Humanitarian Aid Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa

The following four photos: These are photos of the hotel where we stayed.  The core building was built in 1895 as the Governor's mansion. The grounds were very lovely with interesting sculptures and beautiful plants and flowers.  As Johannesburg is far enough south to actually have seasons, many of the leaves have fallen from the trees since winter is approaching.

The next two:  The purpose of the trip was a conference for the humanitarian missionary couples in the entire SE Africa area, so we had couples from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa, Gabon and two from the DRC (ourselves and other couple who just arrived and who will be posted to the Lubumbashi, DRC mission).  Unfortunately, the couple from South Sudan were sent home due to the political unrest there, and the couple from Zambia were unable to come. 

The next three: Johannesburg temple, area offices and grounds.

Conference attendees: Mostly Humanitarian Missionaries from other African countries but some were locals of course and the young couple on the far left is the Area President and wife, Elder and Sister Cook.