I rather feel like Mormon when he writes some of his thoughts in the Book of Mormon. However some pictures are taking a long time to load so I thought I would write about getting a haircut in Potchefstroom.

One of the small malls we visit has a real barber shop and I decided that I really must get my hair cut before President Omer says something about my curls. So after washing my hair in the sink – one of our geysers (hot water heaters) is not working so there is no hot water in the bathrooms – I went there. I knew it was a holiday but I thought since many stores are open to cater to all the other people with days off that he might be also. Well I was wrong – almost. When I got there the shop was dark and i was about to walk away when a man asked me something in Afrikaans and then again when I answered in English. It turned out he was the barber and he was just heading home.

I told him I would come back tomorrow but he opened up his shop and gave me one of the best haircuts I have ever had. We had a good time talking about his life, his training and how he ended up being a barber. It took about 20 minutes and the cost was only 50 rand or about $5! I told him he had my business for the next 16 months.

Soon after we got to Potchefstroom we drove back to Joburg for Zone Conference. I took pictures of missionaries because that is 1/2 what the blog is about – letting the families back home see their missionaries. We learned in Fort Lauderdale that some missionaries do not attach many pictures to their letters. Unfortunately I do not know the elders and

Elder Mavulnda and his companion. Elders Jackson and Johnson…I think I asked elder Johnson where he was from at least three times but I can not remember where it was.

Elders Sibandze and Lyon. Elder Lyon managed to get in more pictures than anyone else. Elders Smith and O’Riordan – elder O’Riordan serves in the Soweto West Zone and we inspected his flat  just a few days ago.

Elder Stilgoe with elder Lyons. Elder Dummer taking pictures with Mary in background.

The Soweto West and I believe the Soweto East Zones with President and Sister Omer.

Between storms this is our view from our backyard. The Ikageng branch meets in a very nice public school in the township. Ikageng is a township of about 250,000 and it continues to grow. Some time before we arrived a group came in and did a lot of painting at the school. This includes some murals as well as painting doors, bathrooms and such. From what elder Knowles told us it really improved the looks. Before the Knowles found this school and arranged for a rental agreement the branch met in another school that was really terrible. So we really are thankful that they worked so hard to get a better place to meet.

Another one of the murals – they show lots of talent. This charming young lady is Booboo – other than the fact that she has a hard time sitting still in church she is a true joy to behold.

Sister Thulo is on the left and sister Williams is on the right. Our first Sunday at the branch I took some pictures of the members so I hopefully would remember some of their names. When they asked us to speak and bear our testimony I warned the branch that while Mary would soon know all of their names, it would take months for me to do that. I really was not kidding – for some reason putting name with faces anywhere has never been something I do well. That was very embarrassing when I was bishop and after 8 years I still struggled with someone’s name.

Sister Cindy Lekebe and brother Johannes…sister Lekebe is in the RS presidency and brother Johannes is the SS president. I think brother Johannes has a suit for each week of the year – I am not sure I have ever seen him in the same suit twice.

Brother Andres Louw is a fairly new convert and is a great addition to the branch. He saved us by being our audio/video specialist for the recent conference sessions we showed at the branch on Saturday and Sunday. The missionaries when who were serving in Potchefstroom when we got here were elder Bird and elder Rogers…elder Bird was the DL and was from Rexburg. When I mentioned we had served in the Fort Lauderdale mission he asked if we knew an elder Pearce. Of course we did and I could tell him we were at the airport when elder Pearce got home. Also that we had just seen him the Sunday before at our farewell! Small world. Elder Rogers is from Arizona and is going to freeze soon. Since this was taken elder Bird has made zone leader and elder Rogers now serves with elder Kelem from Kenya.

When we were in South Africa before we had monkeys, cows and lots of larger birds around our flats. here we have smaller birds and really small lizards. The lizard in the close up is one of those dots on the 16″ tiles. I think it has a hard time competing with the ants for food.

Banks here are really well protected. The entrance door is actually a glass enclosure where one person goes in, closes the outside door and then the inside door opens. I made the mistake of trying to join another patron in the enclosure – I was firmly told that was a no-no.

Before we left for the airport one of the last things we did was make our bed – a picture to remind us there is a home sweet home between missions. Our iPads were kept busy during our trip to Joburg.

At the mission office on the 28th sister Bishop – the mission secretary among other things – gave us an orientation about the mission. Elder Bishop is in charge of the cars and E/S Bishop handle all the mission apartments. After our orientation elder Bishop took me out for a test drive to see how I would do driving  on the left side of the road. Since I had done this for 18 months the last time we were in South Africa it did not take long to at least feel like I would not have too many ‘oops’ moments until I was comfortable driving here. Being in the office and seeing missionaries coming and going made us remember our Fort Lauderdale mission. Since Potchefstroom is about 90 minutes away and there is only a small district of 6 elders serving within 50K of us, we will not get to know the missionaries like we did on our last mission.

We drove on the N12 – a 2 to 4 lane highway where high speed cars and low speed trucks share the road. In the areas where there are not four lanes and it is not divided there are passing areas where the slow vehicles move over – hopefully – so others may pass. We are told that there are many deadly accidents there – also there are speed traps where you go over a hill and on one side it 120K per hour and 80K per hour on the other side.  But we made it without any problems and picked up our keys to our new home away from home.

We live in a very nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse that has a very large garage and is in a fully walled set of 12 homes. We are told that it is very safe here but even so every door and window has steel protection just in case. Our neighbors have beautiful plants by their entry way. All the floors are tile and the Bishops did a wonderful job furnishing it for us. Sister Bishop had asked what colors we liked and so we have wonderful grays, blues, purples and pinks through out the house. I will take some pictures of everything some day and post them here.

We have a nice patio and a cute backyard. The yard has not been taken care of for months so the grass was about 10-12 inches deep and everything else was overgrown. Soon after we arrived it started raining – not just raining but pouring. In fact 12 of the first 14 days were here it rained. According to all those we talked to this was highly unusual for this area. At the time I hoped this did not mean we brought the bad weather with us. Of course here it is just starting to be Autumn where at home it is just starting to be spring. It will be about 18 months between our springs but we are use to that!

One of the first things we did after unloading our bags was to go shopping. There is a very nice mall not 5 minutes away from our house and lots of grocery stores all over the place. The first night we were here was interesting because there was a loud noise that woke us up and then another loud crash that followed. It turned out to be two un-related events. We think the first was a neighbor’s cat that managed to climb in through one of the small ventilation windows that we left open. I tried to catch it but it managed to escape back through another window. The crash was the result of one of the glass light covers somehow working loose and crashing to the tile floor. It shattered in a million pieces and after 2 months I still find a small piece now and then. So that was our first day and part in the South Africa Johannesburg mission. We know this is where the Lord wants us to be for 18 months – now we just have to figure out what He wants us to do.

Well we made it through the first month of our mission to South Africa. Hopefully next week we will get our internet and I can keep this blog up as I would like to.

To me it feels like we have been here much longer than a month. I mean that in a good way. I feel comfortable driving on the left side of the road – at least most of the time – I can get to most places that we need to go to without getting too lost – but thank goodness for Lia our faithful GPS – and I can remember some part of the name of at least 25% of the branch members – sister or brother said with a smile works for those I do not.

I think the fact that we have served other missions combined with our experiences in the church, makes it easier for us to adjust to wherever we are called to serve.

Of course we miss out family – especially since we can not easily contact them until we get the internet in our boarding. Of course we still have some chances to get e-mails and can spend a little time on Facebook. I think it also helps that while on our first mission we found that our children are quite capable of taking care of themselves and that we miss our grandchildren more than they miss us. Besides the few years of our being on missions is less than a second if you look at it from an Eternal perspective. We hope that we are setting an example for our children and grandchildren and they take the opportunity to serve as many senior missions as they can.

We have heard recently that there are 52 missions that have no senior couples and that there are about 3000 requests from mission presidents for senior couples. Missionary work would go forward more rapidly if they could fill those requests so we hope that couples reading our blog or visiting us on Facebook will “counsel with the Lord” and tell their bishops that they are ready to serve and serve often.

Well we are slowly acclimatizing to the change in time zones and the weather. Like our other missions it is hot and humid here but we are not near the ocean. However the Moori River runs through the town so maybe that counts as being close to water.

Bill was sustained as the branch president of the Potchefstroom branch. It has about 40 active members and we meet in a nice school in the Ikagana township about 15 minutes from where we live.

More – including President Anderson’s letters – as soon as we get the internet at home.

Well we made it to South Africa and are now in an internet cafe in Potchefstroom which is where we are serving. I will post pictures once we have our own internet connection because it is not wise to put a thumb drive in this computer. I learned that the hard way on our first mission to South Africa.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon after about 24 hours of travel and were met by President and Sister Omer who kindly took us to the mission home for dinner and a welcome night sleep. The next day we went to the mission office where the Bishops and Hillams oriented us, gave us a phone and a car and we headed off to Potchefstroom. The Omers guided us out of Joburg until we were on N12 which goes right to Potch.

Our boarding is a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in a well gated community of nice houses. The Bishops did a wonderful job of providing us with furnishings and appliances as well as leaving us some food to eat.

On Sunday we went to church with the branch and met the elders in the area. Elder Bird is from Idaho and we found out that he is good friends with elder Pearce who just got home from the FFLM and was at our house to say goodbye just a week earlier. Another example of how small the kingdom is at times. Elder Rogers is from Mesa and we do not seem to know anyone he does.

The branch is small but the people are very strong. Unfortunately it will take weeks for me to remember people’s name unless the Lord grants me the gift of tongues and memory.
E/S Knowles have done a wonderful job of getting the branch settled in the new chapel which is in a school but where we have three rooms that are all ours and where we have a large room for a chapel. The elders set up and take down each Sunday and seem to really love the people and work hard.

We have spent most of our time getting to know the area, shopping for food and other things we need – we find new things each day. On Tuesday the 3rd we went out with the elders and started learning where some of the members live. We will start visiting with them later in the week or next week.

It is great to be back in Africa and lots of things are familiar. We grocery shop at Pick n Pay which we did in Richards Bay and it is about the same distance away. When we walked into the Mooi River mall we saw Mug and Bean, and other restaurants and stores which we had in RB. It is kind of a challenge at time to remember what side of the street to drive on. I find that especially true when I first pull out in the morning. But so far except for some stares I have managed to not do anything really bad.

Mary just told me that our friends the Taylors will be coming to the Joburg mission on the 10th and will serve here until they can get residency in Botswana. It will be good to see them again.

Well that is enough for now. Once we get our internal clocks set correctly we should be fine and I am sure more effective than we are now. It is good to be back in Africa serving the Lord.

The stake presidency came over tonight and set us apart as missionaries called to serve in the South Africa Johannesburg mission for the next 18 months. It was wonderful to be able to put on our missionary badges for the first time in 10 months. Now all we need to do is pack and close up all the different accounts that are connected with home. Then on Wednesday morning we will get on the plane to start our latest South African adventure…

Michael A. and Linda P. Dunn

Michael Austin Dunn, 55, and Linda Poulson Dunn, three children, Neff’s Canyon Ward, Salt Lake Mount Olympus Stake: South Africa Johannesburg Mission, succeeding President S. Craig Omer and Sister Catherine C. Omer. Brother Dunn serves as a ward Young Men president and is a former stake president, bishop, gospel doctrine teacher and missionary in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. Chief marketing officer, Surefoot. Born in Tucson, Ariz., to Austin Taggart Smith and Patricia Sargeant.

Sister Dunn serves as a ward nursery leader and is a former stake Young Women president, YSA adviser, gospel doctrine teacher and Cub Scout leader. Born in Salt Lake City to Kenneth Ralph and Virginia Wilson Poulson.

Elder and Sister Knowles are the senior couple who has been working the area that we will be serving. I wrote to them about a number of things and they sent back this great letter that told us more about our mission. In some ways this idea of following up where others started reminds me of Richards Bay where the Hafens and Bartholomews had the task of getting 4 brand new very small branches functioning and then about a year later we got to continue what they worked so diligently to organize.

“Dear Elder and Sister Pier,

Nice to hear from you.    I have forwarded your email to my husband who will look into the Knowles connection.

We do not live in the area where we work    We live in Johannesburg.    The result has been that we have done 4 hours of travelling every day to an back from Potchefstroom where we work and you will be living.   The Bishop’s who are in charge of housing have told us that they have found you a glorious and huge townhouse with 3 bedrooms and a study.    You should be extremely comfortable.

We drive an automatic but you will be getting a different car but I am quite sure it will also be an automatic.    We have driven our poor car to the ground.

As far as cost is concerned, I am afraid I think it varies for everyone on what you plan on spending and doing and how you plan your meals.     We have found it to be quite unpredictable.    We drive a lot and therefore pay the maximum amount for our car. $2,500 would probably be a fair estimation for you but who knows.

As you know, South Africa is a beautiful country with more than enough shopping opportunities.   I don’t think it is possible that if you forget to bring something that you won’t be able to find it over here.    So please don’t stress about that.

As far as the garmin is concerned – we have about a month overlap!!    So, we think you should just download the South African maps and then you can follow us around our area and you can mark all the addresses on your Garmin that you will need.

We pioneered the area and it really went quite smoothly to find out feet and get situated – it just took a while.     You are going to love it here.     It has been an marvelous experience and we have come to love, as all missionaries do I suppose – the people we work with.     Good luck on your flight and we will look forward to meeting you.

Elder and Sister Knowles.