What a great place this South Africa. The warm friendly people are it's greatest natural resource.
We will never be the same because of them!
It has been a month -we can not believe it, a month, since we left the snow of Canada. To come to this lush jungle of Durban South Africa with beautiful ocean views between the hills, beaches, and jungle everywhere, thick jungle everywhere. They say there are snakes out there, but I do not believe it. We have not had the time or the courage it would take to check it out. We have gone fishing, and caught fish. We have gone to a soccer game and been on TV with thirty-some other Missionaries. All dressed in white shirts and ties and name tags; the fans were probably watching us as much as the game. Durban played Bloemfontein, the home team lost!
We have met many wonderful people. We have been in the Townships of Soweto, KwaMashu and Kwadabeka and have had a wonderful time meeting with the people of the townships. We have enjoyed listening to Zulu and English mixed together until we couldn't tell which they were speaking. You can not help but love the people. They love Sunday. They all come out into the streets on Sunday. We have been to the Pinetown and Berea wards in the City and have interviewed with members of the Area Presidency, Stake Presidents and their Councillors, a Mission President, Bishops and Branch Presidents and Public Affairs directors and have been very warmly accepted by all we have met.
People come up to us and ask us what we are doing here. A waitress asked us where our Church was and insisted we tell her so she could come to our Church. Many people look at our badges and say: "I believe in Jesus Christ". One man in a grocery store asked where the young men were, and why they had sent old people to them. When one man asked if I was employed here in Durban and I told him I wasn't, he said: "Oh you are working for God now"! They have a saying when you can't believe what just happened to you, they say: "Welcome to South Africa".
Our Mission started out in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a rough start for us. We suffered terribly from jet-lag and could not sleep at night. To make matters worse I had laryngitis and could not get rid of it. We were glad to leave for Durban, after ten days in Johannesburg.
I thought it time to start this blog, we have called, we have emailed but not blogged. I am not sure why.
I believe God directs us for good. It is good to be here.
Elder and Sister Heninger in South Africa
This is great!! I was hoping that you would set this up. I enjoy reading the e-mails my mom forwards on as well. Thanks for sharing. What you are doing is great!!! Ty is doing a service project for Liberia in pre-school right now. He was excited to tell his teacher that he had a Great Aunt and Uncle serving a mission in South Africa:)
ReplyDeletePhotos. We need photos. Stories would be nice too.
ReplyDeleteYou should put mom's last email on this (the orphanage visit), I think everyone would enjoy it. I think everyone would agree that pictures would be great.
ReplyDelete