SmithsAfricanAdventures

  Our Humanitarian Mission Couple have an office next to ours.  They have helped us a lot - leaning the copy machine, enlarging a poster for us, etc.  This is a project that Sister Martin is very proud of.  When the first visited the hospital to observe their needs - they definitely wanted to help if possible.  At the bottom of this report - read that sometimes the hospital had to choose which baby to use the equipment they had. The recipients of Humanitarian aid have to fill out an application and local sources are the best to fill the requirements - if possible.  The Church was able to provide 15 of the Vapotherm respiratory devices, and 10 of the Infusion pumps! What an awesome project - pretty small but very important!  No more having to choose which infant is helped - now all of them can be!!  

  Pretty Sunflower we found on our morning walk - we went down a different street this morning! Pretty pink rose also on our walk this morning. Huge plant/tree - we walk down these brick/stone sidewalks. My Favorite of all time LILLY! Lillies of the Nile - one of the senior sisters told me that was the name of these pretty blue flowers. A whole bunch of Lillies of the Nile! This plant has flowers that bloom dark purple, then change to light purple and finally to white!  Sister Sims told me that they are called  Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow flowers! Big aloe plant we saw on our walk.

  We still don't have our mission phone, so we attend another small Ward with Elder and Sister Perkins. The Church has these metal temporary modules - This is the right side - door open is the Bishops office. This is the front of the buildings - there are four in all making a plaza in the middle. The Church sign on the fence out in the front.  The elders ride bikes about 30 minutes to get to Church. The middle grassy area - Elder Smith checking out the rest of the buildings.  There is a Relief Society room, a Primary room, YW and YM - we really enjoyed our visit there.  We met the Stake President and he knew all about the Pathway Program - even has a Church Service missionary couple in his stake working with the students.  Wonderful meetings, RS sisters singing were amazing - I told them they should make records!! We ended our good Sunday watching Edgemont Fourth Ward's Primary Program.  Briella was near the front and we didn't think to take a picture - Kee...

  This was the 'show' entertainment at the dinner - very good - played "The Lion Sleeps tonight!" and lots of other African songs. The whole place was decorated with famous Zulu's chiefs and artifacts. The left side of the long table of senior missionaries enjoying dinner. The right side of the table. The 'boofae' - was how the waiter said it!  Delicious and extensive salad bar, then you choose the raw meat you wanted and they cooked it right then!  Dad had wildebeest, impala and springbok - I had pork roast!  It was a little strange to eat the same kind of animals we had seen earlier in the day.  The springbok was the most tasty, the impala and wildebeest a little tough!! Fun to learn some more about the original inhabitants of the area. Large statue to a Zulu Chief.  It was a fun place, a little hard to drive home in the dark, but Elder Humphries did it!  

  Elder and Sister Perkins, Elder and Sister Smith - we had lunch at the Thatch Café - delicious! There was a children's playground that we could view as we ate lunch.  In the middle of the picture is a bouncy thing - under the white umbrella - it was like a trampoline but on the ground. We didn't know what made it stay bouncy but the little children loved it! Motor cross course outside of the Thatch Restaurant - BMX riders on it!   Rhinos - Sister Perkins had just talked about it being a Lion and Rhino reserve but we only saw a few very far away - - then we turned a corner and found these! They were right next to the road - eating hay that I'm sure the staff put there - so amazing - we watched them for about 10 minutes - then they walked away. Zebras near the Rhinos - maybe waiting for their turn at the hay!  The ground is red dirt and so the animals all were that color - also our car from the dust!   This wildebeest was close to the road also - he wa...

Big Tortoise at the center - there were others larger but this one was close to us! We had ice cream at the small restaurant - nice Cape Buffalo head and Elder Smith! Small Cheetah and Sister Smith! Elder and Sister Smith and a large tiger - stuffed of course! The deck of the restaurant - built around these trees trunks - I like that! A watering hole with Zebra, Wildebeast, Springboks and Impala. Another watering hole with mostly Cape Buffalo, some Sable Antelope. Elands, and Ostrich and Emu - so interesting. Lioness and cub sitting on the rocks in the middle of the picture. Wild dogs - their hides are mottled with several different colors - and they don't bark, they squeak or squeel!!   Cheetah just chilling under the tree. Another one - we only saw two in their enclosure. White Lion in the Lion enclosure.    

Sorry these are so far away - they seemed closer when we were driving around! This herd of Waterbuck, had two new babies!  One was so new the mother still had the after-birth attached to her!  Another one was giving birth as we watched! These are Impala - beautiful animals. At the Wildlife center we saw more animals close up - more like a zoo setting.  This thatched hut was called Dam Lapa - not sure what it was used for - it was fenced off, but cool. Pygmy hippo - there were two of them in the enclosure. Alligators near the fence of their enclosure. White tigers, resting on the platform in the middle. National Bird of South Africa - Blue Crane.