Australia October 19, 2014
Dear Family and Friends,
What another busy week this has been. Last week while talking to you we were
bragging about the weather, telling you how it had gone from winter to summer
with no spring temps. That was probably
a mistake with the weather we had at the beginning of this week. Monday afternoon the clouds came in and that
evening it started thundering and lightening and rain. Tuesday was just cloudy and about 60
degree’s. Tuesday night around 7 it
started with thunder and lightning and wind and rain all night long. Wednesday night while watching the weather
they said it was the perfect storm of the century, with cyclone force winds and
heavy rain. They had flooding in parts of Sydney, large trees blown over, power
outages that were still out for some on Thursday. In the Blue Mountains they got snow that shut
down the buses, trains, and closed roads and school, and a lot of power
outages. The news showed the kids
building snow men. Just a year ago they
were fighting bush fires and this year an early snow storm. Crazy weather! The rest of the week was in the 60’s and some
clouds but no more rain. Yesterday it
was cloudy in the morning in the 60’s, sunny in the afternoon in the 70’s, and
today was 85. There is rain predicted
for a couple days this week.
Last Sunday the new mission office couple came in to replace
the Feil’s. They are the Williams from
Brisbane. They have been married 16
years, both 2nd marriages. He
is from England and she from Brisbane.
They are going to be a lot of fun.
They are staying in Temple Housing until the Feil’s leave on the 30th.
Monday Mark talked to us about having Sister Rogers come
down next week. Sister Smylie made the
airplane reservations for Tuesday afternoon and they will leave Thursday
afternoon. Mark made Hotel reservations
in Parametta for them and we will be responsible for taking them to dinner
Tuesday night, and Wednesday night, and getting them to the office on
Wednesday. Elder Smylie and Dad are
going to get them from the airport and take them back. Dad told Mark he thought it would be nice to
make a plaque up to present to her with her two family cards that she had typed
up and put in the boxes. He had pulled
them out and Mark thought that was a good idea.
Dad got pictures out and the Smylies helped us design it. We went across the street for lunch to see if
there was a framing shop but there wasn’t.
There was a place to get pictures printed and we decided we needed them
5x7. There is a picture of Sister Rogers
with her husband, and one of Dad and I working on the cards. We liked it so much that I typed up our
information on cards and we are going to get one made for us. We were so late at the mall getting the
pictures printed that we missed going to the Temple. Wednesday morning we got the final design
done and left to go to a framing place I found over by Castle Hills Mall. They will be done on Tuesday. Mark said to go about $150.00 and we are
getting it done for $122.00. I think he
will like it. He was out the rest of the
week for his father-in-laws funeral and will be back tomorrow. We
finished another box of cards and now we have just one to do. We don’t know how much we will get done this
week but we would like to get a good start on it. We are taking Friday off to go up the coast
to a couple of beaches we haven’t seen and then we speak in Toukley on
Sunday. Malcolm and Helen have invited
us for lunch after Church. That is our
last speaking assignment and we are feeling kind of sad. It has been fun to visit the branches and
meet the members.
Last Saturday as we were in the elevator to come home our
little Chinese neighbor was with us and said his wife had the baby and that she
was jaundiced so they were worried. We
told him that all of ours were and they were fine. We checked with them on Thursday and she was
much better. She is so little and cute,
and her name is Emily. His mother is
here from China for a few weeks to help out and she speaks no English but is so
cute and gracious. We went to the mall
Friday at noon to get a few baby things for them, and the Moore’s and us took
them over Friday afternoon after work.
They were very pleased. They baby
is 2 weeks old today. They wanted us to
hold her but we told her we would in a couple of weeks, and to knock on our
door’s if they need anything. Friday
afternoon the Smith’s called and asked us if they could take us to dinner
before we left, and we said anytime, and they said now. They had not been to Parametta to eat so we
went down there. They had roads blocked
off and it was a mess to find a parking spot, but we did about 2 blocks
away. We walked over and looked at all
the restaurants and a police man that was on the street said a parade was going
to start anytime. We decided to eat at
Criniti’s and we sat outside. We had
pizza and Elder Smith had ribs. The
parade started just after we ordered.
The festival was called parramasala and is a celebration of the many
rich and diverse cultures in Sydney. It
was really interesting and fun to see.
After eating we crossed the street and started back to the car and saw a
pastry shop so went in and each got something and sat and ate it and visited
some more. The owner came and brought us
some samples of other pastries, one with honey and cheese and it was warm. The other was just a sweet one, all very
good. It was a good thing Dad and I
split a pizza.
When we got back to our building we were waiting for the
elevator when the Killebrew’s came out of it.
They said to come to their place to visit so we did. They invited us to go with them and the
Williams on Saturday to Paddington Markets in Sydney and then to lunch at
PaPa’s, an Italian pastry place. We said
sure so we left around 9, picked up the Williams and drove down to
Paddington’s. This is a little street
market we hadn’t been to before. Everything there has to be made by the vendor
so there was wood, metal, clothes, jewelry, tiles, etc. It was really fun to walk around. I bought a beautiful scarf out of Australian
wool, and while I was paying for it a couple was there and asked where we were
from and what we were doing here. They
asked us where we were living and when we told them Carlingford they said we
must be Latter Day Saints and asked if saw the Christmas display and the story
of Christ in pictures. We told them we
were and had worked at the display. They
said they enjoy it each year and said they live in Epping. Dad bought some tiles that were painted
on. We had parked at Centennial Park and
walked about 3 blocks to the market. We
drove to PaPa’s and it was packed.
Everyone comes there to get Cannoli’s, and Italian pastry that is filled
with custard, chocolate custard, or cheese.
They are to die for. We did eat
sandwiches that were very good before Elder Killebrew went and bough the
Cannoli’s. We came home and went to the
store to get the food for Family Home Evening tomorrow night.
Today we went to Church at Blacktown and it was interesting
how many people said they saw our article in the Newsroom. We were really pleased with the way the
Allen’s wrote it. We hope you all had a
chance to read it. We came home and
fixed dinner, then got the food ready for tomorrow night. We just made the most delicious sweet potato
salad, Tyson save us some sweet potatoes and I will make it when we get
home. We will go early to Buckland House
to start the barbecue chicken and take everything in. I think we have it all ready to go.
It is getting late so we will close for now. We are hoping the onion harvest is going
well, we enjoyed the video Tyson posted.
The farmers markets are also almost done for another year, and next year
we will be there to do ours. We are
looking forward to talking to you tomorrow.
We sang “Teach Me To Walk in the Light” in Sacrament Meeting
and in Relief Society so maybe we all need to hear the words.
Teach me to walk in the light of his love; Teach me to pray to my Father above; Teach me
to know of the things that are right; Teach me, Teach me to walk in the light.
Come little child, and together we’ll learn, of his
commandments, that we may return, Home to his presence, to live in his sight,
Always, always to walk in the light.
Father in Heaven, we thank thee this day, For loving
guidance to show us the way. Grateful,
we praise thee with songs of delight! Gladly, gladly, we’ll walk in the light.
Love you all!
Mum and Dad
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