Thursday, February 27, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
February 23 2014 Weekly Letter
Australia Sunday Feb
23, 2014
Dear Family and Friends:
This has been quite a week and really good. Right now we just checked into a hotel in
Canberra and it is 6:30. I will start
with last Monday, Mark came into the office and said for Jan to make air
reservations when they get back on Thursday for us to go to Queensland to meet
Sister Rogers. As you remember she and
her husband began this project we are filming by going to the cemeteries in
Queensland, and then extending it to all the cemeteries all over Australia for
over 20 years. Her husband passed away
in 2005 and the family donated the cards to our Family History Center. She has been in an assisted living place but
is now back in her home in Bundaberg. We
were hoping we could be there a few days but we are flying in on Saturday
morning and flying out Sunday evening.
Bundaberg is a 4 ½ hr drive from Brisbane. Brother and Sister Hill, they work for the
Family History Department in Brisbane, will pick us up and drive us up there to
visit. Mark made reservations for the 4
of us to stay overnight, and then we will drive back after Sacrament
meeting. We are so excited. Dad is going to take pictures of the whole
project to take up with us.
Wednesday was the conference with Elder Russell M Nelson, of
the Quorum of the Twelve. We picked up 2
Elders from the Epping Station, which is about a mile from our flat. We had to be in our seats by 8:00 at Baulkenhills
Stake Center, and we got there about 10 min early. They had the Chapel and Cultural Hall divided
in half with the North Mission on one side and the South Mission on the
other. President Howes announced at 8:00
that everyone was to stand as Elder Nelson came in, and that everyone will have
an opportunity to shake his hand. He
asked that everyone be gentle, we were shaking once, he was shaking 420 hands,
and it all had to be done in 30 minutes.
The assistants assisted in getting each row to stand up and we did it in
25 min. When they came in they stood
down in front of the podium, Elder Nelson, his wife, Elder O’Rierden and his
wife, Elder Hamula and his wife of the Area Presidency. They are both in the Quorum of the Seventies. They then went to the stand and we had the
opening song and prayer. Then Sister O’Rierden, Elder O’Rierden, Sister
Hamula, Elder Hamula, Sister Nelson and then Elder Nelson spoke. When Elder Nelson stood up he asked for Pres.
and Sister Howes to stand and have all the missionaries in the North mission
stand. We all stood up and he said he
was surprised everyone was on one side and said it must have been planned. Everyone laughed. Then he had Pres and Sister Lu stand and the
South Mission stand. Then he asked for
some help and called 2 sisters and 2 Elders names, the last one Elder
Roberts. When they got up there, there
was also a young Elder from the South Mission named Elder Roberts, and he
thanked them all for their obedience. He
asked questions and asked them to respond.
When he got to Dad he put his arm around him and told him to talk about
anything he wanted. He said he loved his
wife and was happy to be here serving with her.
He asked where she was and said to raise my hand so I did, then he said
higher, so I did, then he asked me to stand up.
What an honor for each one of the missionaries that went up. He thanked them and said it is scary to come
up not knowing what was going to be asked, and he said he had no idea what he
was going to ask until they got up there.
A very neat experience. They all
gave wonderful talks, I was taking notes as fast as I could. President Howes had said this is a once in a
lifetime experience as with only 12 in the Quorum, and the hundreds of
missions, very few will get one to come to their mission. We do feel very blessed. It was a wonderful meeting. After they left we all went to our cars and
we took our missionaries back to the Carlingford Mall for lunch and then took
them to the train. It was fun getting to
know them. They are both serving in
Sydney, one is from Las Vegas, and the other from Northern California. We went to the office after and Mark came in
to find out how the conference was.
Thursday morning it was good to have the Williams back. We had a meeting at Buckland House, it was
piped in from New Zealand, and Elder Neil A. Anderson of the Twelve spoke. What are the chances of hearing 2 members of
the 12 in 2 days. We are blessed!
Mark has gone on annual leave to Bali with Melinda for 10
days. Thank goodness the Williams will
be there so we aren’t alone. Lots more
fun when we can visit.
Friday night we went to LaBot to order the pizza’s and
garlic bread for Family Home Evening tomorrow night, seeing as though we won’t
be home until tomorrow afternoon.
Yesterday morning we left the flat at 8:30 to get fuel and
drive to Merimbula. It almost a 7 hr
drive. We went as far as Berry, a very
old town and walked around for about ½ hour, then drove to UllaDulla and had
lunch down at a pier. We took the road
down along the coast and it was beautiful.
We got to Merimbula about 5, checked into the motel, found the Church,
across the street from the motel. We
then went for a ride and drove down to the ocean. Walked down to the beach and walked along and
picked up shells. I took my shoes off
and it felt so good walking on the wet sand.
We stayed about an hour, then got a hamburger and went back to our room
to study our talks. This morning
Sacrament Meeting started at 10, so we got ready, studied some more and went
over to the Church about 9:15 so we could hook up to the WiFi. The Church is in a block of buildings that
look like office buildings behind a restaurant and next to a service
station. It was very nice, there were about
30 to Sacrament meeting, and 7 in Relief Society. They have one set of Elders assigned there
from the South Mission. We drove as far
South as the mission goes this weekend, and last month we drove as far as we
could in the North Mission. Mark told us
to take Monday off to come home so we are.
We drove as far as Canberra, and found this Quality Inn Hotel. It is really nice and only $135. We just ate downstairs and it was very good,
roast pork, roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, carrots and green beans all for
$12. We will drive home in the morning,
get salad ingredients, go to the office to call you guys, and get ready for the
dinner. I got the tablecloth, plates,
napkins, and plastic silverware at Parklea last week and we have everything
ready to go by the door of the flat. The
Williams have dessert and lesson. We
could have 20 there tonight.
Love you and pray for all of you daily.
Mum and Dad
Sunday, February 16, 2014
February 16 2014 Weekly Letter
Australia Sunday Feb 16, 2014
Dear Family and Friends:
Last Monday was Family Home evening with the Feils doing
dinner, salmon, barbecue chicken, green salad and fruit. It was really good as usual. The Jeff’s had dessert, homemade pavlova,
with fruit and whipped cream. I think
that is my favorite dessert here. Sister
Barr said it doesn’t work very well in Utah because of the high altitude. That is probably a good thing for me. Sister Jeff’s did the program, she works with
clay and is able to use the facilities at the Y. She showed pictures of the process from
gathering the clay, sifting out the impurities, onto the molding on the wheel
and then the firing process. She began
the program with a scripture from Isaiah 64:8, “But now O Lord, thou art our
father; we are the clay, and thou our potter, and we all are the work of thy
hand.” She showed some of the vases and
bowls she has made. She began working
with clay as a teenager. When she
finished she led a discussion of how making clay pots relates to the
scriptures. It was very
interesting. At the end President Barr
said he ran home when he saw the scripture to get a poem he wrote. He read it and we all wanted a copy so Elder
Tanner went out the copy machine. It was
so good I thought I would give it all to you.
The Potters Clay
And thus he said, he said thus!
Of every soul, each one of us,
We be as clay in the potters hand
He shapes each soul, every woman and
man.
‘Twas Isaiah, who said thus
He beseeched The Lord for each of
us,
True he spake, we be as clay
We need the potter every day.
Oh harrowed man, do not resist
By potters hands your soul is
kissed,
Let go, and fly into his hands
The clay and wheel, he understands.
The water cool upon us spills,
Makes moist the clay, helps cracks
to fill
For if we thirst, the clay may break
But living water, makes no mistake.
Drink the water he offers you
Let it mix, all the way through
Clay and water and potters wheel!
In the Masters hands produces steel.
He spins the wheel, he makes us whole
He, The Potter of each soul
Will lift us from this mortal clay
To Eternal Life, to Exalted Day.
Peter Roland Barr, January 16, 2014
Reading from Isaiah 64, I was impressed with Isaiah’s
heartfelt expressions, verse 8 “But now O Lord, thou are our father, we are the
clay, and thou our potter; and we are the work of thy hand.” The verses in this chapter were to me so
poetic, I felt to write a poem about this particular reference to the Father,
being as a potter and we, mankind, being the clay in his hands.
Hope you all enjoy it, he is a
very talented man. He is a beloved
Temple President by all who associate with him.
No one but his wife even knew he had left. Good thing they live just up from Buckland
House. Pres and Sister Barr went home
for the weekend and their mango tree was loaded with ripe mangoes so they
brought some back for all of us. We each
got 2 and they are so good. Dad is
getting really good at cutting them. We
have 2 bags in the freezer for smoothies and ate some fresh.
Tuesday the Williams left for
Brisbane for the week for a conference with Mark so the office was very
quiet. Good thing Dad brings his
computer and we listen to music.
Tuesday after noon our Wi-Fi went out in our office again so I emailed
Robin to tell him. He was still working
on it when we left for the Temple at 4:30.
It was working in the morning on Wednesday and then went out in the
afternoon, so I emailed him again. He
was working on it when we left at 4:30 again. Thursday it was working but not a
good signal at all, so when we went for our walk we went through Buckland House
and told him. He told Dad how to check
the signal, and said it should be about 8.0 and we were 0.25 so I email him
again and he came over. Friday morning
we had a good signal so I emailed him and thanked him, and he said it was only
a temporary fix as the fire wall had crashed in our building and he was waiting
for word from Salt Lake. We are just
glad it is fixed, and hope stays.
Thursday it was getting warmer and warmer in our office and the air
conditioning would not come on, so I email Glenn and said we were really warm,
it was 83 degrees. He came over and said
the air conditioning people would be there about noon on Friday, but we never
saw them before we left. It is a good
thing it has been cloudy all week and only in the 70’s. We are really enjoying this summer. They have told us that Feb and Mar are the
hottest months, but it can stay like this and we won’t complain. Yesterday and today we have had rain, and it
is very welcomed and needed.
Wednesday at the office we did
6,000 images, a new record, and we still took 3 breaks, had lunch, and finished
at 4:30. We think Mark will be surprised
when he gets back tomorrow. The Williams
flew to Tasmania Friday night until Wednesday night for a Stake Family History
conference. Wednesday we got a new
couple from Fruitland, Idaho, the Smith’s.
They are setting up a new office at Buckland House and they will be
working directly with the Stakes in our mission. He is a retired dentist and worked on Uncle
Snoden.
Friday was Valentine’s, so I
made cookies and shared them with the other couples, as well as the 2 people
that work in the Seminary and Institute area of our office building. Friday night all the Senior couples went to
dinner and a movie at a mall about a half hour away, Castle Hills Mall. It is really big. We ate at a Mexican place and saw “Winter
Tale”. Not really a great movie, at
least none of us really enjoyed it. We
ordered tickets online so we only paid $8.00 a ticket.
Yesterday with it raining we
took the Killibrews to Parklea, to see the Bats, and to lunch at Harry de
Wheels. Then we went to the grocery
store together and came home. It was
good to spend the rest of the day home getting caught up on laundry, etc.
I think I have told you about
the Elder that is going to have a kidney transplant hopefully next month. The Dr’s are having to make sure the bug he
had in December is completely gone from his system. He found out this week that his mother had passed
away suddenly in Tonga. Poor guy, but
now his father is coming when he has surgery.
He was really good at Church today.
He has a new companion from Alabama.
He is really cute. We now have 4
sister missionaries and 4 Elders and us in the Blacktown Ward. It is fun getting to know everyone. They all love the Missionaries. There are 10 missionaries out from their
Ward, and 1 leaving on the 26th.
We are excited this week to go
to a conference with Elder Russell M Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve. It is on Wednesday and will be for the North
and South missions. All of those with
cars have been asked to help get the Elders and Sisters there that need rides. We will probably go to the train station to
get a couple. They are supposed to call
us tomorrow.
Sister Archibald just came to
our door with brownies, they are yummy.
She looked at Dad’s arm and said it is getting infected again so to get
to the Dr. tomorrow. We will call in the
morning. His Dr. is only there on
Wednesdays so we will have to go to another one. Will keep you posted, probably when we talk
to you tomorrow. Guess that is all the
news from here for now. Next weekend we
go to Mirimbula, about 8 hours south of here, so we will stay somewhere Sunday
night and come in Monday morning, and we have the dinner for Family Home
Evening. Great timing. Have a good week and know that we Love You
All. Sorry I didn’t get valentines out,
that holiday just crept up on us.
We got a letter from Ann and
Dan this week. It was SO good to get news
from home.
Love, Mum and Dad
Monday, February 10, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
February 9 2014 Weekly Letter
Australia Sunday Feb 9, 2014
Dear Family and Friends:
We have had a very busy and really good week. Monday night was Family Home Evening with the
Tanners doing Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner with rice and noodles and all the
toppings and a green salad. The
Archibald’s had the dessert, brownies and ice cream. It was all very yummy as usual. Sister Archibald did the program with Elder
Archibald showing some pictures. After
her first husband died she went on a mission with a friend to Rochester, New
York where her Brother in Law and Sister were the mission president. They worked in the office and she absolutely
loved it. The Sacred Grove was in the
mission and the President often took the missionaries there for teaching
moments, so she told some of them. They
also lived in the John Young home which she gave the history of. It was so interesting and the pictures of the
Grove and that area were beautiful.
Those pictures were taken after the Archibald’s were married and went
back before her sister and husband were released. She showed us a book “The Lion and the
Lamb”. I ordered it on Amazon Tues
morning, it is one we really want to read.
We really enjoyed it.
Tuesday was a day in the office before going to the
Temple. The weather this week until
Friday was cloudy and in the 75-85 degree range. We need rain so bad but we didn’t get more
than sprinkles. The grounds crew have
sprinklers on the lawn trying to keep it green.
Friday it cleared up and has been close to 90 every day since. We are not complaining though.
Wednesday we went into the office for a couple of hours,
answering email to Mark and Danny about the rework that is still listed on our
computer. Then we left for Rydelmere
wharf to ride to the Quays and pick up Reggie and Mary Ann Petersen, their son
Spencer and daughter Jessica Wilkinson, and Jordan, age 2 and Eva age 10
months, friends from Penrose. We ate
lunch at the wharf, fish and chips, then met them and got back on the river cat
to come to Carlingford. The Moore’s met
us at the wharf and brought us up to the office. We were able to show them what we do and
introduce them to the Williams. We had
not had WiFi in the office so while they were there the IT guy came into the
office so I could check it for him. Thank
goodness it was fixed. There were
several things on our work computer that we need WiFi for. We then walked over to the Temple and took
pictures. Their plane had just come in
from New Zealand at 10:30, they had dropped their luggage at the Hotel, and came
to meet us so they were getting hungry.
We ran across the street, we were worried about the stroller but we made
it fine. They each had a Subway
sandwich, and we had a cookie from Mrs. Fields and a drink. We then ran back across the street and went
to Buckland House and introduced them to the other missionaries and then the
Moore’s helped us get them back to the wharf.
What a fun day!
Thursday night as we were getting ready for bed I noticed
that the carpet in the bedroom under the air conditioner was wet, really
wet. The air conditioner had been
leaking since we turned it on after work.
We sopped it up with a towel and put a bowl under it. I emailed the manager on Friday and we were
telling the Williams about it and he said he would come and look at it after
work. They have had a couple of leaks in
theirs. He came and pulled the hose
under it and it seems to have fixed the problem thank goodness. The carpet was finally dry when we got home
today. Now I can email the manager
tomorrow and tell him it isn’t leaking anymore.
Saturday morning we
were at Rydelmere before 9 to go the Quays for the weekend. We took a cab to the Hotel and called Reggie
and they let us put our bags in their room as ours wasn’t ready. We then all went outside and caught a hop on,
hop off double decker bus in front of the Hotel, and we rode on top in the
open. We rode it to the Quays and got
off to walk to the Opera House, took pictures and then went inside to the gift
shop. They got a few things and then we
walked back to the bus stop and got on another bus. We rode to Darling Harbour and got off about
4 blocks from Paddy’s markets. They
wanted some souvenirs of Australia and we told them that was the best
place. By then it was about 2, so we
first went upstairs and had lunch. We
all had Chinese in the food court. Then
we went down to the markets and agreed to meet at the door we came in, in an
hour. It is so big you can’t keep track
of everyone, and it was really crowded.
We picked up a couple of things and then met them and walked back to the
bus stop to go to the Hotel for an hour.
We got into our room on the 16th floor with a view of the
harbor. Dad took some pictures. We could see the bridge as well as lots of
boats, it was beautiful. We then met
them in the lobby to get back on the bus to go to the entertainment center for
the basketball game. Jessica’s husband,
Gary Wilkinson plays for the New Zealand Breakers, and they played the Sydney
Kings. He was a star at Utah State. It
was fun to see a basketball game in person again, but it was the worst reffed
game we have seen in a long time. The
refs were from Sydney, and you could really tell. The breakers lost by 2 but it was a really
close game. We waited until Gary came
out. We met the owner of the team and
their family. Very nice people! We then got cabs to go back to the hotel and
Jessica went with Gary and the team to go out to dinner. By the time we got back to our room it was 11
and we were tired, but it was such a fun day.
We watched some of the Olympics and then went to sleep. We got up and got ready for Church. We met them in the lobby at 9:30 and walked
the 5 blocks to the Church. We went to
the Harbor Ward, that is a Single Adult Ward, but they always have visitors so
we were not the only non single adults there.
There are 2 sets of Sr missionaries and 3 sets of Sisters, and 6 sets of
Elders assigned to the Ward. The
Assistants to the President were also there today. The program was the 5 Elders that are being
transferred Tuesday, and 1 Sister that is going home. She is from Layton but I didn’t get her
name. Mary Ann did so she is going to
send it to me. She is the one that told
me she was from Layton as she went up to talk to her after. I was visiting with the other Sister
Missionaries that we know. It was fun
being there. We had to leave right after
Sacrament Meeting because the Petersen’s had to be to the airport at 1 to go
back to New Zealand. We got a cab and
went back to the Quays to catch the rivercat back to Rydelmere. I was kind of worried about leaving the car
there all night but all was well when we returned. We came home, unpacked and watched some of
the Olympics before fixing dinner.
We hope Tami had a good Birthday, we tried to call on Friday
but we couldn’t get her. Happy Birthday
to Mylie, 6 years old on Tues. A Happy
13th Birthday to Makenna on Sat. and Jessica on Sunday. Of course they are all a day later for all of
you.
Our Prayers and Love to each of you.
Mum and Dad
Monday, February 3, 2014
February 2 2014 Weekly Letter
Australia Sunday Feb 2, 2014
Dear Family and Friends:
Another month gone, wow!
This has been a good week at the office, we sent in over 11,000 images
in 3 ½ days. Monday was a holiday, and
we traveled from Port Macquarie to get to the office about 1:30 to call
you. We called Loren first because it
was 9:30 there so we only talked for a few minutes to find out how his birthday
was. Then we got the rest of you
on. Work was as usual on Tuesday, with
the Temple that night. Wednesday was
work as usual and on Thursday morning we had an email from Henry in Salt Lake
telling us to change a setting on the Nikon Camera to calibrate and it should
take care of the yellow coloring so we can start using that camera. Dad was very excited so he changed cameras
and tried it and they looked good.
Friday morning Dad called Henry so he could take control of the computer
and he said the images looked very good.
It will be interesting to see if the auditors notice any
difference. I forgot to tell you that 2
weeks ago the auditor, (a new one) failed 13,000 images because of them not
being in focus. Not possible because Dad
was hand focusing the camera and it was as sharp as it would go. Danny said not to do anything and he has put
in for a cancellation order. That would
be a week’s work. We can’t put those
cards away until the order comes through.
We were telling Mark that we will be a half through the project after we
finish these 4 boxes we have in the office.
Jokingly he said that he sabotaged the camera and we are still going
fast. He is amazed we are doing that many. He did tell us on Friday that Sister Rogers
would love to see us and talk to us about the project seeing as though she and
her husband did it, so it looks like we could go to Queensland in the next
month or so. That will be fun to see up
there. Mark and the Williams go to
Brisbane next week for a conference so it will have to be after that. We will keep you posted.
Yesterday the Williams were staying home to watch their 2
granddaughters play basketball at Ririe High School on web cast, so we went to Katoomba
to Scenic World in the Blue Mountains.
We bought a day pass that got us on the Scenic Railway. At a 52 degree incline, the Scenic Railway is
the steepest passenger train in the world.
Then we went on the Scenic Skyway.
Walk on air on the Scenic Skyway’s glass floor as you glide between
cliff tops above the Jamison Valley. At
270 meters (900ft), it is the highest cable car in Australia. Then the Scenic Cableway. Carrying 84 people, the Scenic Cableway is
Australia’s biggest cable car. Descend
the 545 meters (1817 ft.) into the Jamison Valley. At the end of the Cable car you are in a rain
forest that was absolutely beautiful.
They had trails all the way through from 10 min to a 50 min walk. We saw an old coal mine and read the
history. All along the trails are
plaques with the history of trees and flowers.
We really enjoyed it. When we got
back on top we were really glad we had gone early because there were about
10-15 buses and the wait in line was long.
We never had to wait, only for the vehicles to get back to load us
up. We then left to come home and saw a
sign for a lookout for the 3 sisters, a rock formation that we could see from
the Cable Car, so we found it so Dad could take some pictures. Dad wanted to stop for lunch at a café we had
seen on the way up that had a hand painted Australian Panorama. We ate first seeing as though it was 3:00 by
then. We had the lot hamburger and
should have shared it. It was open faced
because you couldn’t have eaten it put together, it was too big. It was bun, hamburger, grilled onions, grilled
pineapple, ham and cheese, and fried egg.
The other side was bun, lettuce, tomato, and beets. It was yummy.
It was served with chips (fries).
With our receipt from lunch it cost us $4.00 each to see the
Panorama. It was really neat, and we had
a paper with the history of each scene, and in front of the painting was
Australian animals in their natural habitat.
They all looked real. Lots of
snakes, glad we haven’t seen any of them for real.
This morning I put dinner in the crockpot and was in the
mood to bake so I made a pan of Peanut Butter and Oatmeal bars. They call for Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and
they are nowhere to be found so we used Snickers. Then after dinner we shared with the Moore’s,
Archibald’s, William’s, Killabrew’s and the Feils came over so we gave them a
plate.
I forgot to tell you we had 2 visa waiter couples come in on
Wednesday. They have been waiting for 5
months for visas. The Killabrew’s are
from Fort Worth, Texas, and the Finches are from Utah County. We didn’t meet the Finches as they went right
to Salt Ash where they will be living.
It is about 2 hours north from Sydney.
The Killabrew’s are downstairs, 1 flight from us here in this
building. Monday night the Feils called
and ask if Dad could come down and repair a dresser and put together some
chairs from Ikea. We went down and put
the chairs together, they are really comfortable, sort of rocking chairs. The dresser needed some wood glue and a
hammer, so we went back Tuesday night after the Temple. Sister Feil found some wood glue in the
mission office. We visited for a while
tonight before coming back to our flat.
This week is going to be busy, Family Home Evening tomorrow
night, because we cancelled last week, so we will have 2 weeks in a row. On Wednesday Dad and I are riding the
rivercat to the Quays and get there about noon, we will eat lunch and then meet
Reggie and Mary Ann Petersen, their daughter Jessica and her husband Gary
Wilkenson, and their 2 little children.
Gary plays for the New Zealand Pro Basketball Team and they are playing
the Sydney Team Saturday night. Reggie
is taking us to the game. We will come
back on the ferry around 1:30 and show them the Temple and our office, the bats
and then put them back on the ferry. We
will go down on Saturday and we have booked a room where they are staying so we
don’t have to come back late at night, and we do not drive in the city. It is pretty pricey, but we decided we would
do it this once. Should be fun. Gary was a starter at USU and graduated about
3 years ago.
In closing I want to leave a saying we should all be doing
everyday in our busy lives.
We are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our
encouragement, our support, our comfort, and our kindness…….
We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the
mandate to serve and lift His children, He is dependent upon each of us.
We Love you and you are all in our Prayers.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Amberlie and Andy on their
move to Gilbert, Arizona. It must be
where they should be with their house in Pocatello selling so quickly and they
found a house to rent down there. We
pray for their safety on their travels and glad that Tina and Bob and Andy’s
parents could go with them. Hopefully we
can talk to someone tomorrow.
Mum and Dad
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)