Highs and Lows...Week 21

Lee's Low:  

5th breakdown for the same bike!

Lee's High: 

Early Monday morning meeting with Elder Hamula

Patty's Low: 

The hidden carbon monoxide alarm beeping every 30 seconds all night long Thursday....ugh!

Patty's High: 

The same as Lee's but my #2 high was taking the Smiths to Adelaide's Central Market downtown on Saturday.

Special Delivery.

Another Christmas package sent from Australia found its way to Utah!

Hallee, Collin, Carter and Hunter

Happy Thanksgiving.

As you know, Thanksgiving is an AMERICAN holiday, and as such, is not celebrated here in Australia. We can't help but miss our annual holiday traditions which include:

Putting up Christmas lights every year the day after Thanksgiving.

Preparing, eating, enjoying my mom's favorite cheese ball and coconut pie recipes.
(Thank you Barbara Louise Watson Velasquez!)

Singing/Loving the Thanksgiving hymns at church during November such as COME YE THANKFUL PEOPLE COME, PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING, FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH, NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD.

Some thoughts/quotes we like:

What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?

If you want to be happy and make others happy too, nourish your attitude of gratitude. It will brighten your day because you will be focusing on the positive things in your life. And your brightness and appreciation will brighten the people around you and make you a good role model for them to follow. So scatter that sunshine and brighten up!

We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.”

Thanksgiving should be a way of every day living and thought, not just a once a year celebration.

The second verse of a favorite hymn reads:

More gratitude give me,
More trust in the Lord,
More pride in his glory,
More hope in his word,
More tears for his sorrows,
More pain at his grief,
More meekness in trial,
More praise for relief.

Happy Thanksgiving! We love you all and feel grateful for your support!

Busy Week.

Sunday, we had Sister Lucas and Sister Dardon for dinner. They live less than a block away, across the driveway from Sister Salazar. It was fun to learn about them in a casual setting! I mentioned previously that Sister Lucas is from Tahiti and we found out she has already graduated from BYU Hawaii and Sister Dardon is from Alberta, Canada and is a voice actress for a well known cable TV channel. Sister Lucas has been Sister Dardon's trainer for two transfers and Sister Dardon worried she might be transferred this time. She was sad when we saw her at the office Monday as she had received transfer notification.

There are two missionaries that serve as assistants to President Carter, and they handle much of the transfer detail work. Once they have decided (along with President) who is transferred where, they give me a list of who needs to fly or take the bus or ferry to Adelaide, and who needs return travel, and when to go. I felt stressed about keeping it all straight as it was totally confusing last transfer. 

The assistants also schedule accommodations of incoming missionaries, their bikes and luggage in local flats with other companionships and the logistics can be mind boggling! The assistants made my job pretty easy this transfer and I expressed my gratitude most sincerely!

Transfer meeting was Tuesday morning at 10am. Missionaries started showing up at the office as soon as we unlocked the front door with luggage and bikes piled everywhere. Missionaries do not know where they are moving or who the new companion is until announced in the transfer meeting.

In the actual meeting, each leaver was invited to bear their testimony and then President Carter spoke. He asked if LIVING THE GOSPEL is hard and then insisted that LIVING WITHOUT THE GOSPEL is what is hard! (EXCLAMATION POINT) 

Can you imagine living without knowledge of the Plan? Without a Prophet? Without the help and guidance of the Holy Ghost? President suggested the following with the regard to having and keeping constant companionship of the Holy Ghost: 1. Be worthy by living the commandments and repenting when necessary. 2. Pray more fervently and realize it takes effort and energy. 3. Listen more carefully in prayers and scripture study. As usual, President provided for leavers and stayers alike, food for thought, pondering, and personal evaluation.

In the wonderful mission home kitchen Tuesday night, the senior missionaries prepared and served to the leavers roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, steamed vegetables, and salad, with pavlova for dessert. After quick kitchen clean up, we assembled in the living room where leavers are again asked to share their testimony, President and Sister Carter speak, and then they sing the parting song.

Elder Wild didn't fly out until 10:00 PM Wednesday night to England through Dubai, but the rest of the leavers were scheduled Wed morning. Lee had to hook up the trailer to get 4 missionaries and all of their luggage to the airport. We had 4 new missionaries arrive:  Elder Rigby and Elder Hobbs (from New Zealand), and two visa waiters who served temporarily in TX and AZ.  Sister Lewis is from Provo, Utah and Elder Empey is from Nevada, who finally got their travel documents.

Once the arrivers get back to the mission home from the airport, we take pictures with President and Sister Carter out front to send to their families with a letter that they arrived safely. We give orientations, they interview with the President, and the office staff cooks an arrivers dinner, held again in the mission home. We served a baked potato bar and I made chili as just one of many toppings. Sister Carter made chocolate cake under ice cream, and the famous chocolate sauce with toppings for dessert.

After dinner, the arrivers were introduced to their trainers by the assistants, then the newbies were invited to share their testimonies, plus President and Sister Carter spoke. We adjourned early so the dead tired missionaries could get home and to bed after a long, long day.

Thursday at the office was busy for me as all the rosters have to updated, reprinted, and distributed. I do the family letters mentioned above and send them by email with their son or daughter's picture. 

Lee and Brother White brought the Christmas tree and decorations into the office from storage. Lee organized the shed AGAIN.....it's where they store bikes, parts, helmets, and housing

supplies, plus all teaching supplies. 

Friday, Sister Salazar and I finished decorating the office tree with some help from Sister Carter. The rest of the day was quiet and we were all ready to rest on p day after a long exciting week!

The Pacific area Authority, President Hamula is here to reorganize one of the 3 stakes in Adelaide on Sunday and will address the the young single adults that night, and the missionaries at an early Monday morning meeting. I'll tell you all about it next post.

Sister Green, Elders Whaanga and Janke, Sister Salazar, Me, Elder Visesio in the office:

A game of rat ball in the parking lot:

Elder Whaanga and Elder Bennett over for dinner:

Saturday Night.

I forgot to tell you about the Saturday night gong show with the Carters!

After the long week, we made plans to try a new restaurant for dinner with Sister Salazar on Saturday night. Lee went grocery shopping that morning after we had face-timed with all of the kids, and just as he was walking into the store, Sister Carter called him on his cell phone. She asked if we had plans for the evening and said that she needed help. President was speaking at the Priesthood training meeting at the Marion building for the previously mentioned stake conference at 4:00 PM and Sister Carter wanted to attend a baptism at the Paralowie/Playford building at 4:30 PM. She asked Lee if we could take/go with her to the baptism, then transport her one hour in the opposite direction to the Marion building and drop her off to be with President for the 7:00 PM adult session of Stake conference. Lee assured her that we could easily adjust our plan to hers and we invited Sister Salazar along so we could eat afterward, as planned.

Everything went fine until we were leaving the church parking lot after the baptism, which was wonderful by the way! President texted Sister Carter to say the meeting started at 6pm rather than 7pm. There was no way we could do an hour trip in less than 20 minutes and Sister Carter didn't want to walk into the meeting late, so she decided to go to dinner with the three of us instead. I got the giggles listening to her running commentary on the conversation back and forth by text and told her it was turning into a "gong show!"

We chose to dine at an Italian restaurant down on the Parade and although the food was just okay, we had a great time! Sister Salazar and I ordered gourmet chicken, avocado, and sun dried tomato personal pizzas, Lee ordered calzone, and Sister Carter ordered soup, salad, and bread plus a pizza to take home for President.

Highs and Lows...Week 20

Lee's Low: 

It's EASY to become attached to missionaries and HARD to have them go home.

Lee's High: 

We GET to participate in the Leavers testimony meeting...their spiritual growth is awesome!

Patty's Low: 

Transfer week is sad, busy with long days, and TIRING (but fun and wonderful too!)

Patty's High: 

Transfer week went pretty smoothly thanks to the efforts of many!

Ho. Ho. Ho.

We finally got our Christmas packages in the mail November 15th..... not knowing how long it would take to arrive in Utah, Arizona, and Oregon. Fred reported they received theirs on Friday, and Bosten and Kaden reported receiving theirs on Saturday (in Utah).

Pictures.

Its beginning to look like Christmas around here.  We set up the tree in the office this week.

Leavers for November 2013:

(Elders Janke, Mokofisi, Bailey, Akeripa, Wild)

Leavers with the President and Sister Carter:

 

Beautiful, fabulous pavlova:

Elder and Sister Goodrich, from SLC

Scouting (Unofficially) For BYU.

Several weeks ago, President Carter asked Sister Salazar to help a 'soon to be released' Elder through the BYU application process. So on p-days he came to the office and they would have their heads together talking ACT tests, deadlines, transcripts etc and somehow, it morphed into the idea of playing football as another possible avenue to gain entrance into  BYU.

During a face time conversation with our son Logan, Lee mentioned Elder Akeripa's interest in playing football at BYU and that he had played professional rugby in New Zealand. Logan asked if the Elder had a football video and in turn, mentioned the situation to his Bishop, who works in athletics at BYU.

Next p-day, a small group of supporters went to a local park to video Elder Akeripa doing a 40 yard dash. Keep in mind, he has been serving as a missionary for two years and has not been training, but with Lee measuring and Sister Salazar using her ipad to video, he did very well. We emailed the video to Logan, thinking it might somehow get to the right person for consideration through Logan's Bishop.

In the meantime, Logan had business lunch with a friend and off handedly mentioned the subject of the missionary/video/football, totally unaware that his friend just happens to be in the same LDS ward as one of the BYU defensive football coaches. The friend forwarded the video to the coach who responded that 'the video definitely caught my eye' and that he would like to visit with the young man!

Elder Akeripa went home from the Australia Adelaide Mission yesterday with the coach's contact information in his hand and we will wait to see if anything comes of it. It would be even MORE fun to watch BYU football if we knew one of the players personally!

Papa with Elder Akeripa

Papa, Elder Akeripa and Sister Salazar

Highs and Lows...Week 19.

Low: 

The "leaver" meeting with Elder Lacanivalu .... It's hard to see them go!

High: 

The "leaver"  testimony meeting with Elder Lacanivalu was special!

This Week.

One night this week I made amazing chicken Alfredo. I know I know, it's hard to believe since that is not in my usual repertoire. But it's true, I had a plan in mind thanks to AllRecipes.com, combined with what was in the fridge and the results were wonderful! Even Lee said in surprise, "This is good!"

For the past few weeks we've been noticing beautiful purple trees around the city and on our walk route, there is a street lined with them on both sides, forming a canopy of sorts that is not only beautiful but cool, as in temperature! They are so lovely and we were informed by Brother White who is an Australian, that they Jacaranda trees.

Brick homes are common in Adelaide, and the building set-backs are minimal, so that means that you could easily reach from one house to the other. Many lots are deep with row of flats along a single driveway. Addresses are the flat number over the house number, for instance 2/117 Gage Street is Unit 2 at 117 Gage Street. There are tons of little suburbs or areas and we have yet to become totally familiar with all of their names and locations. We even identify the missionary companionships by the area they live/serve such as the Klemzig or Nightcliff Elders or the Mildura or Parafield Garden Sisters.

As I mentioned in a previous post from Mount Gambier, it is highly unusual to NOT have a wall or fence at the front of your property, and many have electronic gates. Today we saw beautiful tree lined streets with wall after wall the entire length....you can only see the roof tops of the homes behind the walls and tree foliage. I don't know if the walls are for privacy or security.

Today was p day so this morning we drove approx 30 minutes to Glenelg, a beach town on Holdfast Bay. We walked out on the jetty and even though it was beautiful and sunny, it wasn't exactly warm. We only saw two people laying out on the pristine white sandy beach, but others were walking, shopping etc. There was a marina, shops, several restaurants and motels/hotels etc. I imagine it will be crowded in a few more weeks when summer has really arrived. Of course we didn't have the camera with us, but if you Google Glenelg, South Australia you' ll be able to see the jetty, etc.

Even though the office is closed on Saturday, we went over a couple of times to check for email from Terri at church travel in Salt Lake City Utah. She emailed earlier this morning saying she had received visas for some visa waiters, who are currently serving in temporary locations like Houston and Mesa while waiting for their travel documents. This is exciting, yet stressful as we have to be ready paperwork wise, companionship wise, housing wise, location wise, bike/car wise etc. It's a bit late in the game to bring in new players for this intake according to President Carter. We have 4 missionaries coming in and 5 leaving this week and the next transfer is December 17th.

For the past 4 days, President Carter and the assistants have been in his private office prayerfully deciding which, if any missionaries should be moved within the mission, and if so, where they should go, and where and with whom new missionaries should be assigned. Many things are taken into consideration and it's an interesting process. My admiration for President Carter only increases as I observe him in the missionary placement process, in his interaction with the missionaries, and in his writing, teaching, and training. I'm not exaggerating his boundless energy and stamina. I get tired just thinking about his schedule!

As we were leaving the office this morning, President smiled and said in his usual positive, upbeat way..."Isn't it great being on a mission??"

It IS great serving a mission! We are learning so much, and our testimonies are growing with every new experience! Thank you for your continued love and support!

Elders Lacanivalu and Bush on prep day.

Elders Bush Lacanivalu , Hemi, Holmes, and us.

Sisters Talisa and Eldridge and Elder Sheffield in the office

 Our fridge (thanks Elisa Ludwig for the calendar countdown).

Powdered sugar.

Missing Milestones.

We are happy to be serving a mission, but that means we are not there for important milestones such as:

  July:

 Shelby and Kyle celebrated their 14th anniversary and Kacey and Dave celebrated their 11th.

August:

Riley was 10, Collin turned 9, and Debbie turned 39 again :-)

  September:

 My dad, Freddie turned 85.

  October:

Kyle turned 40 and Bosten turned 5, Dad and Patty celebrated 32 years, and Lindsey and Cory celebrated their 13th.

November:

Keely and Marlee had their first birthday!

Though we are not physically there, we celebrate with you from afar and send best wishes and say prayers every day for your continued testimony growth, good health, and happiness. We love you all very much!

Love and Chocolate Sauce.

The Carter's took Elder Lacanivalu (pronounced la-thon-ee-vah- loo) out for his leaver dinner Monday night. His visa expired Wednesday so he flew out early Tuesday morning to go home to Fiji. Elder Lacanivalu is 6'8" tall and has a quiet personality and his smile is a mile wide. He is a very humble, obedient, missionary and a great example!

The office staff met at the Carter's for a small testimony meeting with Elder L. after dinner. I wish you could have been there to hear the testimonies and to feel the Spirit. Talks were given by President and Sister Carter, and President Carter always ends the meeting by singing in his beautiful voice an Eddy Arnold tune entitled May You Always. It's a song his father sang to him as a boy and he accompanies himself on the guitar. The words are tender and very moving and there isn't a dry eye in the house when he finishes. I'm going to try and video the singing at the next leaver meeting.

In his remarks, President Carter shared that President Hinckley's daughter came to his ward a few years ago and said that the greatest power on the earth is LOVE! He initially disagreed to himself thinking that surely the greatest power is the Priesthood, but has since realized she was right! LOVE is the reason the Father sent his Son, it's the reason the Son did not shrink, it is the First Great Commandment and if people would express LOVE out loud and sincerely more often in our homes, marriages, families, churches, work, and social groups, imagine our world!

From the first interaction with President and Sister Carter AND these young missionaries, I noticed love and appreciation is easily and often expressed. At the end of phone calls to or from missionaries we hear and feel " love ya!" It's a wonderful tender mercy to participate in THIS work, in THIS environment, with THESE people, at THIS time, in THIS place and we are very very grateful!

At the end of the evening, Sister Carter served yummy brownies under vanilla ice cream, with homemade chocolate sauce, topped with chopped pecans, cookie crumbs, and whipped cream. Sister Carter shared the chocolate sauce recipe and it was divine! I can totally understand how it's come to be a Carter family favorite because it is a chocolate lover's Heaven!

Sister Carter's Chocolate Sauce

2 cups sugar 

4 T butter

3-4 T cocoa

3 T flour

1 can evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla

1. Melt butter over low- med heat in large sauce pan.

2. In a separate bowl mix flour, cocoa, sugar.

3. Remove pan from direct heat for a moment and slowly add #2 to #1 until smooth and makes thick paste, stirring constantly so it doesn't scorch.

4. Add 1/2 milk and stir it in, then add the rest of the milk and stir.

5. Bring to a boil...keep stirring!

6. Once it's at a rolling boil, time for 3-4 minutes, keep stirring!

7. Turn heat off and once it has stopped boiling, add the vanilla, stir, enjoy! 

This Week.

There are eight missionaries serving in the Firle ward, although the sister set serves in the Morialta ward also, and both wards meet in the church building directly across the street from our flat. Last Sunday, the sisters asked Lee if they could come over for a Priesthood blessing. We chatted for a few minutes and Lee was honored to give them each a personal "father" type blessing. Sister Lucas is from Tahiti and Sister Dardon is from Aetna, Alberta, Canada, which is basically next door to Cardston, the Sheffield's old stomping grounds. Both girls are beautiful, inside and out!

Lee met the plumber and electrician for repairs at the mission home and office at 8:00 am Monday morning to start the week.

Monday night was the first senior Family Home Evening at our flat. We had Mexican potluck and the White's, who are from Queensland, had never tasted Mexican food! Sister Salazar made corn tortilla enchiladas, Sister Goodrich made salad, I made the 7 layer dip w homemade refried beans with chips, and the Whites made a lovely cut up fruit mixture over ice cream for dessert.

The lesson was given by Elder Goodrich on the history, design, and scope of the Church Welfare System and Humanitarian efforts. He worked for over 30 years in the church welfare department, most recently as manager of Welfare Square in Salt Lake City so he is extremely knowledgeable about both programs. I came away feeling more blessed than ever to be a member of our church as it not only works to increase our spiritual welfare but also our temporal welfare in times of need. And the humanitarian efforts go far beyond our own membership....you can be assured that with the mega storm a day or so ago in the Philippines, the Mormon church is ALREADY on the ground providing those poor people aid. What a blessing to us and to the world!

Tuesday I woke up to 94 "error" emails and I knew my account had been hacked. Sorry for the
'gong show' and I hope you changed your email password if you got something about opening a google document from me that day.

As I mentioned previously, President and Sister Carter spent the week in New Zealand at an annual Mission Presidents conference for training etc. Those invited were mission presidents, wives, and area authorities and wives from the Pacific area which includes Australia, New Zealand, and all of the islands. They came home physically tired but spiritually fed and grateful for the office staff who work in harmony so the Carters can focus on the missionaries and the work.

We had a couple of medical issues to deal with while they were gone, but we were able to contact the Carter's when necessary. Elder Rapana is still recovering from his broken collarbone, but spent time in the office since he was having quite a lot of pain and not sleeping at night because of it. He was willing to help wherever one arm or hand could accomplish the task and we brought him home for dinner one night. I took him lunch a couple of days, which he appreciated.

Lee made trips to the Dr, post office, airport, bike shop, store, etc. Sometimes we go into the office thinking we'll be able to get this accomplished today only to realize we never even got a chance to work on that at all because something totally different popped up. Every day is different and it's never boring, thankfully! We LOVE the young missionaries and appreciate their kindness to us.

One night Lee's phone rang (it's never GOOD news when you get a call at night) and an Elder had rear ended someone with their car in Mount Gambier. We are so glad no one was hurt, but it's a vehicle issue Lee must deal with.

The church has a missionary car rotation system in place, calculated by vehicle age, miles, upkeep and repair costs, etc and it's time for replacements in this mission. We received 2 new mission cars and 1 van with another on the way soon. The van we are driving has had a good life (according to the above calculations) and will be sold, so we are ' stylin ' in a new white Toyota van.

One day last week was over 90 degrees, and that's the day Lee chose to wash President Carter's car, so it looked beautiful inside and outside upon their return. He also washed Sister Salazar's car as a treat. I deep cleaned and organized the office kitchen area Wednesday morning.

Lee met the returning Carter's Friday morning at the airport. We had visitors at the office that day too; a sister who went home a few months ago from serving in Adelaide, and a girl, who's grandparents served here as a senior couple many years ago. It was interesting talking with both sisters.

It's been 8 weeks since the last transfer (new missionaries arriving, others leaving at the end of their mission, and changes with current companionships). As we get closer to November 20th the pace will increase dramatically. This is my first solo transfer and I hope to remember all that is necessary to have it run smoothly. We have another transfer in 4 weeks (the usual 6 week schedule was twice adjusted because of the mission pres conference).  It is challenging and fun to work in the office and my fears about being bored have never materialized. If it's a slow day, I clean or organize something. Plus, the office staff plan, prepare, and serve arrivers and leavers dinners as well as do the grocery shopping the week of transfers.

Sister Salazar is making a Christmas DVD for all of our missionaries and I have asked to work with her. She is also learning how to do a Christmas missionary fireside power point presentation and has agreed to teach me that as well.

We are well and happy and enjoy the emails, pictures and videos from our family at home.
We pray for the poor people in the Philippines who are suffering as a result of the recent weather event in their country. We're working hard and appreciate this opportunity to serve!

Pictures.

 A picture that hangs in the mission office that I love:

Another piece of art that hangs in the office.  It is an example of aboriginal art. The U's represent people of all colors and nationalities and the big U at the top represents Christ at the second coming.  Not sure what the plants in the corners are.

I haven't seen white eggs in Australia.  I finally found sweetened coconut, though.

Elder White

Papa's new wheels

Sister Salazar

Sister White

Chocolate Tim Tams are my downfall, but look what Papa found?!

Tim Tams are to Australia what Oreos are in the U.S.....#1 cookie called biscuits here.

Highs and Lows...Week 18.

Lee's Low:  

Another missionary bike accident.

Lee's High: 

Being asked by the sister missionaries for a Priesthood blessing last Sunday night.

Patty's Low: 

Tender, sore feet, no matter which shoes I wear!

Patty's High: 

Our first senior Family Home Evening get together Monday night at our flat.

But Wait....There's More.

I should have included this in my last post as I spent a big chunk of the week working on it.
President Carter came to me concerned about the number of Australia Adelaide Mission baptisms recorded in Salt Lake City verses the number reported to the assistants through the zone leaders year to date. There is a process in place for entering them into the computer once they get to the mission office along with confirmation reports, but the process of getting the forms from the baptism, confirmation, and then into my hands hasn't functioned well at all.

President and the assistants have instituted a new way to track baptisms going forward and we passed the word to all the missionaries via the zone leaders. This is the third week since it began and it is working extremely well.

Going forward however, doesn't address the problems from before the "Tracker." I called Salt Lake City's help desk and they were able to guide me to reports to compare against the assistants list and if the numbers didn't match, President expected to know why. I learned tons about the whole process and actually enjoy that kind of work. After several early morning calls to SLC and hours spent matching, finding, stapling, and filing, we have a beautiful book of baptism records that matches the assistants list! I'm sure glad that job is completed!

Sister Carter is planning to barbecue hamburgers and hot dogs for Christmas dinner (remember its summer in December) for the near zones and office staff for a total of over 100 people for dinner. Lee took one look at the barbecues and knew we were in trouble. He wasn't sure they even worked and neither was she. After insuring the "guts" and inner workings were good, he started to refurbish the exteriors. He purchased replacement grills, then cleaned and painted the barbecues, and  now they look as good as new! President and Sister Carter were impressed and appreciative.

Sister Salazar has an iPad mini that she takes with her everywhere. After grocery shopping Saturday morning, she parked her trolley (cart) within eyesight and just a few feet away to grab lunch on the way out of the mall. When unloading her groceries she realized the iPad that had been sitting in the cart was missing. She was able to use the "FIND MY IPAD" app and went to the indicated address where the man who answered the door said he knew nothing about her iPad. She left empty handed, yet sure of its location. She used the repeated noise button and sent a message to the iPad screen saying that she was going to the police if not returned ASAP. A few minutes later the man called to say his wife had found the iPad, and Sister Salazar went back to the same house to pick it up. Isnt that amazing? Welcome to the 90's Mr. Banks!

Tough Week at the Office.

Last week was tough around the office, which meant Lee had 4 trips to the airport.

1. An Elder was sent home so that was the first run to the airport early in the week.

2. An Elder had to go home for medical reasons so that was another trip to the airport for which Lee had to get up at 2:45 am Friday to get there on time. 

3. An Elder was released early, so that meant that as soon as Lee returned from the early morning airport run Friday, he turned around and went right back again. The airport is approximately 30 minutes away through the center of downtown Adelaide, which is no problem unless it is rush hour.

4. Sunday morning, Lee took President and Sister Carter to the airport for a 5 day Mission Pres Conference in New Zealand. 

One day we heard from some Elders in Darwin (3000 miles North) who called to tell us they set down their belonging and turned away for a second, and turned back to find their backpacks 

(and wallets, scriptures etc) were gone! We were concerned about their credit cards so we called parents (who live in the Sheffield's hometown of Cardston, Alberta, Canada) to give them a heads up so they could cancel the cards. We are still learning how to dial out on the phone, with all of the different country codes and prefixes. Anyway, after a couple of days it was all worked out, in spite of privacy issues and different time zones.

Whew! Glad that week is over!

One week night we had two hungry missionaries show up at dinner time and luckily we had enough leftover sweet and sour meatballs and rice to feed them. It was fun and we enjoyed getting better acquainted.

Saturday was our p-day. We made another souvenir shop stop, went grocery shopping at the Foodland on the Parade, and then we went to the fabric store. You know how I love fabric stores and Lee does too!  NOT!  We had a late lunch at home after putting groceries away and an afternoon snooze was nice. (somewhere in the small print it said senior missionaries could take naps if they wanted to. Sounds good but who has the time?)

I'm anxious to get started on some Christmas sewing projects and I've been approached to do repairs and pant hemming for some of the missionaries in my spare time, which I am glad to do.

Sunday was fast Sunday at church, which we always enjoy. There are 8 missionaries serving in this ward and I loved hearing/seeing two of them bear their testimonies. I am in awe of the young people called to our mission. They are amazing in so many ways and it is a blessing to be associated and interact with them!

The weeks are flying by and no day is the same as another. We are happy in our service and appreciate your love and support. 

Highs and Lows...Week 17.

Our Low: 

Having a missionary be SENT home.

Our High: 

The great feeling of accomplishment when President Carter said to the staff, " The office is as good as it's ever been! Things are going so well! Thank you!"