Lion Park

This weekend we finally got out and were able to see a little bit of South Africa. Gordon and Michele (our next door neighbors, the other missionary associates from California) took us to stay at her Dad's house in Johannesburg. He is a missionary who is home on furlough right now, so we were able to use his house for a mini vacation. The highlight of the weekend was going to the Lion Park. The kids got to pet some baby lions and feed a giraffe. The kids didn't actually feed the giraffe because they were grossed out by the slobbery tongue. We then drove through the lion camps where lions roam freely. In these pictures, the lions are as close as 5 ft. It was pretty amazing to be so close to animals that big and powerful. You just stay in your car and take pictures of the lions through the cracked window. It was really fun and we got some great pictures. We want to go back some time when they feed the lions. I think that will be fun to watch. You get to ride on a truck while they drag the meat behind so that the lions have to chase it to get it. We also got to go to a restaurant called Carnivores. It is an all you can eat place where they bring you meat from all kinds of different game animals. We ate Rhino, Venison, Kudu, Giraffe, Crocodile, Lamb, Beef, Pork, Chicken, Zebra, and Ostrich. I've always wanted to try different meats like that. It was really good, but it was an over load of meat. That will be a fun restaurant to take visitors to for a taste of Africa. On sunday we went to Rhema church in Johannesburg. I think it is the largest predominantly black church in Jo-Burg. I think that I heard that they have 37,000 members. They have six services every sunday in their huge auditorium. It was a cool experience. Their worship was great. It was good to visit, but I don't think it is a church that I would attend. We got to have some real coffee for the first time since we've been in Africa. We went to the Seattle Coffee Company for a taste of home. We had a great weekend. It was nice to get out of Rustenburg and visit someplace a little more modern and civilized. It was fun to have a chance to see some more of South Africa and do some things that we've never done before. We had some great experiences and had some rest and relaxation.

We thought of doing a chinese fire drill until we saw this big guys teeth.


With a face this cute, can you believe we had giraffe for dinner? I kind of felt bad about that.