Ghia and Judy- What we learned on safari in Africa. Learning to live with high expectations and high love, and being our true authentic self.

Sonny Bonani.

2

Hooray.

3

I'm Judy.

4

And I'm Gia.

5

And we are your host for the Creative

Spiritual Journey podcast, which is

6

coming to you live from South Africa,

South Africa, and we're we're together.

7

Can you believe it?

8

We're so excited.

9

It's been super fun.

10

We love it.

11

So let's, shall we talk about today?

12

Well, we thought it would be fun to

share with you the lessons that we

13

learned from going on Safari together.

14

We spent the past week in

the Kruger National Park.

15

it was amazing.

16

I knew that there were giraffes and zebras

and lions in South Africa, in the parks.

17

I knew that we would see them, but I

was amazed how intermixed they were,

18

they were just, they were everywhere.

19

We, yeah.

20

It's not like one's in

each separate place.

21

Yeah.

22

Yeah.

23

They live together.

24

Anyway, I was surprised.

25

Yeah, it is been super fun to show you g.

26

The just.

27

South Africa, not just Krueger, the

potholes and out potholes and the

28

day, the potholes in the roads, the

traffic, the crazy taxi drivers,

29

the people walking in the dark to

work that you are sure that they're

30

just gonna get run over on the way.

31

Yeah.

32

They're in dark clothes and they're

dark skin and they're, they're hard

33

to see it that, you know, the members

of our branches here have just warmly

34

embraced Kirk Gee and Luann, and it's

just been really fun to share our life

35

that we've been experiencing in the past.

36

What, 17 months with you and when she

says embrace, she means it literally.

37

Yeah.

38

Like we went to church and

all these strangers were just

39

coming up and hugging us.

40

Yeah.

41

They're beautiful people

with, Lots of love to give.

42

Okay.

43

So there we were.

44

At Krueger National Park, we wake

up at four o'clock in the morning so

45

that we can meet our guide at five.

46

And it's fall here, right?

47

Mm-hmm.

48

At home, it's spring here.

49

It's fall and it's starting to get cold,

and we are in an open safari vehicle

50

and we have to drive from our lodge.

51

To the entrance station of the national

park, 20 minutes going a hundred

52

kilometers an hour, and we were freezing.

53

It was like the polar bear plunge,

bobsled rider, I dunno how to

54

describe it, but it was cold.

55

But we would get into.

56

Kruger National Park, right at dawn.

57

Mm-hmm.

58

And just watch the world wake

up and the sky change colors.

59

Mm-hmm.

60

And the mist across the mountains.

61

Yeah.

62

And lo and behold, there was a giraffe.

63

A giraffe is standing right there.

64

Oh my gosh.

65

The first time we saw them, you know,

they were a speck in the distance

66

and we all got on our cameras and

we tried to take pictures and.

67

And Eric and I look at each

other 'cause we've been on

68

safaris and we know how it is.

69

The first sighting, you're trying

to take that far distant picture

70

and it's a speck and you're like,

oh, by the end of the drive you're

71

gonna be like, ah, another giraffe.

72

And that's exactly the way

it was, but it was still.

73

Amazing.

74

Yeah, those first few sightings, giraffes,

elephants, impalas, zebras, wart, hogs.

75

So what you need to know about the impalas

is their markings are on their bottom.

76

When they're tellers down, it looks

like an M, and they're so many of 'em

77

that they call them the golden arches.

78

Of the Kruger, the McDonald's,

these are the food.

79

This is your basic everyday food.

80

That's what they are.

81

and they're beautiful.

82

The other thing about the Impalas

is that they are in rut right now.

83

Oh.

84

Which means that the, that the male

ram is running around, you know,

85

controlling his harem, keeping them

in a bunch, chasing away all the

86

males, and they grunt and growl.

87

It sounds like a demon from hell yeah.

88

Coming at you.

89

It's unbelievable.

90

So we have this very nice 23-year-old

guide and I asked him how long he had been

91

guiding and he got really embarrassed.

92

He says, well, this is my first month,

but he was raised in the Kruger.

93

His dad was a guide and he

used to ride around in the.

94

jump seat in the jump seat right

next to his dad since he was a

95

little boy and he loves this park.

96

And when we met his dad, his dad said

that the first time that he took him to

97

Kruger, that he cried when, when he had

to leave because he just loved it so much.

98

So this is his life.

99

It is.

100

You can just see his passion for it.

101

He's a photographer, but he

just knows the little intricate.

102

Things about nature and he respects it.

103

That's what I liked about him.

104

Yeah.

105

Is he was just very

respectful of nature and.

106

And so this may have been his

first month guiding, but that's

107

because he was away at college.

108

And then you have to

jump through all these.

109

You had to grow up.

110

Yeah, you have to jump through all these

hoops in order to get your guide license.

111

Mm-hmm.

112

It's not easy.

113

He was finally in the guide seat, and I

think he was on just cloud nine, but he

114

also had a tremendous amount of pressure

to show us everything that Kruger had to.

115

Show us the big five, right?

116

Yeah.

117

And you know, so like we said,

we were completely excited and

118

blown away to see the giraffes

and the elephants and the zebras.

119

But as his mind.

120

I think he was afraid that the

customers wouldn't be satisfied unless

121

they had seen a cheetah, a lion,

or a lion or one of the leopards.

122

And so he's under a lot of

pressure to show those to us.

123

So we would see this elephant

herd and we would be there for,

124

literally, it felt like a few seconds.

125

It, it was maybe a couple minutes,

but it seemed like a few seconds.

126

And then he would be driving

away and we would be.

127

Looking wistfully back at the

elephants, you know, he wanted

128

to soak that in a little longer.

129

Yeah, so that night, you know, we

kind of talked it over and the next

130

day when we met him, we were like,

Hey, we would really, you know,

131

like to slow down a little bit and

spend more time with the animals.

132

And he like, got it.

133

Immediately.

134

He was like, okay.

135

And he took us out on this.

136

Different road that we hadn't been on the

day before, and we just drove much slower.

137

We stopped even when we

hadn't seen an animal.

138

Mm-hmm.

139

Just because he was like,

something might show up here.

140

Oh.

141

And we would just sit there and

talk and a bird would fly up.

142

What were those?

143

Oh, the lac, the rollers, Lilac breasted

roller and he was explaining to us

144

how this bird was the wedding ring.

145

Bird.

146

You're supposed to be able to give

one of its feathers to your love.

147

Yes.

148

To tell them you wanted to get married.

149

You have to look up the lilac

breasted roller 'cause it is

150

lilac and this aqua blue and.

151

very beautiful, very stunning bird, and

I don't think we would've ever seen it or

152

really had a chance to stop and enjoy it.

153

Mm-hmm.

154

Mm-hmm.

155

If we hadn't just been

sitting there mm-hmm.

156

If we hadn't slowed down, then

we would have missed seeing

157

some black back jackals.

158

I love these.

159

They're like the fox of South

Africa and they are hard to see.

160

If we weren't sitting still, I

think we would've totally missed it.

161

Yeah.

162

And they were hunting.

163

Mm-hmm.

164

And he was really wise in how he

would notice the impalas and, they

165

would stop and watch if they're

all looking the same direction.

166

You know, there was something to

look also, and he knew about the.

167

Go away bird.

168

Mm-hmm.

169

He would hear the, and he

knew that was an alarm.

170

He knew the alarms of the savanna,

which meant there was a predator.

171

Mm-hmm.

172

And we could stop and

watch and look for them.

173

And so one of the predators

that we saw when he said, oh,

174

there's something around here.

175

And we looked and we saw some.

176

Spotted, hyenas, you know, in the

daytime hyenas are, done, and they're

177

usually sleeping in their den.

178

And so we saw two headed back home and

that was, that was pretty cool to see.

179

Yeah.

180

And then we saw the

elusive Secretary Bird.

181

Now go look that one up too.

182

The Secretary Bird has the real long

legs and it spends most of its time

183

on the ground, and they are expert.

184

Snake hunters.

185

They're so cool they are, I think one

of my favorite birds here, and they look

186

like they just woke up with bedhead.

187

They have the, a whole bunch of

these random feathers that just

188

stick out at the top of their heads.

189

Well, they're called secretary

birds, like they have these.

190

Pin, like their writing pins.

191

Oh, their pins stuck in

their bun, stuck in their,

192

and there was a feather laying at the

feet, and Judy tried her best to talk,

193

our guide to get out and get the feather,

but we, in the end, we decided it wasn't

194

worth risking his life to get out of this.

195

I don't safari.

196

I don't know.

197

Gia don't think he should

have caught up for me anyway.

198

tell them what you learned.

199

Okay, so one of your jobs

on a Savannah is your eyes.

200

You're looking, you're scanning,

you're scanning the trees for

201

the leopards, you're scanning the

grass for the lions, which by.

202

Chants happened to be the same

color as the lions, right?

203

The grass.

204

The grass.

205

This is the same color, and

the trees are spotted leafs.

206

So a spotted leopard, they, you know,

God created them to be camouflaged for a

207

reason, so I actually thought it got to

be exhausting and a little discouraging.

208

I felt like I was failing because

I wasn't spotting anything.

209

And, and what are, your chances and your

odds 'cause this is a huge place and,

210

so I just thought, okay, I'm gonna set,

I'm gonna reexamine, that's a good word.

211

I'm gonna reexamine my expectations.

212

I lowered it to a termite mound.

213

There were termite mounds everywhere,

and so I was winning all the

214

time that look a termite mound.

215

And we started taking pictures and

I felt the stress level go down

216

and my enjoyment level rise when I

started just lowering my expectations.

217

So we had a whole little series

of termite mound pictures.

218

I bet there wasn't a single other

tourist there taking termite mound

219

pictures But one of my favorite things

we enjoyed when we stopped and slowed

220

down is we were watching the elephants

and there was one that was asleep.

221

Up against a tree, kind of resting

resting his head against the tree and

222

swaying, and he was snoring and his trunk

was hanging straight down and like the

223

bottom part was resting on the ground.

224

Almost like a kink.

225

Yeah.

226

And he was just kind of rocking.

227

I don't know how long we sat there and

watched a sleeping elephant and then the

228

snore, it, it kind of sounded like the.

229

Reverberation in a wet, dry vac, you know?

230

Oh, it was priceless.

231

And Adrian, our guide, said he

had never heard that before.

232

That was really fun.

233

It was a rare treat.

234

Yeah.

235

I noticed as we were having this

beautiful, intimate little moment with

236

nature that behind us where these other

safari jeeps that were racing from

237

reported sightings to reported sightings.

238

It became like a lion hunt.

239

And I thought it's not so much that.

240

I've lowered my expectations.

241

it's raising the love.

242

Let me explain.

243

We have a.

244

Principle in mission work called high

expectations, high Love Christ says,

245

what man or man ought you to be?

246

Even as I am?

247

That is pretty high.

248

Some high expectations.

249

It's a very high expectation,

but if we bring in the high love.

250

His grace, his love helps us change

our thoughts and our talk of instead

251

of being frustrated and disappointed

where I can't see that leopard.

252

Mm-hmm.

253

That perfect pictured leopard.

254

Instead, I've changed to

a high love of gratitude.

255

Gratitude I think is the highest love.

256

I love that.

257

Yeah.

258

We were just grateful for anything

and everything that we saw around

259

us, and I was grateful to see

another magnificent giraffe.

260

Or another Impala and they

were just all part of it.

261

Or another termite mound,

another termite mound.

262

Then we appreciated

the things that we saw.

263

Neil l Anderson, the corner of

the 12 Apostle said that when

264

we give high expectations and

high love, we can see miracles.

265

Mm-hmm.

266

We saw some miracles.

267

Yes, we did so at the, the very last

day of our time in Kruger National Park.

268

As we were leaving the park,

we were going to drive.

269

In our own vehicle across

just a corner of the park.

270

And we didn't have a guide.

271

It was just us in our little van and,

but we had been told by the guide that

272

in this one little section of road

we might possibly see a rhinoceros.

273

So we didn't really expect anything

and we were just driving along

274

and all of a sudden, Judy shouts.

275

Rhino and we couldn't believe it.

276

We saw a rhinoceros.

277

Yes, we saw two rhinoceros and

they, ah, magnificent creatures.

278

Yeah.

279

Aren't they?

280

Beautiful.

281

Beautiful.

282

So, seeing a rhino miracle, nah,

maybe not, but a great reward.

283

Absolutely.

284

Mm-hmm.

285

So, GIA, if you were to share with

us your greatest lesson from the

286

Safari Drive, what would it be?

287

So here's the thing that I thought

about a lot while I was watching these

288

animals, that they have no shame.

289

They were all just doing

their animal thing.

290

And animals teach us to trust the design

to live from a place of wholeness.

291

Yeah.

292

And they remind us to be true

to our God-given identity.

293

That that's what I just kept

thinking about, just like

294

I could be true to myself.

295

And I feel like when I live

authentically, I create balance in

296

the world, in my world at least.

297

And, animals in their quiet way

point us back to our creator.

298

And so.

299

some of the words that I thought

about while I was thinking

300

about animals were unapologetic.

301

Yeah.

302

Meaning they're bold and real and

unashamed of their true natures.

303

Well, how many of them

pooped right in front of us?

304

Right?

305

they were also raw, meaning

stripped of pretense.

306

They weren't trying to be

anything or anyone else.

307

Um, they were true.

308

As in true to their purpose

or true to themselves.

309

Mm-hmm.

310

Um, they were wild as in untamed

and free and, and deeply alive.

311

the word that came to my

mind was just survival.

312

their life was about survival.

313

Yeah.

314

That's every day, all day.

315

Yeah, that's kind of, that's true.

316

And the reality is, is that's

what our lives are about.

317

We're about survival.

318

Mm.

319

We just get so sidetracked by

other worries that we forget.

320

We're just surviving this life.

321

Right.

322

and then the last word that came to

my mind was authentic, Listen to this

323

definition of authentic, true to one's

own personality, spirit, or character.

324

And this is the best part of undisputed

origin and not a copy genuine.

325

I love that undisputed origin.

326

I am from a heavenly home.

327

That's who I am, and

that's how I want to live.

328

I love that.

329

The word authentic being even

even the animals, you look at a.

330

I heard of zebras, and you think

they're all the same, but they're not.

331

They all have their own stripes.

332

They have their own stripes.

333

And same with the giraffes.

334

They none are the same, right?

335

They're authentic,

336

Now.

337

I am fascinated by the power of

words in the doctrine and covenants.

338

38 3.

339

Jesus says, I am the same, which

span and the world was made.

340

All things come by me.

341

This makes me want to be wise

with the words I use and it makes

342

me believe that the words I use

can create the life that I want.

343

Absolutely.

344

So.

345

As I was looking at this list of words

these animals have brought to my mind,

346

the one that really stood out to me.

347

The one that I want to bring

more into my life is authentic.

348

living in alignment with my true self,

unmasked, unfiltered, and unapologetic.

349

I love this word because it

isn't about perfectionism.

350

It's about honoring my inner being.

351

It allows me to trust who I am.

352

So I am making a deliberate choice to

bring this word authentic into my life.

353

I am going to write it on sticky

notes and put it up on my computer.

354

And I already wrote it on the

front of my South African journal.

355

No, you did.

356

I didn't know that.

357

And I am going to use it in my prayers,

and I'm going to see how many places

358

in my conversations I can use it.

359

And you might even hear me

use it in future podcasts.

360

my goal is to bring the creative

power of this word into my life.

361

So those are our lessons

from South Africa.

362

I have a saying, I always say

when you argue with reality,

363

you lose 100% of the time.

364

And the reality was we were gonna

see what we were gonna see and the

365

struggle and the fight of trying to

find the elusive leopard in the tree.

366

Instead of just accepting come what may

and and come what may was beautiful.

367

Right.

368

Come what may was beautiful and

we really have no control of life.

369

So why not relax and enjoy the beauty

and surprises we see along the way.

370

Yeah.

371

Have the faith.

372

I think we need to have hope and faith in.

373

In God's plan for us.

374

I think that goes along

with your being authentic.

375

Mm-hmm.

376

You know, we were created just like that

lion was created to blend into that grass.

377

We were created also

with purpose and a plan.

378

Mm-hmm.

379

A, a magnificent plan.

380

And it's my hope that in learning

to be authentic, it will help me

381

connect with what I value, what

I love, and what makes me, me.

382

Mm-hmm.

383

So, Judy and I know that your time is

precious and that you have many choices

384

and we love that you have chosen to

spend a few minutes with us today.

385

And if you like this podcast, will you

take time right now to share it with

386

a friend, share it somewhere on social

media, or leave us a five star rating.

387

Your efforts will help this podcast

make a bigger impact in the world.

388

And we'll tell Judy and me that you

like our show and give us the motivation

389

to keep going and we need that.

390

Yes, we do.

391

Okay.

392

I wanna leave you with an

invitation on your journey today.

393

Seek to live in high love and

high expectations and look for.

394

The rhino, no.

395

Look for the miracles, and I promise

you, you will see them as you

396

enjoy the termite mounds of life.

397

and as said by Winnie the Pooh,

oh, I love Winnie the Poh.

398

The things that make me different

are the things that make me me.

399

Ah, namaste.

400

I'll see you on the trail.