Lesotho Weaver

Gautrain Experience

We had a new experience in Johannesburg riding the Gautrain.  We went to dinner with a group of men and women who came to Johannesburg from their various countries to be trained on the mormonnewsroom and facebook pages for their countries. We boarded the Gautrain for the 5 minute ride to Sandton to eat dinner at the Johannesburg Hard Rock Cafe.  The food was excellent and the company was even better.

Mosque Visit

Today we visited Nizamiye Masjid, a Turkish mosque in Midrand, Johannesburg.  Our tour guide, Ahnet Coban ,was very engaging and a teacher at the school.  We found several area of common ground such as education, humanitarian, and family.  The mosque is open to the public in hopes people will come to " build bridges between nations and destroy the barriers." Ahnet said, "If you don't know someone or something you slowly become and enemy of that person or thing, but when you come together and talk to each other it ties you together."  This is very much the work of Pubic Affairs to build bridges.  The ladies were asked to cover their heads while inside the mosque.
 On the wall are 99 circles and each one names an attribute of God such as; God is forgiving, God is merciful, God is good, etc.  We all enjoyed ourselves very much and felt a deep reverence during our visit.

Zambia Training

We went to Zambia to sit in on a training of a new National Public Affairs Director.  We met  some really nice people and had a wonderful visit with the Howdens.

Elephant Ride

We had a little time so we took an elephant safari ride.

Kingdom Hotel

We were very comfortable at the Kingdom Hotel in the town of Victoria Falls.

This is a poisonous snake found in front of our hotel.  They said you can be put in jail if you kill it.

Sunset Cruise

Our first night in Zimbabwe we took a Sunset Cruise on the Zambezi River the fourth largest river in Africa.

 We were greeted at the dock by native dancers

This elephant walked up to the dock right after we boarded the boat

Hippo in the Zambie River

Ed said it was the most relaxed he's been in 18 months. 

Goodbye Zambezi River in Zimbabwe Africa

Victoria Falls, Zambia

The first white person believed to view Victoria Falls is David Livingstone, a missionary, explorer in 1855.  He named the falls after the Queen of England.  Victoria Falls is approximately 1700m wide, and varies in height from 80-108 meters and is known as "smoke that thunders".    The falls border Zambia and Zimbabwe.  Both countries official language is English.  The Falls are one of the seven wonders of the world.

Streets of Congo

DRC

Olivier, Julie and family

Olivier and member of National Council

Crossing the Congo River from Republic of Congo to DRC

Dinner with are new friends from the Congo

Our new friends are flying to Johannesburg to be married in the Temple.