Flora and Culture

Each Sunday we meet interesting new people in the branches and wards we visit. This African sister was our chorister at a Sacrament Meeting we attended in midDecember. She is dressed in traditional style and fabric of the Tswana tribe.

Today we attended the Munsieville Branch in Roodepoort Stake and met the Branch President and his wife. President Miller's sister is Sarah in our home ward of Dalton Gardens. It was a delight visiting with this young couple.

On December 26 many of the Senior Missionaries drove an hour south into rolling hills to the Ledesi Cultural Center. Set among trees and native grasses and wildflowers, this site recreates five villages in which our guide walked us through time and shared history and traditions of the Pedi, Zulu, Basotho, Xhosa and Ndebele people of South Africa. A show of traditional dances and music preceded an abundant buffet lunch which included a variety of steaming African meats. Both of us tried crocodile (very tender, mild tasting and chicken-like) and springbok (which tastes like venison). Note the small African bird building in the center of its hanging nest.

Johannesburg is a city of rolling hills covered with trees. Ron is standing at the top of the Johannesburg Temple property overlooking the city to the north. Directly down the hill behind him is the Area Office complex in a wooded area which contains beautiful hillside flower gardens amidst tree-shaded paths and a koi pond. The rubber tree I'm standing next to is located in these gardens and is almost six feet tall. Notice the Honeywell lanyard I'm wearing for my access control card. I don't know how it made its way to Africa, but it reminds me daily of my eldest son.