Sunday, June 12

Sunday was a super day.  Probably the highlight of the trip for me.  We got up early and packed and said our goodbyes, and then went to Church.  About 60 attended, but it was the flu season, and many did not come because of recent bad weather.  They say normally, they get about 80 or so.  It was a very nice building, much nicer than ours in Lincoln :), but also much smaller.  The chapel was about twice the size of our RS room.

When we showed up, a few people greeted us, and asked if we were the assigned speakers from the stake.  Apparently, they were expecting high council speakers or something.  However, no speakers from the stake arrived.  (The stake is very large...it is the Port Elizabeth Stake, and Uitenhage (where we attended Church) is about 30 minutes from Port Elizabeth.)  So the Branch President invited certain members to bear their testimonies.  It was awesome!  Many of them spoke about a sister who just passed away the previous week, Sylvia.  They spoke very highly of her.  It was super to hear their testimonies and how much they looked up to Sr. Sylvia.  I am most appreciative of the Spirit we felt in the meeting.  Seeing the young men pass the sacrament was a great reminder to me that the Church and priesthood of God are active and at work all over the world.  Wonderful meetings.  I didn't want to go.  In Sacrament meeting, we sat next to a woman who was just baptized 3 months ago.  Her kids still live in Zimbabwe where she is from.  She hopes to be able to afford to bring them to South Africa.

After Church, we changed clothes and went to a Cheetah sanctuary.  It was awesome.  They have 16 cheetahs there, some serval cats and some caracals.  Here are some pictures:

This one below is called "Olah" and she was enjoying the sun.  As we pet her, she purred and purred. She loved the attention.  Way cool.  Her fur is much coarser than you would think.  She even licked the back of my hand...very thick, coarse, rough tongue.  Very affectionate kittie.  She's been known to eat house cats that sneak in.

The baby lions were perhaps the highlight of the sanctuary.  They are 6 weeks old, and will stay there until they are 4-6 months old, weighing about 150 pounds.  Then, they go back to a wild animal park, where they are introduced into the "wild."  The baby cheetah was cool also, but we weren't able to pet him.

After the sanctuary, we drove to the elephant camp.  We are staying in a home built originally in 1820.  They restored it a few years ago, and built 11 tents around.  It is beautiful.  We are the only guests here at the moment, so we are spoiled.  It is really fun.  We miss our family very much and cannot wait to be home.  We drove around last night and saw hartebeest, zebra, kudu, eland, warthog, ostriches, and tons of other little birds.  It was way cold!  Then we got to bed and slept very well!

We miss you and we love you!