Mission Tour Bloemfontein and Lesotho Zones

Mission Tour 

with Elder and Sister Koch

Immediately following the Mission President Seminar in Johannesburg, we flew to Bloemfontein to meet with Elder Koch (General Authority, counselor in the South Africa Area Presidency), and his wife.

We traveled the week with Elder and Sister Koch by car across the mission, visiting our Elders in their Zones (some had to be combined because of time). It was a remarkable week of instruction and edification.

 Lesotho and Bloemfontein Zones combined in Bloemfontein. We are so blessed to have such wonderful Elders and Senior Missionaries!

 Elder Ah Sam is "awe-some" (I had to do that at least once! He probably

gets that all the time!). 

 Elder Wilson

 Elder Etchart and Elder Makhuvele

 Sister Koch talking to Elder Siebert

 Elder Kumar and Elder Chen

Giving some last minute instructions to our fabulous Zone Leaders,

Elders Warner and Olson.

Mission President Seminar in Johannesburg

Seminar with 15 other Mission Presidents Serving in Africa

Last week we spent several days being instructed, edified, and uplifted!

We were privileged to have an apostle, Elder Neal A. Anderson and his wife,

and Elder Vinson, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy with us!

 We were blessed to have an apostle and his wife at our Seminar!

Elder Neal A. Anderson and his wife, Kathy

 President Duckworth and his wife are serving in Madagascar

President Duckworth served in the same mission with President Thompson in France

 The Mission Presidents serving in Africa, and the Area Presidency with their wives (Elder and Sister Sitate, Elder and Sister Palmer, Elder and Sister Koch), Elder Vinson (member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and Elder Neal A. Anderson and his wife Kathy

 The Johannesburg Temple (just right of the tall tower!)

 Beautiful flowers in bloom!

 President and Sister Collings serve over Uganda

 Elder Sitate instructing us

The flowers and vegetation of South Africa is magnificent!

To Parents of the South Africa Durban Mission - Holiday Calls

If you are a parent of a missionary in this mission, please note the following in regards to Holiday Calls:

Please email your missionary THREE DATE/TIME CHOICES from one or more of the following dates as soon as possible: 

December 23, 24, 25

Choose three times on the same date, or choose different dates with times that would work best with your schedule (remember the time difference here). 

To avoid technical problems, we ask that you have at least TWO of these accounts already installed on your device:

- Gmail account 

- Facebook Messenger 

- Skype 

These accounts must be set up on your device prior to the phone call. Please don't wait until that day to set these up.  Test it out with a friend to make sure it works! We have had technical problems in the past and we want every missionary to get the chance to call home. 

With your three choices for dates and times, please send your account name to your missionary as well - don't assume he already knows it!

Your missionary will call you at the scheduled time from a Senior Missionary's Account - Missionaries will not be allowed to use personal accounts for the call.

Each missionary will be allowed up to 40 minutes. Your missionary will be given a five-minute warning when his time is up - this will allow you to say goodbye, and let the next missionary call his family. Holiday phone calls are for family only (no friends).

In the case of parents who are divorced, each parent will get 20 minutes per call.

Because we have transfers on December 12 and we will not know until then which area your missionary will be serving, we can't schedule your choice until after that time - you will find out on December 17th via email from your missionary of the exact time and date of your scheduled call.

In the event that the same time slots are requested by several families, we will try to schedule yours as close to the time you requested.

Enjoy speaking to your missionary. Help them know what a great blessing it is for you that they are serving the Lord. Express your gratitude for them, your testimony and your love of the gospel.

Merry Christmas!

If you have further questions please comment below, or contact me via email.

Thank you,

Sister Thompson

MISSION LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

MLC AT BEREA CHAPEL IN DURBAN

Lots of counsel today! We talked about wanting to be less complacent, about

training our trainers better, reaching out and helping our trainees, being more

obedient, how to find potential investigators better, the Holy Ghost, setting

goals and why they are so important, plus being a light to others!

The insight and wisdom that come from these young Elders is inspiring!

Elder Brown leads the opening hymn! 

 Elder Warner accompanies us!

 President Thompson and I have a lot of mission business to discuss!

 Elder Warner gave a powerful presentation! He shared some wonderful

ideas on helping Zone's become unified!

 Elder Ostler did a powerful job in presenting ways in which to "find".  

 The Zone Leaders discussed goals with their companions!

 Setting goals is essential to being successful!

 It's wonderful to see the enthusiasm and energy that come from these leaders as they plan!

 A commitment was made to set more detailed goals, take them to the Lord asking for his help to accomplish them, and then to implement goal setting within their individual zones!

 The Elders have powerful insights, and counseling together strengthens all of us!

 Elder Ntaka (AP) talks about the Holy Ghost!

 Elders Warner and Olson are the zone leaders for Lesotho!

 Lunchtime is always a highlight!

 Thanks to Sister Howell and Sister Hampshire for providing lunch, and a to go sack lunch for the road after the meeting! We have the best Senior Missionaries ever!

 Elder Sala

 Sister Damon is one of our Sister Training Leaders!

 Sister Jenson is our other Sister Training Leader!

So blessed to have Senior Sisters in this mission! They are all doing such remarkable work - I have no doubt that Heavenly Father sent them to this mission at this time, for a specific purpose! 

The women here are true pioneers of Africa!

 Elders Kumar, Bodnar, and Bernard

 Elder Ostler is one who really understands his missionary purpose! He is a fantastic leader and missionary!

 Our fabulous leaders of this mission!

 Thanks Elder Hinnen for the Pringles chips -

Does this mean the front row are "sitting ducks"?

 Quack!

 Quack, quack!

 Quack, quack, quack!

 Quack, quack, quack, quack!

 Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack!

 Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack!!!

 Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack!

 Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack!!!

Cutest ducks I've ever seen!!!

 Elder Guymon (AP) did a fantastic job in teaching about goals! 

Have I  mentioned how wonderful Elder Guymon and Elder Ntaka are? Our

Assistants are incredible - they do so much that I don't think anyone

realizes the amount of work, time, and effort they put into their

various responsibilities! A big shout out to Elder Ntaka (he's our last quack above!), 

and Elder Guymon to thank them for all that they do to help the success of this mission! 

Theyare both amazing!

Elder Carter leads the closing hymn!

We have the BEST missionaries!!! Love them all!

MLC Begins

MISSION LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

Our Zone Leaders traveled to the Mission Home to start our MLC on Monday night.  We start in the evening because a lot of our leaders have to travel long distances to arrive. Since some have been sitting on a bus, or car for several hours the Assistants planned a soccer game! Luckily they finished before it started pouring rain!  We had two guest speakers before dinner: Brother Rob Milne and Brother Brent Hyde. We were blessed to hear their wisdom and testimonies!

Our longer MLC begins early on Tuesday morning and lasts until afternoon. We have

a lot to cover, and looking forward to counseling together.

 After dinner we kick off our official MLC meeting, and hear a few words from 

President Thompson!

 Standing to sing the closing hymn.

 Elders Bodnar, Olson, and Kumar

 All of our Zone Leaders are powerful! Their goals are to return to their Zone's

to inspire obedience, and inspire to teach more effectively! So proud of them!

 Elder Abel

 Elders Hinnen and Burlaka

We started off counseling about various ways in which to improve individual Zone's and the

mission as a whole. These fantastic leaders decided that we could all step up a notch!

If anyone can inspire missionaries in their zones, it is these leaders! 

President Thompson introduced the theme: to be the light of Christ!

We will not have our regular Zone Conferences this month - instead, President Thompson

and I will be traveling four days with a General Authority and his wife across the mission.

We will visit four locations and combine some of our zones to make certain all missionaries 

will get a chance to participate. 

This next specialized Zone Conference will be great!