Sunday, March 23, 2014

March 23 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday March 23, 2014
Dear Family & Friends:
Happy Birthday Onalie!  It was good to talk to you for a few minutes after Church today.  We just finished eating a bite and it is after 8 pm.  We didn’t get home from Dubbo until almost 8 and we unpacked, changed clothes and here we are.  It has been a long two days but I will tell you about that later.
Monday morning we got a letter from Ann and Dan and that was so good.  We love having news from home.  She sent us a clipping of Marjorie Simmons 95th Birthday.  She is quite a lady.
We finished reading the book “A Lion and a Lamb” and it was really enjoyable.  We learned a lot of Church History by reading it.  If anyone has a chance to read it you should, it is very easy reading.
On Tuesday I had visiting teaching at noon.  We ate our lunch and visited, then Sister Williams gave a lesson on the Light of Christ.  It was very good and we always enjoy getting together. 
Friday we got a knock on our door around 10:30 and it was the Hill’s from Brisbane.  They are the couple that met us at the airport and took us up to Bundaberg to meet Sister Rogers.  They had come down to Sydney for a funeral, so stopped in to see how we capture the cards.  They helped box them up and get them loaded on the truck to bring to our warehouse.  It was good to visit with them for a little while.  We are always happy to show off our project. 
Saturday morning we left the flat around 9, went and got fuel, then left for Parke to see the Dish.  It was about a 5 hour drive, with one stop to walk around.  We got there around 2:30 and went to the café and got some lunch.  We both had the dish burger which was a hamburger patty, with bacon, pineapple, cheese, beet root, caramelized onions, fried egg, tomatoes and lettuce.  We had to eat it with a fork as it was so big but really good.  We were able to watch to dish move around while we ate, and that was pretty cool.  It is huge, as we were driving we could see it for 2 miles away.  It started working in 1961 and continues to work today 24/7.  The telescope does major observations in space in studying and detecting new molecules that point to regions of forming stars.  So much history and we really enjoyed learning all about it.  It also played a major part when Neal Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969 as it was the telescope that sent the pictures for the television for all of us to watch it.  We then drove to Dubbo that is about another hour and a half away.  We checked into our motel and went and found the Church.  It is very small with a very large lot of grass and trees.  As Dad was taking pictures of it, two missionaries walked out of the Church.  They are both from Utah, Elder Janes from Syracuse, and Elder Randle from Holladay.  They were waiting for some neighborhood kids to come and play basketball and soccer.  They said the branch is very small, and the Branch President lives about an hour away and hasn’t been there for about 7 weeks.  The counselor takes care of everything.
We went for a ride out to the country and saw lots of pasture ground and a few kangaroos in a field.  It was a beautiful drive.  We then got fuel, and an ice cream bar because we weren’t hungry and went back to our room to study our talks.  Church started at 9:30 so we went about 9.  We met the missionaries and the counselor in the parking lot and then went in for Sacrament Meeting.  The District President was there visiting, he is from Cowra and had about a 3 hour drive to get there and go back home.  With us there was a total of 11 people.  They have no one to play the piano so we sang to a recording, and a man who has never led the music did, and he did a good job.  We were the only speakers and they were glad we came as those that are there just take turns each week.  They had one high school girl and the rest were adults so she just stayed with all of us for Sunday School and joint Priesthood and Relief Society.  There were only 4 women with her, and 6 men as one man went home after Sacrament Meeting so if us and the District President hadn’t been there it would have really have been small.  They had a wonderful Spirit and we really enjoyed it.  We left around 1 as we called Onalie for a few minutes.  We had rain part of the way home and we stopped once on the way home.  It was just getting dark when we arrived in town, and so we are not going to enjoy the long trips from now on as the time changes here next month.  We do not like driving after dark.  We had construction that also slowed us down a bit. 
Guess I will close for now as it is getting late.  Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.
We Love you and Pray for you!!
Love,

Mum and Dad

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