Just another week

We had a few different things happen the last week or so.  Last Sunday, Jan 13th, we went to a town called Ingam, it is called the sugar bowl as they grow lots of sugar cane in that area. It was settled by Italian immigrants and the houses all have an Italian flare to them with arches. etc. They have an Italian Festival in May which we will plan to attend.  The reason that we went there was to hold a Sacrament meeting.  It takes about 1 hour to get there and they have about 8 church members there and  are a dependent branch and only have meetings once a month when someone from Townsville  travels there.  So any of you that want to be considered fully active but only have to go to church once a month we have found the place for you!  Unfortunately when we were there four people were sick and one lady is due to have a baby any day so only 2 people attended but it was a great experience and well worth the trip.  We took occassion to drive to the highest water fall in Queensland but it was not too great with the lack of rainfall, was not more than a trickle.

Then last Monday we drove to Cairns for a mission conference. Because the elders car is still not fixed we had to transport 2 of them with us so we did not do much sight seeing.  Elder Watson of the Seventy was there and it was all good but a long drive in a Corolla with back seat passengers  It took us between 4-5 hours each way.  We were quite disappointed at Cairns because all of the photos make it look so inviting - but I think all the photos are taken of Beaches out on the Great Barrier Reef as the beaches in the town were non existent - the tide was low and so it was just a lot of mud out to the water - no sandy areas at all.  The boardwalk was filled with tourists, many Asians and Europeans, they have a lot of big hotels and restaurants, some of the restaurants only had chinese menus, no english. We concluded that Townsville actually has a nicer beach area with two netted swimming areas (to keep out the jellyfish) and is very family friendly with a splash park, play grounds etc. We took occassion to stop at a town named Cardwell where we  have about 4 members, found two of them and got a forwarding address for 1.  The two there were not missing the chuch too much.

Enoch has been trying to get the work moving forward on getting the elders car fixed - the first 4 weeks was because of the holidays and now it is that the insurance did not get the bid from the body shop - the body shop maintained they sent it but has since discovered that their e-mail is not working. They promised to get the bid off last Wednesday - so we are trying to wait patiently.  It really affects the missionary work because some of the areas are really far away from the elders apartments. It may actually take more patience living in Australia than Africa. People are either layed back or agro!

Next Sunday we will travel to Bowen where Enoch will be the speaker in his assignment as a District Councilman. That will be a 1 day trip about 3-4 hours each way, church starts at 11:00, but it sounds like a long day.

The long promised rains still have not come, only an occassional shower, so for the most part it is hot days.  We always get asked how we like the weather - to which we always say we like it better than the cold. Today is cloudy with 50 % chance of rain. It is the first day without the air conditioner, however, I can feel the sweat trickling down my back.

Well need to get going. want to make a visit to the hospital so see a Branch member.

Til next time,

Enoch and LaRue