Elephant Kiss

The interim seminar (every six months) for ten mission presidents and their wives to receive instruction and comraderie from the Area Presidency and their wives was a full four days. As Security Senior Missionaries we presented to them recently approved and updated documents regarding the safety of missionaries. We were also invited, along with two SLC security managers, to some of their activities; the most unique of which was an elephant experience at Plumari Big 5 game reserve.













After an hour long presentation about the anatomy of elephants, the reclaiming of them from destruction and safety instructions to us, we met two elephants up close with their handlers. We each "fed" an elephant three orange segments: one he took with his trunk from our open hand, one we placed in his open mouth onto his smooth tongue, and the third he gently lifted with his trunk from being held between our teeth! I ended up with wet smudges on my nose and chin.



Notice the trainer nearby and safety strap on the elephant's rear foot.














Saturday we met with two women in our Sunday School family history class at the Family History Center and input their African family names into new.familysearch for a couple of hours. It is a remarkable experience to sit next to them at a computer and see their excitement in grouping families together by their own keystrokes. Today this second class concluded our lessons together with a temple baptismal session set for the ancestors whose names they have identified.

Toothy Future

This week was especially notable for our son-in-law who graduated yesterday from dental school. To honor him and his four years of hard work we are sharing some of our favorite up-close-and-personal dental photos we have snapped in the past six months. We are not necessarily saying these are symbolic of future patients he may encounter, but they may be. We are very proud of your accomplishments, Nick!












Our week was full as we wrote security assessment reports for two mission homes and an office complex, attended a physical facilities committee meeting for area-wide security concerns and training, and prepared for this week's security assignment with ten visiting mission presidents from the Africa Southeast Area during their semiannual training with the Area Presidency.

We met three of our Family History class students yesterday at the FHC and spent three hours inputing their African ancestry into new.familysearch. What a joy it is spending time with them in front of a computer and in our Sunday School class.

Kingly, Creepy and Crawly

Ok, so this is the deal. With our current SLC Security Manager here for just a month he wants to see all he can on the three Saturdays he is here in South Africa. Last weekend it was mostly pouring rain so he was on his own in museums around the city. Yesterday we joined him touring a nearby Lion Park where massive lions, sleek cheetahs and sinister hyenas abound in gated acres near open grasslands holding grazing zebra, wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, springboks, kudu, gentle giraffe and lanky ostrich. When this lion passed by on our right he was on a bank and seemed as large as our car, very awesome.



Next we crossed the street to a Crocodile Farm. Here I held a 6 week old Nile crocodile (notice the handler very close at hand) and observed what it will look like in 40-60 years. We learned that an adult with its mouth open is cooling itself down. Ron held a harmless Milk snake and Chilean Rose tarantula. It was not my favorite outing but admittedly very interesting.

Botswana Book Tour

When Ron and I arrived in Johannesburg we were pleasantly surprised to find a library at the Area Office containing a wide variety of history books, particularly about our current continent. As a break from deeper historical reading, we have completed nine of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series which are set in Botswana.

With all offices closed this past Tuesday for a public holiday, Ron and I were invited by another senior missionary couple to drive five hours west to view some of the landscape and sites mentioned in the series. This was a delightful tour in Gaborone and the village of Mochudi. Along the road we passed a family of small monkeys frolicing together. Our first afternoon we visited Zebra Way, Kgale hill, President Hotel and Riverwalk mall. Botswana is a pastoral country with cattle and goats grazing undisturbed at the border crossing, on main streets of the capital city and along roadsides.



The next morning we drove northward to Mochudi through a countryside of green grassland with trees. We found the hillside road closed which would take us to Phutadikobo Museum so inquired of the woman and her daughter walking toward us of an alternate route. The daughter directed us about six blocks back where we parked near the Kgotla or traditional court of Tswana tradition with Kgosi or Chief at its head. We walked a dirt path past some dwellings to a hillside where we climbed up stone steps cut in rock to the museum at the top. About halfway up the hill a baboon jumped from an adjacent tree to boulders alongside us and was gone.



In a former school dedicated in 1923, the museum contains remarkable historical displays, traditional life utensils and tools, and tribal relics from the 1800s. Our tour guide was a graceful, articulate 29 year old woman who shared some of the history of the Bakgatla-gaga-Kgafela people who migrated in the late 1800s to Botswana from South Africa. Returning to our car a woman tossing water from a basin into her dirt back yard smiled and waved at us as chickens scratched in the scruffy grass. It was a wonderful interlude among trusting and helpful people.












At a craft market of exquisite baskets we found this display of materials used by the artisans.



Autumn is upon us as nights get colder and days consist of sweater weather. This week found us again teaching missionaries at the Johannesburg Mission Training Center following a security assessment of the mission home.

Today in our Sunday School Family History class Ron completed registering three of our five class members into new.familysearch.org on a laptop with a 3Gcard as I worked with them on individual questions. These five women are in our age range with little or no experience on the computer. They are excited to be inputting the names of their parents and grandparents for temple ordinances to be completed for them.

Up-close to Nature

With our SLC manager leaving in a couple of days and being replaced by another who arrived this week, we accompanied both of them on Saturday, April 17, to Pilanesberg Game Reserve which is a two hour drive northwest.

Exciting to see were a leopard on rocks above the roadway, six solitary White Rhinos in grasslands, nine hippos in three separate groups mostly submerged in bodies of water, giraffe, warthogs, various African birds, and herds of hartebeest, impala, kudu, reedbuck, waterbuck, blue wildebeest and zebra.






This is a Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill eating a grape.















Our most amazing encounter was with two adult and one baby elephants within 12 feet of our car grazing on trees next to the roadway. When the one female began flaring her ears back and forth we knew it was time to drive on! She immediately crossed the road behind us.










Today during Sacrament Meeting Ron and I found ourselves invited by the bishop to be impromtu speakers in place of an unarrived scheduled speaker. We began our second Family History class during Sunday School with participants representing South African ancestral tribes. Our main focus is collecting data through family interviews and oral traditions, registering class members in new.familysearch.org and inputing their family information for temple ordinances to be completed. It is awe-inspiring feeling their excitement for this important work in behalf of their deceased ancestors.

Training in Harare

Harare, Zimbabwe, was the destination for our first Security training, April 10-14, with mission and stake presidents and missionaries in the field. The past three months we have been developing, under the direction of our SLC manager and Area presidency, standards for missionary housing, mission homes and offices, and meetinghouses in the Africa Southeast Area.

We felt honored to meet with the mission president and two stake presidents currently serving in Harare area, attend Sunday church meetings and receive direction and insight from them. We met with officials at the US Embassy for an update of the political environment and recommendations specific to our missionaries. In addition to surveying security measures in the mission home and office and two meetinghouses, we taught security presentations to two groups of missionaries in their district conferences; 36 remarkable young men and women from countries throughout Africa and North America.

Traveling to an appointment we were approached by this family on the move carrying their two children and entire life belongings. Notice the man's left hand positioned on his right arm, a universal sign of respect used by people throughout the continent; a quiet reference that touches our hearts each time we see it.














Arriving at another appointment we learned that this stake building has installed two bore holes (wells) with faucets and hoses attached that reach through the perimeter fence to fill water containers for nonmember neighbors whose homes are without water. This is a daily activity for many in the area.














During our short stay in the downtown area we were across the street from a stately city park. Beautiful bouquets and sprays of flowers were available each day from vendors who provide a lively trade.

Swazi Interview

As the first weekend in April approached, we traveled 4 1/2 hours east to the kingdom of Swaziland with a Senior Missionary couple serving temple patrons in the Area Office Family History Center. Leaving Thursday afternoon we arrived at the border crossing with a migration of people similarly headed to the beautiful countryside for the upcoming four day Easter weekend. Maneuvering the last 2 kilometers took us another 4 hours! Our return back across the border two days later headed toward Johannesburg took only 15 minutes.

On Friday we had lunch and visited for a couple of hours with two elders at KFC. This interview was a main purpose of our trip as the elder had been the victim of a kidnapping in January. These elders are representative of the fine young men and women who we have the privilege of associating with in our mission.

Notice the free range peacocks in the background at the right.

Swaziland is a pastoral setting amidst gorgeous mountain ranges.
Much of the farmland is on the curves of hillsides by manual labor such as this farmer plowing his field. Children were seen everywhere herding small groups of goats and cows, visiting at roadside stands of fruits and vegetables and playing outdoors with their friends.

Many craftspeople sell their wares in roadside stands such as the one labeled NOAH (a favorite name to us).

We admired carvings from stone and wood, remarkable items made from batik fabrics and handcrafted candles, among many others. The most fascinating to us was watching four men create a large glass-blown vase in their native arts factory.

We arrived back to our flat on Saturday evening to view on our computer the first session of the General Conference broadcast, 6-8 p.m. our time, followed by the next session at 10 p.m.-midnight; Sunday sessions also arrived at these times. On Sunday we attended our regular morning branch meetings. General Conference sessions will be replayed in their entirety from DVD disks in each of the meetinghouse locations throughout the Africa Southeast Area on April 24 and 25 during regular broadcast daytime hours.