I would walk five hundred....

Hallo, welcome, there are pictures at the bottom of this if your A.D.D. :)

So maybe you are thinking, man they have a great room and get to hold baby lions they are living the life. The thing that the pictures may not accurately portray is the fact that we feel much like Rapunzel, well I guess there are stairs but many times a day we have to climb a billy goat trail to get to our tower.  The first few times there was definite concern over our cardiac health.  But our room is nice  :)

Walking and more walking during the week, so we thought we would take a hike on the weekend just for a change of pace.  We ended up going down to the Drakkensberg (click to see map) means dragon mountains or range, nice and foreboding.  We had a nice drive down there and the mountain really just come up out the plains not really much in the way of foothills.  We did and amazing hike, some canyoneering like what can be found in AZ, and then there was some chain ladders and root ladders which were new to us, but very cool.  We did a hike called the Amphitheater on Saturday and Sunday we tried to do the Sentinel one of the largest chain ladders around.  The winds were gusting way too hard so we had to just take some pictures in the strongest wind any of us have ever been in.  Videos give you a better idea but some pics are below of both.

Work is going well almost 5/8's done and we are going to be finished we hope in about 2 or 3 weeks.  Food is good (most asked question by far).

We had our C.O.'s visit this week, he was Afrikaans (old dutch) and was maybe a little more straight forward than what we are used to.  In service you have the whole group go to 1 territory, I asked a few brothers why they did that way, no one knew heh.  But it is pretty fun, and no one seems to care in the territory so I guess why not.

Well hope all our well, look forward to hearing what is happening with you on the other side of the pond.
Cheers--Speers

Amphitheater of the Drakkensberg

70 mile an hour winds can make you do weird things...

Or get some sweet hair rocking!

That is vertical and a fall and finger hazard

We all made it up that, water was frigid and I fell in...after I put my boots on.

Tunnel with people you know

Sentinel in backgroud

All Work and No Play

Our job is coming along quite nicely.  We've been able to spend some time outdoors lately, documenting the electrical panels there.  This branch is really gorgeous, it's almost a nature reserve.  One Bethelite has recorded 85 species of birds here.  We also saw a mongoose the other day, hopefully busy keeping the snake population down.  They have many spots here for a braii (pronounced bry), which is just a BBQ.  They love to braii here.  One spot is up on a cliffside, they built a nice little platform and some seating and a picnic table, and it has an awesome view.  The braii area we've been working at is a beautiful little pond, which is frequented by geese, heron, and the local deer.   The whole branch is built on a hillside, so everyone has a great view, and our room even has a little porch.

The field ministry here is quite refreshing for us.  The Afrikaans and African people here have enormous respect for the Bible, quite different from what we're used to in Sedona.  And most speak English, even though for many it is not their first language.  You can easily place literature with the Africans, but the Afrikaans have been told we're the anti-Christ so it's a little more difficult to get them to converse.  We did have a nice conversation with a young Afrikaans man who knew his Bible well, so that was fun.  We don't get to use our Bible so much in Sedona, so it was a nice change.

We had Bro. Morris of the Governing Body here recently.  He had some wonderful Morning Worship programs and a special talk after the Monday night Watchtower Study.  It was very nice and he even stayed in the room next to us, so it really cramped our partying plans. :)  We did get to meet him though and talk with him a bit, he is a really funny and fun loving person. One cool experience he told us was from Liberia, a sister named Shushonna.  She was an invalid, but she wanted to auxiliary pioneer.  The congregation worked up a schedule for one publisher to come to her home each morning and dial phone numbers and hold the phone up to her ear so she could work telephone territory.  It encouraged everyone so much that they pioneers doubled, from 15 to 30.  One man that she reached on the telephone was blind and he was so depressed.  He told her that he didn't want to live anymore, so she said "Let's talk about what you do have... do you have children?" "Yes" he said.  "Do you have grandchildren?" "Yes" "Can you walk?" "Yes"  After a bit more, he said he was so encouraged by her call, and he wanted her to come and teach him about the Bible.  She said that she couldn't, and he asked why.  She said "I am an invalid, lying in my bed right now, with someone holding the phone to my ear."  Well, she did arrange for someone to visit him and he's studying.

Bethelite deer, so cute!.. and very spiritual.

Our room.

View from our room.

Construction Projects in Africa