Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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Thursday, September 23, 2010
HOW DO YOU EAT AN ELEPHANT?
September 23, 2010 Thursday
I know, I know—one bite at a time. But then the question is where do you start? The tail, a foot, an ear, the trunk? And those are only the parts you can reach standing next to him. We had YW tonight. The five girls came. We read through Sister Beck’s talk, “Mothers Who Know.” Each paragraph could have been a separate lesson for the girls. Their families are so broken that there are no positive examples coming from them. When I picked up the Rollason girls, there was a huge fight going on between the mom and the girls. When I came to the door, the mom let the “F” work fly and then apologized like crazy when she saw me. She’d been drinking a lot. She and her husband were mad because one of the girls had called her mother a slut. Gavin said he thought the church would be teaching them better than that. So I have the girls one hour a week and they live with their parents the rest of the time. Who has a stronger influence? As we read about mothers preparing their kids for missions, temple marriages, etc., I had to wonder what the girls were thinking. Family Home Evening, family prayer and scripture study? Never even thought about. The girls really have no clue about most church doctrine. Their Sunday attendance is sporadic, so they don’t learn a lot there. Some of them grinned at each other when we read the part about mothers needing to be vigilant about what their kids are involved in. I mentioned alcohol and drugs—their parents do both. Chastity? Getting married is pretty much ignored here in Broome. Shacking up and having kids outside of marriage is the norm. I initially thought I’d work on teaching them what the YW theme meant. Then I thought they needed to learn about the temple. Most of them really don’t remember the basic missionary lessons. Should we do those? Goal setting? The more I think about it, the bigger the elephant becomes. The branch president says that just bringing the girls into a home where love of the Gospel reigns once a week is probably the biggest influence we can have. I hope so—they need so much. And I thought I’d gotten too old for YW!
Tony came over this morning. Orson had asked him to read D&C 76 last time. He’d read to section 85. He’s up to the part in the BoM where they are building the boat. We talked about some of the commandments with him. You can see the Sabbath day is a big one for him, but he says he’s working on figuring it out. He’s going to Fitzroy Crossing (about 4 hours away) this weekend and offered to see if he can locate a couple of members of the branch who live up there. How about that—he’s going home teaching!
We taught Jenna this afternoon. Bless her heart. She’s been through a lot and we aren’t sure that she is really able to learn and remember what she’s learned. We want her to have the Gospel in her life, but we don’t want to give her more than what she’s capable of. She is one we are going to have to pray a lot about in order to know what to give her. She says she’ll come to church this Sunday.
We called back on Katrina this afternoon. She was very cool. She said her husband is just not “into” religion. He’ll be home from his military training next week. We told her to give us a call if he would like to talk to us.
I know, I know—one bite at a time. But then the question is where do you start? The tail, a foot, an ear, the trunk? And those are only the parts you can reach standing next to him. We had YW tonight. The five girls came. We read through Sister Beck’s talk, “Mothers Who Know.” Each paragraph could have been a separate lesson for the girls. Their families are so broken that there are no positive examples coming from them. When I picked up the Rollason girls, there was a huge fight going on between the mom and the girls. When I came to the door, the mom let the “F” work fly and then apologized like crazy when she saw me. She’d been drinking a lot. She and her husband were mad because one of the girls had called her mother a slut. Gavin said he thought the church would be teaching them better than that. So I have the girls one hour a week and they live with their parents the rest of the time. Who has a stronger influence? As we read about mothers preparing their kids for missions, temple marriages, etc., I had to wonder what the girls were thinking. Family Home Evening, family prayer and scripture study? Never even thought about. The girls really have no clue about most church doctrine. Their Sunday attendance is sporadic, so they don’t learn a lot there. Some of them grinned at each other when we read the part about mothers needing to be vigilant about what their kids are involved in. I mentioned alcohol and drugs—their parents do both. Chastity? Getting married is pretty much ignored here in Broome. Shacking up and having kids outside of marriage is the norm. I initially thought I’d work on teaching them what the YW theme meant. Then I thought they needed to learn about the temple. Most of them really don’t remember the basic missionary lessons. Should we do those? Goal setting? The more I think about it, the bigger the elephant becomes. The branch president says that just bringing the girls into a home where love of the Gospel reigns once a week is probably the biggest influence we can have. I hope so—they need so much. And I thought I’d gotten too old for YW!
Tony came over this morning. Orson had asked him to read D&C 76 last time. He’d read to section 85. He’s up to the part in the BoM where they are building the boat. We talked about some of the commandments with him. You can see the Sabbath day is a big one for him, but he says he’s working on figuring it out. He’s going to Fitzroy Crossing (about 4 hours away) this weekend and offered to see if he can locate a couple of members of the branch who live up there. How about that—he’s going home teaching!
We taught Jenna this afternoon. Bless her heart. She’s been through a lot and we aren’t sure that she is really able to learn and remember what she’s learned. We want her to have the Gospel in her life, but we don’t want to give her more than what she’s capable of. She is one we are going to have to pray a lot about in order to know what to give her. She says she’ll come to church this Sunday.
We called back on Katrina this afternoon. She was very cool. She said her husband is just not “into” religion. He’ll be home from his military training next week. We told her to give us a call if he would like to talk to us.
FLAKY PEOPLE
September 22, 2010 Wednesday
Remember the 25 people who signed up that they wanted to be part of a local family history group? They lied. A few weeks ago, we sent out a survey to kind of get a feel for where they were and what they’d like to discuss. Only one person replied. So we just went ahead and scheduled a meeting for tonight. Nobody showed. You would think that if you were willing to share your e-mail address with someone that you would at least have a little interest in the subject. Obviously not.
Remember the 25 people who signed up that they wanted to be part of a local family history group? They lied. A few weeks ago, we sent out a survey to kind of get a feel for where they were and what they’d like to discuss. Only one person replied. So we just went ahead and scheduled a meeting for tonight. Nobody showed. You would think that if you were willing to share your e-mail address with someone that you would at least have a little interest in the subject. Obviously not.
SHOPPING TRIP
September 21, 2010 Tuesday
Tony came over this morning. I was wiped out, so Orson gave him the 2nd lesson about the plan of salvation while I slept. He has a hamburger stand he runs at the Courtyard Market on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He would lose half his income from that if he started attending church unless he can talk Claudia and a helper into working it while he’s at church. He told us the other day that he had paid $10,000 for the stand and his location in the market. At $10-12 a pop for hamburgers and steak sandwiches and $7 for a crepe, he’s probably made his money back several times over.
This afternoon, Sister Robinson came over and Carolyn, who is going to Youth Conference, came and brought the t-shirts and tights she’s found at home. We took her to Target and found a really cute long black dress with small white hearts on it. It has spaghetti straps so she also got a little black bolero-type sweater to wear over it. It will be perfect for Sunday and the temple. She also got a cute pair of black shoes and some black pants that come just below the knee. She’s very excited. I think the branch is paying for them. At least Renee put it on her charge card and said something about President Robinson needed reimbursement for some other stuff too.
We had study class tonight. I got on the phone a little after 6 pm and did some reminder/ride offer calls and we ended up with 3 here, Raffy, Simon, & Dale. It was good. Dale had forgotten her little notebook she writes in so she got a piece of computer paper and by the time we quit reading she had most of the paper full. Orson took Raffy home, so Dale and I stayed here and we talked the whole time on questions that had arisen while we were reading the first three chapters of 1 Nephi. It’s wonderful to see how anxious she is to learn. We sure hope she keeps it up. She’s such a good girl and has so much potential if we can get her baptized and she hangs in there until she finds a member to marry.
Tony came over this morning. I was wiped out, so Orson gave him the 2nd lesson about the plan of salvation while I slept. He has a hamburger stand he runs at the Courtyard Market on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He would lose half his income from that if he started attending church unless he can talk Claudia and a helper into working it while he’s at church. He told us the other day that he had paid $10,000 for the stand and his location in the market. At $10-12 a pop for hamburgers and steak sandwiches and $7 for a crepe, he’s probably made his money back several times over.
This afternoon, Sister Robinson came over and Carolyn, who is going to Youth Conference, came and brought the t-shirts and tights she’s found at home. We took her to Target and found a really cute long black dress with small white hearts on it. It has spaghetti straps so she also got a little black bolero-type sweater to wear over it. It will be perfect for Sunday and the temple. She also got a cute pair of black shoes and some black pants that come just below the knee. She’s very excited. I think the branch is paying for them. At least Renee put it on her charge card and said something about President Robinson needed reimbursement for some other stuff too.
We had study class tonight. I got on the phone a little after 6 pm and did some reminder/ride offer calls and we ended up with 3 here, Raffy, Simon, & Dale. It was good. Dale had forgotten her little notebook she writes in so she got a piece of computer paper and by the time we quit reading she had most of the paper full. Orson took Raffy home, so Dale and I stayed here and we talked the whole time on questions that had arisen while we were reading the first three chapters of 1 Nephi. It’s wonderful to see how anxious she is to learn. We sure hope she keeps it up. She’s such a good girl and has so much potential if we can get her baptized and she hangs in there until she finds a member to marry.
“THERE’LL BE A CHANGE…”
September 20, 2010 Monday
Nothing major. Last week by Friday we were wiped out. We’d spent half of Monday preparing for FHE, so we didn’t feel too badly about laying back a bit on Friday. Then we were ready to go at it again on Saturday. So we decided to try taking our P-day on Fridays instead of Mondays. After Sunday, we do feel kind of rejuvenated most of the time.
This morning we were out tracting when Orson came back to the car and said, “Come on. We have a lesson to teach.” He’d found a woman named Jenna who was willing to discuss stuff. We went around to her back patio and were greeted by 3 barking dogs, one small and two of medium size. Her comment was, “Don’t worry, only the dingo may be a problem.” The dingo was a beautiful kind of light peach color with very short hair. He didn’t bite. Whew!
Anyway, we found out that Jenna is a Baptist, but not totally sold on all she gets there. Her biggest complaint is that there are separate Sunday services for the white folks and the black folks. We started in to the lesson and every time we mentioned a Biblical scripture, she would write down the reference because she wanted to look it up later. She loves reading the Bible. When we got to the restoration and I mentioned Joseph Smith, she said she already new about him and his vision because she’d gone to a Seventh Day Adventist school as a kid and had studied about the Mormons. She had a really big hang-up with God and Jesus Christ having bodies of flesh and bones. She kept going back and saying, “But we were taught they are all in one.” We kept talking about it and she gradually began to say, “Well, I do kind of think they are separate.” I finally flat out told her that the doctrine of the trinity was one of the teachings that was an abomination in the sight of God. She seemed to totally accept the idea of the apostasy. She also didn’t like the idea of polygamy and thought we still practiced it. We explained that God can command anything He wants at any time and it’s okay. She accepted that. She’s willing to read and pray to see if what we told her is true. She wants to come to church Sunday and see if that is where she is supposed to be. (Hurray!) And she marked to have us come back on Wednesday to teach her some more. Her married life is a mess right now. She is married, but then she had a two year affair with her boss. It became a really bad situation so her husband invited her back to live in their house which they still own. She said she has her own bedroom and they are trying to work things out. They have three older boys. At least 2 are out working; I’m not sure about the youngest.
So, two lessons in two days—that’s a record for us. :o)
Nothing major. Last week by Friday we were wiped out. We’d spent half of Monday preparing for FHE, so we didn’t feel too badly about laying back a bit on Friday. Then we were ready to go at it again on Saturday. So we decided to try taking our P-day on Fridays instead of Mondays. After Sunday, we do feel kind of rejuvenated most of the time.
This morning we were out tracting when Orson came back to the car and said, “Come on. We have a lesson to teach.” He’d found a woman named Jenna who was willing to discuss stuff. We went around to her back patio and were greeted by 3 barking dogs, one small and two of medium size. Her comment was, “Don’t worry, only the dingo may be a problem.” The dingo was a beautiful kind of light peach color with very short hair. He didn’t bite. Whew!
Anyway, we found out that Jenna is a Baptist, but not totally sold on all she gets there. Her biggest complaint is that there are separate Sunday services for the white folks and the black folks. We started in to the lesson and every time we mentioned a Biblical scripture, she would write down the reference because she wanted to look it up later. She loves reading the Bible. When we got to the restoration and I mentioned Joseph Smith, she said she already new about him and his vision because she’d gone to a Seventh Day Adventist school as a kid and had studied about the Mormons. She had a really big hang-up with God and Jesus Christ having bodies of flesh and bones. She kept going back and saying, “But we were taught they are all in one.” We kept talking about it and she gradually began to say, “Well, I do kind of think they are separate.” I finally flat out told her that the doctrine of the trinity was one of the teachings that was an abomination in the sight of God. She seemed to totally accept the idea of the apostasy. She also didn’t like the idea of polygamy and thought we still practiced it. We explained that God can command anything He wants at any time and it’s okay. She accepted that. She’s willing to read and pray to see if what we told her is true. She wants to come to church Sunday and see if that is where she is supposed to be. (Hurray!) And she marked to have us come back on Wednesday to teach her some more. Her married life is a mess right now. She is married, but then she had a two year affair with her boss. It became a really bad situation so her husband invited her back to live in their house which they still own. She said she has her own bedroom and they are trying to work things out. They have three older boys. At least 2 are out working; I’m not sure about the youngest.
So, two lessons in two days—that’s a record for us. :o)
GOOD FOLKS
September 19, 2010 Sunday
We have a member, Danielle Horton, who is inactive. Her brother who is very active and lives in Melbourne with his wife was coming for a visit this weekend. Because his mum had been here for a month and knew what a tiny branch we have, he called last week, said they were coming and offered themselves to be the speakers today! Amazing. They have 6 boys, ages 2-9, whom they left with her mom for 5 days. They gave great talks. Karlie talked about the scripture in Proverbs 3, “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart….” Then Dusty spoke about how to find happiness. He took the one chapter in 4th Nephi, pointed out the part that said there “never was a happier people,” and then showed how they lived that made them happy. They were both great talks. What nice people!
This afternoon we taught Conrad. He’s from South Africa. He and his family moved here several years ago. They attend the Broome Victory Life church, but he’s not totally impressed with it. In fact, he’s not at all impressed with the lack of standards and religion of the people here in general. He listened very attentively to all we had to say, but wouldn’t agree to a baptismal commitment. Then he wouldn’t pray at the end, and he wouldn’t set another time for us to come back. He asked for our phone # saying that he has kind of an erratic job where he travels and never knows when he’ll be in town. He really is a sharp guy, but we aren’t holding our much hope for him. He has a wife and two daughters, 10 & 12.
We have a member, Danielle Horton, who is inactive. Her brother who is very active and lives in Melbourne with his wife was coming for a visit this weekend. Because his mum had been here for a month and knew what a tiny branch we have, he called last week, said they were coming and offered themselves to be the speakers today! Amazing. They have 6 boys, ages 2-9, whom they left with her mom for 5 days. They gave great talks. Karlie talked about the scripture in Proverbs 3, “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart….” Then Dusty spoke about how to find happiness. He took the one chapter in 4th Nephi, pointed out the part that said there “never was a happier people,” and then showed how they lived that made them happy. They were both great talks. What nice people!
This afternoon we taught Conrad. He’s from South Africa. He and his family moved here several years ago. They attend the Broome Victory Life church, but he’s not totally impressed with it. In fact, he’s not at all impressed with the lack of standards and religion of the people here in general. He listened very attentively to all we had to say, but wouldn’t agree to a baptismal commitment. Then he wouldn’t pray at the end, and he wouldn’t set another time for us to come back. He asked for our phone # saying that he has kind of an erratic job where he travels and never knows when he’ll be in town. He really is a sharp guy, but we aren’t holding our much hope for him. He has a wife and two daughters, 10 & 12.
FOR THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
September 16, 2010
Two of our YW are going to youth conference in Perth at the end of next week. President Robinson interviewed them and felt they were worthy to go. He said he’d talked to them about the dress standards, but then he asked me to go over the dress standards in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet with them. So last night the girls came over. KerryAnne, a girl who’d pretty much told us a month or two ago that she didn’t want anything to do with the church, came along with her sister, Carolyn. So we had 5 there, 3 members and 2 non-members. The week before I’d made Sha’s chocolate chip cookies, and they wanted to make them. So when the girls arrived, I had them mix up a batch and put it in the oven. Then we sat down and started at the beginning of the pamphlet taking turns reading paragraphs. I’d stop them and we’d discuss an important point or two. They didn’t have many comments as we read about friends, education, etc. Then we got to the dress standards. The first two pages are pretty benign (other than the pictures of girls in mid-calf length skirts and no girls in shorts of any kind.) But on the third page, the details start coming out. Oh my goodness! Poor Carolyn, who almost always is in a spaghetti strap top with her ugly (not very clean) bra straps showing,and wears short shorts, really had a shock. Getting her to be willing to wear mid-thigh shorts was a struggle. Thank heavens for tights! At least she will be somewhat covered. I hope the leaders down in Perth don’t think we are apostate up here. Tammy was cool with everything. She’s a little overweight and her mom makes sure she is dressed modestly. Dale, Tammy’s older sister who isn’t a member yet, kept stressing, “It’s all about not offending the people you are going to stay with.” It was an interesting time, and I think that in the long run they have accepted it. We will continue on with the other standards another night. (All of them have a problem with swearing, but they try hard around us to keep their language clean.) The poor kids—so much comes from their parents. They have a lot to overcome!
Two of our YW are going to youth conference in Perth at the end of next week. President Robinson interviewed them and felt they were worthy to go. He said he’d talked to them about the dress standards, but then he asked me to go over the dress standards in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet with them. So last night the girls came over. KerryAnne, a girl who’d pretty much told us a month or two ago that she didn’t want anything to do with the church, came along with her sister, Carolyn. So we had 5 there, 3 members and 2 non-members. The week before I’d made Sha’s chocolate chip cookies, and they wanted to make them. So when the girls arrived, I had them mix up a batch and put it in the oven. Then we sat down and started at the beginning of the pamphlet taking turns reading paragraphs. I’d stop them and we’d discuss an important point or two. They didn’t have many comments as we read about friends, education, etc. Then we got to the dress standards. The first two pages are pretty benign (other than the pictures of girls in mid-calf length skirts and no girls in shorts of any kind.) But on the third page, the details start coming out. Oh my goodness! Poor Carolyn, who almost always is in a spaghetti strap top with her ugly (not very clean) bra straps showing,and wears short shorts, really had a shock. Getting her to be willing to wear mid-thigh shorts was a struggle. Thank heavens for tights! At least she will be somewhat covered. I hope the leaders down in Perth don’t think we are apostate up here. Tammy was cool with everything. She’s a little overweight and her mom makes sure she is dressed modestly. Dale, Tammy’s older sister who isn’t a member yet, kept stressing, “It’s all about not offending the people you are going to stay with.” It was an interesting time, and I think that in the long run they have accepted it. We will continue on with the other standards another night. (All of them have a problem with swearing, but they try hard around us to keep their language clean.) The poor kids—so much comes from their parents. They have a lot to overcome!
MORE ABOUT TONY
September 14, 2010 Tuesday
It’s been cloudy and a little windy the last couple of days, and today we woke up to rain. We’d been planning to go tracting this morning, but the rain slowed that idea down. We were sitting here studying when Tony, our camel guy, showed up. He cracks me up. He’s in his work shorts and shirt and carried in a bag which he set on the table. He pulled a big bottle of water out of it and a banana then came over and sat down. We asked about his baby and his wife, etc. They still haven’t decided on a name for her. He showed us a photo of her on his phone. You can tell she’s got Maori in her; she has a ton of black hair. We chit-chatted some more and then he asked us where the title “Elder” comes from. So he got a great lesson on the priesthood and church organization. Then he asked where the money comes from to pay for us to come over here. He was surprised to find out we were paying all our own expenses. Then he looked at all the church videos we have on a bookshelf here and asked where the money came from for all that. So Tony got a lesson on tithing. That led to fast offerings and the humanitarian work the church does. He acted like he was getting ready to leave but then asked, “Is it true that men in the church used to have more than one wife?” Well, that led to a great discussion of the fact that God can command anything at any time and then on into eternal marriage. We read some scriptures from the D&C that spoke very bluntly about the need for a man to be married and married by the proper authority if he wants his marriage to be eternal. Tony’s a smart guy. He didn’t say anything and neither did we, but we are pretty sure he got the message he should marry the mother of his two little kids. Finally, he sat up straight and said, “Wow! Thanks for the teachings.” We let him know he can come any time. He’s told us he has to learn at his rate, so we think these drop-in visits come when he’s ready for more. He’s such a good man. We are sure praying he’ll get a spiritual conversion with all this. He told us he and his family are headed to Perth in a couple of weeks so we gave him the address to the mission office and temple so he can see the temple. We also gave him President Cahoon’s phone number. He always asks about him. Then after Tony left we called President Cahoon to let him know he may be getting a phone call from Tony. He was excited.
It’s been cloudy and a little windy the last couple of days, and today we woke up to rain. We’d been planning to go tracting this morning, but the rain slowed that idea down. We were sitting here studying when Tony, our camel guy, showed up. He cracks me up. He’s in his work shorts and shirt and carried in a bag which he set on the table. He pulled a big bottle of water out of it and a banana then came over and sat down. We asked about his baby and his wife, etc. They still haven’t decided on a name for her. He showed us a photo of her on his phone. You can tell she’s got Maori in her; she has a ton of black hair. We chit-chatted some more and then he asked us where the title “Elder” comes from. So he got a great lesson on the priesthood and church organization. Then he asked where the money comes from to pay for us to come over here. He was surprised to find out we were paying all our own expenses. Then he looked at all the church videos we have on a bookshelf here and asked where the money came from for all that. So Tony got a lesson on tithing. That led to fast offerings and the humanitarian work the church does. He acted like he was getting ready to leave but then asked, “Is it true that men in the church used to have more than one wife?” Well, that led to a great discussion of the fact that God can command anything at any time and then on into eternal marriage. We read some scriptures from the D&C that spoke very bluntly about the need for a man to be married and married by the proper authority if he wants his marriage to be eternal. Tony’s a smart guy. He didn’t say anything and neither did we, but we are pretty sure he got the message he should marry the mother of his two little kids. Finally, he sat up straight and said, “Wow! Thanks for the teachings.” We let him know he can come any time. He’s told us he has to learn at his rate, so we think these drop-in visits come when he’s ready for more. He’s such a good man. We are sure praying he’ll get a spiritual conversion with all this. He told us he and his family are headed to Perth in a couple of weeks so we gave him the address to the mission office and temple so he can see the temple. We also gave him President Cahoon’s phone number. He always asks about him. Then after Tony left we called President Cahoon to let him know he may be getting a phone call from Tony. He was excited.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
SUNSET AT CABLE BEACH
IN THE BEGINNING
Nearing the end.
Looking north from the sunset. Another pretty view.
HANGING IN THERE, BUT JUST BARELY
September 12, 2010 Sunday
Yesterday we dropped by to see Katrina and remind her about church today. She said she was doing “brekkie” Sunday with some of the girls from the Mothers’ Group at her old church. We didn’t have much hope that she’d show up for church and we were right. (And there Orson spoke in Sacrament Meeting and I taught the RS/Priesthood lesson.) But she did let us return this afternoon to do some reading with her. We talked about how Christ set up his church when he was there and then we really smacked her with the apostasy so she could see the need for a restoration. She had watched the Restoration DVD and was disappointed when it ended so soon. (It’s just the story of Jospeh Smith’s first vision.) So we went through a ton of scriptures from the Bible which prophesy about the apostasy. We hit her again about the need to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon because yesterday she’d told us she’d started reading the Bible from the beginning again. That’s nice, but it won’t get her a testimony. She was willing to pray and gave a beautiful prayer; but when she got to the end where she needed to ask about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, she hesitated a long time and then just asked some generic thing and closed her prayer. Grrrrrrrrrr. It was so frustrating. She did say we can teach her again on Wednesday so there’s hope.
Yesterday we dropped by to see Katrina and remind her about church today. She said she was doing “brekkie” Sunday with some of the girls from the Mothers’ Group at her old church. We didn’t have much hope that she’d show up for church and we were right. (And there Orson spoke in Sacrament Meeting and I taught the RS/Priesthood lesson.) But she did let us return this afternoon to do some reading with her. We talked about how Christ set up his church when he was there and then we really smacked her with the apostasy so she could see the need for a restoration. She had watched the Restoration DVD and was disappointed when it ended so soon. (It’s just the story of Jospeh Smith’s first vision.) So we went through a ton of scriptures from the Bible which prophesy about the apostasy. We hit her again about the need to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon because yesterday she’d told us she’d started reading the Bible from the beginning again. That’s nice, but it won’t get her a testimony. She was willing to pray and gave a beautiful prayer; but when she got to the end where she needed to ask about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, she hesitated a long time and then just asked some generic thing and closed her prayer. Grrrrrrrrrr. It was so frustrating. She did say we can teach her again on Wednesday so there’s hope.
September 10, 2010 Friday
September 10, 2010 Friday
ALEX
Alex was the bright spot of the day. We had 2 lessons scheduled, one with Katrina and the other with Joe, a young man we’d found about a week ago. We even had Renee Robinson, the branch president’s wife, there with us to help teach Katrina. And she wasn’t there. We waited for half an hour. She goes to the gym most mornings and usually is home by 10. We found out later she was running around getting ready for an “aromatherapy” party she was hosting that night. Then we went to Joe’s. One of the guys he lives with called him to the door. He approached the door, saw who we were and turned around ignoring us completely. And we’d even combed our hair! Guess he doesn’t want to hear the Gospel this month.
So later in the day we were tracting—Orson on the doors and me in the car. A little boy was coming down the sidewalk just whipping along on his scooter. When he saw me grinning, he stopped. “Hi,” he said, “want to see my new scooter,” lifting it up so I could see it. I asked if it was a birthday present. “No, well, yes, I think. My birthday is coming up. I’m 5 and going to be six. I can go really fast on this. Want to see?” And with that he was gone way up the sidewalk and around the corner. Eventually he came ripping back. I told him that was fast and he wanted to know how fast. I hadn’t paid attention to the time. I told him probably a couple of minutes. He thought it was more like 4 or 5. I was totally enjoying this—so many kids are taught to not speak to strangers that we really don’t get to visit with kids much. Then he told me he could do lots of tricks on the scooter and proceeded to do some jumping and swerving, etc. His face was totally concentrated on what he was doing. I found out his name is Alex, and he has an 8 year old brother who can do many more tricks. He tried to explain and demonstrate some of the older brother’s tricks. He was so cute. Then he saw his mom coming and asked me when I was coming back. He looked disappointed when I couldn’t give him a specific day and time; then he raced off to join his mum. What a little ray of sunshine he had been!
ALEX
Alex was the bright spot of the day. We had 2 lessons scheduled, one with Katrina and the other with Joe, a young man we’d found about a week ago. We even had Renee Robinson, the branch president’s wife, there with us to help teach Katrina. And she wasn’t there. We waited for half an hour. She goes to the gym most mornings and usually is home by 10. We found out later she was running around getting ready for an “aromatherapy” party she was hosting that night. Then we went to Joe’s. One of the guys he lives with called him to the door. He approached the door, saw who we were and turned around ignoring us completely. And we’d even combed our hair! Guess he doesn’t want to hear the Gospel this month.
So later in the day we were tracting—Orson on the doors and me in the car. A little boy was coming down the sidewalk just whipping along on his scooter. When he saw me grinning, he stopped. “Hi,” he said, “want to see my new scooter,” lifting it up so I could see it. I asked if it was a birthday present. “No, well, yes, I think. My birthday is coming up. I’m 5 and going to be six. I can go really fast on this. Want to see?” And with that he was gone way up the sidewalk and around the corner. Eventually he came ripping back. I told him that was fast and he wanted to know how fast. I hadn’t paid attention to the time. I told him probably a couple of minutes. He thought it was more like 4 or 5. I was totally enjoying this—so many kids are taught to not speak to strangers that we really don’t get to visit with kids much. Then he told me he could do lots of tricks on the scooter and proceeded to do some jumping and swerving, etc. His face was totally concentrated on what he was doing. I found out his name is Alex, and he has an 8 year old brother who can do many more tricks. He tried to explain and demonstrate some of the older brother’s tricks. He was so cute. Then he saw his mom coming and asked me when I was coming back. He looked disappointed when I couldn’t give him a specific day and time; then he raced off to join his mum. What a little ray of sunshine he had been!
Mmmmm, Barramundi
September 9, 2010 Thursday
The favorite fish for eating over here is called Barramundi. You see it advertised as the “Come On” for restaurants and also in meat markets. The other night when I picked up Neenya for Scripture Study, she gave me a plastic container with a big piece of Barramundi in it. She said she uses flour, salt & pepper on it and fries it. She cautioned me to not cook it that night because it was still too fresh. (Can you imagine having fish that is “too fresh?”) She must have caught it earlier in the day. The aborigines know where to go at high tide, throw a line out (no fishing poles for them), and catch a bunch of fish all the time. So I cooked it for lunch today. I just salted and peppered it and put it under the broiler. Oh, my goodness, it was good. We are going to praise Neenya a lot for it. She once offered to take us fishing, but we’re afraid she’d make us clean our own fish. We are wimps when it comes to that!
Tonight we continued Personal Progress with the Young Women. Jessi, Carolyn’s non-member friend, came tonight. She was all excited about Personal Progress because Carolyn had explained everything to her from last week. We gave her a set of the inexpensive scriptures and then she asked about making scripture bags. And then a pink bag to put their Personal Progress books in. Then they all got excited and wanted to make zipper bags like a regular scripture case. I asked them if they wanted to just buy a scripture case (it would have been a lot easier), but they want to make their own. Now I need to find a sewing machine I can borrow and come up with a pattern. We’ll have to do it on a Saturday afternoon, I think. We continued with personal progress and I had them go to the 2nd value experience under Divine Nature. It’s all about learning about “feminine attributes.” We read the scripture in Proverbs 31:10-31 and they chose their favorite verses. One girl was busy writing them down in the notebook she bought for Scripture Study. We then turned to the Family Proclamation that’s included in the Personal Progress book now. I was going to have them find parts that referred to a woman’s role, but they wanted to read the whole thing! They are so gung ho. I hope they keep their enthusiasm. I said that we’d work on Personal Progress once a month. One of them said, “Hey, everyone who wants to do it more often, raise your hand.” All four of them raised a hand. It’s amazing. Tammy, who struggles with reading, is worried she won’t be able to do it. I assured her that I would be happy to have her come over to help her or that her mom would probably be willing to help her. One more thing they need to do for this Value Experience is read 2 talks from conference reports about women or womanhood. I gave each girl Julie Beck’s talk, “Women Who Know” and President Kimball’s talk, “The Role of Righteous Women.” Hope I can stay one step ahead of them!
The favorite fish for eating over here is called Barramundi. You see it advertised as the “Come On” for restaurants and also in meat markets. The other night when I picked up Neenya for Scripture Study, she gave me a plastic container with a big piece of Barramundi in it. She said she uses flour, salt & pepper on it and fries it. She cautioned me to not cook it that night because it was still too fresh. (Can you imagine having fish that is “too fresh?”) She must have caught it earlier in the day. The aborigines know where to go at high tide, throw a line out (no fishing poles for them), and catch a bunch of fish all the time. So I cooked it for lunch today. I just salted and peppered it and put it under the broiler. Oh, my goodness, it was good. We are going to praise Neenya a lot for it. She once offered to take us fishing, but we’re afraid she’d make us clean our own fish. We are wimps when it comes to that!
Tonight we continued Personal Progress with the Young Women. Jessi, Carolyn’s non-member friend, came tonight. She was all excited about Personal Progress because Carolyn had explained everything to her from last week. We gave her a set of the inexpensive scriptures and then she asked about making scripture bags. And then a pink bag to put their Personal Progress books in. Then they all got excited and wanted to make zipper bags like a regular scripture case. I asked them if they wanted to just buy a scripture case (it would have been a lot easier), but they want to make their own. Now I need to find a sewing machine I can borrow and come up with a pattern. We’ll have to do it on a Saturday afternoon, I think. We continued with personal progress and I had them go to the 2nd value experience under Divine Nature. It’s all about learning about “feminine attributes.” We read the scripture in Proverbs 31:10-31 and they chose their favorite verses. One girl was busy writing them down in the notebook she bought for Scripture Study. We then turned to the Family Proclamation that’s included in the Personal Progress book now. I was going to have them find parts that referred to a woman’s role, but they wanted to read the whole thing! They are so gung ho. I hope they keep their enthusiasm. I said that we’d work on Personal Progress once a month. One of them said, “Hey, everyone who wants to do it more often, raise your hand.” All four of them raised a hand. It’s amazing. Tammy, who struggles with reading, is worried she won’t be able to do it. I assured her that I would be happy to have her come over to help her or that her mom would probably be willing to help her. One more thing they need to do for this Value Experience is read 2 talks from conference reports about women or womanhood. I gave each girl Julie Beck’s talk, “Women Who Know” and President Kimball’s talk, “The Role of Righteous Women.” Hope I can stay one step ahead of them!
ODIN
September 8, 2010 Wednesday
We are in love. We taught Katrina again today. She has the cutest little boy who is just one month older than Melinda’s baby; so when we see him, he brings out all kinds of grandparent-type feelings. He has big brown eyes and smiles every time you make eye contact with him. He reminds me of Andrew, Paul’s boy, when he was little. Odin raises his eyebrows a little when he looks at you. Andrew did the same thing, so we did it back at him and pretty soon he was flirting with anyone who would look at him.
We were concerned because Katrina said she hadn’t had time to do any reading, so we went back today determined to read some summaries of part of the first lesson and get her into the Book of Mormon. During the opening prayer I was prompted to pray for peace and protection for Katrina while her husband is away in some kind of training for the military. He will be home in a month or 2 and then they will move to the east coast for his next assignment. That made us feel bad, but then she interrupted us shortly after we began reading with her about Heavenly Father. She said she wanted to tell us something. She said she’d been talking to a friend a little while back and told her how she was not feeling good about things and not excited about the pastor of the church she was attending. Her friend counseled her to invite the pastor over and have him pray for her and her home, etc. Katrina said she just couldn’t do it. It didn’t seem right. Then we showed up on her doorstep, and we come and teach her and pray for her. She’s beginning to wonder if God isn’t telling her something. We assured her that He is and that she is beginning to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost in her life. We continued on. The next part we read was about how the Gospel blesses families. She stopped again to tell us how a little over a year ago she suddenly felt she wanted to get married. She had been living with this fellow for 4 or 5 years. He was willing so she began planning the wedding. They had been trying to have a baby and she couldn’t get pregnant. It was a cause of a lot of concern for them. It took her three months to get the wedding planned and then they were married. Shortly thereafter she discovered she was 10 weeks pregnant. She’d gotten pregnant just after they had decided to get married. She feels it was a blessing from God as a result of her making that decision. She mentioned that she had given up her “running amuck—drinking, going to bars, etc. That was a natural lead-in to the Word of Wisdom. She agreed to live it without any hesitation. She also mentioned that her husband doesn’t have problems with alcohol or smoking.
We had told her that we would like to visit her a little more often so we could read with her and still not overload her with too much info. After a half an hour, we asked if she was ready to quit or continue. She wanted to continue. So we started reading 3 Nephi Chapter 11 with her. She apologized that she wasn’t a good reader (the only words she tripped over were ones that most people aren’t familiar with). She told us that she didn’t learn to read in school but taught herself to read when she was 14. In the chapter we were reading, Christ commands people to be baptized 3 times within 6 or 7 verses near the end. That was a natural lead-in to the baptismal commitment. She agreed to be baptized when she gains a certainty of the truthfulness of the things we are teaching her. She’s really a neat lady. She’s probably 30 or so and has some aboriginal blood in her. She agreed to let us come on Friday to teach her the plan of salvation.
I opened the cover to my Triple Combination today and discovered the same thing I found in my scriptures in Brazil: mold. For some reason, it grows there in humid climates. I looked for some Clorox wipes at the store this afternoon but couldn’t find any. I figure I will make my own with a couple of paper towels and some Clorox and water.
We had the Wyldes over for dinner tonight. They’d had a leak under the kitchen sink for a couple of years. The whole back of the cupboard was moldy so the landlord agreed to replace and update the kitchen. It was supposed to only take a couple of days. When the workmen pulled the cupboard out, the wall came with it. So they’ve been out of kitchen for a few days. They were happy to have some homemade food tonight and we enjoyed visiting with them.
We are in love. We taught Katrina again today. She has the cutest little boy who is just one month older than Melinda’s baby; so when we see him, he brings out all kinds of grandparent-type feelings. He has big brown eyes and smiles every time you make eye contact with him. He reminds me of Andrew, Paul’s boy, when he was little. Odin raises his eyebrows a little when he looks at you. Andrew did the same thing, so we did it back at him and pretty soon he was flirting with anyone who would look at him.
We were concerned because Katrina said she hadn’t had time to do any reading, so we went back today determined to read some summaries of part of the first lesson and get her into the Book of Mormon. During the opening prayer I was prompted to pray for peace and protection for Katrina while her husband is away in some kind of training for the military. He will be home in a month or 2 and then they will move to the east coast for his next assignment. That made us feel bad, but then she interrupted us shortly after we began reading with her about Heavenly Father. She said she wanted to tell us something. She said she’d been talking to a friend a little while back and told her how she was not feeling good about things and not excited about the pastor of the church she was attending. Her friend counseled her to invite the pastor over and have him pray for her and her home, etc. Katrina said she just couldn’t do it. It didn’t seem right. Then we showed up on her doorstep, and we come and teach her and pray for her. She’s beginning to wonder if God isn’t telling her something. We assured her that He is and that she is beginning to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost in her life. We continued on. The next part we read was about how the Gospel blesses families. She stopped again to tell us how a little over a year ago she suddenly felt she wanted to get married. She had been living with this fellow for 4 or 5 years. He was willing so she began planning the wedding. They had been trying to have a baby and she couldn’t get pregnant. It was a cause of a lot of concern for them. It took her three months to get the wedding planned and then they were married. Shortly thereafter she discovered she was 10 weeks pregnant. She’d gotten pregnant just after they had decided to get married. She feels it was a blessing from God as a result of her making that decision. She mentioned that she had given up her “running amuck—drinking, going to bars, etc. That was a natural lead-in to the Word of Wisdom. She agreed to live it without any hesitation. She also mentioned that her husband doesn’t have problems with alcohol or smoking.
We had told her that we would like to visit her a little more often so we could read with her and still not overload her with too much info. After a half an hour, we asked if she was ready to quit or continue. She wanted to continue. So we started reading 3 Nephi Chapter 11 with her. She apologized that she wasn’t a good reader (the only words she tripped over were ones that most people aren’t familiar with). She told us that she didn’t learn to read in school but taught herself to read when she was 14. In the chapter we were reading, Christ commands people to be baptized 3 times within 6 or 7 verses near the end. That was a natural lead-in to the baptismal commitment. She agreed to be baptized when she gains a certainty of the truthfulness of the things we are teaching her. She’s really a neat lady. She’s probably 30 or so and has some aboriginal blood in her. She agreed to let us come on Friday to teach her the plan of salvation.
I opened the cover to my Triple Combination today and discovered the same thing I found in my scriptures in Brazil: mold. For some reason, it grows there in humid climates. I looked for some Clorox wipes at the store this afternoon but couldn’t find any. I figure I will make my own with a couple of paper towels and some Clorox and water.
We had the Wyldes over for dinner tonight. They’d had a leak under the kitchen sink for a couple of years. The whole back of the cupboard was moldy so the landlord agreed to replace and update the kitchen. It was supposed to only take a couple of days. When the workmen pulled the cupboard out, the wall came with it. So they’ve been out of kitchen for a few days. They were happy to have some homemade food tonight and we enjoyed visiting with them.
YA JUST NEVER KNOW
September 7, 2010 Tuesday
This morning we went to the nursing home with our computers. I was going to start a life history of Henning, and Orson was going to show Janet, one of the therapy specialists, our Posit Science program for improving brain function in older adults. Well, Henning didn’t show up. Robert was there, but he wanders off mentally quite often so I wasn’t sure if I should try to get a history out of him. Janet did sit down and check out the brain program and was quite impressed with it. She said she’d check out to see if they could get it for their computer there which the patients can use. So we felt good about that.
This afternoon we had a call back on a fellow named Joe Dan. Sounds like a fake name. We really didn’t think he would even be at the house where Orson tracted him out. He’d said he didn’t live there. But, surprise, he was there. But he wanted to put us off until Friday. We talked to him about the importance of finding the truth and said we’d return on Friday.
While tracting later on, Orson ran into a lady who was unloading her car from the big grocery run they’d made after just arriving in Broome. She said she’d recently sat on a plane next to one of our “guys” from Salt Lake City. She said we can return to visit with her next week. Do you think the “guy” was Elder Hamula who was here recently?
Tonight was scripture study. Simone called to say he wouldn’t be here because he’d been called back in to work—no big surprise. Orson went to pick up Raffy and, surprise, he wasn’t home. So I went to pick up Dale who came last week and to church on Sunday, and, surprise, she wasn’t home. So I stopped by to pick up Neenya, an aboriginal member, who seldom meets any commitments but has been coming to church lately, and, surprise, she came. She was raised on an island northwest of here. She was sent to the mission in Beagle Bay, north of here, when she was quite young to go to school. She told how as the girls grew older (9-12) they were assigned younger students to dress and take care of along with their studies. Neenya is very intelligent and has been wanting to study scriptures with us. It was good to have her here. She’s been a member since 2006. She’s around 60 years old and quite a character.
This morning we went to the nursing home with our computers. I was going to start a life history of Henning, and Orson was going to show Janet, one of the therapy specialists, our Posit Science program for improving brain function in older adults. Well, Henning didn’t show up. Robert was there, but he wanders off mentally quite often so I wasn’t sure if I should try to get a history out of him. Janet did sit down and check out the brain program and was quite impressed with it. She said she’d check out to see if they could get it for their computer there which the patients can use. So we felt good about that.
This afternoon we had a call back on a fellow named Joe Dan. Sounds like a fake name. We really didn’t think he would even be at the house where Orson tracted him out. He’d said he didn’t live there. But, surprise, he was there. But he wanted to put us off until Friday. We talked to him about the importance of finding the truth and said we’d return on Friday.
While tracting later on, Orson ran into a lady who was unloading her car from the big grocery run they’d made after just arriving in Broome. She said she’d recently sat on a plane next to one of our “guys” from Salt Lake City. She said we can return to visit with her next week. Do you think the “guy” was Elder Hamula who was here recently?
Tonight was scripture study. Simone called to say he wouldn’t be here because he’d been called back in to work—no big surprise. Orson went to pick up Raffy and, surprise, he wasn’t home. So I went to pick up Dale who came last week and to church on Sunday, and, surprise, she wasn’t home. So I stopped by to pick up Neenya, an aboriginal member, who seldom meets any commitments but has been coming to church lately, and, surprise, she came. She was raised on an island northwest of here. She was sent to the mission in Beagle Bay, north of here, when she was quite young to go to school. She told how as the girls grew older (9-12) they were assigned younger students to dress and take care of along with their studies. Neenya is very intelligent and has been wanting to study scriptures with us. It was good to have her here. She’s been a member since 2006. She’s around 60 years old and quite a character.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
September 5, 2010 Sunday
Today is Father’s Day. I guess they don’t want to celebrate Labor Day because one of their major political parties is the Labor Party, so they moved Father’s Day to the first Sunday of September. It really isn’t commercialized to the extent that it is in the states. I know that because the Branch President asked us to come up with something for the men in the branch. He said to make up 10 of them. Last year they filled mugs with candy. He said we could spend $100 on it. (I’ll bet there isn’t another unit in the church that spent $10 per person on Father’s Day; but because our branch is so small and struggling, there really isn’t a lot of programs to spend our money on. Primary really has been the only one for quite a while.
So when Target advertised the 400 gram Toblerone fruit & nut bars for $5.00, we bought 9 of them. One of our active members, Raphael, is diabetic, so we bought some colored pencils for him to use to mark his scriptures. He’d mentioned in scripture study last week that he wanted to get some. Then we attached a small LED flashlight to each bar. We used ribbon to tie a small piece of paper on it that had the scripture, “Let your light so shine…” and “Have a Delightful Father’s Day from the Broome Branch.”
We ended up with 5 extra, so President Robinson asked us to deliver the extras to some of the inactives. We ended up having a great visit with Richard Brown and his partner, Janelle, and their daughter, Tory. He’s from New Zealand and is Maori. She is from there, too, and looks like she’s from northern Europe. We really haven’t had a good gospel discussion with them before. They had lived here quite a while before he identified himself as a member to the elders who were here just before us. (Broome’s a good place to hide out.) There’d been a big earthquake in New Zealand, so we got on the subject of disasters. That led to the last days and prophecies. They were really interested in it all. It was a great visit.
Today is Father’s Day. I guess they don’t want to celebrate Labor Day because one of their major political parties is the Labor Party, so they moved Father’s Day to the first Sunday of September. It really isn’t commercialized to the extent that it is in the states. I know that because the Branch President asked us to come up with something for the men in the branch. He said to make up 10 of them. Last year they filled mugs with candy. He said we could spend $100 on it. (I’ll bet there isn’t another unit in the church that spent $10 per person on Father’s Day; but because our branch is so small and struggling, there really isn’t a lot of programs to spend our money on. Primary really has been the only one for quite a while.
So when Target advertised the 400 gram Toblerone fruit & nut bars for $5.00, we bought 9 of them. One of our active members, Raphael, is diabetic, so we bought some colored pencils for him to use to mark his scriptures. He’d mentioned in scripture study last week that he wanted to get some. Then we attached a small LED flashlight to each bar. We used ribbon to tie a small piece of paper on it that had the scripture, “Let your light so shine…” and “Have a Delightful Father’s Day from the Broome Branch.”
We ended up with 5 extra, so President Robinson asked us to deliver the extras to some of the inactives. We ended up having a great visit with Richard Brown and his partner, Janelle, and their daughter, Tory. He’s from New Zealand and is Maori. She is from there, too, and looks like she’s from northern Europe. We really haven’t had a good gospel discussion with them before. They had lived here quite a while before he identified himself as a member to the elders who were here just before us. (Broome’s a good place to hide out.) There’d been a big earthquake in New Zealand, so we got on the subject of disasters. That led to the last days and prophecies. They were really interested in it all. It was a great visit.
MISSIONARY & PERSONAL PROGRESS
September 2, 2010
This morning we called back on a lady Orson had found tracting yesterday. (Have I mentioned how we tract? Since I can’t do the extended walking/standing thing very well because I’m such a wimp, Orson goes door to door. I follow along in the car. When he gets someone who is willing to talk to him, I begin praying that we will be able to teach this person. We’ve had a few good nibbles this way.) Anyway, Katrina, a woman with a darling baby in her arms said he could come back this morning, so we did. She was busy helping her Aunty (pronounced Ahnty) write up a funeral thing because the Aunty’s Aunty had died. She invited us back to the patio and we began talking. We asked her about her spiritual background and she said she’d been a Baptist but was now attending the church up the street from us that had changed from the Broome Christian Fellowship to New Victory Life, a Pentecostal group. She wasn’t happy about that because she said she’d been cautioned against Pentecostals.
Since there’d just been a death, we started just talking about death and our beliefs. The Aunty asked if we believe in Hell. I started to explain about the spirit world and how it was divided into two parts when Katrina broke in and said, “Yes, and then you have the thing with 3 different levels.” We picked up our chins off our chests and asked how she knew that. Eight years ago she’d had the lessons in Darwin and been ready to get baptized when her ex-partner left her and she just fell apart. After a while a friend took her to the Baptist Church and she said she really felt the spirit there. But since she moved to Broome 8 months ago, she hadn’t found the Baptists so she’d been going to the other church. She isn’t happy with it because she says she doesn’t feel anything there. She goes because she likes the music.
So we went on with the lesson grinning on the inside. She didn’t remember too much so we just taught as if she was brand new to it all. She said she’d read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She also sounded like we would probably show up to church on Sunday. She also has a 7 year old son and has been married just a year to the baby’s dad. Wahoo!
Tonight I introduced Personal Progress to the girls here. I tried to make it a special evening similar to New Beginnings. I included their moms on the invitation, but neither showed up. I had found a CD with 4 YW songs on it so I used 2 of them, “Walk Tall,” and “I Walk by Faith,” (my favorites) as the opening and closing songs. I also had typed the words so they could follow and really understand the meaning of the songs. Then we began talking about the PP booklet. They were pretty excited to hear about the torch necklace. There were only 2 of them here in the office. I told them I’d ordered more and chains to go with them. I was going to give them to the 2 who were baptized, but they decided they wanted to wait until they could have the chains also. Then we talked about the YW Recognition necklace. The booklet has a picture of the necklace and they thought it was really beautiful. We took turns reading paragraphs and talking about it. It went really well. We had some special refreshments; I gave each of them a silk rose to remind them of tonight and took them home. We also gave them each a copy of their own scriptures. Only Tammy had her own Triple Combination. Attending were Tammy and Dale Rollason and Carolyn Shires. Dale, the non-member who came to scripture study the other night, showed us that she’d already bought her Study Journal for the scripture class. She’s moving right along and we are so grateful for it.
We kind of said farewell to our Brazilian couple today. We’ve tried and tried and tried to get back in to teach them and to get them to come to church. They just seem overcome by their work schedules and lack of interest in the gospel even though they believe what we taught them. We wrote them a letter explaining the importance of the decision they are making and told them to let us know when they have time to put God in their lives. They are just too accustomed to being Roman Catholics who never go to church or do anything religious. We also included a copy of the Family Proclamation and The Living Christ (in Portuguese).
This morning we called back on a lady Orson had found tracting yesterday. (Have I mentioned how we tract? Since I can’t do the extended walking/standing thing very well because I’m such a wimp, Orson goes door to door. I follow along in the car. When he gets someone who is willing to talk to him, I begin praying that we will be able to teach this person. We’ve had a few good nibbles this way.) Anyway, Katrina, a woman with a darling baby in her arms said he could come back this morning, so we did. She was busy helping her Aunty (pronounced Ahnty) write up a funeral thing because the Aunty’s Aunty had died. She invited us back to the patio and we began talking. We asked her about her spiritual background and she said she’d been a Baptist but was now attending the church up the street from us that had changed from the Broome Christian Fellowship to New Victory Life, a Pentecostal group. She wasn’t happy about that because she said she’d been cautioned against Pentecostals.
Since there’d just been a death, we started just talking about death and our beliefs. The Aunty asked if we believe in Hell. I started to explain about the spirit world and how it was divided into two parts when Katrina broke in and said, “Yes, and then you have the thing with 3 different levels.” We picked up our chins off our chests and asked how she knew that. Eight years ago she’d had the lessons in Darwin and been ready to get baptized when her ex-partner left her and she just fell apart. After a while a friend took her to the Baptist Church and she said she really felt the spirit there. But since she moved to Broome 8 months ago, she hadn’t found the Baptists so she’d been going to the other church. She isn’t happy with it because she says she doesn’t feel anything there. She goes because she likes the music.
So we went on with the lesson grinning on the inside. She didn’t remember too much so we just taught as if she was brand new to it all. She said she’d read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She also sounded like we would probably show up to church on Sunday. She also has a 7 year old son and has been married just a year to the baby’s dad. Wahoo!
Tonight I introduced Personal Progress to the girls here. I tried to make it a special evening similar to New Beginnings. I included their moms on the invitation, but neither showed up. I had found a CD with 4 YW songs on it so I used 2 of them, “Walk Tall,” and “I Walk by Faith,” (my favorites) as the opening and closing songs. I also had typed the words so they could follow and really understand the meaning of the songs. Then we began talking about the PP booklet. They were pretty excited to hear about the torch necklace. There were only 2 of them here in the office. I told them I’d ordered more and chains to go with them. I was going to give them to the 2 who were baptized, but they decided they wanted to wait until they could have the chains also. Then we talked about the YW Recognition necklace. The booklet has a picture of the necklace and they thought it was really beautiful. We took turns reading paragraphs and talking about it. It went really well. We had some special refreshments; I gave each of them a silk rose to remind them of tonight and took them home. We also gave them each a copy of their own scriptures. Only Tammy had her own Triple Combination. Attending were Tammy and Dale Rollason and Carolyn Shires. Dale, the non-member who came to scripture study the other night, showed us that she’d already bought her Study Journal for the scripture class. She’s moving right along and we are so grateful for it.
We kind of said farewell to our Brazilian couple today. We’ve tried and tried and tried to get back in to teach them and to get them to come to church. They just seem overcome by their work schedules and lack of interest in the gospel even though they believe what we taught them. We wrote them a letter explaining the importance of the decision they are making and told them to let us know when they have time to put God in their lives. They are just too accustomed to being Roman Catholics who never go to church or do anything religious. We also included a copy of the Family Proclamation and The Living Christ (in Portuguese).
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
GREAT, BAD, GREAT!
August 30, 2010 Monday
This morning while we were preparing the FHE lesson for tonight, Tony dropped by and had the kid from Germany who works with him along. They came and sat down, and we just chatted with them for a while. We kind of waited to see if Tony had a question or anything specific he wanted to talk about. He didn’t seem to and eventually somehow we ended up talking about the Book of Mormon. I wish I could remember how we ended up there but my “train of thought” has gone into a tunnel concerning it and hasn’t come out yet. Anyway, we started to explain it to Martin, the German guy, and then I remembered we had a German Book of Mormon and the Joseph Smith pamphlet in German. So we got them out, and I gave him the story of the first vision. It was so cool because the scripture in James about “If any of you lack wisdom…” was in the pamphlet in German (and I could recognize it in the pamphlet), so we had Martin read that. Then we continued on and explained about Joseph Smith getting the plates and translating them. When we got to the part about Moroni 10:4-5, we had him read it in the German Book of Mormon. He’s leaving Broome tomorrow to finish his trip around Australia, and he was willing to take the BoM and the JS pamphlet and read them. We are hoping we planted a big seed there this morning. After we finished with all that, Tony said they had to get to work and they left. What a great unplanned visit. We are so glad we had the materials in German. We had ordered them because we would run into German backpackers frequently when we took bread to distribute over at Towne Beach. We also requested some French ones, but they haven’t come yet.
So then I headed to the grocery store while Orson took a nap. I needed some oats for the No Bake Cookies I was going to make for FHE. I picked up a few other things and headed for the car. I’d backed the car into a parking place so that it was up against a tree and planted area. So I backed the shopping cart (trolley here) between our car and the one next to it. I got the keys out of my purse which was sitting in the cart, opened the car, and put the groceries in the back seat. When I got home, I reached down to get my purse and it wasn’t there. I realized I’d left it in the cart. So back I went praying that God would make it invisible to anyone who saw the cart, but the cart was gone from where I’d left it. I went into the store and asked at the Customer Service desk, but no one had turned it in. I left my name and home phone number (the cell phone was in the purse). I drove all around the parking lot and shopping center hoping to find it discarded somewhere or to see someone going through it. No luck. So I came home and told Orson what had happened. We called our US Credit Union to cancel the credit card. Then we called the Australian bank to cancel the debit card. We called the mission office to get the service to the mobile phone that was in the purse stopped. Then we got in the car to head down to the bank to get some cash because we wouldn’t get a new credit card for a while. Orson decided we should stop at the shopping center and report it to the security folks there. Also I realized I’d given the Customer Service lady the wrong home phone # when I had asked at the store. When we got out of the car, we saw the guy out collecting carts from the parking lot. So we went over and asked him when his shift had started. He said 10:00. So we told him about my purse, and he got a big grin on his face and said he’d found it and turned it in. We went in to Customer Service and sure enough, my purse was there. The lady there said she’d tried to call me but the phone # hadn’t worked. WHAT A RELIEF!!! We gave the cart guy $25 for being so honest and turning it in. Oh, I feel so blessed to get it back. So we went home and called the bank and the mission office with the good news. Hurray!
Tonight we had FHE. We gave a lesson on prayer. The Lord inspired me to make a skit out of the story in the FHE manual. It worked so well. The kids loved it and really paid attention. We had 2 non-member YW here. We invited the older one, Dale, to the scripture study class tomorrow and she said she would come. She’s 17 and has heard the lessons when her sister who was baptized was taught. We have had 5 people say they will be here tomorrow night. We are going to study the Book of Mormon with them. It was an idea we picked up from the other senior missionaries. We had 11 people at FHE, 3 adults and 8 youth. Dale & Tammy’s folks had sent a bowl full of mulberries over and some whipped cream. Raffey brought some shrimp flavored crackers. With my no bakes, we had plenty of treats. We were done by 7:45 and I was ready to take the kids home. They begged to play until 8:00. They entertained themselves outside playing something like hide-and-seek. Dale stayed inside and helped me clean up. She’s a neat girl.
What a day—we are exhausted but happy :o)
This morning while we were preparing the FHE lesson for tonight, Tony dropped by and had the kid from Germany who works with him along. They came and sat down, and we just chatted with them for a while. We kind of waited to see if Tony had a question or anything specific he wanted to talk about. He didn’t seem to and eventually somehow we ended up talking about the Book of Mormon. I wish I could remember how we ended up there but my “train of thought” has gone into a tunnel concerning it and hasn’t come out yet. Anyway, we started to explain it to Martin, the German guy, and then I remembered we had a German Book of Mormon and the Joseph Smith pamphlet in German. So we got them out, and I gave him the story of the first vision. It was so cool because the scripture in James about “If any of you lack wisdom…” was in the pamphlet in German (and I could recognize it in the pamphlet), so we had Martin read that. Then we continued on and explained about Joseph Smith getting the plates and translating them. When we got to the part about Moroni 10:4-5, we had him read it in the German Book of Mormon. He’s leaving Broome tomorrow to finish his trip around Australia, and he was willing to take the BoM and the JS pamphlet and read them. We are hoping we planted a big seed there this morning. After we finished with all that, Tony said they had to get to work and they left. What a great unplanned visit. We are so glad we had the materials in German. We had ordered them because we would run into German backpackers frequently when we took bread to distribute over at Towne Beach. We also requested some French ones, but they haven’t come yet.
So then I headed to the grocery store while Orson took a nap. I needed some oats for the No Bake Cookies I was going to make for FHE. I picked up a few other things and headed for the car. I’d backed the car into a parking place so that it was up against a tree and planted area. So I backed the shopping cart (trolley here) between our car and the one next to it. I got the keys out of my purse which was sitting in the cart, opened the car, and put the groceries in the back seat. When I got home, I reached down to get my purse and it wasn’t there. I realized I’d left it in the cart. So back I went praying that God would make it invisible to anyone who saw the cart, but the cart was gone from where I’d left it. I went into the store and asked at the Customer Service desk, but no one had turned it in. I left my name and home phone number (the cell phone was in the purse). I drove all around the parking lot and shopping center hoping to find it discarded somewhere or to see someone going through it. No luck. So I came home and told Orson what had happened. We called our US Credit Union to cancel the credit card. Then we called the Australian bank to cancel the debit card. We called the mission office to get the service to the mobile phone that was in the purse stopped. Then we got in the car to head down to the bank to get some cash because we wouldn’t get a new credit card for a while. Orson decided we should stop at the shopping center and report it to the security folks there. Also I realized I’d given the Customer Service lady the wrong home phone # when I had asked at the store. When we got out of the car, we saw the guy out collecting carts from the parking lot. So we went over and asked him when his shift had started. He said 10:00. So we told him about my purse, and he got a big grin on his face and said he’d found it and turned it in. We went in to Customer Service and sure enough, my purse was there. The lady there said she’d tried to call me but the phone # hadn’t worked. WHAT A RELIEF!!! We gave the cart guy $25 for being so honest and turning it in. Oh, I feel so blessed to get it back. So we went home and called the bank and the mission office with the good news. Hurray!
Tonight we had FHE. We gave a lesson on prayer. The Lord inspired me to make a skit out of the story in the FHE manual. It worked so well. The kids loved it and really paid attention. We had 2 non-member YW here. We invited the older one, Dale, to the scripture study class tomorrow and she said she would come. She’s 17 and has heard the lessons when her sister who was baptized was taught. We have had 5 people say they will be here tomorrow night. We are going to study the Book of Mormon with them. It was an idea we picked up from the other senior missionaries. We had 11 people at FHE, 3 adults and 8 youth. Dale & Tammy’s folks had sent a bowl full of mulberries over and some whipped cream. Raffey brought some shrimp flavored crackers. With my no bakes, we had plenty of treats. We were done by 7:45 and I was ready to take the kids home. They begged to play until 8:00. They entertained themselves outside playing something like hide-and-seek. Dale stayed inside and helped me clean up. She’s a neat girl.
What a day—we are exhausted but happy :o)
SHINJU MATSURI PARADE
Branch Members at Parade
August 29, 2010 Sunday
The annual parade for the big festival was this afternoon. We weren’t sure whether missionaries are supposed to go to parades on Sunday. But President Robinson invited us to go and sit with his family and the Wyldes, another family in the branch so we decided it must be okay. Leading the parade were the kids beating the drums and sticks followed by Sammy the Dragon. The floats were all small. There were maybe 5 or so larger flatbed trucks that were used for the base of a float, but the rest were pretty small. Instead of tractors, like in the Brownsburg parade, we saw boats: rescue boats, pleasure boats, military boats.
The best were the Filipino and Indonesian floats. Those two communities have a lot of pride in their heritages. One of our young women, Carolyn, was dressed as Princess Leia as part of the Galactica Internet Café’s entry. Another, Tammy, rode on a float that I don’t remember the sponsor of. We almost didn’t recognize her because she had a ton of makeup on, and she doesn’t normally wear any. One of our indigenous members was walking with the group from the Carers Center which promotes mental health. The parade lasted about 45 minutes and ended with the fire engines, ambulance and police cars. One thing that was missing that we are accustomed to seeing in American parades: politicians. Also there were no marching bands. Lots of floats were playing recorded music. The local dance school had a bunch of kids doing various fancy steps as they moved down the street. There was a Bootscootin’ Club. Who would’ve thought that line dancing was a big thing in Australia? Kevin Wylde said every town has a Bootscootin’ Club. I told the branch president we should enter a handcart next year. I don’t think he was too excited about that idea.
After the parade, all the floats were brought onto a huge field where the food vendors were set up. There was a stage where bands of various types would perform for the rest of the afternoon. We had the Robinsons and Wyldes come over to the house for dinner. Then we taught them to play Chickenfoot. After that we played “Hold to the Rod,” a Mormon version of Cranium. It was a lot of fun. The one thing that made me laugh was when one team was told to have someone hum, “Come, Ye Thankful People.” Nobody had ever heard of that song before. We always sing it as Thanksgiving back home. I guess they aren’t grateful here ;o)
BIG WHOOPS!
August 28, 2010 Saturday
When we went out to the car this morning, I opened my door first and there were a bunch of our conference CDs on my seat along with pass along cards and Orson’s sunglasses. When he opened his door, I asked him if he’d put that stuff there (once in a while he’ll go out to the car for something after we get home), and then I noticed that his seat was full of more junk we have in the console between us. We realized somebody had been in the car during the night. That’s when I remembered that I hadn’t needed to wait for Orson to click the magic button before I could get in. We had inadvertently left the car unlocked overnight.
We looked through everything and realized we’d lost about $5.00 in coins and the mission vehicle credit card (only good for charging gas). We tried to call the mission financial missionary, Brother Nielsen, but he didn’t answer so we left him a message. We then remembered we could call the phone # on the back of the card and report it missing, but since our card was gone we couldn’t call. So we called Elder Lowe, our district leader in Karratha to get the # from him. Problem was that he didn’t have a card since they ride bikes. Orson asked him if he had his “air card.” The elder didn’t get it so Orson explained that he was joking with him that since they rode bikes they must need an air card to fill up their tires. So much for joking with a kid! We finally got hold of Elder Walker, a senior missionary assigned to Geraldton. He gave us the # to call. We didn’t even know the number on the credit card but finally got the last 4 numbers off one of our receipts that we have.
So Orson called and explained we’d lost the card, didn’t know the account # because we don’t ever see a statement and hardly ever use the card anyway since we only charge gas when we drive to Derby or Port Hedland. The guy on the phone took the name of the church, the car license plate #, and the last 4 #’s on the card. We’re glad we did that because Brother Nielsen never did return our call. Saturday is P-day for the office missionaries, and I guess they get so tired of phone calls during the week that they turn their phones off on Saturdays. We also stopped by the police department to report the theft.
We asked one of the neighborhood kids if he’d noticed anything strange when he passed our place last night. He hadn’t and said it was probably a “Sydney Flamer.” I asked him if that is a gang, and he replied that a Sydney Flamer is someone who goes around at night seeing what he can steal. Who knows how many other times someone has checked the car during the night to see if it was locked? We are really grateful they didn’t find the camera in the glove box! That was a major blessing.
When we went out to the car this morning, I opened my door first and there were a bunch of our conference CDs on my seat along with pass along cards and Orson’s sunglasses. When he opened his door, I asked him if he’d put that stuff there (once in a while he’ll go out to the car for something after we get home), and then I noticed that his seat was full of more junk we have in the console between us. We realized somebody had been in the car during the night. That’s when I remembered that I hadn’t needed to wait for Orson to click the magic button before I could get in. We had inadvertently left the car unlocked overnight.
We looked through everything and realized we’d lost about $5.00 in coins and the mission vehicle credit card (only good for charging gas). We tried to call the mission financial missionary, Brother Nielsen, but he didn’t answer so we left him a message. We then remembered we could call the phone # on the back of the card and report it missing, but since our card was gone we couldn’t call. So we called Elder Lowe, our district leader in Karratha to get the # from him. Problem was that he didn’t have a card since they ride bikes. Orson asked him if he had his “air card.” The elder didn’t get it so Orson explained that he was joking with him that since they rode bikes they must need an air card to fill up their tires. So much for joking with a kid! We finally got hold of Elder Walker, a senior missionary assigned to Geraldton. He gave us the # to call. We didn’t even know the number on the credit card but finally got the last 4 numbers off one of our receipts that we have.
So Orson called and explained we’d lost the card, didn’t know the account # because we don’t ever see a statement and hardly ever use the card anyway since we only charge gas when we drive to Derby or Port Hedland. The guy on the phone took the name of the church, the car license plate #, and the last 4 #’s on the card. We’re glad we did that because Brother Nielsen never did return our call. Saturday is P-day for the office missionaries, and I guess they get so tired of phone calls during the week that they turn their phones off on Saturdays. We also stopped by the police department to report the theft.
We asked one of the neighborhood kids if he’d noticed anything strange when he passed our place last night. He hadn’t and said it was probably a “Sydney Flamer.” I asked him if that is a gang, and he replied that a Sydney Flamer is someone who goes around at night seeing what he can steal. Who knows how many other times someone has checked the car during the night to see if it was locked? We are really grateful they didn’t find the camera in the glove box! That was a major blessing.
SHINJU MATSURI
August 27, 2010 Friday
Ever since we arrived in Broome, there have been articles in the local paper about the upcoming Shinju Matsuri Festival at the end of August. At first we thought it was some celebration for the Japanese residents of Broome. But it turned out to be a celebration of the multicultural heritage of Broome. Shinju Matsuri is Japanese for “The Festival of the Pearl.” Broome developed because of the giant oysters that grow in the ocean near here. They supplied the world with mother-of-pearl for buttons. The Japanese saved Broome from dying when they came over and began the cultured pearl industry after demand for mother of pearl died when plastic buttons replaced the mother of pearl buttons in the 1950s. So Japan is honored because of what it did for Broome by giving the festival a Japanese name and theme.
It began this afternoon at Towne Beach Park. All around the perimeter of the park were the food, clothing, trinket vendors who are there for Staircase of the Moon each month. The first half hour or so was taken up by the officials greeting and talking and thanking. However, they did have an Aboriginal woman talk since “they were the first owners of the land.” She gave each sentence of her speech in her native language and then translated it into English. She’s obviously well educated, very sharp and still mindful of her Aboriginal heritage. It was interesting to hear the language spoken. I hadn’t ever heard it before. The president of the festival is an aboriginal fellow name Steve something. The woman who introduced him commented that everyone called him “Bama.” When he stood up, he asked that no one put an “O” in front of that. It got a good laugh. After he talked, he introduced this year’s Shinju Matsuri Patron (kind of like the Grand Marshall of the Days of 47 Parade), Kevin Puertollama. We had talked to Kevin a few weeks earlier after an article about him had appeared in the paper. He’s a mix of races, and in the article he’d talked about doing his family history and how important he felt it was for people to find out their heritage. We had hoped to have him come to the Family History exhibit we did in the library, but he was going to Darwin that week. Anyway, he got up, said a few things about the festival and then said he was a great example of the multicultural heritage of Broome. He then proceeded to explain the many cultures his ancestors came from and encouraged people to trace their family history. Later we were able to thank him for giving family history a plug.
Then came the Parade of Nations where people were to come in carrying flags from all the nations represented here in Broome. Just before it began they mentioned that they still needed volunteers to carry some flags. Then they asked again. Orson had gone to the car for the camera (we’d already carried in our chairs). So I got up, went across the bridge, and picked up the flag of Papua New Guinea (big island northeast of here). We were lined up alphabetically. A 10 year old girl with the flag from Norway stood in front of me. Then a woman, obviously her mother, carrying the flag of Brazil walked over to check on her. I ever so graciously offered to carry the Brazilian flag so she could walk with her daughter. She accepted. So I got to carry the Brazilian flag in the Parade of Nations! (I served my first mission in Brazil.) Meanwhile Orson had gone back to where we had been standing and was taking pictures. He was amazed to see his wife walk in carrying a flag. There were probably 40 flags. A few of the flag bearers were in costume of their native lands. We posted them on poles set around in an oval in front of the many vendors.
The waking of “Sammy the Dragon” was the culmination of the opening ceremonies. A beautiful Japanese dragon “walked” in and took its place lying down in the middle of the grass. Then a bunch of firecrackers went off awakening the dragon. His head came up and then the rest of him stood up. Drums began beating and he circled the area then doubled back around “under” himself. He did that several times. He was probably 40 feet long. He broke through the crowd of people and then came back in at another point surprising those who thought he’d left the area. A couple of baby dragons came in and followed him around. They were carried by kids about 10 years of age and there were probably 6 kids in each of those. They were cute.
After that we bought a couple of steak burgers from Tony, the camel owner. Before it all started, we had a chance to talk with him for a few minutes. He has watched the Restoration DVD and said he wanted to watch it a couple more times. He said his reading is progressing very slowly. His partner, Claudia, was there also. She was pretty friendly with us which was a nice change from the first time we met her.
We ate our burgers and chatted with a couple from Victoria. We ended up talking politics (Australia’s are a mess also). They don’t understand why we don’t want universal healthcare because they saw Michael Moore’s movie about it and how so many people are suffering miserably in the states because of our terrible healthcare system. They also think Americans are ruining the world because we consume so much of the world’s oil and are so wasteful and non-environmentally friendly. I think we were able to explain the healthcare issue so they understood it, but I’m sure they still think we aren’t doing our fair share to help the world.
A WONDERFUL DAY
August 26, 2010 Thursday
We attended the Zone Conference of the Rockingham Zone which we were in when we worked in Perth. It was in the Thornlie Chapel where we had attended while in the Jandakot ward. We ran into several elders that we knew and it was good to see them and how well they are doing. Conference started right at 8 am.
Some background: When we spent the 3 days with President and Sister Cahoon a few weeks back, they were very new to the mission. But they had begun to sense that the level of obedience was not where it should be among the missionaries. Tuesday evening Sister Cahoon told us that Elder Hamula had confirmed that to them after interviewing some missionaries in the afternoon. He also said that the previous 4 general authorities who had been here in the last 14 months had sensed the same thing. So President Cahoon started the conference talking about missionaries seeing how close they could get to breaking rules without being sent home. Then Elder Hamula got up and just laid it on the line to the missionaries. He stood there and listed many of the things that were happening that shouldn’t be: TV, DVD’s, traveling outside of areas, staying home when they should be out working, flirting, and more. It was amazing and then he said, “And not all of it was admitted to me in Tuesday’s Zone Conference. The Lord told me. You can’t hide it, elders. We know what’s going on.” He then talked about how they can change. He told them they had to because they were setting the foundation for the rest of their lives. And his teaching was wonderful. The man is such a good teacher. We listened to him for 5 hours (with a lunch break) and the time just raced by. It was fascinating as he taught us about Lehi’s dream and the Garden of Eden. Everything he said, he then referenced it to a scripture and had us look it up and read it. And he did it all without one note! I just wish we could have stuck around to hear him speak again today.
After conference, we went to the temple. It was so good to be there. It’s been 3 months since we’d been. The peace and spirit in there is so powerful. Then we went to Elder and Sister Crawford’s flat for a dinner with all the senior missionaries. We each had brought something. Those who had traveled into Perth brought items that could just be purchased. The others did the work of the main course and salads. We took toppings for the ice cream. We sat around and talked and laughed at each others’ experiences. It was such a good time. We were able to get acquainted with the Orth’s—they are from Brisbane and good friends of the Maurers who were the mission president and wife we got here. The Walkers are from Highland, Utah and are on their 3rd mission. They’ve served in Martin’s Cove and Samoa before coming here.
We flew back home this morning, threw a load of wash in and then ran to the grocery store. Caleb, one of the neighborhood kids, dropped by so we played 3 games of dominoes with him.
We are really tired. The bed in the hotel wasn’t the best and we didn’t sleep well. But we are grateful that we had a place to stay where we were able to control the temperature. It was cool down there and downright cold in the mornings. Hot, humid Broome felt really good when we got here.
We attended the Zone Conference of the Rockingham Zone which we were in when we worked in Perth. It was in the Thornlie Chapel where we had attended while in the Jandakot ward. We ran into several elders that we knew and it was good to see them and how well they are doing. Conference started right at 8 am.
Some background: When we spent the 3 days with President and Sister Cahoon a few weeks back, they were very new to the mission. But they had begun to sense that the level of obedience was not where it should be among the missionaries. Tuesday evening Sister Cahoon told us that Elder Hamula had confirmed that to them after interviewing some missionaries in the afternoon. He also said that the previous 4 general authorities who had been here in the last 14 months had sensed the same thing. So President Cahoon started the conference talking about missionaries seeing how close they could get to breaking rules without being sent home. Then Elder Hamula got up and just laid it on the line to the missionaries. He stood there and listed many of the things that were happening that shouldn’t be: TV, DVD’s, traveling outside of areas, staying home when they should be out working, flirting, and more. It was amazing and then he said, “And not all of it was admitted to me in Tuesday’s Zone Conference. The Lord told me. You can’t hide it, elders. We know what’s going on.” He then talked about how they can change. He told them they had to because they were setting the foundation for the rest of their lives. And his teaching was wonderful. The man is such a good teacher. We listened to him for 5 hours (with a lunch break) and the time just raced by. It was fascinating as he taught us about Lehi’s dream and the Garden of Eden. Everything he said, he then referenced it to a scripture and had us look it up and read it. And he did it all without one note! I just wish we could have stuck around to hear him speak again today.
After conference, we went to the temple. It was so good to be there. It’s been 3 months since we’d been. The peace and spirit in there is so powerful. Then we went to Elder and Sister Crawford’s flat for a dinner with all the senior missionaries. We each had brought something. Those who had traveled into Perth brought items that could just be purchased. The others did the work of the main course and salads. We took toppings for the ice cream. We sat around and talked and laughed at each others’ experiences. It was such a good time. We were able to get acquainted with the Orth’s—they are from Brisbane and good friends of the Maurers who were the mission president and wife we got here. The Walkers are from Highland, Utah and are on their 3rd mission. They’ve served in Martin’s Cove and Samoa before coming here.
We flew back home this morning, threw a load of wash in and then ran to the grocery store. Caleb, one of the neighborhood kids, dropped by so we played 3 games of dominoes with him.
We are really tired. The bed in the hotel wasn’t the best and we didn’t sleep well. But we are grateful that we had a place to stay where we were able to control the temperature. It was cool down there and downright cold in the mornings. Hot, humid Broome felt really good when we got here.
ELDER HAMULA
August 24, 2010 Tuesday
We flew to Perth yesterday. Elder Crawford picked us up at the airport and took us to the mission office. We ended up waiting there until President Cahoon was done with all his stuff, then he took us to the mission home because Sister Cahoon had offered to let us use her car since she would be with her husband and Elder Hamula while we were in town. She had made some great potato soup in preparation for Elder Hamula’s arrival. So we ate a quick dinner with them and they were off to the airport and we took her car and GPS to find our hotel. We are at Sullivan’s Hotel at the west end of downtown right next to King’s Park. It’s old, but super clean and nice. But we think the floor might make a softer bed and a rock a softer pillow!
We did some shopping this morning and early afternoon, took a quick nap and then headed to the mission home later on for a meeting with Elder Hamula and the senior missionaries at 4:30. It was super because we were able to meet the Orths and the Walkers who are also working in distant branches. The Orths are from Brisbane, Australia, and the Walkers are from Highland, Utah. Walkers are on their 3rd mission. We found out our Broome branch is the farthest away and the smallest in the mission. We are also the only one without a building. It was great to visit with them and hear what they are doing to move the work ahead. They also have a pair of junior missionaries working in their branches.
President Cahoon & Elder Hamula didn’t arrive until 6. So we ate and talked at the same time. What a neat man. He was only called to the Seventy 2 years ago. He was an attorney in Arizona. They had 6 children 12-22, none married, at the time. They now live in New Zealand and he travels the South Pacific. (He told that in a fireside for new members & investigators that began at 7 pm.) He counseled us to keep on doing what we are doing and to remember that all these problems are the Lord’s and to have faith in Him. He asked us a lot of questions about what we were finding in the branches. He also indicated that the brethren are aware that the members need to concentrate more on learning the doctrines so we will know why we are asked to do the things the Lord asks us to do. It was a special opportunity to be with him.
We flew to Perth yesterday. Elder Crawford picked us up at the airport and took us to the mission office. We ended up waiting there until President Cahoon was done with all his stuff, then he took us to the mission home because Sister Cahoon had offered to let us use her car since she would be with her husband and Elder Hamula while we were in town. She had made some great potato soup in preparation for Elder Hamula’s arrival. So we ate a quick dinner with them and they were off to the airport and we took her car and GPS to find our hotel. We are at Sullivan’s Hotel at the west end of downtown right next to King’s Park. It’s old, but super clean and nice. But we think the floor might make a softer bed and a rock a softer pillow!
We did some shopping this morning and early afternoon, took a quick nap and then headed to the mission home later on for a meeting with Elder Hamula and the senior missionaries at 4:30. It was super because we were able to meet the Orths and the Walkers who are also working in distant branches. The Orths are from Brisbane, Australia, and the Walkers are from Highland, Utah. Walkers are on their 3rd mission. We found out our Broome branch is the farthest away and the smallest in the mission. We are also the only one without a building. It was great to visit with them and hear what they are doing to move the work ahead. They also have a pair of junior missionaries working in their branches.
President Cahoon & Elder Hamula didn’t arrive until 6. So we ate and talked at the same time. What a neat man. He was only called to the Seventy 2 years ago. He was an attorney in Arizona. They had 6 children 12-22, none married, at the time. They now live in New Zealand and he travels the South Pacific. (He told that in a fireside for new members & investigators that began at 7 pm.) He counseled us to keep on doing what we are doing and to remember that all these problems are the Lord’s and to have faith in Him. He asked us a lot of questions about what we were finding in the branches. He also indicated that the brethren are aware that the members need to concentrate more on learning the doctrines so we will know why we are asked to do the things the Lord asks us to do. It was a special opportunity to be with him.
WHO MESSED UP THE PHONE CALL?
August 22, 2010 Sunday
We feel like the Lord had something to do with it. Tonight was a scheduled mission priesthood leadership meeting for the branches and their leaders. Earlier this week, Orson had run into Tony Connelly (the guy who owns the camel) at a shop in town. They had a good chat and Orson casually invited him over for the meeting tonight, even though Tony is unordained and inactive. And he came! President Robinson was trying to get the phone set up for the teleconference, but no one seemed to have gotten the pin # and it was a great mass of confusion with phone calls back and forth. So here was Tony, who was baptized at 12 and joined the army at 16 ½ (legal in New Zealand back then). He basically knows next to nothing about the church. President Robinson looked at him and asked, “So what brings you here tonight, Tony?” Tony replied that he feels a void in his life and is trying to find out what it is. So we proceeded to talk gospel with him. The phone rang one more time. President Robinson stepped outside and told them they weren’t going to “attend” the meeting but that we were talking to Tony. We spent 1 ½ hours talking to him. He left with the Restoration and Families Forever videos and a Book of Mormon. We are so grateful that the meeting hadn’t started on time because otherwise Tony would have sat and listened to a bunch of administrative stuff that really wouldn’t have helped him. We feel like Orson’s running into him in the shop and then the phone problems were the Lord’s doings. The spirit is working with Tony to bring him into activity. We are so excited. He’s a neat guy.
We feel like the Lord had something to do with it. Tonight was a scheduled mission priesthood leadership meeting for the branches and their leaders. Earlier this week, Orson had run into Tony Connelly (the guy who owns the camel) at a shop in town. They had a good chat and Orson casually invited him over for the meeting tonight, even though Tony is unordained and inactive. And he came! President Robinson was trying to get the phone set up for the teleconference, but no one seemed to have gotten the pin # and it was a great mass of confusion with phone calls back and forth. So here was Tony, who was baptized at 12 and joined the army at 16 ½ (legal in New Zealand back then). He basically knows next to nothing about the church. President Robinson looked at him and asked, “So what brings you here tonight, Tony?” Tony replied that he feels a void in his life and is trying to find out what it is. So we proceeded to talk gospel with him. The phone rang one more time. President Robinson stepped outside and told them they weren’t going to “attend” the meeting but that we were talking to Tony. We spent 1 ½ hours talking to him. He left with the Restoration and Families Forever videos and a Book of Mormon. We are so grateful that the meeting hadn’t started on time because otherwise Tony would have sat and listened to a bunch of administrative stuff that really wouldn’t have helped him. We feel like Orson’s running into him in the shop and then the phone problems were the Lord’s doings. The spirit is working with Tony to bring him into activity. We are so excited. He’s a neat guy.
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