18 August 2009 – Tuesday

We had to get up early to be on the game drive at 6:00. The morning turned out to be nippy and I kept adding layers of clothing as we went along. On the morning drives they stop for a snack of hot chocolate – which was greatly appreciated – and a hard biscuit called rusk which turned out to be really tasty. Although they certainly contained corn and raisins, I am not sure what else was in them.

Back at camp we had a very nice breakfast with the best sausage I have eaten since I was in South Africa, scrambled eggs, cooked tomatoes, toast, juice and a great strawberry jam. Of course we also had a good time talking to other couples about our mission experiences.

The first session of the conference included a number of reports from the couples – including us. Also there were talks by the Knudsens on love, the Bartholomews on Service, and the Klinglers on Faith. All the talks were great but it was sister Klingler’s talk on Faith that touched me most. She told of a young woman that after prayer turned down a job that would have required her to work on two Sundays a month. In a country with 35% un-employment, turning down a job is almost unheard of. Soon after that she had 7 job opportunities made available to her.

She also told of a very poor member who made a suit for Elder Klingler that was much to small in chest and much too long so there was no way he could wear it. But a young man in one of the branches was called on a mini-mission, needed a suit and of course could not afford one. He was much taller and thinner than Elder K and the suit fit him perfectly. The Ks asked the man who made the suit if it was OK with him if they gave the suit to the young man and he gladly said yes. Since then the young man has put in for a full time mission and will be taking the suit with him.

Elder Griesemer talked about what they were doing with doing in Employment. It sounded like they are doing a great job in preparing the stake and district employment offices to function if they are not replaced as employment specialists. They are a great couple. He is very funny and she seems to be very serious, but when you get to know them you soon find she is just as funny and sharp as he is but she is not as vocal about it. You can easily see how much they love each other. He has a very special story about his conversion and what it has meant to his family. It is on the lines of the conference talk called “Its True Isn’t It,” but since he does not readily share it with others, I will not tell it on the blog until I have his permission.

One funny thing just popped into my mind. Since there are two Wilson couples serving in the mission – the elders are brothers – one couple is known to the missionaries as the SwazilandWilsons and the other as the LadysmithWilsons. It is almost like it was part of their last names. Sister Wilson from Ladysmith confessed that she often finds that she refers to herself as Sister LadysmithWilson to those who are not missionaries.

We ended the morning session in time for us to eat some lunch and then head out to our evening game drive.  This was the best drive of the trip because we saw lots of elephants.

One of the trucks found a group of elephants and called to tell the others. We arrived just as they were disappearing into the deep bush and we were greatly disappointed as all we got to see were glimpses of about 5 or 6 of them through the bush and trees.

But our driver took us not to far to a rather large watering hole where there was a single bull elephant drinking. We got to sit and watch him for quite a while. As kind of comic relief monkeys would almost at regular intervals run across the edge of the pool and disappear into the bush. The elephant finally drank its fill and started to walk around the pool. A single impala came running across the edge of the pool, took one look at the elephant, did a very sharp 180 and hurried back the way it came.

We figured that we had our elephant experience for the day when out of the bush came a couple more very young elephants which started to play with each other. Soon after that the elephants just kept coming out of the bush in a long string. Big ones and little ones – the guide thought the youngest was about 4 months old. For the next hour we watched and followed elephants. At times we were pretty much surrounded by them as they strolled through the bush and down the road. I would bet that the two truck loads of missionaries took something like 1500 pictures and videos of those elephants. Unfortunately the third truck did not get the message about the elephants and so they missed out on the experience. On the way back to camp we saw a family of giraffes and our only sighting of zebras.

Back at the lodge we had a brief rest period before dinner. Dinner included warthog steak which turned out to be a little tough but pretty good tasting. We also had sweet chili chicken which was delicious. Tonight and last night while we were eating we were visited by a pair of Bush babies who have learned if they appear at dinner time, people will feed them bread so they can take their picture. The ones who came tonight became scared of something and quickly disappeared. But they later came back and I fed them while Mary took some pictures.

After dinner we gathered around the nightly campfire and had a wonderful testimony meeting. I found it amazing that such a diverse group of LDS would be gathered around a campfire in South Africa sharing their testimonies of the gospel and the work we are doing. Each knowing that they were called to serve here at this time by a prophet and each finding what they why they were called to serve where they are. We are very blessed to be a part of this group and to have the opportunity to know them and hear their testimonies. I do not think that you would find any of them who would say that they sacrificed to come on their missions. They all sing ‘Called to Serve’ with a true knowledge of what this means.