Sorry it's taken awhile to send an update! We are here in Mozambique now. We arrived at the branch about 10 minutes before lunch yesterday. We ate lunch and then had our tour. It's beautiful here. More beautiful than I had imagined.
But first, let me tell you about our 2 days in South Africa. We were a bit stressed arriving in the airport at Johannesburg since we weren't sure if anyone would be there to meet us. We got our bags and entered a mob of people holding signs with names of people on it. We searched the signs hoping to see our names. Ian even was video filming the whole thing hoping to catch our first glimpse of the brother on camera. After a few minutes we realized there was no sign with our name on it :( So we figured we'd better try calling the branch to confirm someone would be coming. Of course, we didn't have the phone number for the branch. We finally got the phone number of a couple of kingdom halls in the area from the information desk. Still, we needed to figure out how to actually make the call. The pay phones were no help! Fortunately there was a Vodacom mobile store where we were able to buy a sim card and a charger for my phone. That only took about 45 minutes. Welcome to Africa! Finally we found a cafe with outlets, plugged in the phone to charge and called the kingdom hall numbers. Ian was able to speak with a brother and get the phone number to the branch. Eventually we got a hold of the brother picking us up, Seficil and were able to find him at the airport. Apparently our flight had arrived early and he had arrived a little late, so our wires got a little crossed. We were really REALLY happy to see him finally though!
We made it back to the branch just in time for lunch.
After lunch we got into our room, picked our jaws up off the floor after seeing the room (it was gorgeous), and tried to feel less gross after close to 36 hours of traveling.
We took a tour of the branch which was pretty great. The brothers and sisters there are soooooo busy. The work in Africa is really just growing and growing and the brothers are doing their best to keep up. There are about 800 at the South Africa branch currently, including about 30 International Servants/Volunteers. In fact, they are so tight on space that they've created a trailer park or "leper colony" as they refer to it. This is a cluster of prefabricated trailers where the IV's are living. But don't feel too bad, they are really really nice trailers with a little kitchenette and 2 air conditioners, so they are quite comfortable!
The next day we went to morning worship (at 6:45am) and later that day we went to Ukutula. Seficil kindly offered to drive and accompany us there. This was a great relief because the idea of Ian and I driving (on the left side of the road, mind you!), an hour and half away through town to a Lion park on our own was not so great for my nerves.
Ukutula was an unbelievable and unforgettable experience. When they tell you you'll be playing with lion cubs, it doesn't really prepare you for actually playing with lion cubs. It was probably one of the coolest things we've ever done. Actually I can't think of many things cooler. We took about a million pictures, but here are just a few of my favorites.
Holding a lion cub is not as easy as you would imagine. They're so floppy and surprisingly heavy. Not to mention they're scratching at you because they're scared they'll be dropped. I did my best, but I think Ian fared slightly better, having experience handling cats. He did so good, his little guy fell asleep on him. The last two pictures are of cubs that were just about 10 days old. The top two pictures are of cubs that were about 4-6 weeks old. We also spent some time with cubs that were 2-3 months old. I got a little nervous there. Their paws were bigger than my hands and they were about knee/thigh height. Still playful but much bigger claws and teeth than the babies!
Anyway, that's about all I have time for... we're getting ready to have lunch with our "hosts" for the weekend. A couple who are assigned to sort of take care of us while we get settled. We'll be off to meeting tonight, though I'm not exactly sure which meeting it is. I'm guessing its the congregation bible study, school and service meeting though. Most have all their meetings on the weekends since its difficult and sometimes dangerous for the friends to travel during the week evenings.
But first, let me tell you about our 2 days in South Africa. We were a bit stressed arriving in the airport at Johannesburg since we weren't sure if anyone would be there to meet us. We got our bags and entered a mob of people holding signs with names of people on it. We searched the signs hoping to see our names. Ian even was video filming the whole thing hoping to catch our first glimpse of the brother on camera. After a few minutes we realized there was no sign with our name on it :( So we figured we'd better try calling the branch to confirm someone would be coming. Of course, we didn't have the phone number for the branch. We finally got the phone number of a couple of kingdom halls in the area from the information desk. Still, we needed to figure out how to actually make the call. The pay phones were no help! Fortunately there was a Vodacom mobile store where we were able to buy a sim card and a charger for my phone. That only took about 45 minutes. Welcome to Africa! Finally we found a cafe with outlets, plugged in the phone to charge and called the kingdom hall numbers. Ian was able to speak with a brother and get the phone number to the branch. Eventually we got a hold of the brother picking us up, Seficil and were able to find him at the airport. Apparently our flight had arrived early and he had arrived a little late, so our wires got a little crossed. We were really REALLY happy to see him finally though!
We made it back to the branch just in time for lunch.
After lunch we got into our room, picked our jaws up off the floor after seeing the room (it was gorgeous), and tried to feel less gross after close to 36 hours of traveling.
We took a tour of the branch which was pretty great. The brothers and sisters there are soooooo busy. The work in Africa is really just growing and growing and the brothers are doing their best to keep up. There are about 800 at the South Africa branch currently, including about 30 International Servants/Volunteers. In fact, they are so tight on space that they've created a trailer park or "leper colony" as they refer to it. This is a cluster of prefabricated trailers where the IV's are living. But don't feel too bad, they are really really nice trailers with a little kitchenette and 2 air conditioners, so they are quite comfortable!
The next day we went to morning worship (at 6:45am) and later that day we went to Ukutula. Seficil kindly offered to drive and accompany us there. This was a great relief because the idea of Ian and I driving (on the left side of the road, mind you!), an hour and half away through town to a Lion park on our own was not so great for my nerves.
Ukutula was an unbelievable and unforgettable experience. When they tell you you'll be playing with lion cubs, it doesn't really prepare you for actually playing with lion cubs. It was probably one of the coolest things we've ever done. Actually I can't think of many things cooler. We took about a million pictures, but here are just a few of my favorites.
Holding a lion cub is not as easy as you would imagine. They're so floppy and surprisingly heavy. Not to mention they're scratching at you because they're scared they'll be dropped. I did my best, but I think Ian fared slightly better, having experience handling cats. He did so good, his little guy fell asleep on him. The last two pictures are of cubs that were just about 10 days old. The top two pictures are of cubs that were about 4-6 weeks old. We also spent some time with cubs that were 2-3 months old. I got a little nervous there. Their paws were bigger than my hands and they were about knee/thigh height. Still playful but much bigger claws and teeth than the babies!
Anyway, that's about all I have time for... we're getting ready to have lunch with our "hosts" for the weekend. A couple who are assigned to sort of take care of us while we get settled. We'll be off to meeting tonight, though I'm not exactly sure which meeting it is. I'm guessing its the congregation bible study, school and service meeting though. Most have all their meetings on the weekends since its difficult and sometimes dangerous for the friends to travel during the week evenings.
7 comments:
It's hard to say which is cuter--the baby lion or Sheri!
Flight to africa 1000.00 lunch 34.55 getting to hold a baby lion priceless!!! Cross that off your bucket list
We are glad that you got there safe and sound. Glad you started your trip off to something so fun! Have fun!
That is sooo cool!! I must do that some time in my life! Looks like you guys are having sooo much fun!
Happy to hear things are going good. what an awesome experience with the lion cubs!! so jealous...
Very glad you both made it safely & had such a great start to your adventure.
Aww this is so cute, love the cub pics!
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