Monday, October 28, 2013
Sunday, October 27, 2013
October 27 2013 Weekly Letter
Australia Sunday Oct 27, 2013
Dear Family and Friends:
We have had another really busy week, and the time just fly’s
by. It is a good thing we can sort of relax in the evenings, even though
we both usually do 4-5 index batches of an evening. We are really
enjoying our flat, and most everything is about the way we want it. We
still have a couple of pictures to hang in the bedroom, but Dad needs to put
wire on the back of them. Hopefully that will happen this week. We
found a place for the last 2 boxes of kitchen things this week. Hope you
all enjoyed the pictures we posted. Ruston, thanks for the email.
We have a bag and a small box to go to Vinny’s or Salvo’s, things we just don’t
need. The problem with a big kitchen at the old flat is that it is filled
up with a lot of things. We have extra dishes on the tops of cupboards,
some day we may need them. The South mission took over the 3 flats we
vacated, and they have 3 sets of sister missionaries in 2 of the flats and
using the Willams for storage. I can’t imagine 6 girls with 1 bathroom
and all those hormones!! We will talk to them next week at
Church and see how things are going. They are so cute, we love talking to
them.
FHE was so much fun. The Williams did a potato bar, and
Sister Sheen brought chili. We played Mormon Trivia from info I found on
the internet. Some of the questions were and don’t cheat by looking up
the answers.
1- Which Prophet noticed that the
Angel Moroni was facing the wrong direction and which Temple was it?
a- Pres. Hinckley
b- Pres.
McKay
c- Pres.
Benson
d- Pres.
Hunter
2- There are currently 5 Temples
with Angel Moroni holding a Trumpet in his right hand, and gold plates in his
left. How many can you name?
3- In 1973, this future Church
leader, then 33 was asked to take a small group of emergency personnel and
follow a hijacked plane, make contact with the terrorists and negotiate for the
release of the plane, the pilots and the hostages. When that was accomplished,
he was to fly the hijacked plane to a safe location. Believe it or not
this man accomplished the mission without incident. Who was he?
4- How tall is the monument
erected of Joseph Smith in Sharon, Vermont and how was this figure calculated?
This is a few of the 13 we asked, and the winner got 11, Sister
Jeffs. Elder Feil got 9 so he also got a box of Australian cookies.
We then gave some chocolate candy to everyone else. The dessert was very
good. All in all, a very good evening.
Tues we drove because we go to the Temple right after
work. Our walk to work is about as far as from Deven’s to Caroline
Green’s. The wind has been blowing most days and the fires are still
burning because we can smell the smoke some day’s and Friday night
the sun was blood red. We will post a picture this week. We had a
luncheon with the staff at Buckland House on Thursday and it was nice not to have to fix a
lunch, and it was very good. There were 2 men there from New Zealand.
They had training in the afternoon but we didn’t have to stay. Friday was
a devotional so we didn’t get as many cards captured as we would like.
Monday’s are always small production day because of the meeting and then we
talk to all of you, and that is the most important part of the week.
The new legal couple came in Monday morning,
they are the Archibald’s from Idaho Falls. He has been an attorney there,
and they have been married 18 months. She has 4 children, and he has
3. They have the flat right next to Williams. The Moore’s are
finally about settled, we went over Wednesday night and Dad helped Elder Moore put
their kitchen table together. All the furniture they get is from
Ikea. The table has 2 drop leaves and 6 drawers. It is great for
the small space that they have. They also have 2 chairs that he put
together.
Friday night we cleaned that flat because of a
big day on Saturday. We left with the
Williams at 8:45 in
the morning to go to the meat market. The meat is about half the price of
the store and very good quality and fresh. We got pork chops, sausages,
steaks, mince (hamburger), chicken breasts, fish fillets, and a couple of
roasts for FHE next week. We have the meal. When we got back we put
it all in the refrigerator and left for Nowra. We got packed on Friday. The drive was simply
spectacular, with lots of grazing country with horses and cows, and hay
being baled. It smelled so good! Part of the drive was right on the
ocean. We took a small road right on the coast that the Williams told us
to take. I just can’t describe the beauty of it. We stopped in a
little town to walk out to the beach, then walked up in the town and got fish
and chips at a little place and sat outside to eat. We could see the
ocean from where we were. Watching the people was also very interesting,
we definitely live different lives than all of them. We drove on a little
while and found a light house that they told us to see. We walked up to
it and took pictures, then walked over to the blow hole by the water. It
was very active and really blew the water in the air. Dad got some good
pictures. We went on to Nowra, a very pretty little town. We
checked into our motel, we took the last room in town, and it was definitely a
budget room. I should have made reservations a couple of weeks ago, but
it was clean. It was about a block from the Church so it was convenient
this morning. We had seen an old cemetery on the way to the motel so we
went back and walked through it. Most of the old graves were from the
early 1800’s, the ones you could read. The weather was beautiful.
We drove out to the ocean, about a half hour drive from town, and it was
beautiful. Lots of country, mainly pasture ground. A funny thing on
the side of the road, a sign that read “cow poop” and there was about 6-50lb
bags stood against the fence. We got a chuckle over that. We went back to
town and ate at a buffet that the motel recommended, and it was probably the
worst meal we have had here and also the most expensive, $24.00 each. We
felt bad but how do you know? We went back to our room and studied our
talks.
This morning we got ready for Church, checked out and went and
waited for the Branch President to open the gate to get in the parking
lot. First Church we have seen with a fence and locked gates. He
didn’t get there until about 15 min until Sacrament meeting started so we
weren’t able to call anyone. Everyone was very friendly and just before
the meeting started one of the 4 Elders serving there came up on the stand to
meet us. He was companion to Tony’s grandson in the MTC. Small
world. He is from Hyde Park, one is from Ogden and looks like he is about
12, one is from Alabama, and one from the Philippines. The talks went
well. They use a recording on a cd for the music as no one plays the piano
or organ in the branch. They had about 45 people in Sacrament
meeting. The talks went as well as they can for us talking. It is
so much fun meeting all the people in the various branches. We will talk
to you in the morning. We left right after the block and came home
through the rain forest. The counselor said the drive was about 45 min
longer and we really enjoyed it. The road was very windy and narrow but
we were really in a forest of lush green trees and plants. Not too much traffic
and it was fun to see new things. We got home about 4:30 and
got everything unpacked and put away. Then we put all the meat in the
freezer, putting it in smaller bags that we will use for just one meal.
We had leftover potato cheese soup I made Thursday night. It was so good, I cleaned
out the freezer and refrigerator so it had potatoes, carrots, onions, celery,
green beans I had cooked, ham and pork roast and cheese. I froze one
container for another couple of meals.
Dad is going to juice oranges tonight because we are out of
juice for breakfast. Our little $5 juicer works great and we love the
fresh juice.
This week we got a box from Tina, and was so excited when Elder
Feil brought it in. We opened it when we got home and was excited to get
some dried apples and peaches, onion soup mix, and gifts wrapped up for my
birthday, and no I didn’t open them, they are on the bookcase waiting.
Tina and Bob sent us the movie “Ephriam’s Rescue” We watched it Friday night
and it is wonderful. T C did a great job and when it was over I said it
couldn’t end already. We wanted it to go on. The Williams have it
now. Hope all of you get a chance to see it, it is well worth it.
It brought back memories of when T C was the photographer for “Split Infinity”.
We got a nice note from Noel and Carol Ann Flint, we sent a
sympathy card when they lost their grandson. It was good to hear from
them.
Guess I had better go for now, I may add some in the
morning. Looking forward to seeing all of you.
Happy Birthday to Logan this week, sorry the card will be a
little late, I have got to get back in the groove, moving put me off my
schedule. We have been thinking of Deven’s family as they are the
speakers in their ward tomorrow, or now it is in a few
hours. We know they will do a great job.
Love you all.
Mum and Pop
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
October 20 2013 Weekly Letter
Australia Sunday Oct 20, 2013
Dear Family and Friends:
Another very busy week is gone and we start anew
tomorrow. We are finally getting settled
in our new flat, at least everything is put away we can find a place for. Dad and Elder Williams came over Mon morning
to meet the man in charge of maintaining the flats to get our gas leak fixed
and the Williams hot water fixed. Every
flat to this point, 4 that the missionaries are in have all had the same gas
leak, duh you would think they would tighten the valve in all of them before
they are occupied. Friday night the
fleet Elders moved the things from Jorgensen’s flat to one next to Williams and
sure enough there was a leak. Elder
Williams and Elder Feil tightened the valve themselves. A new legal couple will be here in the
morning. We will tell you about them
next week. The fleet Elders delivered a
2 seater (love seat) and a cupboard, to be put together, from Ikea on Thursday
night. We put the 2 seater together
first, and then decided we might as well put the cupboard together while we
were in the mess. It was after 11 when
we finished, they delivered them around 9.
Over here a chair is a 1 seater, a love seat is a 2 seater and a couch
is a 3 seater. Still trying to get used
to the lingo they use around here. We
had a lady tell us the other day we need to learn how to talk Australian, I
said we were trying. We have moved the
furniture around until now we think we have it the way we want it. Dad took pictures tonight and we will try to
get them posted this week if we have time.
We do have some spots appearing on the carpet, some pretty big, that
must be coming up from the pad. Elder
Feil took pictures of them and is going to tell the people they rent the flats
from. Wednesday evening we went to the mall and got
bathroom rugs, and towels. I am not happy
with the color, but they look ok. We are
very comfortable and enjoying walking to work, although some days we do need to
drive.
Last Monday night was Family Home Evening and the Tanners
served Subway sandwiches and a couple of salads. It was very good. We had a farewell party for the Jorgensen’s
and birthday for Elder Williams. Everyone told about their favorite speaker
from General Conference. The Williams
had dessert, ice cream with a nut crust and homemade fresh strawberry
sauce. It was yummy!
We also have FHE tomorrow night because we missed the week
it was a holiday. We have the lesson and
dessert. I just made a pecan bar we will
serve with ice cream, and we are doing Mormon Trivia. Hope it turns out ok. Will let you know next week.
On Monday we had the Christmas Social meeting and made more
plans for our Aussie Christmas. We are
going to have to food catered because we can get a good deal on it. We are now working on a program. I forgot last week when I reported on the
committee that Mark’s wife Melinda is on the committee and she is
Australian. I think it is going to be so
fun. Mark asked Dad and I to run across
the street and get a birthday cake for Elder Williams birthday, and then he
brought it in during the committee meeting and we sang to him and served
everyone cake. It was a caramel cake and
very good.
On Friday morning we had the monthly birthday tea, the
public affairs missionaries were in charge and they had subway and fruit, and
cookies. When we got back to the office
Mark had us all meet together and said Wayne was in from SL, he is the man over
all the cameras all over the world. He
wondered if Sister Williams would get together an afternoon tea around 2:30,
Subway sandwiches, fruit, cookies and juice.
We ate and visited. He is from
Bountiful. After we ate Mark had him
explain how the program works and who works in SL with him. He told about getting the camera’s into some
of the countries and working with the governments and churches to be able to
copy their records. I asked him if there
were any cameras in Jamaica, and he said no, so I told him my parents had been
there on a mission micro filming the government records. He asked their name and when I told him he
said he was their Bishop when they went out.
Dad and I just sat there speechless and then I asked him his last name,
it is Metcalf. Small world. He then came in and watched us capture some
cards. He asked how the camera was
working and he and Dad talked about it.
It was fun meeting him again, I am sure we had met him before. He will be here until Wednesday working with
Mark, but they won’t be in the office.
We did have time to visit with him about some of the people still living
in the 9th ward. He is also a
brother-in-law to a good friend of ours, Roger Fluman, and his father-in-law
worked with my Dad when they built the Bountiful Swimming Pool. He was also a teacher and coach at Bountiful
High.
Friday at the tea some of the people were telling us about
the fires burning all over NSW, over 90 fires are burning and most of them were
out of control. Over a hundred homes
have burned and they told us to check with the roads because the road through
the Blue Mountains had been closed. Dad
call the Branch President in Cowra and he said he would check and call us
Friday night. When he called he said the
road was open and they expected it to stay open. We left Sat morning to go and we went through
smoke and could see some of the fires.
It took almost 4 hours to get there.
It is a beautiful drive, except where the smoke was. We stopped at Bathurst for lunch and walked
around the shopping area a little. We
had really good pizza, only the 2nd time we have had pizza since we
have been here. It had ham, onions,
peppers, pepperoni and egg, and cheese.
We got to Cowra and checked into our motel and called the Branch
President. He asked to come over and
meet the full-time missionaries that were visiting him and his wife. One is from So Jordan and the other from the
Philippines. They have just had
missionaries there for 3 months. The
President said that he was baptized in 1958 with his family and he would love
to know if the missionaries who taught them and baptized them were still
around. I got their names and called
Deven this morning from Church and he found out about them. He was so excited when I gave him the
information. Thanks Deven. After we left their house we went for a ride
out in the country for a couple of hours.
We stopped at a little fish place through town and got fish and chips
before going back to our room to study our talks. The Branch meets in an old house converted to
a Church, and it sits on a hill and you can see all over the valley. They get about 40 people to Church, and if
anymore come they have to stand or sit in another room. They have 1 young man, 4 young women, and a
big primary of 14 children. The music
was led by a 13 year old girl, and 2 of the hymns were played on the organ by a
15 year old. It was so much fun to be
there, if we just didn’t have to talk.
Sunday School had 4 of us there, and Relief Society there was 6
there. We left right after the meetings
as we wanted to get home. The smoke was
worse as we came towards Katoomba and we could actually see fires not too far
away from the highway. There were also
fire trucks parked along the highway in one place and I watched a helicopter
get water from a small water hole.
Next weekend we go to Nowra, which is about the same
distance but right on the coast. It
should be really pretty. I just have to
remember to make hotel reservations this week.
They just have a branch there also.
Tomorrow we are going to run across the street to get some
ice cream and just put it in the freezer at Buckland House. We just ran next door to the Moore’s and they
said yesterday the public relations hosted the orphans and their families that
were raised at Buckland House. It was
started as a boys orphanage in the 20’s by the Church of England. Every 2 years they have a reunion there with
pictures, food, etc. All of them are now
in their 70’s and 80’s and there was over a 100 of them there. They said that it was a very positive place
to grow up, and they are so excited with the way the Church keeps up the
grounds and the building.
Every morning all of the missionaries in the mission recites
the purpose of the mission, D&C4, the Standard of Truth, and D&C
121:33-46.
It is now almost 10:30 and 6 comes very early in the morning
so I had better close. Love you all and
pray for you daily.
This morning at weekly prayer meeting and staff meeting the
opening song was “Scatter Sunshine” and I was very touched by the words. Maybe I need it today. Anyway now you get it:
In a world where sorrow ever will be know, where are found
the needy and the sad and lone, How much joy and comfort you can all bestow, if
you scatter sunshine Everywhere you go.
Slightest actions often, meet the sorest needs, For the
world wants daily, Little kindly deeds.
Ho, what care and sorrow You may help remove, With you songs and
courage, sympathy and love.
When the days are gloomy, Sing some happy song; Meet the
world’s repining with a courage strong. Go with faith undaunted thru the ills
of life; Scatter smiles and sunshine, O’re its toil and strife.
Scatter sunshine all along your way. Cheer and bless and brighten Every passing
day.
Love,
Mum and Pop
Sunday, October 13, 2013
October 13 2013 Weekly Letter
Australia Sunday Oct 13,2013
Dear Family & Friends:
We are sitting here in our new flat enjoying the sun coming
in the sliding glass windows out to our deck.
It was a very busy day yesterday moving ourselves and the Williams. We spent last week boxing everything up and
sorting. We had our car loaded Friday
night with boxes ready to come to the new place Saturday morning. The Feils and the fleet missionaries as well
as 2 other Elders got there about 8:30.
The fleet has a van and small trailer they use. They loaded us up first, the bed and all
boxes and suitcases, coffee table from Jorgensen’s. Everything except the refrigerator and the
barbecue grill, our dresser, and the dining room table and chairs from the
Jorgensen’s flat. When we got to the new
one the Tanners were here to help so they got the 4 cars, van and trailer
unloaded fast. Thank goodness for an
elevator. We are on the 2nd floor above
1 flat and 2 levels of parking garages.
We are right next door to the Moore’s who got here last week. The Williams are on the 4th
floor. Sister Tanner and I stayed and
made the bed and started unloading the kitchen.
I really appreciated the help. We
have less cabinet space and counter space than the other flat but the bedroom and
bathroom are bigger and it is very bright.
After they unloaded the 2nd load, we all went back to the
flats to make sure we got everything and vacuum one last time. We got the Jorgensen’s small deck set, we
have the smallest deck, and the Moore’s will get the big set next week when
they move the Jorgensen’s things to a new flat for the new legal missionaries
scheduled to be here the around the 21st. The Jorgensen’s go home to Moses Lake on
Wednesday, we are really going to miss them, we have enjoyed them as neighbors
and have done some fun things together, and the shopping trips to Vinny’s and
Salvo’s. After the last load, we drove
to the office and walked across the street and bought the Elders lunch, at
about 3:30. We only had the 2 fleet
Elders because the other 2 had an appointment at 1. We have a gas leak in our flat, so we had to
turn the gas off and we have no stove, oven, or hot water. We turned it on this morning long enough to
take showers, then off until we did dishes this afternoon after dinner. Hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow. The Williams have no hot water pressure so
there are a few bugs to get worked out.
We are really enjoying the air conditioning. We got a new washer as the one at the other
flat was old. I washed 2 batches last
night after Elder Feil and Dad got it hooked up and I can run both the washer
and dryer at the same time without blowing a fuse. The flat comes with a dryer, hung upside down
from the ceiling, and a dishwasher. We will try to get pictures posted this
week.
This week was certainly quiet with the Williams and Mark
gone from the office, and the Williams and Jorgensen’s gone from the flat. We feel like we are at home now with all the
boxes unpacked and things put away. We
still need to find a small cabinet to put a few more things in, and I need to
get bathroom rugs, etc. The South
Mission is going to take over the three flats we just left. They have about 50 missionaries coming
in. We got 11 new missionaries this
week, we met one from Kaysville as we were going home on Thursday.
This week we captured 4500 cards on Thurs. and 5000 on
Fri. We are really getting in a rhythm
now most days anyway.
A bit of sad news.
The daddy bird that is so protective of the mommy and 3 babies was hit
by a car in the road last week.
President Howes saw it and picked it up and put it in a box. The mommy still makes a lot of noise if you
go near her or the babies.
Today after showering and eating yogurt and toast, I put
dinner in the crockpot and we walked up to the office and watched Saturday
morning and afternoon sessions of general conference. We really enjoyed the talks and music. Then we walked home and ate dinner. It was really warm when we walked home and
the wind was blowing. Right now it is
cloudy and calm outside. Summer is
definitely coming here as you are getting winter. Our prayers are with all the ranchers in
South Dakota that lost all the cattle in the blizzard of a lifetime. Elder Williams was telling me that happened
to them several years ago. So Sad!
Tomorrow night is FHE and they are having a farewell for the
Jorgensen’s, and Tuesday we have another planning meeting for the Christmas
Social. Guess that is all the news for
this week. We are looking forward to
seeing you in the morning when we chat.
Love you all and you are in our prayers continually.
Mum and Pop
Monday, October 7, 2013
October 7 2013 Weekly Letter
Australia Monday Oct 7,2013
Dear Family and Friends:
Yes, this week’s letter is a day late. Today is Australia’s Labor Day and the
Queen’s Birthday so we had the day off.
It was nice being able to sleep in one day. I said it was 7 when we woke up and Dad said
it was really 6 because we changed day light savings time yesterday
morning. Oh well, it felt like we slept
in.
Tuesday morning at 10 Mark had a morning tea for us for
capturing 5,000 cards in one day. He
invited Mark Allen who is the service center manager at Buckland House, and the
Williams. Melinda Kelly, Mark’s wife who
also works at Buckland House made an apple cake, and we had juice. It was a lot of fun. Mark Kelly showed a video one of the wards
made for a contest that is about Family History. It was really good. He sent Dad the link so we can get a copy of
it. On Tuesday afternoon we had a
meeting for the Christmas Social with the committee. Us, the Williams, and 3 others from Buckland
House are the committee. We decided to
have an Aussie Christmas as the theme.
It is kind of funny seeing as though we have 4 American’s, 2 New
Zealander’s, and one from China on the committee. We will have another meeting next week to
report on our assignments. It is going
to be a fun party. On Wednesday the new
couple in public relations came in. They
are taking the Kohlerts place. They come
from North Salt Lake and their name is Moore.
This week as Dad was taking the tomato plants out to the deck for the
day he noticed 6 more came up, they were planted 2 months ago. They are liking the warmer weather during the
day, and it is still too cool for them at night outside. On Thursday at noon Sister Williams,
Jorgensen and I went to Salvo’s about 20 min from work. I got 3 short sleeved shirts and a
skirt. Also a really nice 8 in square
pan. It was half price day so nothing
was over $2.00. Deven Skyped Dad from the
Farm Bureau social at Tyson’s so he was able to say hi to the committee. I was sorry I missed it.
On Saturday we rode the river cat (ferry) to Sidney Quays
(pronounced keys) for the Pride of Nations Ceremonial Fleet Review, Royal
Australian Navy Warships. We found a
grassy place to sit down above the harbor and watched the ships go by. They expected millions of people and I think
they were all there. The first line to
go through was the minor war vessels, then the major warships, led by HMAS
Sydney, representing the original seven warships of the 1913 fleet. They also had the Fleet Air Arm and Royal
Australian Air force fly-past’s, as well as Naval helicopters Search and
Rescue. They were neat to see them fly
by. Each ship went past the review ship,
where we are told Prince Harry was on board.
They also had a fireworks display at night but we didn't stay because
the last ferry to go out was at 4 pm. We
ate a hot dog from a stand by where we were sitting.
Yesterday we went to Sacrament Meeting and then when right
to the office to watch General Priesthood meeting. Dad couldn't get the speakers working so he
just watched it with head phones, then Deven Skyped us from Tyson’s. Tina said we looked good on the big screen
because she usually only has picture on her phone. It was lots of fun talking to everyone that
was there and see some of the things the girls bought. There was also excitement when water started
running out of the ceiling light.
Everyone scrambled and we were able to see it all happening from Deven
holding a pan up to catch the water, and Tyson and Vaun taking the light down,
and I guess the girls running upstairs to see what happened. Don’t we just love 2 year olds?
This morning we packed our dishes and kitchen items we won’t
need this week and we hope we are moving next weekend. They are supposed to close on our 2 flats, us
and the Williams on Friday. We are
trying to decide what furniture to take, we are moving into a smaller
area. We will bring home some more empty
boxes tomorrow, we filled all we brought home Friday. About 11 this morning we left with the
Williams to go to the river cat to go to Sydney and walk to Watson’s Bay and
see the ships that are berthed there.
The ferry was full so we couldn’t get on, so we decided to drive to
Windsor, about a half hour away. It is
an old town with shops and eating places.
There is a water wheel in the center of the street, and an old hotel. We ate fish and chips outside and they were
really good. We then drove to an old
Church, 160 years old, and graveyard. We
walked around reading the headstones and taking pictures. We then drove around in the country and saw
some farmers working the fields, lots of cabbage and other crops. We stopped at a stand and bought some
strawberries. Another fun day.
Tomorrow the Williams, and Mark are going to Brisbane for
meetings for Family History, and the Jorgensen’s are going to the Great Barrier
Reef to go scuba diving so we will be alone in the office and at our flat. They will all be back on Friday.
We were talking to a family at the show on Saturday and she
said the kids go back to school on Tuesday so I asked her what the schedule is
for school. They go for 10 weeks, off 2
weeks, and then off 6 weeks for Christmas.
Saturday and last night we watched “The Man from Snowy
River, parts 1 and 2.” We really enjoyed
them. Elder Williams loaned them to us,
he had borrowed them from someone in our ward.
Tonight we are going to watch the” Gladiators.”
Love you all and Pray for you daily:
Mum and Pop
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