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

No comments:

Post a Comment