This was a very exhilarating and spiritual week as we traveled to Johannesburg
These guys were in the dumpster by the new mission office in Gaborone
We drove through the Gaborone game preserve on our way out of town
This is Ofa and the whole Bakoko family after their sealing.
and attended the temple with a group of members from our branch. We were pleased to accomplish so much in one visit and share in the joy of these great saints as they received endowments, patriarchal blessings, participated in their family history ordinances and had numerous sealings. We were asked to stand in proxy for many of their ancestors and close family members. One of the best was the little family who were sealed to one another. He is in our Branch Presidency and they are a really hip young couple with two darling children(picture follows). They will be some of the great strength of this area for a long time to come. Their daughter, Ofa just loves to check out Sister Davis lip gloss, make up and eyelashes. She is so darn smart and has become like a granddaughter to her, she is 4. As we all went to the Baptistry on Wednesday, we met Bro Van Rooyen who is in charge. He found out we were from Logan Utah and began to get excited to tell us that he was baptized in Port Elizabeth S A in 1960 by Sherrid Howard Petersen and then wondered if we knew him. Of course Sherrid married a Providence girl and has lived 1 block from the Davis family home for years and drove the bookmobile in Cache County for like 35 years. He is Glade Davis home teaching companion as we speak. It will be fun to get these people together by email or facebook or whatever as they have not had contact since then. I cant tell you how fun it was to hear Bro Van Rooyen describe Sherrid as a missionary. We learned that the Southeast Africa area offices are near the temple and as we were getting all this done including shopping at the distribution center for all the needs of our branches, we bumped into many missionaries and some employees of the church. Sadly, three couples who have been kicked out of Zimbabwe, our neighboring country were there just twiddling their thumbs awaiting a new assignment. Two of these we flew from London with and got to know a bit. This is all very disconcerting to us as we have not yet gained our residency and one couple along with several of our young Elders and Sisters are also on a very short leash with the Botswana immigration. We begin a new mission tomorrow as you may know. The Botswana Namibia mission officially opens on July 1st and we will go back to Gaborone to meet and be interviewed by our new President and his wife. We also accidently on purpose bumped into Elder Carl B. Cook who is in the area Presidency because he is an Aggie and our dear friend Sandy Drake asked us to tell him hello. We had a very fun visit but quick. On Thursday and Friday we Botswana missionaries met with Pres and Sister Omer to have one last farewell conference and said our goodbyes to them. In a very short time we have become fast friends and have much in common with these two. Thursday evening dinner and Saturday morning breakfast in just casual surroundings with only we as couples was great. These countries are vast and cities are very spread out but as we missionaries move around and plan to get together to strategize we get to meet some really awesome servants of the Lord and many have connections to people we know and love. One last thing we have been working on and always will be, is the relationships and tender feelings of most of our recent converts and members in leadership positions. It is hard to describe but the best way to think of this is that we feel the presence of the adversary working on these fragile testimonies constantly. This is the most important part of our calling as we concern ourselves with the support and strengthening of the one. Please pray for us in this endeavor and for our continued success with the government of Botswana. Love to all of you and may God bless all of our family and friends. Elder and Sister Davis
and attended the temple with a group of members from our branch. We were pleased to accomplish so much in one visit and share in the joy of these great saints as they received endowments, patriarchal blessings, participated in their family history ordinances and had numerous sealings. We were asked to stand in proxy for many of their ancestors and close family members. One of the best was the little family who were sealed to one another. He is in our Branch Presidency and they are a really hip young couple with two darling children(picture follows). They will be some of the great strength of this area for a long time to come. Their daughter, Ofa just loves to check out Sister Davis lip gloss, make up and eyelashes. She is so darn smart and has become like a granddaughter to her, she is 4. As we all went to the Baptistry on Wednesday, we met Bro Van Rooyen who is in charge. He found out we were from Logan Utah and began to get excited to tell us that he was baptized in Port Elizabeth S A in 1960 by Sherrid Howard Petersen and then wondered if we knew him. Of course Sherrid married a Providence girl and has lived 1 block from the Davis family home for years and drove the bookmobile in Cache County for like 35 years. He is Glade Davis home teaching companion as we speak. It will be fun to get these people together by email or facebook or whatever as they have not had contact since then. I cant tell you how fun it was to hear Bro Van Rooyen describe Sherrid as a missionary. We learned that the Southeast Africa area offices are near the temple and as we were getting all this done including shopping at the distribution center for all the needs of our branches, we bumped into many missionaries and some employees of the church. Sadly, three couples who have been kicked out of Zimbabwe, our neighboring country were there just twiddling their thumbs awaiting a new assignment. Two of these we flew from London with and got to know a bit. This is all very disconcerting to us as we have not yet gained our residency and one couple along with several of our young Elders and Sisters are also on a very short leash with the Botswana immigration. We begin a new mission tomorrow as you may know. The Botswana Namibia mission officially opens on July 1st and we will go back to Gaborone to meet and be interviewed by our new President and his wife. We also accidently on purpose bumped into Elder Carl B. Cook who is in the area Presidency because he is an Aggie and our dear friend Sandy Drake asked us to tell him hello. We had a very fun visit but quick. On Thursday and Friday we Botswana missionaries met with Pres and Sister Omer to have one last farewell conference and said our goodbyes to them. In a very short time we have become fast friends and have much in common with these two. Thursday evening dinner and Saturday morning breakfast in just casual surroundings with only we as couples was great. These countries are vast and cities are very spread out but as we missionaries move around and plan to get together to strategize we get to meet some really awesome servants of the Lord and many have connections to people we know and love. One last thing we have been working on and always will be, is the relationships and tender feelings of most of our recent converts and members in leadership positions. It is hard to describe but the best way to think of this is that we feel the presence of the adversary working on these fragile testimonies constantly. This is the most important part of our calling as we concern ourselves with the support and strengthening of the one. Please pray for us in this endeavor and for our continued success with the government of Botswana. Love to all of you and may God bless all of our family and friends. Elder and Sister Davis
Just read your latest blog. Sound's so wonderful! We pray for you daily. Miss you but know you're in the right place doing the right thing.
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