526,600 minutes.......How do you measure a year?

As the calendar page turns to July 1, 2015, we find ourselves at our 1 year mark.  What a year it has been. There are so many ways to measure a year.  We can start with numbers of 12 months, 52 weeks, 4 quarters and 356 days, 8,544 hours and 526,600 minutes. We have had as many as 186 missionaries and as few as 129 and said good-bye to  63 as their missions have ended.

Every week on our mission we have had chances to interact with amazing missionaries, be in wards with members and see new buildings and congregations.

We have been to 42 wards over 52 Sunday’s, we have hosted over 40 gatherings and events at the mission home. We have flown to Cape Town, had 2 mission president seminars. We have met 100's and100's of people. We have learned some Zulu and Afrikaans. We have been in townships, towns, villages and cities and loved it all.

When all so said and done,,,it is the people.  We have come to love the African ways, the phrases like ...... “is it?" "Lekker", "Sawubona", and "Eish." We love Rooibus Tea, Meat on the Braii, KoekSisters and Boerworst. We love sunrises and sunsets and the smiles on the faces of the people. We mostly love the way the missionaries grow up, being around these great people for the two years of their mission.

 We only have 24 more months to go. It will fly past, so our opportunity is to savor each and every day.