Feb. 28th: We finally left for Africa! Ian and Rachel with their two boys took us down to an airport hotel the night before. We had our last Mandarin meal in Bountiful. Very early the next morning, we traveled from Salt Lake City, Utah airport to Atlanta, Georgia with 6 large suitcases and 2 carryons! We want to be prepared for our 2-3-year planned stay! We were told to bring our supplements, medications, grooming supplies, and many other things we would have difficulty finding in Africa. I'm sure if we didn't bring it, we can do without it! We had a 5-hour layover in Atalanta then off on a 15-hour flight. 
Goodbye Ian, Rachel, Rocky, and Rigby. They're going to take excellent care of our home
while we are gone. We had a last meal in Bountiful at the Mandarin, then off to the airport!
What a LONG flight! We landed in Johannesburg, South Africa the next day around 4 p.m., gaining 9 hours. We were happy to see our church's project manager, Anton Fourie, with a large enough SUV to pick us up at the airport. Delta had told us our luggage would go straight to Durban so we didn't pick it up after customs. Anton drove us to Pretoria to a beautiful Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel with a lake. We saw our first monkeys right outside our room. Exhausted, we freshened up and then Anton and his wife, Nicolene, had us over for dinner. We met the Fourie family and dined outside on their patio. I've never met such well-behaved and polite children! Nicolene, made a wonderful South African dish, fresh salad, rice, and dessert. They offered to get us anything we needed. The Fouries were wonderful and Anton was a great travel guide, chauffeur, and luggage hauler for us.
The next morning, March 2nd, we made it to the airport early. They were holding all the luggage, we were supposed to pick up. Only one got lost in the shuffle. The Airlink receptionist took about 40 minutes trying to figure out our luggage transfers to Durban. She called in 2-3 managers to try to figure it out. We finally flew on to Durban, which was only a one-hour flight.
Durban was beautiful and we were amazed at how green everything was. We stayed in another nice Marriott for 2 nights right near the beach of the Indian Ocean. The temple in Durban is located in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal area of South Africa. Anton Fourie had been the project manager of this temple also. He currently is involved in helping build 4 temples in Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, DRC (Congo), and Cape Town. We toured the temple on Friday with a personal tour by Anton. I couldn't hold the tears back when I saw how stunning the black Africans looked all dressed in white. They all had radiant smiles! The temple recorder was a young handsome man only about my sons' age (early 30's). It was helpful for Bruce to see what a finished temple in Africa looked like and the quality was superb as a House of God should be.
The next day, Friday, March 3rd we arranged to go to the temple for a 10:30 a.m. session and then do sealings. We sat in the back and continued to be tearful as the room filled with our beautiful black African brothers and sisters dressed in white. Bruce and I continued to cry throughout the whole session. The ordinance worker gave the most beautiful prayer we had ever heard. There was a large group staying in the patron housing from Lesotho. There were many going through for the first time. We were then privileged to witness a live sealing before doing some of our ancestors' names.
Later that afternoon, we were able to enjoy a walk on the beach and eat some Indian "bunnies" a curry stew in a fourth of a loaf of bread. We also enjoyed fresh seafood. It's so nice to be in the warm sunshine! Especially after Utah has been getting record snowfall. We went to the office of Paton Taylor and met the lead architect, Lauren Haden, project manager for the Zimbabwe Harare Temple. She loves doing temples!
We left around 08:00 a.m. the next day, Saturday, March 4th for Harare, Zimbabwe. We took another small plane for about 2 hours in the air. BTW, they found our lost suitcase in Durban and had it waiting for us at the airport. We were so excited to finally be in our mission country and see the temple site.
We arrived about 30 minutes early ahead of our welcoming crew. Pres. and Sister Judd met us shortly after at the Harare airport with our very own new Isuzu truck! Yes, all our luggage fit! It was fun to meet our energetic wonderful mission leaders, Gary and Juliene Judd, from Highland, Utah. They are so perfect for our mission and are a dynamite team, so full of love for all the missionaries!
WE MADE IT TO ZIMBABWE!
Reeve Nield, Sharon's sister, also came to the airport to help us through customs. Unfortunately, we had already made it through before she got there. The customs official had us pay an extra $60.00 in cash for visa fees. He then looked in our passports and said, "Oh you didn't need to pay this, you already have visas." So we asked for a refund. He said he couldn't give us one because it was already processed. We think he just pocketed our cash! The Nield family are some of the first converts to the church in Zimbabwe. Reeve is a professional golfer and is always donating her time and talents to the missionaries. We get to play pickleball every M, W, F at her beautiful tennis court. We call them the "Kennedys" of Harare. Their amazing estate is on 6 acres with beautiful orchard; pecans, avocados, mangos, and pomegranate trees. She's going to give us free golf lessons too.
Pres. & Sister Judd took us directly to the temple site for our first view. It was amazing to finally see it in person! I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE!
Next, we went to our newly furnished apartment. Elder Cliff and Sister Tondi King, our fleets and flats missionary couple, had us all set up. We were shocked to find a fully furnished and well-stocked apartment; including food in the cupboards and fridge. Treats and homemade jam from Iris Nield. No hardship here! Our apartment is one of the few that actually has air conditioning and solar energy, although the "zesa" or electrical power is only on about 8 hours of the day and the water turns off occasionally. I'm not complaining!
So awesome. Mom and dad lived in Durban!!!
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