South Africa Johannesburg Mission: Mission Home for the Holidays!

December 2014

This is the second round of interviews we have engaged in since arriving 6 months ago. It is a valuable time to get the Elders in the zones together and as they get a one-on-one interview with President Dunn, we also share meaningful time together. This month I am focusing on the holiday season and also nutritious meals during the time they are waiting for their interview.

As the districts come to the house in groups of 4, 6 or 8, we welcome them to the mission "home for the holidays."

I have asked each district to come prepared to play or sing together a Christmas song or hymn.
Many of the Elders have planned ahead and brought instruments and shared their talents. It is a great way to start.

Each Elder puts a Christmas ornament on the tree, picking a quote they love and writing their testimonies of Christ on the back. The tree is getting full of these meaningful quotes and ornaments.

We transition to the kitchen and have an Elder lead out with a food demo. So far, we have made healthy "Cota" sandwiches, Meaty Nacho’s, Breakfast Burritos, Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes, French Toast, German Pancakes and Omelets, Macaroni and Cheese and Crepes. It has been impressive to have Elders demo recipes and cook together. Below you will see 4 days of interviews, with 4 zones participating so far, involving around 70 missionaries so far in this festive day at the mission home. Enjoy the pictures!

Pretoria North Interviews: December 3, 2014


Elder Benge was the very first demo and he brought the best recipe for Meaty Nacho's. It was absolutely delicious and a creative recipe. We also made homemade sweetrolls. Elder Barendse and Silvester did a great job rolling out the dough and preparing the rolls for everyone else.

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Elder Tumarai played some Christmas songs.

Next up was Elder Pederson with his group from 3 districts in Pretoria. He taught everyone how to make his breakfast burritos with many delicious ingredients. We are sharing all of these recipes with our Elders once we finish interviews.


My mom was still visiting and got to see an interview day in action. She participated and she saw first hand how impressive their cooking skills were. Vaal Zone- Tuesday December 16th

Elders Stilgoe, Dutson, Whitesides, May and Thompson performed the most beautiful and harmonious rendition of "O Come All Ye Faithful." It was so good, we have asked them to perform in the Christmas program.
They also made healthy "cota" sandwiches. These are common in townships, but not as healthy as the ones we made today.

Next up...our two Fins, Elder Kankunen and Hentunen demonstrating meatballs, mashed potatoes and brown sauce. As delicious as it looks. They taught everyone many skills. Impressive!

Elder Kalani is in awe of the brown sauce (gravy) that was made!:)

Joburg Zone came for the action on Wednesday December 17th. Starting off with a great musical number, ending with Elder Tekurio singing in his native French language.

We had house guests with us this morning and it was fun to let them all meet each other.


Above: Elders Hollaway, Yates, Tekurio, Barton and Henderson: Next district to arrive included Elders Cazier, Leman, Ware, Lea'aetoa, Peterson and Manamaur.

They made a delicious german pancake with sauteed apples.

Elder Peterson did a great job accompanying a Christmas carol.

NorthWest Zone-Thursday December 18

Elder Dalton, McCartney, Malupua and Williams show up at our door. They sang a great Christmas Carol, accompanied by Elder Dalton on the guitar and then worked together to make the most delicious gourmet macaroni and cheese. We had a lot of fun!!!


Elder Mdeltshe,Wadsworth, Graham, Lyon and Stapley sing a Christmas Carol, make an ornament and then put on aprons and made a great breakfast of german pancake, fruit and sauteed apples.