October 17th 2014 -- BAPTISM

It is a very cold summer day today, and last night we had 80 km winds and rain all night long! Rain like we have never seen before, even in Florida! Yesterday was the same.  Kind of an odd summer right now.  Pretty sure we will miss these 3 days of weather all too soon.

Last Saturday, October 11th, our grand-daughter Libby was baptized by her dad Spencer.  On August 2nd, our grand-daughter Mia was baptized by her dad Ryan. Those are very important events and close to our hearts! No baptism can ever take the place of a baptism in the family! They matter SO much, even when we can't attend them, they bless our lives and make us happy.

Going along with that, last Friday, October 10th, the Ranasinghe's were baptized.  They are the couple from Shri- Lanka (and their daughter) who became interested in the Church when she (the mom) was walking around the temple grounds 5 months ago and felt profound peace there. There was a question for a while if the father, David, would actually be baptized, as he is out of town 85% of the time, so the discussions were more difficult for him.  What a blessing that the whole family did it together!

It was a very special evening.  Seeing the dad come up out of the water was just amazing!  Prior to the actual baptism, I had a spiritual experience that stays with me even at this minute. The senior missionary men were asked to sing 'How Great Thou Art' in the chapel after the talks. It is Dave Ranasinghe's favorite hymn (mine as well). There were maybe 10 of them who sang, and it was so beautiful.  I watched them,in their suits and ties, (a couple just in white shirts) with their missionary badges and a glow on their faces and listened to those words as if they were brand new.  The spirit was so strong, the sound was extraordinary and it was one of those perfect moments in life. I knew I was so blessed to be there, that I was exactly where I was suppose to be and that the Church is so true that it astounds me, even at my age. The thought that came so strongly was, 'who would have thought, a couple of years ago, that we would be serving a mission in Australia and have an evening like this one?

Watching them was such a testament of the power of the priesthood, you couldn't help but feel that. Also, it was so touching to know that we had come to know and love and respect these men, and that I am fortunate enough to have Elder Allen as my eternal companion. I was so proud of him in that moment and so in love with him.  How does that still happen after 46 years? 

This is probably the only baptism we will witness while we are here, but we are grateful, and it was enough.

We are so busy, it is a true blessing.  Stories just seem to come out of the woodwork right now. It takes a lot longer to get them approved and posted at present, but we are confident that will improve. We love what we are doing, even though most of the time, we are very tired at night. Extra projects just keep coming at us and it's hard to know which ball to keep in the air, and how!!

The times we can break away on a Saturday just hold us together and keep us sane.  Last Saturday we went to Palm Beach (really, in Australia).  It was the best beach we've seen so far.  Lots of pine trees and not very busy.  It was a bit cool that day, which was perfect! We sat and read and talked and soaked in the beauty around us.  We took our camping chairs from K-Mart and enjoyed every minute. I walked up the road and got us 'take out' from this little outside place.  We felt like we had died and gone to heaven, and came home feeling totally decompressed.

Conference was wonderful, we watched it on our little i-pad in our flat, for the most part. Didn't even matter, it was still amazing, even if it had to buffer pretty often, we still loved it.  Just different than Utah where you can all watch it on your big-screens, live.  Such a blessing!

A couple of days ago we got a request from our boss that was interesting.  Bruce Lindsay, the former KSL anchor and present mission president in Perth, asked for a couple of PA people to coach 2 of his missionaries prior to a radio interview, as he was not in the city at that time.  We got elected.  So, we did a little research of what their responses should be to various questions and called the Elders. We were so ready to be of help, and save their day!  Every scenario we presented to them, they had the absolute perfect answer.  EVERY time! We didn't come away from that phone call feeling very helpful, but it sure boosted our confidence in the divine spirit that guides these young missionaries.  We all know they have it, theoretically, but it's something else to see it literally. They are so amazing!! There is just no other word for it. (we could say awesome, but they tell us that's WAY to American). However. . . they were AWE --SOME!!

We need to end this epistle for now. We are so grateful for e-mail and face-time. Don't know how we would have done a mission 20 years ago?  Just when we feel all weird and missing home, someone calls or writes and it does us SO much good.  Thank you all. Please don't think we are ever too busy for that!!  Hope you are all well and that you all know we love you. You are all, and forever will be, our best 'mates'!

October 5th 2014/ Sunday

Sister Allen's favorite tree in Australia

We can’t believe it's October, and yet we totally can. Day after tomorrow, we will officially be 6 months into our mission.  I know, I know, you're all saying, "have they really been gone 6 months?"  Because, that's how missions seem to work.  If they aren't yours, they go really fast.

If they are yours, the first 3 months are really long, and then (according to others) after 6 months, the time seems to fly.  So we will see.  We are certainly busier and more tired than we have been so far. 

On the other hand, most everything seems pretty normal to us now, and we can get almost any place here.  There are hours of the day and sometimes days of the week that we actually forget we're in Australia.  It's so weird.

We were set apart as temple workers last Thursday.  Ray will start in 2 weeks and I may not start till January.  It will only be a couple of Wednesday nights a month, so that will be good.  They say December is really busy here, as we all take turns hosting at the temple Christmas lights display.  Apparently they have like 12,000 people come to see the lights and singers etc.  This will be our first and only one, so we'll enjoy it and be glad to be busy during that particular season. We are having some pass along cards prepared for the month, which will be handed out to visitors, advertising the Newsroom Website.  Feel free to visit the site any time Mormon newsroom.  You will be called UNIQUE VISITORS on the monthly reports, and we get brownie points for that!

We had some interesting news yesterday. At least in Australia, they are no longer asking senior couples to extend, as the visas for them cost more than the 2 to 6 months are worth.  We have often wondered what we would say, if we were lucky enough to be asked.

Lucky, meaning that it would be a sign of sorts that we had at least done an adequate job.

I have to say (however undedicated it sounds) that it's nice to have it taken out of our hands.

We are including some pictures of our visit to the Targee Branch here.  It was a couple of weeks ago, but we didn't want to lose them along the way.  They don't have anything to do with the text, but here you go.

Targee Branch Pot luck after block time

Targee Branch members and missionaries

Targee Branch building

We have been able to watch just a bit of conference so far.  The official time to watch it at our ward is next weekend.  I have seen all of Women's Conference, and we have watched most of Saturday morning.  It is interesting to be away from Utah when Conference happens. We miss all the traditions that go with it, but it is so amazing to know that we can get it on the i-pad this quickly.  We could watch it live, but the time difference makes that difficult.  Unless we want to get up at 3:00 in the morning, which we don't.

We spent last Saturday in downtown Sidney.  All day!  The Feils (the mission office couple) took us down. They will end their mission in 3 weeks, so we were happy to go on a trek with them.  They are the couple who have been married 6 years now.  They know SO much about this area and are a treasure chest of information.  They are also fun to hang out with, so it was a very good day, one we will always remember!

Elder and Sister Fiel

 

We walked the Sydney Harbor bridge and took many, many pictures that will never do it justice.  The views of the entire city were absolutely stunning!!!! What an area we're in!  I think we seldom have a prayer that we don't thank Heavenly Father for letting us be here.  It is an honor and a privilege to serve Him and it is just plain amazing to do it here in Australia. What a blessing!  

Later this month, we head to Adelaide to do some training to those who have been called to Public Affairs in that area.  The council members are all new, so it will be great to spend some time with them and go over the packet of their responsibilities and share the vision.  Not that it's OUR vision by any means, but we are finally seeing the scope of it. We are so happy to be involved in Public Affairs, even in our small way.

The more we travel around this country, the more we see that, so far, the whole of the outer perimeter is absolutely beautiful. So happy to see a bit of it, and be doing the work at the same time.

It is Sunday evening at 9:50 and we are just headed home from the office.  There was a PA meeting this evening, as there is twice a month.

One more thing.  We started daylight savings time today.  We sprang FORWARD an hour!  It boggles the mind to know what time it is now for you, as we have kids in all 4 time zones in the U.S. and 2 family members in Lebanon? Too much for our tiny pea brains to work with. But we will try.

Just a last note.  It is Monday here now, Labor Day!  The service center is actually closed, so we are here for a while and it is VERY quiet.  That's both good and bad. Conference is over for you all.  We are so excited to hear the rest of it, because you are all saying it was wonderful.  But then, it always is!

Love you all, and appreciate your contact with us, more than we can ever say. We still miss you!