New Missionary & Service Project Week
We received our new missionary last week to replace Elder Taylor. Elder Jones picked up Elder Bingham in Perth last week at transfers and brought him to Albany. Elder Bingham is from Montana and has been out about 6 months. He was one of the many missionaries waiting for visas the end of last year and served in Las Vegas for 7 weeks while he was waiting to come to Australia. He has been serving up in the city since arriving in Australia and had never seen a kangaroo before, so it was fun to show him some of the country wildlife. He is a great addition to the Albany branch, and we are excited to get to know him better and serve with him. We found out this week that the Albany Branch is the farthest church unit from church headquarters in the world.
This week we started an Albany Branch Family Home evening group. I forgot to take pictures at our activity, but we had a great time getting to know some of the members and building relationships. We played a get to know you game and then played Book of Mormon bingo and ate treats. Because our branch is so spread out (it is a 3-hour drive from side to side and 1-½ hour drive from top to bottom) we will be holding Family Home Evening at 3 different areas of the branch each month. Next week we will be in Kronkup (the Denmark area) and we will be sure to take some pictures. We have been putting together a Book of Mormon family feud game to play. It should be a great time!
This week we had the opportunity to go with the Elders and help one of the branch members, Brother Hobley, move his stuff out of a caravan at Lake Grace. As we drove to Lake Grace, we were able to see the only “mountains” in the Albany area the Stirling Range. They rise 3600 feet above sea level.
We drove through the Western Australia wheatbelt which covers 10-12 million acres of family-run fields of wheat. This much wheat explains the mountains of wheat we see at the port getting loaded on to cargo ships and shipped out. Western Australia produces over 14,000,000 tons of wheat per year. We drove for several hours and were surrounded by wheat fields as far as you could see.
We passed through a few small towns, which appeared like ghost towns, because there was no one in sight. We did, however, find a phone booth in one of the towns. We haven’t seen one of those for a long time, but this one was still active. Brother Cameron told us that in these remote areas with no cell coverage, Australia has put these phone booths in for people to use for free.
After we loaded the trailer with Brother Hobley’s belongings we had a nice picnic under a big tree. We brought the makings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (PB & J) and both Brother Hobley and Brother Cameron said they had NEVER HAD A PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH BEOFRE in their life. They loved them.
On our drive back to Albany we saw Kangaroos and Wild Emu’s. As we drove through the Stirling range, we saw many signs warning of kangaroo and Emu crossing. That’s definitely something we have never seen at home. It was a great day of service!
Wednesday night we were able to help with the youth activity. We all met at the pickleball courts and enjoyed an evening of pickleball. Some of the youth advisors had never heard of pickleball. It was fun to visit with them and explain the sport I love. The pickleball courts are nestled at the bottom of a hill overlooking the harbor surrounded by huge trees. We even found a pinecone from the huge Norfolk pines. (Carolyn this picture is for you)
As we were playing, we could hear the kookaburras laughing at our rusty pickleball skills. It was sure fun to be able to pick up a paddle for a few minutes again. (Len….the only thing not rusty was my serve. The Elders tried and tried to return it. I think they have a new appreciation for “Seniors”) We had a great evening with the youth.
We had the great opportunity to visit with a lot of the members this week in their homes. They are so inviting and kind. We hope that we can bring some joy and happiness to their lives as they have to ours. We look forward to visiting with more members next week.
On our way home one day we saw another cruise ship (the Silver Nova) leaving the harbor, so we stopped to watch it pass through the passage to the ocean from the harbor and had the opportunity to talk to some people that were visiting Albany. We shared with them our reason for being in Australia and had a great visit.
We also stopped by to see the Brig Amity which is a replica of the convict ship which sailed from Sydney to Albany in 1826 to establish the first European settlement on the west coast of Australia. A brig is a two-masted sailing ship with square rigging on both mast. The Amity landed at King George Sound after a perilous 6-week journey. The expedition included Major Lockyer, 21 soldiers, 23 convicts and enough domestic animals, food, crops and building materials to start the small, remote outpost.
There was also a cool huge tree with roots all over the ground. We couldn’t resist taking some pictures.
Friday there was a cyclone that hit the north-west part of Western Australia. Cyclone Zelia was a category 5 cyclone headed toward Port Headland and Karratha where we have missionaries serving. The cyclone turned at the last minute and weakened to a category 4 (75 mph winds) before hitting landfall. It was a wild ride for the missionaries in the north hunkering down to wait it out. Cyclone Zelia dropped over 19 inches of rain in some parts of the Pilbara region and caused lots of flooding. Many prayers were offered for the safety of the people of that area. The missionaries were very grateful for all the prayers and that the adventure is over. Prayers really do work.
We finally remembered to take a picture of the plugs here. You have to flip a switch to turn them on.
A Car park
is a parking lot
A Bather is
a swimsuit
Some doors have door knobs in the middle of the door
Flashlights
are called torches
Sidewalks
are called foot paths
Albany has its very own Scooby-Doo van
We love and miss you all and are so grateful for your prayers, love, and support.
Hoo-Roo until next week.
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