Dear Family and Friends,
I am happy to say that this past week has been a little different. Today we got back form a 2140 kilometer trip. We left last Thursday the 26th of May and went as far as Francistown and I had a second interview that was a tuff one. We then stayed with Elder and Sister Riser from Roosevelt Utah that are serving up in Francistown. They are the replacement for Elder and Sister Cardiff. They are great and are full of lots of new ideas. They are on the ball and keeping very busy. We stayed overnight with them and then the next morning Elder Riser and I took the keyboard to the Francistown building and put the keyboard stand together. Then went back and picked up Mom and Sister Riser and went to look at the purposed building of the Francistown branch and the purposed building for Monarch if is gets split off of Francistown. Then off we went to head or Kasane. We arrived at Kasane about 5:00 PM and Sister Cornelia Rotenbach who is the same gal that took us on the boat safari last December when we were then for the couples conference took us to her home where we stayed for two nights.
We hurried and changed and she took us in her Toyota all-terrain vehicle and she didn’t tell us where we were going or what we would do when we got there. We headed almost straight east for 9 kilometers and ended up in a beautiful valley called Leshuna Valley. Cornelia said only the local people know about it as they want to keep it special and untouched. After getting the valley we saw many elephants, kudu, Cape buffalo, impala and other animals. We found a spot in the open and she parked and said here we are. She got out and took a shovel out of the back and prepared a spot for a fire. We had a great evening watching the stars in the heavens that were so numerous and very bright. We had a wonderful braii and spot lighted several animals close to camp. We could hear the animals in the background all evening. We had an elephant walk so close to us that we could see it from the light of the fire we were using to cook. Cornelia was a little nervous as she said you never know what an elephant in the wild will do. I walked on past so there was no problem. We didn’t get back to her place until about 9:30 so you can tell we had a great evening in the wild.
The next morning we got up early to go on a game drive into the Kobe National Game Park. It is a game park that doesn’t have any boundary fences so the game is able to go anywhere they want. We saw lots of animals and I took many pictures. The evening we went on a boat tour of the Kobe river, and I got lots of pictures again.
We took Cornelia to dinner at an India restaurant. The first time Mom and I have had India food here on our mission. It was good and Cornelia loved it as she has eaten there many times. The next morning we went to church at a members home and there was 8 in attendance plus the Riser’s and us so we totaled 12 people. Elder and Sister Riser spoke first and Mom and I also spoke. Of course we didn’t know that we were the speakers until we got there. It went well and we love traveling and meeting people of the different wards, branches and even this group. I think the early morning game drive on Saturday must have given me a cold (my first sick day in this mission). I am recovering and hopefully I will be over it soon.
We left directly after church and headed back to Francistown and I felt so impressed to go back on the second interview that I had last Thursday night. I am so glad that I did because there was clearly a miss communication between me and the candidate becoming ready for baptism. The second time it went really well. Mom and I stayed that night in Francistown and got up early this morning and got back home here in Gaborone about 2:30 this afternoon.
It was a fun trip and we had great missionary experiences in meeting and working with members of the Kasane Group.
Just for your information I have read my 7 pages each day and even read them on the day they were supposed to have been read. Lori wrote and said she liked the book mark that keeps track of where you should be while you read. I am sorry if this letter is unorganized as this is the way me head is working with it being all stuffed up with this cold that I am fighting. Well I will close with my love to each of you.
Love Out Of Botswana, Dad
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