Wellness Week in the Area Office

Twice a year the Area Office Employees and Senior Missionaries participate in wellness week.  Our orange team dressed up and hiked the steep hill as many times as the could from top to bottom to earn points for our team.  Elder Gatten and Chuck had a good time getting some exercise and getting away from their desks.  It's always fun to see the DTA and the Director of Public Affairs out along with the other employees and the missionaries.  Thank goodness it's not always serious business.

The Johannesburg Zoo

The Johannesburg Zoo is only a 15 minute walk from our flat.  Sorry about the closed eyes, but there was a perfect vantage point to see the spires of the Temple on the hill above.  We work on the same grounds as the Temple so you can see how close we live to where we go everyday.

The zoo is large and has many animals.  We got a good walk this day.  Chuck was impressed with the large, green open areas and the homes of many of the animals.  They did a good job creating an African setting.

Surprisingly the only caution sign about the animals was for the swans.  Many of the animal enclosures were open enough to touch some of the wild life.  But it was only the swans who got the sign for patrons to beware of their aggressiveness.

Flats and Friends

Not all senior missionary flats are created equal.  The Lombardis live in a different complex than the rest of the couples.  Their flat came with a deck almost the size of our whole apartment and a pool.  It's nice that they will share their nice deck with our dinner group.

There is not longer a drought in Johannesburg.  We have seen some of the heaviest rain that we've ever seen in our lives  The thunder was very loud and very close.  It even set off the car alarms below.  This is the view from our office window.  I'm in the background working while Chuck documents the deluge.  We are so glad to finally see some good rain.

Our good Portuguese friends, the Mirandas moved from Luanda, Angola, to Johannesburg.  We were so glad to have a baccalhau com natas lunch with them in their beautiful home out in the Fourways area.  Since he is a Coke executive, we had all the Coke we could drink.  Then they took us for a walk around their gorgeous complex complete with streams, willow trees and monitor lizards.  The homes were big and nice, and we felt a little like we were back home in Los Gatos and Campbell.

Service With a Smile

Sister Lombardi had a really nice idea for Valentines Day.  On the top of our building are small, one room flats where the maids and service people, and their families, live.  We fixed lunch one bright sunny day and invited them to join us on their floor as our way of saying thank you for all they do around our complex at Dukes Court.  We had more than enough food and those that came went away very full with plates of leftovers to share with their friends and families.

Chuck gladly accepted the service of these young girls when we found out that they had opened up a Krispy Kreme just a few miles from our home.  Add this to the list of amazing foods here that can really add the pounds if you're not careful.

This is the Irene Market. Halfway to Pretoria, you can wander down the outdoor, tree lined aisles of homemade crafts and antiques.  It is one the best markets we have seen in such a beautiful location.  They also have amazing food booths (food again).  Most of the merchants are speaking Afrikaans.

Chruch Meetings and Friends

Stake President Haboko is from Kinshasa, DRC.  He is watching a video that Elder Hamilton had on his phone about a slightly famous young man in his stake.  Cedric wanted to go on a mission but he hadn't earned enough money.  So he delayed the start of his mission for 3 years while he sold bananas at great distances on a bicycle to earn the money.  Cedric is still on his mission serving as a faithful, strong Elder because he made the sacrifice to go.

The saints in Soweto are strong and faithful and bear powerful testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They feel so blessed to have found the truth.

President Reid from the Edenvale Ward took the 2016 Area Plan and had his whole ward membership meet to make a plan for themselves and their families about how they could implement it into their lives.  It was a very impressive meeting!

You can imagine our surprise when we ran into Raynerson in the patron housing cafeteria.  He was one of the YSA's in Porto, Portugal.  He has moved to Mozambique and is working there. On this weekend he brought his sweet Mozambican girlfriend to the Temple.  Also visiting at the same time was Beatrice, one of the faithful members from Angola.  She was in town for Public Affairs training.  We had a wonderful visit and dinner with our dear friends from abroad and all in Portuguese!