On Friday, May 25, we went with three other missionary couples to Kruger National Park.  We traveled in an Area owned van and it took about 5 hours to get to the B&B we stayed in—called the Royal Kruger.  It was about 30 minutes outside the Crocodile Bridge Gate to the park—and it was a very nice accommodation.  On Saturday morning we got up at 4:30 to be on our way for a “game drive” by 6:00 AM—and it was freezing cold.  We were riding in an open vehicle, shivering and blowing until we got into the park and could slow down to really observe the animals.  During the several days we were there, we saw no lions or leopards, but we did see so many other amazing animals—many really close.  We have wonderful pictures of elephants, giraffe, zebra, warthogs, hippopotamus, buffalo, rhino, wildebeest, kudu, impala and many other birds, monkeys and reptiles.  They are all such interesting and beautiful animals in their own right and magnificent in the wild.  In the evenings and mornings, the zebra and giraffe would come right into the yard of the bed and breakfast and allow us to get very close to them.

 

We had a special experience while at Kruger.  I went into the kitchen to tell Julia, our cute cook, how good the meal was and she started asking me questions about the Church.  She saw "Jesus Christ" on my missionary badge and asked me about it.  I shared my testimony of the Saviour with her and we both really felt the Spirit.  She asked me to help her learn more.  All the missionaries got together and wrote messages in a Book of Mormon for her--and we had some other pamphlets with us--which all missionaries do.  In fact, we had taken lots of Books of Mormon with us in the car.  As soon as we got out on the road, we all wrote our testimonies in them, put a "pass along" card in them and then handed them out to all of the toll booth operators along the way.  We got amazing positive responses from all of them!  So, we were prepared for Julia!  We were gone all the next day in the park and when we returned that night I asked her if she had had a chance to read the Book.  She got all teary-eyed and said that she had and she loved it and had been sharing it with the other young people working in the kitchen.  We had several discussions the next couple of days--it was wonderful!!!  She said she could read English, but her language is Sesotho, so I said I would send her a Book of Mormon in her language as soon as we came home.  Well, I don't think it has been translated into Sesotho, but they told me in the Distribution Center that Tswana is about the same.  Today I sent her some things in Tswana.  The closest missionaries to the park are more than 1 1/2 hours away--as is the closest Branch-- but she goes home to Pretoria once in awhile and she said she will go to church there for sure.  I'm so excited to find out what happens.  It really was a sweet experience!

Here's Julia: