First African Adventure (March 23rd)

Monday, March 23, 2015
Today was our first Monday and that is our "day off" or P-day.  We were still trying to deal with jet lag and flying to South Africa.  Gerald and Donita Christensen were to take us shopping and help us "get set up" today but suggested we go to the Lion and Rhino Reserve as our first African experience.  We agreed and were glad we did.  It is just over an hour outside of Joburg and they have been there 6-7 times and love going there with family or whoever comes to visit.  We got there and the first thing we did was feed and pet a giraffe!!!  Lis (I mean Sister Johnson) even did it!

Of course it was pellets from a bucket but she fed it out of her hand as well.  

We then went into the reserve and drove around on dirt roads in our minivan trying to find animals.  It is a large area so the animals roam free except for the "predators" which are in large, separated fenced off areas.  We saw  Springbuck, 

Waterbuck,

 Blesbuck,

Sable Antelope,

 and other "fleet" animals.  We also we saw several of what they call the "Big 5" which are Cape Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Rhinoceros, and Elephant (they don't have any elephants at this reserve).  We saw Cape Buffalo

Lions

Leopard (it was in an area we couldn't get into)

and my favorite, the Rhino's.

W were about 15 yards from them in our minivan and realized that if they got mad and charged us, we were totally at their mercy.  They are a mammal tank with a horn....and not the kind that beeps.  Amazing! 

Fortunately the Warthogs came to protect us.......

(Warthogs remind me of goats when they get on their front knees to eat).

It was a fantastic day and some how we stayed awake while we were there.  The Christensen's said they have never seen the Rhino's this close and it was the best of all the times they have been there.  Glad they brought us. We were exhausted when we got home and participated in a much appreciated nap.  Hard to believe we are in Africa, but we are glad to be here and look forward to more exciting adventures with all Africa has to share.  

First week in Johannesburg, South Africa

Wow, what a wild adventure so far.  The last time I blogged we had been set apart as missionaries (28 Feb) and had started our mission adventure.  We went to Utah March 1st to spend a week with Lisa's family in Saint George, Utah.  We stayed at a beautiful home that dear friends, Bart and Liz Warner (Nick's mission president when he did a service mission in the Dallas Texas Mission) let us use.  We then spent a few days seeing my family, going to various temples in Utah (Manti, Logan, and Ogden in addition to St. George when we were there).  Each temple is unique and yet special.  My favorite was Manti.

We went to the Little America Hotel on Saturday, March 14th to get ready for our temple training.  We went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Sunday morning performance in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.  It is officially called "Music and the Spoken Word".

After that we spent some time on temple square and then I went exploring other places (to include the conference center and Beehive House where Brigham Young lived) while Lis rested at the hotel.
   Monday, March 16th we "officially" started our mission.  We went to the Salt Lake Temple where we received training over the next 3 days by President M. Richard and Sister Kathleen Hinkley Walker.  They had been the temple president and matron for the Salt Lake Temple in 2005-08.  It was wonderful and even though we didn't really learn anything new, it was a spiritual feast that got us ready to go on a mission.  We learned a lot about the Salt Lake temple as well plus some neat stories the Walkers shared.  Sister Walker is President Gordon B. Hinkley's oldest daughter so they shared some fun things about President Hinkley.  One thing she shared that I found interesting was she said growing up, she and her siblings just knew there dad was gone a lot and spent a lot of time in the temple and doing church work.  It wasn't until they read a biography on his life that they appreciated some of the things he had done.  She told President Hinkley that if she had know that was what he was doing she would have given him more respect.  She said to her he was just dad.

We left Salt Lake Thursday, 19 March at about 11:00 and after changing planes in Atlanta got to Johannesburg, South Africa Friday, 20 March at about 1730 hrs.  Yes, we were tired and had major jet lag.  It was good being here but it took us over a week to get over the jet lag.  It is a 9 hour difference from Salt Lake.  Our first Sunday was at the Kagiso (Ka-He-So) Ward in Soweto Township.  Here we are in front of the church and we are even awake....I think.  

We are working with some wonderful temple missionaries who we are growing to love.  We were picked up at the airport by Elder and Sister Firmage (David and Zan, short for Alexzander) and when we got to our apartment Elder and Sister Jarvis (Joe and Kathy) had dinner waiting for us.  We have also made good friends with Gerald and Donita Christensen, Larry and Marylynn Morris.  We also have Mark and Shirley Taylor, Richard and Ansie Dalldorf (local missionaries), and Sis. Kato who is also local.  I will update more later but enough for today.  It is wonderful to be here and we are excited to serve.   I am going to start doing this on a more regular basis.  We did not have internet access for the first 10 days we were here in Joburg so I am just trying to get this going........

Temple Training in Salt Lake City

After leaving Texas we went to Sant George, Utah and spent a week with Lisa's family and had a wonderful time.  We went to the Saint George temple while there since we are going on a temple mission.  We then went to Provo to see other family and especially my brother, Stacy, who has thyroid cancer and is going to start radiation and chemo.  I was able to go to Salt Lake with he and Esther to visit with the Radiation Oncologist.  It is hard to see family getting older and our bodies start to break down.  It is especially hard when Stacy is one of "The Uncles" and we go skiing with the nieces and nephews.  It was good to spend a few hours with him and just visit even if it really was about nothing.  It is the people in our lives that make the best memories and I am grateful to have such wonderful family and friends in my life.
While in Utah we also went to the Saint George, Manti, Logan, Ogden and Salt Lake temples.  That means we went to 5 temples total which was wonderful.  We had our training in the Salt Lake Temple which was special too.  Most of our training was in the chapel which is the small building just to the north or right of the temple.

Our trainers were President M. Richard and Sister Kathleen Hinkley Walker,  They are such spiritual giants and yet so personal and uplifting.  They shared personal stories and experiences not only from when he was the Salt Lake Temple President (2005-2008) but also some experiences with President Hinkley who was her father.  One was President Walker had been a mission president in England and had always told him missionaries that the first thing they needed to do when they were going to propose to marry a girl was call their father and get permission.  Both Pres and Sister Walker had been married for about 43 years prior and their spouses had died.  Neither had any intention of getting married again but it was just the right thing.  He was going to ask her and remembered his counsel to his missionaries.  He said it was rather akward calling the President of the church to ask if he could marry his daughter.  President Hinkley gave his approval but also asked if he knew she was stubborn.  He said he did but didn't realize just how stubborn she was.....and then he quickly added as he shot her a smile, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  They truly do love each other and it showed.  A highlight for me of our training was the last day we took a "walk through" of the temple.  It ended in the Assembly room which is the 5-6th floors.  It has just been refinished and is beautiful.  We got to go into the Talmadge Room where James Talmadge "lived" to write most of the book "Jesus The Christ".  We closed with them sharing a few more temple experiences and then bearing their testimonies.  Lis and I were on the front row of the stands (at both end of the assembly room are the 4 stands of the Melchesdik and Aaronic Priesthood) and President asked if I would say the closing prayer.  I told him I wouild be honored to give a closing cry to end our training.  I got through it fairly well and after we just mingled for a while.  None of us wanted it to end but it needed to.  We had to get back to our rooms and get packed to leave the next AM.  They shook our hands as we parted but of course I gave them a hug.  I just felt like they needed to know we loved them more than a hand shake could say.  It was an amazing experience and great way to start a mission.
   That evening (18 March) Jana and Keith came to the hotel and picked up the CTS.  We sold it to them and hope they enjoy it as much as we have.  Jana seemed to be excited to have a new car and I know we were glad that they bought it.  It was hard getting our bags to 50 pounds each (glad another couple had a digital hand held scale to weigh them with) but after leaving some clothes and other things we made it.......  When we got to the airport Thursday AM we had a very pleasant man help us and the bags were 49, 50, 49 and 51 pounds....it was all good!   Next post is South Africa!!1

Set apart as missionaries

Tonight Lisa and I were set apart as full time Temple Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple.  We were set apart by our Stake President and dear friend, President Jay Jones.  It was special for us to have our kids and grandkids here except Lexie and her family who could not come up from Austin due to snow and bad weather.  President Jones made some special promises to us about our service and being a blessing to those we will serve in South Africa and how we will learn to love the people there.  It is exciting to be serving as missionaries and I have the most fantastic and amazing companion!!!  I Love Her.
This is the start of an amazing service phase of our lives and we are grateful to have been so blessed.  I do have to remind everyone that blessings and luck seem to be directly related to how hard you work.  It has been many years of hard work to be financially blessed and in so many other ways prepared to go on a mission.  We leave for Utah in the AM to start this adventure.......

Countdown to a new adventure

Well here we are friends! Welcome one, welcome all, to the inaugural Elder and Sister Johnson Blog!!! As we adventure and frolic from Home Base Johannesburg, we will be updating from here, even though Facebook is a perfectly viable option for such shenanigans. But here we are, since Kerry likes to chronicle life via electronic journal. SO, here we are.

Lisa Marie helped me set this up as Nathan was too lazy and unaccommodating the multiple times I petitioned for him to do so. We are both stressed, what with the packing and preparing and thoughts of leaving our possessions in the charge of our youngest child... what were we thinking?!? But it is exciting to be embarking on this adventure and we are grateful that we are able to help our children live their lives, even from afar. We will definitely miss our grandchildren immensely. Possibly their parents at times, but there is no way to be for certain.

Thank you for taking the time to care about our lives, and I promise that future posts will be more exciting, even if lacking in flowery, colorful vernacular. We love you all!!!

Kerry and Lisa, via the ramblings of Nathan.