We just finished one of the most eventful & uplifting weeks of our mission! In our assignment as Assistant Directors of Public Affairs for the Africa Southeast Area, we work with 5 other incredible couples who cover various countries:
Our Area PA Family
Sean Donnelly, Elder & Sister Nance (Madagascar), Elder & Sister Hansen (Uganda), Elder & Sister Jensen (Kenya), Elder & Sister Cinquini (Durban),
Elder & Sister Humphreys (Zambia), Berg's
Area Presidency - Middle Back Row: Elder Stanley Ellis, Elder Carl Cook,
Elder Kevin Hamilton
Our week was full of spiritual highs, informative presentations, delicious food & lifelong friendships. We felt incredibly blessed to be surrounded by all of these spiritual giants every day! From the daily spiritual thought each morning, to the testimony meeting which closed our Conference, Bob & I came away from this week with an even greater gratitude for being called to serve in South Africa. We feel such a kinship to these wonderful couples, as well as our Area leaders & office personnel. Whether they are volunteer missionaries or paid employees, they all have one goal in mind each & every day: To serve our Heavenly Father the best way they can, & to "Come Unto Christ". What a blessing!
Our "classroom" of instruction for the week
Area Presidency & Sean Donnelly (our amazing leaders!)
We went to dinner at Moyo, which is a restaurant on Zoo Lake (in JoBurg), specializing in a buffet of authentic African cuisine, from springbok to lamb, calamari to hake, curries, fruits, puddings, etc. I took them up on the offer to have my face painted with an African design. Cute, huh?!?
We were entertained with some great African music, as we dined in our beautiful thatched-roof cabana under candlelight :)
The climax to our Conference was going on our first Big 5 Game Drive in Pilanesberg Game Reserve, just outside the perimeter of Kruger National Park. Bob & I have been waiting to experience one of these, & were anxious to see all of the majestic animals of Africa in their natural habitat. We rose bright & early to head out in 3 vans at 6:00 am. We arrived at the reserve about 9:00 am, which is usually a bit late to see most of the animals moving around. Well, as you will see by the pictures below, we saw LOTS of animals & had a thrilling experience! Unfortunately, the vans split up at one point & we missed a herd of over 20 elephants crossing the road in front of the other van...but, WE saw the giraffes on our route, so we still felt happy.
So, enjoy our South African experience via these incredible pictures!!!
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| Springbok |
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| Warthog on the run! |
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| Thorn Tree (typical to Africa) |
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| Beautiful zebra (we saw hundreds!) |
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| Impala |
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| Baby giraffe |
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| Giraffe, Wildebeest & Zebra along the shores of the huge lake in the middle of the reserve |
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| This rhino was just a few yards from our car...AWESOME!!! |
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| Guess he got tired, & lumbered down under the tree, haha! |
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| One of the many varieties of birds we saw along the way |
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| Family of hippos, basking on the peninsula next to the water |
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| Either a springbok or impala - hard to tell the difference |
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| Looks like a scene from "Out of Africa", right? |
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| Wildebeest...love the beard, don't you? |
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| We captured a picture of this lioness, checking out a herd of wildebeest across the lake. Apparently, this is rare to see lions, so we felt very lucky! |
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| We've been told that giraffe can wrap their tongue around all of the thorns to eat the tender leaves of the thorn trees...amazing! |
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| Femal Kudu |
Our 3 groups met back up at lunchtime for a delicious meal prepared by the "braii chef", Sean! Yummy eggs, mushrooms & bacon, grilled on a wok-type grill. Sean is famous for his "bush-cuisine". It was so good! This was held in a cool thatch-roofed "gazebo" on the top of a hill overlooking the lake. Spectacular! Zebra, wildebeest, etc. just over the fenceline from where we were eating, haha!
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| Sister Hamilton, Sister Berg, Sister Shupe helping with lunch prep |
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| Chef's extraordinaire - Elder Hansen & Sean |
I'd like to close with a message from our Area Seventy (who oversees Public Affairs), Elder Mkhabela. He challenged us to "watch over, care & love" the areas that we oversee, & to "leave the area stronger than how you found it." What inspired counsel from this devoted priesthood leader. In short, our job as public affairs missionaries is to build self-reliance in the southeast African nations, both with the members as well as the local leaders. Elder Berg & I have set this as our mission goal, as we follow the example of the Savior in making a difference every step along our African path.
Love to all of you...thank you for your words of love & encouragement & for your continued prayers.
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