Week 28 - Dec 7th - 13th, 2014

Sunday, December 7th to Saturday, December 13th

Fast Sunday to start the week.  We enjoy the Sabbath Days here very much.  The Roodepoort ward is becoming more and more a part of us now, just in time for us to prepare to leave for our transfer up north to Polokwane to do Member Leadership Support for the remainder of our mission.

We held a YSA Christmas activity at our flat with some nice treats Melanie made.  We truly enjoyed the company and the visits with these young people with whom we have grown fond more than we could have ever known.

A great group along with our two Italian Elders.

This Elder Garnica has a cool hat, but the real reason I took this picture is because of the Lord's blessings for his missionaries.  He and his companion were kidnapped and robbed at knife-point by three drunks who put them in the Elder's car trunk and then took off driving crazy.   The car was crashed and rolled and then driven off again and rolled again.  The Elders were blessed to escape unhurt but for a few bumps and bruises.

This week was full of things to accomplish with the quarterly Zone Conference / Mission Tour which took up three days of the week at various locations around Joburg and in Pretoria.   Melanie was busy with meals, serving, etc. I assisted and also helped with car inspections which we do quarterly as well.

We were fortunate to have Elder Carl Cook and his wife Lynette as visitors and presiding at the meetings.   It was great to see them again and to share a little bit of time with them during the week.  They are such good people, we love them.

The work with phones and flats and utilities and shopping and furnishings continues, but now it has fully taken on a new dimension with the focused cross-training of the Allreds who will succeed us in the Mission Office.   We have grown to love them very much and are so happy to have had these months together to work with them and to get to know them.  We will miss them.

We were thrilled, and excited this week to have our daughter Annie graduate from Weber State University with her MBA.  She has worked so hard to accomplish this goal with challenges and a burden that many people would never attempt.  But she did it and we are so pleased, proud and happy for her.

And to top off the week it is such a blessing to be able to video call the family back home, to see their faces, to hear their voices, and to stay in close touch with them.   We love and miss them so much.

Meanwhile back at home here's a few pics that Cody put up since his son Henrik Odin Hansen is now a week old.

Outfit Melanie bought for him.

Cody's Viking image.

Knit viking hat isn't too dangerous at this point.