September 28, 2011 Wednesday
Yesterday we dropped in on Lillian Head, the 85-year old inactive sister we met a couple of months ago. She’s sharp as a tack. As we visited she had a question about the Sabbath Day being Saturday. (We figure she must have an Adventist friend. She commented that all of her friends but one now live in the local retirement housing.) So this morning we went back with some info on the Adventists and an article from an OLD Improvement Era about how the translation from Greek into English allowed for some of the “mix up” about that. Anyway, we finally found her out in the “back 40.” Her lot is about a half acre and there she was out pulling weeds at her age. We told her we’d try to get some help over there for her. There’s no way she can handle all that by herself. She’s fun to visit with and has a sweet dog, a kelpie, who brings you a ball so she can retrieve it.
This afternoon we drove to Katanning to visit Jim and Di Jardine. She’s the one whose family were members but her dad took all of them out of the church when she was 14. We asked her how they felt about her being baptized again. We’d mentioned it on the phone a couple of weeks ago. Jim explained that Di has an incredible fear of water due to almost drowning when she was little and also having to be “pushed under” twice when she was baptized as a kid. He then said they’d like to continue as they are or maybe be “associate members” and come to FHE’s and sort of continue as they have been. We spent quite a bit of time talking to them about the importance of doing God’s will and not our own. We also explained that only in the celestial kingdom would they continue to be husband and wife. They agreed to let us teach them (especially her) the lessons so she has a better understanding of why these things are important and then let her decide about baptism. They seemed quite relieved when we said we were not going to force anything and that moving ahead would be entirely up to her. There is such a good spirit when we visit them. We would love to see them become a “forever family.” They are awesome people.
Tonight we gave another lesson to Michael, Jeremy Priest’s brother. We went into a lot more detail about the Book of Mormon and he committed to read and pray about it. We challenged him to read through 1 Nephi 13 by the time we meet with him again on Monday. Jeremy offered to read with him. It’s so great to have a family member there helping out! We love it.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
AND THE WORK GOES ON
Weird plant. We've only seen two of these in the whole town.
September 26, 2011 Monday
Tonight we went over to the Priest’s house for dinner and another Family Home Evening. Jeremy’s brother, who attended the baptism yesterday, was there so we could teach him the first missionary discussion! Dinner was really good-Merja’d found a recipe on-line for a spicy ground beef mixture that you wrapped around skewers and then cooked under the broiler. The lesson with Michael went really well. When we were talking about how the Holy Ghost works through your heart and your mind, he commented he felt something “different” when Amy and Brett were baptized. We were able to identify it as the Holy Ghost already working with him to let him know that the church is true. It was great, too, because every so often Jeremy would jump in with some comment explaining about his conversion process or how he understood certain things. Michael said we can teach him again on Wednesday night. He’s 20 years old and is going through a diesel mechanics apprentice program here in Narrogin. He’s a nice, clean-cut kid who has been impressed with the difference in Jeremy since he joined the church. Their parents used to take them to the Baptist church when they were kids, but neither one of them remembers too much about that. (We think that’s a good thing.) What a blessing!
September 26, 2011 Monday
Tonight we went over to the Priest’s house for dinner and another Family Home Evening. Jeremy’s brother, who attended the baptism yesterday, was there so we could teach him the first missionary discussion! Dinner was really good-Merja’d found a recipe on-line for a spicy ground beef mixture that you wrapped around skewers and then cooked under the broiler. The lesson with Michael went really well. When we were talking about how the Holy Ghost works through your heart and your mind, he commented he felt something “different” when Amy and Brett were baptized. We were able to identify it as the Holy Ghost already working with him to let him know that the church is true. It was great, too, because every so often Jeremy would jump in with some comment explaining about his conversion process or how he understood certain things. Michael said we can teach him again on Wednesday night. He’s 20 years old and is going through a diesel mechanics apprentice program here in Narrogin. He’s a nice, clean-cut kid who has been impressed with the difference in Jeremy since he joined the church. Their parents used to take them to the Baptist church when they were kids, but neither one of them remembers too much about that. (We think that’s a good thing.) What a blessing!
THEY DID IT!!!
Marilyn, Amy, Brett, Keydan,Blake & Orson on the day they became Mormons!
Happiness is finding a golden family, teaching them the gospel and watching Orson baptize them today. It was just a perfect day! Amy and Brett showed up at church with no kids. That seemed odd, but they had decided that with the baptism it was going to be a very long day so they left the two boys with Brett’s mom until the baptism. I think they enjoyed being able to concentrate on what was going on. Orson taught a lesson on faith in the Gospel Essentials. During the lesson, Amy piped up with the comment, “That’s just like with the tree of life and the iron rod and how people who don’t hang on get lost in the mists.” Can you tell she’s been studying the Book of Mormon? She’s reading 2 Nephi now.
The baptism was scheduled for 12:15 (to get everyone there by 12:30). When we came out of Relief Society, Jeremy Priest’s brother and sister were there. He’s been promising to set us up with them ever since we arrived here, so we were super happy to see them. Brett’s mom, Carrie Rowe, was there with the two boys. And then three of Amy’s girl friends came. Almost all the branch stayed for the baptism and had brought finger food for afterwards.
Merja Priest played and sang, “I am a Child of God” with about 8 Primary kids helping her on part of it for the opening song. Michelle Olde gave the talk about baptism. She has a super way of expressing herself very simply about things. Then Jeremy Priest talked about the Holy Ghost and mentioned he’d only been a member a short time and how it had helped him grow.
Little Deycan, 2 years old, got restless and started heading onto the stand. Brett grabbed him and he started fussing. I was sitting right behind them and dangled a baggie with M&Ms so he could see it. He got down from his dad’s lap and came back to me. I made him climb up on the chair next to me and handed him 2 M&Ms. He immediately got down and handed one to his brother, Blake, who was sitting on the row in front of us. Then Deycan was back trying to get into the bag. I pointed to the chair beside me and he climbed up. We repeated that a few times, and then he became aware of 1-year old Emma Priest sitting on her Daddy’s lap behind him. So then he was trying to get her to take an M&M too. She didn’t understand what to do with them and dropped them on the floor. Finally he realized that Blake was the better one to share with. I was so impressed—not once did he eat both pieces of candy I gave him. He’s a sweet little guy when he wants to be.
We all went into the room with the font. Kids were kneeling in front, as usual, but as soon as Orson and Amy got into the water, a couple of them started asking loudly, “Is it cold?” (Never heard that one before.) Deycan was sitting on his grandma’s lap on the front row. As soon as he saw his mommy, he started crying and struggling to get away from Grandma. Finally, he quieted down and Orson baptized Amy. She left and Brett came into the water. Deycan started crying for him then quieted down quickly.
We went back to the chapel and watched a couple of DVD clips about how we gain and/or lose light and truth from the Doctrine and Covenants DVD set my sister sent us at Christmas. As soon as Deycan saw his mom come back in, he shouted, “Mom, bath! Mom, bath!” It was so cute. Most of us laughed. After the DVD clips, Orson still hadn’t returned so I shared a few thoughts about the process of watching Brett and Amy grow in light and truth. Hopefully that helped the non-members understand the conversion process a little better.
Because Brett will be working the next two Sundays, they were also confirmed today by Orson. After the closing song and prayer, we did the usual “convert the chapel into the cultural hall so we can eat” routine. Bless all the sisters’ hearts, they’d brought a lot of finger food and everyone enjoyed eating and visiting for almost another hour.
After it was all cleaned up, President Moulds invited us into his office to finish up filling out the baptismal forms. He commented that Brett and Amy are the most prepared couple he’s had the privilege of watching come into the church. What’s wonderful is that it was so definitely the spirit that prepared and worked with them. We could see and hear it each time we taught and talked with them. What a blessing we’ve been given to be part of their coming to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today D&C 18:15-16 has extra special meaning for us.
Happiness is finding a golden family, teaching them the gospel and watching Orson baptize them today. It was just a perfect day! Amy and Brett showed up at church with no kids. That seemed odd, but they had decided that with the baptism it was going to be a very long day so they left the two boys with Brett’s mom until the baptism. I think they enjoyed being able to concentrate on what was going on. Orson taught a lesson on faith in the Gospel Essentials. During the lesson, Amy piped up with the comment, “That’s just like with the tree of life and the iron rod and how people who don’t hang on get lost in the mists.” Can you tell she’s been studying the Book of Mormon? She’s reading 2 Nephi now.
The baptism was scheduled for 12:15 (to get everyone there by 12:30). When we came out of Relief Society, Jeremy Priest’s brother and sister were there. He’s been promising to set us up with them ever since we arrived here, so we were super happy to see them. Brett’s mom, Carrie Rowe, was there with the two boys. And then three of Amy’s girl friends came. Almost all the branch stayed for the baptism and had brought finger food for afterwards.
Merja Priest played and sang, “I am a Child of God” with about 8 Primary kids helping her on part of it for the opening song. Michelle Olde gave the talk about baptism. She has a super way of expressing herself very simply about things. Then Jeremy Priest talked about the Holy Ghost and mentioned he’d only been a member a short time and how it had helped him grow.
Little Deycan, 2 years old, got restless and started heading onto the stand. Brett grabbed him and he started fussing. I was sitting right behind them and dangled a baggie with M&Ms so he could see it. He got down from his dad’s lap and came back to me. I made him climb up on the chair next to me and handed him 2 M&Ms. He immediately got down and handed one to his brother, Blake, who was sitting on the row in front of us. Then Deycan was back trying to get into the bag. I pointed to the chair beside me and he climbed up. We repeated that a few times, and then he became aware of 1-year old Emma Priest sitting on her Daddy’s lap behind him. So then he was trying to get her to take an M&M too. She didn’t understand what to do with them and dropped them on the floor. Finally he realized that Blake was the better one to share with. I was so impressed—not once did he eat both pieces of candy I gave him. He’s a sweet little guy when he wants to be.
We all went into the room with the font. Kids were kneeling in front, as usual, but as soon as Orson and Amy got into the water, a couple of them started asking loudly, “Is it cold?” (Never heard that one before.) Deycan was sitting on his grandma’s lap on the front row. As soon as he saw his mommy, he started crying and struggling to get away from Grandma. Finally, he quieted down and Orson baptized Amy. She left and Brett came into the water. Deycan started crying for him then quieted down quickly.
We went back to the chapel and watched a couple of DVD clips about how we gain and/or lose light and truth from the Doctrine and Covenants DVD set my sister sent us at Christmas. As soon as Deycan saw his mom come back in, he shouted, “Mom, bath! Mom, bath!” It was so cute. Most of us laughed. After the DVD clips, Orson still hadn’t returned so I shared a few thoughts about the process of watching Brett and Amy grow in light and truth. Hopefully that helped the non-members understand the conversion process a little better.
Because Brett will be working the next two Sundays, they were also confirmed today by Orson. After the closing song and prayer, we did the usual “convert the chapel into the cultural hall so we can eat” routine. Bless all the sisters’ hearts, they’d brought a lot of finger food and everyone enjoyed eating and visiting for almost another hour.
After it was all cleaned up, President Moulds invited us into his office to finish up filling out the baptismal forms. He commented that Brett and Amy are the most prepared couple he’s had the privilege of watching come into the church. What’s wonderful is that it was so definitely the spirit that prepared and worked with them. We could see and hear it each time we taught and talked with them. What a blessing we’ve been given to be part of their coming to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today D&C 18:15-16 has extra special meaning for us.
IF THEY COULD ALL BE…
September 23, 2011 Friday
…just like Brett and Amy. We finished up Brett’s lessons today. We had an appointment for noon with him. He wasn’t there when we arrived so Amy called him. He said he’d be just 10 minutes. He finally showed up at 1 pm, but it was okay because we just sat there and enjoyed a great visit with Amy. What a delight she is! So we gave him the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson and he accepted everything so well. He said a beautiful closing prayer full of gratitude for the things they are learning and for his family. We left just floating on “Cloud Nine.”
Later this afternoon we stopped by Madelen and Dieterik’s. They were both home. She said she’d been doing just a little reading in the Book of Mormon. She did admit that we have answered many of the questions she had when we first met them. We invited them to the baptism on Sunday and she almost froze up. For some reason, she is scared to even walk in the door of another church. We had a good visit with them and talked and laughed about a variety of things. Somehow, we’ve got to get them out to church.
Then we went to see Bob Lane. Seems like he’s been avoiding us lately. He came out and we talked on the porch for an hour. We really challenged him to quit “mulling things over” and put his faith in God instead of in his own cognitive power. We let him know that it’s all up to him: he can continue like he is or he can trust in God to answer his prayers about the Book of Mormon. We think he realizes the big changes it would take for him to become a Mormon and is scared of making that kind of commitment. He’s such a good guy. He needs to be in the church.
…just like Brett and Amy. We finished up Brett’s lessons today. We had an appointment for noon with him. He wasn’t there when we arrived so Amy called him. He said he’d be just 10 minutes. He finally showed up at 1 pm, but it was okay because we just sat there and enjoyed a great visit with Amy. What a delight she is! So we gave him the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson and he accepted everything so well. He said a beautiful closing prayer full of gratitude for the things they are learning and for his family. We left just floating on “Cloud Nine.”
Later this afternoon we stopped by Madelen and Dieterik’s. They were both home. She said she’d been doing just a little reading in the Book of Mormon. She did admit that we have answered many of the questions she had when we first met them. We invited them to the baptism on Sunday and she almost froze up. For some reason, she is scared to even walk in the door of another church. We had a good visit with them and talked and laughed about a variety of things. Somehow, we’ve got to get them out to church.
Then we went to see Bob Lane. Seems like he’s been avoiding us lately. He came out and we talked on the porch for an hour. We really challenged him to quit “mulling things over” and put his faith in God instead of in his own cognitive power. We let him know that it’s all up to him: he can continue like he is or he can trust in God to answer his prayers about the Book of Mormon. We think he realizes the big changes it would take for him to become a Mormon and is scared of making that kind of commitment. He’s such a good guy. He needs to be in the church.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
RANDOM PHOTOS
An old pioneer in Armadale's Pionee Village.
Beautiful yard we found in Narrogin.
Sorry, no time for more photos today.
Beautiful yard we found in Narrogin.
Sorry, no time for more photos today.
JUST 5 MONTHS!?!
September 22, 2011 Thursday
You never know about couples over here—are they married? We knew that Brett and Amy were married; it’s come up in conversation several times. They have Deycan who is 2 years old so we assumed they’d been married a couple or 3 years. Tonight we went over to give Brett the rest of the lesson about commandments and to fill out the baptismal forms. When we got to the part about their marriage, Amy quickly found their marriage certificate and there it was—they had just gotten married in April of this year. We were blown away but managed to cover it well enough. We are just so grateful that they are married (and so are they). They were engaged for 3 years. The whole lackadaisical attitude toward marriage over here just blows us away. I guess it’s the same in the states; but because of the circle of folks that we hang out with, we just haven’t had it “in our face” as much as we have had over here. Brett asked Orson to baptize and confirm him as well as Amy. We are so excited!
You never know about couples over here—are they married? We knew that Brett and Amy were married; it’s come up in conversation several times. They have Deycan who is 2 years old so we assumed they’d been married a couple or 3 years. Tonight we went over to give Brett the rest of the lesson about commandments and to fill out the baptismal forms. When we got to the part about their marriage, Amy quickly found their marriage certificate and there it was—they had just gotten married in April of this year. We were blown away but managed to cover it well enough. We are just so grateful that they are married (and so are they). They were engaged for 3 years. The whole lackadaisical attitude toward marriage over here just blows us away. I guess it’s the same in the states; but because of the circle of folks that we hang out with, we just haven’t had it “in our face” as much as we have had over here. Brett asked Orson to baptize and confirm him as well as Amy. We are so excited!
OLGA
September 21, 2011 Wednesday
We drove to Armadale, the southwestern-most suburb of Perth, to get some baptismal clothing for Amy and Brett. Evidently the branch doesn’t have anything worth using. We keep wondering why they don’t buy jumpsuits similar to what is used in the temples. It would certainly simplify keeping the women modest! It was raining when we got up and continued until 2 in the afternoon. We were grateful that most of our time was spent in the car. We saw the same number of road-killed kangaroos as we saw live ones the other night.
We’d been given the name of Olga to contact in the Armadale Ward for baptismal clothing. She turned out to be 80 years old, a widow from South Africa. People who leave South Africa always bring some of it with them. She had paintings of jaguars and elephants and carvings of several African animals. There was also a beautiful copper clock in the shape of Africa with a couple of animals on it. She’s the music director for Relief Society and had some hymns playing when we arrived. She joined the church 18 years ago after she moved over here. Her daughter and son-in-law had joined 30 years ago before they came over here. She always promised them she would join once she came here and she did just 3 months after she arrived. She was sweet to visit with. She’s on chemo-therapy tablets for breast cancer and just as accepting of her trials as she can be. What a sweetheart.
We drove to Armadale, the southwestern-most suburb of Perth, to get some baptismal clothing for Amy and Brett. Evidently the branch doesn’t have anything worth using. We keep wondering why they don’t buy jumpsuits similar to what is used in the temples. It would certainly simplify keeping the women modest! It was raining when we got up and continued until 2 in the afternoon. We were grateful that most of our time was spent in the car. We saw the same number of road-killed kangaroos as we saw live ones the other night.
We’d been given the name of Olga to contact in the Armadale Ward for baptismal clothing. She turned out to be 80 years old, a widow from South Africa. People who leave South Africa always bring some of it with them. She had paintings of jaguars and elephants and carvings of several African animals. There was also a beautiful copper clock in the shape of Africa with a couple of animals on it. She’s the music director for Relief Society and had some hymns playing when we arrived. She joined the church 18 years ago after she moved over here. Her daughter and son-in-law had joined 30 years ago before they came over here. She always promised them she would join once she came here and she did just 3 months after she arrived. She was sweet to visit with. She’s on chemo-therapy tablets for breast cancer and just as accepting of her trials as she can be. What a sweetheart.
LP GAS
September 20, 2011 Tuesday
This morning we dropped in at Narrogin Gas. It’s a local business that President and Sister Moulds recently bought. Wow! It certainly had more than just tanks of propane. They had every kind and color of balloon anyone would want for any occasion (except baptism). They also sell all kinds of gas barbeques and supplies for cooking while camping. There was also a huge area displaying all kinds of tables, decorations, etc., for patios.
We went there to discuss the baptism Sunday. He was going to assign one of his counselors to organize it and we were worried that it wouldn’t happen. It’s been 3 weeks and that particular counselor hasn’t been over to visit the member that we found in Katanning who has been there 10 years and hadn’t ever been contacted. So we convinced him to let us do it. He suggested speakers. We had a good visit with him. He’s always so busy at church. Catching him at a slow moment at work was a good thing. Sister Moulds was there too. Bless her heart; she’s trying to clean the place ups. Evidently the other owners weren’t too diligent in keeping the bugs and mice out of the place. We are glad it’s her doing that and not us!
This morning we dropped in at Narrogin Gas. It’s a local business that President and Sister Moulds recently bought. Wow! It certainly had more than just tanks of propane. They had every kind and color of balloon anyone would want for any occasion (except baptism). They also sell all kinds of gas barbeques and supplies for cooking while camping. There was also a huge area displaying all kinds of tables, decorations, etc., for patios.
We went there to discuss the baptism Sunday. He was going to assign one of his counselors to organize it and we were worried that it wouldn’t happen. It’s been 3 weeks and that particular counselor hasn’t been over to visit the member that we found in Katanning who has been there 10 years and hadn’t ever been contacted. So we convinced him to let us do it. He suggested speakers. We had a good visit with him. He’s always so busy at church. Catching him at a slow moment at work was a good thing. Sister Moulds was there too. Bless her heart; she’s trying to clean the place ups. Evidently the other owners weren’t too diligent in keeping the bugs and mice out of the place. We are glad it’s her doing that and not us!
A SATISFIED JW
19 September 2011 Monday
This afternoon we went to see Ann Kelly. Orson had found her tracting. She’s over 80, very sharp mentally and attends the J-dub meetings but doesn’t believe in everything they teach. She had said we could come back, but she greeted us at the door with, “You can come in as long as you don’t tell me that the Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t true and you don’t try to get me to change churches.” Orson agreed to that and then used a very soft approach to get her talking about what was wrong with the J-dubs. She got out her JW bible and her King James bible and we compared some scriptures. She agreed with everything we said concerning them and how they were wrong. She was surprised that the apostate Mormons, the Millerites, had an influence on the founder of the JWs. She agreed that they were wrong that there couldn’t be more scripture if God wanted to bring it. Just as we were ready to introduce the Book of Mormon, she said, “Well, that’s enough. I’m not going to change churches. Would you like a drink of water?” And that was it. She was good to talk to. We felt sorry for her. She grew up in an orphanage until she was 5. Someone took her home when she was 2 ½, but they must have not liked her because they returned her to the orphanage. She was finally adopted by a single teacher. She says she was nice but not a warm person. You could tell that she missed the hugging, etc., that she saw some children get. She has 5 kids but only 2 of them speak to her. Her husband left her to raise them alone. They probably got the same kind of mothering that she had. What a blessing it is to be born of “goodly parents!”
After dinner tonight we drove south of town into the bush where we saw the kangaroos before. We were hoping for another sighting, but they must have not been awake yet. Sigh….
This afternoon we went to see Ann Kelly. Orson had found her tracting. She’s over 80, very sharp mentally and attends the J-dub meetings but doesn’t believe in everything they teach. She had said we could come back, but she greeted us at the door with, “You can come in as long as you don’t tell me that the Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t true and you don’t try to get me to change churches.” Orson agreed to that and then used a very soft approach to get her talking about what was wrong with the J-dubs. She got out her JW bible and her King James bible and we compared some scriptures. She agreed with everything we said concerning them and how they were wrong. She was surprised that the apostate Mormons, the Millerites, had an influence on the founder of the JWs. She agreed that they were wrong that there couldn’t be more scripture if God wanted to bring it. Just as we were ready to introduce the Book of Mormon, she said, “Well, that’s enough. I’m not going to change churches. Would you like a drink of water?” And that was it. She was good to talk to. We felt sorry for her. She grew up in an orphanage until she was 5. Someone took her home when she was 2 ½, but they must have not liked her because they returned her to the orphanage. She was finally adopted by a single teacher. She says she was nice but not a warm person. You could tell that she missed the hugging, etc., that she saw some children get. She has 5 kids but only 2 of them speak to her. Her husband left her to raise them alone. They probably got the same kind of mothering that she had. What a blessing it is to be born of “goodly parents!”
After dinner tonight we drove south of town into the bush where we saw the kangaroos before. We were hoping for another sighting, but they must have not been awake yet. Sigh….
YES!
18 Sep 2011 Sunday
Amy had her baptismal interview today during Sunday School with President Moulds. She came out all smiles. He even showed her the baptismal font. They checked out the baptismal clothing—as per West Australia, it’s dismal. We’ll make a trip to Perth this week to get something for her to wear and also some baptismal forms since we didn’t get any when we were given our area book. The sisters talked her into staying for Relief Society and for the luncheon after. President Ferris was one of the stake speakers and he ended up visiting with Amy for a while after the lunch. She helped clean up and seemed to really enjoy herself.
Yesterday while we were going over the baptismal questions with her, she said that Brett still wants to be baptized. President Moulds mentioned it again today, so we are going to try to get him ready for next Sunday too. He has time at home this week. We are so blessed to have been given this sweet family to teach!
He also told us that Di Jardine can be baptized. She the woman in Katanning whose parents removed her name from church records when she was 14. She is now married to a member. We called and told her husband. She’d worked night shift last night, so she was still sleeping. We hope she will want to become a member so they can go to the temple.
I started making up our area book. We finally got the forms for it on Wednesday. It’s a lot of work to go back over two months of teaching, visiting, etc., and fill out the stuff. I highly recommend doing it on a daily or at least weekly basis.
It’s dumping rain today. We’ve had a lot of rain the last couple of days. It’s great for the farmers.
Amy had her baptismal interview today during Sunday School with President Moulds. She came out all smiles. He even showed her the baptismal font. They checked out the baptismal clothing—as per West Australia, it’s dismal. We’ll make a trip to Perth this week to get something for her to wear and also some baptismal forms since we didn’t get any when we were given our area book. The sisters talked her into staying for Relief Society and for the luncheon after. President Ferris was one of the stake speakers and he ended up visiting with Amy for a while after the lunch. She helped clean up and seemed to really enjoy herself.
Yesterday while we were going over the baptismal questions with her, she said that Brett still wants to be baptized. President Moulds mentioned it again today, so we are going to try to get him ready for next Sunday too. He has time at home this week. We are so blessed to have been given this sweet family to teach!
He also told us that Di Jardine can be baptized. She the woman in Katanning whose parents removed her name from church records when she was 14. She is now married to a member. We called and told her husband. She’d worked night shift last night, so she was still sleeping. We hope she will want to become a member so they can go to the temple.
I started making up our area book. We finally got the forms for it on Wednesday. It’s a lot of work to go back over two months of teaching, visiting, etc., and fill out the stuff. I highly recommend doing it on a daily or at least weekly basis.
It’s dumping rain today. We’ve had a lot of rain the last couple of days. It’s great for the farmers.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Farewell, so long, auf....
One of the trials of tracting in the country!
Black headed sheep. They make white sheep look really boring.
September 15, 2011 Thursday
Yesterday afternoon we drove to Perth to the Mission Home for a farewell dinner for Sister Kruger (from England), who has been the mission secretary, and Sister Matuauto (originally from Samoa but has lived in SLC for 40 years), who has run the commissary (supplies) for the last 18 months. We arrived here just 3 weeks after they did. The dinner was an oriental dinner prepared by Jenny, the woman hired to cook for the mission home on special occasions. All the senior missionaries were there with the exception of the Curtis’s who are in Esperance which is at least a 12 hour drive from here. We were able to meet 2 new couples who are here. The Lanes are from Queensland and have been assigned to Geralton Branch where the Walkers served for a year. The Marsdens are from New Zealand and were sent to Broome for 2 months. They are now taking the place of Sisters Kruger and Matuauto in the office. After dinner we gathered in the family room to exchange some stories and hear the sisters’ final testimonies. They both spoke of how much they had learned. It had been hard for them to adjust to having a companion since Sister Kruger has been divorced for 25 years and Sister M has never been married. But they both said they’d learned to love each other after the “rough corners” had been knocked off. It’s so good to get together with the other seniors. We drove home after a prayer that we’d travel safely. The big risk at night on that road is hitting a kangaroo. We saw 4 but they were all standing on the side of the road waiting for us to pass :o)
Yesterday morning we gave a lesson to Maxine, a lady in her late 70’s who’s a Lutheran. She was very teachable and then her husband came in. He was full of questions which we were able to answer (infant baptism, etc.), but he couldn’t “get over the need for ‘the book.’” We were there 2 ½ hours! We told him he could go straight to the Lord and ask about its truthfulness. In the end, he said he wanted to keep his minister between him and Christ—go figure! We did get to testify to him and felt the spirit as we did, so now it’s all up to him.
We taught Amy the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson today. By the time you get to this lesson on faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and enduring to the end, you’ve already discussed most of it anyway in connection with the other lessons. Bless her heart, she did say, “I just think it’s so nice that yous guys will let me get baptized.” What a sweetheart!
Tonight we are doing “institute” since we were gone last night.
Black headed sheep. They make white sheep look really boring.
September 15, 2011 Thursday
Yesterday afternoon we drove to Perth to the Mission Home for a farewell dinner for Sister Kruger (from England), who has been the mission secretary, and Sister Matuauto (originally from Samoa but has lived in SLC for 40 years), who has run the commissary (supplies) for the last 18 months. We arrived here just 3 weeks after they did. The dinner was an oriental dinner prepared by Jenny, the woman hired to cook for the mission home on special occasions. All the senior missionaries were there with the exception of the Curtis’s who are in Esperance which is at least a 12 hour drive from here. We were able to meet 2 new couples who are here. The Lanes are from Queensland and have been assigned to Geralton Branch where the Walkers served for a year. The Marsdens are from New Zealand and were sent to Broome for 2 months. They are now taking the place of Sisters Kruger and Matuauto in the office. After dinner we gathered in the family room to exchange some stories and hear the sisters’ final testimonies. They both spoke of how much they had learned. It had been hard for them to adjust to having a companion since Sister Kruger has been divorced for 25 years and Sister M has never been married. But they both said they’d learned to love each other after the “rough corners” had been knocked off. It’s so good to get together with the other seniors. We drove home after a prayer that we’d travel safely. The big risk at night on that road is hitting a kangaroo. We saw 4 but they were all standing on the side of the road waiting for us to pass :o)
Yesterday morning we gave a lesson to Maxine, a lady in her late 70’s who’s a Lutheran. She was very teachable and then her husband came in. He was full of questions which we were able to answer (infant baptism, etc.), but he couldn’t “get over the need for ‘the book.’” We were there 2 ½ hours! We told him he could go straight to the Lord and ask about its truthfulness. In the end, he said he wanted to keep his minister between him and Christ—go figure! We did get to testify to him and felt the spirit as we did, so now it’s all up to him.
We taught Amy the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson today. By the time you get to this lesson on faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and enduring to the end, you’ve already discussed most of it anyway in connection with the other lessons. Bless her heart, she did say, “I just think it’s so nice that yous guys will let me get baptized.” What a sweetheart!
Tonight we are doing “institute” since we were gone last night.
GREAT MONDAY
Check out our bathroom window. It only goes 5/6 of the way to the top. It's great for getting rid of unpleasant odors, but it certainly makes for a cold seat in the wintertime! We had a window like this at our flat in Thornlie too. BRRRRRR!
September 12, 2011 Monday
Some Mondays leave a lot to be desired, but today was great. This morning we taught a first lesson to Madelin. We met the family over a month ago but haven’t been able to teach them because of Dieterik’s work which was always interfering when we had something set up. Madelin is very curious about the gospel and has always had a lot of questions when we’ve talked. She seemed very comfortable with everything we presented and is excited to read the Book of Mormon. Just as we were finishing her friend arrived with her little boy named Elijah Malachi. She commented that she knows Tanya Sala one of the branch members. We would have loved to have been able to listen to the conversation after we left.
Then after lunch we taught Peter Atkinson. He’s doing a home study course to become a Baptist minister but was willing to listen to us explain about our beliefs. We could tell he’d done a little “homework” before we came because he even knew the church began sometime between 1820 and 1830. We talked around the first lesson and tried to get him to read the Book of Mormon, but he was still comfortable saying that the Bible was all he needs. They just don’t get it that God can continue revealing things to as many people as he wants.
Tonight we had dinner and family home evening with Jeremy and Merja Priest. They had Amy and Brett and family there too. It was a nice evening. They had us bring the “activity” so we had everyone play “Hot ‘n Cold” so the little boys could play too. Of course, they didn’t want to quit playing until the ice cream came out. Tonight was Brett’s night off between going from night shift to day shift so he was able to come home which worked out really great. Orson was able to talk to him and reassure him that we will wait for him to be ready before he gets baptized.
September 12, 2011 Monday
Some Mondays leave a lot to be desired, but today was great. This morning we taught a first lesson to Madelin. We met the family over a month ago but haven’t been able to teach them because of Dieterik’s work which was always interfering when we had something set up. Madelin is very curious about the gospel and has always had a lot of questions when we’ve talked. She seemed very comfortable with everything we presented and is excited to read the Book of Mormon. Just as we were finishing her friend arrived with her little boy named Elijah Malachi. She commented that she knows Tanya Sala one of the branch members. We would have loved to have been able to listen to the conversation after we left.
Then after lunch we taught Peter Atkinson. He’s doing a home study course to become a Baptist minister but was willing to listen to us explain about our beliefs. We could tell he’d done a little “homework” before we came because he even knew the church began sometime between 1820 and 1830. We talked around the first lesson and tried to get him to read the Book of Mormon, but he was still comfortable saying that the Bible was all he needs. They just don’t get it that God can continue revealing things to as many people as he wants.
Tonight we had dinner and family home evening with Jeremy and Merja Priest. They had Amy and Brett and family there too. It was a nice evening. They had us bring the “activity” so we had everyone play “Hot ‘n Cold” so the little boys could play too. Of course, they didn’t want to quit playing until the ice cream came out. Tonight was Brett’s night off between going from night shift to day shift so he was able to come home which worked out really great. Orson was able to talk to him and reassure him that we will wait for him to be ready before he gets baptized.
Hash Browns are Indonesian?
September 11, 2011 Sunday
This morning Amy and the boys made it to church after the sacrament was over. It must have been a bad morning because you could tell Deycan had been crying when they came in. Blake settled in and was really good, but Deycan was “pulling his mom’s chain” non-stop. She went out into the foyer with him; then Blake went out. Pretty soon Blake came in and took his mom’s purse out. When sacrament meeting was over, she was already gone. We worried about her so we called her tonight. She explained that if she hadn’t left she was worried she was going to “flog” them right there in the church. She did say that Michelle Olde called and had her and the boys come over to play for a while this afternoon. That’s good for all of them since boy the husbands work in the mines and are gone two weeks at a time.
This evening we had a dinner appointment with Euce, the Indonesian lady we met at the library. When she invited us, she said she would fix spaghetti for us. When we got there, she had her boyfriend, Eddy Mason, there too. He was quite the talker so we listened while she cooked dinner. She asked us if we liked chicken, fish, or beef. We told her we’d eat anything. (What? No spaghetti?) She then pulled frozen hash brown patties and two kinds of frozen, breaded fish out of the freezer. But when she was done cooking there was all of that plus some Indonesian fish and beef, some fish balls, and some fried cubes she called fish tofu. It was all okay. I really liked the Indonesian beef and Indonesian fish the best. And then she thought we ought to eat seconds. Luckily, we had to leave so we could teach Brett over the phone again or she’d have made us eat more! She’s a sweet lady who is struggling to care for herself and make a go of it here in Australia.
Brett wasn’t feeling good and had gone to bed early, so that lesson didn’t happen. Amy said he is stressing out over being able to quit his coffee and still work the night shifts he has. She said he doesn’t want to be baptized and then only do it half way. We’re going to talk to him and let him know we aren’t going to push him into baptism. We want him to feel good about it when he does it. It would be different if he were home with Amy every night, but working away like he does, he isn’t getting the same kind of support. We will let him take his time to get ready.
This morning Amy and the boys made it to church after the sacrament was over. It must have been a bad morning because you could tell Deycan had been crying when they came in. Blake settled in and was really good, but Deycan was “pulling his mom’s chain” non-stop. She went out into the foyer with him; then Blake went out. Pretty soon Blake came in and took his mom’s purse out. When sacrament meeting was over, she was already gone. We worried about her so we called her tonight. She explained that if she hadn’t left she was worried she was going to “flog” them right there in the church. She did say that Michelle Olde called and had her and the boys come over to play for a while this afternoon. That’s good for all of them since boy the husbands work in the mines and are gone two weeks at a time.
This evening we had a dinner appointment with Euce, the Indonesian lady we met at the library. When she invited us, she said she would fix spaghetti for us. When we got there, she had her boyfriend, Eddy Mason, there too. He was quite the talker so we listened while she cooked dinner. She asked us if we liked chicken, fish, or beef. We told her we’d eat anything. (What? No spaghetti?) She then pulled frozen hash brown patties and two kinds of frozen, breaded fish out of the freezer. But when she was done cooking there was all of that plus some Indonesian fish and beef, some fish balls, and some fried cubes she called fish tofu. It was all okay. I really liked the Indonesian beef and Indonesian fish the best. And then she thought we ought to eat seconds. Luckily, we had to leave so we could teach Brett over the phone again or she’d have made us eat more! She’s a sweet lady who is struggling to care for herself and make a go of it here in Australia.
Brett wasn’t feeling good and had gone to bed early, so that lesson didn’t happen. Amy said he is stressing out over being able to quit his coffee and still work the night shifts he has. She said he doesn’t want to be baptized and then only do it half way. We’re going to talk to him and let him know we aren’t going to push him into baptism. We want him to feel good about it when he does it. It would be different if he were home with Amy every night, but working away like he does, he isn’t getting the same kind of support. We will let him take his time to get ready.
BAPTISM!
September 10, 2011 Saturday
Today we had special permission to drive to Perth to attend the baptism of the Oxby kids, Kiera and Kaylen. We had worked with Michelle and the two kids when we first went to the Thornlie ward. They were so cute and willing to learn and Michelle was trying to get over her old boyfriend. Michelle is very sharp and we wanted her back in the church so badly. Then she decided to go back to her old way of life. And we felt sooooooo bad. She asked us not to come back anymore.
Well, things didn’t work out with the old fellow, and I think she finally realized how important it is to raise her kids in the church. After we left Thornlie, she started bringing the kids to church and had the sister missionaries teach them. So we went to the baptism and it was great. They even read some poetry Kiera has written about God and their “new life.”
On the way up we drove through Wandering, a very small town on a side road to Perth, because they were having their fair today. It was cute. They had a wagon pulled by Clydesdales and some donkey carts people could ride on. There were a couple of the big, bouncy air things for little kids. There was also a little “train” that a guy had made by cutting out the sides of old metal barrels, put a seat in them, mounted them on small 3 wheel trailers, painted them bright colors and pulled them around with his quadrunner. Only really little kids fit in them and it was just cute! There were antique cars, motorcycles, engines, etc., and lots of booths with homemade stuff for sale. They sold snocones, hamburgers, cotton candy and soft serve ice cream. It was held in the local RV park which obviously wasn’t very full. It was just a nice relaxed atmosphere.
Yesterday, we were able to meet with Amy and went over some of the commandments with her. She’s still so positive. She did tell us about her 6-year old, Blake. When he was 14 months old, he picked up some kind of a “virus” that nearly killed him. It was some kind of a “septicemia” I think. The doctors had given up on him, and she believes it was only through the faith and prayers of her family that he lived. Anyway, some of the “bug” has settled in his joints and is afflicting him with an arthritis-type problem. It’s already destroyed the growth plates in his knees and ankles. He has pins in his ankles to keep him walking moderately normal. I had noticed he runs funny but hadn’t thought much about it. The doctors in Perth haven’t seen anything like it before. He’s on pain medication and gets some injections every so often to try to slow down the damage. Now his left shoulder is being attacked. It’s so hard for her to watch this happening to her little guy.
Tonight we did a lesson about the commandments over the phone with Brett. It worked out pretty well, and he gave the closing prayer. He is so willing to do whatever we ask, and he even thanked us for explaining tithing to them after his mother told them that we take 10% out of their paychecks. He’s such a nice guy.
Last night we went over to Jeremy and Merja Priest’s house to help her with some family history. Helen, the family history guru for the branch has the flu, and Merja wanted to get some names ready for the youth to take to the temple today for baptisms. Merja is from Finland, so it was kind of different to see the PAF program written in Finnish. She speaks such good English! They have the cutest little 1-year old, Emma, who even let me hold her. She’s blonde like her mom with huge dark brown eyes like her dad.
Kaelen, Michelle, and Kiera Oxby
Glad we haven't run into any of these over here!
Cute little "train" made out of metal barrels. $1.00/ride
Miniature hay baler. This guy put a lot of time into this.Lots of these minature donkeys, some with carts and some without.
Today we had special permission to drive to Perth to attend the baptism of the Oxby kids, Kiera and Kaylen. We had worked with Michelle and the two kids when we first went to the Thornlie ward. They were so cute and willing to learn and Michelle was trying to get over her old boyfriend. Michelle is very sharp and we wanted her back in the church so badly. Then she decided to go back to her old way of life. And we felt sooooooo bad. She asked us not to come back anymore.
Well, things didn’t work out with the old fellow, and I think she finally realized how important it is to raise her kids in the church. After we left Thornlie, she started bringing the kids to church and had the sister missionaries teach them. So we went to the baptism and it was great. They even read some poetry Kiera has written about God and their “new life.”
On the way up we drove through Wandering, a very small town on a side road to Perth, because they were having their fair today. It was cute. They had a wagon pulled by Clydesdales and some donkey carts people could ride on. There were a couple of the big, bouncy air things for little kids. There was also a little “train” that a guy had made by cutting out the sides of old metal barrels, put a seat in them, mounted them on small 3 wheel trailers, painted them bright colors and pulled them around with his quadrunner. Only really little kids fit in them and it was just cute! There were antique cars, motorcycles, engines, etc., and lots of booths with homemade stuff for sale. They sold snocones, hamburgers, cotton candy and soft serve ice cream. It was held in the local RV park which obviously wasn’t very full. It was just a nice relaxed atmosphere.
Yesterday, we were able to meet with Amy and went over some of the commandments with her. She’s still so positive. She did tell us about her 6-year old, Blake. When he was 14 months old, he picked up some kind of a “virus” that nearly killed him. It was some kind of a “septicemia” I think. The doctors had given up on him, and she believes it was only through the faith and prayers of her family that he lived. Anyway, some of the “bug” has settled in his joints and is afflicting him with an arthritis-type problem. It’s already destroyed the growth plates in his knees and ankles. He has pins in his ankles to keep him walking moderately normal. I had noticed he runs funny but hadn’t thought much about it. The doctors in Perth haven’t seen anything like it before. He’s on pain medication and gets some injections every so often to try to slow down the damage. Now his left shoulder is being attacked. It’s so hard for her to watch this happening to her little guy.
Tonight we did a lesson about the commandments over the phone with Brett. It worked out pretty well, and he gave the closing prayer. He is so willing to do whatever we ask, and he even thanked us for explaining tithing to them after his mother told them that we take 10% out of their paychecks. He’s such a nice guy.
Last night we went over to Jeremy and Merja Priest’s house to help her with some family history. Helen, the family history guru for the branch has the flu, and Merja wanted to get some names ready for the youth to take to the temple today for baptisms. Merja is from Finland, so it was kind of different to see the PAF program written in Finnish. She speaks such good English! They have the cutest little 1-year old, Emma, who even let me hold her. She’s blonde like her mom with huge dark brown eyes like her dad.
Kaelen, Michelle, and Kiera Oxby
Glad we haven't run into any of these over here!
Cute little "train" made out of metal barrels. $1.00/ride
Miniature hay baler. This guy put a lot of time into this.Lots of these minature donkeys, some with carts and some without.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
SLOW WEEK
September 8, 2011 Thursday
SLOW WEEK
Lots of door-knocking; not much success. But yesterday we took one of the roads (White Road)out of town and drove along going to farmhouses. We hardly found anyone home until the last 2 houses. Claire was very agreeable that we should come back. She and her boys had just come in from “crotching” the sheep. What’s that? That’s what Orson asked. They clean up the sheeps’ back sides and faces so that the blow flies don’t bother them so much. This is done after shearing evidently. We’ll go see her tomorrow after lunch.
At the last place we had turned around to drive back down the lane when the owner drove up in his truck and stopped. Orson got out and talked to him for a half an hour. He seemed so sharp but he just didn’t want to upset his wife who is a devoted Anglican.
As we were driving back towards town on a different road, we came to the Narrogin Gliding Club. There were about 15 small house trailers, a runway, and several gliders in a hanger. There were also a bunch of specially shaped trailers for hauling a glider around. The sign says gliding is done on Saturdays and Sundays. We figure there must be a bunch of folks who come down from Perth and stay the weekend. We have seen one glider up in the air since we’ve been here.
Our last photo of our neighbor's cat who moved away yesterday. We enjoyed her.
SLOW WEEK
Lots of door-knocking; not much success. But yesterday we took one of the roads (White Road)out of town and drove along going to farmhouses. We hardly found anyone home until the last 2 houses. Claire was very agreeable that we should come back. She and her boys had just come in from “crotching” the sheep. What’s that? That’s what Orson asked. They clean up the sheeps’ back sides and faces so that the blow flies don’t bother them so much. This is done after shearing evidently. We’ll go see her tomorrow after lunch.
At the last place we had turned around to drive back down the lane when the owner drove up in his truck and stopped. Orson got out and talked to him for a half an hour. He seemed so sharp but he just didn’t want to upset his wife who is a devoted Anglican.
As we were driving back towards town on a different road, we came to the Narrogin Gliding Club. There were about 15 small house trailers, a runway, and several gliders in a hanger. There were also a bunch of specially shaped trailers for hauling a glider around. The sign says gliding is done on Saturdays and Sundays. We figure there must be a bunch of folks who come down from Perth and stay the weekend. We have seen one glider up in the air since we’ve been here.
Our last photo of our neighbor's cat who moved away yesterday. We enjoyed her.
LOVE THAT TRAMPOLINE!
This is in front of our house. It's spring here and the flowers are beautiful. We have lots more pictures that we will bore you with when we get home.
September 5, 2011 Monday
We were tracting this afternoon and passed the corner where Dieterik and Madelin live. Their little girl was jumping on the trampoline and waved and started talking to Orson, so he asked her to go get her mom. She invited us in. (Last week we had run into her in a parking lot of a retired citizen housing area and given her a Restoration DVD.) Dieterik was home; he hurried to explain that he’d gotten off early. Then he got a phone call calling him back to work. So we asked her if she’d watched the DVD. “Twice,” she replied. She liked it and said it confirmed what we’d talked about the first time we visited. She asked a lot of questions. We left her the Restoration pamphlet and also the Joseph Smith pamphlet. And she set an appointment for us to come back and teach her on Monday which is her day off. She didn’t want to wait and try to coordinate with Dieterik because his schedule is so hectic. As we answered her questions about church and our mission, she commented that it all sounded so weird. We invited her to church and explained all about the meetings. She asked about the age group of the members, how many we have, etc. She’s quite intrigued and doesn’t want to admit it. But that’s okay—the spirit’s working on her and that makes us happy. We think if we can get her convinced that Dieterik will follow right behind.
September 5, 2011 Monday
We were tracting this afternoon and passed the corner where Dieterik and Madelin live. Their little girl was jumping on the trampoline and waved and started talking to Orson, so he asked her to go get her mom. She invited us in. (Last week we had run into her in a parking lot of a retired citizen housing area and given her a Restoration DVD.) Dieterik was home; he hurried to explain that he’d gotten off early. Then he got a phone call calling him back to work. So we asked her if she’d watched the DVD. “Twice,” she replied. She liked it and said it confirmed what we’d talked about the first time we visited. She asked a lot of questions. We left her the Restoration pamphlet and also the Joseph Smith pamphlet. And she set an appointment for us to come back and teach her on Monday which is her day off. She didn’t want to wait and try to coordinate with Dieterik because his schedule is so hectic. As we answered her questions about church and our mission, she commented that it all sounded so weird. We invited her to church and explained all about the meetings. She asked about the age group of the members, how many we have, etc. She’s quite intrigued and doesn’t want to admit it. But that’s okay—the spirit’s working on her and that makes us happy. We think if we can get her convinced that Dieterik will follow right behind.
GREAT DAY!
OUR CHAPEL HERE IN NARROGIN
September 4, 2011 Sunday
Happy Father’s Day! Not sure if you remember from last year that Fathers Day in Australia is in September. (That must be because they aren’t celebrating Labor Day this weekend.) It was cute; someone had picked some small purple flowers from their yard, wrapped a few stems with scotch tape and stuck a pin on them so all the dad’s had a boutonniere at church. They were pretty wilted by the time we got out of church, but it’s the thought that counts. I think it was Deborah, the Primary President, who did it.
The best part of the day was that part way through testimony meeting Amy and Brett showed up with their kids. They had been to breakfast at his parents and “done the gift thing” so they came to church. There were 2 or 3 beautiful testimonies at the end that they heard and really enjoyed. President Moulds hurried down to welcome Brett and tell him how great it was that they had come with their kids ‘cause “we are a family church.” Michelle Olds was thrilled that they came and had coloring books and crayons for Blake and Keydon(?). Of course, they each ended up out in the foyer with Keydon; he’s 2 and never had to be quiet before. They stayed for Sunday School. We met in the kitchen/seminary room/nursery for Gospel Essentials so the kids could play. Michelle Olds and Tammy Crooks came in with their little kids too. And it worked. We taught, the adults listened and participated and the kids made noises that for the most part we were able to ignore.
We had asked President Moulds if the branch had any copies of the LDS bible that we could give to Brett. He came out of his office with a branch new set of leather scriptures for him. He mentioned he had another set of a different color too. We gave him some money and were able to give Amy a nice set too. And they were so excited! We just can’t believe how blessed we’ve been to be able to find and teach them. We love it!
This afternoon we dropped in on Lorelle Ness whom we’d visited when we first came here. We had a talk of Elder Uchtdorf’s “On the Road to Damascus” that we thought would help her. We had a good visit with her and challenged her to take the steps necessary to turn back to Christ and the church to guide her life and get past the bad things that happened six years ago. She said she would think it through and give us a call. She is such a sharp lady; Satan has really worked to keep her from progressing. We hope we can help her climb back up.
September 4, 2011 Sunday
Happy Father’s Day! Not sure if you remember from last year that Fathers Day in Australia is in September. (That must be because they aren’t celebrating Labor Day this weekend.) It was cute; someone had picked some small purple flowers from their yard, wrapped a few stems with scotch tape and stuck a pin on them so all the dad’s had a boutonniere at church. They were pretty wilted by the time we got out of church, but it’s the thought that counts. I think it was Deborah, the Primary President, who did it.
The best part of the day was that part way through testimony meeting Amy and Brett showed up with their kids. They had been to breakfast at his parents and “done the gift thing” so they came to church. There were 2 or 3 beautiful testimonies at the end that they heard and really enjoyed. President Moulds hurried down to welcome Brett and tell him how great it was that they had come with their kids ‘cause “we are a family church.” Michelle Olds was thrilled that they came and had coloring books and crayons for Blake and Keydon(?). Of course, they each ended up out in the foyer with Keydon; he’s 2 and never had to be quiet before. They stayed for Sunday School. We met in the kitchen/seminary room/nursery for Gospel Essentials so the kids could play. Michelle Olds and Tammy Crooks came in with their little kids too. And it worked. We taught, the adults listened and participated and the kids made noises that for the most part we were able to ignore.
We had asked President Moulds if the branch had any copies of the LDS bible that we could give to Brett. He came out of his office with a branch new set of leather scriptures for him. He mentioned he had another set of a different color too. We gave him some money and were able to give Amy a nice set too. And they were so excited! We just can’t believe how blessed we’ve been to be able to find and teach them. We love it!
This afternoon we dropped in on Lorelle Ness whom we’d visited when we first came here. We had a talk of Elder Uchtdorf’s “On the Road to Damascus” that we thought would help her. We had a good visit with her and challenged her to take the steps necessary to turn back to Christ and the church to guide her life and get past the bad things that happened six years ago. She said she would think it through and give us a call. She is such a sharp lady; Satan has really worked to keep her from progressing. We hope we can help her climb back up.
A TRIP TO THE NARROGIN MUSEUM
Orson standing by a "thatching machine." It bundled straw together so it could be loaded and shipped somewhere. Just looked like a big old sewing machine to us.
I'm not sure my hips would fit in this old fashioned "hip bath."
Baptismal Font--no wonder they baptize babies! And it's only big enough for their feet.
I'm not sure my hips would fit in this old fashioned "hip bath."
Baptismal Font--no wonder they baptize babies! And it's only big enough for their feet.
BRETT AND AMY
September 3, 2011 Saturday
Brett and Amy are the good news. We met with them yesterday and gave him the first lesson. He’s a nice guy who just seems to accept everything we tell him. He’s excited to learn about the restoration; and when we told him that he would be able to give blessings to his family and that their son would be passing the sacrament in 6 years, he grinned from ear to ear.
Today we gave them the plan of salvation and it was a beautiful experience. Our biggest challenge will be getting him to attend church. He works at the Boddington mines as a diesel mechanic. He works 2 weeks on and 1 week off. Weeks begin on Tuesday so he’ll only be able to attend church once every 3 weeks. In order to be baptized, a person must attend church at least twice. Of course we don’t want to baptized him just for the sake of getting a baptism, but he and Amy seem so ready that it’s hard to just have to wait. Tomorrow is Father’s Day and his family always does a breakfast together so there goes getting them to church tomorrow. We found out that Brett used to work for President Moulds, the branch president. There are all kinds of connections in a small town.
We haven’t been able to see Tracy since Tuesday. It’s unusual for her to not be at home. I hope everything is okay with her.
Brett and Amy are the good news. We met with them yesterday and gave him the first lesson. He’s a nice guy who just seems to accept everything we tell him. He’s excited to learn about the restoration; and when we told him that he would be able to give blessings to his family and that their son would be passing the sacrament in 6 years, he grinned from ear to ear.
Today we gave them the plan of salvation and it was a beautiful experience. Our biggest challenge will be getting him to attend church. He works at the Boddington mines as a diesel mechanic. He works 2 weeks on and 1 week off. Weeks begin on Tuesday so he’ll only be able to attend church once every 3 weeks. In order to be baptized, a person must attend church at least twice. Of course we don’t want to baptized him just for the sake of getting a baptism, but he and Amy seem so ready that it’s hard to just have to wait. Tomorrow is Father’s Day and his family always does a breakfast together so there goes getting them to church tomorrow. We found out that Brett used to work for President Moulds, the branch president. There are all kinds of connections in a small town.
We haven’t been able to see Tracy since Tuesday. It’s unusual for her to not be at home. I hope everything is okay with her.
KATANNING
Inside the old flour mill in Katanning. The old guy standing by the machinery wouldn't stay there. I had to bring him home.
Allergy fields. No, I really mean canola fields. Who knew canola oil could come from such pretty stuff?
September 1, 2011 Thursday
Today we drove to Katanning. It’s the city a little over an hour’s drive south of here. The Crooks family lives there and brings their 5 young kids every Sunday to church. There were also 5 other names on the branch list there that we decided to visit. We stopped at the Visitors’ Centre, which was located in an old flour mill. It was cool to see but they didn’t have a good map. So we went to the library and paid $.55 for a copy of a good map that had a legend for all the streets.
Katanning is a huge wool processing centre and they also process lots of sheep for meat. We passed a place with a sign on it, “Abbatoir.” It was a huge building and there were lots of cars there. We wondered what it was. Later Sister Crooks told us the abbatoir is where they process the meat. Maybe if we’d taken French in school we’d have know that? Katanning advertises itself as a multi-cultural town. They do have a small mosque and we saw 3 Muslim women at Woolworths. Katanning’s population is about the same as Narrogin, but it’s a little more spread out.
First we visited Melinda Hogland. She turned out to be an American who came over here in 1974 to teach school. She grew up in California and went to college in Utah. When she graduated there were too many teachers and not enough jobs. Australia was the other way around and it brought a huge planeload of teachers over. Melinda ended up in Katanning, got married, raised two kids and is still teaching school there. She was nice enough to talk to but let us know that the “church is all part of history for me now.” She didn’t want home or visiting teachers although she says it seems like someone contacts her every six month or so.
Next we went after James and Brian Jardine. They were on the list as living together and both were adults. We went to their house on Park St. The people there said they’d moved to Daping Street to a yellow house with big sheds behind it. So we drove down Daping and didn’t see anything matching that description. We did find a yellow house on the corner of Daping and another street with a small shed behind it. The man who lived there said he wasn’t Jim, but he told us Jim did odd jobs at the old Federal Hotel in town. So we went to the hotel. A guy working in the kitchen gave us Jim’s phone number. (Good thing this was a small town.) Jim was really surprised to hear from us and said we could come over for a visit. He had a job to do but he could put it off for a while. He did live in a yellow house on Daping Street but it needed paint badly and the big sheds were way behind their place. He invited us in and introduced us to his wife, Diane, who goes by Di. He’s about 60 and she’s 40. He was surprised that we had him on any list and didn’t know there was a branch in Narrogin. They’ve lived there 10 years and ours was the first contact. What nice people! He and his first wife raised their kids in the church but then divorced. Di’s family was members but apostatized when she was about 14. When they married, their reception was at the Thornlie chapel. They had sisters teach them the missionary lessons, but Di wasn’t baptized. Orson thinks she can be rebaptized since it was her parents that had her name removed and not Di who requested it. We are going to check into it for her. We ended up visiting for about an hour and a half. They were excited to get a couple of old Ensigns that we had in the car. They made the whole trip down there worth it.
It just amazes us. It seems like all over West Australia that if someone doesn’t come to church, nobody even bothers to look for them. We’ve run into this in every ward and branch we’ve worked in. We then tried to visit the two Polynesian sisters who come to Sacrament Meeting about twice a month, but neither was home. So we stopped by to visit the Crooks for a minute and then headed home. We got back here about 5. It was a good day and the weather was beautiful.
On the way down there we passed field after field of bright yellow canola plants. They are in full bloom right now. We pulled up a little lane between 2 fields to take some photos. The air smelled just beautiful. The sad part is that I’m allergic to them and was stuffed up and sneezing and blowing the whole time. Once we got into town away from the fields I was okay. We bought a couple of vege pasties, a big bottle of orange Fanta, and a couple of dessert squares for lunch. It was a very filling lunch. It was the first pastie I liked. The others we’ve had just didn’t do it. These were really good.
Allergy fields. No, I really mean canola fields. Who knew canola oil could come from such pretty stuff?
September 1, 2011 Thursday
Today we drove to Katanning. It’s the city a little over an hour’s drive south of here. The Crooks family lives there and brings their 5 young kids every Sunday to church. There were also 5 other names on the branch list there that we decided to visit. We stopped at the Visitors’ Centre, which was located in an old flour mill. It was cool to see but they didn’t have a good map. So we went to the library and paid $.55 for a copy of a good map that had a legend for all the streets.
Katanning is a huge wool processing centre and they also process lots of sheep for meat. We passed a place with a sign on it, “Abbatoir.” It was a huge building and there were lots of cars there. We wondered what it was. Later Sister Crooks told us the abbatoir is where they process the meat. Maybe if we’d taken French in school we’d have know that? Katanning advertises itself as a multi-cultural town. They do have a small mosque and we saw 3 Muslim women at Woolworths. Katanning’s population is about the same as Narrogin, but it’s a little more spread out.
First we visited Melinda Hogland. She turned out to be an American who came over here in 1974 to teach school. She grew up in California and went to college in Utah. When she graduated there were too many teachers and not enough jobs. Australia was the other way around and it brought a huge planeload of teachers over. Melinda ended up in Katanning, got married, raised two kids and is still teaching school there. She was nice enough to talk to but let us know that the “church is all part of history for me now.” She didn’t want home or visiting teachers although she says it seems like someone contacts her every six month or so.
Next we went after James and Brian Jardine. They were on the list as living together and both were adults. We went to their house on Park St. The people there said they’d moved to Daping Street to a yellow house with big sheds behind it. So we drove down Daping and didn’t see anything matching that description. We did find a yellow house on the corner of Daping and another street with a small shed behind it. The man who lived there said he wasn’t Jim, but he told us Jim did odd jobs at the old Federal Hotel in town. So we went to the hotel. A guy working in the kitchen gave us Jim’s phone number. (Good thing this was a small town.) Jim was really surprised to hear from us and said we could come over for a visit. He had a job to do but he could put it off for a while. He did live in a yellow house on Daping Street but it needed paint badly and the big sheds were way behind their place. He invited us in and introduced us to his wife, Diane, who goes by Di. He’s about 60 and she’s 40. He was surprised that we had him on any list and didn’t know there was a branch in Narrogin. They’ve lived there 10 years and ours was the first contact. What nice people! He and his first wife raised their kids in the church but then divorced. Di’s family was members but apostatized when she was about 14. When they married, their reception was at the Thornlie chapel. They had sisters teach them the missionary lessons, but Di wasn’t baptized. Orson thinks she can be rebaptized since it was her parents that had her name removed and not Di who requested it. We are going to check into it for her. We ended up visiting for about an hour and a half. They were excited to get a couple of old Ensigns that we had in the car. They made the whole trip down there worth it.
It just amazes us. It seems like all over West Australia that if someone doesn’t come to church, nobody even bothers to look for them. We’ve run into this in every ward and branch we’ve worked in. We then tried to visit the two Polynesian sisters who come to Sacrament Meeting about twice a month, but neither was home. So we stopped by to visit the Crooks for a minute and then headed home. We got back here about 5. It was a good day and the weather was beautiful.
On the way down there we passed field after field of bright yellow canola plants. They are in full bloom right now. We pulled up a little lane between 2 fields to take some photos. The air smelled just beautiful. The sad part is that I’m allergic to them and was stuffed up and sneezing and blowing the whole time. Once we got into town away from the fields I was okay. We bought a couple of vege pasties, a big bottle of orange Fanta, and a couple of dessert squares for lunch. It was a very filling lunch. It was the first pastie I liked. The others we’ve had just didn’t do it. These were really good.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Explanation
We just have a few minutes here. I'll post a few photos and forget the other things. We are teaching Amy and her husband in an hour :o)
“… AND MY HUSBAND WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED WITH YOU GUYS TOO.”
August 25, 2011 Thursday
“… AND MY HUSBAND WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED WITH YOU GUYS TOO.”
WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! The above was the message on the voice mail tonight. This has been a really slow week. Fibromyalgia hit late Monday and we’ve been stuck at home ever since. We had a teaching appointment with Amy this afternoon and set the date of September 25th for her baptism in order to work around Brett’s work schedule of two weeks gone and then one week home. We felt kind of bad it was so far out, but what could we do? She also told us she hadn’t told Brett yet that she was ready to be baptized but said she would.
Tonight we were playing Michigan Rummy when the phone rang. We missed answering it and then were beeped to let us know that we had a message. It was Amy. She’d told him about being baptized and he said he’d like to be baptized too. He said he’d been christened as a baby, but that’s all he’s ever done in a church. We are so excited. Orson said he had been praying all day that a way would open up that we could help them become a complete family in the church. Amy had told us already that he didn’t oppose anything she did religiously. It sounds to us that he wants to join her and make their family a united family in the gospel. What a blessing! We are so grateful and humbled by this.
“… AND MY HUSBAND WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED WITH YOU GUYS TOO.”
WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! The above was the message on the voice mail tonight. This has been a really slow week. Fibromyalgia hit late Monday and we’ve been stuck at home ever since. We had a teaching appointment with Amy this afternoon and set the date of September 25th for her baptism in order to work around Brett’s work schedule of two weeks gone and then one week home. We felt kind of bad it was so far out, but what could we do? She also told us she hadn’t told Brett yet that she was ready to be baptized but said she would.
Tonight we were playing Michigan Rummy when the phone rang. We missed answering it and then were beeped to let us know that we had a message. It was Amy. She’d told him about being baptized and he said he’d like to be baptized too. He said he’d been christened as a baby, but that’s all he’s ever done in a church. We are so excited. Orson said he had been praying all day that a way would open up that we could help them become a complete family in the church. Amy had told us already that he didn’t oppose anything she did religiously. It sounds to us that he wants to join her and make their family a united family in the gospel. What a blessing! We are so grateful and humbled by this.
SISTER HEAD
People living in Wickepin. How's this for a town project?
August 13, 2011 Saturday
SISTER HEAD
Late this afternoon we decided to visit some inactives. The first one had a note on the door, “Please don’t knock, I’m sleeping.” We decided they really were inactive. Next we went to find Lillian Head. Her house looked quite run down and nobody answered when we knocked. So we went back out to the car to write her a note. Orson took the note and headed back to the door when he saw her down the driveway at the back of the house. She had us come in the front door and wall down a narrow hallway all the way to the room at the back. She had a small room with a table and chairs in the middle and around the sides a dresser (broken drawers), a piano, a sofa, a wood stove, a china closet and two or three other things that I can’t remember. There was barely walking room around the table. She had us sit there.
Lillian joined the church back in the 60’s or early 70’s; she can’t remember. She is 85 and, bless her heart, has all the wrinkles to show it. She grew up in the area we worked in last and moved down to Narrogin 20 years ago after she retired to be near her son. But her son has a daughter at a Catholic School somewhere out of town, so now he rents a flat there to be close to here. We got the impression Ken doesn’t visit his mother often. But she was cheerful and didn’t seem to mind how she was living. She has a car, cats, a dog, and some chickens. She says the foxes keep the number of chickens (chooks, as they call them here) low. She was watching television when we got there but turned it off so we could visit. She says she hasn’t been to church since she moved to Narrogin, but she knows where it is. She didn’t mention home or visiting teachers so we figure she doesn’t get them.
We hope we can work with her to get her to come to church. We got talking about dogs and she mentioned that she’d had both Australian sheep dogs and kelpies which are also used with sheep. The question came up if the herding abilities they have are instinctive or trained so she told us about a kelpie (hope that is spelled correctly) pup she had. With no encouragement from anyone, this pup would round up all the chickens in the yard and get them back into their pen. Then he would lie there in case any tried to escape. That dog was definitely born with the instinct.
August 13, 2011 Saturday
SISTER HEAD
Late this afternoon we decided to visit some inactives. The first one had a note on the door, “Please don’t knock, I’m sleeping.” We decided they really were inactive. Next we went to find Lillian Head. Her house looked quite run down and nobody answered when we knocked. So we went back out to the car to write her a note. Orson took the note and headed back to the door when he saw her down the driveway at the back of the house. She had us come in the front door and wall down a narrow hallway all the way to the room at the back. She had a small room with a table and chairs in the middle and around the sides a dresser (broken drawers), a piano, a sofa, a wood stove, a china closet and two or three other things that I can’t remember. There was barely walking room around the table. She had us sit there.
Lillian joined the church back in the 60’s or early 70’s; she can’t remember. She is 85 and, bless her heart, has all the wrinkles to show it. She grew up in the area we worked in last and moved down to Narrogin 20 years ago after she retired to be near her son. But her son has a daughter at a Catholic School somewhere out of town, so now he rents a flat there to be close to here. We got the impression Ken doesn’t visit his mother often. But she was cheerful and didn’t seem to mind how she was living. She has a car, cats, a dog, and some chickens. She says the foxes keep the number of chickens (chooks, as they call them here) low. She was watching television when we got there but turned it off so we could visit. She says she hasn’t been to church since she moved to Narrogin, but she knows where it is. She didn’t mention home or visiting teachers so we figure she doesn’t get them.
We hope we can work with her to get her to come to church. We got talking about dogs and she mentioned that she’d had both Australian sheep dogs and kelpies which are also used with sheep. The question came up if the herding abilities they have are instinctive or trained so she told us about a kelpie (hope that is spelled correctly) pup she had. With no encouragement from anyone, this pup would round up all the chickens in the yard and get them back into their pen. Then he would lie there in case any tried to escape. That dog was definitely born with the instinct.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Drat and more drat!
Now the computer says that the CD I put stuff on to copy here was created with something newer than this computer has and it's going to take 25 minutes to download the update. Problem is that I only have 5 more minutes on the timer. Maybe you'll all just have to wait to see our photos. Amy set a baptism date of Sept 25 and called last night to say she told her husband what she was doing and now he wants to join her. We are soooooooooooooo excited. All else is good here. Sorry this is such a mess now.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
DUMB COMPUTER OR DUMB OPERATOR?
Last night I was having problems copying photos to the CD to bring here to the internet place. Finally a whole bunch of stuff was copied but I wasn't sure if it worked the way it was supposed to. New computers are for the birds!!! I even had a couple of bird photos. Anyway, nothing on the CD will copy to the blog and so you are out of luck this week. Hope you enjoyed last week. Love you all. Narrogin is still good. The weather is warming up a tad, but it's still freezing in the middle of the night when the heat is turned off.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Photos
World's largest ram in Wagin, West Australia. Part of our area.
"Portaroo" the closest we'll ever come to an Australian pet.Actually, she belongs to the our neighbor in our duplex, but she likes to visit while Staci is at work.
Look what we found tracting in the country.
"Portaroo" the closest we'll ever come to an Australian pet.Actually, she belongs to the our neighbor in our duplex, but she likes to visit while Staci is at work.
Look what we found tracting in the country.
MORE VISITORS
Spreading out fleece off one sheep
Fleece rolled up
Echindna "hiding"
Echidna up close
August 11, 2011 Thursday
Today Elder and Sister Innes came to see us. They are in charge of flats and cars and came down with stuff for us. They brought us a lawn mower. They were amazed at how large the yard is. “It didn’t look that big online!” We laughed. They also brought us a TV set, but it didn’t work when we hooked it up to the antenna cable inside the flat. So they took it back. Pretty much, we think they just wanted to see our flat and have a day off of the regular rat-race that they run. They brought rolls and cookies. I’d made chicken noodle soup and apple cake so we enjoyed lunch together. She was not impressed with the location of the toilet—in the farthest possible location from the bedrooms. They also brought us some much needed DVDs and pamphlets, a Bible we’d asked for, a rake, pruning shears and a few other things. After lunch we took them over to see the chapel and then they headed back to Perth via the “Mountain Road.”
Later this afternoon we were tracting out on a country road when we came to a place that sort of looked like there might be a house amid the farm buildings. We didn’t really see a house, but there was some wash on a line. Anyway, Orson went into one of the sheds and stayed a while. Then he came out, told me to bring the camera and we went in to watch some sheep shearing. One guy with a good sized pair of clippers would grab a sheep, sort of sit it down on its haunches and proceed to shear the whole sheep in one large piece of wool. The other fellow would then pick it up and flop it on what looked like a piece of chain link fence. Little bits of fluff and grass, etc., would fall onto the floor. Then he’d go over and sweep the floor where the shearing had taken place and then come back, spread out the wool, pull off the filthy pieces and parts that ran down the legs. He’d pull off any wool that had blood on it (some sheep were nicked during the process although they never bleated). He’d check a piece of wool to make sure it was strong, then roll up the whole pelt(?) and put it in the box that weighed and packed the wool into bales. He showed us what made the difference between good quality wool and mediocre wool. High quality wool grows in kinky strands and is all the same color. Bad food or a ewe who lost a lamb will produce weak fibers or discoloration in the wool fibers. He seemed happy to have someone to explain all to. He was bald on top but had a beard at least 6 inches long, and he stood at least 6’5” tall. The guy doing the shearing was a little short fellow who looked to be about 55 or so. We asked him how many he could shear in a day and he said 130-140 but that his “racing days” were over.
After we left that place, we drove on up the road a ways, and I spotted something moving near a tree about 8 feet off the side of the road. It turned out to be an echidna. It looks sort of like a porcupine but smaller. The quills were really pretty, kind of a yellow gold in color. When it sensed that we were around, it curled up into a ball and pretended to be “dead.” It didn’t move for the longest time. We tossed a few sticks near it and wiggled a branch lying near it, but it just laid there. We finally gave up and left. That was a real surprise to see it.
Fleece rolled up
Echindna "hiding"
Echidna up close
August 11, 2011 Thursday
Today Elder and Sister Innes came to see us. They are in charge of flats and cars and came down with stuff for us. They brought us a lawn mower. They were amazed at how large the yard is. “It didn’t look that big online!” We laughed. They also brought us a TV set, but it didn’t work when we hooked it up to the antenna cable inside the flat. So they took it back. Pretty much, we think they just wanted to see our flat and have a day off of the regular rat-race that they run. They brought rolls and cookies. I’d made chicken noodle soup and apple cake so we enjoyed lunch together. She was not impressed with the location of the toilet—in the farthest possible location from the bedrooms. They also brought us some much needed DVDs and pamphlets, a Bible we’d asked for, a rake, pruning shears and a few other things. After lunch we took them over to see the chapel and then they headed back to Perth via the “Mountain Road.”
Later this afternoon we were tracting out on a country road when we came to a place that sort of looked like there might be a house amid the farm buildings. We didn’t really see a house, but there was some wash on a line. Anyway, Orson went into one of the sheds and stayed a while. Then he came out, told me to bring the camera and we went in to watch some sheep shearing. One guy with a good sized pair of clippers would grab a sheep, sort of sit it down on its haunches and proceed to shear the whole sheep in one large piece of wool. The other fellow would then pick it up and flop it on what looked like a piece of chain link fence. Little bits of fluff and grass, etc., would fall onto the floor. Then he’d go over and sweep the floor where the shearing had taken place and then come back, spread out the wool, pull off the filthy pieces and parts that ran down the legs. He’d pull off any wool that had blood on it (some sheep were nicked during the process although they never bleated). He’d check a piece of wool to make sure it was strong, then roll up the whole pelt(?) and put it in the box that weighed and packed the wool into bales. He showed us what made the difference between good quality wool and mediocre wool. High quality wool grows in kinky strands and is all the same color. Bad food or a ewe who lost a lamb will produce weak fibers or discoloration in the wool fibers. He seemed happy to have someone to explain all to. He was bald on top but had a beard at least 6 inches long, and he stood at least 6’5” tall. The guy doing the shearing was a little short fellow who looked to be about 55 or so. We asked him how many he could shear in a day and he said 130-140 but that his “racing days” were over.
After we left that place, we drove on up the road a ways, and I spotted something moving near a tree about 8 feet off the side of the road. It turned out to be an echidna. It looks sort of like a porcupine but smaller. The quills were really pretty, kind of a yellow gold in color. When it sensed that we were around, it curled up into a ball and pretended to be “dead.” It didn’t move for the longest time. We tossed a few sticks near it and wiggled a branch lying near it, but it just laid there. We finally gave up and left. That was a real surprise to see it.
KANGAROOS
Can you see both? Mother nature does a good job of hiding them. 
August 9, 2011 Tuesday
Finally, we saw some kangaroos in the wild today. Late this afternoon we were on a country road just south of town when Orson spotted some kangaroos crossing the road a little way in front of us. When we got closer we saw some still sitting in the trees waiting to cross. We pulled up and took some pictures, then they took off back into the woods. When we came back a few minutes later there they were again. Eventually, they hopped across the road in front of us. We figure there were 9 or 10 in the group. One was quite small and there were two really big ones. Their gray and brown fur blended in perfectly with the bark on the trees. Nature did a great job on them.
August 9, 2011 Tuesday
Finally, we saw some kangaroos in the wild today. Late this afternoon we were on a country road just south of town when Orson spotted some kangaroos crossing the road a little way in front of us. When we got closer we saw some still sitting in the trees waiting to cross. We pulled up and took some pictures, then they took off back into the woods. When we came back a few minutes later there they were again. Eventually, they hopped across the road in front of us. We figure there were 9 or 10 in the group. One was quite small and there were two really big ones. Their gray and brown fur blended in perfectly with the bark on the trees. Nature did a great job on them.
SHE'S STILL WITH US
August 8, 2011 Monday
This morning we dropped by to see Amy. We had had an appointment for a lesson with her on Saturday, but she wasn’t there. We felt really bad about that. At church Sunday, Michelle Lode commented that when she was picking up her little girl from the sitter (Amy) on Thursday, she had seen the Book of Mormon there and commented, “Hey, I go to that church. You should come and visit us.” Amy replied that she had been going to come, but then something had come up. So when we arrived there this morning, she welcomed us right in and told us about “a lady she tended for telling her that she goes to the Mormon church.” She explained what had happened on Saturday and that she had read some in the Book of Mormon. She had some questions and we ended up staying almost an hour. She’s very inquisitive and wants to make sure she is making the right decision about where to take her children to learn about God. She made an appointment for next week so we can go back again. This Sunday is stake conference in Perth—I wish it weren’t. We’d really like her to come to church in Narrogin this week. She also told us that she and her husband are thinking of moving closer to where he works in the little town of Codington. The good news is that Codington is also part of the Narrogin Branch. It’s a good hour away from here at least, but other members drive that far each week. We talked to Michelle tonight and she said that Amy is acquainted with Jeremy and Marja Priest who are members here in Narrogin also.
We also went to visit Tracy Anniese this morning. She is a girl who has been in the hospital and is being treated for depression. The nurse at the hospital called and asked if we would drop in on her. The poor girl—she’s in her 30’s and has been diagnosed as depressed many years ago. She has an 8-year-old son, but he’s in foster care because she’s unable to care for him. She sees him once every two weeks and has lunch with him. She has no family nearby and lives in a one-room flat. Her life is depressing. She does have the J-dubs drop by. She says she likes to talk about God. It puts us in a bind. We offered to visit her as a community service; if we start talking religion with her, they’ll think we are using it to proselyte. I’m going to call Diane, the nurse, tomorrow and let her know the situation and ask her what her recommendation is.
We went tracting this afternoon and ran into a fellow who was at the potluck fellowship thing at the Anglican Church. He is in his last year of study to become a Baptist minister. He did say we could drop by next month between school terms next month and discuss things with him. He may not like hearing that his chosen profession is a sham. :o)
This morning we dropped by to see Amy. We had had an appointment for a lesson with her on Saturday, but she wasn’t there. We felt really bad about that. At church Sunday, Michelle Lode commented that when she was picking up her little girl from the sitter (Amy) on Thursday, she had seen the Book of Mormon there and commented, “Hey, I go to that church. You should come and visit us.” Amy replied that she had been going to come, but then something had come up. So when we arrived there this morning, she welcomed us right in and told us about “a lady she tended for telling her that she goes to the Mormon church.” She explained what had happened on Saturday and that she had read some in the Book of Mormon. She had some questions and we ended up staying almost an hour. She’s very inquisitive and wants to make sure she is making the right decision about where to take her children to learn about God. She made an appointment for next week so we can go back again. This Sunday is stake conference in Perth—I wish it weren’t. We’d really like her to come to church in Narrogin this week. She also told us that she and her husband are thinking of moving closer to where he works in the little town of Codington. The good news is that Codington is also part of the Narrogin Branch. It’s a good hour away from here at least, but other members drive that far each week. We talked to Michelle tonight and she said that Amy is acquainted with Jeremy and Marja Priest who are members here in Narrogin also.
We also went to visit Tracy Anniese this morning. She is a girl who has been in the hospital and is being treated for depression. The nurse at the hospital called and asked if we would drop in on her. The poor girl—she’s in her 30’s and has been diagnosed as depressed many years ago. She has an 8-year-old son, but he’s in foster care because she’s unable to care for him. She sees him once every two weeks and has lunch with him. She has no family nearby and lives in a one-room flat. Her life is depressing. She does have the J-dubs drop by. She says she likes to talk about God. It puts us in a bind. We offered to visit her as a community service; if we start talking religion with her, they’ll think we are using it to proselyte. I’m going to call Diane, the nurse, tomorrow and let her know the situation and ask her what her recommendation is.
We went tracting this afternoon and ran into a fellow who was at the potluck fellowship thing at the Anglican Church. He is in his last year of study to become a Baptist minister. He did say we could drop by next month between school terms next month and discuss things with him. He may not like hearing that his chosen profession is a sham. :o)
BLACK BROWNIES, ANYONE?
August 7, 2011 Sunday
This afternoon we went tracting. At the last house at the end of the street, we were invited in. It turned out to be a family that had emigrated from South Africa four months ago. The husband, Dieterick, was interested to see why a “man of God” would have knocked on his door. His wife, Madelin, admitted that she’s very skeptical about some religious things. She did most of the talking and had some really good questions that she wanted answered. We gave her little bits and told them we’d like to come back a few times to teach them the whole thing. I think they were both impressed that we assured them up front that it would be up to them to get the answer from God whether what we tell them is true. They’ve been attending a Christian group where there are several other South Africans attending, but they aren’t really attached to it. They have three children. The 10-year old daughter, Diedray, stuck around while we talked. The boys were younger and in and out a lot. It’s a beautiful family. They prayed about the decision to leave their homeland and immigrate to Australia. They feel like their prayers were answered in every way. Dieterick seems to be looking for more than the Christian church is giving him. We hope we can be guided to lead them along in the right way.
Church today was good. It was testimony meeting and almost all the adults bore their testimony. One of the teenage girls did and a couple of little kids did. I got to teach Cheryl in the Gospel Essentials class. She is so happy to have found the church. It’s just fun to be able to explain things to her. Then I taught RS. Sister Moulds, the RS president, had asked me to teach the visiting teaching lesson, “A Society of Holy Women.” That’s an interesting topic. I’d never thought of us as holy women, but Eliza R. Snow said we should all become holy women. Sister Allred, in the message this month, says that as we do the work of Relief Society which is a holy organization we will become holy. So the questions it brings up: 1. What did I do last week to increase my holiness? And 2. What am I going to do next week to increase my holiness?
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! We don’t have a timer on the microwave in this flat nor is there one on the stove. So far, I’ve been lucky to have not burned anything beyond recognition. But tonight I made some chocolate chip brownies to take to the ladies in the library who were so kind to us last week. I checked them at 40 minutes and decided to give them 10 more minutes. At 50 minutes I decided to give them 3 more minutes. And I just remembered them after they had been in the oven for an hour and 40 minutes. They don’t smell terribly burned, but the test will be whether we will be able to cut them once they cool down. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
This afternoon we went tracting. At the last house at the end of the street, we were invited in. It turned out to be a family that had emigrated from South Africa four months ago. The husband, Dieterick, was interested to see why a “man of God” would have knocked on his door. His wife, Madelin, admitted that she’s very skeptical about some religious things. She did most of the talking and had some really good questions that she wanted answered. We gave her little bits and told them we’d like to come back a few times to teach them the whole thing. I think they were both impressed that we assured them up front that it would be up to them to get the answer from God whether what we tell them is true. They’ve been attending a Christian group where there are several other South Africans attending, but they aren’t really attached to it. They have three children. The 10-year old daughter, Diedray, stuck around while we talked. The boys were younger and in and out a lot. It’s a beautiful family. They prayed about the decision to leave their homeland and immigrate to Australia. They feel like their prayers were answered in every way. Dieterick seems to be looking for more than the Christian church is giving him. We hope we can be guided to lead them along in the right way.
Church today was good. It was testimony meeting and almost all the adults bore their testimony. One of the teenage girls did and a couple of little kids did. I got to teach Cheryl in the Gospel Essentials class. She is so happy to have found the church. It’s just fun to be able to explain things to her. Then I taught RS. Sister Moulds, the RS president, had asked me to teach the visiting teaching lesson, “A Society of Holy Women.” That’s an interesting topic. I’d never thought of us as holy women, but Eliza R. Snow said we should all become holy women. Sister Allred, in the message this month, says that as we do the work of Relief Society which is a holy organization we will become holy. So the questions it brings up: 1. What did I do last week to increase my holiness? And 2. What am I going to do next week to increase my holiness?
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! We don’t have a timer on the microwave in this flat nor is there one on the stove. So far, I’ve been lucky to have not burned anything beyond recognition. But tonight I made some chocolate chip brownies to take to the ladies in the library who were so kind to us last week. I checked them at 40 minutes and decided to give them 10 more minutes. At 50 minutes I decided to give them 3 more minutes. And I just remembered them after they had been in the oven for an hour and 40 minutes. They don’t smell terribly burned, but the test will be whether we will be able to cut them once they cool down. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Iese
August 4, 2011 Thursday
Pronounced “eese.” Iese is a woman from Indonesia that comes into the library every afternoon after she finishes her job cleaning at one of the hotels in town. She’s from Indonesia, 38, and in the process of getting a divorce. She seemed very cheerful each time she came in, and yesterday she pulled out two meat pies from her wheeled bag she pulls everywhere and gave them to us after we talked to her for a while. She was visiting her sister in Tasmania when she met her husband a little over 2 years ago. He is 30 years older than she is. They dated a little and continued to talk on the phone until he convinced her to marry him. She is Muslim and refused to do it the Aussie way, “try it before you buy it,” as she called it.
But sadly, she said he was very different once they married and wasn’t nice to live with at all. So they have separated. He’s living in an assisted living center and she’s doing the best she can to provide for herself. She really likes Australia and hopes to stay here. Anyway, today she came in and said how stressed she is because she needs to find new accommodations. She’s been renting a room and cleaning for a guy, but he’s got a girlfriend now so that arrangement no longer works. She asked if we knew anyone. We suggested she check at some of the churches in the area to see if they have someone who would like to rent a room to her. She can afford a hotel room, but she wants something bigger. So pretty soon, I was going with her to see the local Catholic Priest to see if he knew anyone. Their church is near the library. He was doing mass so we walked to a couple of other places but didn’t find anything. We feel so bad for her because she has no family here, no car, and now needs a new place to live.
We are continuing to be at the library this week. It’s been good. Everyday there are at least two or three people who come in and we are able to help them or get them started in trying to find their family history. One girl sat down and said she wanted to find out her stuff. She said she didn’t know who her father is. Then she said she hasn’t spoken to her mother in a long time and she lives over on the east coast. How do you help someone like that? We encouraged her to talk to some of her half-siblings for starters or aunts and uncles. Some folks really have a sad background to overcome. How grateful we are for our heritage!
Pronounced “eese.” Iese is a woman from Indonesia that comes into the library every afternoon after she finishes her job cleaning at one of the hotels in town. She’s from Indonesia, 38, and in the process of getting a divorce. She seemed very cheerful each time she came in, and yesterday she pulled out two meat pies from her wheeled bag she pulls everywhere and gave them to us after we talked to her for a while. She was visiting her sister in Tasmania when she met her husband a little over 2 years ago. He is 30 years older than she is. They dated a little and continued to talk on the phone until he convinced her to marry him. She is Muslim and refused to do it the Aussie way, “try it before you buy it,” as she called it.
But sadly, she said he was very different once they married and wasn’t nice to live with at all. So they have separated. He’s living in an assisted living center and she’s doing the best she can to provide for herself. She really likes Australia and hopes to stay here. Anyway, today she came in and said how stressed she is because she needs to find new accommodations. She’s been renting a room and cleaning for a guy, but he’s got a girlfriend now so that arrangement no longer works. She asked if we knew anyone. We suggested she check at some of the churches in the area to see if they have someone who would like to rent a room to her. She can afford a hotel room, but she wants something bigger. So pretty soon, I was going with her to see the local Catholic Priest to see if he knew anyone. Their church is near the library. He was doing mass so we walked to a couple of other places but didn’t find anything. We feel so bad for her because she has no family here, no car, and now needs a new place to live.
We are continuing to be at the library this week. It’s been good. Everyday there are at least two or three people who come in and we are able to help them or get them started in trying to find their family history. One girl sat down and said she wanted to find out her stuff. She said she didn’t know who her father is. Then she said she hasn’t spoken to her mother in a long time and she lives over on the east coast. How do you help someone like that? We encouraged her to talk to some of her half-siblings for starters or aunts and uncles. Some folks really have a sad background to overcome. How grateful we are for our heritage!
VISITORS
Teaching family history at the Narrogine Library. Elder and Sister Orth are the visitors.
August 1, 2011 Monday
This morning at the library a gentleman came in who looked very familiar. He identified himself as having been at the activity the night before at the Anglican Church. I had noticed him there because he was the only man besides Orson in a shirt and tie. I had assumed he was the head guy of the Anglicans, but he wasn’t anywhere around when the meeting began. He explained that he’d had to leave early, but then he commented how surprised he was to see us there. He went on to say that it was great that we would come and be part of it. Pretty soon he sat down and we talked for almost an hour about how people in various churches need to reach out and befriend one another instead of being threatened by each other. He did know quite a bit about the history of our church but he didn’t realize that we have a congregation here in Narrogin. (That seems kind of odd since we have a couple of members who have been or are on the city council.) But it was a good conversation; it made us feel like we had done some good by going last night. The librarian, who had also been at the meeting, asked us if we were following her.
Before we left the house this morning we had a phone call from Elder and Sister Orth. They are assigned to the Albany Branch, which is a 4-hour drive south of Narrogin. They had been in Perth over the weekend and found out that we are now here so they wanted to stop by and visit us on their way back to Albany. So they showed up at the library about noon and we had a great visit with them. They told us that Elder and Sister Walker, a senior couple from Highland, Utah, had gone home a week ago. Evidently Sister Walker had been having some health problems, which couldn’t be treated without extensive testing, so the mission’s medical advisor told them she’d be better off returning home now. They’ve been in the mission just 13 months. He was Branch President in the Geralton Branch (about 4 hours north of Perth). A new senior couple just arrived in the mission; they will probably go to Geralton. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to visit with the Orth’s. They are from Brisbane and only have a little over 2 months left on their mission.
We had some really good conversations with people today about doing family history. We feel like it’s a good thing we are doing this. I noticed this afternoon that the librarians had a huge stack of books that need reshelving. When I told them I had worked in libraries and offered to help, they were very excited. The problem with doing that is I keep running onto more and more books that I want to read. I picked up a book to read about the first medical team that went into Banda Aceh from Australia after the Tsunami hit. It seems like it’s going to be a good read.
August 1, 2011 Monday
This morning at the library a gentleman came in who looked very familiar. He identified himself as having been at the activity the night before at the Anglican Church. I had noticed him there because he was the only man besides Orson in a shirt and tie. I had assumed he was the head guy of the Anglicans, but he wasn’t anywhere around when the meeting began. He explained that he’d had to leave early, but then he commented how surprised he was to see us there. He went on to say that it was great that we would come and be part of it. Pretty soon he sat down and we talked for almost an hour about how people in various churches need to reach out and befriend one another instead of being threatened by each other. He did know quite a bit about the history of our church but he didn’t realize that we have a congregation here in Narrogin. (That seems kind of odd since we have a couple of members who have been or are on the city council.) But it was a good conversation; it made us feel like we had done some good by going last night. The librarian, who had also been at the meeting, asked us if we were following her.
Before we left the house this morning we had a phone call from Elder and Sister Orth. They are assigned to the Albany Branch, which is a 4-hour drive south of Narrogin. They had been in Perth over the weekend and found out that we are now here so they wanted to stop by and visit us on their way back to Albany. So they showed up at the library about noon and we had a great visit with them. They told us that Elder and Sister Walker, a senior couple from Highland, Utah, had gone home a week ago. Evidently Sister Walker had been having some health problems, which couldn’t be treated without extensive testing, so the mission’s medical advisor told them she’d be better off returning home now. They’ve been in the mission just 13 months. He was Branch President in the Geralton Branch (about 4 hours north of Perth). A new senior couple just arrived in the mission; they will probably go to Geralton. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to visit with the Orth’s. They are from Brisbane and only have a little over 2 months left on their mission.
We had some really good conversations with people today about doing family history. We feel like it’s a good thing we are doing this. I noticed this afternoon that the librarians had a huge stack of books that need reshelving. When I told them I had worked in libraries and offered to help, they were very excited. The problem with doing that is I keep running onto more and more books that I want to read. I picked up a book to read about the first medical team that went into Banda Aceh from Australia after the Tsunami hit. It seems like it’s going to be a good read.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Photos around Narrogin
Sign on one of the roads into Narrogin.
Now this is a tree with character. It's a ghost gum--names for its white bark.
Guess I won't swing this time.
Reflections near Christmas Tree well. (The well was a disappointment--no photos there.)
Not the most fertile field, but the view in all directions is awesome!
These trees are blooming all around Narrogin right now.
Notice the cute little window in the side of the log. This is near Christmas Tree Well.
Now this is a tree with character. It's a ghost gum--names for its white bark.
Guess I won't swing this time.
Reflections near Christmas Tree well. (The well was a disappointment--no photos there.)
Not the most fertile field, but the view in all directions is awesome!
These trees are blooming all around Narrogin right now.
Notice the cute little window in the side of the log. This is near Christmas Tree Well.
Whoops!
I just noticed that the photos I posted last week were posted on the family blog. If you want to see our house, etc., go to Portereporter.blogspot.com
Thursday, July 28, 2011
AND MAYBE NOT
Now the computer is telling me it can't open the files I created on our new MacPro. Sorry to be flaky. Hopefully we can sort this out.
Back in the Blog World
Hey, we're back. There are a bunch of days that have gone by that we aren't even going to worry about posting. The update it that we are in a little town called Narrogin about 180 km southeast of Perth in the rolling hills. It's beautiful. Some of these posts will be out of order, but hopefully your brains will be able to figure it out. We moved here July 12.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
NICE "UNKNOWNS"
May 22, 2011 Sunday
Tonight we went hunting more “unknowns.” The first two were bad addresses. The silly inactive people move and don’t tell anyone. Nobody knows them or misses them, and they become lost. The biggest problem the church has here in West Australia is that nobody has taken the time to find everyone on the ward list. (Today we mentioned John, the guy we bought some food last week, and the bishop said, “Who’s that?”) At one house tonight, the people said they’d been living there for 3 years and do get mail occasionally for the woman we were looking for. So no one in the church has made an effort to locate her for at least 3 years. Obviously, she hasn’t been assigned home or visiting teachers in that period. It’s amazing how many people we find who haven’t had visits from the church for years. Very sad.
Now that I’m off my “soapbox,” I’ll proceed with my story. The third visit we tried to make was to William McKiddie. The list said he’s 39 and is a deacon. A guy came to the door; we asked for William. He opened the door, held out his hand and said, “I’m John.” So we asked if he was William’s brother, and he told us that he is William but goes by John. We asked if he had a minute and he invited us in. We met his non-member wife, Chris, who is a friendly, sharp lady, and also Tommy, 5, and Abby, 7. And they are cute, blonde kids. John was really upbeat; he was born in the church and had great experiences growing up and in the youth programs. He even went on bus rides to the Sydney Temple for baptisms—one way=3 days. However, he’s just drifted away. We think Chris may have had something to do with that; she was wearing a cross around her neck. He mentioned that if he ever went to the states, he only wanted to go to the south. He’d take a box and fill it with car parts! He’s a car nut. Right now he’s working on an 84 Bronco, and he says car parts are super cheap in the southern US compared to over here. He buys all kinds of things through E-bay. It’s cheaper to buy something from the US and have it shipped than to get it here in Aussieland. Anyway, it was a great visit, and he told us to feel free to call on him if anyone in the ward needs help with something. What a nice guy.
Tonight we went hunting more “unknowns.” The first two were bad addresses. The silly inactive people move and don’t tell anyone. Nobody knows them or misses them, and they become lost. The biggest problem the church has here in West Australia is that nobody has taken the time to find everyone on the ward list. (Today we mentioned John, the guy we bought some food last week, and the bishop said, “Who’s that?”) At one house tonight, the people said they’d been living there for 3 years and do get mail occasionally for the woman we were looking for. So no one in the church has made an effort to locate her for at least 3 years. Obviously, she hasn’t been assigned home or visiting teachers in that period. It’s amazing how many people we find who haven’t had visits from the church for years. Very sad.
Now that I’m off my “soapbox,” I’ll proceed with my story. The third visit we tried to make was to William McKiddie. The list said he’s 39 and is a deacon. A guy came to the door; we asked for William. He opened the door, held out his hand and said, “I’m John.” So we asked if he was William’s brother, and he told us that he is William but goes by John. We asked if he had a minute and he invited us in. We met his non-member wife, Chris, who is a friendly, sharp lady, and also Tommy, 5, and Abby, 7. And they are cute, blonde kids. John was really upbeat; he was born in the church and had great experiences growing up and in the youth programs. He even went on bus rides to the Sydney Temple for baptisms—one way=3 days. However, he’s just drifted away. We think Chris may have had something to do with that; she was wearing a cross around her neck. He mentioned that if he ever went to the states, he only wanted to go to the south. He’d take a box and fill it with car parts! He’s a car nut. Right now he’s working on an 84 Bronco, and he says car parts are super cheap in the southern US compared to over here. He buys all kinds of things through E-bay. It’s cheaper to buy something from the US and have it shipped than to get it here in Aussieland. Anyway, it was a great visit, and he told us to feel free to call on him if anyone in the ward needs help with something. What a nice guy.
AN EXPERIMENT
May 21, 2011 Saturday
Before we came to Australia, we were studying Preach My Gospel one day and the idea came to us of showing a church DVD in a member’s home. A few days before, we would invite people living near the member to come to the movie. Last week in priesthood and Relief Society, the lesson was on missionary work. Orson mentioned the idea in High Priests, and Brother Witahira took him up on the idea. So we have scheduled to show “The Testaments” on Monday at 11:00 am and again at 7:00 pm. Today we went to their neighborhood and started inviting people. We’ve made up a flyer that invites people to “come and enjoy a DVD about a family in ancient America as they anticipate and enjoy the Savior’s visit to them after his resurrection.” There were a lot of people who said they “weren’t sure” but took the flyer. We will drop back on Monday and remind them about it. We are really hoping it works. We’ve told Witihiras that they are our “guinea pigs” and they are comfortable with that.
The mission has called a Sister Miles who has years of experience teaching English as a 2nd Language to teach free English classes here in Perth. Today Orson and I went to the class to see how she does it because we’d like to see a similar program going here on the south side of Perth. She is very good; it almost discouraged me from thinking we can do the same. However, we talked to Sam, our son who served a Mandarin Chinese mission in Sydney a few years back. He said he thought they had some lesson plans that the senior missionaries used over there. On Monday we will call to see if they still have them and are willing to share. Also, I have a friend who taught English at the Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake who said she has some things she used that she can e-mail to me. There are so many people here who struggle with English. It would be a great service to them and a way for us to share the gospel with them.
Before we came to Australia, we were studying Preach My Gospel one day and the idea came to us of showing a church DVD in a member’s home. A few days before, we would invite people living near the member to come to the movie. Last week in priesthood and Relief Society, the lesson was on missionary work. Orson mentioned the idea in High Priests, and Brother Witahira took him up on the idea. So we have scheduled to show “The Testaments” on Monday at 11:00 am and again at 7:00 pm. Today we went to their neighborhood and started inviting people. We’ve made up a flyer that invites people to “come and enjoy a DVD about a family in ancient America as they anticipate and enjoy the Savior’s visit to them after his resurrection.” There were a lot of people who said they “weren’t sure” but took the flyer. We will drop back on Monday and remind them about it. We are really hoping it works. We’ve told Witihiras that they are our “guinea pigs” and they are comfortable with that.
The mission has called a Sister Miles who has years of experience teaching English as a 2nd Language to teach free English classes here in Perth. Today Orson and I went to the class to see how she does it because we’d like to see a similar program going here on the south side of Perth. She is very good; it almost discouraged me from thinking we can do the same. However, we talked to Sam, our son who served a Mandarin Chinese mission in Sydney a few years back. He said he thought they had some lesson plans that the senior missionaries used over there. On Monday we will call to see if they still have them and are willing to share. Also, I have a friend who taught English at the Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake who said she has some things she used that she can e-mail to me. There are so many people here who struggle with English. It would be a great service to them and a way for us to share the gospel with them.
WARREN
May 20, 2011 Friday
One day last week we decided to spend some time looking for “Unknowns” on the ward list. Nobody was home at the first two houses. At the 3rd house, the man who answered the door explained that Cynthia Qegu just lived at their place when she is in town. Cynthia and they are from South Africa but not related. Cynthia is a midwife and works for a temp agency working all over West Australia. We asked him if she ever talked about her religion with him. The answer was, “No.” So we began talking to him. He was very friendly and polite. He was raised Catholic but became “born again” at some point. He said he didn’t know anything about the Mormons. After we explained a lot, he admitted that he had heard about Mormons but claimed he hadn’t because he wanted to hear us explain us instead of listening to others’ opinions. He goes to church and then comes home and reads the Bible and studies it to find out what it really says. So tonight we went back and read 1 Nephi 13 & 14 with him; it explains about John writing Revelations which he had brought up the first time we talked to him. We told him the Joseph Smith story and gave him the Book of Mormon explaining it was up to him to read and pray about it. He absorbed it all and said he would study it. We told him we’d give him a call in a couple of weeks to see what he thought about it. If we are any judge of character, we think he will give it a fair trial. It was a great visit.
We also dropped by Wendy Rosales, a former “unknown.” Her family is from El Salvador. She’s the only member. She was at the door before we even got there. Her mom came in and sat down to talk too. When they first joined the church, elders used to go to their house all the time because they loved the Latin friendliness and food. We had a good visit. Wendy even asked what time the meetings were. Her brother has been teasing her about going to church lately. She wants to come and bring him. We’ll see.
It rained almost all day today. Everyone is so happy when it rains (except missionaries).
One day last week we decided to spend some time looking for “Unknowns” on the ward list. Nobody was home at the first two houses. At the 3rd house, the man who answered the door explained that Cynthia Qegu just lived at their place when she is in town. Cynthia and they are from South Africa but not related. Cynthia is a midwife and works for a temp agency working all over West Australia. We asked him if she ever talked about her religion with him. The answer was, “No.” So we began talking to him. He was very friendly and polite. He was raised Catholic but became “born again” at some point. He said he didn’t know anything about the Mormons. After we explained a lot, he admitted that he had heard about Mormons but claimed he hadn’t because he wanted to hear us explain us instead of listening to others’ opinions. He goes to church and then comes home and reads the Bible and studies it to find out what it really says. So tonight we went back and read 1 Nephi 13 & 14 with him; it explains about John writing Revelations which he had brought up the first time we talked to him. We told him the Joseph Smith story and gave him the Book of Mormon explaining it was up to him to read and pray about it. He absorbed it all and said he would study it. We told him we’d give him a call in a couple of weeks to see what he thought about it. If we are any judge of character, we think he will give it a fair trial. It was a great visit.
We also dropped by Wendy Rosales, a former “unknown.” Her family is from El Salvador. She’s the only member. She was at the door before we even got there. Her mom came in and sat down to talk too. When they first joined the church, elders used to go to their house all the time because they loved the Latin friendliness and food. We had a good visit. Wendy even asked what time the meetings were. Her brother has been teasing her about going to church lately. She wants to come and bring him. We’ll see.
It rained almost all day today. Everyone is so happy when it rains (except missionaries).
“NEED A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS”
May 19, 2011 Thursday
This afternoon we went looking for some of the people on the ward list that nobody seems to know. First we found Christine. She was coming outside just as we drove up and was a little embarrassed because she was wearing shorts. The poor lady’s legs are so swollen that they look like logs with a 12-15 inch diameter. But they didn’t seem to bother her. She stood and talked to us for quite a while. She didn’t have any teeth either. She’s lived in her house for 8 years and hasn’t seen a home or visiting teacher. She’s in her mid-fifties and is very wrapped up in caring for her parents. They are still in their own home, but her dad has dementia and her mom gets around in a wheel chair. It just breaks your heart to hear the problems some people have to deal with. She works a couple of days a week at the Good Sammy’s (a thrift store run by Good Samaritans) nearby. She says she’s planning to come back to church some day.
Then we went to John’s. He’s 62 and moved over from the east coast 4 years ago to work at the mines. He lived with a member family down in Rockingham for a couple of years; that’s when he joined the church. Then he moved into our ward and became one of the huge “pool of unknowns.” When we met him, he welcomed us in but told us we’d come on a day that was sort of a disaster. He then told us about breaking his leg a while back so he lost his mine job. He worked another job (he drives buses) for a while but was laid off. He’s been trying to find work but just hasn’t had anything pan out for him. He was really upset. We sat at the kitchen table and there was one Granny Smith apple visible. That was the only sign of food. Orson asked him if he had food and he said he had enough for tonight. He was very upset about the economic situation and how it seemed like the big corporations were running everything without any attention paid to the “little guys.” We prayed with him and left. We returned about an hour later with some groceries. He was so appreciative. He also said that after we left he called someone he’d known at one of his jobs. He has an appointment to visit with him tomorrow in hopes of getting a job. The poor guy is alone over here. All his family is on the east coast. You just feel so badly for people like that. He said he would show up at church Sunday. The ward list says he doesn’t have any priesthood; he must have moved right after his baptism.
Tonight we taught Mowana and her girls. We got hugs from all the girls when we arrived tonight. That was very special. The best news is that they are reading the Book of Mormon, taking it just one verse at a time and understanding it. Mowana was very happy about that. We found out her parents are members of the ward too. We plan to visit them. She said she will keep working on her husband to see if he will come around to marrying her and listening to the lessons. The girls, Ebony, Sarsha (pronounced Sasha) and Jade seems to have good recall of what we’ve been teaching them. We finished the Plan of Salvation tonight.
This afternoon we went looking for some of the people on the ward list that nobody seems to know. First we found Christine. She was coming outside just as we drove up and was a little embarrassed because she was wearing shorts. The poor lady’s legs are so swollen that they look like logs with a 12-15 inch diameter. But they didn’t seem to bother her. She stood and talked to us for quite a while. She didn’t have any teeth either. She’s lived in her house for 8 years and hasn’t seen a home or visiting teacher. She’s in her mid-fifties and is very wrapped up in caring for her parents. They are still in their own home, but her dad has dementia and her mom gets around in a wheel chair. It just breaks your heart to hear the problems some people have to deal with. She works a couple of days a week at the Good Sammy’s (a thrift store run by Good Samaritans) nearby. She says she’s planning to come back to church some day.
Then we went to John’s. He’s 62 and moved over from the east coast 4 years ago to work at the mines. He lived with a member family down in Rockingham for a couple of years; that’s when he joined the church. Then he moved into our ward and became one of the huge “pool of unknowns.” When we met him, he welcomed us in but told us we’d come on a day that was sort of a disaster. He then told us about breaking his leg a while back so he lost his mine job. He worked another job (he drives buses) for a while but was laid off. He’s been trying to find work but just hasn’t had anything pan out for him. He was really upset. We sat at the kitchen table and there was one Granny Smith apple visible. That was the only sign of food. Orson asked him if he had food and he said he had enough for tonight. He was very upset about the economic situation and how it seemed like the big corporations were running everything without any attention paid to the “little guys.” We prayed with him and left. We returned about an hour later with some groceries. He was so appreciative. He also said that after we left he called someone he’d known at one of his jobs. He has an appointment to visit with him tomorrow in hopes of getting a job. The poor guy is alone over here. All his family is on the east coast. You just feel so badly for people like that. He said he would show up at church Sunday. The ward list says he doesn’t have any priesthood; he must have moved right after his baptism.
Tonight we taught Mowana and her girls. We got hugs from all the girls when we arrived tonight. That was very special. The best news is that they are reading the Book of Mormon, taking it just one verse at a time and understanding it. Mowana was very happy about that. We found out her parents are members of the ward too. We plan to visit them. She said she will keep working on her husband to see if he will come around to marrying her and listening to the lessons. The girls, Ebony, Sarsha (pronounced Sasha) and Jade seems to have good recall of what we’ve been teaching them. We finished the Plan of Salvation tonight.
CONFERENCE WITH A GA
May 18, 2011
Today all the city missionaries were invited to a conference with David Evans. He’s a seventy from Sandy, Utah. They have 8 kids. They served as mission president in Nagoya, Japan, then a full-time mission, and he’s now a seventy. In June he will take over as director of the MTC so he’s touring missions and teaching missionaries until then. He was very sharp and taught from the scriptures and Preach My Gospel. It’s always a pleasure to be taught by a GA. The spirit guides them and it’s very evident. It’s one of the perks of going on a mission.
After the conference, we taught Ariel about Joseph Smith. She remembered what we’d given her on Sunday. She’s a sweet girl and she’s starting to open up with us a little more. We then watched “The Restoration” with her. Her grandpa, Franklin Witehara, watched it with us. He hadn’t seen this new version before and really liked it. The poor guy. He was hired to install a bunch of piping in some mines in New Zealand years ago and was exposed to asbestos. He’s been on oxygen for 9 years now because of it. He’s super cheerful and so happy to be part of the church. What a great spirit he has.
On Monday, Scott and Melissa Mortley invited us over for dinner. Orson did some work in the yard with Scott. I helped Melissa with dinner. She had me grate some cheese. She had an awesome grater she’d gotten for a wedding present. Like a dumbhead, I exclaimed over how neat it was. Tonight she and Scott showed up at our house with a grater for me and some homemade fudge. What good kids! She’s expecting their first baby in a few months. (We also taught them to play Mexican Train on Monday—we all laughed a lot over that.)
Tonight we gave James the Word of Wisdom. He said he knew it was coming—that made us laugh. His partner is an inactive Mormon. Giving up drinking was easy since it was the cause of his “marital” problems. He’s more worried about the smoking but said he would do it and coffee at the same time since he only uses them at work and always together. He’s a good guy—we really like him. And D’nella, his partner, promised to sit in on our lesson with him next week for sure.
Today all the city missionaries were invited to a conference with David Evans. He’s a seventy from Sandy, Utah. They have 8 kids. They served as mission president in Nagoya, Japan, then a full-time mission, and he’s now a seventy. In June he will take over as director of the MTC so he’s touring missions and teaching missionaries until then. He was very sharp and taught from the scriptures and Preach My Gospel. It’s always a pleasure to be taught by a GA. The spirit guides them and it’s very evident. It’s one of the perks of going on a mission.
After the conference, we taught Ariel about Joseph Smith. She remembered what we’d given her on Sunday. She’s a sweet girl and she’s starting to open up with us a little more. We then watched “The Restoration” with her. Her grandpa, Franklin Witehara, watched it with us. He hadn’t seen this new version before and really liked it. The poor guy. He was hired to install a bunch of piping in some mines in New Zealand years ago and was exposed to asbestos. He’s been on oxygen for 9 years now because of it. He’s super cheerful and so happy to be part of the church. What a great spirit he has.
On Monday, Scott and Melissa Mortley invited us over for dinner. Orson did some work in the yard with Scott. I helped Melissa with dinner. She had me grate some cheese. She had an awesome grater she’d gotten for a wedding present. Like a dumbhead, I exclaimed over how neat it was. Tonight she and Scott showed up at our house with a grater for me and some homemade fudge. What good kids! She’s expecting their first baby in a few months. (We also taught them to play Mexican Train on Monday—we all laughed a lot over that.)
Tonight we gave James the Word of Wisdom. He said he knew it was coming—that made us laugh. His partner is an inactive Mormon. Giving up drinking was easy since it was the cause of his “marital” problems. He’s more worried about the smoking but said he would do it and coffee at the same time since he only uses them at work and always together. He’s a good guy—we really like him. And D’nella, his partner, promised to sit in on our lesson with him next week for sure.
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