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.
That is great that the gentleman came and talked to you about the meeting. Very fun to see folks noticing you. Maybe the members haven't been as vocal as some folks when they are on the councils. Sad about the Walkers :( Happy that you were able to have the Orths come and visit you. That is always fun. Yeah! You can read a fun book. That sounds interesting.
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