Tracting with baboons

Well this week was good. We did a lot of tracting, and we met a lot of father-led families who are willing to meet with us, which has been nice. Unfortunately many of them are going home for the holidays, so we won’t see them till January. We have been working a lot in these two big Navy housing complexes that Elder Krieger had never tracted before. The most exciting thing about these flats are that they have a baboon problem. Two out of the 3 times we have gone there we have seen like 10 baboons hanging around. I guess they are a big problem and break into people’s houses and and steal food. They are pretty smart, and pretty big. There is a group of people who come and shoot paintballs at them to try to protect the flats, but as soon as they leave, the baboons come back. I got some pretty good pictures. Its ironic to me, in the Eastern Cape people had burgler bars and were worried about being mugged and broken into by people, but here its the baboons. I guess if you are woman (they leave men alone) carrying groceries into your flat, and they are out and about, they will get pretty aggressive and take your food. Pretty exciting. 

As for our Christmas plans, the branch I guess holds a short Christmas morning service where we sing a few carols and then eat “Christmas Cake” (not sure what that is exactly, I am anticipating nasty fruitcake) and drink Ginger Beer (big fan of this). After that, we have been invited to go to a family for brunch right after, and then we will go to a family that evening to Skype home. They have a kid in the US and say they Skype frequently and it works very well. 

Yes, I got the package, haven’t opened the presents yet. I also got Grandma and Grandpa’s package. anything that wasn’t wrapped I ate promptly ; )

The weather here is pretty nice. Pretty hot, but the “Cape Doctor” (the wind) keeps things nice. 

We have been working a lot with the Edwards family. Their youngest daughter has come to church 3 Sundays in a row and wants to be baptized but won’t be able to be baptized unless there is some sort of support system. Her Brother who is a member, but has been less active for most of his life came to church for the first time in 14 years on Sunday, which is good. My hope is we can get the older sister Baptized, she is 21 and seems to have her head screwed on straight. 

There are some very nice members here, we are trying to set up plans to go around and help families make “family mission plans.”

Anyway, well I love all of you very much. Can’t wait to talk to you in a week!

Love,

Elder Martin 

The baboons. The babies are pretty cute.

Penguins live here.

Cape of Good Hope. It was a beautiful drive, rivaling
Road to the Sun in Glacier and the Kam highway on the windward side.
It kinda roasted our Ks though, it was longer then we anticipated.

Bouder Beach in Simons Town while looking at penguins.