A Time to Mourn, A Time to Rejoice

This week was full of emotions.  First of all, a good friend of ours, Brian Antuar, died suddenly on Tuesday.  We were all so shocked. He and his wife, Sue, invited all the senior missionaries over to eat at their home a few months ago and we were lucky enough to go to their home twice.  We love them and they really took us in when we arrived last March.  He was a very tall man who worked in the food industry.  He was very fond of Australian football, footie, and had played for different football clubs as a youth.  He was a superb cook!  They were retired and enjoyed "caravaning" all over Australia.  They were also finishing their 5th year as temple workers We will miss him.

We spent most of the week trying to finalize a flat in Lismore which is 3 hours south of us.  The flat we had there for the elders was unsuitable and President Vongsawad pulled them out until we could find better accomodations.  A senior service couple found a very nice flat there and we will have it furnished and ready to go by transfers starting November 4th.  The Lismore countryside is very beautiful with its rolling green hills, forests and cattle!

 

We also trained a new couple from Salt Lake on Wednesday, the Kims.  They are not Asian but get a lot of Asian-related advertising because of their last name!  

Another big project for me this week--I decided we needed a Housing Board that showed where all the missionaries live.  The president is always asking us which flats have 3 or 4 missionaries in them and it's hard to keep track of since it changes every 6 weeks if not more often!  This was Stage 1.

Once I got all the pictures finished and laminated (about 180 of them), then it was time to assign them to their zones and flat addresses, Stage 2.

      

  

I estimate it took about 100 hours to put this together but it was worth it!  If you know me, you know I love this kind of stuff.  Now we can tell at a glance who is where and how many companionships of 3 and 4 we have.  Everyone who saw me working on it wanted one too starting with the mission president's wife!

This week had a Friday the 13th!  Believe it or not, this has always been a lucky day for us and this week was no different.  When we were in the MTC, we were told that as of January 1, 2023 all senior missionaries would have free wifi!  I was very excited that we wouldn't have to pay for this service.  Then, when we arrived in Australia, I asked the president about it.  Rookie mistake, right?  He said we didn't have it yet and put me in charge of it!  So, I've been working on it and seniors started receiving their modems in August. We kept waiting and checking for packages but nothing.  And THEN on Friday the 13th, we received our modem and we now have internet!!!  Wooohaaa!  I'm so happy--truly rejoicing.  We have had to hotspot off our phones the last 8 months which is really a pain and not that reliable.

We love you all and hope you are enjoying reading about our adventures in Aussieland.  The people are great, the country is beautiful and the birds, flowers and wildlife make me happy!  See you next week.