Sunday in the world down under
It's the 15th of December and I haven't written for a few days so I thought I'd take a few, quiet, minutes on this beautiful Sunday to catch up. As you can tell, I have a tendency to write backwards, telling you what's happening right now and then go back.
We went to Church this morning in the old scout hall in Goulburn and we took Elder Palmer and Lee with us. It takes about an hour to get out there so we had a nice visit with the Elders while going both directions. Elder Palmer will be returning to SE Idaho in six weeks and he is currently serving as our District Leader. Elder Lee is from Korea and does quite well with his English. Elder Lee is Elder Palmers fourth companion to be from Korea. They are going to be in a threesome after Wednesday when the mission receives 15 new missionaries. We scheduled to take them out for dinner on Thursday night. Evelyn has asked Elder Lee to teach her more about Korean food so that should be fun. The entire Stake Presidency were there at the meeting along with Bishop Loney so the hall probably had 35 people there. They had their traditional lunch afterward and Evelyn brought a pan of enchiladas so you know what I feasted on. There was also a plate of heirloom tomatoes, basil and cheese so I did well.
Tonight we are having a get together at President Stuart's home for the YSA. I hope we have a good showing so they can get better acquainted with their new President.
Yesterday we had a ward Christmas party with the Yerrrabi Ward at the Lyneham building. It was so well done. The Primary President was in charge and she had everything ready and everyone involved. She had costumes for everyone and the music was done by small groups,a children's choir and the audience. She even had three boys dressed as Nephites and read scripture from the Book of Mormon. Of course there was lots of food and high volume visiting for another hour or two. Lots of sweet memories as we became closer friends with the good people.
We went to the gym almost every morning this week and we're starting to make a few friends there. One of my frustrations is the pain in my left foot. The exercise doesn't seem to cause me to have any more pain but it doesn't seem to reduce it either. It's one of those reminders that I'm a part of this mortal world.
We had District council on Friday and this is Elder Prekash's last week so the missionaries held a "funeral" for him. I've heard all the young missionaries, for years, talk about their "dad" or "mom" or their grandparents, etc. referring to their trainers but I didn't know they killed each other off. They had him lay down on a table, like he was in a casket, covered him with a blanket and sang farewell songs. It was weird but they all had a good laugh. He's returning to Fiji and will fly out of Sydney on Tuesday. So the mission loses 8 missionaries and gains 15 on Wednesday.
Thursday was kind of fun because we were invited down to the government buildings for a tour by Sylvia. She works for Elizabeth Kikkert who is an elected official. She is a "shadow minister" and represents a portion of the electorate here on the North side of Canberra. Sylvia showed us around the offices and got the guards to let us into the chambers where they meet. The structure of government seems to be quite closely aligned to the British style, which makes sense considering their history. After the tour we took her to a late lunch of pizza at an Italian place called the Guild. The owner of the place spent a great deal of time visiting with us and we ordered three different kinds of pizza and then shared. Evelyn also ordered a chocolate shake because we'd heard several American missionaries say that they don't make ice cream milk shakes. The first one we had tried, a few weeks ago, was literally just chocolate milk so when we told the server about our request he thought he understood but when it was brought it our table it had very little ice cream in it. Evelyn asked him to try again and this time it was successful. I think we'll just have to say that milk shakes won't be available until we return to the States.
I have had dozens of conversations over the years, with young missionaries who were discouraged and contemplating going home. One of the essentials, to have in that visit, is a reminder of their testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the message that we're sharing with the world. I was often discouraged as a young missionary in Texas but I never thought I'd have similar feelings as an old man, especially since I'm with my "eternal companion" and she's much nicer than anything I was ever assigned in Texas, but similar feelings can exist as senior missionaries. I find myself thinking about the ease of my callings when I was serving in the mission presidency and working as an assistant recorder in the Star Valley Temple. People appreciated my service and often told me so. Here, you can go for days without a word of gratitude and it seems that most people are quite ambivalent about religious discussion. And I guess that the Christmas season is a contributor. I've always told the missionaries how December is such an exciting time to share our testimonies regarding the Savior and his birth but then reality sets in I realize that most people are not interested.
We have a new couple moving in, across the street, next month and I was able to meet them the other day. I was actually taking out the rubbage and didn't have my name tag on so I told them why we were hear and they didn't jump back so we'll try and get acquainted with them after their furnishings arrive.
One last thing; I have been quite proud that I haven't hit the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals in the last two weeks and I'm getting quite proficient at driving on the other side of the road but yesterday, I went alone, to fill the auto with petrol. I filled the tank and went into the store to pay and came back and jumped in the passenger side of the car. When I realized my mistake I made it look like I was picking something up off the floor of the car so all of the other vehicles, waiting in line, wouldn't know how dumb I was.
We went to Church this morning in the old scout hall in Goulburn and we took Elder Palmer and Lee with us. It takes about an hour to get out there so we had a nice visit with the Elders while going both directions. Elder Palmer will be returning to SE Idaho in six weeks and he is currently serving as our District Leader. Elder Lee is from Korea and does quite well with his English. Elder Lee is Elder Palmers fourth companion to be from Korea. They are going to be in a threesome after Wednesday when the mission receives 15 new missionaries. We scheduled to take them out for dinner on Thursday night. Evelyn has asked Elder Lee to teach her more about Korean food so that should be fun. The entire Stake Presidency were there at the meeting along with Bishop Loney so the hall probably had 35 people there. They had their traditional lunch afterward and Evelyn brought a pan of enchiladas so you know what I feasted on. There was also a plate of heirloom tomatoes, basil and cheese so I did well.
Tonight we are having a get together at President Stuart's home for the YSA. I hope we have a good showing so they can get better acquainted with their new President.
Yesterday we had a ward Christmas party with the Yerrrabi Ward at the Lyneham building. It was so well done. The Primary President was in charge and she had everything ready and everyone involved. She had costumes for everyone and the music was done by small groups,a children's choir and the audience. She even had three boys dressed as Nephites and read scripture from the Book of Mormon. Of course there was lots of food and high volume visiting for another hour or two. Lots of sweet memories as we became closer friends with the good people.
We went to the gym almost every morning this week and we're starting to make a few friends there. One of my frustrations is the pain in my left foot. The exercise doesn't seem to cause me to have any more pain but it doesn't seem to reduce it either. It's one of those reminders that I'm a part of this mortal world.
We had District council on Friday and this is Elder Prekash's last week so the missionaries held a "funeral" for him. I've heard all the young missionaries, for years, talk about their "dad" or "mom" or their grandparents, etc. referring to their trainers but I didn't know they killed each other off. They had him lay down on a table, like he was in a casket, covered him with a blanket and sang farewell songs. It was weird but they all had a good laugh. He's returning to Fiji and will fly out of Sydney on Tuesday. So the mission loses 8 missionaries and gains 15 on Wednesday.
Thursday was kind of fun because we were invited down to the government buildings for a tour by Sylvia. She works for Elizabeth Kikkert who is an elected official. She is a "shadow minister" and represents a portion of the electorate here on the North side of Canberra. Sylvia showed us around the offices and got the guards to let us into the chambers where they meet. The structure of government seems to be quite closely aligned to the British style, which makes sense considering their history. After the tour we took her to a late lunch of pizza at an Italian place called the Guild. The owner of the place spent a great deal of time visiting with us and we ordered three different kinds of pizza and then shared. Evelyn also ordered a chocolate shake because we'd heard several American missionaries say that they don't make ice cream milk shakes. The first one we had tried, a few weeks ago, was literally just chocolate milk so when we told the server about our request he thought he understood but when it was brought it our table it had very little ice cream in it. Evelyn asked him to try again and this time it was successful. I think we'll just have to say that milk shakes won't be available until we return to the States.
I have had dozens of conversations over the years, with young missionaries who were discouraged and contemplating going home. One of the essentials, to have in that visit, is a reminder of their testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the message that we're sharing with the world. I was often discouraged as a young missionary in Texas but I never thought I'd have similar feelings as an old man, especially since I'm with my "eternal companion" and she's much nicer than anything I was ever assigned in Texas, but similar feelings can exist as senior missionaries. I find myself thinking about the ease of my callings when I was serving in the mission presidency and working as an assistant recorder in the Star Valley Temple. People appreciated my service and often told me so. Here, you can go for days without a word of gratitude and it seems that most people are quite ambivalent about religious discussion. And I guess that the Christmas season is a contributor. I've always told the missionaries how December is such an exciting time to share our testimonies regarding the Savior and his birth but then reality sets in I realize that most people are not interested.
We have a new couple moving in, across the street, next month and I was able to meet them the other day. I was actually taking out the rubbage and didn't have my name tag on so I told them why we were hear and they didn't jump back so we'll try and get acquainted with them after their furnishings arrive.
One last thing; I have been quite proud that I haven't hit the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals in the last two weeks and I'm getting quite proficient at driving on the other side of the road but yesterday, I went alone, to fill the auto with petrol. I filled the tank and went into the store to pay and came back and jumped in the passenger side of the car. When I realized my mistake I made it look like I was picking something up off the floor of the car so all of the other vehicles, waiting in line, wouldn't know how dumb I was.
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