Over the Christmas week, the Area Office completely shuts down. Mom and I decided to do a little legal work in Mauritius and also spend Christmas there.

The Republic of Mauritius is an island (where better to spend Christmas?) located 1,200 miles off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. It is also, literally, half-way around the world from Oceanside, California.

The shops of Mauritius are like all the shops of Africa. They sell everything.

While driving around the island, we thought of our future granddaughter Beaux. French is the official language, but all legal documents are written in English. The island population speaks a language which they call Creole. 

There was no indigenous population on Mauritius when Arab traders first stopped here. The Dutch East Indian Company started a colony on the island in 1638. They abandoned it and the French then took over. Subsequently, the English defeated the French and the island was surrendered to the British. They agreed that the population could keep speaking French and govern themselves using the Napoleonic Code. Notice the small mosque in center of photograph.

Leaving the airport, you'll notice they do drive on the British side of the street.  Mauritius gained its independence from England in 1968.  They are part of the Commonwealth and Queen Elizabeth is their Queen. It is the only known home of the now extinct Dodo bird. 

The Church has 3 meeting places on Mauritius. In Flacq, the Church leases 2 floors of this building.

A closer look of the Flacq chapel.

Though the Republic of Mauritius considers itself part of Africa, there are not too many Africans in the population of 1.3 million people.  Most of the population are Indians from India. There are also many Hindu temples on the island. Mom said she won't have to go to India now. 

This is the LDS Chapel in Phoenix, Mauritius. There are just two chapels owned and built by the Church on Mauritius.  We attended Church here on the Sunday after Christmas. The service was held in both English and French. 

The Phoenix Chapel grounds has a stream running through it.

This is the entrance to the second LDS Chapel on Mauritius at Rosehill. Note the signage is in French.

The entire island is very tropical.

Salt ponds on Mauritius. They pump in salt water from the ocean and let it evaporate in the sun. What is left is ocean salt, which is then swept up and bagged.

The beaches of Mauritius are gorgeous. This is Mom walking near our hotel on the west side of the island.

The sunsets were spectacular.

This is NOT a photoshopped picture.

Everyone is getting ready for the New Year. Taylor, what do you think, 20,000 fire crackers for the lighting? Sounds like a good deal to me.

We had Christmas dinner with the Marc Colin family. He was born on the island but met his wife (standing in back) in California. She has just received her Phd. in Education. She did her thesis on the Mauritius educational system.

I had to post a selfie. On the beach with Mom, Christmas in Mauritius 2014.

Waiting for the sunset to really begin.

Sugar cane is the number one export from the island. It's everywhere you look on an island that is about as big as Maui.

Recently, our granddaughters, Paisley and Dresden, sent some wonderful presents and personal messages to every member of the Cosmo City Branch Primary.

Paisley wrote individual letters to each member of the Primary. Here they are holding up their letters from Paisley.  Susan is holding up pictures of the Paisley and Dresden.

Dresden drew and colored wonderful pictures for each child. As you can see, they loved them.  One of the girls kept saying, "Your granddaughters are SO nice"

Last week, Mom and I were at the  Johannesburg Temple. This family from Kenya had just been sealed. As you look into the faces of these wonderful African Saints, I hope you see their faith and love. The ultimate ordinance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to have families sealed together forever. The Johannesburg Temple was the first temple built on the African continent. Saints from as far north as Ethiopia travel to Johannesburg to be sealed.

Some of the most beautiful smiles in the world are found in Africa.

I think she knows she is part of an eternal family.

I don't think they could be cuter. 

I'm posting some of the pictures I took of the youth at the For the Strength of Youth Conference in Port Elizabeth, South Africa December 2014.

Part of the old English Port Elizabeth downtown.

The lighthouse over looking the Port Elizabeth harbor.

South Africa has a great looking flag. Can you guess what the colors mean?

Walking the boardwalk near the harbor and beaches of Port Elizabeth we came upon a familiar sign, "Oceanside". We do miss home.

Mom speaking to the youth at the FSY Conference Port Elizabeth.

Aerial view of Port Elizabeth. A city of over 1.2 million people was established on the southern edge of Algoa Bay. In 1799 during the Napoleonic Wars England built a fort here. I took this picture as we headed back to Johannesburg.

Our next stop was Plettenberg Bay which was also discovered by Bartholomew Dias in 1487.  We had a problem finding our hotel and eventually were lead to the Plettenberg Bay Park Hotel. It doesn't look like much from the top of the hill but....

When I saw our room's shower, I knew this was the place I wanted to stay.

A great view and a private little beach. Notice the two lounge chairs at bottom left of picture.

The hotel balcony. In 1630 one hundred Portuguese sailors were marooned here for 9 months. Eventually, in 1776 the Dutch East India Company built barracks here and 3 years later the Bay was named Plettenberg after the then leader of the Company in Cape Town, Baron Joachim Van Plettenberg.

Our wonderful shower only lasted one night and then we were on to Port Elizabeth to the Nelson Mandela University where the "For the Strength of Youth" was being held. As you can see our next showers were in the dorms. I felt "I had wandered from a more exalted sphere."

Pictures of some of the youth from all over the Eastern Cape, from Cape Town to East London.

Mom spoke to all 400 youth on the Atonement. They were very attentive and reverent. It was a great devotional.

A picture of the youth choir.

Part of the devotional audience and choir.

After leaving Cape Town, Mom and I drove up The Garden Route to Port Elizabeth. It's a beautiful drive and our first stop was Mossel Bay. "Mossel" actually refers to the "muscles" and oysters found in the bay by the first explorers who came to this area. 

Bartolomeu Dias arrived in Mossel Bay first in 1488. He was on his way to India and didn't realize he had already rounded the Cape of Good Hope.  After landing at Mossel, he was chased off by rock- throwing natives. The next explorer to show up was Vasco da Gama in 1497.

Look close at this picture and you'll see the breaching whale and a surfer about to catch a wave.

There are some wonderful old buildings in Mossel Bay.

Along with some very old churches.

Mom found another swing set and was in heaven.

We did some exploring around the Cape of St. Blaize.

The surf was pretty high right outside our hotel room.

The view from the Point Hotel in Mossel Bay where we stayed.

Mom is always making new friends. With this young lady she was singing "Jingle Bells"

She had to talk to this young boy because he had on a T-shirt from our favorite city.

The view from our room.

December 16th is the Day of Reconciliation, a South African national holiday, formerly called the Day of the Covenant. The city of Mossel Bay held a "colour" run.

Everyone was getting hit with powdered colors.

This is looking north from Cape St. Blaize. Look closely on the beach and you'll see Mom swinging on the swing set.

We left Mossel Bay and headed north to Knysna, a little city on the Indian Ocean. It had a small shopping village next to its harbor.

We had to take a picture of this sign. How far away are we from our youngest daughter in Chicago? Remember they use kilometers out here.

Knysna Quays, South Africa