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.