The Gollahers

Here We Go Again! South African Missionaries! While living in Laie, Hawaii, more than a decade ago, Greg and I both had a feeling one night that we would serve a mission in Africa. We couldn’t have imagined what that would look like, but trusted that when the time was right, it would happen. So here we are now doing auditing for the Africa South Area in Johannesburg, South Africa. We arrived in Johannesburg the evening of September 29, 2023 and spent an hour in the passport control line at the airport. After finally getting our luggage (all four checked pieces miraculously arrived), we met our driver and headed to where most of the missionaries lived. It was nine-thirty at night, but everyone was there to greet us! What a kind thing to do! We spent a week in the Duke’s Court apartments across the street from the Killarney Mall. It was great to be able to walk across the road to get groceries. After a few shopping trips this week and the next, we were able to get most of the things we need to take care of our needs. We spent only a week in Duke’s Court and then moved to Oxford 51 apartments where we will stay for the rest of the mission. There are 15 couples serving in the Area Office, each with a different and unique calling. It has been fun to get to know them as the days have gone by.

Here are some highlights, observations and thoughts for our first three weeks in South Africa: 1. They do things differently here. The pace is much slower except on the road! 2. Driving on the left side of the road, negotiating traffic lights that don’t work, and striving to miss the pedestrians on the road is a daily challenge. It takes two to drive! 3. The electricity sometimes goes off without much warning. It’s called Loadshedding. Thankfully we have a generator in our building. 4. Restaurant food is much cheaper. We have found some very nice places to eat. 5. For Greg’s birthday (October 5) we had dinner with two other couples at a place called “Olives and Plates.” It is a lovely restaurant at the back of a big bookstore in the Hyde Park Mall. Yummy food beautifully presented!

6. The office is a busy place. We have gotten to know a lot of the people by name (or nickname) and we enjoy being around everyone here. Marc in IT is our special friend. He has set up our computers, printers and phones and continues to offer help as we need it. Greg teases everyone and they already love him. 7. We have been able to play golf and pickleball with another missionary couple—The Sechrests. We play at 6:00 AM on weekedays so we can make it to work at a reasonable time or on Saturday morning, which is our Preparation day.

8. The washing machines are ultra small. We have to do laundry often and hang things around the apartment. 9. I had the strange food and drink “gombu” last weekend. I guess I need to drink bottled water until the Facilities Management people get our filter sorted out. It is on the list of stuff that FM needs to do for our apartment. Who knows when it will all get done. Patience is a virtue. 10. We are beginning to understand our responsibilities as Auditors. We have been thrown right into the frying pan, so to speak. We have a lot to learn and we need to do it quickly. Now for some experiences that we have had— The second Sunday we went to church with another couple so they could show us the way to our new Ward which is an hour away. It is a very humble area with friendly people. We were greeting people as they came into the building. All of the sudden, a little eight year old girl, threw her arms around Greg’s legs and gave him a big hug. She then hugged me and the other Sister missionary. She ended up sitting on the bench between me and the other Sister and cuddled with me most of the meeting. I call her Lele because I can’t pronounce her name. After the sacrament, the Second Counselor in the bishopric announced that Greg and I would come up to bear our testimonies. This was the first we heard about it. Haha. After we spoke, we watched the last session of General Conference. Cute little Lele drew on a small piece of paper that I gave her.

After church, we met a lady who had brought a family of five boys with her to church. They had sat on their row for the whole meeting so reverently. Such cute boys. The eight year olds were a set of twins. Our first Audit Committee meeting was very good. It was great to see Elder Aidukaitis again after so many years. We met him when we lived in Sao Paulo almost 30 years ago. He is a counselor in the Area Presidency. During the meeting, Greg talked about his mission from 1969-1971 in South Africa and Rhodesia. He said that he gained his testimony of the gospel here. He also talked about his patriarchal blessing. He discovered that two other members of the committee had been given blessings by the same man—Kenneth Powrie. It was a sweet moment for the three of them. After the meeting, we met with Elder Aidukaitis alone and enjoyed reminiscing about Brazil and all the experiences we have had serving in the church. He is a great man. One Wednesday, Greg and I went to the temple to do sealings. It was great to finally go into the temple for the first time. Greg’s mission president was the first Johannesburg Temple president—President Harlan Clark. He passed away while in the temple one day. We used to visit his wife whenever we were in Salt Lake over the years. When we arrived in the temple, the Temple President, President Wrench, was standing at the desk waiting for us. He had seen our name on the appointment list and wanted to meet us. It turns out that he and Greg served at the same time in East London, SA. President Wrench was one of two or three young men serving in his own country. Everyone else was from the US or Canada. What a fun experience for both of them to reunite after 50+ years! Amazing that President Wrench remembered Greg’s name! I guess Gollaher is a memorable name. This morning we had a devotional with the Area Seventy. All three of the presidency spoke to the missionaries and the employees. We were able to meet with them briefly after the meeting to thank them for their faith in us to do this work. It was fun to speak Portuguese with the two counselors, who are both from Brazil. The President of the Area is president Dube, who is from Zimbabwe. All three gave excellent messages. They highlighted messages from their training at conference time. One very interesting thing that President Dube said was from Elder Uchtdorf. He talked about our Sunday sacrament meetings and said that they needed to be meetings that help people to receive their spiritual conversions. He also said that children should be invited to speak in the meetings—not just in the Primary program. That was very interesting. So look for that direction in your wards in the near future.