Heritage Day

Tshabalala

Sweet Flora

Baboons, Branches & Beauty

So do I have a story for you!!!  Saturday Chris & I were in the Drakensburg Mts taking our Pday because it is near where we had our meetings.  We were in the bathroom getting ready for the day when I heard someone in our room.  I said to Chris "I think someone is in our room, can you hear that?"  He said it was probably just outside in the hall.  But we heard it again, loud and clear, rustling bags.  My heart was beating fast as I was certain the sound was not outside...Just then Chris shouts "BABOON!!"  as it was climbing back out the window!!  ha ha!!!  The Baboon had come in through our window, sauntered over to the counter where we had two apples, picked them up and monkey walked back over to the window and climbed out!!  Isn't that the awesomest thing ever!!!  I LOVE that it happened ha ha ha!!  I've been laughing ever since!!  Only wish I'd had the camera in hand!

We saw the sign but....

Today we had an assignment to speak in a branch and also hold a branch council after church.  The Branch President has a young son who is doing poorly in the hospital with leukemia & so he wasn't there today.  Sadly communication failed and his councilors were absent as well.  We all sat in the chapel singing along with the prelude music being played on CD's waiting and wondering where the presidency was.  Finally young Elder Brown called a councilor and was instructed to go ahead and conduct the meeting.  He did a wonderful job!  Elder Brown also confirmed five people who were baptized this past week.

Elder Jensen and Elder Brown

Just before sacrament meeting began Elder Brown mentioned to us that last Sunday it was announced that we (Elder King & I) would be doing a combined RS / Priesthood meeting during the last hour.  We hadn't heard anything about that but we told him that was fine and we would do it.  So it was quite a Sunday!

It continually amazes me how the Lord places us where we need to be, to do what needs to be done.  We were needed today and I'm so thankful to be of service to those wonderful members.  They were so warm and loving and we got lots of hugs afterward.   The Lord really does love and care and watch over us.  He Helps us.  We love to help Him.  It's all just beautiful really isn't it!

I have received a deep testimony of Gods tremendous love for us and also the principle of agency.  He has given us so many road signs to help us get home but we don't have to follow them - we can choose.  I have found that following the road signs (commandments) leads us to roads and vistas of grandeur and awe!

In addition to the blessing of service, I saw much beauty this week.  I saw a tree that had purple and white flowers on it...all on the same tree.  Also a pink and white flowered tree!  Amazing!  There were guinea fowl running around the grounds and Chris helped me gather a bunch of their polka dot feathers.  They have black feathers with white polka dots!  I saw a beautiful peacock roosting above our heads as we were walking to our room.  It's long tail feathers hung down with all the eyes looking up into the night sky.  I heard the giants snoring in the woods again  (frogs) and got a recording of it!

I'm thankful for all the Lord's tender mercies and love so clearly manifested in our lives.

Bloemfontein

We were invited to give a presentation at the Bloemfontein Coordinating Council presided by Elder Giddey.  We enjoyed also a presentation by a couple Elders, Elder Turner spent a whole year in Lesotho finding and mapping all the members.  The problem in Lesotho is that nobody has an address!  Working with members he was able to assign GPS coordinates to all the members and plot it on a map so that the branches could see where people lived and assign home teachers, and get people in the correct ward.  This has been a huge blessing for the area & I think a bit fun for the Elders too :)  After the CC we drove to Thaba Nchu Ward to meet with their clerk.

Cutie-pie in the Bloemfontein Ward

Kimberly Diamond Mine

On Pday, before driving home, we went to Kimberly where Elder Tyler Klingler (our nephew) is serving!  It was so cool to see him.  He looks great and is a district leader so we took the four of them out to breakfast.

After breakfast we all went to the Kimberly Diamond Mine that they call "The Big Hole".

Long ago a little boy found a pretty shiny rock while playing outside.  It was his favorite thing and he played games with it for a long time until one day a man was visiting them.  The man saw the stone and asked the boys mom if he could buy it.  She told him it was nothing and to just take it. (poor little boy).  What the boy had actually discovered was a 21.25 carat diamond! It is known as the Eureka Diamond and is on display here in a vault.  I can't imagine what it was worth but the boy and his family received nothing for it.

"The Big Hole"

This diamond mine hole began because of the pretty rock the little boy found.  It is over 700 feet deep, over 42 acres in size.  It yielded over 6,000 lbs of diamonds from 22.5 million tons of excavated earth!  The mining ended in 1914 and now it is a fun attraction for tourists.  It is amazing to think that it was all hand dug with shovels!  Once they hit water, shafts were put in below the water level so the mining could continue.

They have also recreated the old mining town.  You can wander down the streets of a bygone day and enjoy a little piece of the past.

Happy 60th Birthday!!

Andrea wishing her Dad a Happy Birthday from Brazil!
She is standing at the 7th of September
street sign (Chris's Birthday!!)

Today I have an old person living in our flat!  My sweetheart has turned 60!  Our six awesome children each sent him 10 plus things they love about him.  It was wonderful to read the fun memories they shared.  I'm very blessed to be sealed for eternity to this wonderful man and to have such a great loving forever family !!!  :)

Cape Town

Meetings, Miracles and Marvels in Cape Town

Meetings

We had a great opportunity this weekend as we went to beautiful Cape Town and met with many awesome people.  We had a meeting with President Merrill, Cape Town Mission President and his financial secretary, Elder Peterson.  We met with our Assistant Area Auditor, Rodney Siems and he and his wife treated us to a lovely dinner at the Cape Town Fish Market.  We spoke briefly at the Coordinating Council and we attended a fireside put on by Elder Cook for the Bellville Stake. All this left us feeling inspired and enriched and we hope we were able to provide valuable information and be of good service to these good brethren.

Miracles

1. On Sunday we set off to find the Khayelitsha Ward, (where we had been asked to do an audit) but we mixed up the times and ended up in the Mandalay Ward.  Funny thing is, I think we were meant to be there! Here's how Chris put it in his letter to Drea:  

"We got to church this morning 15 minutes early like we planned only to find out we were actually 15 minutes late.  But we were in time for sacrament in the hall.  As we entered the meeting, the bishop sent a deacon from the pulpit to ask us who we were.  Before the meeting ended, mom and I  had spoken for twenty minutes."  

Ha ha!  Either the others didn't speak long enough or someone was missing but either way I'm glad we were able to be at the right place at the right time to help out.  So 

2.  A brother from our ward in Joburg is serving his mission here in Cape Town and just happened to be in Khaylitshi Ward!!  Elder Nature Malatjis was in our temple class in Joburg and we took him to the temple.  Twas fun to see him and he was really surprised!   Just last week we visited his mother while in Tzaneen!  I was glad we still had some homemade chocolate chip cookies left that we had brought with us and I was able to give them to Nature.

So between going to both wards and doing an audit, we were in church for 7 hours!!

Marvels

We wasted no time!  We crammed in as much as we could see between meetings and on our Pday (day off)!  We were grateful to see this beautiful area of South Africa.

Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope is where the warm Indian Ocean from the east
meets the cold Atlantic Ocean from the west.

We saw many wild ostriches and deer like animals. 

Penguins

There seems to be 1,000's of penguins.  We got there after the penguin beach was closed but the neighboring beach had some penguin visitors who looked like they were all headed home after a fun day in the water.

Don't see signs like this everyday!

Botanical Gardens

Table Mountain gondola ride

Up at the top of Table Mountain we could again see where
the two oceans meet...the Indian and Atlantic.  

 Waterfront and Robbin Island

Nelson Mandela's cell where he was prisoner
for 18 years.

 A bus takes you around the island and stops at the prison.  There were sooooo many gorgeous abalone shells all over the beach!  I wanted to stop the bus!  We also saw tortoises and many birds.

Chris by a tall century plant

The ferry that we were supposed to travel on was broken
so they took us over on the Dias, which they say is the
ship that prisoners were transported in.

The guide told us that some time ago Hilary Clinton and some other "important people" were coming for a tour of the island.  They wanted their own fancy bus instead of the regular one so they hired a helicopter to lift their special bus over to the island.  On the way over the cable broke and the bus fell into the water where it still lies today.

Two Oceans Aquarium

Misc