South Africa Johannesburg Mission: Mission President Seminar in Cape Town

On May 4-7, we attended the Interim Mission Presidents Seminar in Cape Town. All 14 Mission Presidents and Companions travel there and enjoy 2 full days of meetings and seminars. We are the newest group, with 2 more years to go, but really enjoy learning from the Area President and gathering together with everyone.

President and Sister Merrill greeted us. They serve as the Mission President and Companion in Cape Town. We started our mission with them in our group. We will both finish in July 2017.

This year's highlights included having Elder and Sister Evans with us for the training. Elder Evans has served as the Executive Director of the Missionary Department for the past 4 years, during the historic growth and age change. He brought so much experience and knowledge to share.

We also had the privilege of having Elder Snow, the Church Historian present for part of the conference. He and his colleagues shared a fireside about church history and the newest updates using social media, specifically the "Gospel Topics" that are now posted on the church website. It was so interesting to hear them articulate through a Q & A the role of church history and the role it is playing through social media at this time.

We thoroughly enjoyed the seminar and the recharging of our batteries. We walked away more committed personally and for our mission to focus on Christ and deepening our understanding daily of the Atonement. It was a rich seminar on every front.

We also had time the day we arrived to travel down to the Cape of Good Hope and see the beautiful scenery on the Cape. We now understand better why everyone raves about this part of Africa.

We traveled all the way down to Hermanus Bay, which is the beginning of the Garden Route and then came back along the coast and went out to Cape Point on our way back. At the end of the day, we were invited to the home of President and Sister Paul Kruger with their delightful children ,Kari and Ryno. We had met them at Elder Louw's wedding in February and we so delighted to reconnect upon our arrival. The served us the most delicious dinner of Snouk and Malva pudding. It was a warm welcome to Cape Town with wonderful company. A highlight of the trip for sure!

The water is such a beautiful blue color and the rocky coastlines are stunning.

Hermanus bay

On the road back, along the coast

We were lucky to have a beautiful day. The clouds and mist were thick as we started, but as we traveled everything opened up and the day was sunny and beautiful.

Loved the choices on the menu.....

This spot at the end of the continent, is a sacred place. We felt reverence here and beauty beyond our imagining. This is the spot on May 9, 1994, were Nelson Mandela gave his inaugural speech. It is also close to here where the first 3 missionaries landed*, to begin to spread the restored gospel on this continent in the mid 1800's.
*That history began in 1853 when three missionaries from Salt Lake City landed in Capetown after a seven-month journey. They had traveled without purse or scrip, and found themselves in a strange but promising land. The trio met opposition, especially from hostile ministers whose aroused followers made the missionaries the target of rotten eggs and mob violence. But the missionaries persevered with hard work and great faith, and eventually they found converts who became the nucleus of the Church in South Africa.

On the way to Cape Point, we stopped and saw the famous penguins that migrate from Antartica. It is so amazing to see penguins in abundance right on the beach, not in a zoo

We squeezed in an early morning bike ride on the waterfront. It was a full moon morning and the ocean views were stunning as we rode up Signal Hill before our meetings started.

That evening, after everything concluded, we gathered with a few friends and headed to Signal Hill in the car to watch the sunset and snap a few photos of Table Mountain.

Table Mountain with the Ericksons, the Kruger kids, Kari and Ryno and the Zachrisons. Dinner at the Signal Restaurant afterwards. It was a "Signal" theme, I guess!:)

I love this girl. Kari (and her brother Ryno) have become such good friends and we are now connected for life. We hope to stay close and connected with whatever the future brings for them!!

View from waterfront. Below is the view out of our window of our hotel room in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Hotel.

Fun shops and eateries all around the Waterfront. We loved exploring in the free time we had.

We took the boat ride and tour to see where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. The best part was the view of Table Mountain.

View from Robben Island. We were told that the first thing the prisoners did upon their release and boat ride back to the mainland, was to climb to the top of Robben Island. It represented freedom to them, as they had looked at it for decades from prison.
When we returned that day, we also had planned to hike to the top of Table Mountain.