This 'n That

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

ARE WE UP TO THIS?

October 19, 2010 Tuesday

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

GOOD MEMBERS

The Wylde family
The Robinson Family (Branch President)

FHE's ALREADY!

October 18, 2010 Monday

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

It's Spring!!!

We love the flora here!
Paperbark tree
Rhododendron blossoms

Frangipani--my favorite!

GENERAL CONFERENCE

At the Broome "Conference Center"


October 17, 2010 Sunday

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

PASTOR NORMAN

October 16, 2010 Saturday

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