Good-bye dear Headlees... Hello to the Jamesons!

We said good-bye to President and Sister Headlee, our mission president and his wife. They left on June 29th to go home to the United States. They were amazing and accomplished much in the 2 years they were here. We had lots of fun with them. We love them and wish them the best... during their break before their next calling. Thanks to you, Headlees, for the sacrifices you have made for all of us and the saints of Africa. On Monday, July 11th, our new mission president and his wife - Brent and Lorraine Jameson - came to town for just one night to meet our missionaries and take us out to dinner. A few years ago, they served as a mission couple for 2 years, in our mission, and got to work under both President Livingstone (before President Headlee) & President Headlee. He was a college French professor for over 30 years. They will be wonderful! They know French, they know the ropes, they love Africa, and they love missionary work.

We discovered that we have much in common. They are from Mesa, Arizona and have 6 children (just like us). He graduated from BYU (Like me) and she graduated from the University of Utah (like Ed). She graduated from Highland High in Salt Lake (like me) 2 years before me and knew my sister Jimae.

We went out for a nice dinner with them, and took a big list of things we wanted to talk to them about. At 11:00pm we realized what time it was, and left the restaurant. (We are usually asleep by 9:30) They will return in September for a longer stay. We already love them and are excited to work with them for the rest of our mission.

Couples’ Conference in Kinshasa

We had a rare treat earlier this month. Our great mission president and his very special wife, President and Sister Headlee, decided they wanted to have a 4 day training session for the 6 couples in our mission. There is the mission president, the couple that run the mission office (The Hatches, 1 month in the mission) the humanitarian couple (The Moodys-going home next month), and 2 other couples besides us that work with the Elders in areas of the country of Cameroon. We have about 120 young Elders in the mission (ages 19-27) and about 25 girls (ages 21-27).
Only about 20 of these are from America & Canada. The rest are from Africa. Because of the safety issues and the challenges serving in this mission, the only 3 cities that the North Americans can serve in are Pointe Noire and 2 areas in Cameroon. Each of those areas are so far from the mission home, in the country of DRCongo, that a senior couple is required to act as representatives of the Mission President.

The 2 couples from Cameroon flew into Pointe Noire and spent Friday night, October 2nd with us. We flew from Pointe Noire northeast to the capital city of the Congo, Brazzaville. From there we were picked up by local church leaders and driven to the Congo side of the Congo River.
We were told it is the 2nd biggest river in the world. Our mission president greeted us. The mission home was lovely and we had a great time with these special couples. We were treated like royalty. Sister Headlee is a gourmet cook and we ate like we were on a cruise (but even fancier and better quality) and loved every minute of it.
We slept at the apartment of the humanitarian couple, the Moody’s, who have become our friends.

We had spiritual sessions and lots of informational sessions, to teach us what we should be doing. We got to go to a store one day that had more American products than we can get in Pointe Noire. I got a couple of strange thin hot pads, the one can of Hershey Cocoa powder they had, 6 packages of Jello, cupcake tins, and cake mixes. Everything cost 2 or 3 times as much as we can get it for at home. We were limited by time and space in our suitcases, but I was excited about our purchases. (We each had to take a case of water filters to Pointe Noire, as our extra suitcase.)

We stopped by a craft market and I bought a couple of fun wood carvings with the women with the babies strapped on their backs, like in real life here in Africa. There are no car seats or strollers or bouncers or anything else. The mothers simply wrap the babies up in a big piece of fabric and carry them all day on their backs. I am fascinated with it.


Ed got to go golfing. We knew there was a golf course and on shopping afternoon he asked if anyone wanted to go golfing with him. Noone said yes, and so Ed quietly went downstairs to the mission office and told Elder Moody, who was not up at the prior meeting, that if he wanted Ed to coordinate the well in Pointe Noire, Elder Moody would need to take the afternoon off work, and go golfing. Elder Moody said “It’s a tough job, but I can see it is essential” so the 2 of them went off by themselves and had a good time golfing on a below average course… but the greens were green grass, and not dirt… so they were happy.

It was a wonderful event and we returned home ready to throw our hearts and souls and bodies into the building of the kingdom. We missed our elders and we were glad to get home.

A Picture for Dad

This is a letter written from Kriss to her sister Pam: (Grandma and Grandpa Bodell went to Liberia, Africa on their mission as a couple over 20 years ago.)


Please try to print out this photo to give to Dad. This is one of his favorite guys from Liberia. Dad introduced him to his wife and taught him to love construction. He is a very productive with it and now is in charge of all the churches being built in this area of Africa (5 countries).

He was thrilled to meet us... especially because he had to escape during the war and lost all of his contacts and had no way to get ahold of Dad & Mom.

In about 1994 he came to America for a vacation and Dad took him to the ranch and to the National Parks. His name is Da Tarr.

He sends Mom and Dad all of his love. I showed him their blog and he was thrilled. I have his email if Dad ever starts doing emails, Da Tarr would love to hear from him.

Thanks. Love, K