It has been way too long since we have made a post. December and January have come and gone and in their wake was left an increased number of cases requiring attention. And it not just the number of cases, it was the type of cases. Christmas Eve was extremely busy and then we had a relatively quiet week until New Years, and then it started up again. January proved to be a record month for cases. As a reminder, the types of cases I handle are reinstatements/reassignments, medical, emotional, service mission transfers, belated confessions, own insistence, and misconduct – along with quite a list of “other” cases. Things like an early release for college, leaves of absence for the funeral of an immediate family member, postponing or cancelling a mission for someone with a call who has not yet entered the field, as well as accelerating an MTC start date. Each week I am involved in missionaries who cannot get to their permanent mission and require a temporary assignment. Each of these are done by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and they take time. Sometimes, the system will assign an incorrect MTC or even the length of stay. Sometimes missionaries speak good English and don’t need the 9 week language training for which they were scheduled. Other times, missionaries who are scheduled for 3 weeks, need to stay longer for language training. Okay, you get the picture. With 5,000 missionaries in the Central and South Areas, there is a lot of activity. I relish the opportunity to counsel with these 30 mission leaders who often face unexpected challenges. As I have mentioned before, I am only an advisor and a representative of the Missionary Department for these 30 missions.

Okay, now to the point. On January 21st, I was feeling the weight of an increased case load and especially the types of cases they were. I woke up that morning feeling heavy, grateful it was the day of our temple shift. On that day, I was asked to be the initiatory coordinator, a responsibility that gave me some time to ponder from time to time. As I sat there, I began to formulate words in my head that needed an outlet. I walked to the front desk and asked for half a sheet of paper, and returned to my station and began to write.

This was the result:

The wind outside is cold and fierce,
Man’s fallen ways my heart now pierce.
I search for shelter from the storm,
A sacred place where peace is born.

CHORUS
The temple doors now call to me,
A house of pure serenity.
The Spirit warms my weary soul,
Restores my strength, and makes me whole.

My heart is heavy, I need relief,
The world steals light as if a thief.
But in this place the shadows flee,
And heaven’s light renews in me.

I hear the words, I know the names,
The blessings offered I do claim.
The Spirit whispers “all is well”
I’m ready now to face the swell.

The wind outside, no longer cold,
Its fierceness now subdued and old.
I fear not wickedness from man,
I’m clothed with power and I will stand!

The temple doors still call to me,
My anchor through eternity.
Inside the Spirit’s like a fire
And gives me strength
that lifts me higher.

I could almost hear the music. My good friend Kevin Ball has been working on some albums of sacred music that he has either written or arranged. You might want to give a listen, these songs are inspiring! His first album is called “In His Presence“ and is available on all major music streaming platforms. I wanted to see if I could create my own AI music to put these words into an uplifting and inspiring song. My effort surprised me, but it wasn’t quite right. This is where Kevin came in. He willingly took these words and because of his experience with the tool, he created something amazing. Here is the result of our combined efforts.

That song has become a symbol of the importance of the temple as a shelter from the world’s storms for me. We work the Wednesday morning shift each week starting at 9 am and ending about 12:30 pm. Much of what I deal with in this assignment is the underbelly of missionary work: challenges and problems associated with 5,000 missionaries, many who come from poor countries with limited access to healthcare and many who are first generation Church members. This is why we are so grateful to be close to a place of peace and refuge to offset the toll that constantly working on these issues takes on my own spirit. I have a very deep testimony of the sacredness of the work of gathering of Israel and it is painful when there are those who do not yet understand the work in which they are engaged. This is all part of the establishment of the Church in Africa. Because of our Ghana Mission Leader assignment, we know the challenges. Multiplying that by 30 missions can feel overwhelming at times.

One of the things I get involved with is helping to arrange logistics for missionaries who need to travel to a different city or country for better healthcare. I will share three experiences. The first involves a sister from Madagascar called to the Salt Lake City Temple Square mission (before it was changed). While in the MTC, it was discovered she had a parosteal osteosarcoma in her left leg which is a lower form of bone cancer.  In this form, the cancer grows on the top of the bone and while with time it can spread, if caught early, it is usually operable.  Such was this case.  Because of the excellent medical care in Johannesburg, it was determined that she would fly home to Madagascar in December and then in mid-January come to Johannesburg for surgery, accompanied by her mom.  My responsibility was to arrange for the visas and the flights to get them here on time. Working closely with Elder Kane (Area Medical Advisor) we were able to get it all arranged including a place for them to stay.  While the insurance pays for the medical care, the rest (food, boarding, transportation) had to be arranged with the Area Welfare Services team – something I worked on.  The mom speaks very little English, so that complicated matters a bit.  Elder and Sister Kane have been absolute angels in the care of this mom/daughter duo.  We are happy to report that the surgery was a success and she has been released from the hospital and is now in recovery at a nearby guest house associated with the hospital.  She still has a long way to go, but the miraculous success of this entire event is a reminder that God is indeed in the details.

Just recently we had another medical case in one of our missions.  An assistant to the President became very ill while at a zone conference with the mission leaders, a 1.5 hour flight away from the Mission Home located in the capital city.  Turns out this elder had not felt good for some time, but kept it to himself because he didn’t want to be a burden, thinking it would self-resolve. Once they arrived in the distant city, the elder was so sick he finally asked for help.  Blood in his urine, fever, jaundice, and abdominal pain.  The mission leaders immediately took him to the local “hospital”, which was nothing more than a clinic.  Elder Kane told the doctors what to do regarding an IV to pump some particular antibiotics into him. There were a lot of concerns that whatever was causing this pain and other symptoms could turn into something much worse.  Immediately there were efforts by the mission leaders to look into flying the elder back to the capital city in an airplane ambulance.  I worked on getting the approvals to do this (not a cheap option) and by the time we had the approvals it was after midnight where the elder was. When Elder Kane looked into the hospital located in the capital city, he was concerned they did not have the resources to perform surgery should it be required.  To make matters worse, during the night the elder had a very difficult pain episode.  Elder Kane worked with the Missionary Department medical team in Salt Lake during our night, and it was ultimately concluded that moving him to Johannesburg for treatment was a better option since the hospital here had the ability to do surgery, if necessary. The concern was that this could result in sepsis if the bile ducts were blocked and then surgery would be the only solution.  Elder Kane tried to contact the company that we thought could airlift him out of the city where he was during the night, but no one answered. The next morning, the elder felt better, but it wasn’t clear if that was due to the pain medication administered during the night or if the antibiotics were working.  The more we considered moving him to Johannesburg, the more obstacles we could see.  There was an issue of visas, which we managed to work through, but then we realized his passport was back in the capital city and he would have to go there first regardless of the other options we were discussing.  We then decided to go back to the medivac company in order to get him to the capital city – we would then go from there if he needed more medical care than they could offer him. The mission leaders again contacted the medivac company and when asked when they could fly him back to the capital, the company told them that first the money would need to be paid before they would say when they could fly him out.  Not something we would ever do in Africa (or anywhere else for that matter).  There was some concern about flying him commercial because Elder Kane did not want him exposed to anyone else that might be ill on the plane, as he could be susceptible.  It was right about then that I called the Mission President to see how he was doing and what his thoughts were.  At this point he was clearly distressed.  I think he felt like a ping pong ball because the path forward kept changing. While involved, I was just enough removed from the details and pressure of the decision, that I asked him a question: “You are the priesthood keyholder of this young man, if you just close off all the other noise around you, what do YOU feel should happen next?”  He paused for a moment, perhaps to eliminate what felt like chaos going on around him, and then responded that he felt like we should get him on the flight with him and his wife who were scheduled to return to the capital city that afternoon on a commercial flight.  The moment he said that, I had an overwhelming spiritual impression that that was exactly what needed to happen.  I shared my experience with the mission president and he felt the same confirmation.  At that point everything changed.  I called Elder Kane and he too agreed it was the best way forward.  Under Elder Kane’s direction, the mission leaders arranged for a face mask for the elder to wear on the flight and pain medication to be administered right before they left.  The mission leaders also successfully moved the Assistants tickets from the next day (they were going to stay for an exchange with the zone leaders) to travel with them that day. They were able to get first class seats for them so they would be the first ones off the plane.  They also arranged for an ambulance to meet them at the airport and take him to the hospital.  So many things had to fall into place for this to occur so quickly, and they all did.  Now the epilogue.  The doctors believe that the elder passed a gallstone that had temporarily clogged the bile ducts, causing the pain, the fever, the blood in the urine and the jaundice.  There is a name for this, it is called cholangitis. Once back in the capital city he improved quickly, returning to his normal energetic and upbeat self.  The labs taken each day improved significantly.  One thing we learned during this process was that bilirubin counts are measured differently in that country than in the US.  This created quite a scare until that was clearly understood. The Missionary Department doctors asked that he be kept over the weekend in the hospital and then if the labs were good Monday, he could be released – which is what happened. It was marvelous to see the hand of the Lord and the exercise of priesthood keys in this young man’s life… and in ours.

The last case I will mention was happening simultaneously with the one above involving the elder.  This one had to do with an African sister in a different country.  The city where she was serving has limited healthcare and she was having lower abdominal pain that was debilitating.  She had spent a week in the week in the “hospital” and the doctors concluded that she had acute appendicitis and had to be operated on immediately.  It is important to understand that in many of these African countries, when the doctors don’t really understand the problem and it is associated with abdominal pain, it is almost always ruled appendicitis.  They know how to do the operation and even if they are wrong there is little downside.  And more importantly they make money.  To the credit of the Area Presidency member over this mission, when the mission president requested approval for the appendectomy, he said “No”.  In this particular misson, the cell phone coverage is weak in many places so when the mission leaders are traveling through the mission, they can be difficult to reach.  Such was the case here.  The Area Medical advisor had some specific questions to help determine if it was appendicitis, but we simply could not get them answered.  How did the member of the Area Presidency know it wasn’t appendicitis?  He was inspired!  We were finally able to get the sister into a major city with better care.  We have a Latter-day Saint doctor there who speaks good English and was able to arrange much better care for this missionary. They immediately ruled out appendicitis and did some blood tests that are now back.  Whenever we need major care for a missionary at a hospital, we arrange for a guarantee of payment from the insurance company contracted by the Church.  These GOPs come back quickly, but there is effort in getting all the correct information.  Our Area Medical Advisor is new so we worked through the process together.  The city where the sister was serving only has flights in and out twice a week, so once we arranged the flight we knew we only had one day to arrange for the GOP, and with the time differences with Salt Lake, it was a bit of a challenge.  But I am happy to report the GOP came in on time, the sister was admitted to a good facility and we are experiencing a good result in her care and healing.

Christmas in Johannesburg was good. As senior missionaries we did a number of things together, even though there were a number of the seniors able to get away for a few days. From about the middle of December until the middle of January there is not much happening at the Area Office. In addition, the temple was closed for a week. Therefore, many of the couples were able to get away from Johannesburg. Some went to Cape Town, some to Victoria Falls, and others to nearby game reserves. We however stayed put as our assignments require “on call” status. We didn’t mind as activity was curtailed. Despite the work, we did find opportunities to get a break. In December, a large group of us went to see the movie Wicked for Good. We also had a nice pot luck luncheon with the other missionaries on Christmas Day. The Conners had left a small Christmas tree for us and with the purchase of some small LED lights, we added some holiday cheer to our apartment.

On December 8th, we went to dinner with Elder and Sister Steve and Margo Butler (temple couple). We went to a restaurant named “Istanbul” and had a really good family style Mediterranean meal. This was at the Melrose Arch Mall, where there were actually some very nice Christmas decorations – which we also enjoyed while there.

President and Sister Ruben, mission leaders in the Johannesburg Mission are the caretakers of the senior missionaries in order to remove the administrative burden otherwise placed on the Area Presidency. During December, the Rubens had all of the senior couples over for lunch on December 6th and December 13th. The missionaries were split into two groups. We went on the 13th and snapped a picture at the end. They live in a beautiful house on a golf course, about 40 minutes from the area office. Not quite the same as our Ghana Mission Home…

We continue to play golf at 5:30 am on Fridays. During January they had pro golf tournaments back to back so we missed a couple of weeks. It is such a beautiful (albeit difficult) course. Elder Shumway (area legal) has started to join us on most Fridays. Elder Warner is also a regular, but on the day we took the picture below, he was not able to come.

On January 12th, we welcomed a new couple to the Area. Elder and Sister Gordon replaced the Andersen’s at the BYU Pathway Global Education Center. The Gordon’s served an MLS mission down in the Durban Mission a couple of years back. We were fortunate enough to be the host couple. While I am in the back center of the picture, LaDawn is standing in the front with the Gordons on her right. This is a powerful group of Senior Missionaries!

On January 13th, we had a special treat, running into Sister Kimberly Chikayenda from Malawi. Sister Chikayenda was another one of our missionaries. She has just been hired as the manager of the new Church distribution in Lilongwe Malawi, one of the 55 new missions announced for 2026. She came to Johannesburg for a week to be trained. She was an outstanding missionary and will be outstanding in this new job. It was such a joy to see her!

Also in January, we were invited for lunch on Wednesday, January 21st by Chicco and Belma. They are members of the branch where we attend in Forest Hills. They are a hard working, self-reliant couple with a small son. Chicco removes dents on cars that have been damaged. He has his own little company, and contracts with auto repair shops. He says that during the rainy season he has much more work than in the dry season. The reason? The rain causes more accidents. They live in a small one room house. The dinner Belma cooked was delicious: Meat stew (like our hash), sweet potatoes, spinach, and biscuits (made in a large 2-3 gallon medal pot with boiling water sitting on a single burner propane tank). They have no sink, bathroom, or oven. The sink and bathroom are outside (common area) and they simply make do with a microwave. The majority of their room is filled with a large bed where all three of them sleep. They don’t complain and are both filled with joy each time we see them. President Nelson’s words ring especially true for this amazing couple: “… the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.”

The last item I will mention is our Come Follow Me lesson on January 25th. We had the opportunity of Elder and Sister Sikahema coming to the class and teaching (Sister Sikahema did most of the teaching – she taught seminary for a number of years). I think she had us read two scriptures and then she asked about 3 questions. The dialog, discussion, and contributions from many of the senior missionaries was absolutely terrific. We spent the entire time talking about Moses 4-5 in the Pearl of Great Price. The story of the fall of Adam and Eve and the introduction of the Atonement of Jesus Christ made for a rich doctrinal discussion. Elder Sikahema is a great storyteller and he added in some additional perspective. It was such a treat for all of us to be with them. Every other Sunday, as many of the senior missionaries who desire to attend come together for a Come Follow Me lesson. We enjoy being together with the other missionaries and gaining new insights and perspectives from the life lessons each of them have been taught during their mortal journey.

That is what we have been up to the last couple of months. LaDawn continues to process all of the missionary applications coming in from the Africa South Area. These applications continue to increase as more and more young people are choosing to serve. In January that number was about 170. The goal for the area in 2026 is 3000 new missionaries. That is a significant increase over last year that the Area Presidency is working hard to achieve. There will be additional Missionary Brigades held this year in an effort to help those who might not serve catch the vision of serving as missionaries and reaping the blessings of doing so. We continue to be grateful for all of our blessings and above all, the privilege of Serving in South Africa, together and hand in hand.