What is there to do in South Africa?

 

We now have a change of scenery in the large contintent of Africa. Like wildebeest we have migrated to were the green grass grows.

 We are now in South Africa where it is the wet season. Grass is green and everything is full of life, dust is down and there are many experiences ahead.



 

To begin, in South Africa weve been getting familiar with our new territory. South Africa is a multi-cultural country. There are 11 official languages in South Africa. Two being from European origin: English and Africaans. Africaans comes from the Dutch language and settlements in the 1650's throughout South Africa.

 

We heard of a camp an hour outside of Johannesburg where there is a chance to come across a multitude of Lions. The place is called Ukutula, meaning "place of quiet." Ukutula is a camp that specializes in breeding rare white lions. Once we arrived we were able to go on a walk through the woods accompanied by two young lions. The walk consisted of small tricks, playful stocking and tackling the other lion, and a powerful thunder storm. After the walk we were able to be with the baby lions. We were able to hold and play with these darling creatures. It is also interesting to know that Ukutula is owned by a brother. There is a good story on how he came to be breeding white lions.



 

We have been able to drive some of the South African country side. We found the scenery very beautiful and green. At times it has reminded us of Oregon. In the east of the country there are acres and acres of pine tree plantations. There are many mountain peaks to view these from. Waterfalls are also dotted in the landscape, which makes for great site seeing.

 

We journeyed  to the coast line of South Africa to see what this other ocean (the Indian Ocean) is all about. The water is very blue, with much wildlife swimming in it. We have seen penguins, lots of fish including whales. There is a special spot along the South African coast where the dolphins and whales like to come right up to the rocks and breach. We saw countless whales, including babies, breaching just feet away from us.  It was absolutley beautiful.




The congregation we have been staying with is an English congregation not far from bethel.  We have met many who are helping in the area from other countries.  This evening pictured below with quite a few young people was a very encouraging and fun experience!  In the picture there are four locals, two bethelites, two international volunteers, and us!  Some of us spoke English, some spoke Afrikaans, some spoke french, and some spanish.  Even though we couldnt communicate perfectly, we had the time of our lifes!  All of us had something in common, which brought us close together.  The evening was full of laughs trying to piece things together in the few bits of the different languages we knew. 

We've definitley seen on this trip how wonderful Jehovah's organization is.  Anywhere we go we have family!  Its for sure that no other organization or people have a worldwide loving family like ours. One experience that we will always cherish is a day we were on our way to see the whales in a small town called Hermanus, outside Capetown.  We were driving down a one road town, and out of the corner of our eyes spotted a board full of Watchtowers, books, and other publications. We pulled over and chatted with the older witness couple.  This lead to tea and coffee at their house almost immediatley.  After chatting a little more it lead to them insisting that we spend the night with them, join them to a congregation gathering for the evening and then attend meeting the next day.  And to most it would just be strangers on the side of the road, but to us it was an instant connection. 
Jehovah takes such good care of us.