Hello Friends!

Hello Friends,

We have been having incredible experiences the last 9 days in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.   There are 1,700 young missionaries 18-19 years old, and there are 83 "senior missionaries" (ages 55-80).  

We have become good friends with most of the senior missionaries during this short time.   These new friends have come from all over the U.S. and will be leaving to  serve all over the world---Utah (22 people),Las Vegas, Atlanta, Tampa, Kansas, Arkansas, Washington DC, Ukraine, Albania, Philippines, Beijing,

 and the Congo.   We are the only ones going to South Africa.

 Some will be teaching college, some will help high school age kids graduate by enrolling them in an online diploma program and helping them for the next year, some are delivering wheelchairs that have been custom made for the people in the area, some will do other humanitarian projects, etc.    We still do not know what we will be doing or where we will live.   But we will find out when we arrive.

We all eat together in a cafeteria and you can imagine the energy that comes from the 1,700 young men and women!  I kept thinking of my days doing "lunch duty" as an elementary school teacher with 60-100 students eating at one time....that was nothing! They treat the "senior missionaries"  like royalty and let us go to the head of the food line and open the doors for us, etc.  

Each day we have had classes from 8-5 with a break for lunch. After dinner we study and/or have inspirational speakers.    For the first hour each day we are taught by someone our age.   For the rest of the day we are taught by young men and women ages 23-26 who have served missions!!  They are knowledgeable, kind and very patient.   They are one of the highlights.    The first 4 days we studied Jesus Christ.   We were supposed to leave after that but my Visa had not arrived.   Larry's had arrived a month earlier......I have always been the troublemaker!!!   So we have been here a few more days that we originally planned.   

We just found out an hour ago that my Visa arrived and we fly out early tomorrow morning (Thursday).....Salt Lake City to Atlanta to Johannesburg to Durban.    We will arrive Friday night at 10:00 PM if all goes well.

We had been told not bring bring an engagement or wedding ring if it had a diamond or precious stone because theft is such a problem.  We were told to buy inexpensive wedding bands.    We had left that task until the last minute.    We ran into Walmart and went to the jewelry counter.    I asked the young clerk if I could  see the wedding bands.  As she brought one out of the case,  I kept asking how much it cost.    After she replied,  I would say, "Do you have anything cheaper?"   Finally she pulled out a band for $27 and I said, "Great".    It was a little big but they didn't have anything in my size.    She asked when we needed the band so she could order a ring my size, but I said "Now" (we were leaving for the Missionary Training Center.  ) Flippantly I said to the clerk, "Oh, that will do."   I pushed the ring toward the clerk and said, "I have to go to the bathroom, he will pay for it .  (I pointed to Larry)."   And I ran off. 

 Next, Larry said to the clerk, "Do you have something similar?"   She gave him a matching ring and he paid the total bill of $58.00.    In 5-7 minutes we were on our way.   The clerk who looked like she was in her early 20's probably thought, "That man is such a cheapskate!"   or, "How sad they are only spending 5 minutes to buy rings that they don't even care about."    We laughed as we drove away.

We are so excited to have the opportunity to serve the people of South Africa.   We feel so blessed.   We still don't know what township we will be in or what we will be doing.