A Sunset Cruise and the Cape Winelands, More Goodbyes

A highlight of the Mission President's Seminar was s sunset cruise on Table Bay,

The Africa Southeast Area Interim Mission Presidents' Seminar was held Tuesday and Wednesday, 17-18 May, in Cape Town at the Victoria & Alfred Hotel at the Waterfront and we were invited. Presiding at the Seminar was Elder Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy.

The Seminar was an amazing, spiritual feast, being among these consecrated couples and taught by four general authorities, who were inspired and directed by the Spirit. Bob also directed an hour's discussion on missionary department topics the first afternoon. After the first day of meetings, we all went on a sunset cruise from Quay 5 of the Waterfront out into Table Bay, followed by a steak dinner at the City Grill at the Waterfront.

The Victoria & Alfred Hotel at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront

Mission Presidents and wives and Elder Ulisses Soares of
the Presidency of Seventy on Tuesday night's sunset cruise

Nearing sunset from the Waterfront

Elder and Sister Carl B. Cook, our departing Area President

Table Mountain from Table Bay

Elder & Sister Soares on the sunset cruise

Sunset photos from our catamaran








With the Johannesburg MTC President, Steve Ashton and his wife at the City Grill

Besides the difficult goodbyes to our missionaries and member friends in Cape Town, we had to say goodbye to our Area President, Elder Carl B. Cook, and his wife, whom we have served under for 16 months, as they left directly from the Mission President's Seminar to their home in Utah, where he has a new Church assignment, effective 1 June, chairing the Committee on Restoration of Blessings and Cancellation of Sealings. And we had to say goodbye to seven mission presidents and their wives, whom we have also served with for 16 months, who are leaving for home the end of June. Other goodbyes followed, but it was an amazing and wonderful week in Cape Town.

The seven departing mission presidents and wives gather for a photo with our new Area President, Elder Kevin Hamilton and his wife, Claudia. Left to right, Wilsons (Botswana/Namibia), Chatfields (Uganda/Ethiopia), Hickens (Kenya/Tanzania),
Ericksons (Zambia/Malawi), Merrills (Angola), Zackrisons (Durban), Hamiltons, and Thomasas (DR Congo Lubumbashi)

With Elder Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of Seventy and his wife

On Thursday, we checked out of the V&A Hotel and checked into the Protea North Wharf Hotel, a few blocks away, which we paid for with Marriott Rewards points, as Marriott recently purchased South Africa's Protea Hotel chain. Our room was a fabulous, spacious suite, at least twice as big as our other hotel room, with a warm breakfast buffet included and beautiful, modern furnishings. We stayed there two nights, and got up and walked the Sea Point Promenade along the Atlantic Ocean for an hour (about 4 miles) both mornings, before breakfast. We drove to Strand and toured The Fenix ceramic factory, then met Geoff & Angie Spires for lunch in Somerset West on Thursday on our way to tour the Cape Winelands - Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl - in the beautiful Franschhoek Mountains an hour or so northeast from Cape Town. Angie, who has late Stage 4 breast cancer, is not having any chemo or radiation treatments but is just living the end of her life to the fullest she is able. We had a great meal and visit, but saying goodbye was pretty hard. It was a beautiful day in the Winelands.

The labor-intensive Fenix ceramic factory in Strand
and a sampling of their finished ceramic animals

Making clay elephants

Making clay rhinos



Painting in pastels that turn to bold, bright colors in the kiln



The kilns

Looking inside a kiln

Finished product being taken
out of the soot and ashes

Saying our goodbyes at Mugg & Bean in the Somerset Mall to Adam, Angie and Geoff Spires from Hermanus



Views of the Cape Winelands and Cape Dutch architecture







Franschhoek Mountains

Franschhoek Cemetery



The Huguenot Memorial and Museum in Franschhoek

We spent our last two beautiful early mornings

 strolling the Sea Point Promenade before breakfast.

You never know what you might see along the

Sea Point Promenade, with Table Mountain and

Lion's Head on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, you may even see a rhino or someone with their

pet unicorn or you may find a pair of glasses

left behind by some unknown giant!

A Reunion in Cape Town and a Cruise to Robben Island

The view of Table Mountain and the Waterfront from our hotel room window

The location of our hotel and the view from our window are unmatched anywhere, right in the middle of the major tourist sights of Cape Town. When we woke up Sunday morning, this is a close up view of the sunrise from our window:

We attended Church at the Mandalay Ward, in a strip mall in the township of Mandalay. When Bob arrived here in 2005, Luthando Matsaluka was the branch president of the Khayelitsha Branch that met in this same building in Mandalay, next door to the "happy-clappy church" with the loud music and African drums. The happy-clappies are still there, but the Khayelitsha Branch was split into two wards since then, the Khayelitsha Ward, which now has its own chapel right in Khayelitsha, and the Mandalay Ward. President Matsaluka moved his family to the town of George back in 2006 and was called by Bob to preside over the George Branch. When the family moved back to Cape Town, he was called into the Cape Town Stake presidency. In a tragic event last year in the new Mandalay Ward, the second counselor in the bishopric murdered the first counselor, and Brother Matsaluka was called into the bishopric to help the bishop weather the storm and get through the ordeal of working with the two grieving families. It was so fantastic to be with the Matsaluka family at church.

With Luthando Matsaluka, his wife and three girls in front of the Mandalay Ward building on Sunday morning

Street perfomers outside our hotel at the Waterfront



A patriotic bystander painted with
the South African flag

Close up of the colorful street musicians

After lunch at the Spur at the Waterfront, above the
new restaurant terraces under construction

Sunday evening was our Open House and Reunion at the mission home for our missionaries and member friends in Cape Town. We counted forty people in attendance, and Thirsly (mission home housekeeper for over 25 years) and her daughter Bongi prepared an amazing spread for refreshments that was probably twice as much as we needed. The mission home hasn't changed in the past eight years. Here are a few photos:

Number 4 Stratford Way, Pinelands



Mission Home Entry Foyer



Mission Home Lounge



Music room off the lounge with 150 year old piano



Mission Home Lounge, looking toward entry foyer



The Kitchen Crew

Dining Room Table - Sweet Goodies End

Thirsly and Bongi in the Kitchen

Dining Room Table - Savory Goodies End

Thirsly and "Sister E."

Five former SACTM missionaries surround their former president - left to right,
Sam Nkowane, Taona Jiri, Brian Jani, Cliff Gudza and son, and Romeo Sande

The kids' table



Visiting in the lounge

Sam and Luthando Matzaluka in
the mission home dining room

Visiting in the dining room

Family photo with the Sande Family



With Kari Kruger and her friend Ethan and
President & Sister Merrill in the mission home

With Thirsly, Bongi and Sam at the Open House

It was a glorious evening, full of reminiscing and creating new memories, and saying last goodbyes.

The next day, Monday, we took the ferry to Robben Island, a lovely half-hour boat ride each way, and toured the island and the prison where Nelson Mandela had been impriosoned, in one tiny cell, for 18 of the 29 years he was incarcerated as a political prisoner, before he was released in 1994 to become the first black president of South Africa as a result of the first democratic elections, where blacks were finally allowed to vote. It was an educational and humbling, spiritual experience.

Departing the Waterfront on the Robben Island Ferry



Table Mountain from Robben Island

Penguins on Robben Island

Our guide in the Robben Island prison,
who served at the same time as Mandela
and shared his personal experiences

Nelson Mandela's prison cell on Robben Island



At the Robben Island prison,
in front of Mandela's cell block

The Robben Island Lighthouse

Our next blog post will summarize the rest of our week in Cape Town, the Mission President's Seminar and lots of difficult goodbyes.