November 9 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia November 9, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, this is the last letter from Australia.  Hard to believe that we have been here 17 months.  We must say it has been a wonderful adventure in every way, except being away from family.

This week has been interesting, with no cards to do we have been indexing at the office and Dad has spent some time organizing his pictures.

Monday night was Family Home Evening, our last one.  That was sad.  Sister Archibald decorated for the November birthdays, Elder Allen on the 4^th, mine on the 7^th, and Sister Killebrew on the 19^th.  Rashika and Sister Archibald fixed the dinner, taco salad and fruit, and Rashika made a delicious chocolate cake and had ice cream.  The Smith’s had the program and decided to honor us with 2 agriculture quizzes.  The first one was easy, the 2^nd one was pretty hard.  She got the questions from the American Agriculture sight.  We did pretty well, and it was fun.  Then they gave us some going away gifts.  Rashika and Devmini gave us a woven bag and a beautiful wooden jewelry box from Sri Lanka.  The other missionaries gave us a plate with the Opera House and Bridge on it, a Christmas Tray, a tea towel with Kookaburra’s on it, a deck of cards to play fish on the long plane ride home.  They are all so wonderful and we are really going to miss them all.  Dad took a final group picture.  It was strange not having the Feil’s there.

Tuesday morning Elder Killebrew came in and asked Dad if he would like to go with him for the morning and they would be back for lunch.  They went out to a Sister’s flat to fix a washer that had something caught around the ringer.  They couldn’t get it out so stopped on the way back to the office to get another tool.  Elder Killebrew had never fixed a washer so he was glad Dad was there.  He would have just replaced it.  They went and bought one just in case.  The 6 of us went across the street to lunch, the Smylie’s came also.  Before Dad left again I had him run me home because Sister Archibald said she would trim my hair.  She trimmed about an inch and it feels so much better.  Dad and Elder Killebrew got back about 5, too late to go to the Temple.  He said they had to go get an extender for the tool he had bought and they got a blouse off the ringer and put it back together again.  Just after dinner a knock came at the door and it was the Killebrew’s with a going away gift.  They had gotten a pewter cheese slicer with a Kangaroo on the end, and a little pewter spoon with a kangaroo on it, when we went to Paddington market.  She said she was trying to get me to pick out what I liked, but I liked them all.   That was so nice.  When I got back from getting my hair trimmed I cleaned out the pantry. 

Wednesday the Smylie’s and us decided to go to lunch at North Rocks for a change.  We had a delicious lunch outside and the Smylie’s paid for ours.  Everyone is so wonderful here!  That night as we were doing some indexing a loud knock came on the door so I knew it was Sister Moore.  They have a son and daughter-in-law here from Salt Lake for the week and Rashika had cooked them dinner and made two desserts so she was getting all the missionaries to share.  It was a chocolate cheesecake and a pineapple upside down cake, yummy as usual.  Fun to visit also.  We got back about 9.

Thursday morning Sister Archibald called and invited us to dinner that night.  She fixed a pasta dish that was delicious, a salad, watermelon, rolls, and apple crisp with ice cream for dessert.    Before we came home from the office Sister Smith called and asked if we would teach her how to index so we went over to their office for a couple of hours. 

Friday morning at 7:15 there was a knock on the door and it was Rashika and Devmini with a birthday cake for me and Devmini had drawn a beautiful picture of a horse for me.  The cake was in the shape of a Christmas Tree because she knows how much I love Christmas.  She had rolled out icing and wrote on a little banner at the top of the cake, “Happy Birthday Darling Sister Ruth”.  She had also come over about 5:30am and decorated our door with a banner.  After they left we decided to invite all the Sr. couples to come for cake and ice cream.  When we got to the office a little after 7:30 we couldn’t get into our computers so Dad went over to Buckland House and Martin called Salt Lake to find out what was going on.  Someone turned them off without reading the profile that said we were not leaving until November 28^th.  He got them back on but everything was gone, all the emails and contacts, etc.  What a mess, we were waiting for the last audit to put the last cards away.  We have decided it must have passed so we will put them away tomorrow.  I called Vaun to wish him a Happy Birthday.  It was good to talk to him for a few minutes.  He was still at work.  A couple of weeks ago Elder Dick invited us to the city to the Hyde Park Chapel to speak at the Friday Forum for the full-time missionaries, new converts, and investigators.  The Sr. couples fix lunch, rice with gravy, vegetables, jello salad, bread and butter, and cookies.    We rode the rivercat down and got a taxi to the Chapel.  We talked about our project and the importance of keeping journals and doing family history to connect your families so you know who they are and where you came from.  They asked lots of questions.  There were about 20 missionaries and 7 others.  Elder Nolan, one of the Sr. missionaries there has been in the hospital for 3 weeks, Sister Nolan said he was doing better and hopefully would come home the first of the week.  They are from St Louis.

We got back to the office about 3:30 and packed things up and went to the store to get ice cream.  We ate leftovers for dinner and everyone came at 7.  Rashika had put a couple of candles on the cake that wouldn’t blow out so everyone was laughing.  I let her cut the cake.  The Smylie’s brought me a darling calendar from a famous Australian Artist and Author.  I am going to look up his books tomorrow when we get to the office.  After everyone left about 9, we were cleaning up when a knock came on the door, and our little Chinese neighbor couple that just had the new baby handed me a birthday bag.  In it was two CD’s, one the music from Frozen and a Country Western with various artists.  That was a big surprise, and so sweet of them.

A few weeks ago Dad was asked to take wedding pictures of a Chinese couple that were getting married in the Temple yesterday.  We were there about 11 and they came out a little to noon.  He was raised in Australia, and she came over about 3 years ago for school and joined the Church.  She is 24 and just got her 2^nd Masters degree in finance.  She also just got a job at the Service Center in finance to take Graham’s place this week.  She is going to be great working there, she is so cute.  He is in the Bishopric of the Chinese ward, and she is the Relief Society President.  They had a little reception and luncheon on the courtyard of Buckland House so Dad took a few pictures of them cutting the cake and dancing, then we went with Smylie’s to the mall for lunch, then came back.  The bride and groom were ready to go to the Temple grounds for more pictures.  He got some really cute shots.  He is going to put the pictures on a thumb drive for them tomorrow.

Today we went to Church at Blacktown Ward, and the Bishop announced that the Doonside Ward that is in our building, actually it is their building, was divided today so on the 23^rd of November the Blacktown Ward will begin meeting in another building.  Next week meetings will be the same.  The Moore’s are assigned to the Doonside Ward.  We are so going to miss the people!

Tomorrow is our last day in the office and Mark is having lunch for my Birthday and a farewell.  We are going to pack up all the equipment and clean out our desks, etc.  I have already sorted the things I am going to take home, our personal papers etc.  I just have to put all the accessories in the cupboard.  The tables and desks will be taken out after we leave.  Tuesday and Wednesday we are going to pack and finish cleaning.  I cleaned the utility room yesterday and Dad cleaned off the deck.  Now we are hoping we can get everything in the suitcases and not be overweight.  We will take them to the mission office to be weighed.  We will also have a couple of trips to Vinny’s to donate clothes.

Tuesday night Dad is going to take pictures of our neighbors and the new baby.  We are really excited.  They were really happy we will do this for them. 

We are really looking forward to going to the airport Thursday morning to pick up Tina and Bob, Loren and Tami, and Onalie and Mike. We are going to ride the limo that the Church is getting to take the Moore’s and Archibald’s to the airport at 5:15am.  They are going to a conference.  We are going to have so much fun showing them this beautiful country.  We just wish all the kids could have come but we totally understand as the cost is so much.  They will have to enjoy it through pictures.  We are excited to go to New Zealand and see some of that beautiful country, and the most exciting of all is to be home in two weeks from today!!!

Love you all and you are in our daily prayers!

Mum and Dad

November 2 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday November 2, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Where did October go?  We will be home in 3 weeks.  So excited to come home but a little sad at the same time.  This has been another really busy week, we are sure that is why the time is going so fast.  Tuesday morning the Service Center had a morning tea to meet the Social Services group from New Zealand that are here for a conference for the week.  At the end of the tea they (Social Services) sang a thank you song in Maori.  It was beautiful.  There were 6 women and 2 men.      

Tuesday night at 5 President and Sister Howes hosted the leavers dinner with the Feil’s.  We had a delicious dinner of salad, (President said it represented the leafers dinner), meat, roasted vegetables, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  Sister Howes said it was nice not to have any meetings so she could fix the dinner.  We enjoyed visiting and took some pictures afterward.  Great memories are made in everything we do.  When we first got here and started photographing Sister Howes came in and asked us to look for her maiden name of BrownJohn.  We found about 8 cards and made copies for her about a year ago.  One of them was her grandparents that were killed in a car accident when she was about 8, and no one knows where they are buried.   When Sister Rogers was here last week I showed her the cards and asked her what T C met on the bottom of the card and she said Toowamba Chronicle, the newspaper there.  We took the cards over to Sister Howes to keep, and I told her that was what it met and she was so excited.  She said she had never thought of looking there because although they were both born there they hadn’t lived there for many years.  It was no accident that I asked Sister Rogers what it met, it was the hand of the Lord putting it all together for us.  A card we found today, and the last I will report on was, William McLeod, Killed fall of earth, 16-2-1894 – Tableland, Boyne R.

Wednesday we were working away when Elder Smylie came in and said there were 2 birds in the tree outside the office called Rosella Parakeet’s.  Dad grabbed his camera and we went out.  They were the most colorful birds ever and he got some great pictures.  We knew when we left that night that we would finish all the cards on Thursday.  We were pretty excited. 

Thursday morning around 10 when we went for our walk, we decided to walk through the kitchen to  what Rashika and Sister Archibald were cooking for the Family Services.  They were just putting morning tea out, homemade crepes, with strawberries, chocolate, lime syrup and warm smashed banana’s with honey and brown sugar.  She was making the crepes at the table with a crepe maker that her grandmother gave to her 25 years ago.  Dad took some pictures as the table looked beautiful.  They also had a big tray of fresh fruit.  The people said they were really spoiled with the meals they were putting on.  The Social Services asked Dad if he would take pictures as soon as everyone was there so he said to just call and we would come back.  We had a crepe and some punch she had made.  We know when to pop in to say hi, good timing!

The Smylies took our car to take the Feils to the airport Thursday morning about 11.  It was hard to tell them goodbye but we will see them again.  They are touring Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania and are not getting home until Dec 2^nd.

We finished the cards at 3:30, what a relief!!  Sister Smylie took pictures and we sent emails out to Mark

and Danny.  Mark is in P and G for the week.  They were both excited.  Now we just have to wait for the audit that will be back Wednesday or Thursday, then we can pack up the camera and equipment.   The rest of the time we are going to sort and clean out the desks, etc.  Dad told Elder Killebrew he would be available to go with him and help him so he said he would probably call him.

Thursday night we went over to Rashika’s and put the pictures of the baptism on her computer.  We have been trying to make connections since then but our schedules have been so we couldn’t do it.  Devmini was working on an art project and needed some pictures of furniture.  We didn’t have anything so we went to the Archibald’s and all they had was Ensign and New Era, so we went to Killebrew’s and she had a couple of Better Homes and Garden’s she had brought over from the States, and she said she did not want them back so we took them up to Devmini and she was really excited.  Rashika told us to sit down and she served us some pumpkin soup and a yummy chocolate dessert.  That was nice that I didn’t have to fix dinner.  I told Dad I was through cooking after I made a casserole last night.  Now we just eat leftovers or sandwiches.   

Friday morning we didn’t go to the office until 8:30.  That is the first time the Smylie’s have been there before us since they came.  Sister Smylie asked why we came in and we said it was Birthday Moring Tea and we never passed up good food.  Legal and Public Affairs were in charge so that was the Archibald’s and Moore’s, the Allen’s are out of town.  It was really good.  We also had to transfer the folders from Thursday to the Hard Drive and get it in the mail.

After the tea Sister Smylie and I decided to go to the mall and have a pedicure.  Summer has arrived with it in the 80’s the first of the week, and the 90’s Friday and Saturday.  Today it was 68 when we left for Church at noon, and 75 when we came home.  Crazy weather!  It wouldbe nice to have 70-80 for a couple of weeks.  It was really hot yesterday when we were out.  Then late yesterday afternoon we got thunder showers and it rained really hard for about 10 minutes.

Yesterday morning we cleaned, deep cleaned the bathroom, and I was going to do the laundry room but we decided to go for a ride.  It will be the last Saturday to do that.  We found a really nice and good Chinese Restaurant in North Richmond, then came home and went to the store.  I am trying to get another afghan finished, and I should be done tomorrow night after Family Home Evening, our last one.  We are going to try and get some pictures posted on the blog tomorrow afternoon.  We haven’t done that for a long time. 

Church was so good today, we are really going to miss the wonderful people in Blacktown Ward.  There was no wifi at all in the building and the counselor in the Bishopbric said they have had problems for a couple of weeks and are trying to get it sorted out.  Sister Marcara that took us out to lunch a few weeks ago fell in her rock garden pulling weeds and has stitches in her head, and her arm is taped up, she has a big bruise on her forhead, and two black eyes.  She is in her late 80’s.  She is such a sweetheart, and she said she wouldn’t think of missing Church.

Guess we will close for another week, talk to you tomorrow!  We send our Love and Prayers to all!

                                        Sister Rogers and her son Lester, and Dix and Ruth

                                                Dave, Rashika, and Devmini's baptism

                                Leavers dinner with President and Sister Howes and the Feil's

                                      Malcolm and Helen Arvidson at their home in Toukley

                                        Dix next to a seam of coal on the beach near Toukley

                                                           Dix and Ruth near Toukley

               Top picture we met the Finch's and Smylie's at Nelson Bay and had dinner.

                                                 Typical New South Wales farm ground

October 26 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday October 26, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

What an amazing week we have just finished.  We are so blessed to be here in this Beautiful Country and especially the marvelous people here.  We have really been spiritually fed with all that has happened.

Monday night was Family Home Evening and we served the dinner of barbecue chicken sandwiches, it cooked in the slow cooker all day, and sweet potato salad that was made Sunday night.  Can’t get much easier than that.  It was very good and we had very little left so it was a hit with everyone.  It was Elder Feil’s birthday so Sister Archibald had the table decorated.  They had cake and ice cream for dessert.  After all was cleared away they put us in a circle and had a soccer ball with questions on it that Kailee had made up for an activity while she was here.  It was thrown to each person who read the question and answered it.  They were all about yourself.  Lots of fun.  The Feil’s leave the mission this Thursday and they are really going to be missed.  The Williams are going to do great to take their place, and will be very happy to move into the house.

Tuesday morning Dad and I left to pick up the plaques and grabbed a sandwich while out.  The plaques turned out so good.  When we got back to the office Elder Smylie and Dad left for the airport to pick up Sister Rogers and her son Lester and take them to the hotel in Parametta.  They got back to the office and we all worked for about an hour, and then left to go to the hotel to have dinner with the Rogers.  The restaurant in the hotel looked good so we just stayed there.  It was a lot of fun getting to know them, especially for the Smylie’s.  The dinner was good and we visited for a couple of hours.  We told them we would pick them up about 11 the next morning and spend the rest of the day with us at the office.  Wednesday morning we ran across the street to get chips, tarts and juice for lunch, they have taken Subway out where it was and moved it down closer to the food court and they aren’t open yet so I ordered the sandwiches from a Subway over on North Rocks Road.  We ran over and got them, came back to the office and put them in the refrigerator, and went to the hotel.  We got back to the office and showed them how we do the photographing, and let them do about 200 cards.  She kept saying that by writing on the back of some of them it created more work for us.  We told her we have a system so it doesn’t take much more time.  We had lunch and Elder and Sister Allen joined us.  They are the ones that wrote the article for Mormon Newsroom Australia.    After lunch Mark presented Sister Rogers with the plaque and she was very pleased, and especially that we were able to find a picture of her husband.  They stayed at the office visiting until about 5 when we all left to go to dinner in Parametta at the317 restaurant.  It was very good, then we walked down to the corner, across the street, and then back to the cars.  Sister Rogers wanted to attend the temple Thursday morning so we told her we would pick her up a little before 9 for the 10 session.  Lester stayed in the office with us for about an hour, then went over to the mall to walk around.  When Sister Rogers came back from the Temple, we got in the car and went over to the mall for lunch.  We drove because the men need to leave for the airport.  We ate a quick lunch and they left, and Sister Smylie and I ran back across the street to the office.  It was such a great experience having them here.  We now have 2/3 of a box to finish the entire project, we are hoping to be done by Wednesday night.

Friday we took the day off to do some more traveling.  We left around 9 went up the coast towards Salt Ash.  We got off the motor way as soon as possible and took the back roads.  We found the Lakehouse café at Murray’s Beach for lunch.  We had delicious fish and chips outside.  We then found Stockton Beach and walked along it and found two bags full of shells.  We then watched a huge tanker filled with coal being towed out to the ocean from Newcastle port.  There were 3 tugboats pulling and pushing it out.  We just happened to be there at the right time.  Several other cars in the lot watched it and then left.  It must be a big thing, we really enjoyed it.  We then left and went to the hotel I had reserved for the night and got there about 5, it was the Sir Francis Drake Comfort Inn in Heatherbrae.  It was beautiful, really nice room with a jetted tub, and a wonderful restaurant.  We were tired of being in the car so we just stayed there to eat.  We walked around the beautiful grounds before going to our room.

Saturday morning we left around 9 and drove to small towns in the country.  We found a little café around 11 for brunch and ordered sausage and onion rolls.  They were so good.  We ate outside where they had lots of fun signs hanging.  One was “No we do not have Wi-Fi, talk to each other.”  I found some onion jam I am bringing home and maybe Deven can recreate it if it is good.  We then took off again to the country and saw beautiful ground.  Around 5 we got to Gosford where we had reservations for the night.  We walked down to town and got chicken sandwiches for dinner.  We like eating only 2 meals when we are in the car so much.

This morning we left around 7:30 for the Toukley Ward.  They have a beautiful building and had about 50 people in attendance.  The Bishop has been a member about 10 years and has been Bishop for 6 years and they all just love him.  His oldest child is 8.  All the meetings were wonderful, the lady that led the music in Sacrament Meeting taught the Sunday School lesson and the Relief Society lesson.  There are 2 sets of sister missionaries there, and one of them was in the Blacktown Ward with us for about 6 months.  It was so good to see her again. 

After the meetings we followed Malcolm and Helen Arvidson to their home.  He retired from the service center a couple of months ago, and went back to Toukley where they had a home.  It is such a nice home and they have and are doing a lot of work on it.  We ate a delicious dinner of Barbecue chicken on the grill with pineapple and asparagus on the grill, and 3 salads.  Malcolm then showed us a book that Helen had made for him for his 6oth birthday.  It is of a lot of the pictures he has taken when they have traveled.  It was beautiful.  They then gave us a book to take home “Landscapes of Australia” and it has beautiful pictures.  We had taken a crystal nativity set for them.  We then got in their car and they showed us a lot of the country for a couple of hours, beautiful beaches, a lighthouse, and some forested area.  What a fun day.  We are going to miss them.  We got home about 6:30, got unpacked and had a sandwich, I wrote a spiritual thought for meeting in the morning.

We love you all and appreciate the love and support from each of you.

Mum and Dad

October 19 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia October 19, 2014          

Dear Family and Friends,

What another busy week this has been.  Last week while talking to you we were bragging about the weather, telling you how it had gone from winter to summer with no spring temps.  That was probably a mistake with the weather we had at the beginning of this week.  Monday afternoon the clouds came in and that evening it started thundering and lightening and rain.  Tuesday was just cloudy and about 60 degree’s.  Tuesday night around 7 it started with thunder and lightning and wind and rain all night long.  Wednesday night while watching the weather they said it was the perfect storm of the century, with cyclone force winds and heavy rain. They had flooding in parts of Sydney, large trees blown over, power outages that were still out for some on Thursday.  In the Blue Mountains they got snow that shut down the buses, trains, and closed roads and school, and a lot of power outages.  The news showed the kids building snow men.  Just a year ago they were fighting bush fires and this year an early snow storm.  Crazy weather!  The rest of the week was in the 60’s and some clouds but no more rain.  Yesterday it was cloudy in the morning in the 60’s, sunny in the afternoon in the 70’s, and today was 85.  There is rain predicted for a couple days this week.

Last Sunday the new mission office couple came in to replace the Feil’s.  They are the Williams from Brisbane.  They have been married 16 years, both 2^nd marriages.  He is from England and she from Brisbane.  They are going to be a lot of fun.  They are staying in Temple Housing until the Feil’s leave on the 30^th.

Monday Mark talked to us about having Sister Rogers come down next week.  Sister Smylie made the airplane reservations for Tuesday afternoon and they will leave Thursday afternoon.  Mark made Hotel reservations in Parametta for them and we will be responsible for taking them to dinner Tuesday night, and Wednesday night, and getting them to the office on Wednesday.  Elder Smylie and Dad are going to get them from the airport and take them back.  Dad told Mark he thought it would be nice to make a plaque up to present to her with her two family cards that she had typed up and put in the boxes.  He had pulled them out and Mark thought that was a good idea.  Dad got pictures out and the Smylies helped us design it.  We went across the street for lunch to see if there was a framing shop but there wasn’t.  There was a place to get pictures printed and we decided we needed them 5x7.  There is a picture of Sister Rogers with her husband, and one of Dad and I working on the cards.  We liked it so much that I typed up our information on cards and we are going to get one made for us.  We were so late at the mall getting the pictures printed that we missed going to the Temple.  Wednesday morning we got the final design done and left to go to a framing place I found over by Castle Hills Mall.  They will be done on Tuesday.  Mark said to go about $150.00 and we are getting it done for $122.00.  I think he will like it.  He was out the rest of the week for his father-in-laws funeral and will be back tomorrow.   We finished another box of cards and now we have just one to do.  We don’t know how much we will get done this week but we would like to get a good start on it.  We are taking Friday off to go up the coast to a couple of beaches we haven’t seen and then we speak in Toukley on Sunday.  Malcolm and Helen have invited us for lunch after Church.  That is our last speaking assignment and we are feeling kind of sad.  It has been fun to visit the branches and meet the members.

Last Saturday as we were in the elevator to come home our little Chinese neighbor was with us and said his wife had the baby and that she was jaundiced so they were worried.  We told him that all of ours were and they were fine.  We checked with them on Thursday and she was much better.  She is so little and cute, and her name is Emily.  His mother is here from China for a few weeks to help out and she speaks no English but is so cute and gracious.  We went to the mall Friday at noon to get a few baby things for them, and the Moore’s and us took them over Friday afternoon after work.  They were very pleased.  They baby is 2 weeks old today.  They wanted us to hold her but we told her we would in a couple of weeks, and to knock on our door’s if they need anything.  Friday afternoon the Smith’s called and asked us if they could take us to dinner before we left, and we said anytime, and they said now.  They had not been to Parametta to eat so we went down there.  They had roads blocked off and it was a mess to find a parking spot, but we did about 2 blocks away.  We walked over and looked at all the restaurants and a police man that was on the street said a parade was going to start anytime.  We decided to eat at Criniti’s and we sat outside.  We had pizza and Elder Smith had ribs.  The parade started just after we ordered.  The festival was called parramasala and is a celebration of the many rich and diverse cultures in Sydney.  It was really interesting and fun to see.  After eating we crossed the street and started back to the car and saw a pastry shop so went in and each got something and sat and ate it and visited some more.  The owner came and brought us some samples of other pastries, one with honey and cheese and it was warm.  The other was just a sweet one, all very good.  It was a good thing Dad and I split a pizza.

When we got back to our building we were waiting for the elevator when the Killebrew’s came out of it.  They said to come to their place to visit so we did.  They invited us to go with them and the Williams on Saturday to Paddington Markets in Sydney and then to lunch at PaPa’s, an Italian pastry place.  We said sure so we left around 9, picked up the Williams and drove down to Paddington’s.  This is a little street market we hadn’t been to before.  Everything there has to be made by the vendor so there was wood, metal, clothes, jewelry, tiles, etc.  It was really fun to walk around.  I bought a beautiful scarf out of Australian wool, and while I was paying for it a couple was there and asked where we were from and what we were doing here.  They asked us where we were living and when we told them Carlingford they said we must be Latter Day Saints and asked if saw the Christmas display and the story of Christ in pictures.  We told them we were and had worked at the display.  They said they enjoy it each year and said they live in Epping.  Dad bought some tiles that were painted on.  We had parked at Centennial Park and walked about 3 blocks to the market.  We drove to PaPa’s and it was packed.  Everyone comes there to get Cannoli’s, and Italian pastry that is filled with custard, chocolate custard, or cheese.  They are to die for.  We did eat sandwiches that were very good before Elder Killebrew went and bough the Cannoli’s.  We came home and went to the store to get the food for Family Home Evening tomorrow night.

Today we went to Church at Blacktown and it was interesting how many people said they saw our article in the Newsroom.  We were really pleased with the way the Allen’s wrote it.  We hope you all had a chance to read it.   We came home and fixed dinner, then got the food ready for tomorrow night.  We just made the most delicious sweet potato salad, Tyson save us some sweet potatoes and I will make it when we get home.  We will go early to Buckland House to start the barbecue chicken and take everything in.  I think we have it all ready to go. 

It is getting late so we will close for now.  We are hoping the onion harvest is going well, we enjoyed the video Tyson posted.  The farmers markets are also almost done for another year, and next year we will be there to do ours.  We are looking forward to talking to you tomorrow.

We sang “Teach Me To Walk in the Light” in Sacrament Meeting and in Relief Society so maybe we all need to hear the words.

Teach me to walk in the light of his love;  Teach me to pray to my Father above; Teach me to know of the things that are right; Teach me, Teach me to walk in the light.

Come little child, and together we’ll learn, of his commandments, that we may return, Home to his presence, to live in his sight, Always, always to walk in the light.

Father in Heaven, we thank thee this day, For loving guidance to show us the way.  Grateful, we praise thee with songs of delight! Gladly, gladly, we’ll walk in the light.    

Love you all!      

Mum and Dad

October 12 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday October 12, 2014

Dear Family & Friends,

This has really been a busy week, and a really good one.  At work we finished all the rework we had to do and now we are down to only 2 boxes to copy, providing all of the ones we have sent in pass the audit.  Actually the only ones are the ones we sent in on Friday, 9500, that have not been audited.  We do have some to put away tomorrow.  We normally get an audit on Wednesday or Thursday.  We felt a great relief to have them done, they are the ones that were taken with the Canon camera that Danny was trying to get the audit cancelled, but we decided to do them anyway as we are running out of time.

A card we found that was interesting said;

                Robert Pinkerton WILLIAMSON, a jockey,

                Born: 19^th Sept 1885                                       

                Died: 11 May 1912

                Age: 26 years    

                Husband of Ethel WILLIAMSON, accidentally killed while riding Vibrator on the Albion Park Racecourse.                                                                                                                                                                                   

Last Monday night was Family Home Evening.  Sister Moore served roast beef, potatoes and carrots, and a salad.  It was really good.   It was Labor Day, a holiday, so we were able to get things fixed at home.  We made trifle and it was almost gone.  We played a short Book of Mormon trivia, Elder Feil got 15 out of 19 possible, and Sister Allen got 14.  We had asked everyone to bring a favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon and tell why it was a favorite.  There were no duplicates which was surprising.  Dave, Rashika, and Devmini were there and Dave gave his favorite from the Bible.  They weren’t asked to bring one because we hadn’t been able to get a hold of them until late Monday afternoon. 

Tuesday we were working when the door bell rang, and Dad went to get it.  It was Elder and Sister Finch from the Salt Ash Branch.  They had come down to get a new car and turn their old one in.  Elder Killebrew exchanged 7 new cars this week.  We tried to talk Stoo Cox and Elder Killebrew into letting us have one for a month, but to no avail.  We decided to run across the street for lunch with the Finch’s as they didn't have to meet to get the car until 1:00.  We had a very enjoyable lunch with the Finch’s, Smylie’s,  and a couple of young Sister Missionaries.  One was from West Jordan, and one from Tasmania.  It was her birthday so Sister Smylie went a got her a birthday cake and candles.  It was P day and most of the missionaries attend the Temple in the morning, and then run across the street for lunch, so they were all around us, so we had them help us sing Happy Birthday.  She was really pleased and passed the cake around for all the Elders.  She was baptized 2 years ago and is the only member of her family in the Church.  It was strange to come out of the Temple with it still light out at night.  The moon was almost full and was beautiful.  When we got home, Dad and Elder Killebrew went to the roof to get some pictures.  Dad actually went out 3 times.

Wednesday night we were invited to dinner at a family’s home from our ward in Blacktown, the Matiu family.  They wanted to have us over before we go home.  They live about 45 minutes away.  The mother lost her husband in July from Diabetes.  He was the Ward Mission leader so we had talked to him before.  Their daughter, son-in-law, and 3 year old daughter live with her.  They were born in New Zealand, and the daughter’s husband was born in Samoa.  His parents are Mission President in Papua New Guinea.   They had a pork roast and delicious sweet potato salad with corn and bacon.  I need to get the recipe.  They had brownie alamode for desert.  We sat and visited for almost 3 hours.  The husband is a security guard and got ready for work as we were leaving.  He had a BYU shirt on, and I asked him why he likes the Y.  He said Taysom Hill served his mission here and had been in their home to eat many times.  I gave him the sad news about the broken leg and that he would be out the rest of the season.  We knew he had served his mission here but hadn't met anyone who knew him, it was only one mission then. 

Thursday night we went to the store before coming home.  We found out the entire building had no television all week.  That is how much TV we watch.  Friday the Smith’s called and said the BYU game would be on TV at 10:30 and we could watch it at their neighbors home.  We went over and really enjoyed the game, other than the final score.  They just had too many stupid penalties in the 2^nd half, and then a no call on the final play.  Oh well, just a game, but it was really fun to watch.  We all didn't realize how much we would miss watching the games.

Friday night was the Baptism and everyone has been so excited.  Dad was asked to take pictures so we went early.  They were having a pot luck dinner after so the Ward and the Sr Missionaries all brought something.  We made 2 grape salad’s, the grapes are beautiful this time of year.  It was Devmini’s 14th birthday so Rashika made a beautiful cake and cupcakes for her.  There were around 60 people there, Malcolm and Helen even came down from Toukley.  There were 12 Sr Missionaries there, as well as 5 Elders, and 2 sets of Sister Missionaries.  

The program was as follows:                                                                                                                                

                Opening Hymn:  I Am A Child Of God

                Opening Prayer:  Elder Wang         

                Talk:  Sister Archibald

                                                Baptism of Dave, Rashika and Devmini

                Musical  Item: Senior Elder Missionaries and Dave, “How Great Thou Art”

                Talk:  Josie Mackie

                                                Confirmation of Dave, Rashika and Devmini

                Closing Remarks:  Bishop Cox

                Closing Hymn:  Families Can Be Together Forever

                Closing Prayer:  Rachel Laugery

                                     

It was so wonderful and Dad got some great pictures.  Dave and Rashika also bore their testimonies and did a great job.       

There was so much food we thought there would be tons of leftovers, but everyone just kept going back so most of it was gone, and what was left we gave to the young missionaries.  They were very excited to take it.  After cleaning up we had a little birthday party for Devmini, and some people had brought gifts for the Baptism so the Moore’s, Archibald’s, Bishop Cox and Terri, and Us, just watched them.  We had gotten a CTR ring for Devmini and she really liked it.  Dad copied a talk about the CTR ring that we gave her also.  We had so much fun and then helped load the cars and got home around 10.

Yesterday we cleaned the flat before going to Parklea to get a few more things, then went on a ride to see some ground we hadn’t been to before a couple of hours away.  Around 2 Dad asked how far away we were from Wiseman’s Ferry, he was in the mood for a good hamburger.  I punched it in “Tilly” and we were only 45 min away so off we went.  It was very good and worth the wait.  We found some peach and plum orchards on the way home over roads we hadn’t gone on before.  Some were on dirt roads.  We got home around 6. 

Today was General Conference here in Australia, so we just stayed home and watched it on the computer.  Great talks and music.  We really enjoyed it.  Before dinner we went over to Dave and Rashika’s as Dave leaves early in the morning to go back to Sr Lanka and we wanted to tell him good bye as we will be gone when he comes back the end of November.  He was watching the hurricane hit India as he has a factory about 4 kilometers from where it hit.  He was really worried about the people in the area, most are in just thatched houses.  The winds were 120 miles per hour.

Mark sent us an email Friday morning that Melinda’s father had passed away Thursday.  We don’t know anything else but he has been in poor health for some time.  Mark and Melinda were on holiday at the Gold Coast in Queensland, and her sister from here is in Scotland on holiday, and another sister lives in Draper, Utah.  Hopefully he will let us know tomorrow what the plans are.

It is almost 10 so we had better sign off for now.  Talk to you tomorrow.  A great scripture about Baptism we all need to remember:

2 Nephi 31:5                                                                                                                                                            “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.”

We love you all:

Mum and Dad

October 5 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday Oct 5, 2014,

Dear Family and Friends,

Here it is our last full month in this Beautiful Country.  The time is flying by.  The weather this week has been beautiful, in the 70’s every day.  We didn’t even get our jackets out once on our little trip.  Friday was cloudy but still warm, and yesterday was off and on cloudy but nice.  Today was hot, 95 when we came out of Church.  Spring lasted one week.  Hopefully it cools off a little, we need a little 80’s before 90’s. We will not complain though seeing as we are coming home in winter.  That wasn’t very good planning, and we didn’t plan it, it just happened with all the visa delay’s.

This week was wonderful.  Dad had made a list of about 20 towns in the country, so when we left Denman Monday morning after having a continental breakfast that was in our room, little boxes of cereal, milk, juice and toast, I just put the first town in Tilley and off we went.  We saw such beautiful ground, with grain, canola, and alfalfa that was being cut most places.  Some of the towns were just a couple of farm houses, and others were a street.  It was so much fun.  We stopped at a country store that was like a huge DI and walked through it.  I found a couple of used books that I got.  We tried to stop and walk around at least every two hours.  We talked to a few farmers.  We saw lots of cows with new calves, and sheep with lambs.  We also went on a lot of dirt roads, but the dirt roads here are very smooth and nice driving.  In the afternoon Monday we were driving along when I saw a sign for the Bee Gee cemetery, so Dad turned around and we went on a dirt road and found an Aboriginal Cemetery.  At least half of the graves were just mounds of dirt with a white cross that stated the name, date of death, and sometimes the age.  The other graves had big nice headstones, usually with a picture of the individual.  There were probably 2-3 hundred graves.  It was in a forest and had a fence around it.  Dad took a lot of pictures.

Tuesday morning we started early and continued with the list of towns.  About 11 we stopped for fuel and just grabbed sandwiches from the service station and drinks, and was on our way again.  In the afternoon we drove to the Siding Springs Observatory that was on the top of a mountain.  It was really interesting.  We got to all the towns of the list except one because Dad didn’t want to drive after dark, so we drove to Mudgee and got there about 5:30.  We found a place at the Winning Post Motor Inn and checked in then walked to the Restaurant at the Inn.  The counter guy that checked us in was also taking care of the restaurant.  He said a couple of girls would be in anytime.  There were only 3 tables being used before the girls came.  We ordered fish, me Salmon and Dad Barramundi.  It was so good, served on sliced baked potatoes and grilled vegetables with a white sauce over it.  We are going to miss the fresh fish when we go home.

Wednesday morning we drove to Lithgow for breakfast, then came home through Bilpin, which is the apple capital of Australia.  We stopped at a little road side stand and asked the girl working who made the homemade pies she was selling for $9.00.  She said her Mum, so we bought one, and a few other things.  We got home about 2:30 and I did a couple of loads of laundry.  The Feil’s picked us up about 5:15 to go to Arthur and Judy Sheen’s home for dinner.  They wanted to have the four of us before we go home.  They also invited President and Sister Barr and Brother Stewart that is here from the Temple Department.  Judy is from Hong Kong and she fixed an absolutely delicious Chinese dinner.  She had sweet and sour chicken, ham fried rice, beef stir fry, honey and sesame seed chicken, a pork dish, curry pockets, and egg rolls.  For dessert she had a mandarin in a flaky crust, cheesecake, and ice cream.  While eating dessert Brother Stewart told his conversion story.  He was raised in St. Joseph, Missouri and was raised Baptist, the religion of his mother.  His father was Lutheran, and other relatives that lived close were other religions.  He used to question his mother when he was younger why there was so many different religions, and she said it didn’t matter where you went as long as you live your religion.  He had a best friend that they did everything together.  One day his friend’s mother had to go to Liberty Missouri and took them along.  They had most of the day to just wander around and check out the town.  They were standing in front of a sign about the Mormon’s and laughing when a man came up, took them by the neck and said come with me.  He took them to the Liberty Jail and they were afraid he was going to lock them up.  He gave them a tour of the jail and as they were leaving he called them back and gave them a couple of pamphlets.  As they were driving home, his friends mother noticed the pamphlet and told her son to tear it up immediately and to have nothing to do with the Mormon’s.  Brother Stewart who was in the back seat slid his pamphlet inside other papers he had.  When he got home he read it and said it all made complete sense.  He didn’t want to lose it so he put it in his Baptist Bible.  He said when he went to Church on Sunday he was probably the only one there with the Joseph Smith story in his bible.  When he was 16 he was playing basketball with friends in a park and after the other boys left he continued to shoot baskets.  A couple of young men in white shirts and ties rode up on bikes and asked if they could shoot with him.  He said it only took a couple of minutes for him to realize they knew nothing about basketball.  They said they were missionaries and would he like to learn about Jesus Christ.  He said he was Baptist and happy with that.  As they were getting on their bikes they said if you ever want to know the story of Joseph Smith to call them.  He said you mean the boy that was confused about religion and prayed in the Sacred Grove and the Father and his son Jesus Christ came down and spoke to him.  They were shocked and just looked at him.  They went over to a picnic table and talked for hours.  He was very excited to learn all he could.  He was baptized when he was 18 and started dating the only LDS girl in his High School.  Just before he turned 19 the Bishop called him into his office after Church and asked him if he wanted to go on a mission.  He told him he had a girl friend, a new car, and a job so he didn’t think so.  The Bishop just said that his girlfriend was going to BYU and would be snatched up by a RM, but to come back in when he was ready to go.  He said a few months later his car started having major problems and one day while driving the steering went completely out.  He pulled the car to the side of the road wondering what to do when a man stopped and offered him $500.00 for the car and he took it.  In the meantime his mother and dad got divorced and his mother remarried and moved away, and so he had no place to live, so he quit his job and moved with her.  And about this time he got a Dear John letter from his girlfriend who had indeed met an RM.  The next week at Church he went into the Bishop’s office and said he was ready to go on a mission.  The Bishop had him fill out the paperwork right there, made an appointment with a Dr that lived in the Ward for the next day, and after the physical the Dr took him across the hall to a Dentist who did an exam and signed off the paper work.  The Stake President came to the Bishop’s house that night and signed it, put it in the Mail on Tuesday, and ten days later he had his call to the California San Francisco mission.  He told the Bishop he had no money to pay for a mission and the Bishop said there are people in the Ward that will support you on your mission. His mother was very supportive and took him shopping to get his clothes.    One night he and his companion had a dinner appointment with members in a very wealthy part of town.  The butler answered the door and showed them into the dining room where the longest table he had ever seen was set for four, one at each end, and one on each side.  An older couple came shuffling into the room and had them sit down for dinner.  They were served several courses of very good food.  The couple said it was too hard for them to go to Church anymore but they enjoyed having the missionaries for dinner.  Brother Stewart kept asking the man if he knew him but he kept saying no.  As they were leaving the couple told them they had served three missions together and said they hadn’t done much good in any of them.  Elder Stewart asked where they had served and when the man said the Liberty Jail in Missouri, Brother Stewart told the story of he and his friend being taken there by a missionary.  The lady said her husband was always in town rounding up people to see the jail.  Brother Stewart said because of him he joined the Church.  The man hugged him and was so happy.  A couple of days later the butler came to their door just as they were fixing peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and said the couple wanted to take them to lunch.  Over lunch the man kept calling him his missionary and introduced him to others.  The man passed away before Brother Stewart completed his mission.  Sorry to have bored you but we thought it was so interesting.

We went back to the office on Thursday and started on the rework.  We have decided we have to be finished with all the cards by Oct 31^st in order to have an audit back before we can put all the equipment away.  We have two full boxes, and 1 ½ boxes of rework to do in 4 weeks.  Mark came in with a bottle of Pina Colada caramel popcorn for the four of us to share, and a box of dark chocolate covered macadamia’s.  Yummy!  Mark is going to be on holiday next week.

Yesterday we met the Killebrew’s at the car at 7:30 to go the river cat to go to the Quays.  Dad wanted to get another picture of the bridge and the opera house with the sun different from the last one he took.  Elder Killebrew just bought a new camera so wanted to try it out.  They walked over to Mrs. Maquarie’s point and we stood on the opera house steps so they could see us.  With the new camera on zoom they could.  When they came back we were in a little café by the opera house and we each shared a hamburger with everything on it including the egg.  We then walked to the rocks and found the street market that had the Christmas Store in it and I bought a nativity set of Koala Bears, a Santa Clause, and Dad picked out an ornament made out of Banksia Nut.  We then walked up the market and Dad found a cutting board out of wood in the shape of Australia.  We were happy with our purchases.  Sister Killebrew and I sat down on a wall and they went up to the Sydney Observatory and then met us back at the Quays where we got a cup of mango yogurt and waited for our ferry home.  We got home a little after 5 and went to Parametta to a restaurant the Archibald’s had told us about.  Dad and I had a prawn dish over rice with a white sauce and it was really good.  We have enough left for lunch.  It was another great day.

Today we went to Church at Blacktown Ward and it was wonderful.  The time changed last night so we moved ahead one hour, and it was light until 8 tonight.  It will be different to get used to again.

Guess we had better close.  Thanks Ann and Dan for the letter, we will try and answer it this week.  We have Family Home Evening tomorrow night and we have the dessert and lesson.  Everyone has asked me to make the trifle again so I am going to, and we are doing a Book Of Mormon trivia and have asked everyone to bring a favorite scripture from the Book Of Mormon.  It will be fun.  Tomorrow is Labor Day holiday so we don’t have to work.  We are going to the office to call you, we can’t miss two weeks in a row.  It was fun to see Dixon get his arrow of light badge this week, it was a great ceremony by the Order of the Arrow.  We remember when Deven did all those ceremonies.  It brings back lots of good memories.

We love you all and you are all in our prayers daily.

Mum and Dad

September 28 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday September 28, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a pretty quiet week with Mark and the Smylie’s out of the office.  Elder Meyers came in on Monday, but Elder Cummings was sick.  They both worked at Church buildings Tues and Wed and they didn’t come in the rest of the week.  We finished all the cards except for 2 boxes that Mark wants us to keep for the middle of October.  We are going to do the big rework when we get back in the office on Thursday.  Friday was Birthday morning tea and was really good as usual. 

Saturday morning we went to the office to sign some papers and get them emailed to Salt Lake and we called Tyson to see how he was doing with the onion harvest as we knew a big storm was coming in.  He said he was leaving to take the kids to their piano recital, so we ran home, packed to be gone for 4 days, and went back to the office and saw Aunna, Dixon, and Makenna play, then we left to go to Martin Harvey’s home about an hour away by The Entrance.  He is going to carve me a bone necklace and Dad wanted to see how he does it.  He showed us his house and the remodeling he has been doing, then worked on the bone.  It is going to be beautiful! 

We then drove up to Nelson Bay, and stopped for lunch on the way.  We checked into our motel with an absolutely stunning view of the harbor.  I took a picture and didn’t know my Ipad was on video.  Oh well, I got it off.  The Smylie’s picked us up around 5:30, they were up there to help with a family history fair at the Salt Ash Branch.    Elder and Sister Finch followed them so we could all go out to eat together.  They are assigned to the Salt Ash Branch and they love it there.  We ate a really good steak at the Hogs Breath restaurant.  We had lots of fun just visiting for a couple of hours.  The Finch’s are from Mapleton in Utah County and he retired from teaching at Springville High School.

This morning we checked out of the Motel and rode around looking at the beautiful country before going to Salt Ash.  They meet at the Civic Center in Medowie, and the Assembly of God Church meets there in the morning, so the Branch meets at 1-4.  There were about 40 people in attendance today.  Ralph Arvidson, who is Malcom’s older brother is a counselor in the Presidency.  Malcolm used to work in the Service Center and he and Helen had the Sr. missionaries to their home several times.  They live in Toukley, where we talk next month.  The young women sang “Come, Comer Ye Saints”, and they have 1 Laurel who plays the electric keyboard for the meeting, 1 Mia Maid who leads the music, and 2 beehives.  Their advisor also sang with them.  A 10 year old Primary Boy read a scripture, then on e of the Beehive girls gave a talk.  The advisor also went up and helped her.  You could tell she was really nervous and we found out later that she was baptized in February and this was the first time she had ever given a talk.  There were about 25 primary children.  It was so good to be there with them.

After Church we drove to Denman and checked into our Motel and then walked for a couple of blocks, there are really a lot of old buildings here.  We saw beautiful farm ground on the way here.  We also stopped in Maitland to drop a paper off to the missionaries for the Mission office.  Tomorrow we are leaving for a couple of days and just driving around to look at some new farm ground where we have not been before. 

The weather has been beautiful this week, other than Thursday when it was cloudy and we got a down pour around noon that dropped 1 inch in 10 minutes.  We had a river running down the driveway.  We were so glad we were in the office, we had just got back from running over to the mall.  Yesterday and today the temps were about 5 degrees above average.  Hopefully Spring is finally here.  We do have a chance of rain on Friday.

We are going to miss talking to you all tomorrow, but we will be in the office Sunday Morning when Priesthood meeting lets out and you are all eating dinner so we can visit.  Have a good week.  We love you all.

Mum and Dad

September 21 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday September 21, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Here it is after 9 and I am just starting the letter of the week.  We just got back from delivering carrot, pecan cookies with orange icing to the other couples.  I was in the mood to bake tonight for some reason.  Actually I found this recipe a couple of weeks ago and wanted to try it.  They are really good, and we came back from Killebrew’s with brownies. 

This week has been pretty quiet at work.  Dad went through the last 4 boxes on Monday to see what we have to finish them, and one of them only had about a ¼ full of cards, so now we are down to 3 ½ boxes and will finish one box this week so we will be down to 2 boxes.  Mark wants us to have that many left when Sister Rogers comes down the middle of October.  We do have 2 boxes of rework to do from the Canon Camera that we are just going to go ahead and do.  Danny is trying to get the rework cancelled but we have the time to just get it done.  Next weekend we go to Salt Ash to speak so we are going on Saturday and stop at Martin Harvey’s house up by The Entrance, about an hour away.  He does bone carving and is going to make me a necklace and Dad wants to see his equipment and how he does it.  Then we are going to have dinner with the Finch’s who are missionaries at Salt Ash.  The Smylie’s will also be there as they are helping with a Family History Fair on Saturday.  We are going to leave after Church on Sunday and go see farm ground up in that area.  We told Mark we will be gone 2-3 days and he said fine.  We have to be back that Wednesday night as we have a dinner.

On Tuesday we were watching the grounds guy taking cones out on the grass so we knew the Plovers had put a nest in the grass right outside our window.  As he was putting the 2^nd cone on the ground the daddy plover started dive bombing him so he was running away and finally just dropped the 3^rd cone and ran.  He was waving his hat and the bird was still diving at him.  We thought it was pretty funny but he didn’t.  We went out to get a picture and he said don’t go too close.  It will be fun to watch them so close to our building.

We found out this week that the Killebrew’s are moving into our flat when we leave in November.  They are on the ground floor and have wanted to get away from the front door, etc.  Our flat is also larger than the one they are in, and we have a bath tub and they only have a shower.  They will have a lot of fun next to the Moore’s also.

Friday night the Barr’s had organized a bush walk at the Bidjigal Reserve, about 15 min from here.  It is home to 370 native plants, and over 140 native animals.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it but Dad went with the Barr’s, Feil’s, Smith’s, Moore’s, Archibald’s, Nolan’s and Sister Howes.  The Smith’s had pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad at their office before everyone left.  The Killebrew’s and myself stayed and cleaned everything up and then they brought me home.  The walk was a couple of hours and they had to take a torch (flashlight).  They only saw a frog and a ring tailed possum.  Dad said it was fun.

Saturday morning we went to Windsor and got some more Golliwogs.  The Killebrew’s went and got some, and so did Sister Archibald so I knew there would not be many left.  The shop keeper said she was trying to get a hold of the lady that makes them to order more.  She thanked us for sending the other missionaries in and gave me a pair of snowmen earrings, and Dad some cuff links she makes.  They were each $20.  That was nice of her.  After we left Windsor we drove towards Wiseman’s Ferry so we could find a little farm Dad had seen.  We drove in the driveway and Dad got out and talked to the farmer, a young Chinese man.  He raises Chinese vegetables and sells them at the Sydney Markets.  He sprinkles all the ground.  We then left and went to the Blacktown Sports Club to meet a couple of ladies from our ward that wanted to take us to lunch before we go home.  They are both widows and both in their mid 80’s.  We had a lot of fun eating and visiting.  We then came home and changed clothes to go to the Sydney Opera House for the production of “The King and I”.  We rode down with the Smith’s and met the others, Archibald’s, Killebrew’s, Moore’s, Feil’s, Nolan’s, and Dick’s at a restaurant at Darling Harbor and had a really good dinner, then we all got taxi’s over to the Opera House so we wouldn’t be late for it to start.  The restaurant was really slow, the original plan was to take the ferry over to the Quay’s and then walk, but we didn’t have time.  The theatre was absolutely stunningly beautiful.  There are 4 theatres in the Opera House.  The play was magnificent, we enjoyed every minute of it and it could have gone on another few hours.  We all kept saying on the way out we couldn’t believe we were really there.  We are so glad we had this opportunity and it was well worth the money spent.

We got to bed just after midnight, and our phone rang at just after 6, the Smith’s telling us that they had the BYU game on their neighbor’s TV.  They are taking care of the house and and dog sitting while they are on holiday, and the owner said to watch anything they wanted.  He has foxtail that allows him to get ESPN.  First game we have seen in 2 seasons so we all really enjoyed it.  The Feil’s came over and watched the 4^th quarter.  It was a great game.  We are hoping we can watch the BYU-Utah State game.  That will be a little later as it starts at 8:30 in Utah.

The Archibald’s came down a little while ago and brought me a Kangaroo Nativity Set they had found down in Sydney and she bought it for me.  It is really cute!  She told me they have a Koala Bear one also, so now we are planning another trip down in a couple of weeks.  She wants to go back also.

It is after 10 so we need to get into bed.  Have a good week and we will talk to you tomorrow.

All our Love,

Mum and Dad

September 14 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sep 14, 2014

Dear Family;

We just got back from the Archibald’s flat so we will start with today and go backwards.  Sister Archibald called after Church and invited us up for desert about 7.  She said Rashika and Devmini were coming up with the Moore’s after the missionary discussion.   She also invited all the other Sr couples.  She made a dump cake and used cherries, blueberries and pineapple, with whipped cream.  It was very, very good.  Everyone was there except the Feil’s, they had another meeting.  The Allen’s have been in Perth for a week so it was good to see them back.  Rashika said Dave found the Church in Sri Lanka, and said it was just a small branch but he enjoyed it.  It was only about 20 min from his house.  He even wrote notes from Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School and Priesthood, and even gave the hymn numbers of what they sang.  We were so excited he went on his own.  There are no young missionaries in that country, and we don’t know about Service Missionaries.  We are getting excited for their baptism date, the Sr couples are going to do the dinner with the Oatlands Ward helping.  Rashika is doing the rolls, and the cake because it is Devmini’s 14^th birthday.  We saw the counselor in the Bishopbric from that Ward in the store yesterday and he said they are so excited.  We are also!  We had a lot of fun visiting tonight and Rashika told us a little about Sri Lanka and Devmini told about her school.  Always fun to get together.  We are so blessed to be serving here with all these wonderful people.  We are going to miss them.

Church today was really good, it was the Primary Program, there are about 60-70 children in the Primary and they sang so good.  Bishop Curtis’s wife is the music director, and he sat on the front row and sang every song and the little kids were watching him.  It was so cute.  We were asked to take a few minutes in the Sunday School class to talk about what we are doing on our mission. 

Let me tell you about the weather this week before going on.  Monday thru Thursday was beautiful, Spring was definitely in the air.  Sunny, no wind, and 75 degrees all 4 days.  We were all ready to put the winter clothes away, and then Friday morning we woke up to rain and wind, and it stayed in the 50’s.  Saturday was the same, all though we didn’t have too much rain, just cold and wind.  We decided about 9 to brave it and go to the Quays on the rivercat.  We changed ferries when we got there to the Manly ferry.   When we got to Manly we walked a couple of blocks to the beach, and it really is a pretty beach and the waves were beautiful.  Not too many people in the water though, it was pretty chilly.  There were no shells, so after walking for a bit we walked up another street and found a cute little café and had prawns and chips, and fish and chips and salads.  We had the best dressing on the salad we have had in this country so we asked what it was and they said homemade basil, oil and vinegar.  We walked back to the ferry, waited about 10 minutes, then went back to the quays.  We had our bowl of mango yogurt, mine with kiwi fruit, and Dad’s with strawberries, before catching the rivercat back.  By the time we went to the store and came home it was almost 6.  Another good day.  There were lots of fun stores on Manly but we didn’t go in any.

Friday we were in the office alone which worked out well as we listened to the entire BYU game.  The Smylie’s were in Wollongong for a Family History Fair for 2 days, Mark was off getting ready to go to the States on Monday, for 2 weeks,  and he told Kailee not to come in because she left today to go back the BYU Hawaii.  She did come in to bring the bike back the mission gave her when she got here, and to tell us goodbye.  We are really going to miss her.  She is going to be in Hawaii about 3 weeks to give her report to the Uni, and help interview the next intern to come in January.  Tuesday we took Kailee to lunch and Mark had asked us to get the lunch for Wednesday, a farewell for Kailee, and a birthday for Elder Smylie.  We ordered the cake and nenish tarts for the lunch.  Wednesday Elder Smylie got a call from Hyde Park FH center that they had major computer problems and needed them fixed that day because the director was going out of town Thursday and they would be gone Friday and Saturday so Mark told them to go get it taken care of and be back by 3 for a birthday tea.  We went across the street and got the sandwiches and chips and drink for lunch, and went back and got it ready.  The Smith’s came because they have worked with Kailee in the Young Single Adult program.  We just visited, the 2 service Elders were in that day also.  They are really going to miss Kailee in the office.  The Smylies got back just before 3 so we got the tea set up.   That day was really a sugar overload!

Thursday we were working away when Elder Smylie said they wanted to take Kailee to lunch and would we come with them.  We all ran across the street and had a good lunch, at least as good as you can get over there.   3 times in a week is a little much.

Monday night for Family Home Evening the Smylie’s had the dinner and they had meat pies, Harry de wheels, style with mashed potatoes and peas and gravy.  She also had a green salad.  The Archibald’s did desert and fresh fruit and cookies.  Elder Archibald read an article from the Meridian Magazine “Why we Suddenly Have So Many LDS Missionaries from Zimbabwe.  It was written by Maurine Proctor and if you have time you need to look it up and read it.  I did post it on FB last week.  She starts out by saying “If you have been praying for missionary opportunites, you will want to learn about this.  You can pack a suitcase for an African missionary who may not be able to serve without your help.”  Three very high profile LDS professional golfers from the Ladies European Tour put it all together.  Check it out everyone!  We were also thinking it might be great for a service for the family Christmas Parties.  After reading that they showed the DVD “Called to Serve” with David Archuleta.  Very good.

Last week I said I had bought Colliwog dolls, but I hit the wrong letter, it should have read Golliwog.  C and G look sort of alike right?

This coming Saturday we go the Opera House to see “The King and I” and we are super excited.  The Feil’s, Killebrew’s, Moore’s, Smith’s, and Archibald’s are going, and we are going to eat at a restaurant on Darling Harbor before the play.

We send our deepest sympathy to Mandy and family in the loss of her grandfather.  He was a great man and will be missed by the many people who knew him.

A very Happy 11^th Birthday to Dixon on Friday.

We Love You All and you are always in our Prayers!  Looking for to talking to you tomorrow.

Love,   Mum and Dad

September 7 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sep 7, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Fathers Day from Australia to Deven, Ruston, Loren, Tyson, Vaun, Bob, Mike, Andy, Kelvin, Chase, Thomas and Ezra.  Dad got a little candy bar at Blacktown Church to put in his pocket, a little shirt and tie made out of paper with the saying “You’re “Tie”rific!  Happy Father’s Day from the youth. 

The weather definitely needs mentioning again.  Last Sunday and Monday it was sunny and warm in the 60’s and we were hoping spring was on its way.  Tuesday was cloudy and back in the 50’s with rain off and on.  When we got home from the Temple the wind started blowing really hard and blew all night, just like the east winds from home.  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and today, rain, rain, rain, cold, cold, cold.  We are so OVER the rain as everyone is saying.  We are ready for Spring!  Everything is so green and the trees are starting to bloom so it is pretty.  The teacher in Relief Society taught the lesson on Prayer, and she said we have prayed for rain, and then complain when we get it.  I guess we are all human.

It has been a fairly quiet week at work, we just had Birthday Morning Tea on Friday a week late for the August Birthday’s because we had a pizza lunch last Wednesday after a devotional, so they decided to put it off a week.  This month we will have 2.  We have been on a box of hard cards again.  One interesting one was a copy of an article that was from Woman’s Day, October 5, 1982, and it reads “My great- great grandfather, William Trustum, sailed from England for Australia when he was 19.  The year was 1848 and he paid $4 for his passage to Australia.  He married Ann Graves in 1956 and they went on the land.  At that time, men were able to buy land from 50 to 300 acres through the Crown for $2 an acre.  Originally, it was 50 cents an acre.  Each settler had to guarantee that he would live on the land for at least a year.  The staple diet of pioneers like my great-great grandparents (who had 11 children) was damper, tea and wallaby or rabbit meat.  Some prices they paid for goods in the 1860’s were: Tea—25 cents per lb, bread—8 or 9 cents a loaf, butter—20 cents per lb, cheese—10 cents per lb, eggs—20 cents per dozen.  By Miss C McLaren, Byron Bay, NSW.”  We have 5 ½ boxes left so we are slowing down and taking our time.  Mark wants us to have at least 2 full boxes in October.  We are just going to go ahead and do the rework that Danny is trying to get cancelled because it was with the Canon Camera but it has been 5 months and still no cancellation.  That is almost 2 boxes.

Last week Sister Archibald called all the Sr. couples and the Barr’s and told us she was having a dinner for us on Thursday the 4^th at Buckland House at 6pm.  We were not to bring anything and wear a pastel shirt.  When we got there the tables were set up with name tags and fabric at our place, each piece a different color, all Polynesian prints.  There was also a shell necklace for the women that our husbands put on us and then give us a kiss on the cheek.   She had pictures hanging around the room from their recent trip to Samoa.  She said as she was wondering around the villages while Elder Archibald was working and she found this little store with 1,000’s bolts of fabric, and all she could think of was she wished we had all been there with her.  She said she could see all of our personalities in the fabrics, so she bought enough for a sarong for each of us.  She had us get ours, take shoes and socks off, men roll up their pants, and showed us how to put them on.  She had asked Dad to bring his camera so he took pictures.  It was so much fun and you really could see the fabric matching the couples.  She had prepared slow cooker pork over rice with coleslaw on top and gravy, with fresh fruit.  She had an oatmeal cake for dessert.  After we ate, she and Elder Archibald showed some slides and told about the pictures she had hanging around.  It was a great night.

Yesterday when we got up it had rained all night and was still raining.  We had told Kailee we would take her to see the bats and to Windsor for fish and chips.  The Smylie’s decided to go with us. When we got down to the bats it was sprinkling so Kailee and I got out and she got some pictures of them.  We then drove to Windsor and by the time we got there it had stopped raining.  We walked up and down the streets and went in a few shops.  We went in a used book store and I found a children’s story book by a local author, and is about a horse born on a farm.  It looked cute so I got it, and when we got outside Elder Smylie gave me a book he had bought “Henry Lawson’s Best Stories”  He said he grew up on these stories and thought I would enjoy it.  We have been talking in the office about our love of reading.  This book was first printed in 1966.  The introduction starts out with “Henry Lawson is the most-loved Australian, and seems likely to remain so for as long as anyone can see.”    We ate fish and chips then walked up the other side of the boardwalk and went into a little store I have loved looking around called “Tahlula’s Eclectic Bazaar” handmade antique.  As we walked in the door Sister Smylie picked up a little doll and said it was a collywog and she played with them as a little girl.  She had no idea they were still available.  I found a girl and a boy one I really liked so Dad bought them for me.  I am so excited to get them home.  Google the name and see what you find.  We got home about 3 and ran to the store for a couple of things, and I took my Collywogs down to show Sister Killebrew.  While there we decided to go the movie “100 Foot Journey” Some of the other couples have seen it and said it is really good.  Dad and I went over to the office to use the internet to get discount tickets and seats, then we left with the Killebrew’s about 5:30 and had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant before the movie.  It was really a good movie, and the scenery was beautiful.

We wish Mike a Happy Birthday on Tuesday the 9^th.  Hope you have a great day.

In closing a thought that was on our Relief Society newsletter today:  “ As we GIVE, we find that ‘sacrifice brings forth the BLESSINGS of heaven’, and in the end, we learn it was no SACRIFICE at all.”  President Spencer W Kimball.

We Love you All and Pray for you!

Mum and Dad