There are countless blessings that come with each baptism, but I don't think this one ever occurred to Elder Taggart and Elder Bjornn: after teaching and baptizing a wonderful young woman named Holly, Elder Taggart mentioned to her one day that he loved penguins. Holly, who had recently worked for the Omaha Zoo made it her mission to work out a way for him to actually meet one of the little fellows. So it wasn't long before an invitation was extended to the elders and then to us, to come visit the zoo and shake hands (flippers) with a real live penguin!
Introducing Holly and Mac. Mac is a little macaroni penguin who lives here at the Omaha Zoo. During our visit she was very cordial and interested in all her visitors but stayed close to her trainers. She let everyone shake her flipper (very interesting feeling, not at all what you would expect) but after a while she got tired of all the attention. With a few funny waddles and awkward jumps she made her way up the stairs to the door she obviously knew led back to her friends. There she waited patiently until someone finally opened the way for her escape.
After meeting Mac we were taken on a personal guided tour above the aquarium. It was amazing to see everything up close and personal. Here is a huge tank of jelly fish floating just a few feet below us.
And sharks, maybe a little too close for comfort. What a day! What fun! Thank you, Holly, for the adventure and thanks to our great elders who wanted to share this experience with us.
...slip, splash, ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
