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!"

25 November - 1 December

Our weather has had its ups and downs in the last week, clouds rolling in and out, bringing some relief (shade) from the unrelenting heat of the rays of sunshine.  There was lots of teasing about whether or not some much needed rain might fall and it usually didn't happen.  Wednesday evening as we returned home from Institute the skies became filled with white lightning and thunder creating a beautiful show.  Shortly some rain began to fall and then became heavier and heavier - yea!!  Then we had the brilliant idea to back the car onto the driveway and get a free carwash if the skies kept deciding to deliver the rain.  So after 30 or so minutes of downpour, we pulled the car back into the garage and Arlo toweled it down and viola, a shiny blue Corolla was now in our garage, where a slightly dirty one had been there before.  This particular evening, we were able to open the three sliding doors in our flat and enjoy some cool, balmy breezes moving throughout, instead of having the air con unit going and that was a nice change!

Sandy has also had her ups and downs this week with her asthma and it finally required that she visit a doctor. Dr. Mitch, as he introduced himself, is a FP/anesthesiologist and his wife is a FP/gynecologist. He is a wonderful young man, probably in his late 20's or early 30's, who along with his doctor wife are practicing in Emerald, a rural area.  They will spend three or so years working here and when finished it gives them a boost up the seniority latter when they decide to return to the city, plus their housing/utilities are subsidized.  Dr. Mitch decided Sandy needed a chest x-ray, handed her the order and sent her to "duck over" to the x-ray department.  Several days later, he even called to check up on her breathing.  Elder (Dr.) Madsen from the mission has also been of great help in speeding along the recovery process over the telephone and we feel like things are finally headed in the right direction.

During the past weeks, we have shared about our opportunity to perform some service for the community at the Neighbourhood Centre (shown above).  On Thursday evenings, we arrive at 5:15 and get things ready for serving dinner at 5:30. This past week, our Institute class again provided the meal which was spaghetti noodles/sauce, green salad and garlic bread.  

This picture shows the serving cart from which we dish up the food and then take it to those coming for the meal.  Every chair was filled this night and there is a big diversity among the people - some regulars looking for company and a meal and itinerant laborers seeking a nourishing, warm meal after a long day in the fields.

These are part of the regular bunch, who are always in their seats (no one had better try to take their seats!!) before we arrive.  It has been fun to get to know them a little bit as we try to visit after they eat.  The woman with the hat, is a real tease and she has tried to pull our chains every so often, especially the time we came upon her in the grocery store.  Don't know her age, but she had spent 11 years out in the gem fields before moving to Emerald several months ago after losing her husband. She showed us her rings and necklaces, all set with stones she had found fossicking. The pink hues on their faces are coming from the reddish colored canopy over the table.

 One afternoon, we stopped at the Visitors Centre which is adjacent to a park and were very surprised to "notice" this piece of artwork.  This is a giant reproduction of van Gogh's "3 Sunflowers In A Vase" and while Cameron Cross was teaching in Manitoba, Canada, he started The Big Easel Project to reproduce up to seven sunflowers portraits and place them throughout the world. So far there are only three paintings - the first being in Canada, the second one was placed here in Emerald in 1999 and a third was put in Kansas.  The work of art which is a 24 by 32 foot reproduction of the painting on an 80 foot steel easel.  Every year during the Easter holiday, there is the Central Highlands Easter Sunflower Festival and it is really a big deal.  There are numerous activities which span a week's time, such as a rodeo, family day, amusement rides and the crowning of Miss Emerald Sunflower.

In the last few weeks, much of the produce grown here in Emerald has ripened and is being picked. These are green grapes, of which there are miles and miles, all covered with the white tarps, which we figure are to protect some from the sun.  Most of the grapes are being picked and packaged to be shipped somewhere, but we did get to taste some at the home of one of our members and they are really good,  Watermelons are really plentiful right now also.  With the temperatures so hot, the workers take breaks every 20-30 minutes for water and if they want they "crack" a melon open to help quench their thirst.  If any melons roll off the wagon, they are just left there for some lucky worker or neighbor to pick up.

Thanksgiving Day not only gave us our service opportunity at the Neighbourhood Centre, but the branch mission leader and his family, prepared a turkey day dinner for these Yankee missionaries. Their kindness was so appreciated by us, and never have we eaten outside with a few palm trees swaying in a little breeze on Thanksgiving.  We shared a turkey roll, roasted sweet potatoes, white potatoes and pumpkin along with some gravy, peas and corn cobbettes and ambrosia salad.

Friday afternoon, we were so pleased to finally be able to share some English learning materials we received from the mission office with Hiro, a newly baptized Japanese young man as of last July.  He is struggling with his English and wants so badly to gain a good command of the language.  He works at KFC cooking chicken, he tells us with a big smile.  His desire is to earn and save lots of money and then go to university somewhere in a country that we can't understand the name of and study IT!

Our Sacrament Meeting speakers Sunday spoke with an emphasis on the Savior, one was a single senior sister preparing to serve a mission in the next few months and the other was our Branch President.  He shared about an accident he had while serving a mission in Indonesia, which took his memory from him for several months.  He spoke about not wanting to write in his journal before the accident, but how grateful he was to have those precious pages filled with his understanding of the gospel and his testimony of our Elder Brother.  It was through his re-reading of his journal while in re-hab that his mind was able to bring back some of what had been taken away by the accident. Thought we would share this to reinforce the value of journal keeping in all of our lives.

As we close another week, we are grateful for so much - in fact, we should be grateful for everything. Family and friends who mean everything to us and especially we give thanks for our membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is a privilege to serve together and be together 24/7!  

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. 

10 - 17 November

G'Day Mates, how ya'going?

Summer is definitely upon us, with temperatures hitting 39/40C (102/104F) and higher, and sunscreen being part of our daily getting ready ritual.  Our week seems to be much of the same,  but that is great!  Tuesday mornings always brings us District Meeting, via Skype and we are impressed by the knowledge and understanding that our District Leader shares with the missionaries in four different areas.  Elder Smith likes to share one of the Bible video clips on the church website and then we take apart and discuss what we have seen. There are times when we miss the direct interaction that happens in a personal setting, but again, we are grateful for the means of meeting together. Wednesday evening brought the halfway point of our Institute class, which we look forward to so much because of the bright lights these kids are to us - one invited us to dinner where we ate Vietnamese rice paper rolls and we shared brownie sundaes with her, so each of us had a new experience with the meal.  Two of our guys helped Arlo give Sandy a priesthood blessing as she has had some breathing issues.  Thursday, early evening, is our time to help with the dinner at the Neighbourhood Centre.  This week, a local Primary school brought in the dessert and served the filled dinner plates to those who came for dinner.  The dessert was trifle, which of course we had to try since it is a cultural experience and found it wonderful.  Each day, we always are looking for members and trying to make visits to families in the branch, trying to get to know them better, which happens when you meet them in their own surroundings. The seminary teachers (husband/wife) are from New Zealand and have lived here for 3 years.  He works in the mines doing something electrical and she has several different things that keep her busy. They have 3 children, two girls and one boy, and one is seminary age.  Seminary was being done by self-study and the parents decided they didn't want that, so went to the priesthood leaders and volunteered to teach a class in their home, at 6 am.  This really took the district president by surprise, saying he had never had anyone volunteer for early morning duty before, but he would accept their offer! Again it has been a blessing for these young people to have more interaction with each other than only on Sunday.  The local vocabulary brings smiles to our faces when we hear new ones.  During the Sunday School lesson in which we were reading from  Hosea about the faithful husband and an adulterous wife, the teacher asked us what did the husband do about the wife - he didn't "kick her to the curb", did he?  Another man talked about a scripture that just "sparked right out to him."  We love these and will share from time to time because they bring smiles to our faces. 

Last week we shared some pictures of the Emerald Botanic East Gardens, which are primarily a native landscape.  The pictures below are from the West Gardens, which are maintained and more park like.  As you can see it was an overcast rainy day.  The Gardens cover 42 hectares (104 acres) and has 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) of walking trails.  

Below is the Nogoa River which divides the East and West sections of the Gardens.

You might be wondering why we would share a picture of our not "smart" phone.  Even though it is a small, simple device, it is an really amazing part of the work.  Missionary phones all over the mission received a text from the Zone Leaders in their respective areas last Thursday morning,  telling them of a mission wide conference call to be held in 30 minutes and please be on line 10 minutes before the appointed hour. There is a special phone number that is called and then a password is entered and all 284 missionaries were connected with President and Sister Henderson.  It seems that he had just had some thoughts that he felt needed to be shared with the mission and that was possible on the spur of the moment by the means of modern technology! One thought that he shared stood out:  "Count yourself blessed if you are rejected in your work, because that is what Christ faced each day in his ministry."  The month of November has a Pacific Area wide special focus on Hastening the Work of Salvation and the Brisbane Mission has set a goal of 100 baptisms during those 30 days.  It began with a fast on the 1st Sunday and will end with a special Christ centered Sacrament Meeting on the 30th.  

Other calls have come as we have had Senior Missionary Conference Calls, where President gives us a pep talk on how to help the missionaries and the wards/branches we are called to serve in.  One comment he made to us seniors was that as we serve, we are examples to the members of what they can look forward to later on in their lives when they are "wiser" (we are not going to say when they are older!). 

Technology has also been a blessing by allowing the spread out distant northern zone to participate in a zone conference via Skype.  Also the Rockhampton District, which consists of four small branches separated by hours of driving, holds its semiannual general priesthood meeting using a webcast over the internet.  Technology is indeed helping to hasten the work.

Stay well and "no worries".

4-9 November

G-Day Mates,

Some of our week was spent traveling to Blackwater to search for members who we have not met, and in some cases, not sure they are still in the area, and for a visit to the Relief Society and Sunday School presidents and their two children.  He has lost his job and searching very hard for another one, but it appears that they will have to leave the area in order to find employment.  This will be hard for our little Emerald Branch.  Enjoyed sharing a lunch and conversation as we tried to learn more about the people in the area.  Tuesday evening we went to "tea" (dinner) with another family at their home - these are great stalwarts in the area who originally came from New Zealand.  Wednesday brought District Meeting and Institute.  The Mickelsen's were asked to share some training on the Hastening of the Work with the missionaries.  All of our regulars were in attendance at Institute and one brought Domino's Pizza for the refreshments.  It was nothing like the American Domino's but everyone loves pizza so it was a hit - the carrot sticks/ranch dressing are a necessary part of the refreshments again.  The pizza doesn't have our normal red sauce, but we decided that we could have it for a quick meal sometime. The mission patriarch and his wife (Elder and Sister Miller) finished up a 2 1/2 week circuit through the northern zone of the mission giving numerous blessings to very grateful people.  It was great to have them spend the weekend with us and two young people in the branch received their blessings on Sunday.  Sandy was able to help the Primary prepare for their yearly program, by playing the piano/keyboard, which is always fun to do.

This map is at one entrance to the Emerald Botanic Gardens which is about a mile walk from our house.  Arlo walks to here most mornings and picks up another mile or two in the gardens depending on the route he takes.  The following pictures are of the East Garden which is mostly natural landscape with planted areas of different tree varieties.  We will send some photos of the West Garden next week which has irrigated and maintained lawn areas.

The Southern Cross Windmill was built in 1931 and was used for irrigation on the "Marathon", one of the early pioneer farms near Emerald.  After restoration, it was moved to the Botanic Gardens and is used to pump water into the lagoon in the gardens.

This monument was built in 2001 to celebrate the federation of Australia.  The murals on the federation pillars are intended to reflect the Australian identity with special emphasis on the Emerald Shire.  There are ten pillars and each one represents one decade since federation.  The center seating area is called the yarn pit.

The rainforest is watered heavily during the night about five times a week and is several acres in size with paths through it.  Below are fruit bats (or flying foxes) which are hanging in the rain forest by the hundreds if not thousands.  They are huge for a bat - the head and body length is about 10 inches and they have a wing span of three plus feet.

Another week and it is amazing how the time is going.  There are many blessings that come from serving a mission together and we are most thankful for them all.

28 October - 3 November

Our week is pretty much the same routine, with a few variations here and there.  Tuesday or Wednesday mornings find us at the church for District Meeting.  Our District Leader, introduced us to his new companion who is from China.  He was called to speak Mandarin Chinese, which he already knew, as a missionary, but a little later was asked to learn English.  So six weeks later he is in Rockhampton and is doing an amazing job with his English skills.  He shared with us that he was converted in China and against his families wishes joined the Church and went to Hong Kong to be baptized. There had to be a little bit of interpretation by his companion, but we could pretty much understand the bits and pieces.  It was discovered during our meeting that seven of the sixteen in attendance were converts as young adults.   The Institute class was a little sparse on Wednesday, due to illness and other factors, but we had a great lesson and they always love refreshments, especially those carrots and ranch dressing!  Thursday evening, we were found at the Neighbourhood Centre helping with the meal and clean-up.   The remainder of our time has been filled with trying to locate members whose addresses are not so great (some only the town is indicated and others have just PO boxes) and meet other members who do have a real address.  Friday was Halloween and yes, they do celebrate this day a little bit in Australia. In the shops, you might find a shelf or two with candy and a few costumes.  If a family was going to have "lollies" (candy) for children, they were to put a balloon or some Halloween decoration on their mailbox and it would indicate stop by.  There was a house down the street from us that put white spider webs all over and bloody red handprints on the garage door, but didn't notice any other signs of participation. 

On Saturday, one of our Institute friends and Emerald's YW President took us out to the gemfields, which included the communities of Sapphire, Rubyvale and Anakie, with two purposes in mind -- (1) To see the area and (2) To try to locate some members.  We saw the area, but were unsuccessful in our attempts to find 3 different families.  The huge sapphire ring draws people inside what looks like a shanty of some sort, but is not.  You come into a large showroom of many pieces of jewelry made from stones that had been mined in the area.  We were surprised to discover that all sapphires are not blue, but come in a variety of beautiful colors!  As we continued through the showroom, we found ourselves in a outdoor restaurant with a nice menu.  In another area you pay $20 for a bucket of dirt and then pour it out on a sifting table.  Then with some large tweezers or your hands, you carefully go through the pile.  Over to the side, we watched two groups of people intently sorting through their dirt piles, in hopes of finding a raw sapphire.

One of the sapphire mines - people just come out to the area and put up a dwelling of sorts and start to mine for sapphires in hopes of striking it rich!

This is one of the amazing copper colored metal signs that announce what town you are coming to and what goes on or has gone on there.  This sign would work for two or three communities by just changing the name, Anakie, Sapphire, Rubyvale, because they are all gemfields (as you can tell by the cut stones at the top).

Notice the marker on the side of the road. Since the highways are subject to flooding, these markers are placed to show you how deep the flood water is above the road level.  This marker is for a bridge over the Nogoa River about a mile away from our flat.  The highest mark is 6 meters, which would be about 19.5 feet deep.  On the open highways the markers are usually 1 meter high.

This is an ariel photo of Emerald during the flood of 2010, but it also flooded in 2011 and 2012.  Our hope is not to experience this while here.  Residents are encouraged to "plan ahead" and be ready for a flood.  We were told to have 2 weeks supply of food and water because of the remoteness of this area, replenishing of shelves in the stores would not happen very rapidly.  This also explains why many SUV and trucks have air snorkels so they can traverse the flooded roads.

This is the amazing Queensland bottle tree.  It is a native of the state we are in.  The function of the large trunk is primarily for water storage making it drought resistant.  They are found throughout the area and are different in sizes, but always really fun to look at and can grow 4-30 meters tall.

Sunday was Fast Sunday and the Pacific Area presidency asked that all wards and branches have a special fast to guide us in identifying new opportunities to "hasten the work."  On November 30th there will be a Sacrament Meeting focused on the Savior, which the members are asked to invite friends and family as they feel prompted.  It will be good for the branch to have this occasion to work together - invitations, information packets and deciding on speakers - to make the day a memorable one for all in attendance.

We are thankful for the opportunity to serve together sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and to become friends with the wonderful members of the Emerald Branch.  They have been so kind and we are enjoying sharing a meal or two with different families.  So always remember, if you have a chance feed the missionaries!