DINNER WITH THE US CONSUL GENERAL

May 7, 2011 Saturday


This afternoon, Stephanie Rogalski called and invited us to dinner at their house. She mentioned that she had invited Alicia Woodburn, who is the US Consul General for West Australia. Rogalskis were at the dinner we had with the Tomlinsons a couple of weeks ago. Sister Rogalski had been the Public Affairs Chairman for West Australia (recently released), and we remembered she had mentioned that the new Consul General was LDS. So we went and had a great time. Sister Rogalski had fixed beef curry which was excellent. Alicia turned out to be a single girl in her late 30’s who was raised on a farm in Washington State. She came in jeans and looked just like anybody you might see at a kid’s soccer game. She said she’d wanted to be the US Ambassador to the UN since she was 8 years old. She’s been in London and a few other places before coming to Australia. She loves her job and all the perks that go with it. Stephanie said she has an incredible apartment in downtown Perth, and she drove a really nice car. For dessert they served an Italian ice cream treat that looked like a large peach (for each one of us). It was incredibly good, and the pit turned out to be a Roche chocolate.
This afternoon we visited Michael, a fellow from Zambia. His English was excellent. He and his family have been here for 4 years. He was street contacted by elders in downtown Perth. He grew up Anglican but attends a Pentecostal church here. He was happy to listen to us, but we couldn’t tell if he was sincere in his interest. He works in the mines so he wouldn’t commit to another appointment but said we could call him on Friday to see if he would be in town on Saturday. There sure are a ton of people who fly in and out to the mines which are all over West Australia.