May 7, 2014 - Shelley

We made it to Johannesburg and are staying in a very nice hotel.  It's 100 years old and would remind you of something from an old Cary Grant movie or something, but still very nice.  We haven't gotten the wifi to work in our room, but we found this computer room - so here we are.

Selfie on the plane

We are pretty weary, but have been watched over and taken care of.  Brother and Sister Lee and Brother and Sister Kinghorn took us to dinner tonight at a nice restaurant.  We have training for the next two days in the area office.  Another couple, the Moody's, are flying in at 5:00 a.m. from Gabon to train with us.  Then next week is the yearly area welfare conference where all of the welfare couples from this area (I'm not sure how many countries are involved, but southeast Africa) are coming for a get-together.  This is why they wanted us here early.  

We have helped each other a lot this trip to stay positive and not cry.  It is difficult to leave the garden to eden and enter the lone and dreary world.  I just hope we have the same feelings when we return home, having discovered the garden exists here as well.  

The Lee's, our hosting couple have served 6 missions and they still seem to have plenty of fire. The flight was very forgettable and I hope I can before I ever have to endure it a second time.  It was election day to day in South Africa with the death of Nelson Mandela.  The population is 90/10 blacks versus whites and so I think you can probably guess the outccome of most elections.  We haven't felt the full effets of jet lag yet and hope to be able to sleep tonight.  

We will have spent nearly a month in training before our mission assignment ever gets underway.  They have had a mission president cconference here this past week and this next week there are couples coming from 22 countries in Africa to attend the humanitarian conference.  

We're trying to live in the moment and not prject too far back or forward.  People have been wonderful to care for us and look out for us.  I'm sure the ony way to reciprocate is to pay it forward.  Elder Wright was my salvation in preparing and I hope to return the favor. Right now we're off to prepare for bed after a little le Livre de Mormon reading.  We love you and thanks again for your correspondence.