It is interesting how these past two weeks in particular seemed to have a primary focus: Missionaries traveling to the Pacific Islands. Destinations? Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu. These are really difficult islands to reach in any sort of straightforward, simple itinerary. I will start with a sister headed back to Tonga after her mission. She left her mission in the Africa South Area last week. On Saturday she was in Hong Kong waiting for a flight on Monday that will take her first to Fiji and then to Tonga. All in all it was a week before she actually arrived home from the time she left. I am learning all sorts of things about transit visas, layover lengths, visitors visas, detention rooms, ATM card cut-off dates, and more. While I am not supposed to be involved in travel issues, when a Mission Leader has a problem with a missionary getting stuck, they call travel, and if they don’t answer, they call me. Proximity does have its advantages. When a missionary is not given a transit visa for an airport that requires one, they end up in a detention room for the duration of layover. And if that missionary has no money because their mission card was cut off on the day they left the mission, they merely sit in the room and are miserable. When this happens multiple times on a trip home, it can be downright discouraging. This is then exacerbated when the missionary’s parents travel from a neighboring Island to pick up their daughter from the airport, only to find out it will be 5 more days before she arrives. Kudos to our traveling Islanders who seem to keep a cheerful attitude through it all.

We had another missionary who finally received her visa to Vanuatu. She boarded a plane in Kinshasa DRC and traveled to Kampala, Uganda. From there, she was to travel through Fiji, but because she did not have a Fiji transit visa, the airport would not let her board. Unfortunately, that transit visa is an “eVisa” and takes 2-3 weeks to receive. So rather than send her back to her temporary mission which only has flights twice a week, we needed to get her a temporary assignment in Kinshasa so she could leave the day her eVisa is approved. Every temporary assignment requires an Apostle’s approval on placement. So that takes time … and that mission was not expecting to have an extra sister missionary for three weeks… (Grateful to kind and flexible mission presidents who helped us out).

All of these airports below have been involved in the efforts to get these missionaries home.

The third issue was a missionary going home to Kiribati. He too traveled through Fiji and needed a transit visa, unbeknownst to the travel group. He had a flight canceled and then rebooked. Turns out, he stayed in Fiji for 5 days before flying to Kiribati due to the frequency of flights to the Island. Fortunately, there is a couple there (not missionaries) who help the mission by taking care of missionaries in transit. What a huge blessing that couple has been to us this past week! This particular missionary had to go home early, so there was no time to plan the ultimate route home. Initially, the flight to Fiji was booked and then the plan was to put him on a boat. However, there are no boats that travel between those two islands. The good news is that they are all safely back home. Whew!

We had a situation recently in one of the missions where a pair of missionaries were robbed (it was still daylight). One of the guys brandished a knife and the only things the missionaries had with them was a Book of Mormon and a small burner phone (they carry minimal items of value for this very reason). The robbers took both and left the missionaries unharmed. The missionaries were unfazed, walked back to their car, retrieved their smart phone (which they do not carry with them) and then called the Mission President to tell him what happened. They then went on to a teaching appointment. Meanwhile the thieves, thinking that the missionaries had no way to communicate, began calling people in the missionaries’ contact list demanding a ransom, claiming they had the missionaries. A quick blast from the Mission President telling the rest of the mission what happened and asking them to ignore any calls from the number of the stolen phone…. and it all ended well. This is what is called a virtual kidnapping, where the missionaries are safe, but someone pretends they have them and want money for their return. It is sad that there is this kind of desperation in the world. These sorts of incidents are rare, and fortunately missionaries are very rarely in harm’s way. There is no doubt in my mind that there are angels round about them protecting them as they fulfill their errand from the Lord.

Those of you who have followed our blog since our days in Sierra Leone, will know the story of Grace and her mom Rebecca. If not, you can catch the essence of the story here. Well, this past week a missionary (Elder Damon Bergfeld) who was serving in Tongo contacted me. He was just finishing his mission and said that the branch now has about 250 members. He also sent me this lovely picture of Rebecca and Grace. This brings us such joy to see them both. Rebecca’s husband left to Guinea two years ago and has never come back. That opened the door to having her son baptized. This little family loves the Gospel and the Church! Rebecca was the very first person to be baptized in Tongo back on March 16, 2019. I even went back and dug up the picture of that first baptism to send to Elder Bergfeld . Rebecca is in the center of that picture holding then just under two-year old Grace.

I want to share a funny story with you. A couple of weeks ago, the second counselor in branch presidency was conducting in the Forest Hill Branch where we attend. His name is Phetogo Letsoalo and he is such a warm, kind, and loving leader. He was called to be in the branch presidency in April of this year, and it is obvious when he conducts that he is still a bit nervous. On this particular Sunday, he announced the speakers after the sacrament had been blessed and passed. After announcing the first speaker, he looked across the congregation, seeking for the person to come forward. It was obvious that he was distressed that no one was getting up. And then it dawned on him. The first speaker was HIM! Immediately the congregation realized what happened and everyone laughed, along with Brother Lesoalo. It was a precious moment as the laughter was not at him, but with him. He is such a humble man and the members know and love him well.

We continue to have all kinds of travel troubles. I have mentioned these things before. Due to the significant number of temporary assignments we have in both the South and Central Africa areas and the movement between these two areas and West Africa, (primarily because the Ghana MTC is the biggest and easily accessed MTC in Africa). Here is a picture of the key travel players in each of the three regions on a Teams call. Elder Larkin, the IFR in Ghana is also on the call. It was a good meeting where many important points were discussed and awareness was raised. Unfortunately, there were no action items taken with due dates for resolution. One of the reasons, is that so many of these issues are outside of the influence of the travel teams. So, the call was good and perhaps we will all do better as a result of it, but at the heart of this problem is we have to have the visa documents earlier. Once a missionary receives their call, it is very difficult to gather the documents needed to secure the visa. We will keep chipping away at the problem until we find lasting solutions. Meanwhile, good communication between these travel groups is going to be key to surviving the shear volume of work facing each of the teams.

On the lighter side of things, we have added a fourth to our weekly early morning golf outing on Fridays. Elder Bruce Nielsen has joined us. Elder and Sister Nielsen are here as Welfare Services and Self-Reliance Missionaries. While golfing this past week, we spotted two parakeets in trees on the course. I managed to catch a photo of one of them. Once home, I did a bit of research and discovered that these parakeets are actually considered an invasive species, introduced into the wild from the pet trade. They have apparently become quite common in Johannesburg – and problematic. You can read a short summary here about the problems they cause. They are beautiful though!

Two last things, first a picture in front of our favorite gelato place in the Rosemont Mall. The Johnsons and we went to Fishmonger restaurant a couple of weeks ago and then enjoyed some gelato afterwards. They are across from each other making it difficult for Fishmonger’s to sell much dessert 😊. We had a great evening with the Johnson’s and the delicious food we consumed. Second, on Saturday we traveled about 40 minutes north to “Irene’s Market”. This is a local market that is more like a craft fair than a market. They had lots of food booths and quite a number of local crafts. We ended up purchasing some small beaded African animals, some delicious ginger snaps, and a table runner / wall hanging. It was a fun morning.

And that is what has been happening in South Africa over the past 2+ weeks. There are so many other aspects of our callings that are not appropriate to put into a blog. However, you can be sure that we see the Lord’s hand every single day in the work we are doing. There are at least 9 verses in the standard works that reference the concept of the first being last and the last being first. Perhaps my favorite is found in Jacob 5:63 “Graft in the branches; begin at the last that they may be first, and that the first may be last⁠, and dig about the trees, both old and young, the first and the last; and the last and the first, that all may be nourished once again for the last time.” Never has this scripture been more real to us. Despite all of the struggles and challenges associated with establishing the Church in Africa, the presiding brethren of this Church are repeatedly asking our Area Presidencies to do more and do it faster. There is currently an effort underway called the “Missionary Brigade”, where members of the Area Presidency are going to the stakes and doing a fireside with youth and young single adults, encouraging them to prepare for and go on a mission. This will result in even more missionaries than we now have. You see, instead of slowing down the work to deal with things like temp assignments and visas, the Brethren are speeding it up. Why? Because the “last will be first”. Africa’s time is now. There is a sense of urgency to gather in the elect before the Savior returns. It is an honor for us to be a part of this great work, Serving in South Africa.