(This is from my hand written journal...)
He came in on the 19th, and Devin was his official driver! On the morning of the 20th, Dev and I got up early and roe over to the hotel where Elder Holland, Pres and Sis Headlee (the mission president and his wife), and Elder and Sister Koelliker were staying. That was fun to meet them. What joyful, happy, positive, loving people! I felt so happy and comfortable around all of them! Elder Holland is a wonderful guy! (Can you call an apostle a 'guy'?) First thing he says to me: "So, this is the famous Sister Hendriksen! Blazing trails here in Yaounde!" Well, I don't know how many trails I'm blazing... Then, as we were waiting for a few other things to happen and people to arrive, he sat on one of the couches in the foyer and said, "Sister Hendriksen, sit down and tell me your life story!" Ha!
Well, we set off to the edication of Cameroon--which was the sole purpose of his coming here! We went up to the dedication site which was on top of Mont Febe--on a large outcropping that overlooked the city:
President and Sister Headlee and me and Devin on the rock:
Two branch presidents (Pres. Bala and Pres. Gwet) and their wives with Elder Holland in front of our car:
The Bakers:
It was beautiful! Absolutely perfect!! As we stood there and listened to Elder Holland's words and the dedicatory prayer, I was reminded of Daniel's vision--the rock cut from the mountain without hands--and also the fact that mountains are a type of the temple! When there were no temples, that's where Biblical (and Book of Mormon) prophets went to commune with God. And what an experience it was! We stood there, carving out the rock for Cameroon, and the feeling that permeated that little group of about 20 people was nothing less than a temple experience. The spirit was STRONGLY there. What a beautiful and unforgettable experience.
After the dedication, they dropped me off at home, and Elder Holland rolled down his window and said, "Sister Hendriksen, you're a Joy and a Delight!" What do you say to that? "If you only knew!" Ha! Made me feel happy, though.
I got the kids all settled with some food and snacks, fed Peter and put him down for a nap, then Devin came and picked me up to go to the Baker's for lunch with everyone. That was fun!! How cool to sit and eat lunch with an apostle, a mission president, and an area authority president! Neat! You seriously can't get much better than that! (And the chicken salad was seriously the best I've ever had!!! Wow!!!)
So, we ate lunch, then the Baker's ran me home to pick up Josh and Peter for the member meeting. (Claire and Andrew opted-happily-to stay home with Odelia, who generously watched the kids for us that whole day.)
We went to this super cool building (the CNPS building):
The two little boys and I sat there waiting for the meeting to start for about an hour and a half. Fortunately, they were both super good for that hour and a half. Unfortunately, by the time the meeting started, they were ready to go home! Ha! I had to stand up with Peter most of the time, and Josh was rather bored and ran in and out of the room a LOT (He went to the bathroom at LEAST 5 times within a 20 minute period. I think, though, that that may have been partly my fault as he asked me if he could go to the bathroom at any time that he needed to, and I told him that yes, of course he could...oh well.) I did get to hear more than I would have if I'd taken Claire and Andrew along, too...
Most of the speakers at the meeting just bore a short testimony. It was nice. Elder Holland gave a powerful one hour long talk--all about Daniel's vision with the rock, and how we are all part of that: A Living Rock (see 1 Peter 2). He also mentioned how it's nice to have an Apostle visit, but they're not always there physically, but the scriptures ARE, so we should study the scriptures always. He shared many scriptures about 'rocks' (foundations, rock of the church, living rock, etc.). It was wonderful! The best part: One of the missionaries translated his talk for him, and I've seriously never seen anything like that!! Wow! It was the most amazingly in-synch translating I've ever seen by a missionary! Absolutely fantastic!! :)
It was a wonderful meeting. And when it was over, everyone filed out and got to shake Elder Holland's hand. Josh thought that was cool. Then Devin took everyone back to the hotel, and came back to pick me and the boys and some other members up.
After the drop offs, Devin and I took a break at home. We made the kids some dinner, I fed Peter, we set them up in front of (yet another) movie, and basically refreshed ourselves a bit. Then it was off once more for dinner at Buena Vista!
We all had a nice sit down dinner with the same people who were at the dedication in the morning. There was chicken and fish and it was yummy. We discovered that Elder Holland doesn't like cucumbers. Ha! :) Devin and I got to chat quite a bit with President and Sister Headlee and we have really come to love and respect those two! They are SO happy and SO much fun! It was a nice dinner! Afterwards, we took the Headlees and Elder Holland back to their hotel via a visually stimulating route: We drove up to the top of the Palais des Congres to show them the night view of Yaounde. So pretty!
It was quite an enjoyable time for me--but very exhausting! I missed being with my kids all day! Devin had to do a little more driving about the next day--first to a missionary meeting, then off to the airport to leave--so it was a very short visit. But I know that he really enjoyed his time driving around an Apostle. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that you really hope is repeated some day! :)
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