This 'n That

It was dusk when we took this, but the little wallaby was very cute and stood and looked at us a long time.
Setting the alarms after church. Once in a while there are one or two geckos in their when he unlocks the box. (Gives him quite a surprise)
From the parking lot into the TAFE where we hold church
Things that grow during high tide...
Only seen at low tide
Neat sunset--just one of many
Funny image on tire cover "Keep on Smiling"
This goes in the road by where we turn in for church each Sunday.

ARE WE UP TO THIS?

October 19, 2010 Tuesday

When Tony (the guy with the camel) left here Sunday, he said, “See you Tuesday.” He always calls before he comes, and we had our commitment at the care center at 9:30. So we were going to tell him to come later or on Wednesday. So we were still in our PJ’s at 8 am when Tony arrived. I made a dash for the bedroom and Orson answered the door. We ended up watching the Saturday afternoon session of conference with him. (I called the care center and let them know “something” had come up and that we’d be back next week.)
Tonight we arranged for President Robinson to come over and do the scripture study class for us while we went to teach Jhun and Evangeline. What an experience. Each of their three little boys greeted us at the door by taking our hand and pressing it to their foreheads. (I asked Evangeline later about it and she said it was a custom in their part of the Philippines. It is to show respect and they believe they get a blessing by doing that.) We had left the Restoration DVD yesterday when we dropped by their house. Today just as we got to the part about the restoration and Joseph Smith, we read Acts 3:19-21 about the restitution of all things. Jhun interrupted to tell us they had watched the video and believed that Joseph Smith had the vision and began listing reasons why it was totally possible and that Joseph probably had come through the righteous lineage he did so he could have the vision. And Evangeline was nodding her head in agreement the whole time as he talked. He was excited to read the Book of Mormon because he feels like scripture should keep growing and one should help clarify the earlier one. We finished the formal lesson and started to excuse ourselves, but they insisted they wanted to talk some more. Pretty soon Evangeline got up and started preparing some food which I thought was for their boys so they could go to bed. Turns out it was for the 4 of us. We had rice, some meat called “adobo” which was really good, and oxtail soup. They are trying to have the ideal family—that is their goal. And they are doing it by teaching them the truths they have found through study of the Bible. We arrived at 6:36 (Jhun had called us at 6:35 wondering if we were coming.) We didn’t leave there until 10 pm. We just hope we can stay ahead of him. His mind never stops. He seems to remember everything he’s read in the Bible and where to find it. They discuss things every night about how they can improve their family. They are amazing.

GOOD MEMBERS

The Wylde family
The Robinson Family (Branch President)

FHE's ALREADY!

October 18, 2010 Monday

This morning we went to Jhun’s house to see if we could set up a time to teach his family. That man and his wife have really studied the Bible and have come up with so many truths that it’s exciting. He also indicated a white board in the living room with some drawings on it by which he’d explained to his kids that if you focus on God you will end up a good person, and if you focus on Satan you will end up a bad person. He’s doing Family Home Evening already! He’s a mechanic on one of the big pearl farms in the area. We took a copy of the Restoration DVD because it has Tagalog subtitles. He took it and got all excited because it has Cebuano subtitles, which is his 2nd language, not Tagalog as we had thought. Silly us—we thought all Filipinos spoke it. He said there are 700 different tribes and languages in the Philippines.
Then we went check on some houses where no one had been home previously. A young couple from England let us in. They have been here a few months and have just quit their jobs here to continue on around the world! Anyway, they let us give them a basic 1st lesson, but wouldn’t take the Book of Mormon to read and pray about. They were Sam and Fran and were just a neat couple of kids. He’d graduated in history and knew about Joseph Smith and the golden plates, but he had a hard time with “Jews in Central America” as he put it. Maybe we planted a seed for other missionaries to nourish later in their lives. I hope so!

It's Spring!!!

We love the flora here!
Paperbark tree
Rhododendron blossoms

Frangipani--my favorite!

GENERAL CONFERENCE

At the Broome "Conference Center"


October 17, 2010 Sunday

What a good day! Today the branch watched the Sunday sessions of General Conference at our place. We posted signs over at the TAFE in case a tourist showed up over there, but we didn’t get any phone calls from displaced tourists. There were 14 of us which is a great number for our little branch lately. The only others that might have come that didn’t were Karen and Jacob Wylde. Tony came but Richard Brown didn’t. One of my YW came. President Robinson brought the projector from work. We moved the couch to the other side of the room and watch conference on the wall. It was great. But there was something wrong with the sound on the DVD’s. You could barely hear it on our computer. So we got out the speaker thing that we use in church to play the CD’s of the hymns and hooked that up to the computer, and it amplified the sound just fine. President Robinson had brought speakers along with the projector, but they didn’t help. I’d made a Conference Bingo list for the morning and afternoon sessions. That helped keep the kids occupied.
After the morning session we all ate lunch. Renee had brought sandwiches, cookies, watermelon, and chips. I’d made a big ham and cheese macaroni salad, and an apple cake. We also had rolls and juice. Neenya brought some fresh mangos which are ripening on the trees everywhere you look. After lunch everyone but the Robinsons, Tammy and us left. We then watched the afternoon session. Orson and I had already read all the talks, but there was a special spirit that came as we watched them spoken by those inspired men.

PASTOR NORMAN

October 16, 2010 Saturday

This morning we went tracting going to houses where no one had been home the other three or four times we’d gone by. Orson was greeted at one door by a black man from Africa who invited us in. Turns out he’s the pastor for the Broome congregation of the Following in Faith Fellowship. It was begun by a young man in Zimbabwe whose mother had heard a man preaching. She related what she’d heard in a week of revival to her son. He was fascinated by it and prayed continually for God to answer his prayer and forgive him of his sins. At length he heard music and then a voice telling him that he was blessed, don’t sin, and continue to pray. He began teaching people. They now have 6000 pastors in 120 countries preaching to the less fortunate who can’t read the Bible. We told him about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Norman said he’d read a little of the Book of Mormon, but he refused to accept that there could be more than one book of scripture. He was adamant that anyone could be a pastor if he’d received the blessing of the Holy Spirit to guide him. Baptism was good, but it was done only if a person felt like his previous baptism wasn’t valid. They meet in his home on Friday nights and Sundays. It was an interesting discussion. That’s our first pastor! His wife is also a pastor in the church.
We had an appointment this afternoon with the cool Filipino family we found a couple of weeks ago. But, alas, the life of a missionary is never a guaranteed success. They weren’t home. We called them, and Evangeline told us that Jhun was out of town. She said she’d call us later. We got a text a little while ago that they would see us next Saturday. At least they are still willing to see us for now! So we drove over to a recently developed beach area. There were about 7 people there fishing. We took the camp chairs from the “boot” of the car and sat and watched the ocean and the folks fishing for about an hour before coming home. It was lovely. I wrapped a few Christmas presents. Yes, Christmas presents. It costs a fortune to mail anything from here, so we are sending it by ship, so we have to get it ready to go early. I still need to make an apple cake tonight for General Conference tomorrow here at the house. I did a big macaroni salad earlier today.

JIM

October 15, 2010 Friday

Today we were going to take a P-day, but a lady we’d contacted a while back asked us to come this morning at 9 am. So we were there at 9 am. We knocked, she didn’t answer. Then the phone rang. We heard her answer that. She has the cutest little fluffy white poodle that was out on the porch. We decided to go try a couple of other things and then come back. We did, the dog was now inside and she still didn’t answer the door. So we came home, did some wash and a few other things and then headed to a different internet café than the one we usually go to to put some stuff on our blog. It’s a café where kids can play all kinds of video games, etc. The girl who greeted us gave us a big smile and in her heavy Irish brogue said, “You’re uh, ummm, starts with an ‘M’.” We helped her out and admitted we are Mormons. She has a friend back in Ireland who is LDS. She says she wants to change her lifestyle, but not quite yet because she wants to “fit in” in Broome. So we got on the net, but couldn’t make the Blog download what we had on that computer.
So we left and went to the other internet café; it had closed early. We decided to stop at the library to see if we could do just some e-mail there. Hah! All the computers there were down. I went over to read the world news in The Australian (the big paper put out in Sydney). I noticed that Orson was talking to Jim Bartlett. Jim is a guy in his later 70’s who comes up here from Perth in the winter. He knows some about the church, and he had sat down to visit with us when we had the Family History Exhibit in the library in August. He’s Anglican. Anyway, he asked a lot of questions which we answered but he wouldn’t let us make an appointment to teach him. We’ve kept running into him since then and Orson would push him a little bit more to learn about the gospel. Well, Orson’s been trying to figure out how to get people to listen and really think about the approach he’s been using about the Book of Mormon. He’s shown people the scripture in Ezekiel about the “stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph,” and then talked to them about the BoM and the witnesses who never denied their testimony even though 2 of the 3 witnesses were excommunicated. So he asked Jim for some advice about how to improve that approach. Jim listened and explained that most current Christians really don’t know much about the House of Israel so we need to explain the Ezekiel scripture better. Then he read the scripture again. He listened attentively to the stuff about the witnesses so Orson showed him Moroni 10:4-5. He read it and then kept reading to the end of the chapter. Then he asked, “So then would I have to become a Mormon?” He also mentioned that the only reading in the BoM he’d been able to do was in the one in the library. He was pleased when Orson gave him his own copy. It will be very interesting to see what his response is the next time we run into him. He used to be an English teacher, so he’s used to analyzing what he reads. We are so grateful that we were finally able to get him to listen to a little more about the church and the Book of Mormon.

DAMPER

Bran Nu Dae Care Center
October 12, 2010 Tuesday

Another vocabulary lesson: “Damper” is a bread type thing Australians mix out of flour, water, and leavening. They wrap it in foil and cook it in a fire pit. Sounds like sort of a biscuit thing to me. I’d read it in several of the books I’ve read about the early days here in the northwest. Today at the nursing home, someone mentioned it so I asked about it. We did a crossword puzzle with the residents. The puzzle didn’t seem any more difficult than the one we did last week, but it was like pulling teeth to get anyone to give answers. I looked around and realized we had only 2 Australian patients around the table and the rest were Aboriginal. Of course they didn’t know “to claim” is to “avow!” Ida, the lady sitting next to me, mentioned she lived in an orphanage here in Broome as a child. Often single moms would drop their kids there while they would go out of town to work if they couldn’t find work locally.
Life’s been slow the last few days. Lots of tracting without many results. We did have 2 visitors at church; they brought the total up to 10! One was Karen Wylde’s mum and the other is a fellow from New Zealand who will be working in Derby for the next two months. He showed up in work clothes, disappeared into the restroom and came out ready for church. Rodney seemed very shy—didn’t look you in the eye. But when he made a comment in Sunday School, he went on and on and on with tons of quotes from past conferences and church history and the scriptures. He was amazing. We had “ice cream Sunday” after church, but he took off without so much as a “Ta, ta.” We hope he comes back. He’s very sharp. Orson said he came specifically so he could pay his tithing.
After church, we and the Robinson’s were invited over to the Wyldes for “lunch.” My goodness, Karen is quite the cook. We were stuffed by the time it was over. And she’d bought a “Mud Cake” for dessert. I figured a piece of that was worth a headache. It was sooooooooo good. And I didn’t even get a headache. Afterwards, the kids played inside and out, and we played, “Mouthful,” a funny game of Mormon phrases spelled out in strange ways that you have to figure out. A few of the phrases were definitely American Mormon phrases. Nobody but us knew, “Oh, my heck,” for example.

BAT POOP & JUMPERS

October 7, 2010 Thursday



Last Friday Orson washed the car. It looked so nice. A couple of days later I noticed the back door on the left side (passenger side here) looked like it had been splashed on by someone running through a puddle next to us. The window and door looked a mess. I kept saying I needed to clean that off so the car would look good again. Yesterday, on the bread run, the Wyldes followed us out to the car, and I made a comment about the dirty car since they were approaching from that side. One look and Kevin exclaimed, “Bat poop! That’s bat poop. You better hurry and clean it off or it will eat the finish of the paint.” So today I washed it off. It had been on there a good 5 days at least, but the paint seemed fine.
I’ve discovered a new meaning for the word, “jumper.” It’s what Aussies call jackets. Nobody ever mentioned wearing jackets in the cool weather, and I thought that was odd. I started paying better attention and figured out a different meaning of jumper. Also, you don’t put in a sprinkling system; you get “reticulation” for your yard.

Tuesday

October 5, 2010 Tuesday

This morning we went to the care center, and Janet, the activity director had made a big copy of a crossword puzzle. We went down to one wing of the center and set up in their dining area. We put the puzzle on the wall and pretty soon the workers had rounded up 8 people to work with us on the puzzle. It turned out really well. One lady, Diana, who talked really slowly was able to answer the two clues that asked for French words. Another new one, Trixie is 80 and originally from England. She remembers the bombing of London during WW2. David, a former attorney, didn’t do anything when we started, but by the time we were done he was filling in the answers on his puzzle and giving answers about anything military. Bertha, a cute Aboriginal lady who sat by me, could neither read nor write, but she wanted me to fill in her puzzle for her. Janet told us that Bertha is a well known aboriginal painter. I’m going to “google” her on the internet and see if I can see some of the stuff she’s done. We had a good time there.
Tonight was Scripture Study. Only Raffy showed up. We read several chapters in the BoM. After Orson took him home, we watched a couple of chapters from the Preach My Gospel DVD. It makes you want to work smarter.

More Inside

Home decor.
Inside, along the front of the house

TESTIMONY MEETING

October 4, 2010 Monday

Yesterday morning, Jared called to tell me that one of the young ladies who worked at the opera Production Studio, where I had worked for a year, had committed suicide. I had always thought Carmen was very shy; but now I think her “quietness” may have been because of depression instead of shyness. Then we went to church. President Robinson bore his testimony about the fact that he’s had some trials he’s gong through and how hard it is. He bore testimony that he was grateful for Christ and the opportunity he has to repent. The spirit was very strong. Raffy and Orson bore their testimonies, and then I bore mine. I told about Carmen and the tears began to flow. I mentioned that I have struggled with depression and how much of a help that 2 Nephi 4 is to me. Simone got up and then Karen Wylde. She’s the chorister and I could tell that tears were very near the surface as she led the music. She bore a beautiful testimony. Then Sister Robinson got up. That’s the first time for her since we’ve been here. She told how hard it is for her to watch her children be the only ones in Primary. She then bore a powerful testimony of the church. It was so good to hear her. The spirit of that meeting stayed with me all day long. It was so powerful. What a blessing to be able to participate in something like that.
Tonight we had Family Home Evening. There were only 7 of us. The Shires and Rollasons are out of town. Robinson’s 2 kids were the only little ones. Raffy was here too. We played a matching game made up of numbers and words they are related to, i.e., 12 apostles, 365 days, 12 deacons, etc. Then we did puzzles--the folks had to put together pictures of people who were famous for their prayers: Daniel, the pioneers, and Enoch. We had a good time.

MORE INSIDE THE HOUSE

Empty Family Home Evening Room

JHUN

October 1, 2010 Friday

What a day. Actually it began last night when I picked up Carolyn and Jessi for YW. Jessi said it would be her last night because her dad said that the Mormons brainwash kids. Those are the exact words from an “anti” book on the shelf at the Broome library. So we talked to her about respecting her dad. We did show her the “Restoration” video and explain the origin of the Book of Mormon to her before we took her home. It was really hard to let her go. She is such a sharp girl. She asks better questions than the 3 who are members! We will keep praying that her dad’s heart will soften. We gave her 3 pamphlets to give to her dad to read so he’d have information from our side.
This morning we went back to see Chelsea. She greeted us at the door and told us that her mom didn’t want us visiting and teaching her. She didn’t really give a reason why, but since Chelsea lives with her folks, she has to do what she’s told. We encouraged her to keep reading the Book of Mormon and praying. We also told her she’d be welcome at church at any time.
Then we went to teach Jenna. And she wasn’t home. We tried calling her cell phone, but nobody answered. So, three strikes and we’re out, right? Wrong!
We went out to do some tracting. A Filipino guy invited Orson in so he came and got me. The guy’s name is Jhun (pronounced like the month). He has 3 young boys and his wife was at work. They alternate work schedules so they can take care of their kids. We started to explain a little bit, and he broke in and told us that they are Roman Catholic, but they don’t believe in it, but just try to be good people and help others. So Orson told him the Joseph Smith story. Jhun said, “I believe that’s true. Catholicism is dead. It’s no good.” He then went on to tell us about some dreams he’s had. He and his wife both have a lot of dreams—she more than he. In one, he was walking by a huge mountain. On the side of him away from the mountain was a big lake, but it was green like it was stagnant. In the middle of the lake he saw a book. The big fish in the lake were dead. He walked out to get the book which was partially submerged. When he picked it up, it was really two books. Then he looked up at the mountain and saw a huge quantity of water coming down from the top. The water was clear. It splashed into the lake, cleaning it of the stagnant water. He told a little more, but I don’t remember it. He suggested that the lake could be the churches and the one book could be the Bible because it has so much irrelevant stuff in it now. Hmmmmm, sounds pretty good. He told us a few other dreams that really didn’t make a lot of sense to us. Once, though, his wife did dream of something bad happening in the Philippines. She warned friends and family there to store up a lot of food. A couple of months later there was a devastating cyclone that hit the islands. Then he stopped and asked, “Are you two Americans? ‘Cause my wife had a dream about an American couple that came and were trying to help people with their families.” Then he rubbed his arm like he had goose-bumps and said, “Oh, this is too cool.” His work schedule is going to be a problem especially for the next 2 weeks, but we exchanged phone numbers, told him his wife would be welcome to bring the kids to church this Sunday, and left a Restoration DVD and a Joseph Smith pamphlet. WOW! They also have a statue of Buddha and a Buddhist painting in their home. Just enough to worry about.
Tonight we went out to dinner with the Wyldes and Robinsons from the branch. It was a lot of fun. Wyldes gave me a box of chocolates and Robinsons bought me an incredible chocolate dessert. Too bad restaurant food is so expensive here. Orson had a quarter-pound Porterhouse steak for $34 and I had Mango chicken for $31. The dessert was $9.00. It was all really good, just pricey.

BRANCH PRESIDENCY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

September 30, 2010 Thursday


It’s been a good day. We took today as a D-day since we were going to take tomorrow but then we ended up with 2 lessons tomorrow. The phone rang at 5:30 in the morning. I slept through it, but Orson heard it but didn’t make it out to the phone in time. It was Nancy. (She confessed later she didn’t realize she was calling at that horrible hour. She’s forgiven.) About 9 am, the phone rang and it was Mike’s family singing “Happy Birthday” to me. It was fun to talk to them. They were all on their speaker phone. I tried to call Nancy back, but she wasn’t home. We went to the internet cafe to post some pictures and blogs on our blog. I discovered I’d forgotten to copy the blogs on to the thumb drive, so only pictures went up today.
Then we went Christmas shopping. It was the first time I’ve ever shopped for Christmas on my birthday. We had fun. We are about half through. We got our mail. I had a card from President and Sister Cahoon with Australian lighthouses on it and the scriptures about being a light to the world and holding up the light of Christ for everyone. It’s really neat. And Melanie had sent me a 2nd birthday card with some great pictures of quadrunning, a picnic, and their trip to Zion.
For lunch we went to a little Egyptian Kebab and Falafel place and got two kebabs and brought them home to eat in our air conditioned house (it was 105 in the shade of the carport when we got home.) They were really good. Nancy had called again and said I could call her at ANY time. So I did. It was 11:30 pm at her place, but she said she hadn’t been asleep.
We went to the library to spend some more time on the internet. It’s free there, but you can’t upload or download anything on their computers. I did a little research on the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It’s interesting to read about. Some of their stuff is similar to ours, but they are still hanging on to their 144,000 people who will go to heaven and be appointed rulers over the rest of us after Christ comes again.
We did the weekly grocery shopping and came home. YW is tonight. Since the Rollasons are out of town, we are going to do a first lesson with Carolyn, Jessi, and Kerryanne. Jessi has been asking a bunch of questions that will be answered by the lesson and the other two need the review.

inside kitchen to front room.

SEPTEMBER 25 - 30, 2010

September 25, 2010 Saturday

PUPPIES!

Today we went to Derby for the home/visiting teaching run. The only person we had a good visit with was Lucy Marshall, our elderly aboriginal sister. When we got there, she was just coming out of her house with a little baby-bottle type thing and a 2 cup measuring cup full of milk. Her dog had seven pups about a month ago and today she’d disappeared leaving a bunch of yelping hungry little pups by the time we got there. Lucy tried feeding them with the bottle and that didn’t work, so she dumped some milk in a plastic container and the puppies went to town. They sure were cute.
Another member we tried to visit wasn’t home, and the 3rd only talked to us on the porch for about 5 minutes. We also dropped off a Lamb of God video to a woman who’d requested it over the internet. She was at work, so we left it with her family and our business card in case she wants to know more. Derby’s a 2 hour drive from here. We also got some good pictures of some of the boab trees that grow up there. You can’t call them beautiful, but they certainly do have character.
It was really hot up there. When we got home, the thermometer in our carport showed 100 degrees. And we are only at the beginning of spring! We came home to a message on our answering machine from Dale Rollason asking that we drop by because she had something for me. She’s been doing so well with the scriptures and all, we were scared to death she’d decided she didn’t want anymore to do with the church and wanted to give the scriptures back. What a happy surprise! When we went over the whole family except the dad came out and they gave me an early birthday present. It’s so cute—pens, a pencil case, and some markers. We use them a lot in YW so I think they are “re-stocking” my supply. Their family flew to Perth tonight. They won tickets and flights to the Perth Royal Show. It’s like a state fair. They’ll be gone 2 weeks (it’s a 2 week school holiday).
Also, yesterday we dropped Carolyn Shires, a 12 year old member, at the airport. She and Tammy Rollason flew down to Perth yesterday for the West Australia Youth Conference. I can’t wait to hear how they liked it. They are both from such broken families. It will be so good for them to be there with 300 other Mormon kids and stay in an active LDS home for 3 nights.



September 29, 2010 Wednesday

UP AND DOWN

Yesterday afternoon, Orson tracted into a young lady, Chelsea, who said she had been praying about finding the truth. She agreed to have us come back this morning to teach her. She is so sharp; she’s 20 years old and attending “uni” and is on break this week. She’s part aboriginal and just as cute as she can be. So we gave her the first lesson and she agreed to be baptized when she comes to know the church is true. Her mom is Catholic and she’s been telling her mom for a long time that that church doesn’t teach what is in the scriptures. She understands the apostasy and the need for the restoration of Christ’s church. We are so grateful that the Lord led us to her.
So we were up! Then we went to see Jenna this afternoon. And she started out by saying she couldn’t keep studying with us because she just couldn’t immediately join the church because she still feels her baptism has validity. So we assured her that we didn’t want her to join until she is confident that is the right thing for her to do. We read Alma 32 with her about how she’s planting the see of faith and that it has to be nurtured with diligence and patience. She warmed up after that, and we began to teach the plan of salvation. Immediately, she objected to a pre-earth life. “So if I lived in heaven with God, why did I have to come here and experience all this?” A little later she asked if God created Satan. She had more questions than anyone we have encountered. She mentioned some friends she’s having breakfast with tomorrow. We are worried that she has some anti-Mormon friends who are filling her full of untruths about us. I hope we can hang onto her. She’s a good lady and the Gospel would do her so much good.


September 27, 2010 Monday

VICTORY LIFE BROOME

Jenna came to church yesterday and really seemed to enjoy it. She already was acquainted with Simon since she had gone to the rehab place where he works when she had had a problem with beer. She also is acquainted with the Rollasons from way back and is aware of Colleen and Gavins’ problems with marijuana and alcohol. She said she always wondered about how the kids would turn out and was very pleased to find out they are coming to church. She really seemed to enjoy our tiny little branch and what she learned. She even brought her Bible and Book of Mormon with her!
Tony came over this morning. Orson began talking to him in big generalities kind of circling around about his need to get married. I really felt like we needed to get rid of the “elephant in the room.” As Tony began talking about Claudia and her feelings about things, he commented that she had once asked him, “Why don’t you just have Pastor Brewster marry us?” He’d told her that Pastor Brewster wasn’t from his church. That opened up the topic of marriage and we were able to talk to him about it and that it is extremely important that he get married. We read to him from the Family Proclamation. He knows he has to tread slowly with Claudia. She knows he’s studying with us, so hopefully she will come around some day. She’s from Germany and was raised without faith in anything.
We went tracting this afternoon. Orson ran into a guy who is the “Chairman” of the governing board of Victory Life Broome, the church up the
street that has a huge attendance. We’ve heard several people who attend it comment that they aren’t impressed with various aspects of it, but they still continue to go there. Anyway, Orson had a great conversation with him. After hearing about the apostasy, he commented he kind of wondered where the pastors really get their authority. There were some other very telling things said that lets you know that even this guy is less than impressed with his own church.


September 29, 2010 Wednesday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

It’s been a good day. We took today as a D-day since we were going to take tomorrow but then we ended up with 2 lessons tomorrow. The phone rang at 5:30 in the morning. I slept through it, but Orson heard it but didn’t make it out to the phone in time. It was Nancy. (She confessed later she didn’t realize she was calling at that horrible hour. She’s forgiven.) About 9 am, the phone rang and it was Mike’s family singing “Happy Birthday” to me. It was fun to talk to them. They were all on their speaker phone. I tried to call Nancy back, but she wasn’t home. We went to the internet cafe to post some pictures and blogs on our blog. I discovered I’d forgotten to copy the blogs on to the thumb drive, so only pictures went up today.
Then we went Christmas shopping. It was the first time I’ve ever shopped for Christmas on my birthday. We had fun. We are about half through. We got our mail. I had a card from President and Sister Cahoon with Australian lighthouses on it and the scriptures about being a light to the world and holding up the light of Christ for everyone. It’s really neat. And Melanie had sent me a 2nd birthday card with some great pictures of quadrunning, a picnic, and their trip to Zion.
For lunch we went to a little Egyptian Kebab and Falafel place and got two kebabs and brought them home to eat in our air conditioned house (it was 105 in the shade of the carport when we got home.) They were really good. Nancy had called again and said I could call her at ANY time. So I did. It was 11:30 pm at her place, but she said she hadn’t been asleep.
We went to the library to spend some more time on the internet. It’s free there, but you can’t upload or download anything on their computers. I did a little research on the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It’s interesting to read about. Some of their stuff is similar to ours, but they are still hanging on to their 144,000 people who will go to heaven and be appointed rulers over the rest of us after Christ comes again.
We did the weekly grocery shopping and came home. YW is tonight. Since the Rollasons are out of town, we are going to do a first lesson with Carolyn, Jessi, and Kerryanne. Jessi has been asking a bunch of questions that will be answered by the lesson and the other two need the review.

OUR HOUSE IN BROOM--OUTSIDE

Yard decor
Right side
Left side
In the yard
Front from the other end of veranda
FRONT

BACK OF HOUSE