March 7, 2014  Elder Bednar Visits Australia

It is March (which is a bit like September in the states) so summer is about at an end, althought it was 99 Sunday with 90% humidity, so it's hard to tell.  We understand that it has been a very mild summer here, surprisingly so, and we are glad! When we first got here, we heard many stories about January and February and how unbearably hot and humid it gets.  It has been so much the opposite.  The average has stayed between 75 and 85 degrees and very few days have been really, really humid.  We are not complaining!!!  Elder Allen was so worried his hair would get all straight and awful looking.

Brisbane Angel Moroni

We went to Brisbane last month, to meet with a very large Public Affairs council there. We counted 35 in the room at the last meeting. It was a real learning experience, as the Public Affairs Director really knows how to run a meeting. She could be a poster woman for how it's done.  We talked to our boss about getting the new PA senior missionaries who arrive this month (they will be right across the hall from us) down to Brisbane very early in their mission. We wish we had been there first!  We had quite the grand tour by two of the PA's and their spouses and made some friends. It was a good trip and a great SHORT flight.  Love that!

Downtown Brisbane

Brisbane Temple

The Stokes, Owens and Allens

Queensland Public Affairs Council

Australian Bush Turkey

Another boring Australian Beach

Downtown Brisbane

On February 27th, 28th and 29th, Elder Bednar came to Australia.  The level of excitment for everyone was over the top and I don't think a single soul could have been disappointed. What a weekend!

Womens Conference with Sister Bednar

Sister Pearson, Sister Bednar, Sister Robbins

We probably were a bit naive, just thinking how wonderful it would be to hear him speak and to see him!  The Tuesday before he came in, we had a conference call with New Zealand about the visit and we guess that's when reality set in.  We knew we would be taking down quotes from his talks, we just hadn't put it together that we would be the ONLY ones taking down quotes.  New Zealand sent a photographer and video person to do the recording, but the recording wasn't for the purpose of getting quotes.  We were happy not to be taking photos, until we found they would not be at the womens meeting with Sister Bednar and Sister Robbins.  I was the only one from PA going!  Ray said he would drive me down and take photos in the hall. Yikes.  I was so nervous.  No one wants to risk quoting an apostle wrong!??? And I really, really didn't want to get in Sister Bednars way and ask her for photos, etc. I just knew I couldn't!

Elder and Sister Bednar at
Stake Conference

Elder Bednar and Elder Pearson

Shaking hands at Stake Conference

Elder and Sister Bednar

Sister Allen and Sister Smylie and
Missionaries preparing for conference

Australia South Missionaries

Teaching at the Marriage Conference

Sister Bednar

But we asked our family for prayers during his visit and they were answered, big time!  I found I felt braver with a camera around my neck and my missionary badge on than I thought I would.  In actuality, I found that Heavenly Father wouldn't let us fail in something as important as Elder and Sister Bednars talks. We got great pictures and I got one of the 3 speakers that I will always treasure, and some as Sister Bednar greeted the women afterwards. So amazing, and no fear on my part whatsoever.  My testimony just soared that day, because I knew how much help we'd recieved. So humbling.

The other talks were wonderful as well.  He spoke to the missionaries in the afternoon and then to couples in the evening, about marrige.  So great.  Elder Bednar doesn't just speak at these meetings, he asks questions of the congregation and answers their questions.  So much learning occurred! Just watching faces and listening to the way he answered things.  No question he's an Apostle of the Lord.  We could just feel it!

He gave some words of comfort to the senior missionaries that were very tender. (Ryan, you will recognize this, in part).  "Your abscense is the most powerful testimony you will ever bear to your posterity.  The day will come when they will rise up and call you blessed because you were gone for a season.  Those grandchildren will never pray as hard for you as they do while you are serving a mission."  David A. Bednar, 2/28/15

Schedules were kept and words flowed and the spirit was ever present. Sometimes at our computers, we were just amazed at how it all fell together. Very sweet. Very tender, simply astounding!

It's interesting that with all of that, we didn't ever even shake his hand.
The crowds were too large and even at the missionary meeting, it just wasn't done.  Even so, by the time he left, we felt like we really knew him.

If we had to pick out one highlight of our mission so far, this would be it! The whole weekend, and the preparation for it, it was so great to see what it entailed, to see his agenda and the super-human scope of his schedule.  No wonder we are to pray for them.

To another subject, the Moores leave here on March 31st. They are going on a two week cruise around New Zealand and then heading home to North Salt Lake. (they are the missionaries across the hall from us). They have been a fun couple to share the upstairs offices with.  They were so good to us whan we first arriived that we will ever be grateful.

The Archibalds leave on April 7th. OH, but things, 'they are a changin'. That is so hard!
They were also very good to us, and continue to be.  Change is hard here, it's like part of your support sysyem going away or breaking down.  We have to remember that on the day the Archibalds leave, we will only have 6 months left on our mission.  It helps to remember that.

The Smiths will be here until July 1st and that will really help.  We probably have spent more couple time with them than anyone else and we really enjoy them.  They are one of the huge blessings here.  They came from Fruitland Idaho, but are going home to a house they bought in LasVegas before they left and their Fruitland home sold while they were here. So, we talk about the decisions in life regarding homes really often. 

The Moore's replacements, the Willes's, arrive on March 16th or March 23rd (as their visa has not yet come, so there is some question about that) from Snowflake Arizona.  We have face-timed them several times and they will be awesome! We can't wait to meet them in person. The two weeks they train with the Moore's will be interesting (or much less than that if they come on the 23rd). Two weeks is a bit of a long time to share a small office with 4 people. But, it will all work. If I were them, I'd be voting for the 23rd. 

We head to New Zealand on March 11th and are looking forward to it. We will be gone 1 week. The two missionary couples there have planned alot of touring for the 8 of us. Mostly, it will be good to just see them and talk to them! And the meetings will be really good for us too.

 Life is busy here almost all the time and we feel our age very often.  We feel we've aged 3 years in 1,but we are blessed as well, so very often, so we're good!

We are grateful, as always, for the face-times and e-mails from all of you, they are what keep us going, and make us happy.  Those and the blessing of missionary work that just seem to come, when we most need them. Love to you all!

February 7th 2015

February 7^th 2014
  

Wow!  Can't believe it's February or that it has been so long since we posted on the blog! I know we're always saying this, but we have been so busy.  It's important that you all keep in mind that we are getting up there in years, and so everything takes LONGER.  Which means, busy is relative.  

We are trying to think back to all of January and it is a bit of a blur.  We went from Christmas to about January 18th or so with absolutely no stories coming in from area Public Affairs people. We talked with two sister missionaries we had over for Sunday dinner.  One of them used to be in our daughter-in-law, Becky's, Laurel class, so we had an 'in'.  And we took some pictures of them and asked them the questions we wanted to cover for a news article and Tah Dah!! It was so fun.  It actually just got posted on the website this week.

Sisters Durtschi and Luo

Sisters Luo and Durtschi in our flat living room 

After that, it was like all the Australians were finally over Christmas and kids went back to school (December and January are their summer break time here) and article material just came pouring in!  Almost to excess, but we aren't complaining. 

Next week, on the 12th, we leave for Brisbane to do some training there. It's a council we haven't been to yet so it will be good to meet all those people that we e-mail with really often, regarding stories, and talk to on the phone a lot.  We will love putting faces with names, and it's good for them to do the same.  Makes the relationship stronger which always equates to better material coming in.

President Barr - Sydney Temple President

Sister Barr Sydney Temple Matron and Sister Allen

We also found out a little over a week ago that we are scheduled to go to New Zealand the first part of March.  The schedule is to spend some time with an Area Presidency member and with Richard Hunter, the PA manager for the Pacific Area. Also a  trip to the Auckland temple and a tour around the area with the two missionary couples who do Public Affairs in New Zealand. Both couples were trained with us in Salt Lake before we all left, and we just love them! The Moores from across the hall here are going with us, and then they head for home the 1st of April so it will be a nice trip for them especially. We are SO happy to go, it is the only place we wanted to see, outside of Australia, while we were here. Plane tickets aren't yet in hand, but we have seen the itinerary, so we assume it will be a go.

In two days, we hit the 10 month mark for our mission. Which means we have only 8 left.  It's hard to put into words how we feel about that. So many things here are so good.  It IS beautiful here and the climate is just fabulous. We love wearing these name tags, saying exactly who we really work for.  And missionary work is awesome! The spirit abounds when we need it most. We've had experiences we never would have had in normal life.  We can work longer and harder in stressful situations than we ever could at home. It is the opportunity of a life time.  Our testimony of the true Gospel and The Savior and that wonderful Atoning Sacrifice that is there for each person has grown in a way we never could have envisioned before we came.  At our age, that's saying A LOT!

Having said that, we miss home and family and friends.  Let's be honest, we miss America too. We look forward to driving on the correct side of the car, on the correct side of the road! And sometimes, we think it will be really nice to be slugs for days at a time. 24 hours of straight sleep would be heaven!!! Oh, I should not write this at the end of the day.  But we also look forward to the remaining months of our mission, and can hardly wait to see what article, experience, or beauty is just around the bend.

One of our greatest blessings is being on a mission after Face-time was invented.  Just the joy of talking to kids and grand-kids.  Makes us so happy and full. What a blessing.  We know it's a worldly one, but it sure was sent for good! 

We are happy, and in good health. We have seen beauties we could never have imagined. The temple President and his wife took us to a place called Nelson's Bay on a Saturday and there are no words to describe how beautiful it was, although 'stunning' comes to mind.  Long boat ride to see Dolphins! Lunch at an outside cafe by the ocean? Lovely.  We have learned to really make use of our Saturdays, we don't spend as many in the office in the summer. Winter is coming up in May, we have lots of time to explore.

Elder and Sister Finch - Payson

Elder & Sister Kilabrew - Texas

Dolphins tail

Camel rides on the beach

Beautiful Nelsons Bay

We have included many pictures this time.  The Cockatoo sits in the tree outside our office window.  Sometimes there are 5 of them.  The flowers are mostly from around the grounds by our flat, and the red bush is right outside our back door.  Just amazing!
We love you all and we are grateful for your contact, always and anytime!

January 2, 2015 Half Way Mark

Already the 2^nd day of 2015. Where does the time go? Some times it drags here, other times it flies.  This past month, it has done some of both!  A lot has happened since the last time we posted.

Queen Victoria Mall

A couple of weeks ago, we went on a Saturday excursion with the Archibald's to see the Queen Victoria Building, which now houses a very LARGE, very amazing Mall which has a Christmas Tree that shoots up through all 5 stories. It's called (of course) Queen Victoria's Tree. For the first time, we found real Christmas decorations that looked a bit like home.  In Australia they lean toward LED blinking lights with odd colors.

More Downtown Christmas

The Archibalds & the Allens

Stain Glass Windows Victoria Mall

More Christmas

Right after seeing the mall and enjoying lunch, we went outside and walked to Martin Place.  That's the area where the people were taken hostage by a gunman and two hostages ended up being killed.  There are two city blocks that eventually have been given over to a memorial of sorts.  People brought flowers for the dead and wounded and put them in one place.  It just kept spreading until it took up such a large area.  They fenced it in a bit.

Memorial Flowers

More Flowers

And more flowers

The feeling there was really unique.  We had come from a busy mall, walked about 2 blocks and came upon this area.  Everyone there was so quiet and reverent. People talked quietly and when we walked away, we commented that it felt like holy ground. We were glad we had visited.  What a horrific situation that all was for Australians.  Made us so sad for those days it was going on.

 It was a great day, we took the River Cat into the city and back out.  It's a wonderful, stress free way to travel to the city and has amazing scenery along the way.

The light and art show started December 1st and went through December 25th.  There was also another showing for a group of YSA's on Monday the 29th, so, we got to see the film again, it never looses it's impact!

Christmas was very unusual, as we're sure it always is in the mission field.  It will be a good memory when we look back on it next year.  We had our good times and our tough times and it was great to talk to family the day after.  Being into January gives everything a brand new perspective.

New Years Eve. will be one of our best memories.  We took the second half of the day off, and took the train into the city to have dinner with other Senior couples and watch the fireworks from the roof of the building that contains the Church Offices.

In all, there were 5 couples and it was a very nice evening.  We were right there by Hyde Park and the Anzac Memorial, so, really in the heart of the city.  And yet, it wasn't as busy as a usual Friday or Saturday night.  We think everyone was at the Harbor, or home to watch the New Year come in on TV.

Fire works over the water are just amazing!!  The number of boats out in the water was unbelievable. All in all, it was just beautiful!!  Stunning to look down on the buildings, the harbor, the Opera House!  It is always a little hard to believe we're really here, but New Years Eve here was just unreal! We are so blessed.

Happy New Years Eve

New Years in Sydney

Today we are in the office for just a bit and then hope to scoot off to the temple.  We spent yesterday here putting away all the Christmas decorations and bringing furniture back upstairs from the Art Exhibit.

Monday, things will get back to a regular schedule, at least for the missionaries.  A good portion of the paid employees are off for another week and in some cases two. We find we feel best on a normal schedule here, so we will be happy!

We are glad to be on a mission, and happy to do our small part here.  It makes our world go round, although that world would cease to revolve at all if it weren't for friends and family.  Thank you all for your support, especially over Christmas!!

It was so gratifying to see people get a glimpse of the Saviors life and ministry, often for what we think might be the first time, at the Art Exhibit.  Just the best part of Christmas in a very real way.  We do wonder a lot how many people had their lives changed a bit, just by being here!  The ultimate hope is that they changed enough to accept the missionaries into their homes!

As Church members, we have so much!  We were looking at The mormonnewroom.org Year in Review.  It just made us so happy to be members of the Church, and wonder how people navigate this life without that perspective and help.

The Church is so true, and we are so grateful for it.  Our testimonies grow with each passing month and we feel the blessings of all the prayers that are offered for the missionaries.  We do love our mission.  We have good days and bad days.  We are finally at a point where the good ones out-weigh the tough ones by far!  That is so good.             Happy New Year! We love you all. 

December 8, 2014

We don’t know where November went.  Seriously! As of yesterday, we  are 8 months into our mission! Don't know how that happened either. Sometimes, time just seems to fly, (other times it doesn't).

We had a really nice Thanksgiving, given we were out of the country in a place that doesn't celebrate it!  We helped fix for, and serve, 54 people the traditional turkey feast!  We ate at noon, because it was lunch time for the Service Center people and that's mostly who it was for.  All the senior missionaries cooked and brought their own food assignment. And they brought the BEST stuff (even fresh fruit arranged as a turkey). It was a fantastic lunch with all the trimmings and everyone ate way too much and then had dessert! And then more dessert.  So, essentially, it was just like any other Thanksgiving, food wise! Except no pumpkin pie.  Someone should have gone to Costco. But we did have pavlova and THAT is a treat!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Amy and Bryon and Amanda and Adri and Joshua B. were here for 10 days and brought the turkey napkins and cranberry sauce and stuffing!  Many of the people had never tasted stuffing before or cranberry sauce, so it was fun to watch the tasting and watch them find that they really liked both!  It was a good day. They met so many people that we're sure their heads were spinning. Then we headed over to watch the two grand-daughters be baptized at the temple.  It was Adri's first time, so that was fun to watch!

We had a great time trying to keep up with the family and trying to keep up on our work here.  We probably weren't very successful at either (although their jet lag was in our favor) but we had a good time showing them the sights, walking the Harbor bridge for photo's and eating our way through the tourist thing.  We made some good memories and we think it's a time we will all, always remember!  

It is Christmas time here even though it's pretty warm some days! The Christmas Lights are up on the temple grounds (and although it isn't SLC temple) they are beautiful! Along with huge paintings of the Savior's life on display for all to see inside the Service Center. They are each lighted just right!  Large, large nativity and a film about Christ that is just amazing! We wrote an article about it that you may enjoy reading.  Christmas lights.  

   

We have assignments to be hosts during the month of December for that, in the evening from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. so that will keep us busy!

The information for articles keep coming in, along with subjects our boss would like to see up, so we keep going.  Right now, there are maybe 7 possible articles on our desks to be written. Plus Alan's (our boss') ideas. I tried explaining it to a friend via e-mail the other day.  It's sort of like having 7 sacrament meeting talks to put together and give.  Researching the quotes and Church info to go with them and then making sure they're word perfect!  Putting it into what seems the right order and then doing it again, because it doesn't seem right. Sometimes we start from scratch, sometimes we have more to get us going.  Sometimes taking pictures and adding captions, and sometimes just choosing from the pictures others have taken. It takes TIME! But it's funny. . . once we get into it, the spirit takes over and we can't let go of the project.  Sort of like a dog with a bone.  And that is a huge blessing!!!

We are still amazed by one article we wrote a few weeks ago. We think we mentioned it in the last post as well (like we said, a dog with a bone). It has broken all records for Facebook 'likes' on Australia Newsroom by a mile. It's one that just makes us happy, as that one started from scratch.  If you haven't read it all ready, you'll like it.  Not so much the way it's written, but, the story itself!  He is an amazing man who gives of himself in a way that most of us never dream of.  He's actually a self proclaimed agnostic, but inside some where, he's a Mormon, we just know it!  Scott Neeson   Like it on Facebook and pass it on if you feel so inclined.

We sat in Fast and Testimony Meeting today in our ward and it was amazing to hear one brother say how this was the last testimony meeting for 2014.  It was a bit of a shock.  We were set apart as missionaries and went to the MTC, left for Australia in 2014!  To look at the year being over is just, shocking almost.

This is the only Christmas we will spend in Australia, so, while we will miss family and friends and all the normal traditions, we intend to enjoy the experience.  We certainly have every reminder of The Savior around us every day that anyone could ask for.  More Christmas lights around our home than we would ever put up! It's an opportunity to step back from the norm and see the big picture.  We've got to do that!!! Even though stepping back will be painful . . . as we love ALL the traditions back home and all the people too.  We'll get by.

We watched the video downstairs tonight (Sunday) about the Saviors birth, life, teachings, Crucifixion and Resurrection. It is an amazing compilation of films and shows some really touching scenes from the Book of Mormon. It would be impossible not to feel the spirit as you watch it, but knowing some of the people in the room are non-members is really something else! Especially given that we've spent the evening with pictures of Him and Christmas hymns on a great sound system. A huge blessing of being on Church grounds and being able to host for the Christmas Lights. We are grateful.

It is great to hear these young missionaries bear their testimonies as they end of the film.  I have heard 3 of them now, and they are really incredible.  So, so, good, and so capable.  It would be hard not to feel your testimony just burning.  I hope they all feel it as they watch. We hope you all feel it as you go through the season.  How fortunate we all are to know who Christ is and what He has given us!  Merry Christmas!!

Our kids have sent us a 'Peanuts" nativity (which is just awesome) and looks so great in our office, a small Christmas tree with lights and all the decorations, a Christmas movie and CD, a Christmas tie for Ray, so he can be 'stylin'!!  We have each other, and that is certainly one of the best gifts this year! We have a snug little home and people we have learned to care about and feel comfortable with. We are blessed.

The only thing we don't have is all of you!! We miss you all SO much!  You are in our prayers and in our hearts this Christmas time, probably more than most years, because we know how dear people can be now, and we miss you! Have good preparations and enjoy the season and all that goes with it! We love you.