July 27 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday July 27, 2014

Dear Family & Friends,

Here it is 7:15 pm and we are sitting in a really nice Bed and Breakfast in Albion Park.  We got out of the Church in Narooma about 1 and decided we would find a place to stay when it got dark.  We really enjoyed Church, there was about 20 in the Branch which is held above a Real Estate Company and a little convenience store.   The full time missionary couple have been there for over a year and he is the Branch President and she teaches Seminary in the morning and fills anything else that needs to be.  The full time missionaries were one from Mesa, Arizona, and one from Layton, living in Kayscreek on Bridgecreek Lane, Elder Hixson, and his parents are Scott and Molly.  If any of you know them tell them he is doing great.  They are all from the South Mission.  When Dad called President McAra and told him we had been assigned to speak he said to call the Island View Resort for a room because the owners are members and let the missionaries stay free.  I called them and she said that they always give their best cabin to the missionaries, and it was a 2 bedroom cabin that was so comfortable.  They tried to get us to stay another night but we explained we needed to get back.  When I emailed Mark on Thursday to tell him we may be late on Monday, he said to take all the time we needed. 

We had a wonderful trip down yesterday.  We were awakened about 4 am with it raining so hard and hitting the window it sounded like hail.  We were a little disappointed as we really didn’t want to drive that far in the rain, but although it rained hard for about the first hour, by the time we were out of the city it had let up a little and then we had dry roads and just overcast.  We first stopped at Fitzroy Falls and walked to the lookout.  They were magnificent.  We got an ice cream bar in the little café and then drove on to Cambewarra Mountain Lookout.  This lookout is a magnificent panorama of the Shoalhaven Valley and Coolangatta Mountains.  It was a really awesome view.  Dad took a lot of pictures and we had lunch in the Lookout Café and enjoyed the view.  We then drove on to the resort, checked in then walked down to the beach, about 50 yds.  We watched the surf for a while then walked back and went into town to find something to eat.  This morning Dad walked down to the beach before 7 to take pictures of the sun coming up over the ocean.  The resort is a beautiful place with different size cabins, a swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball court, laundry facilities and showers for those that camp in tents.  The family has owned it for about 10 years.  They have 5 children and are coming to the states next month for 3 months.  They will be in Utah and so we told them to go to one of the markets either in Murray Park or South Jordan and say hi to our family. 

Wednesday was Elder Smith’s birthday so Sister Smith invited us over to their office for cake and ice cream at 12:30.  We just ate and visited for about a half hour.  He turned 60.

Friday we had the Birthday Morning Tea and our department and Lyn Hunt and Martin Harvey from HR were in charge.  We decided on a menu of party meat pies, sausage rolls, pikelets with cream and jam.  They are little pancakes, also chips and dips, grapes and bananas, and tim tams and mint slices.  Martin wanted a watermelon but one watermelon was $25, and that would make them over budget so they put it back.  Of course the grapes were $12.95 a kilo and they didn’t even look at that. Martin, Elder Smylie, and Dad did the shopping on Thursday.   We have not been buying grapes at that price.  It turned out so good and everything was gone except a few grapes.  We had a small group as there was a funeral for a 15 year old boy who died of heart problems while playing basketball and he was in the Penrith Stake, which several employees live in including Lyn so she wasn’t there.  Melinda Kelly came in to help in her place.  It rained most of the morning but cleared up by noon.   As soon as we got to the office Friday morning I transferred the folders we had done on Thursday to the Hard Drive and Dad got it packed up to mail and took it to the mail room on the way to prepare the Tea.  We got back to the office around 11:30 and packed things up, turned off the computers and went over to Buckland House for the Sr. Couples Conference.  There were 12 couples, President and Sister Howes, and the 2 assistants.  Five missionaries gave 5 minute talks, then the assistants gave some training, then Sister Howes had us all move the tables and gave us a paper who would be at what table, we were with the Feils and the Hokasen’s.   We each were given a paper with 12 statements on them we were to pick 3 and take 2 minutes in turn to talk about it.  We were to tell how these effected our relationship with our Savior.  They were such things as facing death, paying tithing, how a scripture have affected our lives etc.  I forgot to bring that paper with us.  It was pretty fun and really moving.  I had to get my tissues out of my purse for our table.  President Howes then talked for about an hour.  We then walked to LaBot for dinner.  After dinner we walked back to the Howes where Sister Howes had made little meringue cookies, and told us we were to make meringue mess.  She said to crush the meringues in the bowl, top them with sliced strawberries, mango puree, whipped cream.  It was so good.  We got home about 9 after a very great day, and very spiritually lifted. 

We had a good week with copying the cards, we finished a box in 2 days because they were really easy cards.  Then we got into a box Thursday of really hard cards so we hope we can get the box done in a week.  We sent in 19,523 images and did those in 4 days.  Really good we think!

When we got home Friday night we noticed the lights were not on at the elevator so we walked over to the other elevator, went to 0 floor, walked through to our floor and walked up the stairs to our floor.  We were glad we were on the 1^st floor, as we had to do the same thing yesterday morning with our suitcase and bags to go.  Hopefully it will be fixed by the time we get home tomorrow night.  No repair people work on the weekends. 

Friday night after we got home Sister Moore knocked on our door and asked if we could pick up Devmini, the Sri Lanka girl that her and her mother are taking the missionary discussions, from school on Monday at 4:30.  We told her we could so we will leave a little early tomorrow and then we have Family Home Evening at 6. 

We wish Martin a very Happy Birthday on Wednesday.  Hope you have a wonderful day.

We Love You All and Pray for you!  Talk to you tomorrow when we get to the office.

Mum and Dad

July 20 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday July 20, 2014

Dear Family,

The weather has not improved, still no rain, but cloudy and cold and windy.  The forecast this week was for rain but we didn’t have any.  Yesterday and today it stayed 53 and down in the 40’s at night.  They announced last Monday that winter was half over.  We don’t know if that means the weather will get warmer or not.  Glad we have heat in our flat, although we still have sweat shirts on and I have a blanket around my legs when I am sitting down.  At the office I have a space heater by my chair, and Sister Smylie has one, and Kailee has one. 

Monday was Sister Smylie’s birthday and she thought no one knew about it.  I found a banner and some balloons at Parklea last week so I got them and we decorated her desk.  We also bought her a plant for her patio because she told us she loves plants.  She was really excited when she got to the office.  Then at devotional they announced her birthday and she looked at me, and I told her we hadn’t told anyone.  Mark asked us to get her a cake for afternoon tea, so we went over to the mall for lunch, and Kailee, Elder Cummings and Elder Myers came also.  After we all ate we got a marble cake.  It was really good.  Mark had invited Lynne Thacker over as they had some business to discuss after tea. 

Monday night we had Family Home Evening at the Feil’s and she had a couple of chicken casseroles, rolls and some soda and water.  Malcom and Helen were invited to come as they have been so good to the Sr missionaries, having them to their home for dinners, and they will be moving the 1^st of next month.  It was also Helen’s birthday so we sang to the both of them.  Elder Archibald gave the lesson on communication in marriage.  It was really good.  Sister Archibald had made a chocolate and a coconut cake and had ice cream.  They were both really good and Helen had brought a box of chocolates.  Another great night.  The Moore’s were the only ones missing as they were in Melbourne for a conference. 

Tuesday morning the fire alarm went off, and we decided if Mark left we would.  He came and told us to get out so we went.  Martin from HR was walking over and told us to get in the middle of the lawn in front of our building, and he went to Family Services and got them all out.  Pretty soon a fire truck went passed going the wrong way and we all waved to them, and in a minute they had turned around and came back with another truck.  After they went through all the buildings they gave the all clear to go back in.  In the afternoon we got an email from Glenn that said the painters in Family Services had not isolated the fire alarm so the fumes had set it off.  He also said if it goes off again everyone is to evacuate the buildings immediately.  I guess no one took it seriously, like us.

Tuesday night when we came out of the Temple it had rained just enough to get the cars really dirty because the wind was blowing pretty hard.  Dad is going to have to take the car over to the warehouse and use the pressure washer on it if it doesn’t rain before we go to Narooma next weekend.

The Smith’s moved their office over to the Family Services Building so they are no longer in Buckland House.  We walked over Wednesday to visit and see their offices.  Our key won’t work in their building so we have to ring the door bell to get in.  They have a really nice office and a conference room.  They were just in a hall at Buckland, but it was really convenient to get to their office there.  It is closer to their home though.  They said it was freezing cold in there Monday so Elder Killebrew took them a big space heater and they were loving it.

Wednesday we started on a really good box of cards, all the same size, no clippings glued on them, and a lot of them with information on both sides.  Thursday we hit a new record 6500 in 6 hours.  That is 3250 clicks, 590 clicks per hour, and 9 clicks per minute.  Mark wanted Dad to figure that out when we told him the new record Friday morning.  For you computer guys, that is 123 GB in one day.  We also hit a new record when we unhooked the hard drive on Friday, 20,178 images in 5 days.  That surprised us because we were doing really hard cards Monday and Tuesday.  Mark is having Paul announce it in meeting tomorrow morning so we are taking some cards over to show everyone.  We just wish they wouldn’t do that, we just want to get them done.  We are at the office 9 hours a day so we still got our walks in and we take about an hour for lunch.  We were pretty excited.

Yesterday with the weather so unsettled everyone decided to stay close, and it is pretty miserable to be out in the wind and cold for long.  The Archibald’s were speaking at Port Macquarie today instead of next week so they went up there.  We went to a mall in Auburn and I got some new gym shoes, Danna you would have loved this store.  It is the biggest shoe store we have ever been in, all name brands, and all buy one and get one free.  No dress shoes, just athletic shoes and clothes.  The Moore’s had been there and told us about it.  There was one baby store and the rest 3 levels were furniture stores.  We went in one and Dad talked to a guy about the wood tables they had.  He said they were all built from local wood in Sydney and none had a stain on it, they were all natural Australian wood, and they were beautiful. 

We were feeling a little homesick I guess because Dad wanted to find a Sizzler.  We found one about 20 minutes away and went there.  It was the best steak we have had since we came here.  We just relaxed and ate and visited.  We got back home around 5 and I was doing laundry when Dad asked if I wanted to go to the office so he could print a couple of pictures.  I am always ready to go where we have wifi.  We stopped in at the Moore’s before we left and visited for a while.

As we were walking into Church today one of the sisters was just getting out of her car and asked if we like oranges.  We said we love oranges and she said she just picked her tree yesterday so she gave us a bag of them.  They are really big and look very good.  We haven’t tried them yet. 

Today the Sacrament meeting was all about Family History.  The first speaker was a 16 year old girl who was called last month to teach the Family History class in Sunday School.  She said she didn’t know much about it so she went to the Stake Family History Center to get some training and found her great grandmother, her mother’s grandmother that needed her work done, and she said she was so excited she started crying.   When she brought it home and showed her mother they both cried.  She said she is really enjoying the job and is learning so much.  She is so cute.  Her mother teaches Relief Society and is a single mom of 3.  The next speaker was a missionary that just returned from the Pennsylvania Philadelphia mission, and he told a couple of great stories from his mission.  Next was the High Councilman who also told some stories about his family.  He just started doing Family History last month after the Stake President issued a challenge for everyone to find their ancestors.  He knew his family came from England, so he assumed they came over to the United States in the 1850’s when the majority of new Saints started immigrating, but he couldn’t find them.  He continued looking and checking ship records, and found that the first one of his great grandfathers came on the Mayflower with his son on the first voyage to America.  He was a Puritan and this group was at odds with the Church of England and the Catholic Church.  It was very interesting and he said he is now hooked on doing Family History, and finding about his ancestors.  After the meeting a young sister came up and asked me to watch for her baby to wake up that was in a stroller.  He slept most of Sunday School and then woke up so I got him out and he just sat on my lap.  He is about 14 months old and was so calm.  It was fun to hold a baby again.  She was getting things ready for Relief Society, she is a counselor.  I told her I really enjoyed it.

We saw where a Vinny’s has opened a new store just up the street from Bunnings.  We haven’t been there yet but we will.  They close at 4 every day and 2:30 on Sat so we decided we will probably walk up for lunch some day.

We wish you all a Happy Pioneer Day this week.  Remember your ancestors who came before you and how they sacrificed so you could enjoy the life you do today.  We are a very blessed people!

“Take and inventory of your life and look specifically for the blessings, large and small, you have received.”     Thomas S Monson

We Love you all and pray for you daily.

Mum and Dad

                                        Bridge and Opera House from Mrs Macquarie's point

                                           The tower we ate dinner in way up high!

                                               View from the Tower Restaurant

                                                     At the Tower

                             Near end, going right, Killebrew's, Smylie's, Feil's, Roberts, Smith's

                                                Cliff Bridge on the Pacific Highway

                                                 White Sand Beach

                                   Just crossed over the Cliff Bridge and walked back onto it

July 13 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday July 13, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a pretty quiet and cold week.  We can’t seem to get out of the 50’s and the wind is blowing most days.  Friday it was 63 and no wind during the day.  The news said on Wednesday night that this is the coldest winter in 10 years, and the ski resorts have more snow in that time period also.   This morning at 7 it was 43.

Monday night Dad had his checkup with the skin cancer Dr. and he said everything looks good until we get home and then he is to see his Dr. and be checked.  That was good news.  We walked down the street in Parramatta to find something to eat and found a pizza place with wood fire pizza.  It was the best pizza we have had since coming here.  The garlic bread was very good also.  Tuesday night after we got home from the Temple and had eaten, we were both indexing when the fire alarm went off.  Not only is it loud but the speaker says “evacuate the building immediately” over and over.  I grabbed my purse and we went down the stairs and went outside.  The Killebrew’s were there and the Archibald’s came.  The Moore’s and Smylie’s came from the office and Temple and pulled up in front.  Thank goodness we had grabbed jackets.  People were out there in pajamas, robes, and blankets.  Some of the people were just on their decks wondering whether to come down or not.  2 fire trucks finally came after about 20 minutes and after walking through all the buildings decided it was someone cooking or burning something so they let us come back in.  We decided we needed a better plan, to grab the computers and IPad.  They were all right here in the dining area.  First time that has ever happened and hopefully the last.

Monday as Mark was leaving he told us not to bring lunch on Tuesday.  When he got to the office he said there was a casserole in the refrigerator and some buns and just heat it up when we were ready to eat.  He and Melinda are in charge of the food for the YSA family home evening and he said they always cook too much.  Around 11:30 Tuesday he had us go in the conference room to see his pictures from New Zealand.  What a beautiful country, now we are really excited to visit there.  He was in New Zealand to have a conference with all the records preservation missionaries there and he said it was really good and so he wants to get one set up for Australia.  Hope he gets it done before we leave.  It would also be for the couple in Tasmania.

On Wednesday Paul was in the office to do some training with the Smylie’s so we had lunch.  It is so nice not to have to fix lunch some days.  On Friday we went to the mall with the Smylie’s and Kailee for lunch.  We all needed to get some things from the store.

The Smylie’s and Kailee have been preparing for 2 weeks for a youth conference yesterday, and 60 youth were there to learn about Family History and do baptism’s at the Temple.  They said it really turned out great.  The Stakes and Wards here are really pushing Family history and encouraging the youth to find their ancestor’s. 

Dad and I decided we wanted to eat at the Tower in downtown Sydney.  It is the tallest building and has 2 revolving restaurants.  The Archibald’s went to the Buffet and were not impressed so I called all the couples and said we were going to the 360 restaurant Saturday night and I would make reservations for all those interested.  The Moore’s are out of town and the Allen’s had another commitment, and the Archibald’s couldn’t go so we had the Feil’s, Killebrew’s, Smith’s, Smylie’s and us.  They don’t open until 5:30.  We wanted to go for lunch but settled for night.  The Smith’s and Feil’s drove down and Elder Killebrew took the rest of us in the van.  We had to check in at reception, go through security, and then get in a small elevator that went really fast up.  The view was fantastic, Dad got a lot of pictures.  We were hoping we could see the full moon but it was cloudy.  We had the 3 course meal, and for appetizer 5 of us had kangaroo, 1 had octopus, 2 had ravioli’s, and 2 had bread sticks with goose liver pate.  The kangaroo was really thin strips of meat that had been braised and served with beet root.  It was really good, but I probably wouldn’t have it again.  For the main course 5 of us had steak and mashed potatoes, 3 had lamb, 1 had salmon, 1 had pork belly.  It was all very good everyone said.  For dessert most of us had some kind of chocolate things, really good, and there was a rubarb dessert also.  Mine came with salted caramel ice cream and caramel popcorn, Dad had a snickers chocolate dessert.  We were there over 2 hours and the room rotated about 3 times.  We are going to try and post some pictures tomorrow before Family Home Evening. The past 2 weeks we have been doing cards that are marked miscellaneous on the boxes and they have been really difficult to do.  They are all deaths, marriages and births from the newspaper, glued on paper, cards, and hard cardboard.  They do not stack well and take lots of time to separate them.  We hope to finish the last box tomorrow, then we get back to normal cards.  We are hoping this is the last of these.

Yesterday we went to the office to call Deven about a cache Dad wants to place in the Parramatta Park.  After he talked to him we drove to Parklea as we wanted to get a couple of things.  We had a cup of mango yogurt before leaving and drove back to Parramatta Park so Dad could place the cache.  We then came home to have a little lunch before getting ready to go to the Tower.  I also wanted to finish laundry because I knew we would be late.  It was sprinkling in downtown when we got out but it was dry all the way home.  There is sure a lot of people in Sydney at night. 

This morning we got up at 6:30 to go to the office and see Brielle’s 1^st birthday party.  It was so very good to see everyone.  Jessica had done a wonderful job of doing a lady bug party.  The food looked so good and cute.  We watched Brielle open her gifts, and play in her little cake.  She really didn’t eat much of it.  Thanks Deven for inviting us and setting the call up.  We wish Jessica and Thomas luck on their move to Ohio for medical school. 

It is getting late so we will close for now.  Have a good week and we are looking forward to seeing you in the morning.  The corn looks so good that Tyson posted this week, and Deven said the Evanston market went good Thursday for Tina other than she got rained out the last 2 hours, and Deven and Dallen did the Ogden market yesterday and said it was good.  They both sold all the corn, and popcorn they took as well as potatoes, onions and zucchini. Another season of harvest and markets have begun.

Today we sang Dad’s favorite hymn in Church, “For the Beauty of the Earth”.  We are all so blessed to live on this beautiful earth the Lord has created for us.

We send a special prayer and much love to LuAnne and Bruce and their families as they go through this hard time.  Know that the Lord is aware of you and Loves you all.

We also send our love and get well wishes to Lon and Mary and family and pray for a speedy recovery.

Love, Mum and Dad

July 6 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday Jul 6, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has really gone by fast, we have really been busy.

When we got to the office Monday morning we had an email from Mark Allen announcing that some changes will take effect August 1^st concerning the service center.  Malcolm Arvidson’s role will be made redundant and his work will be re-allocated within the department.  He has worked for the Church for 13 years.  The second change will be that the warehouse will close and Patrick Hsu’s role will also be made redundant.  He has been here for almost 8 years.  They are both retiring.   We still don’t have many answers about the mail etc.  Mark Kelly has been in New Zealand for the week.  Our biggest concern is sending the shuttle to SL each week.  All of the questions after devotional Monday morning was about this change, but they don’t have all the answers yet.  We are really going to miss both of them.  Malcolm is going to move to Toukley where he has a house and some property.  He said we have to come and stay with them before we leave and I think we speak in that branch in October.   

  Monday night at Family Home Evening the dinner was really good, they ate most of the soup we took, 2 crockpot’s and all the salad, and I tripled the taco soup and 4 times the salad.  The Feil’s had pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pecan pie, and apple crisp with whipped cream for dessert.  They divided us into 4 teams, we were with the Smith’s and gave us a question paper about the US, and 5 questions about Australia.  It was in honor of the 4^th of July.  We tied for the winner.  We even knew 3 of the Australian answers, actually we had lucky guesses.

The Allen’s passed out bookmarks at Family Home Evening to read the Book of Mormon in 2 months.  If anyone is interested I will send you the page numbers to know how to finish it.  On the bookmark is the quote by Ezra Taft Benson “There is a power in the Book of Mormon which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of it.  You will find greater power to resist temptation.  You will find the power to stay on the straight and narrow path.”

A couple of weeks ago as Sister Moore was walking to work she was stopped by a lady that had been walking around the Temple and was asked if she belonged to that Church where the Temple is.  She said she did and the lady said she is from Sri Lanka and lives in our building with her daughter and her husband travels for work and comes home once a month.  They moved here so their daughter who is 13 could get a good education.  She goes to a private girl’s school and the tuition is around $28,000 a year.   She and her daughter have been meeting with the missionaries and the Moore’s since that time.  The husband came in Wednesday night and the Moore’s picked him up from the airport.  Thursday night they had an open house so all of the Sr. Missionaries could meet them.  There is also another couple from the Oatlands Ward that live in our building so they were invited.  We knew them from when we went to that ward.  Bishop Cox also came to meet them.  There is a lady in the Moore’s Ward from Sri Lanka that came and met them, and they had gone to the same school growing up.  We had dessert and just visited.  They are really sweet people.  She said they rented the flat they did because she could see the Angel Moroni from her window.

Friday it was exciting to find an article about Henry Wells Jackson, dad’s 3^rd great grandfather that was      printed in the Deseret News.  Hope you all got an opportunity to read it.  It does not tell the whole story but we thought it was good.  The Jensen guy that wrote it has talked to Dad and got information from him and we knew he was writing a book about him.    Friday night we had a 4^th of July party at the Feil’s.  We had hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, and all the condiments to go with them, potato salad that I made, Sister Archibald made baked beans,   and we had fresh fruit, and magnum ice cream bars, and desserts from the Moore’s open house.  We sat and talked, and laughed a lot.  A young couple from the Salt Lake area that are interns here with the legal department for a month came.  All of the Sr couples were there as well as the Barr’s.  It was a great evening.  The Allen’s daughter sent 4^th of July napkins and sparklers.

Yesterday the Smith’s picked us up at 9 and we drove to Botany Bay where Captain Cook first came to in 1770.  They had never been there.  We went through the museum, saw a movie there, then walked down to the bay to see the monuments and plaques.  We walked back to the car and drove to a whale watching area.  We were able to see a few whales but they were quite a ways out in the water.  You could tell where they were with several boats around them.  They had spotted 28 by the time we got there at 1.  We then drove back to Parametta Park so they could see the Government House.  We went to the little café there for a snack because we wanted to eat dinner at the RSL Club and they didn’t open until 5:30.  We had scones with jam and whipped cream, and Dad had a piece of carrot cake.  Then we walked around the grounds and read all the signs.  We then drove to the good, bad, and ugly cemetery so they could see it, then back to the RSL Club for dinner.  We had Scotch Fillet Steak with Shrimp and chips and salad.  We each brought half of ours home for dinner today.  It was just as good today as it was last night.  Today I did cook sweet potatoes to go with it.  We really had a fun day with the Smith’s.  They are from Fruitland, Idaho.  Their office will be moving to Family Services in a couple of weeks.  Right now they are in a hallway at Buckland House. 

The weather has still been cold and sunny and windy again this week.  We really need rain but there hasn’t been any in the forecast for this week.  We are just wishing the wind would stop blowing. 

Sister Archibald just brought us each a piece of cinnamon roll cake, still warm and it is yummy. 

Happy First Birthday to Brielle on the 15^th.

As we finish another letter for another week the word’s of the song we sang in closing Sacrament Meeting today has such a beautiful message.

“Press forward Saints, with stead-fast faith in Christ, With hope’s bright flame a-light in heart and mind, With love of God, and love of all man-kind.  Press forward, feasting on the word of Christ.  Receive his name, rejoicing in his might.  Come unto God; find everlasting light.  Press on, enduring in the ways of Christ.  His love proclaim thru days of mortal strife.  Thus saith our God; “Ye have eternal life.”

We Love you all dearly,

Mum and Dad