Monday, December 10, 2012
Trip to Sydney
We had a wonderful time last week as we spent it in Sydney. We flew down on Monday with a group from the Branch to attend the temple. They go to Sydney because the church owns accommodations there and so it makes the trip cheaper than going to Brisbane and having to have cars and hotel rooms, although it was about a mile walk from accommodation to the temple.
The people here are really into family history and had many names to take.
We took one afternoon and caught a ferry and went to downtown Sydney. We had a delightful day walking the streets of Sydney which is a very large ritzy city, we then went to the Botanical Gardens and walked there. They go by the Opera House and are very beautiful. We enjoyed it very much, we took the ferry back and Enoch got a lot of sun on his face. It was a perfect day in every way. Temperature was great for sightseeing.
We had another small world experience - we met the wife of the new couple that had just arrived to be the family history couple in Sydney. We asked her where they were from and she said Idaho and we said "oh, we're from there too" and asked "what town." She said, just a small town in Southeastern Idaho. We pressed her further and found she was from Hamer - finally got her name, Jan Williams and realized I had actually gone to education week with her in 1987 - maybe have seen her once since then till last week!
We had a lot of fun getting to know those on the trip better and will probably go again next year! We flew home Saturday morning - the young missionaries had driven us to the airport Monday so we called them for a ride home only to find out they wrecked their car while we were gone - luckily we were able to hitch a ride with another couple. The funny thing was that the cop that responded to the accident is a less active member.
I am going to make an attempt at sending some photos - hope it works,
Enoch and LaRue
The people here are really into family history and had many names to take.
We took one afternoon and caught a ferry and went to downtown Sydney. We had a delightful day walking the streets of Sydney which is a very large ritzy city, we then went to the Botanical Gardens and walked there. They go by the Opera House and are very beautiful. We enjoyed it very much, we took the ferry back and Enoch got a lot of sun on his face. It was a perfect day in every way. Temperature was great for sightseeing.
We had another small world experience - we met the wife of the new couple that had just arrived to be the family history couple in Sydney. We asked her where they were from and she said Idaho and we said "oh, we're from there too" and asked "what town." She said, just a small town in Southeastern Idaho. We pressed her further and found she was from Hamer - finally got her name, Jan Williams and realized I had actually gone to education week with her in 1987 - maybe have seen her once since then till last week!
We had a lot of fun getting to know those on the trip better and will probably go again next year! We flew home Saturday morning - the young missionaries had driven us to the airport Monday so we called them for a ride home only to find out they wrecked their car while we were gone - luckily we were able to hitch a ride with another couple. The funny thing was that the cop that responded to the accident is a less active member.
I am going to make an attempt at sending some photos - hope it works,
Enoch and LaRue
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Where did the time go
I can't believe that it has been so many days since we last posted on the blog, so I will try and bring it up to date a bit. After we got to Brisbane we were met by President and Sister Langeland and taken to the mission office to take care of signing our "blue card" application and a few other details. When we finished, President returned in our car and had Enoch drive back to the mission home and he must have passed the driving test because that was the extent of our driving lessons on the left hand side of the road. That night we had dinner at the mission home with the Langleland's and a friend, who when he learned we were from Idaho Falls, asked if that was near Roberts. How did someone in Brisbane know Roberts? He and his family were baptized by a missionary from Roberts in the 1960's. How's that for a small world! (Also met someone at church baptized by a missionary from Shelley) We were able to attend a baptism that evening for a wonderful man who spoke at his own baptism, he had been introduced to the gospel by a co-worker and after 7 months of studying was being baptized. The chapel was 3/4 filled and the service lasted 1 1/2 hours!
We were supposed to leave Brisbane the next afternoon after attending zone council but the President woke twice in the night with the impression that we needed to get on the road sooner to enable us to reach a town called Gladstone where we have a senior couple serving and we could spend the night with them. We were able to get a brief view of the Brisbane temple, and then were on the road by 9:00. The road is a two way road with quite a drab landscape, reminded us of going to Casper beyond Dubois with a few more trees, with lots of stopping due to construction, all in all very tedious driving on the left hand side of the road!
When we arrived at Gladstone, we were greeted by the Hales from Huntington, UT who are serving their 4th mission, plus they have made 10 trips to Mali where he did cataract surgery on people. We were awed by them and enjoyed having pizza with them for thanksgiving! We bid them farwell that night as we knew our body clocks had not reset and we would rise early. We were on the road again shortly after 6 and decided to spend Friday night in a resort area called Aerlie Beach. We had some trouble finding a room as the schoolies had just graduated and were there to celebrate, they were joined by the "toolies" (those who graduated the year before and show up to cause trouble for the schoolies). It was a town filled to the brim with noise and celebration, however we were able to find a nice accomodation and rest for the final day of driving.
We made it to Townsville in the early afternoon, so we were able to get somewhat settled and get a few groceries before Sunday. We have a quite nice 4 bedroom house with everything we needed except that 3 of the bedrooms were furnished with queen beds only. We gave that a try Saturday night and that lasted about 2 hours until I moved to another room - then we got creative- and moved two queens into the master beroom and now have a hotel like room which is working well.
We then attended our first Sunday at the Branch and were amazed at the size and quality of the branch and kind of wondered why we were here - then we got the list of those who are not currently attending church- which is a list of about 400 names and learned that we are here to "reach and rescue" so we have our work cut out for us finding and inviting them to come back to church.
We attended meetings and activities almost every night last week culminating with the Branch Christmas party last night. We had a potluck meal in the courtyard at the church, followed by a nativity activity for the children and then a visit from Santa. Santa thought he may have lost a few kilos in the hot suit in the 90 degree temperature.
So here we are again at Sunday - attended church and then taught a temple prep class to a man preparing to attend the temple on the 21st. We will spend next week on a Branch temple trip, we are going to the Sydney Temple instead of Brisbane because they have housing at Sydney and so it is cheaper to attend there, we will catch a plane in the morning and return Saturday.
The only kangaroo sightings have been 4 dead ones along the roadside - so no kangaroo tales!
Til next time!
Enoch and LaRue
We were supposed to leave Brisbane the next afternoon after attending zone council but the President woke twice in the night with the impression that we needed to get on the road sooner to enable us to reach a town called Gladstone where we have a senior couple serving and we could spend the night with them. We were able to get a brief view of the Brisbane temple, and then were on the road by 9:00. The road is a two way road with quite a drab landscape, reminded us of going to Casper beyond Dubois with a few more trees, with lots of stopping due to construction, all in all very tedious driving on the left hand side of the road!
When we arrived at Gladstone, we were greeted by the Hales from Huntington, UT who are serving their 4th mission, plus they have made 10 trips to Mali where he did cataract surgery on people. We were awed by them and enjoyed having pizza with them for thanksgiving! We bid them farwell that night as we knew our body clocks had not reset and we would rise early. We were on the road again shortly after 6 and decided to spend Friday night in a resort area called Aerlie Beach. We had some trouble finding a room as the schoolies had just graduated and were there to celebrate, they were joined by the "toolies" (those who graduated the year before and show up to cause trouble for the schoolies). It was a town filled to the brim with noise and celebration, however we were able to find a nice accomodation and rest for the final day of driving.
We made it to Townsville in the early afternoon, so we were able to get somewhat settled and get a few groceries before Sunday. We have a quite nice 4 bedroom house with everything we needed except that 3 of the bedrooms were furnished with queen beds only. We gave that a try Saturday night and that lasted about 2 hours until I moved to another room - then we got creative- and moved two queens into the master beroom and now have a hotel like room which is working well.
We then attended our first Sunday at the Branch and were amazed at the size and quality of the branch and kind of wondered why we were here - then we got the list of those who are not currently attending church- which is a list of about 400 names and learned that we are here to "reach and rescue" so we have our work cut out for us finding and inviting them to come back to church.
We attended meetings and activities almost every night last week culminating with the Branch Christmas party last night. We had a potluck meal in the courtyard at the church, followed by a nativity activity for the children and then a visit from Santa. Santa thought he may have lost a few kilos in the hot suit in the 90 degree temperature.
So here we are again at Sunday - attended church and then taught a temple prep class to a man preparing to attend the temple on the 21st. We will spend next week on a Branch temple trip, we are going to the Sydney Temple instead of Brisbane because they have housing at Sydney and so it is cheaper to attend there, we will catch a plane in the morning and return Saturday.
The only kangaroo sightings have been 4 dead ones along the roadside - so no kangaroo tales!
Til next time!
Enoch and LaRue
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
We have landed
We have arrived at the Sydney Airport after a long night? We boarded the plane at 3:30 in Salt Lake after lunch with Chris and Jeff. We then turned over our cell phones to Chris which left us feeling like we had just lost a limb. We arrived in LA an hour and a half later for a long 5 hour wait - we were taken to the international terminal for the wait where they have no restaurants, only toilets so I guess it was one step above prison as we could have escaped.
Finally about 10 p.m pt we were able to board the plane, Enoch had taken a chance on our seating and paid the $25 each for a pre assigned seat which was in a row of three with a vacant seat between us. First tender mercy was that no one claimed the seat and we were able to have some extra space. About 3 hours into the flight we were served dinner, while that seemed strange to eat at that time it seems to have helped with the time change. We both had cat naps before the meal and at the end we each took a sleeping pill and slept quite comfortably for at least 6 hours. We were then served breakfast and disembarked the plane at about 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning Sydney time and we actually don't feel too bad! We have cleared customs and are waiting for out next flight at 2:30 on to Brisbane. We have 30 minutes of free Internet compliments of Quantas so just thought I'd share what's been happening.
.....and so the journey begins.
LaRue and Enoch
Finally about 10 p.m pt we were able to board the plane, Enoch had taken a chance on our seating and paid the $25 each for a pre assigned seat which was in a row of three with a vacant seat between us. First tender mercy was that no one claimed the seat and we were able to have some extra space. About 3 hours into the flight we were served dinner, while that seemed strange to eat at that time it seems to have helped with the time change. We both had cat naps before the meal and at the end we each took a sleeping pill and slept quite comfortably for at least 6 hours. We were then served breakfast and disembarked the plane at about 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning Sydney time and we actually don't feel too bad! We have cleared customs and are waiting for out next flight at 2:30 on to Brisbane. We have 30 minutes of free Internet compliments of Quantas so just thought I'd share what's been happening.
.....and so the journey begins.
LaRue and Enoch
Monday, November 19, 2012
MTC
We just finished the MTC on Friday and had our flights rescheduled from today until Monday so we get one more weekend before the big flight. We enjoyed the MTC and had our teaching skills sharpened and hope we will have an opportunity to use them when we reach Townsville.
We were happy to find our neighbors from 1978-79 when we lived in Las Vegas, Dwight and Marilyn Monson at the MTC. They are on their way to the West Indies. We were in the same district as us so it made the whole experience a lot of fun.
We were happy to find our neighbors from 1978-79 when we lived in Las Vegas, Dwight and Marilyn Monson at the MTC. They are on their way to the West Indies. We were in the same district as us so it made the whole experience a lot of fun.
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