Sept 18-24

We went to church in Osizweni because Elder Hind had some interviews to do. It was a very cold and rainy day. Osizweni does not have heat and I thought I was going to freeze to death. Sister Khumalo gave me a large towel to wrap around myself. It helped a lot.

A cold a rainy Sunday

Osizweni Branch - that is the Baptismal Font in the middle
Cold and rainy day

Then we went to church in Madadeni. After church we went to see President Nkosi’s family. We met at the Nkosi home along with other members of the branch. We sang songs and read scriptures and talked about President Nkosi. Afterwards the family served us Rooibos and scones. That was nice because of the cold weather.

We decided to have one last Bingo night for Family Home Evening. We are really going to miss these good times with the YSAs and the missionaries.

Bingo night

Elder Trapnell

Elder Rasmussen found my camera

On Tuesday night we had our final interview with President Thompson. He gave us our release letter and also a beautiful South African cookbook. Then he took us to dinner at the Cannon Restaurant.

President Thompson and us at the Cannon Restaurant 

On Wednesday we finished packing for our trip and prepared dinner for President and Sister Mashego and President and Sister Nkosi. We had a good visit with them. We have grown to love them and we are really going to miss them.

With our friends the Nkosis and the Mashegos

We got up early Thursday morning and drove to Durban. It was hard to believe that before the day was over we would be with Cyd and Eric and their kids. We thought we would have time to visit with the office couples and maybe do a little shopping. But just outside Durban the freeway traffic came to a complete stop. We spent the next hour and a half stuck in a massive traffic jam. We think it was an accident on the freeway.

When we got to the office we had only a few minutes to say hi and good-bye before we had to leave to catch our plane. Elder Sorensen drove us to the airport and our check in went smoothly. Before long we were on our way to Johannesburg.

After we landed we had a couple of hours to wait for the plane from the US so we looked around a little and then found a comfortable spot to sit and wait. We could watch the “arrival board" and we got excited when we saw that the plane from Atlanta had landed.

Still, it took another 40 minutes before we saw Cyd and her family coming through the door. It was so good to see them. We couldn’t believe they were finally in South Africa. The kids don’t seem to have changed much. Lyndsee is more talkative and grown up but for the most part they are the same. Cyd and Eric haven’t changed at all. After the first hugs and hellos it was just like we had never been separated.

We got our rental van. It was brand new and huge. It will be great to travel in. We went straight to Journey’s Inn, our B&B. It was pretty nice. We tried to find a place to eat nearby but everything was closed. Family style restaurants often close early. So we found some things to eat at a gas station convenience store and took them back to our lodgings.

In the morning they served us a great English style breakfast and then we were on our way to our South African adventures.

The trip to Kruger went well and we arrived at the Mjejane Lodge where they had a good lunch waiting for us. The rooms are very nice. We had a little time to look around and relax before it was time for our first game drive.

Fearless explorers

Giraffe

Kudu - such a beautiful animal

Monkey

The next morning, we went to the main part of the park and did some more big game hunting. The highlight of the day was spotting a leopard in a tree. He was pretty far off but considering how difficult and rare it is to see a leopard we were happy. We have been on three other game drives but this is our first and only leopard.

There are actually two leopards in this tree. They have killed an animal and dragged it into the crotch of this tree.
There is one leopard by the kill and one further up stretched out on a branch.

After a couple of hours, we had a little restroom break and the lodge provided “breakfast” which was actually a ham and cheese sandwich and fruit. Zazu came by to see if we would share our food with him.

Zazu

 Then we were off to see more animals. Kruger is just like Yellowstone in the states. If you see a bunch of cars pulled over there is probably an animal to see.

Some not so scary wildlife

An Eagle Owl with her owlet.

When we got back to our lodge we had lunch and then the kids went swimming while the warthogs grazed nearby. Elder Hind and I just took naps on the lounge chairs. The weather was nice and the view was beautiful.

In the late afternoon we did another game drive.

Taylor

Rhino, Cape Buffalo and Giraffe all in one shot

At one point we stopped at a small man-made water hole. In the middle of it was a huge hippo. The big fellow took up most of the room in the water hole. The guide told us that he had come up out of the river one night and took up residence in this spot. They don’t know why he never went back to the river and his pod. Now he is just a lonely bachelor living all alone in his tiny flat.

The big gray lump on the left is our lonely hippo

Just before sunset we stopped by a lake. There was a pod of hippos enjoying the water. There were water birds flying around and a single elephant walking along a ridge on the other side of the lake. The setting sun was shining on the water. It was peaceful and beautiful. The guide set up a table with snacks and drinks. And we just enjoyed a few minutes of a lovely African evening.

It is time to kiss Kruger good-bye