Monday, November 18, 2013, I flew to Maputo, Mozambique. On both Monday and Tuesday, I met with some local attorneys to discuss property issues and then flew back to Johannesburg Wednesday morning. This photo taken from the plane just before landing. This is a pretty typical area of residences jammed in pretty tight around Maputo. There are very few paved roads. In the background is Maputo Bay.

 Typical street vendor.

 In the late 15th century Portuguese explorers began landing along this coast. Maputo is located in the southern end of Mozambique. There is a harbor here which was used by the Portuguese as a stopping off point for their trading ships, going to, and returning from Asia. Photograph is taken from my hotel.

 Carrying home some groceries.

 Very friendly, until they saw the camera.

 Near here the Church has property where a chapel will be built next year.  Mozambique is very poor. It wasn't until 1975 that independence was proclaimed after a very long war with Portugal. The country is just now recovering economically. Oil and gas fields have been discovered off the coast.

 A Father & Son activity.

 Looking for sand crabs for tonight's dinner.

 Or you can always catch some very small fish. Look closely at the net and you'll see a meal.

 If the fisherman drops a fish these little guys will get it.

 Colorful dresses, slacks and scarves on street near the hotel. The tree with the red flower is called a Flame here, but I've known them as Flamboyants.

One happy vendor! He's just made a sale to me. Its 5 girls. I had to buy it because it reminded me of 5 daughters at home.

 This is the 2nd chapel built in South Africa by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its within blocks of downtown Johannesburg and is considered to be in a dangerous part of town.

 As a young missionary, I attended this building on a number of occasions. We called it the Ramah building then and it housed one branch. Today, there are two wards meeting in this building. Mom and I attended church here this past Sunday. Just coming onto the chapel grounds brought tears to my eyes. Hard to believe it has been 47 years.

 Inside of the chapel.

Members of the Johannesburg 1st Ward.

 Well, here is where we live. It's called Dukes Court. If you look closely, you'll see the name directly over the entrance to the building in the center of the photograph. Our apartment is on the 2nd floor and is directly above the "Duke" sign. We have no view to speak of. Right across the street (extreme left of photograph) is the Killarney Mall. We look right into the 3 story parking structure of the mall.

 Here is our living room. Notice the great photographs on the wall. They were taken by Dave and Pam Larsen who we replaced. There is no air conditioning so we keep the fans turning at all times.

 The dining room looking from the living room.

 The small, all white, kitchen. Yes, that is a clothes washer next to the dish washer. The clothes dryer is in the bathroom.

Our bedroom. Mom's desk is on left.

 Its not always, work, work, work, here at the Area Office. On Saturday, we were invited to go to the Vodacom World of Golf facility outside of Johannesburg for some golf lessons.

 Our teachers were 3 members of the Church Laurette Maritz (called Lolly), Reeve Niel, who stayed with us when we lived in Irvine, CA. She was 13 years old at the time and Cecile Lundgreen (called CC). Lolly and CC are touring golf pros on the European Ladies Tour. Reeve is their coach. A couple of years ago, Lolly and Reeve started a charity called "Eyes4Zimbabwe". CC is now part of the program which raises money for many Zimbabweans who have cataracts and other eye site problems.

 This is picture of me with Reeve and Monte Eggett. Elder Eggett was a missionary in South Africa during the time I was out here. He and his wife are presently serving in the Area Office with responsibility for employment.

 Last time we saw Reeve she was 13 years old. I might add, after watching my golf swing, with all its bad habits, she gave me some really good tips. I might have to try qualifying for the Senior PGA tour when I get home.

Mom discovered that CC was Norwegian born. You know how important that heritage is to Mom.

 While in Swaziland, we came across some really interesting signs. We didn't see any, but I guess there are "Thugs on the loose."

 This is the back end of a Kombi. Kombis are little buses that stop every where, take as many people as they can and drive like maniacs. This guy wasn't worried about what people thought of his driving.

 If you were wondering who dresses Swaziland, well here's your answer: "Mr. Cheap Fabric"

 Apparently, KFC is doing real well in Africa. We had our first KFC lunch in Manzini, Swaziland on Monday. I don't think Del Taco has made an appearance on the African continent yet.

 After lunch on Monday, we drove into the countryside. We had bought some apples, bananas and oranges to give to some of the children we were meeting on the roadside.

 Mom was loving this stop and the kids were loving the bananas.

 It's hard to explain how adorable these children are.

 Dancing in Swaziland.

 This little fellow was really afraid of me. I think I was the first white person he had ever seen.

It's not much of an existence but the Swazi people are amazingly happy.

Last Saturday, Susan and I flew to Swaziland. It's a small country of about 1 million people. It is surrounded on 3 sides by South Africa and Mozambique in the north east. Initially a British protectorate, Swaziland is a Kingdom ruled over by King Mswati and a traditional tribal assembly.

 We stayed at Summerfield, a very nice lodge. This is photograph from the property.

 Swaziland has a lot of agriculture. We saw fields of corn and pineapple.

 This is the LDS Church in Manzini, Swaziland. We attended Sunday with about 100 other Saints.

 It's always fun meeting the missionaries. This is Elder Samuel Ekom from Chicago, Illinois. Jeff Clayton, the Area Legal Counsel, is on the left.

 Mom has way too much fun with the children.

 The Summerfield Lodge is loaded with peacocks. This fellow was showing off his colors.

 Part of the downtown Manzini market. Lots of stuff being sold.

 This is one happy fellow. He just sold me a stone hippo. The African people are very religious. Notice the hanging sign in front of the counter.

 These happy guys are selling all sorts of medicinal herbs. They asked if I was having any stomach problems because they had the perfect cure.  I assured them that I would have stomach problems if I took their cure. They thought it was all pretty funny.

 A Manzini seamstress in her little store.

 Just waiting for the next customer.

Everyone, men and women, carry things on their heads. Marge Clayton trying to carry a carton of apples back to the car. It's a lot more difficult than it looks.

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???