In front of the river where we saw the kangaroos.

These are the kangaroos we saw on Sat.  Notice the joey in the mom's pouch.  It was eating grass at the same time its mother was.

These are bats that we saw near our apartment, they are called flying foxes. There are thousands of them!

Sunday 28 Jul 2013

Australia 28 Jul 2013

Dear Family:

Another busy week is gone and it was busy and wonderful.  It was so good to talk to you and see you on Monday morning on google plus.  We really look forward to those chats.  Tues night we went to the Temple and came home and got the food ready for the 24^th of July barbecue at the Mission Presidents home Wednesday.  We just stayed at the office after work and walked up to their home.  There was 6 Sr. Missionary couples, the Mission Pres and his wife, and the Temple Pres and his wife.  It was a planned pot luck and I took potato salad and peanut butter fingers.  Had to make the fingers in two pans because even if I could find a large cookie sheet it would not even fit in the oven.  I have one that won’t fit now.  One of the Sisters brought a quiz about the pioneers and it was fun to answer, they were pretty hard.

We experienced the tender mercies of the Lord this week.  Tues night my glasses broke, really broke and we knew they couldn’t be fixed.  We are thinking probably 10 days to get new ones like at home.  Wed afternoon Sister Williams and I went across the street to the mall, and while she was doing some grocery shopping, I went in search of eye shops.  There were 3 and so I just picked one and went in with a prayer that something could be done today.  The man that helped me said if I could find a frame that the lens would fit in they would be ready in 5 min.  In shock I asked if he was kidding and he said they are the only store with a shop on site.  He helped me find a pair and by the time Sister Williams found me I was paying for them.  They are probably not the ones I would chosen at home, but they will work.  I am really feeling blessed to have glasses.

Friday morning we sent over 14,000 images to S L, and we got the reports back on the first 2 shuttles we sent and everything passed, no failures.  We felt really good because no one has started photographing a project without failures the first few times.  Mark was very excited as well as Danny Chin.

Friday the Williams and us and 2 people from the HR dept at the offices were in charge of the monthly birthday lunch.  Normally they have a tea but this month they decided to have a lunch.  We went over to Buckland House at 9:30 to set up the table and chairs, and then began heating up the spaghetti sauces, the alfredo, add chicken to that.  We had all brought our crockpots.  A couple of new words, hamburger is called mince, and the garbage cans are called bins.  They added the browned mince, onions and some kidney beans to the red sauce.  We then made a green salad, warmed garlic bread, cooked pasta. One of the employees made a punch that was to die for, ginger ale, cranberry lemonade, sprite, something I have never heard of for a sweetener, a liquid, and then she put orange chunks, pineapple chunks, and frozen berries in orange juice concentrate for about an hour before then added them to the pitchers of punch and topped it off with lemon and orange slices.  Not only was it good, it looked so pretty.  For dessert we had a contest that anyone could enter.  We had about 15 entries from cheesecake, puddings, trifle, cake, chocolate, date and nut balls, banana split dessert, etc.  The judges judged on presentation, taste, and the audience judged people’s choice after eating them. It was lots of fun. By the time we had cleaned up we got back to the office at 2:30.  Not much work accomplished but it was a good change.

Yesterday we left with the Williams at 9am to go on another adventure.  We went out in the country where we saw lots of cows and horses, a few crops, grain, hay and lettuce.  We went through small towns and narrow 2 lane roads.  We went to a large river, Hawkesbury, where we could go across on the ferry.  As we waited for the ferry to come we talked to a local, who told us to turn left off the ferry and we would probably see some kangaroos.  It was a dead end at a resort.  Boy did we see them, at least 35.  We walked down to where they were and they got up and just watched us.  We walked over to another group where a joey jumped into the mothers pouch, head first and the legs were hanging out.  Another mother had one in her pouch and the head was sticking out and they were both eating grass.  We stayed and watched them and took pictures for about a half hour.  That was super fun.

We then drove down a very windy road that followed the river, with lots of trees and brush, to Wisemans Ferry where we ate lunch at” Convict Road Kiosk”.  We got a hamburger, a real hamburger not just pressed meat, and fries.  It really tasted good.  We then took off again in the car and just drove, road another ferry to get on the right side of the river to come home.  We stopped at Ebenezer’s Church, which is the oldest Church in Australia, and it is still being used for Church services on Sunday and for Weddings.  There also used to be a school, and the building is still standing.  The graveyard is very old and we walked around it reading the stones, evidently we don’t get enough of that at work.  We were standing there talking when the loudest racket started in one of the trees, birds that sounded like they were laughing, the kookaburras.  It was great fun to hear them, they flew to other trees and started in again.  They are very small, about the size of a robin.  We then came home after a wonderful day and lots of pictures.

We are anxious to hear how Eli and Brielle are doing,   we are sure they are growing and changing fast.  We are still waiting for emails and letters. 

Today we went to Cessnock, about 2 hours away to speak in Church at the ward there.  Thank goodness for GPS.  We went through fog most of the way there, not too thick but you couldn’t see anything.  The Ward was so friendly.  The street sign a couple of blocks from the Church said Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with the arrow pointing up the street, and below it the name of the street.  Made it easy to find.  I had not prepared anything because the Bishop told Dix 2 weeks ago to just take a couple of minutes to explain our assignment here, but when we went in I was asked to introduce ourselves and our family.  After the block they had a luncheon so that made it nice, we could eat and visit for a little while.  We got home about 5.  The drive was beautiful coming home after the fog burned off.  Lots of valleys and rivers and of course trees.  Makes us realize what a desert we really do live in.

This next week is going to be busy with Family Home Evening tomorrow night, Temple Tuesday, and we are feeding a couple of Elders Wed night.  They have about 6 new elders coming in Wed, that have been visa delays, so all the Sr. missionaries are taking a couple of them, a new one and their trainer home for dinner, and then we will take them back to the mission home.  We are excited to do this.  That will definitely be a crockpot day.

We Love you All and Pray each day for you.    Love, Mum and Dad

Sunday Jul 21, 2013

Dear Family and Friends:

We got back from Church about a half hour ago.  We visited a ward that is about 6 blocks from our flat.  The Bishop works for the Church at Buckland House, he is over the cars for the mission.  It is a very small Ward, 15 in Primary, 9 in Relief Society, 2 full time sister missionaries, 2 Stake Visitors, 1 visitor, and myself.  The teacher was doing sharing time in Primary, so someone got her when they were ready for the lesson.  Dad said there was about 8 in High Priest.  It was really good though.  I think this is the Ward we will attend when we are not visiting others.  As part of the lesson the question was asked if the Lord still asks hard things of us.  A sister missionary that looks like she could be from India, said that she joined the Church and 6 months later she knew that the Lord wanted her to serve a mission.  She said she is the only member of her family that is a member and she did not have the means to go on a mission and she did not know enough about the Church.  She has now been here in Australia for a little over a year.  She said if you trust in the Lord things will work out.  I was very touched by her story and realize how very easy we have it.  I do count my blessings every day.

This has been a really busy week.  On Friday we sent the hard drive to Salt Lake with over 14,000 images we had done.  Monday night we had Family Home Evening with the Sr. Missionaries.  Sister Jorgensen served taco soup, with cheese and crackers.  There were 6 couple missionaries, the Temple President and his wife, and a couple who is visiting the Tanner Missionaries.  The Williams were in charge of the lesson and they had everyone bring their favorite quote from a Prophet.  It was very good.  Tues night we went to the Temple and they needed couples to do sealings so we were able to do most of the Williams family names they had ready.  Wednesday morning we were working away when a man came in to work with us.  We thought he was coming on Thursday.  He is Danny Chinn from Hong Kong.  He is over this program we are using for all of Asia and the Pacific.  He had never seen the camera we are using so he also learned a lot.  He really gave us a lot of help is setting up the folders, etc. that we have to use.  He took us to lunch, Sister Williams knew of a Chinese restaurant across the street and through the mall.  We went there and it was a very authentic Chinese, we were the only non-Asian in there and we were really glad Danny could speak Chinese, he ordered for us and it was very good.  He had to have them bring a fork instead of chop sticks.  There was enough food for us to bring home for another meal.  Thurs. and Fri were just usual days at the office.  We work for about an hour then take a walk around Buckland House and down to check the mail. We are really enjoying this weather.  The wind has been blowing a little the past couple of days, and we have had a couple of days of light rain.  Friday night we moved some furniture in the flat to open up the dining room and living room and have it not look so cluttered.  We are excited to use our patio when it gets a little warmer.

Yesterday after doing our Sat chores, we are really loving taking about 30 min to clean, we decided to go for a ride.  Dix decided if we are starting to travel next week we had better drive out of town.  The Williams had to go talk today about 5 hrs. away so they left yesterday morning.  We got fuel, first time since we have been here, it cost $45.00 and then we headed towards the Blue Mountains.  The freeways here are called motor ways, the speed limit signs 80 with a circle around it is about 50 mph, 100 is 70 mph.    He said it is getting natural to drive on the left side of the road.  I am still getting used to it however, riding not driving.  Another sign we saw a lot of was “Keep left unless overtaking”. We did see a couple of signs for kangaroo crossing, they normally come out at night like deer.  We went to Leura, a resort town in the mountains, very pretty and very old.  Reminded me of Park City with shops on both sides of the street.  We walked up one side and down the other, stopping at a pastry shop and got cookies and shortbread and some water.  We then continued up the road to Katoomba, another little town.  We walked around and stopped in for a sandwich at a little store.  We were the only ones there but by the time we left there was only standing room, there were only about 5 tables.  It was very good.   Driving around the town we saw a Vinnny’s so we went in and I was able to get a couple of shirts and a small shoulder strap bag to use when we are touring.  The prices were a little higher because it was a resort town, but $7.00 is still a good price for a shirt.   We came home and decided there was a few things we needed at the store to make lunches next week so we walked up to the store about 3 blocks from our flat.  We are finding more things we are used to having that they don’t have here.  Who thought graham crackers was an American thing?  They are not to be had here.  I finally found celery salt, but no celery seed.  We went to a Sr. Missionary social at the apartment of Malcom Arvidson who works for the Church at Buckland House.  He loves to get the couples together.  We rode with the Jorgensen’s.  We were supposed to bring a main and dessert.  I made a tortellini casserole and a chocolate cake.  It is fun cooking from scratch, I just have to remember to look recipes up at the office with no internet at the flat.  I think we are finally getting the oven down with the conversion chart.  We have gone to using self-rising flour because the baking powder just isn’t the same.  Sister Arvidson has just returned from a 5 week trip with her two sisters to Scotland, Ireland, and England to do Family History.  She told us some of her adventures and it was an enjoyable evening.

Sister Williams’s daughter told her about a recipe she had used for dinner, a pork roast with whole cranberry sauce and Russian salad dressing, in the crockpot.  Of course there is no Russian dressing, and I found little bottles of cranberry sauce, 2 would probably make a can.  She found a recipe to make the dressing so I made it last night as I had a pork roast in the freezer.  It smells really good, we are going to have it with twice baked potatoes, sweet potato, and a bowl of fresh fruit.  The dressing is really good, I halved the recipe and still have enough to have with salad.  There is no russet potatoes so we bought some nice looking reds.  There is also no Velveeta cheese, or cheese spread.  Ricotta is the closest we have found.  I am trying to figure out how to make cheeseburger soup when we are in charge of dinner on the 26^th of Aug.  We are in charge of the lesson and dessert on the 12^th of Aug.

The mission president is changing the speaking assignments to once a month instead of twice.  It is just too expensive to go that often that far away.  Some of them would be two nights because they are so far.  Petro is going up and a hotel and food.  We are excited to go see some of the country however.  On the next 3 day holiday we and the Williams are going up to the Church Ranch. 

We are still waiting for emails or letters to let us know what everyone is doing.  Thanks Sarah for yours, it is good to know how you are doing.  We have no idea what the rest of the families are up to however.  We were able to check email this morning before Sacrament Meeting began and Tif posted pictures of the Roberts cleanup and barbecue.  We were pretty teary eyed as the meeting started.

We were excited to hear of Brielle’s birth and thanks to modern technology we were able to be in the hospital room to meet her and congratulate Jessica and Thomas.  Thanks Deven!

We are enjoying our time here and know this is where we should be at this time, just wish you could all be here to enjoy it with us.  We pray for you daily and love you all very much.

We are supposed to get our cell phone from the mission this week and I will let you know our number.  We are grateful we have Vonage and can talk to some of you and text you. 

We are looking forward to Wed, the 24^th.  The Sr. missionaries are having a barbecue at the Mission home, next door to our office.  I am taking potato salad, and going to attempt peanut butter fingers.  We can’t find a big cookie sheet so I will just put it in two.  The powdered sugar here is called icing mix. 

Sister Jorgensen just came over to invite us over for bread and soup.  We have just eaten so she said she said she will bring over some rolls when they get out of the oven.  She asked how we had dinner ready so early when we go to the 9am meeting.  I said the crockpot. 

Love,

Mum and Dad

ruth@robertsfarms.net

dix@robertsfarms.net

Sunday 14 Jul 2013

Dear Family and Friends:

We just returned from Church at the Greenwich Ward which is about 14 miles away and takes about 40 min to get there.  We went there last week and really enjoyed it.  The Williams are going to begin teaching Family History Class in August in that ward.  We would like to continue going there but we got our speaking assignments on Mon. and starting the 28^th we will be speaking in Branches and Wards every other week.  This assignment goes until Apr 28^th.  50-70% are 6-8 hrs away so we will have to go on Sat and stay over.  We are excited to see more of the country but a little nervous to be driving so far.  The Garmin is getting us where we need to go.  We are also going to buy a book of maps to help us out.  We are not too excited about talking but I am sure the Lord will help us seeing as though he evidently wants us to do this assignment.  We also need your help!  We have to teach a Family Home Evening lesson in a few weeks and need ideas!!!  They usually have a lesson and play a game.  I know the lesson tomorrow night must be about the Prophets because we have all been asked to bring our favorite quote from a Prophet.  There are about 9 couples that come.  Just email all your help, we can print anything off at the office.  It is still strange not to have any internet service when we leave the office, but we are getting used to it.

Our flat is very comfortable, cool, we only have space heaters to warm it up.  We can only run 3 at a time or we flip a circuit.  If I use my hair dryer we have to turn them all off but one, and also for the washer and dryer.  We can only run the washer or dryer, but we are getting along.  Our typical day starts at 6:00am.  Dix showers while I make the bed, then I shower.  He fixes breakfast while I make our lunches for the day.  We leave for the office about 7:30 and it takes us about 15-20 min to drive there.  We get the computers up and running and I check our email and Facebook if I have time.  Dix checks the Church computer for any emails.  We get off work at 4:30 and come home.  A couple of nights a week I do a load of laundry because the washer is so small we can’t fit a week’s worth in one load.  I can put the sheets and pillow cases in one load, we have a double bed.  We are hoping to get pictures up soon.  We just don’t have time in the day at the office.  Tomorrow we are going to work on it because we just stay at the office from 4:30-6 for Family Home Evening.  That is every other Mon.  We are enjoying being here.  At night we will work on indexing we have downloaded before we come home, read, and I have started another afghan.

On Sat we clean the flat, Dix vacuums and I clean the bathroom.  We are liking the small space then.  We actually have the largest kitchen of the 3 flats the missionaries have here.  We have a balcony with a grill on it so we are going to start grilling.

One night a week we normally go shopping at the mall across the street from the office, though to drive to it we go about 6 blocks.  If we just need a couple of things we run across a busy street, 4 lanes.  Sometimes it takes us 5 min for a break in traffic.  Shopping is still a challenge as weights and measures are so different.  To get meat sliced at the meat counter is interesting.  We just show with our hand how much to slice off.  Everything is very good though.  The dairy products are very creamy.  The 1% milk is lite milk.  All the cheese is natural and white in color because they don’t add any coloring.  There is no cool whip, but there is double cream that is thick.  There is NO packages of dry onion soup, Italian seasoning, ranch dressing, etc.  Tina came to the rescue with recipes for them.  I made the onion soup last night and put in with meat in the crockpot and it looked and smelled just like at home.  The bouillon granules is powder beef or chicken bouillon.  We can’t get several spices that I am used to but I am just looking it up and figuring it out like Bon Appetite, which is celery salt, onion salt and salt.  I bought some spaghetti to make a spaghetti pie and the noodles only take 2 min to cook.  Friday night after work the Williams took us to a meat market, about the size of the onion shed, with just meat.  We got steak, sausage and things we can put on the grill.  We now have a freezer full of meat with the chicken I got last week.

Tuesday night we walk over to the Temple and go to the 5:00 session.  Dix and I thought it was a small session, about 25 people, and the Williams said that was very large, normally only about 10.  We will do this every Tuesday.  It is a small Temple but beautiful.  We are grateful we can see it every day we come to work and go for walks around it. 

This week we finally got the computer and camera and program all working together and started copying the cards.  Thurs. afternoon we did 1818 cards and Friday did 2900.  We sent the first batch to SL Friday so we can see how we are doing.  Hopefully they won’t fail any or we will have to go back through them.  We are enjoying it and trying to get in a rhythm.

Yesterday we left at 9am with the Williams and got on the ferry down the Parramatta River to go to Sydney.  Just before the harbor we went under the famous bridge in Sydney where the fireworks are held on New Year’s Eve. 

The top of the bridge is probably 500ft tall and people were walking up to the top.  Jerry said it costs $100.00 to walk up there.  That is one thing we will not be doing, because of the money and we don’t like heights that well.

 

As we pulled into the harbor, there is the Opera House.  Wow, it is impressive.  We went ashore and booked a whale watching tour for 1pm.  We then walked over to the opera house and walked around it and went into the lobby.  We are going to go back another day when we can do a tour, we didn’t have time.  We went back to the harbor and ate fish and chips at a little café, and waited to board the boat.  The boat holds over 300 but there was only about 160 on it.  It was pretty chilly outside but we could see well out the windows.  Going to the open ocean there were lots of small boats, and some cool looking lighthouses on the shore.  We found 3 whales and Dix got some really good pictures of them coming up.  They were very active and it was fun to watch them and have the crew give us info about them.  We stayed and watched them for about 2 hours.  We got back to the harbor in time to catch the 4pm ferry back.  It was a fun day.

We are so anxious to hear from all of you about what is going on.  It is fun on Mon morning to see Deven and Loren, your Sun night.  Deven gets us on Google+ so we are all on together. 

We are enjoying our time and experiences here and know this is where we should be.  The Lord is blessing us every day.  Thank you all for your support.  We love and miss you very much.

Mum and Dad

Mon Jul 8, 2013

Dear Family and Friends:

We made it through one whole week and are really enjoying it here.  It has been beautiful weather every day.  The bluest sky and the trees and flowers are wonderful.  We walk around the grounds a couple times a day and walk across the street to go to the bank and the store.  It is a good little walk.

 At work we are still waiting for some items to come from Salt Lake to work the camera so we practice on it for a little while in the morning then we have been doing indexing.  Last Monday night we had Family Home Evening with the other Sr. Missionaries at 6 so we just stay at the office.  We had dinner and a surprise party for a sister.  We played games and then a couple of the missionaries told some of their experiences.  One Elder was born in Germany and during the war his mother was out in the garden with him in arms and his older brother and sister, 2 &4 when the neighbors started running and yelling that the Russians were coming so they just ran and hid in the trees and eventually made their way to Poland to refugee camps.  After the war she came to Australia and eventually remarried.  A very fascinating story.   I can’t imagine leaving without anything except the clothes you were wearing.  The couples are so fun, we are really enjoying them.

On Tues morning we had to be here by 7 to talk to SL about downloading the program on the computer to work with the camera.  That was 3 in the afternoon for SL.  It worked well and now we are ready to get started.  Mark thinks the other things we need will be in this week.

It was strange to spend the 4^th of July in the office with no celebration.  We missed the family and the activities we usually have.  Dix and I walked over to the store and the clerk as we were checking out told us Happy 4^th.  She said she has friends in the US and new it was a holiday.  That made us feel good.  Friday morning the missionaries were having a meeting in the conference room and they sang America the Beautiful.

On Saturday morning Sister Jorgensen, Sister Williams and myself went shopping at Vinney’s, and Salvo’s, 2^nd hand stores.  I was able to get a sweater, a couple of shirts, a small fry pan, spoons and bowls.  Most everything was under $4.00.  We also stopped at a street market where they had beautiful produce, fruits and vegetables and meat.  We got a handful of cherries from the USA.  Everything else is grown here and it is very fresh and very good.  We had fresh beans yesterday, are eating fresh fruit every day.  This is going to be a fun place to cook.  We are still figuring  out the oven, but got a conversion chart on Friday so that will help.  One of these days I am going to bake something and see how it turns out. 

The guys walked about 4 blocks to see the bats at the park.  I will explain this a little later.  After putting things away at the flat we went to lunch at a private club, we went in as guests and it was very good food and very reasonable.  We watched “bowling” on an outdoor court.  They roll small balls, a little bigger than soft balls at a small white ball about the size of a baseball.  The court was about 100’ – 125’.  We decided it was a Sr’s.  game.  After lunch we went over to the park so I could see the bats, thousands of them hanging in the trees and flying around.  They are called  “Flying Foxes” so look it up on the internet.  They are fruit eating so they wipe out an orchard.  The farmers have to put nets over all the trees and bushes so they can’t eat.  That was incredible to see.  As we drove around we saw the “Old Government House” and saw they gave tours so we decided to go.  This is the oldest building in Australia, dating back to the 1700’s.  The first governors lived here until the 1950’s.  Some of the furniture is original and the other is set in the time.  The guide was so knowlegable about the people who lived there.  We really enjoyed it. 

Yester day we went to Church with the William’s to a Church in Greenwich.  The GPS couldn’t find the building so we were a little late.  It was at a Stake Center with no parking lot.  You just had to find a place on the street.  We walked about a block.  Brother Williams said he wondered what the Church was thinking.  It was a great meeting.  We so enjoyed the meetings.  We met the sister missionaries, one from West Jordan, and one from Murray, who said she loves the farmers market there.  They have about 6 months left on their missions.

Last night was the ”New” member fireside.  Most of the full-time missionaries were there as well as new converts and other people who want to come.  A young Elder sang the opening song and he had a beautiful voice.  We watched a short video and new member talked.  Love hearing about a converts conversion.  The Sr. missionaries bring cookies for dessert, but they forgot to tell me so I didn’t this time.  This fireside his held the first Sun of every month.

So now we are at the beginning of another week, and hoping we can start photographing this week.  We check the mail about 3-4 times a day.  Dix says no one loves us, because we never get anything.  Thanks to those of you who have e-mailed us.  This morning we were hoping to Skype but we don’t have any internet connection yet.  We need to know what is going on with ALL of you so please email or Skype, or write.  The pouch is only a US postage.

Know that we love all of you very much and are missing you.

Dix and Ruth

Email address: ruth@robertsfarms.net and dix@robertsfarms.net

July 1, 2013
Dear Family and Friends:
This past week has definitely been different for us. We are just so excited to be here and finally begin our mission. I will try to let you know our activities since we got here. You need to remember we only have internet access while we are at the office so that is the only time we can communicate.
The Williams, Jerry and Janice, picked us up at the airport, took us to our flat (apartment) where we unpacked, took showers and then we came to the office to meet Mark Kelly our director. We met him in SL a few months ago, but he wanted to show us our office and where we will be working. Janice and I then walked across the street to a mall to do a little grocery shopping and Dix and Jerry went back to the flat to meet a man to put a new stove top in, and then they picked us up. It was interesting to try and shop, we hadn’t had sleep for a very long time, and all the food are in different sizes. I just picked up what I thought we would need for a few days. We are going to have to go again soon. We came to the office on Friday and unpacked the camera etc. and got it set up. We were missing a few things so they were ordered. Thursday night we ate dinner with the Williams and another missionary couple that live in our building. We went to bed at 7:30, woke up about 3 for an hour and went back to sleep until 5. They tell us it will take a couple of weeks to get used to the time difference. Friday night we stayed up until 8, and by last night it was 9.
We have to be at the office at 8:30 until 4 each day. We have about a 20 minute drive. Jerry took Dix on a driving lesson Sat morning and said he did well. For those who wonder why he needs lessons, they drive on the wrong side of the street and the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car. Instead of looking to the left when turning, you look to the right. He drove to the office today for practice because we have to be here at 7 in the morning to talk to Salt Lake. It will be 3 in the afternoon there. It will take some getting used to but we will conquer this new thing also.
We are getting the equipment set up to begin our work. Everything was in a box so Dix had to set it all up. We will talk to the Church in the morning via Skype and they will get the program going. Hopefully we will be able to start this week but it depends on if the parts that were ordered come in.
It has been raining for a couple of weeks so everything is very green and pretty. The sun has been shining today. The temperature gets to about 60 in the day and 40 at night and we like that for the middle of the winter.
Yesterday we went to Church about an hour away down by Sydney and we were able to see the ocean. We are going back another day when it is clear. The ward we went to was very friendly and we enjoyed it. Next week we will go to another ward as the Williams teach Family History.
Saturday we went to a huge flea market, about 5 acres. Along one wall was about 10 different growers with their produce. Fruits and Vegetables, just beautiful. The biggest heads of cabbage we have ever seen about the size of a soccer ball. We plan to go back and get some. Dad got a Crocodile Dundee hat. I will have to take a picture for you.
Kaylee and Megan Happy Birthday today for us, tomorrow for you. Your cards are in the mail.
Think of all the recipes you use dry ranch dressing, dry onion soup mix and all those. They do not have them down here. I am going to have to do some adapting. Our flat has 2 crock pots so I am set that way. We need to find a blender. Janice and I are going to a second hand store Sat morning as we need spoons and bowls.
We are driving a Toyota Corolla with 2000 miles on it. It even smells new when you get in it.
We will keep you updated as often as we can. Know we Love All Of You and Miss you very much. You are all in our prayers daily.
Dix and Ruth