Awesome African Adventure Day 3

We got up this morning at 6:30, got showered, and went up to Mom & Dad's apartment to eat some breakfast. They had to be at the temple at 5:30 am, so they were already gone. We ate and left the kids alone in the apartment to watch movies and hang out while we went to the temple for a few hours. We caught a ride w/ the other temple missionaries that were going in for the later shift.

 

We went on the 9:00 endowment session. It was sooooooo spiritual and so neat. We also loved getting to meet so many people that Mom & Dad have told us about that they work with at the temple. After the session we came home to change clothes and get the kids. We hurried back to the temple before they closed at noon. The temple will be closed for cleaning for 2 weeks, which is why we came to visit Mom & Dad these 2 weeks.

We all loved this checkerboard looking terrace. The Joburg temple is the same layout as the Dallas temple, except it's smaller than the Dallas temple. I wish the Dallas temple had these gorgeous grounds around it.

 

I know this picture is a little askew, but we just put the camera on a rock wall, set the timer, and hoped for the best.

 

This is the entrance on the side of the temple to go down the hill to where the area offices & distribution center are.

 

Look at these lush, tropical, jungle like areas around the temple grounds! This is looking out from the area offices. Dad had to check on a few medical records since the missionary couple that usually do that had to travel out of the country. That's what Dad will be doing full time when they come back to Joburg for their 2nd mission.

 

While we waited for Dad to look at those missionary medical records, we enjoyed exploring what we called "the jungle."  We found this nice shady spot w/ a stream and Autumn & Mimi even took their shoes off and cooled their feet off in the stream.

 

Look at how lush and serene this is! We could have happily stayed here all day.

But, we didn't stay there all day b/c we were hungry! By this time it was 2:30 so we went to a place Mom & Dad love called Mike's. They ordered some fried baby squid and we tricked the kids into trying it by telling them it was "South African shrimp." Andrew loved them. The food was super good and the portions were so big that we had plenty of left overs to take home for dinner.

 

After lunch we thought we were going back to the apartment, but Dad said he was taking us on a surprise detour. We drove up the hills to this gorgeous look out point. This HUGE tree w/ big mean thorns all over the branches was in bloom w/ these beautiful tiger lily looking flowers.

 

There was an amazing view of part of Joburg below. We all had our cameras out and looked like typical tourists. We're still trying not to freak out that in South Africa you drive on the left hand side of the road instead of the right hand side of the road. We think Dad's going to turn right, but he really turns left into what would normally be oncoming traffic. It's taking some getting used to, but luckily he's a really good driver.

 

We came back to the apartment to relax, cool off, watch a movie, and do a puzzle.

 

Dad said he had a surprise for us and gave us these matching blue African kaftan/dresses. We all love them and wore them the whole rest of the evening.

 

 For dinner we had our leftovers from Mike's along w/ Mom's amazing left over soup. We also got to try lychee fruit. Dad loves them, and Autumn ended up loving them too. I thought they were OK, but I didn't like how they're slimy but end up leaving your mouth feeling dry. We were trying to talk Andrew into trying one and we told him they're "South African grapes." He didn't trust us after the whole "South African shrimp" incident. After dinner we did more of the same of just talking, watching a movie, working on puzzles, and enjoying being together. We called it a night at 9:00 and went to bed since we have an early day tomorrow. I still can't believe we're actually here in South Africa!!!