2 - 8 December

G'Day Mates,

Excitement is in the air around Emerald.  Christmas is coming, but even closer is the day school is out for summer break (8 weeks).  Graduations and proms are being held, kids are antsy and teachers just want to be finished! December 12th is the last day and we are told that the town will become a ghost town as families leave for the holidays.  There has been some rain, but much more is really needed to help the area. It is pretty amazing how even a small amount of rain has helped green up the lawns and such.  It is hard to believe that we have hit our 3 month mark on our mission!

Each Wednesday after we finish our Institute lesson, we share refreshments together.  One of our kids, a recent convert of about 5 months, texted Sandy to say she wanted to bring a SURPRISE that night but wouldn't say what it was until she came.  These are chocolate cupcakes frosted white like snow (they don't even know snow!!) and then she frosted sugar cones with a leaf tip to make them look like Christmas tree branches.  It was a 3 hour investment of time and love on her part and all enjoyed. They took the cone part off and we filled them with ice cream.

Wednesday morning was a Skype Zone Meeting - sharing how the screen looked just before the meeting started.  One group had a problem with their connection and never did show up on the screen.  There was also another mission wide telephone conference on Friday and all over again, we are amazed at what technology does for us on this mission. 

Our typical Thursday evening spent serving at the Neighbourhood Centre had an added bonus - Christmas carolers from one of the churches. Their accompaniment was the guitar and a violin and all enjoyed the "musical item," as programs are referred to.  Arlo was having a conversation with Father Terry (plaid shirt) of the Catholic Church, who comes to give encouragement where needed.  He is a traveling priest, here until February while the regular priest is on a sabbatical. 

Friday evening, we were invited for dinner at the home of the Young Women's President and her husband, who are also two of our Institute students.  We were told that Peter was cooking, so assumed that our meal would have an asian flavor, so were surprised when we were served pasta! Notice the yellow tablecloth and her yellow shirt.  The picture we missed was the table set with her yellow beehive dishes and silverware from Deseret Book - she is so proud of them and because they cost a great sum, plus shipping and taxes coming into the country,  are only used for special occasions.  So we were very flattered!!

Saturday morning was the Emerald Branch Christmas Activity held at Capella Aquatic Centre, which is 50 km (30 miles) north of Emerald.  As a country, Australia is big into swimming and most communities have great aquatic centres.  The focal point of the Centre, is the Olympic size pool, surrounded by four other pools.  This is in a community with a population less than 800.

The area where most of the kids hung out because of the water slide and the water was warmer than the large Olympic pool.

Sandy pulled double duty this morning - manning the grill and trying to keep a baby asleep in the pram. No ham, cheese potatoes, green beans or any of our other traditional Christmas party foods - grilled sausages, steak and onions to be eaten on a slice of bread (not a bun).  Salads and desserts were brought by the branch members to complete the bar-b-que!  Over the shoulder of the other cook is a miniature golf course - this place has everything.

Our branch president with his wife and son giving us their best "cheese" smiles.  The pram (earlier picture) held their 8 month old son who was fast asleep.

Four of our Relief Society sister enjoying the cool waters and the very warm sunshine.  Usually everyone has some kind of hat on, to protect from the sun in addition to heaps of sunscreen!

Yahoo, we finally found a roo!  Just as we do at Brian Head, when we take a drive to count deer coming out to graze at twilight, we took a drive not too far from our home (about 2 miles) in hopes of finding kangaroos doing the same thing.  The count for the night was twelve, but it started to get too dark, so we probably missed the rest of the "mob," as the group of kangaroos are called.

Each year throughout Australia there are Carols by Candlelight held and we were invited to attend Emerald's.  This was the stage and different groups from the community sang and there was one instrumental group that you can see part of.  The stage is a truck that was loaned by a local company and the venue was the school yard for one of the schools.  Santa even made an appearance during the evening, arriving in a red golf cart!  There were so many children wanting "lollies" that Santa finally gave up distributing them individually and just threw out handfuls to the crowd of children.

Never in her life has Sandy "sweat bullets" and needed a mop cloth for her face, while singing Christmas carols.  This was our little group of LDS and it seemed like we were the only ones with real candles, others had candles powered by battery.  Shortbread, caramels, cookies, and cinnamon eggnog were shared by us all.  Others around us brought entire picnic dinners, while listening and enjoying the evening.  Most of the carols were familiar, but there were a few Australian such as "The Carol of the Birds."  

At church Sunday, there was an advisory given out - "frog in the toilet, but don't worry it is the green treefrog and they are ok!" The term "toilet" means the whole bathroom area here, not just the fixture, so we were surprised to actually have the frog inside the toilet and not hopping around.  Brown frogs, at least some, are poisonous and to be avoided, we were cautioned.  Personally, we will just avoid them all, especially in the toilet! (Thought the grandkids would enjoy this visitor.)

The mission is sharing "He is the Gift" from lds.org and we hope you all have taken advantage of this amazing new video, helping us remember why we celebrate Christmas.  Enjoy your families and all the festivities during this "most wonderful time of the year!"