In The Beginning...

Our Mission Call Has Finally Arrived

For many years Connie and I have had a goal of serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We submitted our paperwork last year and received a calling last fall to serve an 18 month mission as Public Affairs Missionaries in South Africa.  We will report to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT on April 27, 2015 and will fly to South Africa on May 4.  Our apartment will be in the Durban, South Africa metropolitan area, but we will be traveling quite a bit in both the Durban and Capetown Missions in addition to Lesotho and possibly Swaziland.  Our supervisor will be the Southeast Africa Area Director of Public Affairs.  We will be trained to be a bridge between the church and community leaders, political leaders, media,  interfaith groups, etc.
     One of the main purposes of Public Affairs is to establish effective communication channels and good working relationships with all of these important people to help them better understand the Church and to help the Church better understand them.  By doing this we will seek common goals and work toward their achievement.  We have a lot to learn!!
    We have been busily preparing for many, many weeks.  We have made numerous visits to optometrists, physicians of every kind, immunization clinics, etc., in addition to months of shopping to get all the proper clothing, electrical adapters, cameras, flash drives, shoes and the list never ends. Just getting fingerprinted, getting a FBI clearances and obtaining a South African visa was a challenge.  Trying to think of everything we will need for 18 months is not easy.  We are told that even though Durban is a cosmopolitan city (3.5 million) and has great shopping, there is difficulty in finding the brand names that you are accustomed to.
    We have received great information and advice from the missionary couple that we will be following and other missionary couples in the area.  There will be many new and different things for us to get used to.  Time after time we have been told how wonderful the South African people are and how much we will love them.  We are very excited to be able to stand among these great people and to have the opportunity to serve them.

Africa Southeast Area