18 - 24 November

G'Day Mates!!

Everywhere we go, and after hearing our accents, people inquire of us how we are loving the summer so far!  What a question to ask some one who just barely finished a very warm summer in St. George. We have been told that the temperatures might be a little warmer than usual, but really are just about normal for this time of year.  So as Thanksgiving is just about upon us one of the items on the "Be Thankful For List" is air con (ditioning-is left out when referring to the cooling), both in our flat and in our car.  One of the ads that come to us weekly, was advertising manure for the purpose of "pepping up" your garden space. Some of the schools, along with Emerald Library, have gardens that produce many items, some of which have been shared with us by a teacher at a school, who is one of our Institute students.  

Last week was pretty much a routine week, with District Meeting, Institute, making a few visits and continuing to search for members with the unknown addresses here in Emerald.  Arlo was able to make contact with a father in the Brisbane area of one of the names on our rolls and found that his son had moved to another city, and with that address we can send his records to the new ward and help the members in that area fellowship him.  Thursday evening, our Institute class provided the meal (roast beef, chicken and pork with "heaps" of roasted vegetables) at the Neighbourhood Centre. There were some new faces this week, as transient farm workers are coming in to pick the grapes and watermelons.   One young man came in saying how hungry he was and after finishing told Sandy he hadn't had a meal like this for two weeks and was full, full, full!! 

These Australian Magpies are everywhere and this sign isn't a funny joke.  It warns of swooping magpies that will attack during the nesting season and how to protect yourself from them.  They aren't the same as the magpies that we know from the United States, so we weren't sure at first what type of bird we were seeing.  Bike riders attach spikes to the top of their helmets to deter the birds.

Our weekly Institute class always includes refreshments so the kids will "Linger Longer".  Since pizza had been a hit a couple of weeks ago, we decided it could bear repeating, plus we have discovered that our treats after the lesson, are usually dinner.  The pizzas are all the same size (large) but it really only compares to a small in the U.S.  Pizza was our dinner at home one night, and we tried ground beef, capsicum (green pepper), red onion, and lots of sweet chili sauce as the base and swirled on top. This is a real deal for Australia because most of the other pizza places here don't have any pizza anywhere near that price.

Saturday morning, a "High Tea" was scheduled for our Branch Relief Society as a concluding activity for the year and a good-bye to our Relief Society President (black top next to the sister with the baby).  She and her family will be leaving Emerald Branch within a few weeks because the mine where her husband worked in the accounting office, did a lay off of 100 or so people.  The picture includes the relief society president and a counselor, primary president and a counselor, wives of the branch presidency,  YW president (taking the picture).  This is a big chunk of the women of this great branch.  Two were not able to be in attendance because they were being part of the Seminary Fair/Graduation in a community about 4 hours away.  Since the school year is ending, so has seminary.

High tea included bruschetta, small salad of mixed greens (rocket) with chunks of mango, and eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce.  Normally there would be included coffees and teas, but since we don't drink those, we were given different choices - hot or iced chocolate and herb teas.  Since the outside temperatures were sky-rocketing, the iced chocolate was the hands down favorite, but the hot chocolate had by one sister was presented in beautiful teacup and saucer with dollop of thickened cream on top. 

To finish off our morning, they tried something new for them - a service auction.  Even though there were only a few of us, there was still good competition and lots of laughing as we bid points trying to out do someone who wanted the same item that we did.  A sister earned points by reading through a list of things we might have done in the last little while and putting a "tick" mark in the box if she had done it - read scriptures, take a meal to someone, say "I Love You," do some exercise and teach a lesson, to name just a few. Then you multiply the tick marks by 10 and that gave you your "bidding money" for the auction.  Sandy recalled good memories as she remembered participating in one of these in Ridgecrest where there were a few more women involved.  There was a photo shoot, a stuffed animal to be made, two Thai dinners, some Scentzy products, a box of chocolates with a basket of ironing to be done and the cookie mix jars which Sandy ended up obtaining after using every single point she had.  They will be perfect for our Institute class refreshments. Sandy is going to try making cinnamon rolls for her contribution for the morning and will keep her fingers crossed that they turn out fantastic.

Above is the heritage-listed railway station in downtown Emerald.  It was built in 1900 and is still used for passenger service to Rockhampton and then connects with trains running up and down the coast between Brisbane and Cairns. The ornamental trim out front is referred to as gingerbread and is fun to look at and think about all the work that went into producing that.

Another week has come and gone and we appreciate our opportunity to serve and meet new people here in this part of the Lord's vineyard.