A jouney into another world!

The Risers and we decided we were definitely country bumpkins when we traveled to the BIG city of J-Burg this past week.  Francistown is a small city and has a few restaurants and small downtown area.  It has both donkey carts and BMWs on the same road.  We consider it about the size of Smithfield, Utah.  As we journeyed southward and reached one larger city after another, we kept commenting on how big the cities were and what they had for stores and people.  We even drove on a freeway and even if it was a toll road, we enjoyed the freedom of driving on a divided two lane highway.  We haven't done that since our drive to the SLC Airport!  We were amazed on how large Johannesburg was.  When we were there before at the Mission Home, we were in a residential area and then left for Botswana through the back part of the town.  We got to the Temple very easy and got settled in the Patron's Lodging, which was very nice.  We had hoped to make it to the 5 o'clock session but it started to rain with an electrical storm that was so close and so loud.  We couldn't even walk the short distance to the temple because of the heavy rain.  We eventually made it to the 6 o'clock session and enjoyed the Temple and the peace felt there.  Afterwards we went to eat and had a great meal just a few blocks from the temple.  Elder Woolf had his first steak since he has been here and he loved it.  The next day we were busy in the temple all day and it was great.  We met Bert Ashcroft and his wife in the temple.  They are on a mission as temple workers for 18 months.  Bert was from the 5th Ward and was a year older than Dennis and I went to school with his younger brother, Scott.  You do meet the nicest people in the Temple.  You cannot get the feeling of peace anywhere else.  There is also a distribution store and we had a good time there too.  That night we met up with Bobby Lewis and his wife Renae.  Bobby grew up in Riverdale and is just two months older than Dennis.  We went out to eat at a Mediterranean restaurant and enjoyed the company and the meal.  We laughed at every one's experiences that we have had here.  We got up early the next and did one more session before we left to return to Francistown.  Elder Woolf started driving home and then asked me to drive.  All three were asleep and I was not sure where to turn off to head to Botswana.  I had muted our GPS because we didn't want to hear the lady tell us where to go - big mistake!!  I drove into some city that I didn't recognize and the others woke up just then.  We finally realized that we had  - or I should say - I had driven 40 km too far and was headed to Zimbabwe!!  Elder Woolf got behind the wheel again and off we headed back the way we came.  We finally had our one meal of the day about 3:30 p.m. and we were hungry.  We didn't want to take the time to eat it at the pizza place, so we took it and ate it in the car and a pizza never tasted so good.  We enjoyed the Temple trip very much; it was a great diversion for us.  We even got to see some animals on the way home. 

Transfers

Transfer week is always a sweet and sour experience.  We hate losing the wonderful missionaries we have worked with here, but we seem to always get the best ones to come and fill the empty spots.  We lost four wonderful missionaries in this past transfer: Sisters Lovell and Hadlock and Elders Sithole and Van Herdeen.  We have a going away social and have the ones leaving bear their testimonies AND have ice cream.  The next week we have a welcoming social and have the new ones introduce themselves and bear their testimonies AND have ice cream. 

Goodbyes and Ice Cream.

Elder Van Heerden and the Sisters

Some of our new missionaries