Wedding Bells are Ringing

 Dale's Baptism, Elder Soares, and Torrential Rain

It’s been a busy two weeks visiting with, helping, and getting to know more members of the branch. We had the opportunity to help a member of our branch do some painting in her house and are grateful for the relationship we have built with her.

We are now cooking Breakfast in the Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays for those in need in the community. We enjoy meeting and talking with those who come to get a toastie. We serve about 40 – 70 toasties each morning. We are blessed to be able to help with this great service to the community.

We were informed a few weeks ago that the owners of the house we are renting have decided to sell it, so we will need to move. We have been busy looking for a new place to rent but rentals are scarce. If the church is unable to secure a new rental location here in Albany, we will need to relocate to a different city. Please pray for a rental to become available for us in Albany.

Saturday was one of the best days! Dave was able to baptize our friend Dale. Dale is amazing and has turned his life around and is so excited to draw closer to Jesus Christ. Dale was introduced to the gospel by a good friend of his and her family. When we first arrived in Albany the Elders were teaching him and we had the opportunity to join them. Dale, a sports fanatic, immediately hit it off with Dave. The missionaries have done a wonderful job of teaching him and preparing him for baptism. After the baptism we of course enjoyed morning tea (Australian potluck). We feel very blessed to be a part of the work here in Albany and love the people here. We are thankful for the opportunity to serve here, as we have witnessed the pure joy individuals experience as they join or return to the church. What a blessing the gospel is in our life.

Last Wednesday, which is our preparation day, we took a few hours to go and see everyone’s favorite beach in the Albany area, Little Beach. Upon arrival, we found the road to Little Beach closed for maintenance, so we went to Two People’s Beach instead. Two People’s Beach was picturesque and had a beautiful path and picnic area to enjoy. On our way back to the car, a very large friendly skink joined us. So far, our plan to have skinks keep the snakes away is working.

On Thursday, we had the privilege of listening to Elder Ulisses Soares, one of the Apostles of the church, as he addressed the missionaries in the Pacific Area. It was very inspiring and a great uplifting blessing to us. He reminded us to choose things in our life that will bring us joy ETERNALLY and that we should look inside ourselves every day to see if we are closer to Jesus Christ. He reminded us that Jesus Christ is the source of all joy and that if we focus our life on Jesus Christ, he will help us handle any situation in our life. Elder Soares reminded us of President Nelson’s words of wisdom…..”The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives”. May we all strive to have Jesus Christ as the focus in our lives and try to become like him.

We love it here in Albany and when it is time to return home one of the things we will miss is living on the ocean. One morning, we decided to walk along Middleton Beach, located just a few blocks from our house. The beach features fine white sand resembling powdered sugar, with thousands of large and small shells lining the high-water mark. We love strolling along the beach and finding treasures. The kite surfers also added great entertainment.

We had the opportunity to ride out to Denmark with President Duffield to visit some members. Denmark is about 35 miles outside of Albany and is beautiful. A severe thunderstorm hit on our way home, making the journey unforgettable. We prayed a lot because the heavy rain made it impossible to see the road, and at times we were hydroplaning. Thankfully, we made it back safely. The storm raged throughout the night and was recorded as the most severe storm Albany has experienced since the establishment of the weather station in 1887. We have never experienced that much rain in our entire lives. Our neighborhood received 6 ¼” of rain during the storm. The town experienced significant flooding and rain damage. Many stores, community buildings, schools, and historic places were damaged and closed. Unfortunately, some of the members of the branch were also affected.

Last week we had gone out to visit one of our favorite friends Nick. Nick and Donna have an orchard with pears, apples, macadamia nuts, oranges and the best peaches and nectarines we have ever tasted in our entire life!!!

 

We love to go visit. Nick is always a delight to visit with, is so kind to us, and often shares fruit or macadamia nuts with us. 

Nick had been working on repairing a jetty with a diving board in one of his “dams” (we Americans call them ponds or reservoirs) and had also worked on a new “dam”. After the storm we were excited to get back out to Nick and Donna’s to see how much water the “dam” had collected. Nick was excited to show us that the “dam” was about 1/3 full and holding water. It brought back lots of memories to Dave of his days at work for the BLM building reservoirs out on BLM land for wildlife and livestock. As we were touring the property we saw an avocado tree for the first time in our life.

The Oliver family, who are part of our branch, own a sailing yacht. We had the opportunity of visiting the Princess Royal Yacht Club located in Princess Royal Harbor to observe Brother Oliver compete with his yacht the “Excitabull" in a sailing competition. We had a great time.

We had another great time at the branch fast breaker Morning Tea (potluck) this month and branch Ice Cream Sundaes after church.

 

On Saturday about 20 of the sisters in the branch went to lunch to celebrate the birthday of the Relief Society Organization. A great time was had by all.

Tidbits from Australia

Australia has many varieties of bacon…they have streaky bacon (which is similar to American bacon), short-cut bacon, and middle cut bacon…..Sorry America, Australia WINS in the bacon department.

All lemonade is carbonated

Australian whipping cream is superior to American whipping cream. It remains stable after sitting and does not separate. It is also available pre-thickened.

Australian sweets are not as sugary as American sweets😢

We love to see the Galah parrotts everywhere.

We love you all and appreciate your love and support and wish you a week filled with true joy.