We took a few minutes to visit the Giraffe Recovery Center. They have 12 giraffes. Two were less than 2 months old. They give you a small bowl of pellets so you can feed the giraffes. They warned us to be careful because a few of the giraffes like to head butt. They have two male giraffes but one is still young. When he gets older, he will need to be moved because the dominate male will attempt to kill him when he is able to mate. They have one dominate male who is the protector of the females. The dominate male will fight to the death any giraffe that threatens his females. It was fascinating to be that close and to interact so closely with them. They are graceful with log legs, long necks and long tongues.

 

 

Life has been busy here in Africa. Our mission assignment is to work with the mission presidents and talk to missionaries who are working through missionary challenges. These challenges can be as simple as companionship communication and missionary disappointment to family deaths and psychotic breaks. Recently we have experienced the last two.

We have a missionary in the DRC who experienced a mental breakdown and had to be hospitalized. When this happens, we need to stabilize him enough to have him go home with an escort. Medications helped him, but he initially refused medications, and he was not eating. His mission president and his companion were with him as much as possible. He is now stable. Because he is traveling across international borders, they have a member of his branch in Zimbabwe flying into the DRC to accompany him home.  

We have another missionary who received word that his mother passed away suddenly. We also talked with another missionary who lost his mother a few months ago and needs some guidance. Another missionary had a sister passed away unexpectantly.

When we meet with missionaries it is over a video feed. Everyone here uses WhatsApp. I am not a fan, but when everyone else uses it, I had to learn to adapt. We are meeting with missionaries who could be in one of fifteen missions in eight different countries and in one of three time zones. Eight of the missions are French speaking. That means we need to also connect a third party to do translation for us. With three different internet connections coming from three different places, the chances of a poor internet connection with one or more of participants is extremely high. So we have challenges. The electricity is always questionable. Nairobi is one of the most developed areas, but the power goes out frequently. The area office installed a backup system so if it does go out in our apartment, we can continue to meet with missionaries.

We also schedule a monthly meeting with the mission leaders to talk about the needs of the missionaries. These meetings are also over a video feed and usually happen at night for us. So, our days are busy, and our evenings are busy. There are somewhere between 2300 to 2500 missionaries in the Africa Central Area that we are responsible to help when needed. So far we have been able to manage our schedule and see the missionaries within a reasonable time, but it would not take much to be easily overwhelmed with referrals from mission leaders.

We are always impressed by the guidance from the spirit that comes when we meet with these missionaries. At times a thought, experience, or story comes to mind, and it seems to have a positive impact on the missionary. We have seen some dramatic changes in a very short period of time. This makes us realize that we are only instruments in the Lord’s hands to help these missionaries.

A few weeks ago, we received a sweet note from a mission leader. He forwarded us a letter from a sister missionary we had met with. Here is a copy of the e-mail: 

“Hi Elder and Sister Holloway,Thank you for all that you are doing for our missionaries. Many are showing great strides of improvement. I wanted to share a small extract from Sister Douglas's weekly letter to me with you.

"Meeting with Elder and Sister Holloway has been a game-changer for me! Their guidance and support have helped me identify areas for personal growth and, more importantly, I've experienced significant relief from anxiety and stress. I'm sleeping soundly now, and my overall emotional and mental well-being has improved dramatically. I'm grateful for their help and counsel, and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders"

Sometimes we don't always get to see the fruits of labour as we link those we serve to the Savior. This is one of those fruits. Thank you for what you have helped her to see and gain.

Regards,”

It is those experiences that help us see that we ae making a difference in the lives of some of these missionaries.

We did learn something that I never knew. We talked with the mission leader in Ethiopia. They told us they were celebrating the new year in Ethiopia. Apparently, they are on a whole different calendar and time system than the rest of the world. Not only was it their New Year, but they were welcoming the year 2018. We are in the same time zone, but when we talked with them in the afternoon, it was two o’clock in the morning Ethiopia time. I think their day starts at sunrise instead of midnight. Talk about being out of step with the rest of the world.

We hope all is well. We appreciate all the prayers and support.

Much love and prayers.

Elder and Sister Holloway