HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM SOUTH AFRICA!

IBA NOKISIMUSI OMUHLE (Happy Christmas To You)

Greetings from beautiful South Africa! We hope this finds you all well and happy and enjoying this glorious season of the year! Christmas is very different here in Johannesburg with temperatures in the 90's and everyone talking about going to the beach while our family at home shivers in the 20's and 30's with snow all around. But one thing is the same!; Our testimony and love for our Savior, Jesus Christ is definitely something we share with these dear, dear people. It has been 15 months since we arrived in this beautiful land and began our service in the Temple. How we have grown in our love for each other, our fellow missionaries our temple presidency and these humble African Saints! We have learned so much from our temple service, our callings in the ward and the wonderful experiences we have shared in this land.

Our greatest blessing is our wonderful family and we were so blessed to welcome home two of our missionaries this year. Joseph (Jennifer and Jeff's eldest son) from the Alpine German Speaking mission in May and Nathan (Mary Kathryn and Leon's son) from the Canada Toronto Mission in October. We of course were not able to be at the Salt Lake City airport to welcome them in person but we were able to share the "joy" with our sweet family on FaceTime and phone calls. We continue to hear wonderful things from Elder Jarvis (Zachary), Jamon and Laura's son serving in Jamaica! He will return to us in August of 2016. Speaking of returning home, Elder Jarvis and I will be heading home in mid-February. Yes we will be released February 15th! Wow this has been the fastest year and half ever. We probably won't miss the "power shedding" or being without water on many occasions or the very warm temperatures but that said this has been a wonderful experience and it is definitely with mixed emotions that we leave this beautiful people and amazing Africa! Christmas in Africa is very different from all the bright lights and festivities at home but we are reminded "maybe Christmas indeed doesn't come from the store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more". we have been blessed to spend many joyful and happy times with our fellow temple workers and Presidency. We were invited to the Area Presidency's Christmas Family Home Evening earlier this month. Elder Carl Cook, Elder Ellis and Elder Hamilton, of the 70's, and their wives opened up their beautiful homes to us for a very special FHE. The messages were inspiring and helped us all to feel the miracle of our Savior's birth and his great love for each of us. We also shared a wonderful progressive dinner with our Temple Presidency and the Temple couples and workers. It was a tender evening for us as we anticipate leaving these special people that we have shared so much with the past 15 months The beautiful talks given in our Kagiso Ward by the humble members who have shared their feelings and love for the Savior have warmed our hearts and souls. We continue to welcome to the temple our brothers and sisters from all over Africa; Mozambique, Congo, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Reunion Island, Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, Madagascar and so many other places. They have changed our lives forever and we will never be the same. Their love and sacrifice for the Gospel of Jesus Christ is amazing and humbling. They have taught us so much.

It was announced last week that the groundbreaking for the new temple in DC Congo will take place in February. I can't begin to explain what that will mean to the people of that land. President Cook announced last week that another Stake has just been formed in the Congo. The work moves on! And not so slowly any more!

We are so blessed to have been here at this time. We thank the Lord for his goodness to us and to our loved ones. We bear our testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We love our Savior. He is our Redeemer, Lord and King. May you each feel His great Peace and Love during this beautiful time and throughout the days to come. We send you our love and best wishes for a very Happy Christmas and wonderful New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

GESEENDE KERSFEES - Afrikaans

Joyeau Noel - French

Tratrin'ny Krismasy- Malagasy

Makorokoto christmas- Shona

Halala Christmas - Zulu

Iba Nokisimusi Omuhle - mixture of several African languages!

Love,
Elder and Sister Jarvis
Grandmother and PaPa Joe
Mom and Dad
Joe and Kathy


Photos include:

Elder and Sister Jarvis standing in the entrance to the beautiful Johannesburg Temple.

One of my beautiful piano students from the Kagiso Ward...Nora

Our fun "Shrimp Boil" with all the Senior Temple Couples.

A magnificent Kudu Bull taken on one of our many trips into the Bush to see some of Heavenly Father's amazing creations!

NOVEMBER in JOBURG ---SPRING?

Moannatana Everyone:  (Malagasy for Good Afternoon, or Good Morning):

Here I am again.... in NOVEMBER! I feel like I just updated this blog but that was a whole month ago.  Yes this is supposedly Springtime here but it's more unpredictable than Spring in Utah or Idaho.  I do remember snow in May on occasion in both Utah and Idaho and last week there was actually snow in the mountains near Cape Town.  The weather here has been glorious.  Only in the 70's again and the nights are quite cool but I fear that is on its way out as 90's are predicted for next week. I'm sad to say that the jacaranda trees are about through blooming but there are still blossoms covering the walkways and I will definitely miss this incredible sight next year. Hope some of you saw the pictures I shared on FB.

The work at the temple moves forward.  We have another new South African couple who have joined us for 6 months and we are so pleased.  They are a lovely couple originally from England and I am enjoying their wonderful accent.  Yesterday I was able to help a beautiful young sister preparing for her mission to England.  I was so excited for her and know she will love, love the UK.  We had a fun farewell brai (bar-b-que) for two young missionaries who have finished their service mission. We held it in the garden here at Duke's Court. They have been on a special assignment because of Elder Nyandoro's blindness and Elder Molema's severe Asperger's. They have done amazing service at the temple because Elder Nyandoro was able to memorize all the ordinances so quickly and even though Elder Molema's condition would not allow him to watch a regular movie because he would get agitated and restless he could sit through the whole 2 hour temple session with calm and peace because of the spirit. We will all miss them.

I mentioned in last month's blog about our Primary Children practicing for the Sacrament Meeting Presentation.  Well we had it on the 27th of October and it was absolutely wonderful!  The Primary President had asked each of the children to wear a white shirt or white top for the program.  Well Sunday morning they arrived in beautiful white lace dresses (for the girls) and the boys in long sleeved white shirts and bow ties.  They looked exactly like a choir of angels and when they sang 'I know He Lives" it was incredible...not a dry eye in the chapel! They each did their parts totally memorized and spoke right up!  After the program the Bishop got up to say a few words and he was so emotional that he just thanked them and sat down.  After the closing prayer I started to play "I Know that My Savior Loves Me" for postlude and as the children left the stand they all started singing again as they walked out....it was such a beautiful day and I know the Savior was pleased.

Excitement in our family last month!.  Our grandson, Nathan Erasmus, returned from his mission to Toronto and gives his report tomorrow in Draper.  How we will miss being there.  We are so proud of our grandchildren.  We have had three serve missions already and a 4th is currently serving in Jamaica. Exciting times for the old grandparents!

On our PDay last week we went with another couple out to a bird refuge, Marievale.  Not too far from Joburg and yet you feel like you are in another country.  Not only did we see amazing birds: widow birds with their long,long tails, avocets, herons, egrets, snipe, ducks, geese, red winged starlings, etc. etc. but we also saw 3 baby jackals!  They were so cute jumping and playing with each other.  On an earlier trip we had seen an adult jackal and thought that was amazing but to see these cute little guys up close was pretty fun! w

Lest you think we do a lot of playing I must hasten to say we have had a wonderful group of members from
Zimbabwe this week at the temple.  They are so humble and so appreciative and happy to be in the temple...it makes everyone feels good. Its amazing how far people in this temple district have to travel and yet they arrive happy and so excited and grateful  to be there.  Elder Bednar told the Africans to stop wishing they were more like the Saints in the US and that the Saints in the US are the ones who need to be more like the Africans, simple and spiritual!  

Well, I didn't mean to write an epistle! Better close for now. I am attaching a few pictures and hope they come through.  Thank you for your prayers and your emails..we love hearing from you. 
We had the wonderful opportunity of having Sister Bednar and Sister Hallstrom at the temple last week. Elder Bednar and Elder Hallstrom were here reviewing the Africa SouthEast Area and the Area Presidency wives brought the sisters to the temple.  Such beautiful, kind women.  I had a particularly sweet experience with them.  Elder Hallstrom spoke to all the temple missionaries at a Devotional at the temple and Elder Bednar spoke to the area missionaries.  We were blessed to also hear Elder and Sister Cook and Sister Hallstrom.  It was a beautiful day and I will always remember it. My piano students in the Kagiso /ward are really doing well.  I have hopes for one of them to take over as the ward organist when we leave here in just  4 months!  Can it really be? There will be three couples leaving in March and the President indicated they will have two new couples coming then so that will be good but they are so short handed I can't imagine how they can manage with any less than what we have now.

We are so very grateful for this wonderful opportunity.  We have been blessed in so many ways.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
We will be seeing you in 2016!

Love,
Elder and Sister Jarvis
Mom and Dad
Grandmother and PaPa Joe
Joe and Kathy

October -Our 13th Month in Africa

Greetings Everyone:
Well here we are again!  It's supposedly Spring here but this week the temperatures have been in the 90's. Certainly not like last year's Spring! The people are telling us it's because of El Nino. We will be having an extra warm Spring and Summer. Lots of exciting thing happening in this part of the world! Hope you were able to see the World Report between the sessions of Conference. There was a great piece on Mozambique and the growth of thechurch there. We were blessed to welcome many of our Mozambique membersto the temple last week. Also the country of Gabon has just opened up and we had 3 couples who were endowed and sealed this week. We have a new senior couple  from Idaho serving with us and we were so excited to welcome them. Such a small world. Their granddaughter is serving in the same mission that our grandson, Joseph, just returned from. The Alpine German Speaking Mission. We are so excited that our grandson, Nathan,will soon return from the Canada Toronto mission. Our grandson, Zach is serving in the Jamaica  Mission and had escaped two major hurricanes this month. We are so grateful!We continue to be quite safe here in South Africa but have suffered several "power shedding days" this month.  As I mentioned before every few weeks they cut the power to certain areas in the city because they can't begin to supply enough to this city of 15 million+.  So it's a little hard to come home from the temple at 9:00 p.m. and the crock pot dinner is cold and raw!  I celebrated another birthday last week and my fellow missionaries took us to a fun African restaurant where we were able to taste some fun African  delicacies  i.e. roasted springbok, ox tail soup, malva pudding, and many more yummy offerings. There were dancers and singers who sang Happy Birthday to me in Zulu. Fun day! Wasn't Conference  just wonderful? We were so blessed  to be able to see it here even though the Sat. and Sunday  afternoon sessions were on at 10:00 p.m. and went until midnight. In our ward we are getting ready for our Primary Sacrament  Meeting program and our Primary children were so excited to hear the tabernacle choir sing "I Know that my Savior Loves Me". Wish you could all see the beautiful  children in our ward. All of them have their parts memorized and the program isn't until Oct. 25th. One of my piano students is the chorister for Primary and I get to play for them. I love it.

Last week the temple missionaries were invited to attend Temple Bethel Emmanuel and their celebration of the Feast of the Tabernacle.  The Rabbi and his family had visited the temple grounds during the 30th anniversary of the dedication of the temple last week and they extended the invitation to us.  I was unable to attend but Joe found is very interesting. We had about 30 Area Missionaries and most of the Temple missionaries in attendance and the Rabbi seemed very pleased.  Oh yes we also had a "Tail Gate"  party on the day of the BYU/UCLA game.  We had a braii (barb-que) and everyone wore blue and white and we sang the fight song....well sort of. Our temple president found it a little strange but he loves us so it was O.K.
Because of the Anniversary celebration we have had a wonderful, busy month.  Many people at the temple during the week of the 24th to celebrate the dedication.  We were able to do over 1700 ordinances on Thursday the 24th of September. Friday and Saturday were record days too. It has been very exciting to be here at this time. Many of the Africans wore their tribal clothes and the sisters especially were so beautiful in their colorful dresses and headdresses! So exciting to see them in the temple.   On our Pday last week Joe took me to the botanical gardens again.  So exciting to see all the beautiful flowers in bloom and the colorful birds in their mating plumage.  You can't believe the trees here.  They all seem to have flowers!  Even though we have had so little rain everything is celebrating Spring! The jacaranda trees have begun to bloom this week too and it is a haze of purple everywhere.  They are so very beautiful.

Thanks for your messages and emails.  We love hearing from you.  We are well and enjoying each day.  We have been so blessed through our service.  Each day brings such amazing experiences, We send our love to all.  Until next month.....

Love,
Kathy and Joe
Elder and Sister Jarvis
Mom and Dad
Grandmother and PaPa Joe

September in South Africa

September in South Africa

Greetings friends and family;
Is it really September? Well it may be Fall for you but we are just starting into Spring in the Southern hemisphere. September is similar to March in the US...well sort of...no Spring snow storms but wonderful rain and thunder and lightning storm! In fact I just heard that Johannesburg is the lightning capital of the world. I don't know about that because the lightning on Cedar Mountain was pretty impressive!  We have had another wonderful eventful month here on our mission. Things at the temple have been incredibly busy. We have had not only many groups arriving at patron housing but many individuals and their families coming from near  and far. There are never two days alike in the temple. Each day brings new challenges but also incredible spiritual experiences and even miracles.  We have also been blessed to have our Granddaughter,  Kirsi, come to visit us for10 days.  She was able to serve in the temple with us for her entire visit.  What a wonderful blessing it was for us and how the temple missionaries loved her.  We are so short handed at the temple and her help came at the perfect moment when we were experiencing illnesses among several of our temple missionaries. Anyway it was a very tender experience for us and we will always cherish it. We did have two "p days" with her and took her to Pilantsburg, a game reserve, where she had an amazing "elephant  experience".  It was a little unnerving but oh so exciting.  We were able to visit a cultural village where we witnessed dance, music and foods from many different tribes.

The time passed so quickly and we had to put her on a plane back to Utah way too soon.

We have been in Johannesburg  for a year now but there are still some things that we find a little strange and scarry. The combi drivers  (who drive taxi/vans) who never stop at a red light and cuts you off on a daily basis. They are built to carry about 8 people but we have seen 16+ in a van at a time!  Random police checks where you are pulled over and demanded to show your drivers license and then expected to pay a bribe or be detained for a few minutes; unreal traffic which you can never judge a "slow time"; some of our South African workers and patrons complain about 2 hour commutes and even more. The complex we live in is a short 5 -10 min. from the temple....what a blessing!  Still not used to not finding brown sugar, mapleine, ranch dressing, salsa, green chilies, graham crackers, chocolate chips, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, well you get the idea and actually there are many amazing subsitutes right across the street at the Pic'n Pay. 

As I have mentioned before we have patrons from all over this great continent. Many spend several days and their life's savings to come to the temple. This week we added Cameroon, the Ivory Coast,  and Reunion Island to our guests.  Did I mention before the number of languages we have available here?  Well here is our list; English,French, Malagasy, Portuguese,  Swahili, Shona, Africaans,  Zulu,  Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese,  Zulu and Dutch. AWESOME!  

Perhaps I have mentioned before about our wonderful temple president, President Eppel. He is probably the most Christlike person I have ever met. He is so loving and kind to all. In our daily prayer meeting with him we are blessed to feel the awe of this work and his genuine love for us. We are so grateful for this great opportunity to serve Heavenly Father's children and to be in His Holy House each day.

Last week we celebrated our 55th  wedding anniversary! We figured out that we have been married over 20,000 days. Is that all?  On our Pday we visited the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens and it wad so beautiful. Everything is beginning to bloom and the birds are pairing up and singing their songs to Spring.  We are thankful for our dear friends, our wonderful family, good health and the most amazing grandchildren in the whole world.

Thank you for your love and prayers.

Love,
Elder and Sister Jarvis
Mom and Dad
Joe and Kathy
Grandmother PaPa Joe

August in South Africa

Greetings Friends and Family:
We are now in our 11th month serving in the Johanesburg Temple. We have had an exciting adventure these past few weeks.  I will try to share some of our amazing experiences with you.  The temple closed for cleaning and renovations on the 18th of July and we left for our trip on the 20th. We were blessed to travel with two of our South African friends, Ancie and
Richard  Dolldorf who serve with us in the temple. On the first leg of our trip we traveled to Mkuze, a nature reserve in Zululand. We traveled through such interesting country . The plants and trees were so dense and tropical.  We arrived in the early evening and checked into our "chalet". It was really charming with a thatched roof, 2 small bedrooms, a furnished kitchen, living room and bathroom with shower and huge bath tub. We also had
a nice patio with braii (bar-b-que).  We decided to take a little walk which didn't last long because all of a sudden we heard someone screeching and banging pots and pans. We hurried to see what was causing all th commotion. Then we saw it. A baby monkey had
gotten into the camp diner and couldn't  get out. The family of monkeys were trying to "break into the diner and set the baby free". The family of monkeys were really getting upset and the baby continued to yell and scream. Well the cook was banging cookie trays, and pots and pans trying to get the monkeys to leave. Well once Ancie opened the door and let the baby out the others left. Anyway  it was all very exciting. We spent our first evening eating our dinner on the patio by the light of the moon and stars. Our visitors were several nyala (a beautiful antelope), a few bats and many geckos on the screen door!
Little did we know the variety of animals that would visit us the next 4 days. During our wonderful time in Mkuze we were visited by impala, nyala, guinea fowl, monkeys, baboons,  a giraffe and an enormous bull elephant...yes right next to our Bar -B-Q. You could have reached out and touched him...what an experience. During the week we made several visit to the water hole where we saw herds of wildebeests, zebras, antelope of all kinds, vervet monkeys, several baboon families with their babies, a white rhino with her calf and even a lioness in the bush. We also saw many exquisite  and exotic  birds of every color. Several times I had to pinch myself and say "yes, Kathy, this is real! You really are in Africa Do you remember Zazu from The Lion King? Well we saw him. Yes an amazing southern yellow hornbill
and also Pumba the wart hog with dozens of others from his family. So many amimals I can't remembet it all. One day we drove to the pan, a large shallow lake/marsh. It was ful of birds; storks, flamingos, pelicans, and so many more as well as hippos, Crocodiles, water monitors and duiker (small deer about the size of a dog). In the evenings we enjoyed sitting on the patio listening to the nightjar (A bird that makes a sound like an ambulance...amazing) well you get the idea it was just unreal!  For the last 4 days of our trip we traveled  to  San Lucia. What an incredible  spot. We stayed in a tiny little cabin but it was clean and comfy and self catering  with a bar-b-que and surrounded by lush tropical  gardens and birds everywhere. San Lucia is a beach community right on the Indian Ocean  and oh the beautiful white sand and blue, blue sea. Gorgeous,   we walked the beaches, played in the surf and watched the gannets dive for fish. HEAVEN!
Well, less you think that we just play on this mission I had better hasten to tell you the temple opened again on Aug. 4th and we have been very busy. On the first day we had 24 missionaries from the MTC along with a group from DC Congo. It is wonderful to be back inthe temple but I must say I miss the sea air and breezes. Joburg is not kmown for it's  clean air.. We absolutely  love the patrons that come . They are so faithful  and sacrifice all to be able to come. While on our trip we attended church in Richards Bay and the people there told us they only get to the temple about once a year. It will be such a great help when they build the temple in Durbin.

We send our love and best wishes to each of you.  We  love our work in the temple and we love the people. This is an incredible experience. We pray you will consider serving too!

Love,
Elder and Sister Jarvis

JUNE IN JOBURG

GREETINGS EVERYONE: Yes, it's June in Joburg but not the June you are used to. More like November in South Africa. However, the weather is still quite nice even though the mornings and evenings are quite cool we still have lots of sunshine during the day. The locals go around all bundled up in coats and hats and even ear muffs but it's only in the 60's so not sure what that's all about. We have had a very exciting few days. Last Saturday our daughter, Mary Kathryn, and some of her family (husband Leon and 3 of her boys) arrived in Johannesburg on their way to Zimbabwe. They were traveling with Leon's parents and brother and his family and sister and her family. As you know Leon's family is from Zimbabwe, or as it was called Rhodesia. Anyway they were on an exciting trip to work and assist a charitable organization doing humanitarian work in Zimbabwe .We were thrilled to have them stop over in Johannesburg for a short visit. We were able to house them here in our complex and were privileged to take them all to church on Sunday. The young people gathered around Ryan, Dawson and Nick and exchanged FaceBook pages. I think the boys had a wonderful time with these African teens. There was a total of 23 in the "Erasmus Clan" and our fellow senior missionary couples helped us with food, transportation and housing.In fact our Temple President traveled with Elder Jarvis to the airport to greet the family and also insisted on the return trip on Monday when they had to leave at 4:00 a.m. Two of our senior missionaries drove vans to pick up the other members of the family. The Erasmus family brought bags of wonderful children's clothing and many new soccer balls with pumps to distribute to the branches and wards. They moved on to Zimbabwe on Monday morning and have been there all week organizing and providing various medical clinics and other help. If all goes well we will be meeting them tomorrow and travel with them to Kruger National Park for a few days. What an exciting thing to share a little of our mission with them. It was wonderful! This has been a very busy month at the temple. Saturday was one of the busiest we have seen since we arrived. We divided session after session and had to add others. We have welcomed members from Botswana, Mozambique, Congo, Madagascar, Uganda, Zambia, Namibia and others. Our Kagiso Ward which was split last month is doing so well. We continue to fill up the chapel each Sunday and my piano students are doing well. Today's Sacrament Meeting was another amazing hour. Great talks by two sisters and one brother. Each one so well thought out and prepared. I began playing prelude music about 8:40 and everyone was so reverent. Yes there are young children and many many teenagers but they are so respectful of the chapel and I have to be sure my prelude is very well prepared since EVERYONE is listening! Even though it is South African Winter now there are still beautiful flowers in bloom and many flowering trees. On the way to church this morning we saw a poinsettia tree. It was covered in huge red flowers! Too bad I didn't have my camera. The roses at the temple just get more beautiful every day. They have never stopped blooming since we arrived last September. As you many know Elder Jarvis celebrated his 77th birthday last month. It was a grand affair. The Senior couples took us out to lunch at a African Restaurant. We were entertained by the dancers and singers who put a crown on Joe's head and sang "Happy Birthday" in Zulu to him. ( On the following day we were invited to a South african couple's home for a (bar-b-que). They cooked calamari, hake(favorite fish here), muscles, steak and shish-ka-bobs! One of our senior sister missionaries baked the most beautiful cake....and a carrot cake to boot! She decorated it with beautiful exotic birds and again everyone sang and teased Elder Jarvis a little about being the oldest one here....guess that's true. All in all I think he had a great day! We will be getting another couple in September so that will be great but we are in need of French speaking missionaries. So many of the Congo only speak French and of course we have some French Speaking from Mozambique too. I wish I had worked harder to learn French a few years ago when I had the opportunity. I could certainly have helped here. The temple will be closed for cleaning and repairs in July and we are planning a trip with our South African friends during that time. They are taking us to San Lucia. Wonderful birding place and also the big five are there....lion, buffalo, elephant, leopard and rhino! We love the people here. They are so beautiful, humble and happy. So blessed by the spirit and so grateful for life! They are teaching us so much. Love to all of you dear friends and family. May the Lord bless you and your families. Sister Jarvis Kathy Mom Grandmother

8 Months in Joburg

GREETINGS FAMILY AND FRIENDS:
Yes it really has been 8 months!  Doesn't seem possible for us either. What an exciting time to be here.  A few weeks ago our ward, Kagiso Ward, was divided!  The members were so thrilled.  Now there is room for their less active and investigators to attend but guess what happened?  The first week after the division and the chapel was full to capacity again!  We now meet at 9:00 (Kagiso First Ward) and the Kagiso Second Ward meets at 11:00.  It is so thrilling to see how the church continues to grow in Africa but it's not  surprise.  These people love the Gospel and they set such an incredible example for all.   This is hard to explain unless you have been here but they are so good and so faithful. Even though there is great poverty the church does continue to prosper and the people truly have a desire to be self sufficient.  We have noticed a great spirituality among the people....especially those who come to the temple.  They are so in tune and consider the temple the most important blessing in their lives.  Elder Holland recently said that even though life hasn't given them much in the way of material goods heaven has blessed them with remarkable spiritual gifts!  And the children...they are some of the most beautiful children I have ever seen.  I love the smiles of the people.  Often I feel like I have met them before! 

We now have 5 US senior couple missionaries and 1 South African couple working full time.  We do have a few South African workers who come one shift a week or so but they are not very dependable because of schedules and so we know that it definitely is a miracle that we manage each day!  Last week we had several days with sessions that had to be split and so many coming to the temple for the first time.  One day we had 16 sisters there for their own endowments and there were only a handful of workers to help...but it worked and I still don't know how!

I have a big problem now with piano lessons after church.  Before I could teach everyone after the block but the Second ward doesn't end until after 2:00 and we have no place to meet for lessons before that....I'm sure it will work out but we are still "sorting it out" as they say here. I have one student, Nora, who has played prelude for Sacrament Meeting and she did so well.  My goal is to have her playing for the congregational singing by the time we leave....9 months to make it happen!

Our weather now is gorgeous.  Everyday in the mid 70's and nights and early mornings in the low 60's so it is perfect for me! It is called "Fall" but I don't know if there truly is a winter here.  On our Pday we have had some interesting day trips.  We all went to the Mosque here in Joburg and had a tour by such a refined pleasant man.  It was a beautiful building and the people love it so.  We also went to a fun nature reserve and saw many zebras, ostriches, and elephants...yes and one even charged our van!  Very exciting day. Elder Jarvis and I continue to run away whenever we can to the birding areas where they have hides set up for viewing.  We have seen flamingos, marsh owls, goliath herons which are enormous....about 5 feet tall and beautiful, colorful kingfishers...,gorgeous!  and so much more.  We are becoming avid bird watchers!

We are well and enjoying every facet of our work here...(even the mornings we have to report at 4:30 a.m.)
We send our love to each of you and thank you for your emails, cards and prayers.  Thanks to the Mink Creek Ward Teacher's quorum for the thoughtful Christmas package....yes it finally got here.  Such a sweet surprise! You guys are great!

We love the people so much.  They have certainly changed our lives forever and we will never be the same! 
Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Jarvis
Kathy
Mom
Grandmother

April in South Africa

Hello Dear Family and Friends:
Hope you are all well and  enjoying the Spring.  It is Spring there isn't it.  With these backwards seasons I can't imagine you with your tulips and daffodils and us just going into Fall/Winter.  It has been another amazing month here in South Africa. We reached our 7 month anniversary on the 15th and hard to believe we have less than a year left!.  We have been working hard at the temple this week with patrons from Zambia and Zimbabwe.  What an exciting time it has been to meet these "fellow saints" from this amazing continent.  I did tell you that we have 32 countries in our temple district.  The temple is equipped to conduct the sessions in 12 languages including 7 tribal languages but yesterday we had a sister from Zambia who spoke a dialect that no one knew.  But it was quite amazing.  She seemed to understand all that she needed to and was so happy after the session.

There is so much to tell about this remarkable country and I wanted to share a few observations with you this time.  First of all let me tell you about the Recyclers.  These are very poor men and women who are trying to make a little money and this is the way they do it.  The arise early in the morning before the garbage trucks come and they pull a little flat bed cart on 4 wheels with an enormous canvas bag on the top.  They pull it all over town up and down the streets going through the garbage for glass, plastic, paper and anything else that the Recycle center might buy.  Some of them are good about putting the discarded garbage back in the cans but others just leave all of it on the sidewalks or in the streets.  It can get pretty dirty and smelly. Another sight are the street vendors who walk between the cars on the busy streets trying to sell newspapers, magazines, fruit, pop, popcicles, brooms and anything else you can imagine.  It scares me to death to see how close they come to being hit by a car but they are always there as we drive to and from the temple.  Have I told you about the Kombi's?  These are toyota and VW vans/busses that are South Africa's answer to a New York taxi.  Honestly they are crazy.  They are meant to hold about 12 to 14 passengers but they are usually sitting 5 to 6 across in the seats and they don't pay any attention to traffic laws or  lights!  They cut you off, drive through red lights (called robots) and pretty much rule the roads!  They are totally unorganized but are actually the bus system in Joburg.  There are new large buses in this country but the Kombi's are cheap and fast and serve the black people in the townships quite well.  Elder Jarvis says it's sort of like playing "chicken" every time one comes near!

We have been quite adventurous this month trying "ostrich steaks" and Kudu.  I tried the ostrich and it was pretty good.  Sort of like beef.  Joe loved the Kudu but it's such a beautiful animal and we have seen several in the reserves so I couldn't quite handle that.  Anyway before I close I wanted to tell you about power shedding.  Because Johannesburg's power system is not big enough for the demand they have to rotate outages through the neighborhoods two times each week.  Yes we usually know when they are scheduled for 4 to 6 hours but other times there is an emergency and out it goes.  Today it has been out for 6 hours but huray it was back on when we got home from the temple so I could fix dinner!

Well I hope you enjoyed learning a little about this enormous city.  It truly is an exciting, busy, colorful amazing place to be and I will try sharing a little more next month.


We love the people here and never cease to be amazed at their love for the Gospel.  They sacrifice so much to come to the temple.  Yesterday some of the patrons had been on a 36 hour bus trip to come from Zambia to Johannesburg to the temple.  They are so grateful and so very happy. They have the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they are of all people most joyful.  I am so grateful to have become acquainted with them

Well, we love you all very much.  You are in our prayers and always in our hearts.

Mom
Grandmother
Sister Jarvis

SPRING FOR YOU, FALL FOR US

Greetings Everyone:
Well here we are again.  This time you are heading into Spring and we are headed for Fall and Winter!  Hope you are all well and enjoying life . We are coming up on our 6 month's anniversary in South Africa and I can tell you that it is flying by.  There were a few days in the past weeks that it seemed to be at a standstill but as I reflect now, it's all kind of a blur.  Elder Jarvis and I did not escape the "African  Flu" that  arrived with a vengeance here but I'm very happy to report we are on the mend.  Yea!  I missed 5 days at the temple and Elder Jarvis has missed two.....so far.  But not to worry  we are both feeling much better today.  Several of the missionaries have been ill but those who stayed well have taken very good care of the rest of us. They have brought in meals, delivered flowers, phoned us and kept the temple going with a very  "skinny crew".  We are so grateful for all the temple missionaries.  They are the best!

We continue to be very busy at the temple,..  This week the temple housing is full of patrons from the D.C. Congo.They are so anxious to complete work for their ancestors and arrive early each day to do baptisms and be ready for the other ordinances by the time we arrive. It has been an amazing week!  There is a little chill in the early morning air so I do believe it is beginning to be Fall in South Africa.  This week we are getting another temple missionary couple, the Johnsons, from Texas.  That brings our total to 5 couples  but we are losing another couple in April.  The Johnsons will be moving into the flat next door to ours so we are anxious to meet them.  We understand that Elder Johnson is a retired medical doctor......so won't that be convenient!  Friday was quite the day.  There were only 3 couples to run the whole temple....but guess what we made it.  Yes, it worked. We were really  hustling around but we were able to do it.  We had 4 sessions and that meant that most of the time one of the 3 couples was running a session and the rest had to do all the other things that go with the running of the temple.  We were so blessed and when it was over we couldn't believe what had been accomplished.

My group of piano students continue to grow but we are not very consistent.  Hopefully we can find a way to purchase a few more keyboards since that seems to be our biggest problem.  Our ward is getting ready for Ward Conference next month and I have been asked to help the choir again.  I love doing it, it's just the time factor,.  Since we are in the temple everyday, the only time I can help them is on Sunday and that's when we try to do the piano lessons too.  Just need an extra week here and there I guess.  We are blessed to have a Pday each week and that has been a wonderful time to experience  the beautiful birds, scenery and  animals of South Africa.  Tomorrow the temple couples are going to Pilatesburg.  It's not too far and many of the amazing animals of this country  are in that area.  Kudu, giraffe, zebra, elephants, hippos, rhinos, baboons,and the birds!  I am really looking forward to it. Joe continues to be very busy with the management of the flats  People always seem to be coming or going but he enjoys being of service and as you know he is not afraid of hard work!
I
I thought you might be interested in a typical week for temple missionaries.  We work at the temple Tuesday through Saturday and are assigned to a ward that we attend each Sunday.  We are unable to participate in many of the ward's activities because we are in the temple but we enjoy participating in the Sunday meetings and getting to know our African brothers and sisters a little better.  On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we work from 12:30 until about 8:30 or 9:00.  On Friday we go in at either 4:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. and on Saturday we report at either 5:45 a.m. or 8:00 a.m..  When we report at 4:30 a,m. we work until 12:00 and when we report at 12:30 we work until 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. We rotate going in early every other week.  The weeks truly do fly by and the work is always so exciting that no two days are the same. It truly is a miracle to see how just a handful of workers can keep the temple operating.  Truly a testimony to see how it works!

There are 7 tribal languages in South Africa plus Africaans, French, Portugese, and of course English.  But we have patrons from Madagascar who only speak Malagasy.  Patrons from Mozambique who only speak
Portugese and also patrons from Botswana, Uganda, Congo, Swaziland, Namibia, and Zimbabwe and several other countries.  It really is an amazing experience to be here.  I love seeing the sisters come in in their native dress.  They are so beautiful and have prepared themselves both physically and spiritually for this very special day.  Wish you could all see it!

Well I have rambled on long enough...We send our love and prayers to all of you dear friends and family.  Thanks for your emails, cards and calls.  We love hearing from you. Happy Easter to all!

Till next month
Love,
Elder and Sister Jarvis
Grandmother and PaPa Joe
Joe and Kathy
Mom and Dad

FIVE MONTHS IN SOUTH AFRICA!

GREETINGS!

Yes, so hard to believe we have been here 5 months.  If the rest of this mission goes this fast we are almost on our way home! Although I am missing my family more than words can say I have a feeling there is much left to be done. The temple just reopened yesterday after a two week closing for cleaning and repair.  We were able to take a road trip with some other missionary couples to Cape Town.  Wow what an amazing trip that was.  We saw some of the most beautiful scenery ever and experienced magnificent birds, monkeys, zebras, cape buffalo, kudu, and even a lion in the desert. It was a lot of days in a car but it was certainly worth it.  We marveled at Heavenly Father's creations,.  How he must love his children to create such a magnificent place for us all to come.  The Cape of Good Hope and Table Mountain were amazing and I had to pinch myself often to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  Anyway we returned to the temple yesterday and had a large group of saints from the Congo to assist.  The temple president told us that they had had such a difficult time to get there,  They had first driven from their village on a very poor dirt road for over 7 hours, then crossed a river by ferry and driven another 3 hours to an airport and then flew to Johannesburg on a 3 1/2  hour flight.  They were so thrilled to be there with their families to receive their endowments and be sealed to one another! We had 21 children in the youth center!  What a thrilling day for us as workers to feel of their spirits and share in their joy and excitement.  They mostly spoke French but there were also several Swahili speaking families.  No matter we don't know their language ...the language of the spirit is the same for all!  Great Day!

We had missed two Sundays in our ward here and when we returned last Sunday I had 3 more piano students who were waiting to begin lessons.  So now our Sundays begin at 7:45 when we drive to our ward and don't get home until 3:00 or so but I love working with these people.  They are so anxious to learn and they love music, especially the hymns.  Elder Jarvis is the manager for all the Temple Missionary flats.  It's quite a big job as he has to answer to everyone's problems with plumbing, electrical and anything else that goes wrong.  He is also in charge of preparing new flats for the incoming missionaries.  Oh, it's not a job, it's a calling! The weather continues very warm.  actually it's their August now so high 80's are the norm but on our trip to Cape Town it was gorgeous at only mid 70's....perfect!We just lost another Senior Couple.  They were released on Monday and we are down to 4 full time couples and two South African part time couples.  We are starting to get a few South Africans helping us several shifts a week but for the most part it's just the missionary couples.  One of the counselors to the Temple President went home to Madagascar for the two week break and became very ill.We really miss him and his wife as they speak both French and Malagasy. We are praying that he recovers soon and returns to the temple.  On our road trip we attended the  Somerset West Ward near the Cape.  We met so many wonderful people and a new missionary couple from Utah who had just arrived there.  They were very happy to see someone from "home" and it was great to see their excitement and enthusiasm for the work.  In our ward on Sunday the bishop announced that the ward could be divided not only into two wards but three and then he said if we would each do our part at fellowshipping Kajiso Ward could even become a stake!  I'm certain this is true.  The building is filled to capacity for every meeting we have and sometimes not everyone even gets a seat! The Area President has told us that we could easily have 19 new stakes and 93 new wards in the Africa South East Area in the very new future....exciting stuff.

Well it's almost time to leave for the temple again so I had better close.  We send our love to each of you.  We are excited to hear about all the activities and accomplishments of the family and our friends.  Thank you for your love and prayers in our behalf. We feel so blessed to be able to serve these wonderful, humble people.  They are so appreciative of everything.  We have learned  much from them.  The gospel is everything to them it is their life and as they say each day "I am so much grateful for my many blessings".  Me too!

2015 A NEW YEAR IN SOUTH AFRICA!

Happy New Year to all our Friends and Family:
Christmas and New Year's was a fairly quiet affair here as most of the locals head for the beaches and cool mountains.  We actually decided to go to the famous botanical gardens on Christmas Day but much to our surprise that is where many residents of this city of 13+million spent their Christmas too!  We had been to the gardens before and it was so quiet and peaceful with beautiful birds everywhere.  This day however there were hundreds of families with their blankets and picnic baskets in tow taking up every inch of green lawn and rolling hills.  Actually it was kind of fun to see how these people celebrate the holidays.  The groups were made up of extended families including the very young and the elderly grandparents.  The children were carrying a favorite toy, probably received that morning.  Also it was extremely hot...about 90 and the humidity must have been 90% or more.  Definitely different than our Christmases in Utah and Idaho! On New Year's Eve we had a pot luck with the other temple missionaries and then watched "INVICTUS" a great movie about the South African Rugby Team and how Pres. Mandela used it to help unite his country following aparteid.  We all were to bed by 10:30 so not too much celebrating.  Joe and I
went to a beautiful , preserve located about 40 minutes from Joburg.  We saw many, many beautiful and unusual birds. The widowbird, the hoopoe, the boubul, the go-away, the weaver bird including watching them weave their incredible nests and many exquisite warblers which we haven't identified  We also had a whole troup of baboons cross just a few yards in front of us and saw a group of Kudu and a herd of zebras.  It trully was magical and we are anxious to go there again.

The temple was very, very busy during December.  We have been so short of workers I don't know how we managed but we did.  We only had 5 senior temple couples and 3 or 4 South African helpers that showed up occasionaly to help us.  We had groups from the Congo, Mozambique, Uganda, Madagascar, Zimbabwe and Cape Town and Durbin during December.  It was amazing.  They all brought their own family names to do the baptisms, and other work.  What amazing people they are.  They give up everything for the Lord and the youth are particularly devoted.  I love these people. Great spiritual experience to be priviledged to help them.  We are considering driving to "Cape Town" with the two couples that we came here with in Sept.  They really want us to go with them.  It's a long way to drive but I guess the sights are amazing.  There's the Boulders Beach where the penguins live...yes penguins remember we are not that far from the Antartic!  Also some botanical gardens that is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the world. Full of sunbirds, and bee-eaters and surgarbirds, etc.  Also the cape dwarf chameleon and the Cape of Good Hope.  Be sure you look this all up on the internet....amazing stuff!Beaches, mountains and one of the most beautiful coasts in the world...."the Garden Coast".  Hope we can swing it.  The temple is close for cleaning for two weeks in February.

We hope you are all well and enjoying a beautiful winter....yes beautiful.  We really have missed the snow and all that goes with winter in Utah/Idaho.  We are healthy and blessed to be able to do our work which includes 8 hour+shifts 5 days a week and also serve in our Ward.  We send our love and appreciation for your love and prayers.  Remember you can write to us at:  Elder and Sister Jarvis (Temple Missionaries)
South East Africa Area (Temple) 50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150.

Love to all,
Sister Jarvis
Kathy
Mom
Grandmother and PaPa Joe