Lavender Farms

Adrienne at the Lavender Farms

 Beautiful stone building.

 DeeDee and 1850 stone home.

 Cafe Trattoria for lunch.

 Beautiful flower tree.

Dear Family,

Tuesday we went to visit Cynthia Jenkins.  We are her new visiting teachers. She has a 2 month old, an 18 month old and a 9 year old step-son.  Her husband is not a member and doesn't seem to have any desire to become one.  She is from California.  Her father is here in Australia for two months helping to redo her kitchen.  She is coming to church with her Dad.  Her dad talked with the missionaries yesterday at church.  The step-son has lots of questions about the church and religion.  This could be a perfect opportunity for this family.  We will pray something good will come into their lives.

Saturday we went exploring. We have wanted to visit these places since last September.  So we finally decided to go.  It was about a three hour drive from our flat.  We first went to Castlemain.  It is a bustling town known for it's history of the gold rush.  They had a very nice art gallery, and we love going to art galleries.

The next place we drove to was Lavandula (The Lavender Farm).  It is a Swiss-Italian farm.  As we were traveling we went through many little town and villages.  Some of the roads were only one lane.  The farm is a beautiful place with 1850's stone farm building that overlook lavender fields, orchards and produce gardens.  We were sorry the lavender bushes weren't in bloom but we had a wonderful time walking through the fields, the quaint gift shop and eating on the patio at La Trattoria.  We had lavender lemonade, scones and cookies.  The sun was shining. No jackets needed so it was a PERFECT day!!!!!!

Our next stop was Daylesford.  We found a cute little French store called Paris at the End of the Street.  They were playing French music.  It was a fun shop.

We went to a baptism yesterday evening for Hannah Mohring.  She is the daughter of one of our good friends.  She is 8 years old.  Our choir, including Adrienne and me sang Teach Me to Walk in the Light and Dearest Children.  We really enjoy singing in the choir.  

We have wonderful friends in the ward and they invite us to the family events.  We already have and invite for Christmas morning breakfast.  It is Sarah and Hyrum Mohring.  We wrote about FHE at their home.  We ill get to watch their 3 sweet children open their Christmas presents. We both got teary when she asked us.  We are thrilled.

Our Thought for the day;

    "WHAT MANNER OF MEN OUGHT YE TO BE?  VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, EVEN AS I AM."

                                                                    3 NEPHI 27:27

  Love to all of you,

The Moms  The Grandmas  The Sister Sisters

Hello

Dear Family

Hope all of you are doing well. I love to see the photos and also hear how everyone is doing.

The weeks as usual are going fast. It has been very cold each morning. Sometimes the sun comes out,but the wind is very cold. I think October will be like our spring. Hopefully this weekend will be warmer,but you never know. Today at 12:00 it is suppose to be rainy,then overcast and then clear tonight.

We have had 3 families of Islanders running around the church all morning. The parents went to the 9:00 session and the children have been playing in the ward while they were in the temple. It is nice that the churches are open so members can use them.the children were using the chapel to run in, so we did stop that. They are now all eating in the cultural hall. The churches here do not seem to be closed ,except at night.

There was a sign on face book that said only 13 Friday's till Christmas . That sounded funny. By the way, do not send anything for Christmas. It will mean packing more stuff. We will be home 2 weeks later. Can you believe that!

We have had missionaries in here on and off all morning. I sure love these young people. It is fun to see them grow from the first time we see them. The gospel changes people for the better. I am so thankful everyday for this opportunity.

I love you all and miss miss you. Be strong and help each other.
Love Mom

Echuca Senior Missionary Outling

Paddle Steamer boat.

The Linders and President and Sister Maxwell.

 The Canola fields

Murray River tour.

 3 cute llamas.

 Pelican enjoying the sun and warmth.

Yes, we also came on the outing.

Ate a delicious hamburger with "chips" on national hamburger day.

Stage coach rides throughout Echuca.

A sheep ranch and lots of ibis birds.

There are birds everywhere you go in Australia and they are not afraid of humans.

Dear Family,

It was cold on Thursday night so we went to the Glen (shopping area) for hot chocolate, toasted banana bread and chocolate dipping sauce.

Saturday was the senior missionary trip to Echuca.  It is about 3 hours from Melbourne.  There were 23 seniors that went on this excursion.  We went on a paddleboat steamer for a tour of the Murray River. It was a perfect day.  The sun was shining and we didn't have to wear our jackets.

Sister Latteier (Vietnamese) is a photo queen.  Constant pictures of Adrienne and me.  She also is a great cook and loves cooking.  She brought shortbread cookies, lemon flavored with a pinch of rosemary.  They were delicious.  Of course, she brought enough cookies to share with everyone on the boat.  She is such a pleasant happy missionary. 

It was national hamburger day so we all had hamburgers and chips for lunch.  We were able to eat outside because of the warm day.

We rode up to Echuca with President and Sister Maxwell. Driving to and from Melbourne we took a couple of detours to small towns.  The countryside is so beautiful and different from other areas we have visited.  We saw many many canola oil fields.  (PIC ON BLOG)  These fields are a bright yellow and go on and on for acres. We don't know how they get the oil from the flowers. We should probably read about it on the internet.(PICS on BLOG)

We had great conversations with the Maxwells.  We really enjoy our association with each other.  Missionary work is always discussed and they are movie buffs like Adrienne and me.  We talked and laughed and discussed our favorite and least favorite movies.  President rarely has a free evening or weekend. It could be another 1-2 months til he is free for a couple of hours to relax.  Mission presidents and their wives are soooo busy.  We don't know how they keep going day after day.  On one of his free evening we will take our favorite movie to their home to watch and then watch one of their favorites.  Their choices are a bit more high brow than ours.  

Richard and Keisha couldn't keep their appointment.  We will see them on Tuesday and hopefully set another date. KEEP PRAYING!

A sunny Sunday which makes the whole day better.

Thought for the day;

    "And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all-they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

    Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him."

                                                                                            ALMA 53: 20-21

MY HOUSE FINALLY SOLD AND THE PAPER WORK IS ALL DONE!!!!!! Hallelujah

Love you all,

The moms, The grandmas, The sister sisters

Hello

Dear Family

We were lucky this week and had a couple of nice days. The sun is out today ,but the wind is freezing. I guess this is what Spring is like in Melbourne. I looke forward to warm weather. It is weird to have Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas in the summer. But then Halloween and Thanksgiving is really not celebrated here! 

We Are really excited for Caren and Cathy to come visit. I hope they like walking!

We have a new elder that came in last week. His great grandfather is Dr Theurer. His grandfather is Craig Theurer. Does this make us all feel old! He is a darling boy. It is nice for these missionaries to find some connection to their home when they come. The missionaries that are here are all so wonderful. I love them all.

I would love to hear how everyone is doing with the new house ,with school etc

Hank,thank you for the drawing .I love it. I love how you did your hair. Your handwriting is really good.

The office stays very busy, but we love it when the missionaries come in. I sometimes think they come in for the candy. DD and I make a monthly run to Costco for the "lollies". (candy)

Not much news to talk about. I love you and miss you all.
Love, mom

Missionaries and gardens

Helping with the departure dinner. Rachel Curtis

Elder Hassell, Elder Bucholz and Elder Gunnell.

They are all going back to Arizona not far from my place in Mesa.

They asked that we have and Arizona picture.

 Jessica Sweet a darling girl in our ward.  

She was at the airport leaving for New Zealand on her mission.

 The group of missionaries leaving.

 

Elder Larsen avert quiet and kind missionary.

Cute Sister Malito

First missionary we met when we arrived.

Elder Hollister from Georgia.

Sister Freemand crocheted these wall hanging for Adrienne and me.

She is one of our Senior Missionaries.