Summer Skies

The Summer skies of South Africa are a fantasy land of changing shapes and sizes. The brilliant white of majestic clouds against the azure blue of the sky is breathtaking. Around every bend in the road I am drawn into wonder as I contemplate the love that went into the creation of this beautiful part of God's handiwork.

Elder Webb and I took off from Johannesburg and headed for Lesotho, a small kingdom completely land locked by South Africa. We have been given the assignment to train church leadership in different areas with regards to the Perpetual Education Program. This little country is located about 6 hours from Joburg, but we were to go through Bloemfontein where we stopped for district meetings. The pictures in this section were taken as we traveled.

I wish I could share the true effect of these dramatic viewing sensations. Summers are relatively mild with temperatures going into the 80's.

Summer storms can blow in and out in a few minutes or can last for hours. We seem to get most of our storms in the late afternoon and they come complete with lightning shows that boast massive claps of thunder 1 second after the lightning strike. This raucous thunder can roll on for what seems like minutes, or it can crash so loud and quick one grabs for one's heart. This is the most amazing Summer cacophony I have ever witnessed, beating out the storm shows of Phoenix, Arizona.

I just wanted to show you some of the cloud formations but must admit these pictures just do not do justice . I can't capture the thunder clouds because the sky becomes so black the light will not pick up in the camera.

I can be standing at the sink in the kitchen of our flat and the room can be light and very warm one minute and then a storm rolls in and before I know it the room is dark as if night were coming on. The temperature of the house cools and the skies open up with down pours of water, sometimes including hail. There is so much energy in the air with the wind and rain that it is palpable. Then comes the thunder claps and the lightening show. When I was a child I would cower at the thought of thunder storms, here I relish them. There is something about being under the protection of this missionary umbrella that is so comforting. One can just relax and watch the show God puts on all around us. His miracles go on every day in the lives of those who love him.

Another reason for you to come experience the sensations of South Africa for yourself.

One thing I have noticed is that there are no contrails here. I have never seen one. The Montana skies are full of them as are the Utah and Oregon skies. I will miss the clean blue and the massive white of South Africa Summer skies when I return to the U.S. a year from now.

The picture of Elder Webb and Toboho is Sunday in Lesotho. We were miss- guided by our GPS to a branch building that will be completed in May. We had to return to the previous meeting house to get directions to our appointment. Toboho graciously showed us the current meeting site. By the time we got there everyone was gone. We were very sad about that. Our phone would not work and the hotel we stayed in did not have Internet service so we had no way of communicating with the Branch President. We finally reached him after arriving back at the office. He was disappointed as well.

When we returned home from Lesotho we found that we had no house phone, cell phone or Internet service. They had all been turned off because of lack of payment; which payments are made by the Area Office finance department. Here in South Africa people just take off during the holiday. If the bills are not paid it's just, oh well. We are learning to cover ourselves in different ways. Next time we travel we will get a sym card so we can communicate where ever we might be. What did we ever do without cell phones and computers. That was in olden times, wasn't it?

God continues to bless us with wondrous adventures and sweet experiences that assure us of his love for us and all his children. He does hear and answer our prayers on a daily basis. Many of our prayers are for those we love in the states and it is confidence in His tender mercies that gives us such peace we are able to continue in our jobs here.

Note from Elder Webb: "Many of the "sky" pictures were taken from the moving car with Carol leaning out the window!"