Let it Snow

Don't you wish you had little snow to cool you off? That's what we got here over night and the local people are so excited about it! Some went out and played in it and made snowballs to save in their freezers. One person said this hasn't occurred in 30 years (but then she might have a poor memory like I do).I'll send you some pictures of the dusting! The building is the area office and the second and third windows from the left is our offfice, too bad we weren't looking out the window when the picture was taken.We have been a little frustrated in trying to get the food supplies sent to Lesotho. We can't get anyone on the phone and nobody is sending us emails in response to ours. The disaster management director is the toughest one to make contact with. Aarrgh! We just had a meeting with the man who will be acquiring the food, boxing it and shipping it into Lesotho. He told us that there is a 'bit of unrest' there in the capitol over some dispute with the President. So maybe that is why no one seems to be around to answer phones and emails but we'll keep trying. Any word on Grandma's computer? We keep waiting for a letter from her too. Glad you had a fun day in Vegas buying things with other people's money. Better go get finished because we are heading to the temple at 4. Sending our love and hugs.

This is Africa

We had a great week in Namibia although we wondered why the plane was landingout in the desert without any civilization in sight. Our flight got us intoNamibia on Sunday afternoon. We breezed past the passport checks, picked up our luggage without delay and only had a problem when we got to the Avis rental car desk. They had given away our scheduled car because we weren't there to pick itup at 8 am. Well, our flight didn't even get in until after 2 pm so how could we have picked it up in the morning?? We have a popular saying over here whenever something goes a little haywire, "This is Africa!" It was appropriatefor this moment. We eventually were given a little green Nissan to drive and we were off toWindhoek...47 kilometers away. I think they want the city to grow towards the airport some day.Namibia is a desert country reminding us a bit of Utah...instead of scrub oak it had plenty of small thorny trees all over the hills and valleys. Our trip upto the northernmost border was fun because we had to slow down for wart hogs running across the street and children walking on the roadside going home from school. We got many smiles and waves. We saw ostriches, springbok, gemsbok andmany colorful birds. There were hundreds, possibly thousands, of termite mounds all along the way, the picture shows how tall they can be. Sorry to say your dad killed two birds, two spiders (not so sorry) and about five jokes on this trip! We were taken to one of the bore holes sites that will be drilled next month. Two pictures were taken in this area, the one with your dad, Mr. Mpareke and Mr.Livingi, and a curious villager and the other with the lady carrying water intwo containers. Those poor women have to walk so far to get that dirty water out of the river and then they also have to be careful because there are crocodiles and hippos in it. The site for the borehole is surrounded by many little villages with huts built of sticks and grass. The remainder of our trip was spent in Windhoek visiting government leaders and non-profit organizations to see if we can be of assistance to the people ofNamibia. Our best contact was with the manager of the hotel where we were staying the last three nights. Once she found out what we were up to, she offered the hotel's used blankets, bedspreads, curtains and bags of soap that could be used for children's homes or the poor. We have put our Public Affairs Person onto the task. The last picture shows some of the circumstances that thousands of people live in...the structure to the right is an out house and this one is in better shape than most we saw. It absolutely breaks your heart to see the humble conditions of these people. Give everyone our best, tell Ashton that we wish we could hear his talk Sunday and we are proud of his decision to serve as we are of Cade.

Rhino-Lion Park

Yesterday the Rhino-Lion park was so amazing. The timing was perfect for getting the most out of each animal grouping. We were just six feet away from a huge rhino who walked over to the car to check us out. Good thing that rhino's are very near sighted...seeing us clearly might have agitated him and we would have had a completely different experience. We were able to get almost as close to the lions. The park workers fed the wild dogs, cheetahs and a pride of lions. My, the male lions get grumpy when the females try to get their part of the meal!! There was a large amount of growling and swatting going on. After seeing them have their meals it put us all in the mood for barbecued ribs!

Wildebeest etc.

Hope this email sent today is a precursor to lots of pictures don't you?

We are excited to go to the Rhino-Lion park tomorrow but we're really getting excited to go on our trip to Namibia. The fellows from physical facilities heard we were going there so they came and gave us lots of suggestions; like where we can stay, take water and food on our long drive up north, drive only in the day because there will be animals all over the roads...wort hogs, cattle, sheep, goats, elephants, wildebeest etc. We are going to have our camera ready at all times.