September 21, 2014

Grootbos Forest Lodge, Hermanus LDS Church, Cape Town: South Africa

The morning started with a bit of craziness. I woke up early to get packed and as I went into our sitting room to collect our jackets and computer stuff, I reached down to pick up Sam's coat and there was a TARANTULA on top of his coat!!! FREAKED ME OUT!!! I didn't yell since I didn't want to freak out Sam who is terrified of spiders let alone a tarantula. I had to think about it, should I do this alone or should I call housekeeping?! I figured I should be able to handle this. I grabbed the corner of the coat and flung it across the room trying to shake it off. Well the coat went flying and then I couldn't find the darn spider!!! It took all my courage to shake out the coat and still couldn't find it. NOW I was really freaking, not sure where it ended up landing. I then went to couch to inspect and it crawled out right under the pillow by my foot - then I started screaming. Sam of course woke up;)!  Seems funny now, but it wasn't then! Finally I scarred it away from our stuff and threw a big blanket over it and then just frantically picked up all our things and shut the door and then shook out things in the hallway. Thank heavens no more tarantulas!! Not going to lie, all day I feel like something is crawling up me! 

The day got more peaceful as we drove to a church in Hermanus, a small beach town about 30 minutes away from our hotel. The Hermanus LDS Branch was a rented small space that was clean and perfect for the LDS branch that consisted of about 35 people. They asked Sam to help pass the Sacrament since they only had one young priesthood holder that was probably about Sam's age. Sam responded quickly and sat with the boy who told him how they do it in his branch. It was nice to see that the church ordinances are the same everywhere. The meeting was very nice, several locals spoke and then a High Council speaker sent his thoughts from the Stake Presidency, which is based out of Cape Town- two hours away. The message was about loving one another, regardless of race, upbringing, neighborhood issues,...It seemed an appropriate message where they are still working through issues and integration in South Africa. We met our neighbors sitting next to us and introduced ourselves to the newest member of the LDS Church there, Bernard. He had just been baptized. He was friendly and when he asked where we were from we said USA, he said "my blazer is from the USA!"...you could tell he was excited about his new Sunday blazer.  It was fun to meet others of our faith, even the newest members, and share our desire to be followers of Christ in these latter days and their commitment to be at church on Sunday. 

We enjoyed the views  along the coast and the mountains as we had a 2 hour drive back to Cape Town. We found a lovely terrace to have lunch on and enjoyed watching sailboats and tug boats and coming in and out of the harbor, along with the seals playing around in the water out front of our restaurant. After lunch we went for Sam's daily dose of Häagen dazs before heading up to the Springbok Museum. 

Sam is fascinated by Rugby, like I have mentioned before we have been tossing his mini Rugby ball a lot! We toured the museum and participated in all the interactive games they had- from testing to see if you could make the team, to your reflexes and throwing and punting. Sam scored well, my only strong suit was the throwing ;) The most interesting part of the museum to me was reading about the important part the sport of Rugby played in ending Apartheid and then in unifying a nation. They had been not allowed to play in many places and others wouldn't play against them due to their Apartheid sanctions. Once Apartheid ended and Mandela was President, it was a significant moment for the country and for the world to have South Africa beat their biggest competition the All Blacks from New Zealand in the World Cup Final in 1995. With Mandela at the game wearing the #6, the Captain's number and then handing the trophy to the Captain, it became of symbol of a nation moving forward. It was not just one team fighting for the World Cup trophy but a nation fighting for the world's and it's own respect and unification. (See Invictus if you haven't!)

Enjoying some down town at our hotel tonight overlooking Table Mountain and the Harbor. Going to head out and find some dinner. Happy Sunday.