Last holidays in Australia
We can hardly believe that the year is almost over. The holidays have flown by and now we are
looking forward to a few days in Sydney and the new year.
For Thanksgiving, we had the camera gang to our house for
dinner. Lupe had gone to Sydney to be
with her sister and daughter and grandson so we missed her, but the rest of the
group was here. We had a traditional
American Thanksgiving meal with everyone contributing to the dinner. We even had turkey this year. What a fun group to be with. We couldn’t have asked for a more congenial
group with which to serve the last six months of our mission. We love them dearly.
Next came a Christmas party for the mission office staff (we
were included since we live in the area) at the Sister Sister’s flat. Dede Cox and Adriane Higginson are actually
sisters (also Paul Cannon’s sisters) so everyone calls them Sister Sisters. Their flat was beautifully decorated for
Christmas. We enjoyed dinner and
charades.
The need to purchase gifts for the Senior’s Dinner kept us
in town one evening. After finding our
prizes and a quick dinner at Victoria Marketplace, we headed to the decorated
area of town. Melbourne doesn’t decorate
much with lights, but they have fun decorations. Since we are on daylight savings time and it
is almost summer, the nights stay light until almost 9 pm. The Melbourne Town Hall had these huge
soldiers standing outside and down one block was a small park which had the
Christmas tree and other fun things for the children.
Over 300 missionaries here for the Missionary Christmas
Conference. What a fun day that
was. Talents were shared, then a movie
(How to Train Your Dragon 2), lunch, then a Christmas program in the
chapel. Finally came passing out gifts
sent from parents and family to the missionaries. Almost every room in the stake center was
used to organize the gifts. During the
movie, Marv was out talking to the kitchen staff and met the lady, Sis.
Harkness, who started the digitizing of records at the Melbourne Archives. How nice it was to meet her.
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| Getting ready for the talent show. |
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| Setting up for lunch. |
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| Sis. Madden and Cox |
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| Elder Freeman and Sis. Pulu |
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| All the camera operators and Sis. Harkness |
We also have sang for the Heidelberg Stake Christmas program
and the Gippsland Stake program at Narre Warren.
Mark Kelly, our boss from Sydney, came to Melbourne and took
all of us to lunch as his Christmas gift to us.
We didn’t get a good picture.
Waiting on our door step one evening was a Christmas present
from our son Keith. It was a large
arrangement and lots of fruit. We have
really enjoyed it.
Christmas Eve day and into the kitchen we went. Marvin made two bubble wreaths, one to take
to a dinner invitation that evening and one for Christmas day BBQ at the
beach. I learned how to cut, de-vein,
and clean prawns.
Christmas day was spent in Torquay at the beach. We found a park across the street from the beach
which made BBQing and setting up very convenient. All the camera operators were with us except
Lupe who was having Christmas with her niece. The following pictures are of our
Christmas experience, an Aussie Christmas BBQ.
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| Elder Jim Freeman |
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| A nice walk on the beach |
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| Elder and Sis Dillingham |
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| Sis. Dillingham, Madden, and Freeman |
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| When the BBQ doesn't work, move to the hot plate. |
On the following day, Boxing Day, Marv and I decided to
drive to Ballarat. We didn’t have enough
time to go through Sovereign Hill, a mining reconstruction area, ($40 each) so
we went to the Botanical Gardens and Lake (free!) and enjoyed the gardens then
had a light lunch/dinner in town.
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| Inside the Conservatory |
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| One big fat wierd tree |
This has been an amazing year with accomplishing so much in
Hobart and in Melbourne for FamilySearch.
We have seen and visited beautiful areas in Tasmania and Victoria. We
have made wonderful friends whom we love dearly and will miss when it is time
to return home. We have grown in the
gospel and have been amazed at the testimonies and abilities of these young
missionaries. We have enjoyed the
miracles which are continuing to happen as the gospel is shared with so
many. Sadly, only 7% of Australians are
actively involved in religion. But there
are many Chinese and other Asian people who are recognizing the truth and
joining the Church. Many Chinese
families send their children to the universities here in AU, where the
missionaries are teaching them. We have
six Chinese missionaries from the same branch in mainland China serving
here. We have learned that the Church is
growing very quickly in India and Pakistan.
Truly the Lord is hastening His work and we are so glad to be a part of
it.
