Once a year, all the Senior Couples from our Mission, as well as President and Sister Omer get together for a couple of days to refresh ourselves from our everyday work, and share some of our successes and challenges with the other senior couples. This year, Elder and Sister Taylor from Botswana were in charge of the Conference. After checking out severals venue possibilities, they decided on the Lesedi Cultural Village near Pretoria. This village is designed around each of the five different tribes from South Africa. It was very unique.
We arrived arrived about 1:00 and had some time to unpack and relax before all the festivities began.
We were welcomed by some of their workers. They were dressed in clothing of their particular tribe.
This was the village we stayed in. I don't remember the names of each one.
Number 3 was on our room door. They were very brightly painted!
The inside was decorated in the same manner.
You don't need headboards, you just paint the wall in whatever decor you want!
Even the bathroom was painted in the same fashion.
Although it looked quaint and authentic, behind the painted doors was a television.
Pretty sure the tribes didn't have those back then!
Everything followed the same theme. Notice the painted baseboards and
the woven waste basket.
As soon as each of the other couples had arrived, and checked into their rooms, they took us on a tour of the village. We were to see villages of each of the five tribes.
At each village, the guide told us a little about their homes and their way of life.
Each village had different kinds of homes.
These are called "Rondevals". They are really talented the way
they weave their thatched roofs in a decorative way.
They told us about their weapons and what their lifestyle was like.
They even paint their entryways to be decorative!
The huge elephant tusks at the entrance of this village gave a scary appearance.
They demonstrated some of their weapons.
This little one was too tired to care much about the informative tour!
After the tour, we were treated to a program of dancing and drum playing.
This was a group of dancing gold miners , I think they actually called it
"The Gum Boot Dance".
They were very good, especially trying to dance with those tall rubber boots on!
These women wore beaded costumes. They did a lot of kicks in their dances.
One kicked so high, she nearly fell down. They were really full of energy!
This was sort of a bum bump dance.
All the dancers danced to drum beat and not to music.
After the dancers had finished, they did a drum demonstration.
They also passed out drums and let us learn as well.
They started out slow for some of us slow learners. They then increased the speed.
Surprisingly enough, most of us were able to almost keep up with the drummer!
After the demonstration, we had a dinner break. They served a traditional
African buffet. Some of the meats were beef, lamb, chicken, and ostritch.
There were several kinds of vegetables, and salads. One thing I've noticed about African food,
is that is always looks better than it tastes. Though I only took small portions, I struggled
to get more than a couple of bites of each thing.
After dinner, we gathered in one of the conference rooms. Half of the couples took five minutes each to share what particular things they do as they are serving their mission. It was fun to hear about their experiences. We discovered that all of us had experienced some challenges, as well as some rewarding moments. We finished off the evening with several kinds of games. Laughter is always a good cure for whatever ails you.
The next morning after breakfast, was a free day. They had several different activities that you could choose to do. Many of us chose to do the Tram ride. On the way to the area, there was a large back up of cars. After doing some checking, we discovered that a bus was stuck coming thru the gate. After much twisting and backing, it was finally able to make it through. Consequently, finally, so were we!
Even though it was kind of a hazy day, the view from up there was beautiful!
We got a bird's eye view!
All too soon, we were back on the ground!
After we had arrived safely at our take off spot, we headed for Chameleon Village for an afternoon of shopping at the African Markets. There were many vendors trying to pedal their wares. Each one saw our badges and called us by name saying, "Elder Baxter, come see my shop. Please buy something from me for good luck to start my day!" Even after telling then "No", they would follow us down the walkway telling us they would make us a "good deal". We have learned that you never pay what they ask, and you never buy it on the spot. If you want it, you walk away telling them you'll think about it. They always come to find you with a lower price. We actually did find some good deals on some African treasures.
We stopped for a picture before leaving these fun shops.
From there, we went to the Chameleon reptile zoo. Elder Baxter was fascinated by the snakes, as they aren't his favorite things, but we did see some interesting ones.
You have to admit, even if you don't like snakes, this yellow and black one is definitely striking. With it being Wasatch High's colors, I would have thought this one would have been Elder Baxter's favorite!
This one was all snuggled up having his afternoon nap.
This little monkey was sitting on the shoulder of the girl who was taking the entrance fee.
He immediately hopped down and began to take the money that she had just put into the cash drawer!
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This was an interesting fellow, except he looked a little grumpy to me!
I bet he has to be careful of that tail getting caught in automatic doors! Maybe it has,
and that's the reason for the grumpy face! :)
Check out this little monkey's white pony tails!
When we walked outside the zoo to see some of the other reptiles, I was puzzled by the bunnies.
Uuum, I knew that bunnies weren't reptiles! We found out they aren't,
they're food for some of the reptiles - the snakes' main course!
After a full day of activity, we all met at the Swiss African Restaurant for dinner. We ate out on one of the patios. It was all set up and ready. The only thing they forgot was to have enough waiters to accommodate 32 people. It took forever to be served. They had forgotten Elder Hunt's order. We were all finished when they finally brought his dinner. One of the kind couples who knew that we were waiting to talk to Sharielle who was planning to open her mission call, brought their laptop for us to try to call on gmail. We actually weren't able to make connections with her until the next morning!
The conference room that we met in had murals on two of the walls. They were beautiful, depicting some of their African History.
Whoever the artist was, did an excellent job! The paintings were very life-like! This picture below depicts the fighting between the black Tribesmen and the white European Voortrekkers, who used oxen and covered wagons to travel inland from the Atlantic coast of Africa in the 1830's.
After trying our hand one last time with the drums, we gathered up our things,
went to our huts to pack, and said our last good-byes. The highlight of the morning was
that we were able to make connections with Sharielle, to find out that she is going to the
Florida, Tallahassee Mission, leaving July 24, 2013. We are very excited to get the Missionary
roll going among our grandchildren! With bags and treasures securely tucked away in the "boot", we headed back to reality and the challenges and blessings of Missionary life, for which we are very thankful!
