President Gary L. Packer and Sister Paula Packer arrived early, early Thursday morning
(9 June). Following a meeting with the couples and a brunch at our apartment, the next thing on the agenda was a Zone Conference with the missionaries.
As you can see there are 8 missionaries here and they are all excellent missionaries. They had not seen the mission president for 6 months so they were very excited and happy for the conference. The reason we are all laughing is we had 3 timed photo cameras and Sister Packer barely got seated before they all clicked. From left to right: Sister and Elder Frogley, Sister and President Packer, and Sister and Elder Evanson with the 8 missionaries behind.
Part of President Packers visit was to have a recreational day with the Couples. We chose to take a boat trip to see the hippo's. The boat (more like a rubber dingy) docked from our favorite place at Hotel Tanganyika. The boat was large enough to fit the six of us, our guide and driver. We were almost blinded by our brand new "bright orange" life jackets!
As you can see it was nice and cosy as we left and headed east towards the city of Bujumbura. Our guide said that there was a pod of hippo's that had migrated across the
the top of the lake and was near the city. It took us about 15 minutes to get there.
President and Sister Packer. They are very fun to be with and President Packer always has a story to tell.
Elder and Sister Frogley have become wonderful friends.
Most of the fishermen on the lake do there fishing at night. We caught these two taking a cruise in the daytime.
We finally found a family of hippo's and were surprised at how large they are. They were feeding close to the shore on the vegetation. They were very suspicious and would dive under the water at the slightest provocation.
There was probably about 4 adults and 2 or 3 young ones in this group.
We then turned around and went west towards the Congo and the Ruzizi River. This took us about 30 - 40 minutes. At the mouth of the Ruzizi River there are large areas of reeds and willows. This is the favorite habitat for the hippos so it didn't take us long to spot a group on the edge of this vegetation. I caught these two fighting.
We had a great time together. How else could you associate with such wonderful people, be in such a exotic place, feel so needed and serve such awesome members than to serve as a couple missionary.
This is Sita our neighbour and friend. She is from Thailand and her husband is from Japan. She wanted to teach me some Thai cooking so we thought it would be a fun activity to do while our husbands were away. It took about 3 hours to prepare the food but it was well worth it.
Starting from the left: traditional Thai shrimp soup, shrimp fried rice, steamed fish, BBQ pork and salad, deep fried chicken (bullseye sauce) and wasabi broccoli. Everything was very tasty and Sita garnished the plates so beautifully. Myself, Sita and Sister Packer. Notice the big fan in the background--that's my clothes dryer and air-conditioner!!
The highlight of the weekend was the branch division. From 10 members, when the country was dedicated to missionary work by Elder Holland, to the first branch organized in January, to the branch division with 120 members has been truly a miracle.
The three brethren sitting are Simone Siguru, President Johnson Hatungimana and Thomas Ntibiyumwe and are the presidency of the Bujumbura 2nd Branch. President Packer and President Mutshail (counsellor to President Packer) are in the back.
Aimable Otis Burundi, President Kyubi Wakyubi Malabi and Rajabu Minos Mabingo are the presidency of the Bujumbura 1st Branch.
(9 June). Following a meeting with the couples and a brunch at our apartment, the next thing on the agenda was a Zone Conference with the missionaries.
As you can see there are 8 missionaries here and they are all excellent missionaries. They had not seen the mission president for 6 months so they were very excited and happy for the conference. The reason we are all laughing is we had 3 timed photo cameras and Sister Packer barely got seated before they all clicked. From left to right: Sister and Elder Frogley, Sister and President Packer, and Sister and Elder Evanson with the 8 missionaries behind.
Part of President Packers visit was to have a recreational day with the Couples. We chose to take a boat trip to see the hippo's. The boat (more like a rubber dingy) docked from our favorite place at Hotel Tanganyika. The boat was large enough to fit the six of us, our guide and driver. We were almost blinded by our brand new "bright orange" life jackets!
As you can see it was nice and cosy as we left and headed east towards the city of Bujumbura. Our guide said that there was a pod of hippo's that had migrated across the
the top of the lake and was near the city. It took us about 15 minutes to get there.
President and Sister Packer. They are very fun to be with and President Packer always has a story to tell.
Elder and Sister Frogley have become wonderful friends.
Yours truly Elder and Sister Evanson having a lot of fun.
Most of the fishermen on the lake do there fishing at night. We caught these two taking a cruise in the daytime.
We finally found a family of hippo's and were surprised at how large they are. They were feeding close to the shore on the vegetation. They were very suspicious and would dive under the water at the slightest provocation.
There was probably about 4 adults and 2 or 3 young ones in this group.
We then turned around and went west towards the Congo and the Ruzizi River. This took us about 30 - 40 minutes. At the mouth of the Ruzizi River there are large areas of reeds and willows. This is the favorite habitat for the hippos so it didn't take us long to spot a group on the edge of this vegetation. I caught these two fighting.
We had a great time together. How else could you associate with such wonderful people, be in such a exotic place, feel so needed and serve such awesome members than to serve as a couple missionary.
The highlight of the weekend was the branch division. From 10 members, when the country was dedicated to missionary work by Elder Holland, to the first branch organized in January, to the branch division with 120 members has been truly a miracle.
The three brethren sitting are Simone Siguru, President Johnson Hatungimana and Thomas Ntibiyumwe and are the presidency of the Bujumbura 2nd Branch. President Packer and President Mutshail (counsellor to President Packer) are in the back.
Aimable Otis Burundi, President Kyubi Wakyubi Malabi and Rajabu Minos Mabingo are the presidency of the Bujumbura 1st Branch.
This is a great post! I love all the amazing pictures. You both look so good! I can tell that you are really happy. It looks like you had a great time with Pres. and Sis. Packer.
ReplyDeletehello from North Taber! ice to see you doing so well. Love Ann
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