COLLIN TOMLINSON, OPERA SINGER

13 February 2011 Sunday

Wahoo! Curtains! Friday afternoon we went to the mission office and picked up curtains for the 3 windows in our house that still need to be covered. It will be nice to sit in the house at night and not wonder who/what may be peering in the windows at us.
Yesterday afternoon we attended the World Wide Training that was given about the new handbooks. President Packer was missed. We do hope he is doing okay. He’s not as young as he used to be.
Last night was stake conference. We had planned to go, but the Elders’ Quorum President had called and said he had a friend who wanted “the elders” to come and dedicate his new house. It was to be at 6 pm so we figured we would make there and to conference. Well, it turned out to be the “friend of a friend.” They are Filipino. They didn’t get started until 7 and had a ton of food set out for everyone who attended. (I understand that is typical of Filipino gatherings.) Alvin, the Elders’ Quorum president’s friend turned out to be Roy Nicomedes, also a member from the Philippines, who knew the non-member couple who’d bought the house. He’d had the missionaries teach them before, but it hadn’t gone anywhere. He ran into them again and one thing led to another and there we were, the only Caucasians in a group of at least 30 folks. As part of the meal, they had a small roasted pig. “Eat some of the skin, it’s crispy!” It was an interesting evening.
This morning was Area Conference. It was great. The church leaders acknowledged the floods and cyclones that have hit this area. We heard from Sister Sylvia Allred, Dallin H Oaks, Richard C Scott, and Dieter F Uchtdorf. It was excellent. James, our investigator, came with his daughter and 2 young grandchildren.
After conference, Elder and Sister Orth, the Aussie senior couple came over for lunch. They serve in a branch waaaaaaaaay south of here (5 hours away) that is part of our stake. We had a great visit and compared experiences and families. They are staying at the Crawfords’ place so they will be here for our meetings this week with Ted Callister, our area president.
Tonight we went out to meet a few people on our list. Our final stop was to visit Brother and Sister Tomlinson. The ward had recently fasted for her because she has cancer. Brother Tomlinson greeted us warmly and Orson and he recognized each other from the temple. Sister Tomlinson had breast cancer 3 years ago and was treated for it. She was fine until two months ago when she had terrible back pain. The GP ordered a bone scan because of her history and they found cancer all over her body. She’s still getting around well but is tired a lot. She’s not going to fight it because she took care of her first husband who was sick for 6 ½ years. Brother and Sister Tomlinson met each other when each was first married to their first spouses. There was an attraction, but they let it go because they were both already married. She and her first husband joined the church 40-something years ago. Brother Tomlinson made his living as an opera singer here in Australia. About 4 years ago, each of them was prompted to move back to West Australia. She looked him up in the phone book, called him, and his life changed totally. He’s been baptized, is the music chairman of our ward, and is also a temple worker. It was delightful to listen to their story. Another interesting thing he told us was about his son who was born with a double cleft palate and had 15 surgeries before he was 20 to correct everything. The amazing thing about it is that the son then went on to have his own successful opera career. He’s now the “poster boy” for the Australian hospitals whenever a baby is born with a cleft palate. What a miracle!