Our FIRST Mission President Seminar

Our first Mission President’s Seminar was the week of November 17-21, 2014.  We loved meeting the other 13 Mission Presidents from all over South East Africa. They all traveled by air to Johannesburg on November 16th and we got in the car and drove only 12 Kilometers to the Hyatt Regency in Rosebank, a nice suburb near downtown Johannesburg.

The mission presidents came from 14 countries:

Angola-President and Sister Merrill
Botswana-President and Sister Wilson
Democratic Rep. of the Congo-Kinshasa: Pres. and Sister Cook
Democratic Rep. of the Congo-Lumbasji: Pres. and Sister Thomas
Kenya Nairobi-President and Sister Hicken
Madagascar-President and Sister Adams
Mozambique-President and Sister Kretly
South Africa Cape Town-President and Sister Merrill
South Africa Durban-President and Sister Zackirson
South Africa Johannesburg-President and Sister Dunn (that's us!!)
South Africa- MTC-President and Sister Collins
Uganda-President and Sister Chatfield
Zambia-President and Sister Erickson
Zimbabwe-President and Sister Cook       
 
This was easy and fun for us, since this is the hotel we were brought to straight from the airport last June when we first arrived.

We also loved that my mom was still visiting with us and so we brought her along. She relaxed in the room, shopped in the mall and participated in everything she could with us. She met all of the other couples and they loved meeting her.

  We loved the 3 days of meetings and the socializing with other couples. There are 3 other couples like us that are in the first year - Merrill’s, Thomas’ and Monga’s. Others are in their 2nd and 3rd year.

We enjoyed dinners out each night. We had an opportunity to get better acquainted with many new friends. We loved getting to know the Zackrison’s who preside in Durban, South Africa.

 We also loved re-connecting with Leif and Linda Erickson, who are presiding in Zambia. The Adams’ in Madagascar were really fun to meet. We actually loved each and every couple and look forward to getting to know them all better.  It is quite an honor to be among this group and to be taught and instructed by the area presidency.

On the last day we all went to the Lion-Rhino Park and had a wonderful afternoon enjoying the animals and some time outside together. We are lucky to have amenities like this so close to where we live and preside.

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The lions were the highlight of this visit. They were active and out in the open. We parked and watched then interact and lounge in the sun on their backs for a long time.  It was really amazing to see them this close and relaxed.

We are looking forward to the next Mission President's Meeting in May 2015 in Cape Town.