September 21 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday September 21, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Here it is after 9 and I am just starting the letter of the week.  We just got back from delivering carrot, pecan cookies with orange icing to the other couples.  I was in the mood to bake tonight for some reason.  Actually I found this recipe a couple of weeks ago and wanted to try it.  They are really good, and we came back from Killebrew’s with brownies. 

This week has been pretty quiet at work.  Dad went through the last 4 boxes on Monday to see what we have to finish them, and one of them only had about a ¼ full of cards, so now we are down to 3 ½ boxes and will finish one box this week so we will be down to 2 boxes.  Mark wants us to have that many left when Sister Rogers comes down the middle of October.  We do have 2 boxes of rework to do from the Canon Camera that we are just going to go ahead and do.  Danny is trying to get the rework cancelled but we have the time to just get it done.  Next weekend we go to Salt Ash to speak so we are going on Saturday and stop at Martin Harvey’s house up by The Entrance, about an hour away.  He does bone carving and is going to make me a necklace and Dad wants to see his equipment and how he does it.  Then we are going to have dinner with the Finch’s who are missionaries at Salt Ash.  The Smylie’s will also be there as they are helping with a Family History Fair on Saturday.  We are going to leave after Church on Sunday and go see farm ground up in that area.  We told Mark we will be gone 2-3 days and he said fine.  We have to be back that Wednesday night as we have a dinner.

On Tuesday we were watching the grounds guy taking cones out on the grass so we knew the Plovers had put a nest in the grass right outside our window.  As he was putting the 2^nd cone on the ground the daddy plover started dive bombing him so he was running away and finally just dropped the 3^rd cone and ran.  He was waving his hat and the bird was still diving at him.  We thought it was pretty funny but he didn’t.  We went out to get a picture and he said don’t go too close.  It will be fun to watch them so close to our building.

We found out this week that the Killebrew’s are moving into our flat when we leave in November.  They are on the ground floor and have wanted to get away from the front door, etc.  Our flat is also larger than the one they are in, and we have a bath tub and they only have a shower.  They will have a lot of fun next to the Moore’s also.

Friday night the Barr’s had organized a bush walk at the Bidjigal Reserve, about 15 min from here.  It is home to 370 native plants, and over 140 native animals.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it but Dad went with the Barr’s, Feil’s, Smith’s, Moore’s, Archibald’s, Nolan’s and Sister Howes.  The Smith’s had pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad at their office before everyone left.  The Killebrew’s and myself stayed and cleaned everything up and then they brought me home.  The walk was a couple of hours and they had to take a torch (flashlight).  They only saw a frog and a ring tailed possum.  Dad said it was fun.

Saturday morning we went to Windsor and got some more Golliwogs.  The Killebrew’s went and got some, and so did Sister Archibald so I knew there would not be many left.  The shop keeper said she was trying to get a hold of the lady that makes them to order more.  She thanked us for sending the other missionaries in and gave me a pair of snowmen earrings, and Dad some cuff links she makes.  They were each $20.  That was nice of her.  After we left Windsor we drove towards Wiseman’s Ferry so we could find a little farm Dad had seen.  We drove in the driveway and Dad got out and talked to the farmer, a young Chinese man.  He raises Chinese vegetables and sells them at the Sydney Markets.  He sprinkles all the ground.  We then left and went to the Blacktown Sports Club to meet a couple of ladies from our ward that wanted to take us to lunch before we go home.  They are both widows and both in their mid 80’s.  We had a lot of fun eating and visiting.  We then came home and changed clothes to go to the Sydney Opera House for the production of “The King and I”.  We rode down with the Smith’s and met the others, Archibald’s, Killebrew’s, Moore’s, Feil’s, Nolan’s, and Dick’s at a restaurant at Darling Harbor and had a really good dinner, then we all got taxi’s over to the Opera House so we wouldn’t be late for it to start.  The restaurant was really slow, the original plan was to take the ferry over to the Quay’s and then walk, but we didn’t have time.  The theatre was absolutely stunningly beautiful.  There are 4 theatres in the Opera House.  The play was magnificent, we enjoyed every minute of it and it could have gone on another few hours.  We all kept saying on the way out we couldn’t believe we were really there.  We are so glad we had this opportunity and it was well worth the money spent.

We got to bed just after midnight, and our phone rang at just after 6, the Smith’s telling us that they had the BYU game on their neighbor’s TV.  They are taking care of the house and and dog sitting while they are on holiday, and the owner said to watch anything they wanted.  He has foxtail that allows him to get ESPN.  First game we have seen in 2 seasons so we all really enjoyed it.  The Feil’s came over and watched the 4^th quarter.  It was a great game.  We are hoping we can watch the BYU-Utah State game.  That will be a little later as it starts at 8:30 in Utah.

The Archibald’s came down a little while ago and brought me a Kangaroo Nativity Set they had found down in Sydney and she bought it for me.  It is really cute!  She told me they have a Koala Bear one also, so now we are planning another trip down in a couple of weeks.  She wants to go back also.

It is after 10 so we need to get into bed.  Have a good week and we will talk to you tomorrow.

All our Love,

Mum and Dad

September 14 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sep 14, 2014

Dear Family;

We just got back from the Archibald’s flat so we will start with today and go backwards.  Sister Archibald called after Church and invited us up for desert about 7.  She said Rashika and Devmini were coming up with the Moore’s after the missionary discussion.   She also invited all the other Sr couples.  She made a dump cake and used cherries, blueberries and pineapple, with whipped cream.  It was very, very good.  Everyone was there except the Feil’s, they had another meeting.  The Allen’s have been in Perth for a week so it was good to see them back.  Rashika said Dave found the Church in Sri Lanka, and said it was just a small branch but he enjoyed it.  It was only about 20 min from his house.  He even wrote notes from Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School and Priesthood, and even gave the hymn numbers of what they sang.  We were so excited he went on his own.  There are no young missionaries in that country, and we don’t know about Service Missionaries.  We are getting excited for their baptism date, the Sr couples are going to do the dinner with the Oatlands Ward helping.  Rashika is doing the rolls, and the cake because it is Devmini’s 14^th birthday.  We saw the counselor in the Bishopbric from that Ward in the store yesterday and he said they are so excited.  We are also!  We had a lot of fun visiting tonight and Rashika told us a little about Sri Lanka and Devmini told about her school.  Always fun to get together.  We are so blessed to be serving here with all these wonderful people.  We are going to miss them.

Church today was really good, it was the Primary Program, there are about 60-70 children in the Primary and they sang so good.  Bishop Curtis’s wife is the music director, and he sat on the front row and sang every song and the little kids were watching him.  It was so cute.  We were asked to take a few minutes in the Sunday School class to talk about what we are doing on our mission. 

Let me tell you about the weather this week before going on.  Monday thru Thursday was beautiful, Spring was definitely in the air.  Sunny, no wind, and 75 degrees all 4 days.  We were all ready to put the winter clothes away, and then Friday morning we woke up to rain and wind, and it stayed in the 50’s.  Saturday was the same, all though we didn’t have too much rain, just cold and wind.  We decided about 9 to brave it and go to the Quays on the rivercat.  We changed ferries when we got there to the Manly ferry.   When we got to Manly we walked a couple of blocks to the beach, and it really is a pretty beach and the waves were beautiful.  Not too many people in the water though, it was pretty chilly.  There were no shells, so after walking for a bit we walked up another street and found a cute little café and had prawns and chips, and fish and chips and salads.  We had the best dressing on the salad we have had in this country so we asked what it was and they said homemade basil, oil and vinegar.  We walked back to the ferry, waited about 10 minutes, then went back to the quays.  We had our bowl of mango yogurt, mine with kiwi fruit, and Dad’s with strawberries, before catching the rivercat back.  By the time we went to the store and came home it was almost 6.  Another good day.  There were lots of fun stores on Manly but we didn’t go in any.

Friday we were in the office alone which worked out well as we listened to the entire BYU game.  The Smylie’s were in Wollongong for a Family History Fair for 2 days, Mark was off getting ready to go to the States on Monday, for 2 weeks,  and he told Kailee not to come in because she left today to go back the BYU Hawaii.  She did come in to bring the bike back the mission gave her when she got here, and to tell us goodbye.  We are really going to miss her.  She is going to be in Hawaii about 3 weeks to give her report to the Uni, and help interview the next intern to come in January.  Tuesday we took Kailee to lunch and Mark had asked us to get the lunch for Wednesday, a farewell for Kailee, and a birthday for Elder Smylie.  We ordered the cake and nenish tarts for the lunch.  Wednesday Elder Smylie got a call from Hyde Park FH center that they had major computer problems and needed them fixed that day because the director was going out of town Thursday and they would be gone Friday and Saturday so Mark told them to go get it taken care of and be back by 3 for a birthday tea.  We went across the street and got the sandwiches and chips and drink for lunch, and went back and got it ready.  The Smith’s came because they have worked with Kailee in the Young Single Adult program.  We just visited, the 2 service Elders were in that day also.  They are really going to miss Kailee in the office.  The Smylies got back just before 3 so we got the tea set up.   That day was really a sugar overload!

Thursday we were working away when Elder Smylie said they wanted to take Kailee to lunch and would we come with them.  We all ran across the street and had a good lunch, at least as good as you can get over there.   3 times in a week is a little much.

Monday night for Family Home Evening the Smylie’s had the dinner and they had meat pies, Harry de wheels, style with mashed potatoes and peas and gravy.  She also had a green salad.  The Archibald’s did desert and fresh fruit and cookies.  Elder Archibald read an article from the Meridian Magazine “Why we Suddenly Have So Many LDS Missionaries from Zimbabwe.  It was written by Maurine Proctor and if you have time you need to look it up and read it.  I did post it on FB last week.  She starts out by saying “If you have been praying for missionary opportunites, you will want to learn about this.  You can pack a suitcase for an African missionary who may not be able to serve without your help.”  Three very high profile LDS professional golfers from the Ladies European Tour put it all together.  Check it out everyone!  We were also thinking it might be great for a service for the family Christmas Parties.  After reading that they showed the DVD “Called to Serve” with David Archuleta.  Very good.

Last week I said I had bought Colliwog dolls, but I hit the wrong letter, it should have read Golliwog.  C and G look sort of alike right?

This coming Saturday we go the Opera House to see “The King and I” and we are super excited.  The Feil’s, Killebrew’s, Moore’s, Smith’s, and Archibald’s are going, and we are going to eat at a restaurant on Darling Harbor before the play.

We send our deepest sympathy to Mandy and family in the loss of her grandfather.  He was a great man and will be missed by the many people who knew him.

A very Happy 11^th Birthday to Dixon on Friday.

We Love You All and you are always in our Prayers!  Looking for to talking to you tomorrow.

Love,   Mum and Dad

September 7 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sep 7, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Fathers Day from Australia to Deven, Ruston, Loren, Tyson, Vaun, Bob, Mike, Andy, Kelvin, Chase, Thomas and Ezra.  Dad got a little candy bar at Blacktown Church to put in his pocket, a little shirt and tie made out of paper with the saying “You’re “Tie”rific!  Happy Father’s Day from the youth. 

The weather definitely needs mentioning again.  Last Sunday and Monday it was sunny and warm in the 60’s and we were hoping spring was on its way.  Tuesday was cloudy and back in the 50’s with rain off and on.  When we got home from the Temple the wind started blowing really hard and blew all night, just like the east winds from home.  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and today, rain, rain, rain, cold, cold, cold.  We are so OVER the rain as everyone is saying.  We are ready for Spring!  Everything is so green and the trees are starting to bloom so it is pretty.  The teacher in Relief Society taught the lesson on Prayer, and she said we have prayed for rain, and then complain when we get it.  I guess we are all human.

It has been a fairly quiet week at work, we just had Birthday Morning Tea on Friday a week late for the August Birthday’s because we had a pizza lunch last Wednesday after a devotional, so they decided to put it off a week.  This month we will have 2.  We have been on a box of hard cards again.  One interesting one was a copy of an article that was from Woman’s Day, October 5, 1982, and it reads “My great- great grandfather, William Trustum, sailed from England for Australia when he was 19.  The year was 1848 and he paid $4 for his passage to Australia.  He married Ann Graves in 1956 and they went on the land.  At that time, men were able to buy land from 50 to 300 acres through the Crown for $2 an acre.  Originally, it was 50 cents an acre.  Each settler had to guarantee that he would live on the land for at least a year.  The staple diet of pioneers like my great-great grandparents (who had 11 children) was damper, tea and wallaby or rabbit meat.  Some prices they paid for goods in the 1860’s were: Tea—25 cents per lb, bread—8 or 9 cents a loaf, butter—20 cents per lb, cheese—10 cents per lb, eggs—20 cents per dozen.  By Miss C McLaren, Byron Bay, NSW.”  We have 5 ½ boxes left so we are slowing down and taking our time.  Mark wants us to have at least 2 full boxes in October.  We are just going to go ahead and do the rework that Danny is trying to get cancelled because it was with the Canon Camera but it has been 5 months and still no cancellation.  That is almost 2 boxes.

Last week Sister Archibald called all the Sr. couples and the Barr’s and told us she was having a dinner for us on Thursday the 4^th at Buckland House at 6pm.  We were not to bring anything and wear a pastel shirt.  When we got there the tables were set up with name tags and fabric at our place, each piece a different color, all Polynesian prints.  There was also a shell necklace for the women that our husbands put on us and then give us a kiss on the cheek.   She had pictures hanging around the room from their recent trip to Samoa.  She said as she was wondering around the villages while Elder Archibald was working and she found this little store with 1,000’s bolts of fabric, and all she could think of was she wished we had all been there with her.  She said she could see all of our personalities in the fabrics, so she bought enough for a sarong for each of us.  She had us get ours, take shoes and socks off, men roll up their pants, and showed us how to put them on.  She had asked Dad to bring his camera so he took pictures.  It was so much fun and you really could see the fabric matching the couples.  She had prepared slow cooker pork over rice with coleslaw on top and gravy, with fresh fruit.  She had an oatmeal cake for dessert.  After we ate, she and Elder Archibald showed some slides and told about the pictures she had hanging around.  It was a great night.

Yesterday when we got up it had rained all night and was still raining.  We had told Kailee we would take her to see the bats and to Windsor for fish and chips.  The Smylie’s decided to go with us. When we got down to the bats it was sprinkling so Kailee and I got out and she got some pictures of them.  We then drove to Windsor and by the time we got there it had stopped raining.  We walked up and down the streets and went in a few shops.  We went in a used book store and I found a children’s story book by a local author, and is about a horse born on a farm.  It looked cute so I got it, and when we got outside Elder Smylie gave me a book he had bought “Henry Lawson’s Best Stories”  He said he grew up on these stories and thought I would enjoy it.  We have been talking in the office about our love of reading.  This book was first printed in 1966.  The introduction starts out with “Henry Lawson is the most-loved Australian, and seems likely to remain so for as long as anyone can see.”    We ate fish and chips then walked up the other side of the boardwalk and went into a little store I have loved looking around called “Tahlula’s Eclectic Bazaar” handmade antique.  As we walked in the door Sister Smylie picked up a little doll and said it was a collywog and she played with them as a little girl.  She had no idea they were still available.  I found a girl and a boy one I really liked so Dad bought them for me.  I am so excited to get them home.  Google the name and see what you find.  We got home about 3 and ran to the store for a couple of things, and I took my Collywogs down to show Sister Killebrew.  While there we decided to go the movie “100 Foot Journey” Some of the other couples have seen it and said it is really good.  Dad and I went over to the office to use the internet to get discount tickets and seats, then we left with the Killebrew’s about 5:30 and had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant before the movie.  It was really a good movie, and the scenery was beautiful.

We wish Mike a Happy Birthday on Tuesday the 9^th.  Hope you have a great day.

In closing a thought that was on our Relief Society newsletter today:  “ As we GIVE, we find that ‘sacrifice brings forth the BLESSINGS of heaven’, and in the end, we learn it was no SACRIFICE at all.”  President Spencer W Kimball.

We Love you All and Pray for you!

Mum and Dad

August 31 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday August 31, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

The last day of another month, the time is going by so fast.  The past 2 weeks have been very rainy and cold, in the 50’s most days.  The news last night said it is the coldest and rainiest August in 16 years.  Last August was the driest and warmest in 10 years.  We have experienced both extremes.  Today was sunny and in the 60’s, and beautiful.  It was so nice going to Church with sun, and having the air conditioning on to come home because the car had been in the sun.  We are hoping for better weather especially on weekends.

Last Monday was Family Home Evening at the Feil’s because Buckland House was being used by the missionaries.   Sister Smith had lasagna, salad and bread, and the Smylie’s had desert, chocolate cheesecake and pavalova from the Cheesecake Store.  It was all very good.  Elder Smylie gave the lesson.  He is an art history major, so he gave us boards to write on as a table, and art paper and a piece of lead and an eraser.  After each of us taking turns drawing what he told us to, the women were to draw our husband’s head.  He would draw on the board the shape to use, and then we were to look at our husbands and draw.  It turned out amazingly well seeing as though I have no art ability.  It was a fun activity.

Tuesday night after going to the Temple and eating, we ran downstairs to the Killebrew’s to take a light bulb that had burned out.  When we got there the Archibald’s were there, and we tried to stay at the door and Elder Killebrew insisted we went in as he needed Dad’s help.  I was in my sweats and sweatshirt, and dad in p j bottoms and we had our slippers on.  Elder Killebrew has been having severe migraines since he fell a couple of months ago and dislocated his jaw.  Elder Archibald was there to give him a blessing and wanted dad’s help.  I guess we were supposed to go down at that time.  When he came in our office the next morning to bring a bulb, we told him to go over across the street to the clinic and get a referral to a specialist.  He did and they gave him something for the pain and he said it was helping a little when he came back.  He goes to a specialist in a month.

On Wednesday we had a devotional at 12:30, piped in from New Zealand to announce the release of Terry Oaks as the Director of Temporal Affairs for the Pacific Area and put in the new one, Brent Buckner from South Weber.  It let out about 1:30 and then we had pizza and garlic bread, and ice cream bars.  It was nice they had lunch for us.  New favorite pizza flavor, they said it is true Aussie, bacon and egg.  It was really good, looked weird though with scrambled egg on it.

Wednesday night after we had dinner, Chris Archibald came with peanut butter fingers.  They were so good, and we had enough to take for lunch on Thursday.  We ran across the street for lunch, it wasn’t raining, but rained hard while we were in the mall, then had stopped when we came out.  Good thing too, because I didn’t take the umbrella.  We are really getting tired of taking lunches every day, but can’t afford to eat out too often, about once every two weeks.

Mark was in the office on Monday, then was gone to Tasmania the rest of the week.  On Monday he told us to email or call the Hill’s in Brisbane and see if they still wanted to bring Sister Rogers down in October.  I got an email from them on Wednesday that said she was planning on coming and very surprised we are close to being done.  It will be good to see them all again.  Sister Rogers in going on a bus trip in September.  She is amazing for almost 88 years old.  We are on track to finish the cards by the middle of October.  We are doing at least one box a week and have 7 left.  We just finished a difficult box on Friday, lots of glued on articles and at least half with info on both sides.  The box this week is a very easy one so we will have no problem finishing it, and no meetings that we know of.

Yesterday when we woke up it had been raining all night, and was still raining.  We were trying to decide what to do when the Smith’s called and asked if we wanted to go to Parklea with them and then to lunch.  We said sure so they came and got us around 9.  We got a couple of things we have wanted, and found some really good looking green beans.  It is still a little early for them but these were really good.  We were hoping we could find some good grapes, but not yet.  The apples and oranges are still really good.  We then went to a really good Chinese restaurant at the Baulkham Hills mall.  We each got a dish and shared.  Dad even tried the Moroccan lamb.  The chicken and corn soup was really good.  It is definitely a place to go back too, pretty expensive though.

It was good to get back to Blacktown Ward after a 2 week break,   we went to Oatlands Ward with Dave and Rashika 2 weeks ago, and last week we were in Ulladulla.  We were just getting dinner on when the Smith’s called and said they were bringing desert over.  She had bought some rhubarb at Parklea and made a crisp with it and strawberries, and they brought ice cream.  It was really good and we enjoyed visiting.  They are looking for places to go see in one day, as they are taking one Monday off a month because they have activities all day Saturday.  We showed them pictures of some of the places we have been to and we had our map book to show them where they could go.

A very Happy Birthday to Violet on Friday.  She is getting so big.  It is fun to see the pictures from the kid’s activities.  Keep them coming.  All of the kids are in school now, Dallen in High School, Grason in Middle School, Aunna in her 3^rd year of Chinese Immersion, and Anaston started 1^st grade in Portuguese Immersion.  Mylie is also in 1^st grade.  Henry started Kindergarten.    They are all growing up so fast. 

Ruston is back in the classroom teaching 5^th grade in Ogden.  The students in his class are so lucky to have him as a teacher.  It will be fun when we get home to see his classroom and school.  Hope all of you have a wonder school year.

May the Lord bless and keep you in his care.  We Love You All!

Mum and Dad