Australia Sunday Sep 29, 2013
Dear Family and Friends:
Here it is Sunday evening and we are in our flat with me
typing the weekly letter home. Last week
I said we wouldn’t be home until Monday but plans change. On Tuesday morning President Howes (our
mission President) called to ask if we were going the Armidale this weekend and
I said yes, and he said he needed to go there and could he go in our
place. I really wanted to say no because
we wanted to see that part of the country, but of course I said sure and he
said he would take over our Hotel booking.
Hopefully we will get up there another time. At least we didn’t have to talk, but we have
been working on our talks today to finish them up for the next time in 3
weeks. Today at Church for the combined
Relief Society and Priesthood the Bishop told of the wishes of the Stake
Presidency for General Conference in 2 weeks.
We get it a week later here. They
have always met at 1:00pm on Sunday and had all the sessions in a row, all 4 of
them. This time the Stake wants to do as
they do in Salt Lake with a 10am and 2pm on Sat. with the Priesthood meeting
Sat night, and the other 2 sessions the same on Sunday. He advised the families to prepare ahead and
take picnic lunches as many have at least a half hour travel to get to the
Stake Center. That will be very
different for them. I would think that
would be easier than trying to control the children for 8 hrs in a row. We will probably watch it at the office when
we can. That is what most of the Sr.
Missionaries do.
Monday it was wonderful to talk to all of you and see
you. We really look forward to those
calls. Later in the morning as I was
checking my email I saw from Deven the first issue of the Roberts Review newsletter,
formerly called the Burdett Bugle.
THANKS DEVEN!! We were so excited
to come home Monday night and sit down and read what all the families are
doing. Thanks to all of you that
contributed and hope all of you do in the coming months. You have no idea how it lifts our spirits.
This week’s activities started with Family Home Evening at
the Temple President’s home Monday night.
They have a lovely home behind Pres.
Howes home. After dinner Brother and
Sister Jeffs (they are here on sabbatical from BYU) gave the lesson. He is here working with analyzing data that
is received from deep space radio telescopes.
He showed us pictures of his work and the telescopes he works with and
what they are doing. Wow, it was so interesting. It is so much fun having them part of our FHE
group. Sister Jeffs served an apple cake
for dessert. She left this week to go to
Colorado and Utah for 3 weeks to help her daughter with a new baby.
On Thursday we captured 5,000 cards and we were exhausted by
the time we got home. Mark was so
impressed and excited that he is giving us morning tea on Tuesday for reaching
that milestone. It won’t happen every
day because it takes prep time to go through the cards to separate the ones
that are written on both sides. On
Thursday we had enough done so we didn’t have to stop and do it. We also took our walks around the grounds and
ate lunch with the Williams.
Friday the Family History Department (us and the Williams)
and the HR department were in charge of the Birthday tea for the month. We had it in the court yard at Buckland House
and had Chicken Salad Croissants
(Sister Williams made the chicken salad and it was delicious), fruit
trays, cheesecake, pastries and punch with fruit in it. It took us most of the morning to get it
ready before 10 and we got back to the office just after 11. At least we didn’t have to take a lunch that
day. The croissants are not as flaky as
at home but they were good.
Yesterday after cleaning the flat we left with the Williams
to go to Parklea, the huge market we went to the first Sat we were here. It is about the size of a football field with
everything under one roof, with everything for sell you can imagine. The fruits and vegetables were amazing, but
we didn’t get any because we didn’t want them to sit in the hot car all
day. After we left there we went to the
Sydney Olympic Equestrian Center to watch the Australian Horse Vaulting
Championships. The athletes somersault,
spin, and dance on the backs of moving horses in a bid to qualify for the World
Cup and the World Equestrian Games. It
was so interesting and fun to watch. We
had a very enjoyable day. One of the
contestants was from the United States of America and she was really good and a
crowd favorite. We had fish and chips
there for lunch. When we got home Dad
and I went to the grocery store and got a few things.
The weather this week has been beautiful, not to hot and not
to cold. Last week on Thursday the air
conditioning stopped working in our office and the temp got up to 27c which is
about 80. Maybe that is why we did so
many cards, or maybe why we were so tired.
They came and fixed it Friday morning so we are comfortable now. It will be nice to move before it gets really
hot here to have air conditioning in our new flat.
We are hoping Vaun and Mandy had a fun trip to Mexico, we
are anticipating hearing all about it.
We Love you all and you are always in our Prayers!
Mum and Pop
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