Unexpected Visitors

Some of the senior couples' families came to visit them in South Africa but we didn't expect any of our family to be able to come.  But in the fall of 2013, Callie e-mailed us and asked what we thought about their family coming in March.  We were pleasantly surprised.  So the date was set and plans were made.  Well plans made by Callie because we were in a whirlwind from August until March.  We didn't help much with the scheduling and planning - just acted as advisers.  We were really blessed to have things slow down and the Taylors come to the office so we could leave and spend an amazing African adventure with them.  We were also blessed with no rain - it stopped raining the day they arrived!

They arrived March 12 bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go site seeing (after a nap)

It was so good to see and hug family!

At our first stop, The Rhino and Lion Park, these giraffes were waiting for the kids to feed them and pet them.  This hadn't happened to us before so we knew that the Crums' visit was going to be special

Giraffes are beautiful, gentle, and just magnificent animals

In this park, the kids got to pet a baby leopard and

lion.

Zack's thinking this is pretty cool

Abby's quite sure this is the coolest thing ever

Morgan just knows this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Carter's petting the baby lion

Even though this Cheeta was in captivity, you can still appreciate it's beauty

The tigers are also magnificent 

They also thought Carter looked like a tasty morsel, thank goodness they were behind a fence

Hippos

Our next stop was Lesedi Village.  We had been there before, but it's more fun to see things from the eyes of children

We visited the five different villages and were taught about each tribe

Callie's grinding something

The natives were very friendly

It was a cool day so our guide wore a blanket

Colorful costumes

The kids joined in the dancing

Everyone went souvenir shopping and Carter was very pleased
with his selections

We then went to the monkey sanctuary and added four more monkeys

We had to be careful what was in our pockets - the little thieves!

The  kids could hardly believe that the monkeys were sitting on their laps.  They were not to touch the monkeys however

Next on the agenda was a service project.  The girls and boys split up and went shopping for items for "Viva" a squatters camp by where we live.  We contacted a member who had connections to the camp and he gave a list of the items the families would need.  We bought 60 of each of the items.

We then bagged up the items - ended up with two bags per household

The kids were little troopers - it was a big job

But we did it!  Now we were ready to deliver our goods

This cute mom seemed to be in charge and had a list of the households

It got a little tense at times but our young men helpers were trying to make sure no one got more than anyone else.

Morgan, Zach, Abby, and Carter handed out candy to the cute children

The Crums made great friends with our helpers, Richard and his friend.  Richard is serving a mission in Ghana and is keeping in touch.  He wants to go to BYU some day.

The next day was Sunday and time to say good bye to Elder Zebe who was being transferred (standing by me) and Elder and Sister Hillam who were going home.  We were very sad to be losing our neighbors and good friends but Elder Hillam was having a terrible time with his back and could no longer do his work.

Elder Davidson had been our AP for quite a long time but his mission was over and he was going home also

We had worked very hard together for 7 months and had some really fun times.  We would miss our good friends. We were leaving for Tzaneen and Kruger Park and the Hillams were leaving that Tuesday and would be gone when we got back.

We drove all Sunday afternoon, stayed overnight in Tzaneen then drove to the start of the zip line.

Yes, I was going on the zip line.  Make sure that harness is nice and tight!

Okay, we're ready.  Well, the kids are - I'm still shaking in my harness!

What a crew! What were we getting ourselves into??

I was terrified but soon learned to enjoy the ride and beauties of the canopy

We flew over rivers, waterfalls, stood on small platforms over the canyon - fortunately, we were always hooked on tight

The light doesn't do justice to how beautiful it was up there.  Everyone was fearless  (but grandma)- we went on 13 different lines which meant we had to land on 13 platforms.  Callie was a ballerina - her mom landed like an elephant!

It was spectacular, amazing - something everyone should get to do once but never have to do again.  A once in a lifetime adventure - believe me, I'll never do it again in this lifetime!

We did it!!  Now back to camp and lunch

Our next stop was a wonderful bush camp and safari.  It was very warm - 90 degrees and what a game drive!

This view was from the patio of the dining room at the camp

Golden Orb spiders were everywhere - they spun golden webs

We went on a very hot nature walk with our guide

What?

We finally saw a leopard - this was at dusk and a little hard to see but no worries, tomorrow would bring more leopards

This kudu barked at the leopard warning it not to even think about coming close to her and her family

The tracker could have reached down and petted the leopard

After two days and nights at the Bush camp we drove through Kruger and saw more amazing animals. We had seen hippos in the water but you rarely see them in the middle of the day - especially a hot day but we saw one up close and personal that day driving through Kruger

This shows how close we were - amazing!
 It was a long drive home and we got home very late but well worth it.  It had been an amazing safari

Our last day was visiting an orphanage for children with HIV

We played with the babies

And with the older children

They were so sweet and we all loved it.  We left the food left over from our Viva camp

Our next stop was to the temple to leave donations.  The kids had made bags and filled them with coloring books, crayons, etc. for the children who come to the temple with their parents and have to wait.  We then rushed to the African Market to pick up last minute souvenirs and then on to the airport

This has been just a small example of the things we saw and did and it's hard to show what an amazing time we had.  But as Callie and I hugged and cried, she expressed how the trip had far exceeded her expectations.  She had worked really hard planning and preparing and to have it be a great success felt great.  The kids couldn't have been better and will never forget their adventure to South Africa and neither will we

Truth be told, we wanted to go home with the Crums.  It was hard to go back to work but we had six more weeks to wrap up and prepare our return.  Love you Crums.  Thanks for coming and letting us tag along with you on your amazing adventure!