Saturday the 28th of December

Two months ago, today, we left Wyoming to begin another adventure.  In some ways that already feels like another lifetime ago.

On Thursday, Boxing day, we went down to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.  It was hot, and there was still a lot of smoke in the air but we determined to have a very Australian experience.  We were able to walk within 10 feet of a mother kangaroo with her little "joey" in her pouch.  It was quite the sight.  We went on a couple of walks that were probably about 3 to 5 kilometers apiece and saw a few animals.  The only koloa bears were in an enclosure where they had fresh eucalyptus leaves and a spray mist to keep them cool.  Not hardly a natural habitat.  We made a loop of the drive, from Canberra, so we saw new countryside both directions.  It looks just like the hills around Escondido California.

Yesterday we had district council over at the Lyneham Chapel and they made a luncheon out of it so Evelyn made brownies and we took ice cream for dessert.  It is the end of the month and the missionaries budgets are running low so we took the four sisters to dinner last night at the Shoppes that are near our flat.  They seemed to enjoy it.  Tonight we are taking the elders to dinner at a Korean restaurant so Elder Lee can show us his favorites.  He's rather excited.

This morning we went to the gym and it felt good to get back into some exercise.  Because of the Christmas week and our trip to Sydney it had been 7 days since our last real workout.  I gained two pounds so I have to repent.

I'm debating with myself about this blog.  I'm contemplating using some of this space, and word processor, to record some of our experiences since we retired in June of 2014.  If I choose to do that I will try and made a differentiation in the title of the post so that anyone can skip those entries if they are only looking to hear about our time in Australia.  In 2009 I wrote a simple text entitled "Letters To My Sons" and we have been so blessed these past 5.5 years that it might be appropriate to use this time, while we're hiding inside from the smoke, to tell that story.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prayers work!

When we arrived in Canberra,  on Tuesday afternoon, it was so awesome to finally be in our assignment.  The winds practically blew our car off the road and we dodged kangaroo carcasses all along the 3.5 hour drive.  We found our flat, unloaded our car and went across town to the Costco.  We brought our purchases back, had dinner and then went a few kilometers to a local mall for groceries.  As we were getting lost trying to find where we'd parked our white car (most cars here are white) a fellow ran up to us with a big  grin. He introduced himself as the Stake executive secretary.  We had just prayed that our first priority was to meet the Stake President.  Brett was so kind and immediately put us in touch with President Stuart.  He even shared a cookie with us as he directed us toward the parking.  So, last night,  Wednesday,  we drove over to the Stake center in Garran and had the best meeting ever. President Stuart was just called as President two weeks ago.  They realigned all
Read more

We've arrived and our hearts are full

I will do my best to put into words, the last two days. We are so excited! We departed from Salt  Lake on Monday evening. The flights were all on time. We were able to travel with Elder Nam who is from South Korea and a recent convert to the church. He is learning English and was very grateful to have us on those flights.  We didn't have access to our boarding passes for the flight to Sydney until we arrived in Los Angeles where we discovered our seats were not together,  on a very full Boeing 777. A flight attendant was helpful, and a kind gentleman moved so we were together.  (Fourth row from the back) Evelyn didn't even put on her seat belt before she introduced herself to the young man (19) who was returning to Australia after working the farming season Canada.  For the next fifteen hours, minus a few moments of sleeping, Evelyn taught the gospel.  Before we landed we had shared our contact information and a promise to continue our friendship.  Just 15 minutes ago we we
Read more

plans that don't materialize

It was a good weekend and there was much to be grateful for but it's one of those reports where I have to admit that the results were different than desired.  Saturday morning we went over to the Lyneham church and helped with the setup for collecting items to be distributed to those who were suffering from the bush fires.  It was a relatively easy time and several people were there to help.  At one point, I walked across the street and introduced myself to an older fellow who was trimming his bushes.  His name is Alan and he's a widower who has lived in that home since they built it over 60 years ago.  He practiced law and they raised three children in the home.  He spoke of his wife and children with great affection.  His wife planted every tree and shrub on the property.  Alan referred to his home as a "sort of Eden" and I agreed. We attended church, at 9:00 in the Black Mountain Ward in the hopes that Sam, our friend from the lake, would attend.  It was an excel
Read more