On Thursday, October 31, 2013, the Johannesburg South African Mission was visited by Elder David A. Bednar. This is photograph of the Randburg Stake Center chapel just before Elder Bednar's arrival. It was a wonderful, three-hour meeting. 

After the meeting, Mom and I spent time meeting many of the missionaries. The three missionaries closest to me are from Durban, South Africa and the missionary closest to Mom is from Kenya. The missionary with the purple tie is Elder Zulu. How's that for a name? Love it!

Saturday, we drove north to Pretoria. The administrative capital of South Africa. There are 3 political capitals in South Africa. Pretoria, the administrative capital, Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital. I guess they did it that way to keep everybody happy. This picture is taken from the Union Building grounds towards the downtown area. Pretoria was founded in 1855 by the Boer pioneers (Voortrekkers).  The city felt run down to me. Pretoria was my first area when I was a young 19-year old missionary in 1966. Off in the far distance is the Voortrekker Monument. (You can just see in left center of picture on the far ridge.)  I'll save a visit there for the future.

This is the Union Building and President of South Africa's office. Built in 1913 after the 2nd Boer War, which the British won, the two wings of the building represent the uniting of the divided British and Afrikaans people. On the top of both towers is Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. The statue on the right is of Louis Botha, the 1st Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. An interesting side note, Winston Churchill, while covering the 1st Boer War (1899), was captured by Louis Botha and imprisoned in Pretoria. He later escaped and, on returning to England, became a war hero and then ran for Parliament. The rest is history. 

 

I found it! My first residence as a missionary in Pretoria, South Africa. The little building in back is where I slept for nearly 5 months. It actually looks better now. Front door was on the left and the open window on the right is the bathroom.

This is the Church Square in Pretoria. The statue is of Paul Kruger (Oom Paul, Uncle Paul as the Afrikaans called him), who was the first President of the Transvaal. Now called Gauteng, the Transvaal was one of 4 original provinces of the Union of South Africa. He was 4 times elected President, both Kruger National Park and the Krugerrand are named after him. Driven from power by the British after the 2nd Boer War, Kruger would die in Switzerland. By many, he was considered a freedom fighter.

The LDS Chapel in Pretoria. It was here I attended church while a missionary in Pretoria. At least from the outside, it looks the same. Maybe it wasn't 47 years ago???