Goodbye Elder Jewkes

Elder Jewkes was part of the first group that we received when we arrived in Durban.

It is bittersweet to see these young men leave us!

 Final breakfast at the mission home for Elder Jewkes!

 Sister and Brother Jewkes have come to pick up their son! They haven't seen him yet - he is behind that closed door having his final interview with President Thompson!

 Elder Jewkes greeting his mom for the first time in two years!

 Such a happy reunion!

 It was a pleasure to have Elder Jewkes parents join us for the departing missionary dinner and testimony meeting at the mission home!

Elder Jewkes accompanied us as we sang!

We will miss him, but wish him the best in his next endeavors!

Goodbye to Elder Gehlbach

The hardest part about mission?

Saying goodbye to our fabulous missionaries!

Elder Gehlbach is part of the first group we received when President Thompson and I came to Durban!

 Elder Gehlbach seated at the head of the table and surrounded by our new missionaries and Assistants

 Breakfast for new and departing

 Elder Gehlbach and Elder Jewkes are departing (both kneeling)

 Elder Johnson, Elder Sala (AP), Elder Nichols, and Elder Gehlbach

 Elder Sala (AP), Elder Gehlbach

 Elder Gehlbach waiting patiently in the bunkhouse

 Elders Fullmer (AP), Gehlbach, Merritt (AP)

 Elders Merritt and Gehlbach helping!

 Elders Gehlbach, Simayile (AP), Fullmer (AP)

 Elder Gehlbach, time to go!

 Packing up

 Arriving at the airport

 Tickets please!

 Red wall photo!

Final goodbye!

New Missionaries Breakfast

Our tradition of making breakfast with President Thompson

 Elder Lubelwana and Reay

 Elders Moser, Nichols, and Johnson helping out with breakfast!

 Elders Reay, Lubelwana, and Dos Santos cooking breakfast

 Delicious!

 Hot breakfast before leaving for their assigned areas!

 Our new missionaries, our Assistants, and the two kneeling are our departing missionaries!

 Elders Johnson, Sala (AP), Nichols, and Gehlbach

 Elders Dos Santos and Reay are helping with the luggage trailer!

 The trailer gets moved to hook onto the van (which we call the Durban Express!)

 Time for our missionaries to get the luggage trailer loaded

 Elders Moser and Johnson

 Elder Nichols is ready

 Elder Johnson claims in can dunk a basketball

 Talented! Elder Johnson showed us how he can dunk a basketball!

Time to get on the road!

Our Newest

Our new arrivals are here!

Our newest Elders arrive at the airport.

Elders Johnson, Moser, Raey, Sister Thompson, President Thompson, Dos Santos, Lubelwana, and Nichols

It's tradition now that we sing around the piano which is located just at the arrival gate! We had an audience today, and afterward our missionaries went ant talked to many of them and got contact information for missionaries to teach! This was the most impressive group to date! They actually taught lessons, and one woman came over and hugged me as she was leaving!

Elders Nichols, Moser, Johnson, Dos Santos, Lubelwana, Reay 

So glad to have such amazing Assistants who are a tremendous help and good examples to this mission!

Elders Simayile, Fullmer, Sala, Merritt

Elder Simayile has a radio voice!

The Petersens are at the airport to help facilitate one of our missionary's parents arrive!

A stop at the Durban Temple site

Elders Sala, Fullmer, Reay, Nichols, Moser, Dos Santos, Lubelwana, Johnson, Simayile, Merritt

The temple is really coming along!

Elder Nichols

Elder Dos Santos

Elder Lubelwana

Elder Johnson

Elder Reay

Elder Moser

Elder Sala (AP)

Elder Fullmer (AP)

Elder Simayile (AP)

Elder Merritt (AP)

We have some great, hard-working Assistants!

Elder Reay

Elder Johnson

Elder Dos Santos

Elder Lubelwana

Elder Nichols

Elder Moser

Filling our forms, pizza for lunch, interviews with President, orientation with the couples, and driving are on the agenda

Thank you for the help in cleaning up Elders!

Dinner at the mission home!

Singing to start our testimony meeting

After the song, we will have a testimony meeting, and the new missionaries will get their assignments!

The assistants lay out the map of the mission

The new missionaries photos are laid out on the map, along with the trainers!

Elder Dos Santos will go to Mpumalanga and his companion and trainer will be Elder Bennett

Elder Johnson will go to Maputsoe in Lesotho, and his trainer and companion will be Elder Ostler! (I think they are about the same height!)

Elder Lubelwana will go to Dundee and be trained with Elder Nichols #1

Elder Reay (top right) will go to Ezakheni and be trained by Elder Carter 

Elder Moser (top middle) will go to Maseru in Lesotho, and be trained by Elder Homer

Elder Nichols (third from left on 2nd row) will go to Phoenix/Waterloo with Elder Hauck.

All areas are fabulous, and all trainers are terrific! This is a powerful group! We are so excited to have them!