Dear loved ones,

WE FOUND A NEW MALL!

We started cleaning our backyard yesterday.  Ii is a nice little backyard with lovely plants.  It will be a nice place to sit when and if it ever gets warmer.  

We have been very busy at the office because transfers are this week. What a lot of work is tied up with transfers.  Adrienne has been putting books together for the missionaries leaving the field.  I am busy doing the stocking of all the B of M, pamphlets, pass along cards, reports for DL and ZL.  Getting all the daily planners together, etc etc.  They want me to start doing all the orders.  So much to learn.  I am in charge of referrals, and baptisms, reports.  Adrienne does everything else.  We have to talk lots to the sisters and elders to get their reports.  We are getting better at the computer.

We are excited because the Bishop has asked us to take 6 ladies in the ward, less actives, some totally in active and try to teach and activate them.  Some are single, one is going through a divorce, one is married to a non-member.  It will be a challenge but one that we are very excited about. We are really involved in the ward and making many friends.  We have actually been invited to dinner again this week. Next weekend we don't have a free moment because ofWe  a baptism, Chinese lady, family history seminar, cottage meeting.  We hope to get close enough to these ladies that they could participate in some of these great activities.  We will be doing night visits because of them and also because of our office work.

We managed to color each others hair and it looks good.  We also went one night and got a manicure and a pedicure.  It felt wonderful.

Our ward missionaries, two of whom we have become close, and two others are being transferred.  One of the four will stay.

We will miss them but it is time for them to move on and make someone else's life better.  We are getting a picture of them before they leave.  Tomorrow at the office we are bringing fruit and a salad to celebrate Sister Maxwell's birthday.  It is always nice when the president is in the office.  He has lots of distant areas he has to visit.  It is quite a large mission.  Has to take a plane to Tasmania and he is going twice in 3 weeks time.  He is really fun, except when some elders and sisters get called in for a serious chat.  That isn't so fun.  Adrienne made 10 appointments this week and they all said, "What does he want?"

Tuesday night we needed to go to Costco because our new GPS quit working.  It is 10 minutes from our home but with no GPS it took 1 1/2 hours to find it.  We don't know how many times we traveled the same road.  We got a new GARMIN and it seems better.

We are avoiding the freeways because we have to pay each time and it is very expensive as is everything in Melbourne.  We wanted to buy some blueberries while we were there, at Costco, a small container was $20.00.  We decided we didn't really need them.

In our investigators class today we talked about baptism and service.  We read in Mosiah 18: verses 8-11.  We have all read these many times.  Bear one another's burdens, mourn with those who mourn, comfort those in need, witness of God at all times that we will serve Him and keep his commandments.  "And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed This is the desire of our hearts."   I loved this last statement.  As Adrienne I read the B of M and study it we find wonderful verses and our thrilled to be on this mission to learn more.

We love you all and pray constantly for you.

WE LOVE PICTURES BUT CAN ONLY RECEIVE THEM ON EMAIL.

Adrienne, Mom, Dee Dee, Mother, and two grandmas

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Adrienne and DeeDee on P-day deciding in this winter weather to get wet.

Please show this to all the grand kids.

Love, Two Grandmas

Zoo

We were lucky to see the baby koala eating.  They sleep for about 20 hours a day.

Hello

Dear family,
Thank you for the pictures and letters. Writing like this is much easier than sending letters. I sent a card yesterday to Tiffany and it cost $2.68 . Starting at the top,Robbie's school picture in his AF sweater on Instagram is darling. I can't believe he is already a senior. He will have a wonderful year. I remember my boys saying that the year was going too fast. There was also a pic of the 3 girls that was darling. Love all the pics. I am so sorry to hear about Elsie,but I know it will work out. I trust the Drs. At PCMC? Keep me informed. I can't believe the children are back in school. The summer went to fast.  We are going to have to really figure out a time when we can face time. When you called Monday it was a busy time. Maybe at 7:00pm on a Sunday when everyone is together. Let's work on that ! Alex did you get the job in Provo? Keep me informed about Tiffany. Dee Dee tried to give money,but they would not accept her card because we are in Australia. Jimmy ,I am so glad you are finally Home. I loved the pictures of the house and also of the 3 in the tub. Maylee's look is priceless . 
All things electrical don't work here as well as in the USA?  We have tried since we go there to get internet. Also the phone service takes forever to get straightened out. We will go tday for the 3rd time to try and get the phone working,and also try a different internet service. We have to come to the office to read our emails or send anything.
We have 4 missionaries in our ward. They are kind of " our boys". They just came in for a district meeting. We also bought bags of candy last night so they are happy.
We are happy we are  but miss you all.
Love Mom
PS : this does not have to go on the blog.


The sun was shinning so I went out to get the mail. I take full advantage of the sun when I see it. I was awake in the middle of the night worried about Alex. PLEASE watch him and check on him often. Did he get the job at Provo City ? That's all for today!

> Love,Mom

Dear Family,

Tuesday; Went to the Melbourne Temple, of course, it was a wonderful experience. It is a small temple but very beautiful.  All the people were excited to meet us and have us come.  We are going to try and go every week, after all it is only 40 steps from the mission office.  We don't have much social life at nite and no tv so weekly trips to the temple will be great.

Wednesday: Work, work, work, and cold weather.  Thank goodness for individual heaters because I haven't been warm even one day.  Adrienne said her toes haven't been warm since we got here.  We decided that Australian people have much thicker blood.  They are always hot and wear shorts all the time.

Thursday; After work went and got a new IPhone for us to use. It is only a 3G  It is way expensive to text or phone. so far it hasn't worked but we will make another trip to the mall to try and get it working.  You can call and text but I can't.  I am giving you our numbers for emergency; 011 61 4 446 886 915  mobile        011 61 3 9801 5980  office

We drove to the Apple Store about 35 minutes from the office.  The largest mall ever and very high end.  Phone didn't work so we drove back again Friday they gave me my 3O day pre-paid and here it is Monday and it is not working.

Also I GPS quit working after 2 weeks and at least we can get ourselves to work without it but no place else. 

We did LOVE the mall.

People stop us because of our name tags, oh by the way while we write this letter we are listening to the Homecoming by Hagood Hardy. Reminds us of home.) Most people stopping us are Mormons, but we introduce ourselves every chance we get and to all the clerks who wait on us, the grocery store, the cleaners, etc. One of the apple sales clerk was a member.

Today, Saturday was a very busy and spiritual day for us. We drove to the mountains with 2 elders for a 7:00 am breakfast meeting for the missionaries in the ward.  It will be a monthly meeting for all missionaries serving in the ward. so glad we are included.  There was frost and fog everywhere, but beautiful.  A little bit of home. Saw a darling quaint little village town on the ride up. It will be a stop off for ANYONE who comes to visit. At our meeting we discussed Clayton Christensen's missionary book. Each of us had had to give a favorite scripture and tell why we liked it and what it meant to us.  Adrienne read 3 NE 1:13 and I read D&C 84:88.  It was a wonderful meeting.

Came home and cleaned the house, it takes us 30 minutes.  The sun came out and we decided to drive to Healsville Sancturay.  We are enclosing some photos and a small video of a baby koala eating. It is rare to see any Koala awake so this is priceless.  They sleep 20 hours a day.  We also saw kangaroos, emus, tasmainian devils, large pelican, lots of birds and even mean dingos. It is quite different from any American zoo.  The ride to and from the zoo was spectacular.

We saw large sheep farms, horse and cattle farms and the rest were all wine vinyards.  They have large farms but do not have large houses, no mansions but nice. There vehicles are small also.

We ate at the zoo and had our first taste of fish and chips. The fish was blue grenidare, and it was delicious.  Usually they make it with shark.  Everyday is a new experience.

Finally got the house fixed up and feeling very comfortable.  

I AM SENDING PICTURES TO ERIN TO PUT ON THE BLOG SHE IS DOING FOR US.  PLEASE CHECK IT REGULARLY. WHEN I GET WI-F- AT THE HOUSE, ( SUPPOSEDLY THIS WEEK) I WILL ENCLOSE WITH LETTERS.        cannonsisterscalledto serve.blogspot.com.au

We have been missionaries for one month now.  We love our ward , we were asked last week to bear a testimony. We will be participation each month in a cottage meeting, didn't know they still did that, a monthly correlations with ward mission leader and missionaries, we will be in charge from now on of the Mission President Fireside first of each month for missionaries, new members and converts.About 150-200 come.  President Maxwell is great.  He is wonderful, kind, and has a great sense of humor.  You have to have that.

Sunday night; We just back from dinner at a ward members house.  They invited us at church today.  It was so fun, a family of six came and also the Patriarch and his wife.  So much food and delicious.

Annie sent us a link to a talk given by Elder Bednar

Things as They Really Are - Liahona June 2010 - liahona

				Things as They Really Are - Liahona June 2010 - liahona The Adversary’s Attacks The adversary attempts to influence us both to misuse our physical bodies and to minimize the importance of our bodies.
				View on www.lds.org	Preview by Yahoo

Great  great talk.

Scripture of week from Adrienne; 

3 Ne 1:13

Lift up you head and be of good cheer, for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow I come into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

Back to work, love you all dearly,

Sister Cox, Sister  Higginson

Sisters Conference

Our Apartment updated!

These are the pics of our duplex that we have enhanced and made more comfortable. I will be sending letter tomorrow with pics of our trip to the zoo. The kids will love them. 

 (it still just blows my mind that my mom and DeeDee are living in Australia)

Our Apartment

I have some pics of our duplex, before we fixed up. I am sending them via email from my phone.  Let me know if you get them.  Getting wifi in 9 days and a new I phone tomorrow.  Then we will take new pics of our decorating.

Adrienne's bedroom

Dear Family,

It is Sunday morning and we wish we had a newspaper, so we are reading Star Magazine.

We have walked for two days in the cold and looked at all the different kinds of houses.  The majority are the same brown brick but there is a great influence of Asian style.  The flowers are beautiful and are all in bloom even though it is winter. They say summer will come and everything is brown.

Last night (Saturday) to our first ward party.  Wantirna Ward.  It was like and Iron Chef cook off; different stations, homemade Chinese dumplings (potstickers), they were delicious, homemade tortillas, the fellow making them was from Mexico and spoke fluent Mayan, the other was an Aussie cooking in the microwave and convection cooking. They also had a cooking challenge; appetizers, main course, and dessert.  Adrienne and I participated in the main course. We were given an avocado, a lime, a cucumber, 1 can pineapple, tomatoes, (pronounced toematoes), bacon(ham), salami, spinach, cheese and salt and pepper.  We made fancy pizzas and Adrienne made a great salsa that got a WOW from the missionary judges.  The couple Broomes were our leaders.

Now to driving;

2011 Hyundai small suv, 86000 miles and the lights don't work.  We are going to KMART at lunch to get them replaced.  We take turns driving while the passenger watches the GPS. Thank goodness for GPS. We need warning because there are no straight roads.  Everything curves right and left and quick sharp turns and lots of U turns. There are few white lines and when you think the narrow road is one lane you soon learn that it is two.Some of the three lanes are so small.  No such thing as a large SUV here.  We have had a few, few Dee Dee! and a few, few Adrienne! We drove all over the place on Saturday shopping for our duplex and groceries. Saw lots of different scenery.  We wore jeans and jackets, with our name tags, of course.  Even out walking we wear our name tags.

We are getting to know alot of the missionaries, some come too often to the office, but they are all so cute and fun and happy. The sisters always hug us.  There are so many different cultures, Asians, Maori, Samoan, Tongans, Wales, England Aussie, and even one from Spanish Fork.

food;

milk tastes a little different, cold cereal a little different, Diet Coke way different so I rarely buy any.  

Dress;

The men and boys wear short shorts all around. WOW.  We will be sending pictures of that.

They even wear them in this bitter cold weather.  It is not a good look.

We love and miss you all,

Sister Higginson, Adrienne, mom, grandma

Sister Cox, Dee Dee, mother, grandma

PS Hopefully getting wi-fi this week at the house. YEAH

PSS Adrienne has agreed to sing in the ward choir with me.  YEAH

Scripture;

"But the Comforter , which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you;  not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

We had a Chinese lady investigator in the Gospel Essentials class yesterday.  She bore a very strong testimony of the Holy Ghost.  Very touching and emotional for our class. So our scripture was from our lesson.

ADRIENNE AND I WRITE THESE LETTERS TOGETHER BY HAND EACH WEEK AND I THEN SEND THEM VIA EMAIL.

Hello

Today's little note is all about the church here in Melbourne. It is probably 40 degrees outside and a family is sitting on a bench having a picnic in front of the temple. The temple is small but beautiful. The Temple,mission office and chapel all share the same parking lot. Yesterday the RS had a luncheon for some very elderly sisters in the ward who come to the temple once a month. Some are in wheel chairs or with oxygen tanks. But we could hear them laughing and talking. The RS room is next to our office.The church is open all the time. The library and kitchen are open to all any time. There is an old Chinese lady who comes every morning to use the water. She thinks the water in her ward house is contaminated and she is afraid of it. She comes here to fill up on water. She stays for about 1 hour and then leaves pulling a cart. I'm not sure whether she is cooking or washing! They keep the ward at about 30 degrees all the time. We all have our own heaters at our desk. There are 9 people on and off in the mission office. 3 sisters are volunteers who come in often and help. Dee Dee works on ordering and referral and baptisms. I answered phones,do the mail,order office supplies and whatever else anyone needs me to do. We stay busy! 
Lunch is over. I eat lunch like I did at UVP.
Love to you all.Send me a note if you can
love and Kisses, Mom

Dear Family,

After a very long long night (16 hours) of flying we finally arrived in Melbourne, Australia at 8:30 am on Saturday morning.

We are  a day ahead of you.  It took over 2 hours to get through passport and customs.  President and Sister Maxwell were waiting for us.  They thought they had missed us.  We went to their home for a lovely brunch and met the other couples in the office.  A very fun group  of people.  I worried about being so loud and said so to the President.  He told me not to worry said, " You don't have to worry about that,"  And I don't because it is a pretty wild place around here.

side story; President was talking about his father, Apostle Neal A. Maxwell.  We were talking about the U of U and BYu rivalry.  He started laughing and told this story:  He said his Dad like the U of U and that he and his 3 brothers went to the Y.  Elder Maxwell was given  tickets to a football game  to sit with U President in his box.  On the way Elder Maxwell turned to his son and said, "I have a lot of good friends at the U and would you please try not to embarass me." Our President Maxwell just started laughing as he told the story.

Elder and Sister Wardle, another senior couple, took us to the store for food then to our duplex.  We went inside, thanked them and collapsed.  We are still jet lagged after 4 days.

Church on Sunday was wonderful.   Beautiful chapel.  We were introduced to so many people.  We are attending the gospel essential class with the missionaries and investigators.  That night we helped with the monthly Mission President's fireside.  Just found out we will be in charge each month of the fireside.  One of many assignments.  So tired when we got home.  We are off and running, but loving every minute of it.

The office and ward building are attached and in the same parking lot as the temple.  

It has been very very cold.  We are wearing many layers of clothing and tights everyday.  Thank goodness our home has a good heating system.  It is a nice duplex, very plain so we are going to add pillows, pictures and some cute bedding.  We are lucky to be in a nice place.

Last night Pres. and Sister Maxwell had a family home evening for us with a few people and treats.  It was so nice of them.  We sure do feel welcome.  

We get our car today to start driving on the wrong side of the street.  Look out Melbourne here we come.

We study together each night.  On Sunday we se studied Sec. 138 in the Doctrine and Covenants and spent time on verse 30 that talked about missionary and temple work.

            "But behold from among the righteous he organized his forces and appointed messengers clothes with power and authority and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness even to all the spirits of men and thus was the gospel preached to the dead."

We love and pray for you always.  You are wonderful and so dear to our hearts.  Please be MISSIONARIES.  

Love, Sister Cox and Sister Higginson

Mom and Grandma

Proof of life

Here we are at our first day of work.  We have no internet at our home and our phones are not working.

We wanted you to know we are very busy at the office.  Our duplex is really nice, the President and his wife are wonderful.  tomorrow we will get together at the office and write a good letter.

Love to you,

Sister Higginson and Sister Cox

Blessings

July 31, 2014

We found an Australian on our flight to LA.  He was going back to Australia.  He helped us with our carry-ons.  He got us thru security quickly and then took us to the luxury Quantas lounge til our plane leaves.  What a blessing to us.  Also met two Australians that had been in SLC for a family history program for Jewish people.  Boy is the The Lord blessing us.

Happy birthday Sarah