Johannesburg, South Africa Temple

Temple #106

Johannesburg, South Africa

March 23, 2019

    We had an amazing time in Ghana and were heartbroken when we left. We loved it there for so many reasons. We said goodbye to everyone and were dropped off at the airport.

    Our airplane was two hours late leaving which was frustrating. We sat on it forever as they fixed the landing gear. We eventually took off and flew to Ethiopia where we had a layover. But because of the flight delay our connecting flight was leaving fifteen minutes after we landed. We got off the plane and ran through the terminal and had to go through security again but we made it just as they were boarding! We had both said multiple prayers in our hearts and our prayers were answered.

    We finally got to Johannesburg at five in the morning after traveling for nearly twenty hours. We were exhausted, but also excited. We got service and got an uber. They drive like in UK, left side of the road but the right side of the car, it was weird, and Johannesburg in general was weird as it didn’t seem like Africa at all compared to Ghana. It felt like we were in the U.K. or somewhere similar. The streets were clean, there were modern buildings and skyscrapers, and many nice vehicles. It was nothing like Ghana.

    We went straight to the temple to the first session and made it in just in time to the 7:00am session. The temple is just like Chicago, Dallas, Guatemala City, and a few others with six spires temples. It had a tiny endowment room and fit maybe twenty people. There were two rows and the witness couple were able to sit by each other and so did the couple behind them. It was a simple and good session and the Celestial room was simple as well.

    Afterwards I was waiting in the foyer for Ivy. I was admiring a painting that is there and while doing so the Temple President came up to me and began talking to me. He began to explain the painting. It’s of an African girl kneeling and praying. The artist is Elspeth Young and the painting is called And Thou Didst Hear Me. The temple president told me it was the original painting and he showed me the brushstrokes. He mentioned how the girl in the painting is from Ghana which was neat. The Payson temple has the same painting and a few others do as well but there’s not many copies. Ivy and I remembered seeing it in Payson and it was neat to now have seen the original.

    After the temple we took pictures around the temple. We went around back to where there was a small garden with flowers and terraces. At the top of the terraces was a good view of the temple and of Northern Johannesburg.

We then were picked up by our AirBnb family, the Geldenhuys, who were white (half of the people in Johannesburg are white). They were the nicest and best family we have ever stayed with! Linda is the mom and Ellen is the daughter, and than there’s the dad and brother but we didn’t see them as often. They have thick accents and have lived there their entire lives. South Africa is so different compared to Ghana in so many ways. They fed us french toast and we put cheese on it for breakfast.

   The mom then took us around Johannesburg. We crossed the bridge in Johannesburg over the railroad and it was a completely different city. It’s really poor on the other side and felt more like the Africa we know. We then went to Neighborgoods market, a marketplace that is more like a food court. It was crowded and full of hipster people of all colors drinking and smoking. It felt more like we were back in London than in Africa. The difference from one side of the city to the other was eye opening and sad in a way.

    We then went back to our AirBnB. The owner of the home, Linda, her family had owned the home we stayed in for generations. Her family has been in South Africa since the 1700’s, and her dad had a cocoa plantation in Zimbabwe.

They were the nicest family and we spent the next few days with them during parts of the day. We had the chance to talk about the Church a lot with them as well. Although the daughter Ellen had lived there her entire life, she had never noticed the temple, which was less than five minutes away and could be seen driving down the freeway next to their house. It was good to talk about the Church and the temple and share a little about what we believed. We even ended up giving them a Book of Mormon to help with their curiosity.

    On Sunday the family even took us to their Church. We wanted to go to one of ours but it was so far away and at the same time as the Geldenhuys Church and so we weren’t able to make it. But going with the Geldenhuys made them more open to us and had them ask us more questions about our Church.

    On our last day there we went to the temple again. We didn’t have a lot of time so we did initiatories. We then met one last time in the Celestial room. One name I did for initiatories was Ngqologo or something, and the Ngq made a clicking noise when they pronounced it. It was a Zulu name and hard to pronounce but it was neat to do work for native people from South Africa.

    We then left and went back to the house. We packed up and changed, said goodbye to the family and then left. It was sad to leave but we were so excited for the next bit of our trip. We got an Uber and he drove right by the temple which was a good way for us to say goodbye to Johannesburg. We had gone there not for food, or safaris or anything else, but for the Temple only. Although that’s all we went there for we still have a great time and loved it.