Adventures: About Africa and At Sand Hollow

Recently, our friends in the Branch, Patty and John Abraham, returned from a mission to Botswana and South Africa. Seven African converts traveled from their countries to General Conference, 

met up with the Abrahams in SLC, then came to St. George for a couple of days. 

We had the privilege of hearing them each speak and hear about the Abraham's mission in a special fireside.

Me, Patty and her granddaughter

Patty and John Abraham

This beautiful young woman, Tapiwa Nakale, bore her sweet testimony.

She is a sprinter and a track star and used to compete bare-footed. 

She was awarded five gold medals in Botswana. 

 She plans to go on a mission when she turns 19 and wants to be an engineer.

Tapiwa with her medals

This is Jeffrey Mosweswe, his wife, Duduestsang, and their son, Kaene. President Mosweswe is currently serving as a counselor to the mission president and he has previously served as Bishop in Botswana, as well as Branch President and group leader, when there were very few members of the LDS Church in Francistown.  They would walk miles to meetings and lived on very meager incomes. Their oldest son just recently returned from a mission in Ghana. This is their son, Kaene, who is preparing to go on a mission after one more year of school. He is studying to become an attorney, is self-taught on the piano and plays with his school orchestra.

There were three other equally-impressive Africans, including a Relief Society President from Mafikeng, South Africa, who bore their testimonies and enlightened our understanding.

The Abrahams' experiences were fascinating and they did much good on their mission. John was a rocket scientist and an engineer before he retired, and he brought about many techie changes for the people. Patty's big, warm and loving heart reached and touched countless Africans and both of their testimonies and their efforts left the mission areas where they served changed for the good.

Mike and Kathy Cranny, who bought a second home down the street from us, have been friends since our college days at USU.  Mike is a potato farmer from Oakley, Idaho, is retired, but two of their kids' families live in Oakley, so they just come to St. George occasionally. 
When they do, they are ready to play! 
Off-road adventures on their Razor All-Terrain Vehicles is their favorite sport, 
and they have invited us to go with them a few times in the past, which we haven't been able to do.
Yikes! 
My past experiences in jeeping and 4-wheeling over giant rocks and down cliffs have been a bit harrowing (for this whimp), but I knew Roger loved it, so I psyched myself up for it, 
and last Saturday morning, away we went!
Sand Hollow Reservoir and the sand dunes were our destination, and it was a glorious day, 
with blue skies and perfect temperatures in the 70s.

Mike and Roger unloaded the Razor All Terrain Vehicles in a spot the Crannys had come to before.

Kathy and I are ready for an adventure!

Off we go!

We stopped to have our picnic near some pretty rock formations.

The condition of the sand was very dry, more like it is in July and August, and it was very deep. We weaved and whirled, dipped and dived along, up and down and around and through the hills, and it was glorious! Roger got stuck a couple of times, but Mike had a rope and knew how to pull him out.

We loaded up and thought our adventure was over, but,

not so much! 

On the way out of where we had parked,

Mike took the wrong road, which turned into a deep sand road, and, you guessed it, we got stuck! 

So the boys unloaded the ATVs, detached the truck from the trailer, drove the ATVs back to the paved road, drove the truck out, then backed up (forever) until they could attach it back to the manually turned-around trailer and pull it out to the paved road, then load the ATVs back on. 

PHEW!
I loved watching two farm boys figure out how to get many pounds of metal unstuck 
out of that deep, red sand. 
It was no easy feat and I was proud of them.

It took an extra hour, but no one was hurt, nothing was damaged (except maybe a little pride) and all's well that ends well, right?

We stopped at Outback for a nice dinner when we got back to town, and, I'd say, 

we shared a day of great adventure together.  

Who says when you turn 70, you have to just sit and watch the fun?