We have now been in Johannesburg (Jo-burg)for almost two weeks and are still not sure of our status or destination. We were asked where we would like to serve in case we did not get back into Zimbabwe, and Bro. Reynolds said we would be glad to serve in the Jo-burg Temple until we could return or be reassigned to another area. So now we are installed in the temple missionary housing and working full-time in the temple, possibly until it closes for some extensive renovation from July 15 through September 9. We are happy to be serving in the House of the Lord again. It has been especially gratifying to just be a worker, since the coordinator positions we held in the Seattle Temple took us away from serving directly. Elder Reynolds has had opportunities to serve in many assignments in the last two weeks, and is really excited to be back in the swing of things again.

The temple senior missionaries take their Mondays off and go adventuring.

We are authorized to use the temple buses, and today we loaded both of them up and went to the temple president's home for a light breakfast of muffins, juice and meat rolls.

Then we visited one of the animal parks and got to walk right in with the animals. There are no predators, so it was really neat to walk up fairly close to the animals and take pictures. You asked for some pictures, so here's a sample of what we saw.

The impalas were quite shy, but some of the other antelope were inquisitive.

The zebras (say short e, not zeebras) were pretty tolerant.

The ostriches came right through the group on their way to and from the fountain.

Sister Reynolds got a picture of Sis. "Tata" in the trees.

Then we had lunch at a tea garden, out on the grounds by the duck pond. It was all by way of saying goodbye to those who will be going home when the temple closes next month.

This has been a topsy-turvy week, indeed. On Monday we were told there was a possibility that our Visas for Zimbabwe might not be approved. On Wednesday afternoon, we were told that we would be leaving the country at noon on Thursday. So by Thursday afternoon 6/6/13 we were in Johannesburg, SA, with no assignment or idea where we would end up. We spent several days in the Sunnyside Park Hotel, and finally on Monday we found out we would be temporarily assigned to work in the Jo-burg Temple as temple missionaries until the Brethren decide where we may be re-assigned. We are still hoping to be able to return to Zimbabwe, but hope is dim due to the unrest and confusion attending the elections there. We were joined by another couple on Saturday along with three young missionaries, and there will be an additional couple tomorrow. The next contingent of missionaries who were to arrive next week will be diverted to other missions, with the exception of two native Zimbabweans. This is a difficult time, but we are not discouraged, just disappointed that we may never see our beloved Zimbabwe again.

This is our initial branch, Dombotombo, assignment, in Marondera. The building has both branches meeting here. It is only about two years old, but both branches are now close to 100 members in attendance. The picture of the next missionary to go out from the branch is of soon-to-be Elder Gumbodete and the branch mission leader.

Another week has passed, we are now at the one month mark on our mission. Woohoo! It has gone by so fast it's scary. We had an opportunity to attend a graduation ceremony for the young people who had completed the water sanitation training. Now that they had clean water from their new bore hole (translate water well) which the LDS church had financed, the prefects and class head man were trained so that they could train the other children in the school. The school of 1250 children is well-run, the children seem happy and disciplined, and they were pleased to present a program celebrating the turnover of the well to the school. The choir sang the Zimbabwe national anthem. The pre-school class sang a bouncy song about the uses for clean water, complete with hand actions, first in Shona and then in English. The dance class (which has won national trophies) did a traditional dance of successful harvest, in celebration of the "harvest" of clean water. They were all in costume, and were incredible to watch, and they were having a good time showing off their skills. A PE class demonstrated exercise and tumbling, and of course there were speeches, most of which were quite short by our standards. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera. The children are beautiful, and love to smile and wave to us.

The pictures are from the Domboshawe Branch. Sister Reynolds got to help with the Primary both times we visited there before our assignment to Dombotombo.

The tree silhouette is in the parking lot of the Harare Mission Office, and I felt like this was our new place to call home, and the landmark I will always remember.

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We had a marvelous time at the Missionary Training Center, or MTC. The group we were with was lots of fun. We actually spent the whole 2 weeks with most of them, since one couple included a doctor, and one a nurse. We did our week of medical training together as well as the week at the MTC. Well, here we are in Zimbabwe! We will add a couple of pictures, but we haven't really gotten a chance to take many yet. We are sitting here in the dark with the computer running on batteries, and 2 candles burning. The power is out. This is not unusual here, but the first time since we got here on Wednesday that it has gone out on us. Our bigger problem is water. Some days the city water fills our tank, and some days it doesn't. We quickly learned to get up and run the hose from the bore hole(read well)and fill the water ourselves! Our apartment is very nice. We have 2 bedrooms, 1+3/4 baths, a large living room and a tiny kitchen! The bedroom has a queen bed and 4! reach in closets with drawers. We have lots of storage space there, but none in the baths. The kitchen has enough space for our few things. The mission stocked the kitchen with new small appliances and kitchen gadgets. It's quite nice. Elder Reynolds has ventured to drive to and from work for a couple of days now, and is getting a little more accustomed to driving on the right side. We ventured to the shop down the street and got a few groceries. It is a fruit and veg mart and has really nice produce. We took a trip into town with one of the locals driving and wandered through various shops. We really felt like we were in a foreign country. Sights, sounds, smells, and shops. Lots of people and cars. You wonder how they keep from being hit, since no one has the right of way. I don't think we will be driving there by ourselves. We have already seen giraffes in the grassland between the airport and the mission office. Exciting! We will go out of town a little farther tomorrow to go to church. We will go with the Smilanick's another missionary couple. We will be working with them doing office work, between my nursing and Elder Reynolds' checking out apartments and cars, or fleets and flats as they say!

We are coming down to the final countdown--we depart for Salt Lake City and on to Provo to the Missionary Training Center. We will visit family in SLC for a couple of weeks and finish shopping for the last of our clothing. Do you know how difficult it is to find short sleeve white shirts in Everett in the middle of winter? Ann has most of her stuff, but I still need a couple of suits. Lots of fun to finish this all up before 4/22/13. We will be in the MTC for only 5 days. The training has been foreshortened because of the tremendous increase in the number of missionaries with the new lower eligibility age. Then we move to the Marriott in SLC for a week of medical training before finally flying out to Harare Zimbabwe on 5/3/13. When we finally catch up with ourselves and our sleep (the flight takes over 30 hours) I will post a few pictures so you can visualize where we will be for the next 23 months. Needless to say, we are just a little nervous and scared, but my missionary sons all tell me, "Wait until you get off the airplane." Thanks, guys!

Zimbabwe Harare Mission

So now we begin a new chapter, not just our travels, but our mission blog. We will be serving for two years starting in April, and I will try to add a monthly update, since we expect to be very busy. And yes, I will be taking pictures of the wildlife and the children.