Christmas in Africa

The holiday season here in Botswana doesn't feel much like Christmas at all.  It's hot and muggy with the summer rains having finally arrived, there is no holiday music on any radio station, and what few decorated trees there are in the malls are cheap tinsel trees which look beat up and so very out of place.  This is a Christian nation, but seasonal holiday festivities such as we have at home are quite uncommon.  The closing down of most business operations for a couple of weeks, the emptying out of the capitol city of Gaborone as folks return to their ancestral villages, and the cooking of traditional food as families unite is the extent of holiday traditions here.  One huge highlight, however, was the reenactment of the Nativity as portrayed by our junior missionaries. They love putting on this pageant which was well attended by the community.

             

                   

                                      

                                      

We also enjoyed Christmas gift exchanging and lovely holiday dinners with some of our favorite people.

        

As businesses are closed at this time of year and as we have no incoming missionaries (more on our VISA problems later), we took the opportunity to grab our friends the Smiths and go to South Africa for a long weekend, returning on Christmas eve.  First we visited the beautiful Johannesburg Temple...

...then we boarded the Hop On Hop Off big red Johannesburg bus to safely tour this otherwise very dangerous city, visiting first the township of Soweto from whence Nelson Mandela sprang and throughout which much of the violence of apartheid was centered...

...to Constitution Hill with its infamously inhumane prison for black political leaders...

              

                                            

...to the Supreme Court of the country of Botswana where outside was held a peaceful demonstration demanding reparations...

                   

                                                  

...and finally to the massive Apartheid Museum.

              

Later we enjoyed dinner with the medical advisors who support us from the South Africa Area Office.

                                          

On the way home, we couldn't help but stop at our favorite Madikwe Game Reserve for a couple of magical nights and several safari drives.  

                    

        

We ran into a ton of rhino, one which charged our car as we drove by...

              

                                              

...we came across our favorite lion of the park, the incomparable Blondie heading home to his harem after resting during the heat of the day...

                                                

             

 ...and we came across elephants by the score.  The life-saving summer rains did not come last year; consequently and most unfortunately there were about 80 elephants who starved to death.  Madikwe does not advertise this sad truth, but a reporter visited the reserve and spread pictures of the devastation to the public.  It's caused a great deal of discussion amongst the various lodges inside Madikwe.  With about 45 lions, 2 large herds of wild dogs, and a few leopards and cheetahs in the reserve, they maintain a good balance of predator versus prey...until it comes to the elephants who have no natural predators.  Elephant numbers thereby continue to increase regardless of the unavailability of sufficient vegetation for food.  Consequently, choices need to be made regarding such sobering options as allowing natural death by starvation versus the culling of the herds.  Talks also include sterilization, but this option can be prohibitively expensive. We're told that some veterinarians from Walt Disney World visited the park years ago to sterilize a handful of elephants, but it required a crane to hold them upright while surgery was performed, and one can only imagine the logistic nightmare and cost of rigging make-shift surgeries involving cranes out in the unforgiving wild bush. Luckily for all involved, the rains have started this year which have made for a profusion of green vegetation in abundance and happily fattening elephants.  Rain here is absolutely vital as life of man and beast hangs in the thin balance. 

         

                                            

The obtaining of VISAs remains a huge concern for us.  We lost fully 25% of our missionaries last month, dropping from 100 to 75 juniors.  January will see another 20 leave with none coming into Botswana to replace them.  It's quite unsettling and is causing some anxiety amongst all of us.  The government is slow to resolve the problem, and time keeps ticking for us.  Luckily, when we came back through the border last week, customs agents stamped our passports for another 90 days.  But in mid March, we must figure something else out.  In the meantime, our mission is slowly being phased out.  God is at the helm, and there is little we can do except plead that He intervenes and changes the hearts of government officials.  With another 7 months until our mission is complete, we are not quite sure what we will do.  Perhaps a stay in Namibia to work remotely might be in order.  In the meantime, we carry on, and baptisms happily increase.  One sweet man could hardly contain his enthusiasm for the Book of Mormon and the testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith which the sister missionaries brought to him.  He tells us this is when he finally came to understand that God knows, loves, and sees him.  The work is sweet, the African fields ripe and ready to harvest.

                                

AFRICA  

AFRICA AFRICA

AFRICA AFRICA AFRICA

AFRICA AFRICA

AFRICA