Elder Wainwright

All of us W's have shared some special experiences the past few days. Our dear brother Hyrum was set apart and then yesterday left to serve a two year mission in London, England for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There he will teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ and help them realize the importance the Saviour plays in our lives and what is needed in order to return to live with God and become just like Him.

Words fail us when we try describe our sheer joy and how proud we are of this brother of ours. His whole life he has tried to emulate the Saviour and now he has made the best decision to serve a mission for 2 years. As the 3rd son in the W family to do this, it is a great blessing.

Yesterday we all met at the airport along with some members of our ward to say their final goodbyes. The icing on the cake would have been to have Seth there too, but unfortunately he couldn't get there from university in PE. We missed you Seth.

True to form, Hyrum left with a big smile on his face and his countenance shining . He joked that today Mom W would be missing him as she sees that there will be nobody to take out the rubbish. All joking aside, we will miss him just because we love him. So with happiness we send him off on his mission, excited for the experiences he'll have and the lives he'll influence for the better, and we will patiently await his return in 2014.

Temple trip for Hyrum

Last weekend (yes yes I'm mega late with this post haha) Thursday we put our everyday lives on hold and took a plane to Johannesburg. Admittedly this trip had three purposes: first and foremost was to visit the Johannesburg Temple for our brother Hyrum as he's leaving on his mission this coming Wednesday, 2) to spend time with our good friends (and L's childhood best friends) the Martin's and Gosling's, 3) be interviewed for a VISA to the United States of Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaamerica!

Upon arrival in JHB we had lots of time to spare before Stayci was due home to meet us, so we did what any small town folk do and hit up a shopping centre where there is way more selection of pretty much anything and everything. So what if we went to East Rand Mall (ahahahahah), we still found some good clothes, including a sweet little MODEST (hello miracle) silver polkadot dress. You bet your socks I bought it. After that brilliant excursion we headed to Tshwane (aka Pretoria) to see our favourite Gosling's. Love that girl! We then went over to Scrooge and Marley's Costume shop to see how much it's grown and then followed that with a visit at the Martin's in our favourite area in Pretoria, Irene (my home away from original home, wherever that might be haha). There we had a great catch up chat with Kebs, Meags, aunty Debbie and uncle Clive. That family is incredible in every way and I often miss them.

By 18:00 Joe was finished with his church meetings so we returned to Doringkloof to meet him at their place and decided to have Indian cuisine for dinner. Not sure of the name of the restaurant but by George it was out-of-this-world DIVINE! A stack of buttery naan bread the size of a pillow case was placed in the centre of the table along with 4 small pots of various curries. I drool at the thought its taste...must. go. back.

The Gosling's were kind enough to let us crash in their tiny flat for the night. Our interview for the VISA's was scheduled at the American Embassy in Sandton the next morning at 8:00AM. Knowing how crazy JHB traffic is and how important these VISA's were to us, we decided to leave early...like 5:30AM early. We assumed it would take about 2 hours to get there...Well imagine our utter amazement when we pulled up at the door to the embassy at 6:15AM! This was definitely an LOL moment for us all. There we were, completely knackered with no place to go, literally at the crack of dawn. So folks, we did the only logical thing we could do and go to Sandton Mall for a 'healthy' breakfast of Mickey D's.

Ja we'll probably never do that again.

The interview for the VISA's went extremely smoothly and quickly, despite the many stories we heard of how long it takes. We brought an envelope full of documents supporting our desire to merely visit that first world country and making it clear that we have no intention of immigrating. And you know what, after a 5 minute chat with a very friendly man we were granted VISA's. 10 year VISA's people. 10 years! BIG SMILES!  Haha, on a side note, one of the funniest moments when waiting to be called for our interview was overhearing another woman during her interview which went something like this:

American: Good morning maa'm, where do you plan on travelling to?

Woman: ...... the USA.

...

American: When do you plan on visiting?

Woman: Tomorrow. I was supposed to leave today but I didn't have my VISA.

Ai shame, poor thing... her vague answers didn't help her much. We were doubled over in stitches from laughing so hard.

After a successful and positive American Embassy experience, we went to the temple where we hung about and took naps until later that night when the rest of the W's arrived and we attended a wonderful and spiritually uplifting session at the temple. The Bester's came along too for support and we took some family pics for proof of the happy time we all had.

Early on Saturday morn we again attended another session and Stayci made a special trip (crikey she drove all the way on a scooter!! Bless her good, kind heart!) to spend the last bit of time with us before we went back to O.R. Tambo International and took a plane back to our humid city.

There's nothing like a trip to the temple to calm you down in a year that is already proving to be hectic and all about schedules. The spirit felt there is enough to revive us to persevere and to enjoy even the small things in life that bring us happiness amid the business.

And with that we better announce that we will be heading off to Salt Lake City, Utah for a wonderful Christmas holiday with L's fam! That means SNOW! Happiness!!

2012 is proving to be a very exciting year!

Oh Molaylay

Eish this dog of ours! Sometimes she drives us round the bend!

 Like when she toilet papers the garden and driveway at the crack of dawn, sneaks into the bathroom to tip over the bin, digs up newly planted grass in the flowerbeds leaving us to buy new plants and re-plant them on a cooking Saturday arvie, rips stuffing out of cushions, bolts outside the gate to terrorize the neighbours dogs, making us run after her...sometimes for 10 minutes, begs for food, piddles on the bed (gross), chews up shoes, door stoppers, water bottles, cellphone chargers etc, drags unmentionables outside for all to see, purposefully stays outside when she's supposed to come in late at night, jumps on every.single.person, sneaks inside the neighbours house and climbs onto the roof, and gnaws on your hands until they look somewhat like an old piece of meat...

But then one look at those little eyes and the way she cuddles up to you for a snooze melts the heart and we can but only love love love her.

Oh Molly, (aka Molaylay the Polynesian, dolly, rat, naughty dog, fish breath) you crafty little puppy. You really have us wrapped around your little paw.