Loch

The Twelve Apostles

Beautiful bird.

Loch and the Beach.

 Loch and the gorge

Otway Fly Cafe

Love the unique trees.

Dear Family,

It was transfer week, so on Monday night before all the chaos, we went to dinner with President and Sister Maxwell, the APs and  the couple missionaries in the office. We went to our favorite eating place, De Gani.  We always do something on Monday night if one of the APs is departing for home.  Elder Seiuli was leaving.  He is a Samoan from New Zealand.  He is very spiritual and kind.  Also, he had a great sense of humor and kept us laughing.  OUR MISSIONARIES ARE SO GREAT!!!!! 

Tuesday was a wild and crazy transfer day.  The meeting starts at 10:30 and as usual there were lots of companionship changes.  Adrienne and I went out got the subway sandwiches for the new trainers meeting..  The departing missionaries go to a 3 hour seminar on self-reliance, getting jobs and going to school when they get back home.  This seminar is part of the church's new program to help the missionaries get focused on moving forward when they get home.  All missionaries whose second language is English have to take a test before they go home.  It is done on the internet. All new missionary companions come into the office for supplies, to talk, to laugh and enjoy each other.  A long but good day.

Wednesday we were off to the airport with 15 departing missionaries and picking up 7 new missionaries.  We have explained several times how hard it is to say good-bye.  We know that we may not see some of them ever again.  It makes us even more grateful for Facebook and Instagram.

Thursday night we took our friends, Donna Young and Louise McDonald to dinner.  Our farewell to them. They are workers in the temple on Wednesday evening.  Dear sisters and good friends.  We are getting closer to the end of our mission and we have several more good-byes to some special people who welcomed us into their lives.

Friday we went to visit teach Sister Mavis Webb.  She is an older woman who loves company.  She has had a very interesting life and we loved hearing her story.

Saturday was a big day.  Our friends Theoni and Rob Snow drove us down the Great Ocean Road to the bottom of Australia.  The ocean is beautiful and so big.  We went to see the 12 Apostles.  They are rock formations that have been standing for years. They were formed by erosion from the harsh and extreme weather conditions of the Southern Ocean.  The soft limestone was eroded to make caves and cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed and left rock stacks.  Because of the erosion there are about nine stacks remaining.  They call them the Twelve Apostles for tourism purposes.   (PICS on BLOG)

We went to Loch Ard Gorge.  There was a large ship that crashed in the ocean.  The passengers were searching for gold.  But there were many lives lost on the treacherous "Shipwreck Coast."  This one was in 1878. The pictures we posted show a beautiful tranquil spot.  The ride on the Great Ocean Road is spectacular.  Gorgeous views the whole time.

We stopped at the Otway Fly, a park with zip lines and the Treetop Walk.  Adrienne and I took the walk into the rain forest.  Adrienne climbed the tower which looked over the tree tops.  I didn't because I hate heights.  We had a delightful lunch in their cafe and just enjoyed the sun and the view.  It was a twelve hour day seeing another new place in Victoria, Australia.  Every place we have been is unique and has so much beauty.

Thought for the day:

" Don't be gloomy.  Do not dwell on unkind things.  Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. Even if you are not happy, put a smile on your face.  'Accentuate the positive.' Look a little deeper for the good.  Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, with great and strong purpose in your heart.  Love life.             

                                                                                                President Gordon B. Hinckley

  

Love to all of you,

The Moms, The Grandmas, The Sister Sisters

Flat Evie visits

Smibert Family

Caleb, Sally, Lee, Lola, Olan and Paul

Chinese Festival of Lights

Flat Evie in the Kangaroo pouch.

Dear Family,

Monday- We went to dinner at the Smibert home, Sister Lee Smibert, her mother Lola, Caleb, Sally, Paul and Olan.  This family was some of the first people we met when we arrived last August.  We wrote a letter about them.  Lee and Lola (86 yrs old) took us on a  7 mile hike in the Dandenong mountains.  Back to the dinner, it was delicious.  They are all very accomplished musicians.  They play the trombone, sax, horn, piano and guitar.  They entertained us for about 1/2 hour.  It was so fun and made for a perfect evening.

Tuesday- The Maxwells invited us for a movie and hot chocolate afterwards.  President loves hot chocolate.  We saw the movie, The Martian.  It was a bit tense in a few places but we liked it.  (WE LOVE MOVIES, no surprise). We enjoy being with them.

Wednesday- Went to the temple.  It closes for two weeks to be cleaned.

Thursday- In the town of Dandenong they have a Chinese Festival of Lights.  It is on for three weeks in October.  It was amazing.  They have animals, butterflies, peacocks, panda bears, flowers, windmills, dragons, kangaroos, and the list goes on and on.  They are made from silk, wire for shaping and lights inside each piece.  There was a life size pagoda made of china plates, glasses, bowls cups and silverware.  There is no glue, but string, wire and lights. 18,000 ceramic bowls, 12,000 ceramic plates, 10,000 spoons. PICS ON BLOG, A MUST SEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Also, Flat Evie, who is visiting us in Australia, is in some pictures.  She even was in a Kangaroo pouch.  

Friday- We took two sets of sister missionaries to dinner at the Lynbrook Hotel.  They live about 45 minutes from the office so we met them in their area.  They had cleaned up and were so excited to going to dinner.  They make us smile.  Sister Tihoni is French Polynesian, Enoka is Samoan/Maori, Bingham from Arizona, and Rhodes is from Brigham City.  We had a great time with these beautiful and spiritual sisters.  Flat Evie was also invited.

Saturday- We cleaned our flat for inspection.  Realtors come every few months to check out the flats.  We swept the porches and back yard so that it looks nice.  We then got into the car and went exploring.  Our second stop was a Christmas store, a very fun Christmas store.  We bought a couple of Australia flag ornaments to bring home, a nice remembrance of two Christmases in Melbourne.  We then went to Maling Road and wandered through the boutiques and ended up at Tim's Book Store. A small but lovely bookstore in which to wander.  We ate at the cafe, Between Us, and it just a small, quaint place.  The weather was sunny with a slight breeze!!!!

Sunday- We went to dinner at Rob and Thioni Snow's home.  They have been sooooo kind to us this whole mission.  They have us for dinner all the time and the food is delicious and presented so lovely.  One of our returned missionary sisters was visiting the Snows.  She came with her mother and it was so nice to see her again.   We were very close to her while she was here.

It has been a busy week and this new week with transfers will make it busier.

OUR THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

    "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Love to you,

The Moms, The Grandmas, The Sister Sisters

Frank Sinatra

Selfie at the Frank Sinatra celebration.

 Pot luck at the Chinese Branch

Sister Johnson, Sister Plante, DeeDee, Sister Almond and Adrienne.

 Taiwanese Restaurant

Dear Family,

This was a wild and crazy week!!!!!

Monday- We were coming back from lunch and got a phone call from 4 sister missionaries.  They were at the train station and needed a ride to the office.  We let the office missionaries know we were leaving again to go get the sisters.  We went to the Waverly station and picked up 2 of the sisters, took them to the office and then went back and picked up the other two sisters.  Our car only holds 5 people and we aren't allowed to squeeze in an extra passenger.  After their appointments with the mission president, we took two of them back to the train station and Elder and Sister Rodgers took the other two sisters to the train.

On our way to the train station we got a call from Sister Tau'a'alo and Sister Haenga telling us that Sister Lee, third sister in their companionship, had passed out.  She was breathing but unresponsive.  We told them to call their zone leaders to come and give her a blessing.  We were on our way to their flat after dropping the sisters off at the train station.  We called the elders  to make sure they were on their way. They gave her a blessing as soon as they arrived.  Adrienne then talked to the sisters and Sister Lee was still unresponsive.  She told them to get her to the emergency room.  Elder Lee called and said he couldn't take them in the car (mission rules).  Adrienne said,"I am giving you permission to get the three sisters to the hospital and we will meet you there."  We let President and Sister Maxwell know and they were going to meet us at the hospital.  The emergency room was packed.  Adrienne was taking care of Sister Lee who was still not responding. Sister Lee didn't have any ID so the elders had to drive back to the sister's flat, get Sister Lee's purse and Rx pills.  In the meantime, President and Sister Maxwell arrived. She stayed with Sister Lee.  Sister Haenga, one of the companions was not well.  She had a very bad cough, (bronchitis). The elders returned with the purse.  President Maxwell asked us to take the sisters home. They needed food so we got permission from the President for the elders to come and eat with us. 

They released Sister Lee at midnight.  President and Sister drove her to her flat.  The other two sisters were soundly sleeping.  They had to pound on the door, the windows and even kick the door to wake up the sisters.   

Tuesday-The next day was MLC, missionary leadership council) and we had to be in the office and get the lunch for 36 missionaries.  We picked up subway and took it to the mission home and got the tables ready for lunch.  The three sisters, Lee, Tau'a'alo, Haenga) had appointments in the afternoon.  The Rodgers went to their flat, picked them up and dropped them off at the doctor's office.  We picked them up when they were finished.  We took them to the chemist (pharmacy) to get their meds. It was now 6-7 pm.  We took them to dinner and then back to their flat.

We were exhausted by the time we got home.  

WE ARE SO GLAD WHEN WE CAN SERVE THESE GREAT MISSIONARIES.  WE THINK THAT IS WHY WE WERE CALLED TO BE ON THIS MISSION, IN THE OFFICE, IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.  

 Wednesday- Two new missionaries arrived, one from French Polynesia and one from Malaysia.  Adrienne and Sister Maxwell had planned a surprise birthday lunch for my birthday. I was soooooo surprised.  There were about 20 people here for the luncheon.  There were young elders and sisters here also.  We had Schnitz (chicken), chips, salads and a beautiful cookies and cream chocolate cake. It was a fun day.

Thursday we had zone interviews for 26 missionaries.They were coming into the the office throughout the day.  We love having them around.  They are happy and make the office come alive.    

Friday- In the afternoon, 2 Chinese sister missionaries, Sister Chen and Ren, came to the office.  Sister Ren had permission to call her dad.  We don't know the circumstances but she was upset and crying when she came out of the president's office.  It had something to do with a friend. The bus and train trip would have been a long trip home so we decided to drive them.  Big surprise, they hadn't eaten lunch and it was now dinner time.  We took them to a Taiwanese restaurant.  I had one piece of toast with jam.  The cost was $3.60.  Adrienne had dumplings.  They both ate a large dinner that didn't look very appetizing.  We are both nervous about eating in some of these restaurants.

Saturday- We watched conference at the Heidelberg Stake center.  There were 8 people in attendance and six of them were missionaries.

Next we ventured down to the city.  We parked our car and walked around for a couple of hours.  They were having a Pro-life demonstration

so we couldn't check into the hotel for 2 hours.  The roads were blocked off and there were police everywhere.They were nervous that it could turn into a riot. We finally checked into the Windsor Hotel.  It was built in the 1880's.  

In the evening, we went to the Tommy Dorsey/Frank Sinatra celebration.  The orchestra was great and very entertaining.  The singer that sang the Frank Sinatra songs did a great job.  Seeing live entertainment is so exciting.  Hamer Hall is an amazing venue.  

Sunday- We were in the city so we watched conference at the Chinese branch/International branch. English conference was in the chapel, and Chinese was in the RS room and Mandarin was in another room.  In between meetings they had a pot luck lunch.  Elder and Sister McFadden brought spaghetti.  We were very happy to have that for lunch.  We don't really eat much authentic Asian food.  

Thought for the day:

"I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its  precepts, than by any other book."      Joseph Smith

Love to you,

The Moms, The Grandmas,  The Sister Sisters

Hello

Dear family

Can you believe that it is already October. We have seen a few Halloween decorations but they don't really celebrate much here. And besides that, it is starting to get warm here. I remember many Halloween costumes that I would make big enough for a coat to fit under the costume. Halloween was always cold.

DD and I have had a busy week driving sister missionaries everywhere. To and from bus stops,to and from hospitals,out to eat,you name it. But I am thankful we are able to do it all. The sisters that are coming in the day we leave might not do all that we have done. But there is one thing I have learned,no one is irreplaceable . We did things different from the people that were here before us,and those that come after us will do their own thing also.

Sister Maxwell came up to us the other day and asked when we could go to a movie again. We enjoy being with them. I think the new 007 a movie comes out soon. That seems to be the type of show we usually see with them. We saw " The Intern "last week and really enjoyed it.

They are having a wedding announcement party at the ward tonight. This is very common over here. They are decorating the gym and it looks very pretty. From the way they are decorating it looks like it will be a big party.

We are going to watch Conference this weekend. It is delayed 1 week over here. I am really looking forward to hearing it. We have heard it was wonderful.

I love you all and miss you. I love all the pictures on Instagram and email. Continue to send them. Give all the grandchildren a kiss from me.

Love, Mom

Tulip Festival

Iris

Sister Maxwell, DeeDee and Adrienne

 Tiny Dutch Pancakes.

 Tulip Festival

 Very unusual tulip

Dear Family,

The weather has been beautiful the past few days.  Thursday night we got home early enough to work in the yard.  With the rain we had many large weeks in the front garden area.  It felt good to be outside with our hand in the dirt.

Wednesday we went to Costco on our lunch break.  We needed to get cookies and fruit for the Golden Review on Thursday.  The golden review is for all the new missionaries.  Amazingly, we had to go to three stores to get the mandrin oranges.  We enjoy doing these kind of errands because it gets us out of the office and we can WALK.

Thursday was the Golden Review.  It is 3 hours of training from President and Sister Maxwell on what they need to do and know as missionaries in the Australia Melbourne Mission.  They have training on driving, how to knock doors, street tracting, health issues, and the list goes on and on.

Friday night we went and saw The Intern movie with Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway.  We loved it.  We have never seen DeNiro in many films but his character in this movie was charming, funny and he is very handsome for 72.  

Saturday we took Sister Maxwell and went to the Tesslaar Tulip Festival.  The Tesslaar couple came to Australia in 1945 or so and started this tulip farm and now it is a huge event every September to October.  It is located in the Dandenong mountains.  Beautiful country.  Besides the tulips there were heaps of Iris flowers.  The colors were so beautiful and so unique.  The gardens also had fun shops and several different food shops.  Our first stop was Scotland where we tried blood pudding (pig's blood) and haggis.  The haggis was only fair but the blood pudding was terrible, horrible, yucky, disgusting.  The lady at the counter said it is very healthy!   PICS ON BLOG

The next stop was Dutch food.  They were serving tiny pancakes called Poffertjes.  They are baked in a cast iron skillet similar to ebelskivers. They had butter, powdered sugar and lemon on top.  They were scrumptious.  Next was a strawberry ginger and lemon drink.  Very refreshing. Our next to last food stop was for Turkish Gozleme.  It was a thin tortilla with fresh spinach and feta cheese.  They are folded in half and then put on a skillet to melt the cheese.  Adrienne and Sister Maxwell loved them. I thought they were good.  Thinking we were finished with eating we found a waffle shop.  Very very thin waffles are put together with a carmel filling.  What can I say Great!  We should say we divided each helping into three parts.

When we took Sister Maxwell home President asked how the day went.  Our answer was,"We ate our way through the tulip fields."  It was a glorious day of exploring for 3 sister missionaries.

Saturday night we went to the church to watch the women's conference.  We are a week behind on conferences.  The women's conference was so good.  The music as always touch our spirits.  The talks were so good and blessed those of us attending.  We will anxiously wait for next week to see all the conference sessions.  We do know about the new apostles.  It is an exciting time for the church yet it is the same gospel with the same doctrines and it will continue to grow and move forward!!!!

Sunday we made our hot fudge for the missionary devotional.  President and Sister Maxwell do such a great job with this meeting.  It always starts with a new convert telling their conversion story. They asked the senior missionaries, six of us to sing the closing hymn and while announcing the song invited anyone else who wanted to come and sing.  THANK GOODNESS.  We are so blessed each and every day with our amazing and wonderful President and Sister Maxwell.  They are the best!!!!!!!!!!!

Our thought for the day,

" When I'm worried and I can't sleep I count my blessings instead of sheep and I fall asleep counting my blessings."

                                                                                Irving Berlin

                                                                        Sister Maxwell used it in her talk last night.

By the way that song is from WHITE CHRISTMAS, the movie.

Love to you all,

The moms, The grandmas, The sister Sisters