The Jacarandas are in Bloom!

Happy October!  Spring started September 1st here down under and the jacarandas are all blooming!  They are beautiful with their purple flowers.  They don't have their leaves yet but they have flowers!

Most of the trees here kept their leaves but the plumerias lost all of their leaves.  I just learned that the plumerias are called frangipanis here.  Learn new stuff every day.  Here's a plumeria at our apartments with no leaves--buds are just starting.  They are easy to identify because their branches are so fat!  This is what the flowers look like and they smell sooooooo good!

             

It's still hard to think of north being hot and south being cold.  Tasmania, which is an Australian state, and New Zealand are south of here and are cold!

Well, we survived the arrivals and transfers of Week 1 and we're ready to do it all over!  I've mainly been organizing the paperwork.  First, I had to make maps of the areas because I needed a reference for all these areas.  My next big project was to organize the bedding paperwork.  I had to print transfer boards for the last two years and then determine who had gone north, when they went north and when and if they had returned from the north.  They are given a bedding bag when they arrive to the mission unless they are going north.  In that case, they have to fly to the northern zone and can only take one suitcase--so no bedding bag until they come back down.  If they had a bedding bag and then go north, the bedding bag is parked at the mission home.  When they return, I have to know whether they were assigned a bag or not and get one ready for them!  The only way to figure that out was the transfer board.  This is what a transfer board looks like.

Yep, it's complicated and it goes through various versions during the 6 weeks.  My most recent project has been fixing the keys.  I don't think they have been updated for at least the last two mission presidents and they are a mess!  I spend a lot of time on Excel making charts and spreadsheets for all the flats and keys we are in charge of.  Otherwise, we would be completely lost!  :D

New senior missionaries come in every month and we train them and then send them out.  Lately, we have been having a pot luck for them on the Sunday after they arrive.  Here at the Buxton Street apartments, we have a patio/grill area next to the lap pool, yep, the lap pool.  There are 8 of us living here so we sponsor it and invite the other couples.

Also, I've been speaking on stake assignment with the high councilors.  They ran out of junior missionaries and have been using the senior missionaries.  My topic is the same every time so I use the same talk--Key Doctrines I've Learned From My Mission.  I use Elder Renlund's talk, "Lifelong Conversion" given at BYU on September 14, 2021.  It's a life changer!

Grandma Gloria went home today after being moved to the rehabilitation center so now the real work begins.  We're thankful for family members, especially Ruta Lee, who have been taking care of her.

Love to all!