09 February 2010 – Tuesday
We woke to a wonderfully soft morning. There was enough overcast that it was cool and peaceful. Vic and I sat out on the patio and just talked before breakfast. Mary spent the morning resting up for the afternoon activities. After the sun burned away the cool morning, I spent a short time trying to get my pure white body a little tan. I had to be careful because you can quickly burn under the South African sun.
After lunch the Swazi and Ladysmith Wilson arrived and we sat around discussing what was going on in our areas. It is always a lot of fun to share experiences that have happened since we last got together.
We all went to the mission home where everyone rushed to find out what transfers were going to take place on Thursday. It is going to be a busy week for the office and especially President Mann. The Coxes are coming in tonight and 11 new missionaries are coming in tomorrow. On Thursday every companionship except for 7 in the original mission area will be changed. It should almost be like an All-Zone meeting!
We then held a presidency meeting where we talked about a number of things that are going on in the mission. It is amazing how quickly 2 ½ hours fly by. While the men are working, the sisters get to sit and talk about families, mission experiences, and what ever else they find to talk about.
After the meeting we all went to the Butcher Boy restaurant for dinner. We were joined by the Markums and the Mickelsens so that all the couples were there except for the Griesmers. The Markums are leaving for home on Saturday morning. We had a nice dinner – I chose steak and ribs –and lots of good conversation.
After dinner, the Markums and Manns left for the airport to pick up the Coxes and then the Markums brought them to Little Haven where they will stay until the Makrums head home. We stayed up to meet our old friends and welcome them to the mission. It has been years since we have seen them. They only live up in Taylorsville but we just never have gotten together. Perhaps when they get home in early 2012 we will socialize more.