Week Four

Well, it is definitely a tropical climate here; actually they call it sub-tropic. When it rains or looks like rain, it's not sunny but it's not cold either, at least not outside. It's not cold at night either; colder than during the day but not cold. I have the blanket still in the closet. I have a fan & a heater but haven't had to use either. Did I tell you they have no central heat or air?

We are just coming out of winter here. Spring has sprung! I just heard today that they can have some really hairy hail storms. They have been in a drought so appreciated the rain we got the other day. Oh, I got a picture of a Heron today in our front yard.

I've begun making a list of words that are different. It's fun. They say "Mum" for Mom and I remember my Mother saying that. My companion says that a lot of the words here are English from England. That would make sense cuz my grandfather was born in England! So that's what my Mom would have heard growing up.

Gas is petrol,
biscuit is cookie,

tea is dinner,

brekky is breakfast,

brush & shovel is broom & dustpan,

uni is university,

gob is mouth

and

chuffed is pleased.

They talk very fast and it's actually often really hard to understand; almost like another language. It's beautiful, I love it!

I am not tracting. I was originally assigned to work in the Mission Office but my assignment was changed when I got here. We are working on establishing an English as a Second Language class in the area and also working with less active and new members. I'm loving it! We're still in the process of getting the ELS organized. We are looking for locations and I think the biggest thing is going to be finding the students. We have visited 3 classes; one that the missionaries are doing in Brisbane City, another with the missionaries at the Institute in Brisbane and another class that a Chinese church is doing. We will begin our first class at our church building on Wednesday evening. We are on the outskirts of Brisbane but not in the outback. We will be teaching Chinese, Sudanese, Samoan & Tongan's. It should be fun.

My hour of personal scripture study in the morning is amazing!!! We went into Brisbane to visit a class and it was next door to the Brisbane Temple. The Temple sight was gorgeous!!!!!
It's on the Brisbane River with the city of Brisbane in the background. Breathtaking. I must have taken a dozen pictures. The chapel next to the temple is beautiful; almost looks like a temple itself. Life is great here.

Beautiful weather, wonderful people and serving the Lord. Who could ask for more??? But I get more. Today we spent an absolutely marvelous day at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was amazing. I can’t tell you how beautiful it was; the smells, the plant life & the animals. So many animals, birds & flowering trees which I have never seen before. I wore a new set of batteries out in my camera! This place reminds me so much of Hawaii. I love it! We saw & got to pet the Koala’s & Kangaroos. It was amazing. They were all over the place!

I’m really in Australia!!!!!!!!!!