Sunday, April 19, 2015

Dear Family,

Monday- We had settled in Monday night to watch Pride and Prejudice again, with Colin Firth.  The phone rang about 7 and two of our favorite sister missionaries were calling.  Sister Hemi (from NZ) said her companion Sister Greenhalgh (from Wales) was having chest pains and having a hard time breathing.  We told them to hang on and we would be there in about 10 minutes.  We called the elders who live close by and asked them to go asap to the sisters flat and give a blessing.  They were there before us.  We arrived during the blessing.  Sister G had fainted so the blessing was being given to her while she was on the floor.  The elders got her up and put her in our car.  We drove her straight to the hospital.
We called President and Sister Maxwell and they met us at the hospital. It was scary but thank goodness Adrienne is a nurse and could help.
She is doing good and we are once again thankful for the Elders and priesthood blessings.

Tuesday- rainy and cold.  We came home from the office, got cozy and finished watching Pride and Prejudice.   It is definitely fall turning to winter here in Melbourne.  We turn the heat on the minute we walk in our door.

Wednesday- We went to the Post like we do everyday.  The mail is done differently here so we have to go everyday to mail things.  Thank goodness the workers know us now so we don't have to show our id each time we go.  There is so much outgoing mail from the office.  While we were there we ran into 3 Chinese sisters, Zhang, Wang and Lee.  They always hug and kiss us.  We know we use the words cute and darling for all the sisters but they are.  They are pretty, petite and always smiling.  Adrienne and I are so taken with all the Asian babies and children that live in Melbourne.  They are so beautiful with their big dark eyes, olive skin and shiny black hair. Their parents take very good care of them.  It is always fun for us to watch them.  Ok back to the sisters.  We took them to lunch and of course had Asian food.  I have never eaten so much Asian food.

Friday- It was a different day for us.  We were up early in the car driving to Deer Park.  It is about 1 1/2 hours away.  We had to drive though the city which is very slow, because of so many cars.  It is a crazy drive but they don't have connecting freeways here so you always have to go through the city or downtown Melbourne.

We went to a flat with 2 Samoan sisters.  The landlord wanted to kick them out and charge the mission $500-2000 dollars for damage.  It had been lived in before by 4 large islanders who had done lots of damage.  Adrienne and I went out to help them clean the flat, throw away garbage vacuum, clean the kitchen, organize all the cupboards, do windows and  so much more.  The sisters had not been taught how to clean.  They were great helpers and hopefully they gleaned information on how to clean.  The flat couple, Hullingers came and fixed doors, fixed blinds etc. Anyway we accomplished what needed to be done. Afterwards we we took them to lunch at a pasta/pizza restaurant.  Sister Puileai and Sister Ioane had heard the word pasta but had no idea what it was.  Adrienne explained pasta and pizza to them.  They got a pizza with everything on it.  The sisters said that they ate very large dinners and that they were fine til the dinner the next night.  We had a very good time with them. They hugged and kissed us good-bye.

Working in the office gives us contact with all these young missionaries.  We love them all.  We know of their goodness and desire to serve the Lord.  They are great examples to us.

Saturday we went to our favorite mall Chadstone.  We ate lunch at Wild Bill Tacos.  We put a picture of the menu on our blog. Adrienne noticed on the menu New Mexico Enchiladas, flat tortillas with cheese, chicken or beef, mild red chile and an egg on top.  This was Roger's favorite meal to eat.  He didn't have chicken or beef and always had hot red chile.  What a surprise to see it on a menu in Australia.  No one in the US understands the difference with New Mexico food but obviously Australia does.  It certainly brought back many memories of TACO SHEL and Roger.

We went to the General Relief Society meeting on Saturday night.  As always it was great, spiritual and emotional.  We loved seeing pictures of the temple grounds, flowers, and Salt Lake.  

Sunday night
    We just got back from dinner at a member's home, Rex and Phyllis Campbell.  Phyllis is from Hong Kong and Rex is from Australia.  He served his mission in Melbourne about 10 years ago.  They have a darling 2 year old boy named Manti.  He walked around and pretended we weren't there.  He totally ignored us but did send us a kiss with his hand as we walked out the door.  It was a very casual and pleasant evening.  We had leg of lamb for dinner. It was delicious.

Monday am    
    We are driving to work right now and just saw a full rainbow.  The sky and clouds here are so different than home.  They are unique.  That is the best word for them.  We are enclosing on the blog a picture of the full rainbow over the temple.

In closing;
   "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love,which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure."  Amen     Moroni 7:48


As always our love and prayers are with you,

The Moms, The grandmas, the Sister Sisters

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