9 - 14 December

The time has come for us to say good-bye to Emerald and ready ourselves for a transfer to Brisbane to serve in the mission office.  It is always hard to say good-bye and especially hard to all the kind, wonderful people that we have met in our time amongst the Emerald Branch and in the community.  It has been wonderful to rub shoulders with many different nationalities - mostly from the Pacific Islands.   They are loving and would do anything for you - we have shared meals, enjoyed visits in homes of many members and learned together in the gospel.  Today was the last Sunday for two families, one leaving because he lost his job with the downsizing of one of the coal mines and the other family is returning to their roots in New Zealand, so the branch membership is taking quite a hit right now.  

The rainy season is upon us and brings periodic downpours and brilliant shows of lightning and thunder.  The earth really has shown its thanks for the rain, because everything is greening up brilliantly,  showing us where Emerald got its name.  One afternoon this week after the rain stopped, as we looked out the window at the rear of our home, this beautiful sight greeted us.

The Emerald Botanic Gardens have been adding exercise equipment along one of the main walk paths Arlo uses.  They previous had the standard stationary bars but now have 5 prices of equipment with moving parts like this one.

Some homes really go all out with decorations and this was just the beginning for this home, in our neighbourhood - much more has been added since snapping the picture.  What intrigued us, was who was pulling Santa's sleigh and there have been more "reindeer" added to the left side of the roof!  The fence (right) has a koala bear and leaning against a pillar next to the candy canes is an emu.  

Daylight shot of the sleigh being pulled by kangaroos!  Our missions seem to always be associated with animals.  Alligators were found all around in the Christmas lights when we served in Florida, but we never saw a lighted giraffe or elephant in South Africa.

This is from one of our little ladies at the Neighbourhood Centre - she must have never noticed our missionary name badges by the way she began her note!  Our last evening there, one of the local volunteers brought a bag with heaps of wrapped gifts.  You know the game where one person opens a gift and then the next person can decide to "pinch" it or choose another wrapped one.  Everyone who comes on Thursday evenings for dinner loves to "chat and laugh",  a lovely way to say visiting! Another fun phrase was added to our collection, when the hairdresser cutting Sandy's hair, asked her to "pop off her glasses" in preparation for the cut.  

Our Branch Mission Leader (no padding required) who is Santa at one of the furniture stores on the weekends before Christmas.  The countdown to Christmas Day is shown in the advertising here as the number of "sleeps" until the 25th.

Our Institute class selfie is now on Facebook!  This was our last meeting and we had a great lesson on the Doctrine of Christ, Sandy made chicken enchiladas and chips/salsa and as always we laughed and had a good time together.  Each week Sandy has always brought as part of our refreshments carrot sticks (1 kg which equivalent to about 2 lbs.) and ranch dressing, which is always the first thing to be finished.  She decided not to bring them this week, but as we put everything out on the table, the words "Where are the carrots?",  were heard.  We love this group of young adults, but one of our students had to go to Brisbane for a family emergency, so the picture is not complete.

Going away gift from the kindest man in the branch, he is employed at one of the grape farms - 5 kg of huge, plump and delicious, locally grown grapes (Midnight Beauties), selling for $5.98 per kg on sale, which makes them worth about $30 US dollars.  

As we say good-bye to Emerald, we needed to add their city sign with representations of what is in the area - coal mines (truck & coal), railroad track (started in 1879 as a base for the building of the western railway), Fairbairn Dam,  hands of the different nationalities of farm workers and a windmill, To the right of the sign is a glimpse of a huge cotton field.

As we ready ourselves for the change of scenery and location, we are grateful for the opportunities that await us in Brisbane and look forward to each one.  Our last Sunday in Emerald, gave us the opportunity to speak in Sacrament Meeting.  We spoke to the subject of gifts and the greatest gift of all is our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Make sure to visit christmas.mormon.org to share the gift of God's love for us - it is amazing all that the Church is doing with this initiative.