Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Saying Goodbye to South Africa Johannesburg Mission


President and Sister Omer and Sister and Elder Gubler

Missionaries lined up ready to sing "Called to Serve" as the Omer's drive away

President Omer saying goodbye to the missionaries (the sisters are wearing traditional clothing.) Sister Joseph, who is ready to shake President Omer's hand is wearing my blanket and skirt.
This was such a sad day to say goodbye to the Omers. Not many mission presidents are as kind and loving as the Omers. We are so fortunate to serve with 2 of the best mission presidents in the church.

This was the last day for us to be members of the South Africa, Johannesburg mission. We have a wonderful meeting and luncheon. We were all teary saying goodbye. No one wanted to leave. It was such a bitter sweet time. President Omer had a HUGE mission to work with both in size of area and missionaries. He spent most of his time living in his vehicle going from place to place. 10 hour days just in the car weren't abnormal. Hopefully, the split has given him a respite. Botswana is the size of Texas but with a population of 2,000,000 people spread out all over the country. There are about 500,000 in the greater Gaborone area. The next large population is the Francistown area, and it is much smaller.

Our New Botswana/Namibia Mission

The newly formed Botswana/Namibia Mission with all of us at the Broadhurst building welcoming our new President.
These the Botswana/Namibia missionaries as of 1 July 2013. Our wonderful President and Sister Wilson are sitting next to each other in the middle. Sister Wilson is wearing a peach sweater. It's so fun to be a part of this mission! The missionaries are amazing and so are the Botswanan people that they work with. I love working with everyone here and look forward to the new missionaries that are coming in. We have 9 missionaries, 5 elders and 4 sisters, arriving next Tuesday. We are losing 2 wonderful elders. I have such a love/hate relationship with transfers. I just don't want anyone to move anywhere until Oct. 2014 after we go home. Oh well, learning to be flexible! (Oh, the reason the senior sisters are wearing red, white and blue is because it's July 4th!)