Australia Sunday June 8, 2014
Dear Family,
This has really been a full week, which makes the time go
even faster. Monday night was Family
Home Evening and the Allen’s served a delicious dinner of chicken and gravy,
tossed salad and a huge bowl of grapes.
The Moore’s had dessert and the lesson and she made brownies with ice
cream and toppings. The Moore’s asked us
last week if they could show the movie “Baptists at our Barbecue” so we said
sure. She had a prize for anyone who
could find us in the movie. Sister Howes
is the only one to spot us. She got 2
boxes of Tim Tams. We also had popcorn
during the movie. Another great night,
and everyone was there including President and Sister Howes.
Tuesday we had one of the service missionaries that is going
to work in our office come. He is Elder
Glen Cummings and is a recently returned missionary. He lives by the Blue Mountains so has an hour
drive each way. He is very quiet so
far. On Wednesday Elder and Sister
Smylie arrived. They are taking the
Williams place so will be in our office, or we are in their office. They are most recently from Florida, but were
both raised in Adelaide, Australia. He
was born in Ireland but moved to Adelaide at a young age. They are excited to be back in Australia. Wednesday night the missionaries in our
building had dinner for them at the Archibald’s. Chris made chicken enchiladas and we all
brought the rest. It was nice to get to
know them a little better.
Thursday it rained most of the day and was pretty cool down
to the high 50’s. We knew it was Mark’s
birthday on Friday so I asked Melinda if he was going to be in, and she said no
they were going to Queensland to visit their boys so we said we would celebrate
it on Thursday. She said that his mother
always said he was born on the 5th but his birth certificate said
the 6th so they celebrate it both days. We met the Smylie’s in the hall at 7:30am and
went to the mall to pick up the tarts I had ordered. Mark has a favorite and they are always sold
out so I ordered them on Wednesday. We
then picked Kailee up as Mark asked us to if it is raining. Kailee had found a Happy Birthday banner and
Dad printed a picture we had of Mark to put in the middle of it. We took the balloons from FHE for Elder
Killebrew’s birthday so we hung those around his office. He was rather pleased when he came in, he
immediately took a picture and sent it to Melinda. I told him we wanted to have tea around 10:30
and he said that would work out good. I
invited Melinda to come, also Mark Allen but he was in Perth. We had Mark’s favorite tart, also caramel,
pecan, pineapple tarts. We cut them in
¼”s so we could taste them all, and they are really rich. It was fun just visiting, we had Mark and
Melinda, the Smylie’s, Kailee, Glen and us.
Friday we sent in 15,500 images, and we were in a box of
miscellaneous where Sister Rogers had glued or taped lots of newspaper
clippings of deaths, marriages, births, and anything else she found
interesting. We had lots that had “turn
over”, or “over” and on a few “PTO” on them.
We have to write over on the front of each card in red and film them one
at a time so they stay together. A
couple of interesting cards this week were: “Samuel Pollock, criminal court
2/13/1818. Sentence of death was passed for highway robbery.” The next on was: “Death, 5 Mar 1810. Lost overboard from England, convict named
Pope.”
It was cloudy most of the day Friday and a little rain in
the afternoon. Friday night the forecast
was for rain all weekend and until next Thursday, 80-90% chance. We decided to stay close just in case they
were right. Yesterday morning we went to
the Sydney markets as we wanted to see the fruit and vegetable market they
have. It was at least 2 football field size
in one building. There was anything you
would want. People were taking case
loads of everything out. The prices were
really good, a case of apples for $8.00.
Most of the vendors buy the produce and then sell it. There were a few farmers. It was all fresh though. I was just wondering what people were doing
with a case of lettuce. We bought green
beans, carrots, bananas, sweet potatoes, grapes, mandarin oranges, avocados and
honey. Dad also bought some mixed nuts
and cashews. It was fun but we probably
won’t go again, we can get all we want across the street.
We came home and put things away and then went to the train
station and caught a train to the city.
We have never been on the train here but we had no problem. We changed once to go to the Quays. We had dinner on the pier at one of the many
places to eat around there. This one was
close to the Opera House. Dad had fish
and chips and I had salmon. It was all
very good. We then walked over to the
Opera House and found a seat for “VIVID”.
It is a light show on the Opera House.
We waited about an hour for it to get dark. It is definitely the most incredible thing we
have ever seen. We are going to try and
post a video of it, or at least pictures of it.
We sat and watched it twice.
There were thousands of people down there. Walking back to the train station more and
more people kept coming. This is the
last weekend for it. It has been here
for a month. Walking back we could see lots of lights on the buildings around
the quays. Google Vivid in Sydney and
see what you can find. We haven’t tried
that yet. We found a Baskin and Robin’s
ice cream and they actually had pralines and cream so we got a small scoop, it
was so good, but cost us $11.00. They had all the pier’s blocked off so we had
to walk outside to get to the train station.
There were still hundreds coming off each train. We were glad to get out of the crowds. We changed trains at central station and got
home about 8:30. The day was beautiful,
blue skies and sunshine. It did get a
little chilly after dark but we were fine with our jackets.
Today was another beautiful day, it was cloudy on the way
home from Church but no rain. We will
see what the rest of the week brings.
Tomorrow is a holiday, the Queen’s Birthday so we don’t have to go to
work. We will go in to call you and to
send the letter.
A very Happy Birthday to Deven tomorrow, Cooper on
Wednesday, also Bruce, and Tifanie on Friday.
Grandma Mary would have been 104 last Monday, we were wondering if
anyone was working in the yard.
We have the lesson and dessert for Family Home evening on
the 16th so Dad has been preparing a lesson on the Mormon
Battalion. In the book Norma Rickets
wrote she said, “Without the journals of the members of the battalion little
would be known of their lives during this trek.
They transmitted knowledge and values and feelings. The structure and tempo of their daily lives
touch those who read their story. In
their writings they gave themselves identities that carry from one generation
to the next. In retrospect, one must ask
if those priceless journals, written on small pages by the light of campfires,
are not their most important legacy. One
cannot read the diaries without being impressed with the sustaining power of
faith as they recorded not only their experiences, but a belief that God
protected them and that promises make to them by their leaders would be
fulfilled.”
We should all be keeping journals and teaching our families
to also!!
We love you and pray for you in your individual lives,
Mum and Dad
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