The Sisters and Gladys Knight concert!

 We picked up Helen Pullen, former Australia Brisbane Mission financial secretary, and her sister, Sue, on Monday evening.  They had been touring in New Zealand where they had family and friends.  They grew up in New Zealand with a Kiwi father and an English mother.  They moved to England as adults and still live there.  They were gone a lot, in fact that's why they wanted to stay with us because the train and the bus are just around the corner!  We fed them breakfast every day and only one supper.  Helen helped the new financial secretary who replaced her amidst their sightseeing. They washed their bedding before they left on Thursday which was what Tyler and his family did as well!  We've been spoiled!

Wednesday, the Wheatleys arrived from Idaho. They are our newest senior missionaries. They will be serving in Mt. Isa which is pretty isolated from the rest of the mission (circle on far left. We don't have any other couples until the end of July which is unusual for us. It will be nice to have a little break from training new couples.

    

March 24, 2024 was our 43rd wedding anniversary.  We heard Gladys Knight was coming to Brisbane the very same weekend and we bought tickets to her Farewell Tour.  It was held at the Brisbane Convention Center which is also where we have stake conference!  It's by South Bank Parklands.  We went early so we could eat out at South Bank.  It's a good thing we went early because South Bank got really busy after we arrived.  We ate at Vici's which is an Italian restaurant which had gluten-free pasta!  We ordered Beef Penne which was really good.  The drinks were Pellegrino lemonade and blood-orange and were good but tiny!  After dinner we headed over to the convention center to wait.  It was drizzling rain so we got a little wet but it wasn't bad.  Our seats were on the mezzanine level and when we headed for the lobby we ran into some members who were also waiting. There were not very many young people there, haha, but there were tons of gray/white headed fans.

      

  

After listening to the opening act, Cloe Styler--a young girl and her guitar, it was time for Gladys! They helped her climb the stairs to the stage and we all started yelling!  She will be 80 years old in May 2024!!! Her voice is still strong and phenomenal!  I wasn't interested in the songs I didn't know but she sang all of my favorites:  I Heard it Through the Grapevine, You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me, Neither One of Us Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye, and Midnight Train to Georgia. The crowd went wild on those and I held up my phone flashlight.  It was great but waaay past my bedtime and we drove home pooped.  

The next day I barely made it through church and then we were invited to eat with Geoff and Mabel Dean at 12:00 noon.  Geoff is 94 years old and Mabel is wife #2 and is 72 years old.  She is Catholic, like super Catholic as the saints on her front door attested.  She is from Liberia. She served us three different meats, collard greens, salad, rice, and potatoes!  What a feast!  And...they bought a gluten-free chocolate cake mix just for me.  It was all delicious but we were beat.  When we got home I collapsed on the bed til 6:30 pm!

All in all, a very busy week and exhausting--four weeks of company! We're headed into autumn here.  Enjoy your spring and Happy Easter!  Can't wait for general conference!  Love you all!