Missionary changes and General Conference

Last week we had to say goodbye to Elder Conde.  He's been a favorite so we were sad to see him go.  He got transferred to another area, so later in the week we got to welcome his replacement, Elder Mitchell from Utah.  He's a greenie, straight from the Mission Training Center.  So now we have Elder Mochaki, Mistola, Ostler and Mitchell.

For Elder Conde's last week of dinner and correlation meeting, we had the privilege of having Pres. Paolo, our branch president, come (far left).  He's a convert of just a few years.  He and his wife got married in the Johannesburg temple last spring before they had their baby girl in July.  He's a very kind man with a good, soft heart.  It was fun to have him over with the Elders.  They of course wanted to do a goofy picture.  The Elders make us laugh with their own individual spirits and personalities!  We love these missionaries!

Last weekend, along with our trip to the beach, we got to watch the semi-annual LDS General Conference.  Because we're 7 hours ahead of Utah here, we were able to go to the beach and return just in time to watch the first session at 5pm.  We had the missionaries over on Sunday, along with Hilario the branch Elders' Quorum president, and Mendes, the District Missionary leader who recently returned from his mission to Portugal.  We didn't know Mendes was coming, but we're never surprised when we receive a random visitor over for "Irmao (Brother) Platt's dinner."  :)It was a wonderful, inspiring conference where we got to welcome three new apostles that took the place of Elder Packer, Elder Perry, and Elder Scott.  Sadly, they all passed away in the last 6 months, but I'm grateful that they left us with inspiring talks on marriage and family at the last General Conference in April.  Their replacements are Ronald A. Rasband (who was the area authority over my mission in New York when I was a missionary 19 years ago), Gary E. Stevenson, and Dale G. Renlund.  All wonderful men that we're excited to learn more from.

 We love Hilario!  He comes over every week with the missionaries for weekly correlation and dinner.  So when the missionaries asked to come over to watch conference, he naturally wanted to come too...in his pink suit.  Colored suits, even pastels such as this, are totally normal here in Angola.  We've seen green, yellow, and even purple suits.  The men here love color as much as the women, and they're also very comfortable wearing floral prints on shirts or on pants.  They have an "open-minded" sense of style.

Before the missionaries left, we had to have a quick nerf gun war.  :) 

We're grateful that we have the opportunity to associate with the Elders every week in our home.  They love the Lord and desire to do His will, so we're grateful to feel of that love every week and have their examples in our lives and home!