2019 May 3-5 Sr. Missionary Conference

We held a senior missionary conference on Friday-Sunday morning. The mission couples serving KaNyamazane, Elder & Sister Groesbeck; Jouberton, Elder & Sister Fugal; and Sharpville, Elder & Sister Oliver slept at the mission home. They and our office missionaries, Elder & Sister Rees and Elder & Sister Truman and I met first at Porterhouse Restaurant for dinner. President Leavitt was gone on an appointment with missionaries. 

On Friday morning we met at the mission office, along with Dr. & Sister Stacey (who took Elder & Sister Todd's place as they had returned home because of Sister Todd's broken shoulder). 

We had a delay because four of our missionaries on their way to a temple session were carjacked at a robot in Alexandra. Our missionaries were physically unharmed. The police took two missionaries to retrieve their things and bikes from the car. It was seven blocks away crashed into a taxi--with bullet holes from the police and one dead carjacker in the back seat. Not a very good surprise for our missionaries. They were given gloves by the police before retrieving items from the car. We are not sure what happened to the other three carjackers. President Leavitt & Dr. Stacey stayed behind for a few hours to meet with the elders. They then went to Rustenburg to deliver a bed for a three-some until Elder M. Lee comes to the mission home on 22  May for his flight home on Thursday, 23 May 2019.

The rest of the group traveled to Chameleon Village for a rest break and to visit the shops there. We traveled to Sun City and had high tea at 3 pm at the palace. We walked over to see crocodiles be fed. We went on the Skytram to see Monkey Lane by the water park entrance. It was getting dark. We drove to Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge and ate dinner. President Leavitt and Dr. Stacey joined us at the crocodile place but President Leavitt stayed in the car to call each carjacked missionary and patch them in with their parents. But the missionaries were all out teaching. So he did it after dinner when they returned home and read missionary letters instead. We are thankful for the compliance of the missionaries and the protection from our Heavenly Father that none were hurt.

4 May 2019, Saturday

After breakfast, we went on a safari until about noon. At 12:30 we all gathered on the back lawn with our chairs in a circle. We first told our favorite part of the Safari drive. Mine was being stopped by a young bull elephant standing partially in the road eating the leaves and limbs off trees next to the road. All the cars on our side had their engines off. But a small car drove up next to a safari truck across from us on the other side of the elephant. They didn't turn off the engine. Our guide explained how we could tell the elephant was starting to be irritated by the car engine noise. He told us exactly what the elephant would do next. And the elephant did. He stopped eating and turned towards the car. He put his ears up. Then he started walking towards the offending car. The car and the tour truck quickly backed off down the road and the elephant stopped, walked back and resumed eating, but was even more out in the road. Our tour guide and other cars on our side backed up and turned around. We went on another back road to get to where he wanted to take us--the large bowl of the huge ancient volcano where water and more edible green plants are and animals like to go for food and water. We saw elephants, giraffes, alligators, huge hippos in the river (entertaining because one hippo was not happy with the other hippo invading his space), and rhinos crossing the road very close to us. 

After lunch, we went on our afternoon/evening safari drive. We saw more animals, including Impalas (especially entertaining was one male chasing a female all over while also trying to keep other males away), Blue Wildebeests, and rhinos. The guide and I saw a leopard bound across the road. We also stopped for quite some time trying to spot a female lion who was hunting Impalas. The main group ran off but as we drove back and forth, we saw single ones. We could hear her calling others to come hunt. It was dark as we started to return. Our guide stopped and got out and using a metal rod that was bent 90 degrees at the end, picked up a puff adder snake several times as he talked about them. They are very venomous. The skin and muscle under the bite decay. As we headed back, we drove parallel for a long ways with a young bull elephant trotting along behind random trees and rocks. Our guide thought that was unusual but fun to watch. We were an hour late for dinner at the bush camp--7:30 pm--but luckily there was still food for us.

5 May 2019, Sunday

We got up at 6 am, got ready and President Leavitt and I drove in the truck to Rustenburg to attend church at 9 am. It was fast meeting. We enjoyed all the testimonies--so many we didn't get a word in as the meeting went over time. We attended Sunday School. Others who attended Rustenburg and Phokeng drove back to the mission office to their cars and then home to their flats. We stayed for two baptisms, then followed the elders back to their flats and President did interviews and I did training with them for 2 1/2 hours.

We drove to Fourways Area and met our Johannesburg zone leaders, Elder Flynn and Elder Bowen, for a baptismal interview with President Leavitt not far from a squatters camp. We had some excitement while in the back yard that delayed us about an hour, but we all made it home after it had been dark for quite some time! I can say that I have never been bored in South Africa. (I might add some photos later--but can't now.)