their own temple work.  Then they go to the family history library and are helped to get family names ready to bring back to the temple so they can do baptisms for the dead, and other ordinances including sealings.  What a great experience it was for us. I helped in initiatory and then was able to officiate in the endowment session for them.  Elder and Sister Hall, a missionary couple serving in Kenya, came with them.  They expressed appreciation and said that things had gone very well for the group.

On Wednesday which is a national holiday, Boxing Day, we took the opportunity to visit the Pilanesberg National Park with Elder and Sister Howes.  What wonderful friends they have become.  We left early so that we could be at the park when the animals would be out and visible.  We were not disappointed.  We got some good pictures but realize that the point and shoot camera we brought doesn’t do justice to the scenes that we saw.  

Elder Howes actually copied some of his pictures onto a CD for us, and these are some of his pictures of a hippo that put on quite a show for us.

  We will definitely be able to experience more of what most people feel the typical Africa is while we are here in South Africa.  We will count it as a blessing rather than saying that we are spoiled by being here.

We hope each of you has fond memories of 2012 and we wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year.  We send our love to all.