Off, Off, and Away. . . . .

The missionaries left a week before Christmas this year so we had a few days free before getting the next ones in. We had heard from several people how nice the "Garden Route" was, going along the Cape Coast, so we decided to fly to George, rent a car and travel to a few of the destinations. We got a whole different taste of South Africa. It was very green and beautiful. Forested mountain areas with lakes and streams on one side and then the beautiful Indian Ocean Coast on the other. Some of the days were rainy and misty, but some were beautiful and sunny. We enjoyed every day. It was beauty everywhere we looked! The people of Africa take most of the month of December off and go on holiday so the beaches were packed. Many people have a holiday home on the coast just like many of us have a cabin in the mountains. The kids are out of school the whole month.

Christmas was so different for us this year. The first time we haven't had some family with us in 43 years! We felt a little lonely. Dean's counselor and his wife, Pres. and Sister Barnett, had us over for Christmas dinner. It was very nice and we enjoyed being with them and their family. I took my camera, but forgot to take any pictures.

We were happy to chat with all the kids and grandkids. We are glad that Staci, Jodi, and Tammy do a blog so that we can see all the happenings in their lives. We loved getting a CD from Tammy of all the year's events. That was just wonderful!

We enjoyed being able to go to Church in Soweto because we rarely get a chance to go to any other Church. We have all of our Sunday meetings right here. Soweto is a township composed of mostly black Africans.

We will get new missionaries in tomorrow so. . . . "the party's over." :)