August 3 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday Aug 3, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

What a very busy week we have had, no wonder the time is going by so fast.  We had a box of cards that were very hard to do, they were glued on newspaper articles, taped on articles, and a lot of them on both sides.  They were hard to stack, and Dad had to straighten every card before we could copy them.  We finally finished one box on Friday and started on another easy one so we are hoping to have it done by Tuesday. The ones we finished were deaths, marriages and births.  On the back of one of the cards was a poem we got a chuckle over.

Record Keeping
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater
Had a wife and couldn’t keep her,
He kept her in his Family tree,
Forever young, forever free,
To roam around its pages thru out Eternity.

Monday we got to the office around 10:30 after leaving where we stayed overnight.  We were able to talk to some of the kids, it was too late to get Loren on.  This week hopefully we will get more of you.  The Bed and Breakfast we stayed at, she had a lovely breakfast.  There were strawberries, banana’s, yogurt, granola and milk.  Then she brought us bacon and eggs and orange juice.  It was so good.

Monday night was Family Home Evening and the Archibald’s had dinner and the Allen’s had dessert and they had Rashika cook for them.  She is the lady from Sri Lanka that the missionaries are teaching her and her daughter Devmini.  She was a chef for Marriott’s Hotel in Sri Lanka. To start the meal we had a little cup of strawberry sorbet, then basil tomato soup.  She cooked marinated pork, seasoned rice, potato curry.  For dessert she had made a carrot cake and also a chocolate cake for Sister Moore’s birthday.  It was all so good.  For the lesson the Allen’s did a lesson on marriage.  We first watched a You Tube video “Tale of two brains.”  If you get a chance watch it, it is hilarious.  They then passed out a sheet with marriage questions with 10 questions on the paper and we were to pick one and take 2 minutes to tell about it.  They had the men on one side of the room and the women on the other.  It was great fun, anything from first date, first impression, first kiss, favorite vacation, etc.  We had a lot of laughs over some of the answers.  We all cleaned up and were home around 8:30.

Tuesday morning Kailee helped us move the full boxes back to the warehouse and brought all 11 boxes we have left to our office.  It was Patrick’s last week so we thought we should get them all up.  Now we need to get a couple of boxes done a week.

Wednesday we had a sausage sizzle at noon for the retirement party for Malcolm, Patrick and LeeAnn.  Malcolm and Patrick’s wives came and we were able to have it in the courtyard al the weather turned out warm and no wind.  We had sausages, buns, sautéed onions, coleslaw, orange cake, chocolate cake, carrot cake, apple fritters, and ice cream.  They had a little program to honor the three of them, altogether they have put in 40 years to Church employment.  We are really going to miss them.  Malcolm and Helen are moving just an hour and a half away, so we plan on going up to see them in Sep and we are scheduled to go talk there in October.  Dad framed a picture of the Temple he took for each of them, and they thanked him and seemed to really like it.

Wednesday night  when we got home from work we took a picture of the Temple for Rashika over to the Moore’s as we don’t know which building she lives in.  They said she was coming down in a few minutes so they knocked on our door when she got there.  We went over and she had made us some dumplings with shrimp, broccoli, spinach, and a sweet chili sauce, and chocolate mousse with cream and strawberry.  It was all so good, especially the mousse!!  We told her she is spoiling us.  She absolutely loved the picture.  She loves the Temple.

Thursday night Mark and Melinda Kelly had invited us for dinner.  We took Kailee with us as the Smylie’s wanted to drive themselves.  Their son Jake was there and Melinda had made chicken and rice, and a peach crumble with custard for dessert.  We had a lot of fun visiting after and didn’t get home until 9:30. 

Friday night we went to the Smith’s for dinner so Dad could give them the lesson on the Mormon Battalion.  They couldn’t be to FHE when he gave it and really wanted to hear about it.  They both had ancestors in the battalion.  We had taken the books so they kept them so they could read them.  It was a fun night.

The weather this week has really been a week of opposites.  Monday and Tues were cold with wind.  Wednesday and Thursday were warm, in the 70’s and broke records for the warmest winter day in 25 years.  Then Friday and Saturday the wind came back and the high was in the 50’s.  Today we didn’t have wind and it was 62 when we left Church. 

Tonight we were invited over to the Moore’s for Rashika’s and Devmini’s missionary discussion.  The Elders are from the South Mission because we live in that mission.  One is from Lehi, and the other is Elder Barlow from Salt Lake.  Dad told him we are probably cousins.  It was fun being there, they both want to be baptized, but are waiting for Dave, the husband and papa to get back on the 14^th.  He travels for 6 weeks for work, and then comes home for 2 weeks.  He is reading the Book of Mormon but they don’t want to talk to him about it when he calls.  They want to talk to him in person.  They love going to Church in the Oatlands Ward.  We told them we went there for about 6 months and loved that Ward.

The Archibald’s brought a treat just before we left for the Moore’s, a type of cinnamon roll without yeast, more cake like, with a lot of cinnamon and walnuts.  She saw it on a cooking show this afternoon and said she just had to make it, and had all the ingredients.  She had cream on it and it was yummy!  Then we had ice cream and cookies at the Moore’s.  Any wonder why we can’t loose weight?  We love living here.  It is a good thing I don’t get in the mood to bake too often.

Yesterday morning after cleaning, we decided to go for a ride, we didn’t want to walk to far as it was cold and windy again.  We went up to the Blue Mountains and before we got to Leura, we turned off to go to the town Hawkesbury Heights, and went to the Hawkesbury Lookout.  What a magnificent view.  We could see clear to Sydney at least 40 miles away.  While we were there a couple of guys on bikes came up, we had passed them on the highway.  They were father and son and he asked me where we were from and said his oldest son is working in Boston.  I told him we had been there.  He said his son that was with him is the State rowing champion for under 16 years of age.  He is 15.  He asked what we were doing here and how many places we had been to in our travels.  When we told him he said “Good on You”.  We took their pictures.  They usually bike about 100 kilometers in a trip.  We then went down into the valley and over to Camden for lunch and a little café on the street.  Dad had a BLT sandwich with fries, and I had a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw.  We really enjoyed them.  We found another yard sale in a park and walked around.  We didn’t buy anything, I keep reminding myself anything we buy we have to get home.  As we were driving around looking at the agriculture ground in that area we saw a sign for the Burragorrang Lookout and so we turned to find it.  We never saw another sign but finally came to it at a dead end road.  It was beautiful, overlooking the dam that supplies the water to all of Sydney.  There was also a big monument to remember the coal mines that were in the region.  We then headed back home as we didn’t want to get home after dark.  We went to the grocery store for a few things and then came home.  Another great day of making memories and getting some great pictures of this beautiful land.

A thought to close is a Hymn I think of often and hope all of you are following the words each day in your lives.

Did You Think To Pray?
Ere you left your room this morning, Did you think to pray?
In the name of Christ, our savior, Did you sue for loving favor  As a shield today?
When your hear was filled with anger, Did you think to pray?
Did you plead for grace, my brother, that you might forgive another Who had crossed your way?
When sore trials came upon you, Did you think to pray?
Did you plead for grace, my brother, When your soul was full of sorrow,
Balm of Gilead did you borrow at the gates of day?
Oh, how praying rests the weary!  Prayer will change the night to day,  So, when life gets dark and dreary, Don’t forget to Pray. 

We Love you All!

Mum and Dad