November 27,2012

It is a damp, cool, dizzily, morning in Melbourne. I am bummed. I bought a new rain gauge a few weeks ago and attached it with a couple of fishing nails to the 2x4 railing atop the fence near our entry door. I had one that I brought from home in the same place and it blew off one night and did a Humpty Dumpty on me and you know the rest of the story.  The new one is or at least was working fine until I found it lying on the side walk the other morning.  It is not broken but I am not putting it back up there without proper nails or screws that have large enough heads that the gauge will not slip right over them and go plop or splat or whatever again.  We were at Bunning’s yesterday, (Australian version of Home Depot). 

Actually, better than Home Depot in the area of customer service for sure and I think they have all of the (Home Depot) stuff that one would ever want or need.  My problem is I am such a tight wad.  Sharla wanted to buy a little pack of nails with heads on them. It was over $5 and I said, no do not spend that kind of money for two little nails. Of course then it would rain overnight.  What a dilemma!! It is even more complicated because we were looking at Big W (Australian version of Wal-Mart) right after we got the new gauge and I was too tight to buy nails that day.

They were laying loose in the bottom of the display case. We took, borrowed, or stole them. They did not do the required job as I have described.  Then on Sunday I was in the Member Janitorial Closet at the Branch and I found a couple of nails and a couple of screws that I put in my pocket to bring home and try. It was a hot day and I had my jacket off many times and in a couple of different trunks (boots) of cars and Sharla carried it a couple of times for me when we were walking to or from the train or tram. Very long story short,  I am still looking for those nails or screws.  I will get this project finished somehow.  It is raining quite hard right this minute and I am going to go out and put it in a temporary spot. Perhaps you will hear more about this sometime in the future.  Probably not much more.

We are doing fine.  Most of the time well, and once in a while not very well. The not very well is associated with times when we are missing our family, like Thanksgiving which of course is not celebrated in Australia. ( We did a P-Day dinner on the 19^th for our Zone. Total of 28.  Turkey and the trimmings, 2 11# whole birds and a boneless roast that was dozens or more pieces all neatly rolled in and placed in a net, all for a total cost  of $194.49.  It would have cost $194.50 had I not paid for it on the credit card, since in Australia they round all transactions to the nearest nickel.  They do not have pennies. They have 50, 20, 10, and 5 cent coins, as well as $2 and $1 dollar coin; no one dollar bills, just 5,10,20,50, and 100 dollar bills. Someone said the other day that they have a $500 bill. Probably, I will not carry one of those around any time soon.

Back to our doing fine, We are about as settled into our efficiency flat as we can get. There is no room for any more stuff.  There are at least a dozen things that we complain about regarding the flat, but we have come to accept that our complaining is not going to change any of it, so if we want it changed we do something about it (at least Sharla does) and otherwise we have limited most of our complaining to each other.

We are accustomed to the fact that we rely 95% of the time on public transportation. The newness of that has worn off, and a few Sundays ago when we walked over 60 blocks doing all of the stuff that we had to do that day (we also rode the tram a few times and even rented a Taxi) we complained to each other that it was too far, too much walking.

 We actually rented a car a couple of weeks ago for a day and went on a beautiful drive down to Inverloch and visited a woman and her son who I met nearly 50 years ago in my first area. We felt so liberated to be able to stop along the way at a travel plaza and go buy a map or a diet coke or whatever we wanted. It was a beautiful drive, The ocean there was spectacular. We also borrowed a missionary car on Friday and drove to Costco, mostly for supplies for all of the Branch feeds. (paper plates, flatware, cups and that sort of stuff).

The amazing, truly amazing part of being here is the Chinese and Vietnamese people and the missionaries. (the young ones, not us) I will never cease to marvel at how hard the missionaries work and how dedicated and obedient they are and how they are blessed to learn the language that they are assigned to learn and then speak that language almost exclusively for two years. Think about the challenge of being a missionary and teaching the gospel to someone you have never met before and then throw into the mix that you are going to do it in a language you know nothing or very little about and you are going to be teaching people, many of them who know nothing at all about Jesus Christ or his Church. That is what is going on here and we are privileged to be on the sideline taking it all in, or at least as much of it as we can.

Most of the students have completed their finals. Summer vacation has begun for them and many of them will return to China for 6-8 weeks. We are anxious to see what that means regarding participation in the various activities. We are having more than 100 in Sacrament meetings; often a dozen or more first time investigators. At “English Class” a couple of Saturdays ago there were 19 people there that had not been there before. (Sharla has them eating out of her hand.) Last night at FHE there were over 50 people there. We had 5 baptisms this week;  three Chinese and 2 Vietnamese. 

We are  touched with the testimonies spoken and the accounts that we are hearing about how these people were guided to come here. One young man told us he was trying to find a job in China and also applying for his Australian Visa concurrently, and that he had decided he would enter the door that opened first. They both opened the same day but the Visa was first and he has simply stated that God brought him here to learn about Jesus Christ, and the Restored Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ. We are so impressed with them, their faith, and how willing they are to step into a brand new world with Jesus Christ being at the very center of it. Hopefully, we (all of us) can be of some worth in our lives and hopefully we can keep Him in the center also.

PS: the rain gauge has measured .96 of an inch since I put it out.  Just thought someone might want to know.  It isn't as big as it looks.  Sharla had to stand on a chair to take the photo.

 

 

Bla Bla Bla Blog !   November 15, 2012

October has come and gone, and it is past time for me to share my rambling thoughts about this “Mission Down Under” another time.  It is very interesting to look back to the day of our arrival and the first few days that we were here and to move forward as we have done each of the following weeks. It makes me think of the quote that says something about the nature of the task actually does not get any easier but those of us working at the task discover, develop, or create ways to do the task more efficiently.

Maybe we are becoming more efficient in our efforts. We seem to have completed most of the tasks that would be required if you were all of a sudden Robinson Crusoe on a deserted island. We were in fact dumped here and given our agency to sink or swim. We treaded water a few times, we drank some nasty salt water more than a few times, and now we are quite familiar with our mission, able to go about the activities, and put forth the effort to complete each day, and even feel most of the days like we have accomplished a little bit of good.

Spring is in full swing in Melbourne. We have enjoyed watching the flowers and plants and trees as they have followed the natural path of buds, blossoms, and leaves.  We had over 1.25 inches of rain at our flat in both September and October. We were hardly ever impacted by it in our travels back and forth. (I wrote this a couple of days ago and sure enough, yesterday it rained a lot and we were out in it numerous times. We stood at a tram stop after we got off of a train for about 12 minutes, and it was raining. We came home cold and wet and sorry that I had mentioned how well we had fared so far in the blog.) Unfortunately I am saddened by the demise of my rain gauge that we brought from home. It was blown off its’ perch by the wind one night; we found all of the parts,  but after we got them all put back together in the proper Humpty Dumpty fashion it does not work anymore.  Oh well Christmas is coming and perhaps we can find something similar in this civilized country/continent of Australia.

We were joined last week by another Senior Couple who live in the “flat” just above us. They are the Lacys from Centerville, Utah. We were glad to be at the Branch on the day that the President brought them there after having delivered them and their stuff to the flat. Although we were expecting them all for district meetings and Introductions about 10:00 AM, they arrived around 1:00 PM. It seems that the keys President Lifferth had for their flat were wrong and they had to drive back to the Mission Office to secure the correct ones.  As we have previously stated.  Everything, and we mean almost everything here is hard, and it takes more time and more effort than one can imagine. 

We are thankful however for a good bed and the ability to sleep quite well most nights, good water to drink right out of the tap, fresh produce that we buy at a farmer’s market every Saturday morning that sets up in a street only about three blocks away, and plenty of Diet Coke. ( We bought some yesterday 30 cans for $10. It is usually about twice that amount so we actually bought two of them and of course then had to carry them through the streets of Melbourne. The Zone Leaders however brought them from the branch to our flat for us in their car, and we did not have to carry them on the tram.) We are also thankful for the financial resources that allow us to be here, and most of all we are thankful for each other, our family, friends and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

October 29, 2012

It is a beautiful Monday morning in Melbourne, and we are waiting for the zone leaders to pick us up and give us a ride to Costco.  It takes a lot of food to make meals for 30 – 40 people three or four times a week, and we are always glad when we don’t have to buy everything at the local grocery stores and haul it home on foot.

We had a couple of great diversions last week.  On Monday we rode the train 45 minutes or so to Brighton Beach, where we enjoyed collecting shells, filling our shoes with sand, and a eating a yummy burger from a dive near the beach.  When the menu said “Burger with the Lot” we thought it would include fries.  We were wrong.  The “Lot” part meant beets, a fried egg, pineapple, cheese, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, spinach, and what appeared to be a 3 ounce sausage patty.  It was yummy and we hope one day to take our bikes on the train, ride along the beach, and eat at the dive again. 

On Wednesday our friends from Packenham took us to Warburton, sort of a resort/old mining/country town along the Yarra River in the Donnabuang Mountains, 2 – 3 hours northeast of Melbourne.  We hiked along the High Lead Walking Track, an old logging tramway through lush rainforest type vegetation.  Robert warned us to watch out for snakes, as all snakes in Australia are supposedly poisonous.  Well, a red-bellied black snake slithered across the trail in front of Max, causing him to jump and me to scream bloody murder.  Robert is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to Australia, and he pointed out wombat burrows and identified bird calls.  We had a yummy dinner at an old hotel, and on the way home he pointed out an area of which he said he had painted a picture.  He drove us home and to our amazement and surprise, presented us with a beautiful 24x36 inch canvas of the scene he had pointed out to us!

Probably the best part of the week was Sunday, when what used to seem like clamor and noise to us seemed normal, and we felt like a part of the branch.  The Chinese teased us about 100…..no 1000 year old duck eggs they were cutting up to put in a soup, since it was “Soup Sunday.”   I guess Chinese used to preserve the eggs in horse urine, but now use ammonia.  Anyway, the eggs were black, smelly, and seemed like they belonged in a spook alley not in soup.  Needless to say, neither of us ate any of the soup.  Sunday we were invited to Tam’s flat for a surprise birthday celebration for Elder Lynguyen.  Eight or 10 Vietnamese members and investigators were gathered in her small flat, and yummy food was prepared and consumed.  Elder Lynguyen was surprised, because he thought they were coming to help Tam move.  Even though Vietnamese was the language spoken, once again, we felt like we belonged.  Marring the evening was a phone call to Elder Rigby that his grandfather had passed away that day.  Earlier in the week, he received word that his grandmother had died, so it was a double whammy for him.  The Spirit was so strong as, through his tears, he bore testimony of the Plan of Salvation in both English and Vietnamese.  

We have been teaching English to a number of students, and basically teaching means asking them questions then correcting grammatical and pronunciation errors.  It is fascinating to learn about Chinese customs, traditions, and what it was like to grow up in Communist China.  We are very blessed to be citizens of the USA!  In spite of tired feet and on-going frustrations with how long and or difficult it to accomplish what were quick, easy things at home, we are thankful for the spiritual and cultural experience into which we are immersed.

 

 

October 21, 2012

You know you are a missionary couple serving in the Chinese Branch in Melbourne, Australia, because….

For excitement, you play “chicken” with the crowds on the sidewalk to see who moves first to let the other pass…..Saturday feels different from the other days in the week, because you go to the Farmer’s Market for produce and wear a more casual coat to go to the city…….You look forward to Monday, because maybe you can get a ride to Costco……For an evening diversion, you read all the flyers and junk mail that comes……Your credit card bills top out at over $5000 the first month you are on your mission……You get an early viewing of conference on an IPad, watching it with a Chinese girl…….Conference is broadcast a week late in Mandarin and is translated into Cantonese, Vietnamese, and thankfully English, all in the same building…..In order to watch the big screen in English, you ride bikes 4 miles to the stake center, falling against a fence on the way, resulting in a small bloody cut that necessitates spending $10 to get one pair of pants dry cleaned.  

A drunk spends the night sleeping on your parkstrip;  you make sure he’s alive and walk around him to go to the market…..An electrician comes to change yet another light bulb instead of replacing the faulty fixture, and the bulb works a week before sparking out and blowing a fuse…..The TV channel selector doesn’t work, so you only can watch one snowy channel…..Instead of having 6 kids who reluctantly  help with technology related questions/problems, you have 22 missionaries who are happy to get their hands on your IPAD or computer for whatever reason….. You can’t use your computer or IPAD, because the settings have been changed to Chinese or Vietnamese, and you don’t know how to set them back….You walk a block and pay a seamstress $10.00 to sew up a 16 inch split seam in the butt of the pants of a very large Tongan missionary, while providing him with a white baptism towel so he can continue teaching an investigator….For a night out at the movies, you see Madagascar 3 because it is the only one with an appropriate rating….You pay $25 for a hair cut, and it’s so bad, the members wonder if you cut your own hair (Max)…..You ride a train, bus, two trams, and walk over a mile to buy three 1# cans of Crisco at a USA food store, so you can make Halloween sugar cookies, then realize you don’t have a rolling pin when you have time to make the cookies.  (It seems vegetable shortening doesn’t exist here.  I refuse to use lard!)

You know it’s a warm day, because the people you are smooshed against on the tram have bad BO……Ladies on the tram who are all decked out in hats and heels are headed for the horse races, while you are headed for a baptism….An early morning run takes you by Maseriti, Lamborghini, and Ferrari luxury car dealerships, to name a few, but you haven’t seen the front seat of a car since leaving the USA….a huge department store in downtown Melbourne devotes an entire huge floor to cosmetic counters….you spend $75 for a stock pot large enough to make food for all the activities and  walk through pouring rain to get on a tram stop to get it home....After 11 weeks, the Chinese students don’t all look the same….There are as many “ups” as “downs”….You realize that President Uchdorf’s statement “lift where you stand” applies to us all, regardless of where and what we are doing. 

 
 Australian money is like using play money.  The smallest coin is a $2 coin, and they don't have a penny.  Other coins are $1, 50 cents, 20 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents.  In stores, they round up or down if the cost ends in $1.99.   Occasionally someone slips us a foreign coin, and we can't use those.  Stuff costs a lot more than in US, but we are becoming more accustomed to the high prices.  We are happy to buy diet coke 2/$5.00. 

The Yarra River Trail goes for miles and miles and miles.   This is the trail we took to ride our bikes to Conference, and I've pounded out a quite a few miles running.  Many people ride bikes on this trail from the suburbs into the city, and it is a crowded trail on Sunday afternoons.  The river is pretty lazy and muddy.   I've seen lots of university skulling teams practicing on the river.  Coaches ride behind them in a small motor boat or ride bikes along the side of the river, yelling instructions to the athletes. 
We hope to rent kayaks some sunny day and spend some time on the river. 

OCTOBER 1, 2012  (just a little more)

It was great to return to our assignment on Friday and be greeted by “our missionaries” with comments of how much they missed us, and one of the Chinese members surprised Sharla with a birthday cake.  They were especially glad to see her, since a couple of the missionaries needed mending done.  The word is getting out that she is handy with a needle and thread.  We finished up the week with a baptism at Fairfield Chapel on Friday night and a train and tram ride home.  The walk to the train station from the chapel, (maybe ½ mile or so) is not well lit, and there were three people coming towards us. They stopped and sort of waited by a tree in the parkway as we approached.  We were sure we were about to be mugged, and Sharla  thought, oh no, this is the end of my I pad.  It turned out to be a missionary companionship and an investigator headed to the chapel for “Friday Night Sports Night, ” and they were going to scare us, which they did a little. We got home just fine.

Saturday evening was “Moon Festival” at the Branch, one of three major Chinese celebrations that occurs each year.  It was a full out feast of sorts, attended by 80 or 90 people or maybe more. We are beginning to learn that the old rule of hot food hot and cold food cold has never been explored by the Chinese. So right now it is sort of all food cold. I guess in the summer, depending on the temperature, it will be all food hot. Oh well, they still know how to have a good time and they are not shy about eating anything you can think of and a few things you would never think of, or eat.

We miss lots of things, especially our family and friends.  Sharla explained to Sister Lifferth, who after being here more than two years is still homesick, that she is homesick, but not miserable.  I’m used to having her cry when she sees a baby in a stroller or pulls up photos on the I Pad to share with someone.  I was thinking this morning as I was getting ready for church that if I were home, I would not have to leave the house one hour before starting time to be there on time; nor would I have to carry a briefcase filled with 50# of food to serve.   Love and kisses and hugs to all of you.  Max and Sharla

October 1, 2012

It is my turn to blog the BlogSpot, and I do not know where to end, let alone where to start. Oh well what else is new.  We participated in a very fun and nice senior missionary retreat this week hosted by our Mission President and his wife.  Tuesday afternoon, the Woffinden’s from Arizona who are serving in the mission office, drove to our flat.  They have been here a couple of weeks longer than we have and had not ventured very far from the square mile of space that surrounds their home and the mission office.  They have use of the mission van, so came to pick us up to take us back to their house, where we would spend a couple of nights.

Since they had not seen any of the city or the Chinese Branch where we meet, been on a tram, or walked the busy Melbourne streets, they parked the van near our flat, and we went in to the city together.  We walked around downtown for a few blocks, went to the Branch and saw a few members, missionaries, and investigators, then had dinner at Madame Kay’s, a Malaysian Restaurant.  The food was so yummy, that we are going back tomorrow to celebrate Sharla and Elder Mao’s birthdays. 

Wednesday we drove about 3 ½ hours through miles of lush, green back country and saw acres of fields of yellow flowers, which we later learned were canola plants, saw kangaroo road kill, and ended up in Echuca, a country town on the Murray River.  We met 5 or 6 other couples and some senior sister missionaries.  We all rode a steam powered paddle boat on the lazy, muddy Murray River, which according to locals is a healthy river when it is muddy, because that means it is active.  We were reminded of lots of fun trips to Lake Powell, as we saw many large house boats docked along the river banks.  We strolled the streets of Echuca, eating ice cream cones and bakery treats, did a bit of window shopping, and enjoyed the beautiful spring day.  We drove to a wild reserve at Kyabrum  and spent a few hours in a very casual setting observing many of the inhabitants of Australia, including koala bears, kangaroos, dingos, wallabies, Tasmanian Devils, emus, wombats, cockatoos, and snakes indigenous to Australia.  Dinner was at a Pizza Hut, and we were glad Elder Woffinden was the driver back to Melbourne. 

 

Talk about a couple of man - sized "toys."  That chain saw would have helped a lot last December when we had all the trees to cut up.  I think that motorcycle would go way faster than the speed limit here in Australia, which is generally 80 kph on the open road.  Apparently tickets are very costly, and according to missionaries, there is no grace for even 1kph over. 

Thursday we went to the Melbourne Temple, had a BBQ  at President and Sister Lifferth’s home, then visited a couple of sites in the Dandenong Mountains.  Even though they are not mountains as we know them, they are spectacular in terms of the trees and plants. We went to a huge botanical garden that had over 300 varieties of rhododendrons, mostly in full bloom.  Talk about spectacular colors and beauty! We loved it.  After a light supper of soup, we had a meeting where testimonies and experiences were shared.  Elder Woffinden took us to our tram stop, and we were home before 10:30.

 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Spring is certainly coming to Melbourne, as evidenced by blossoms popping, the smell of freshly mowed grass, trees leafing out, and the appearance of more ants in our flat.  We are quite comfortable sharing our accommodations with them, but draw the line when they choose to climb on our table.  Then we squish them with our finger, brush them on the floor, and continue eating. 

The saga of the electricity in our flat continues, as one of the 60 watt bulbs burned out, and we can’t get another to work in its place.  We had a very nice old electrician come a couple of weeks ago, but instead of replacing the fixtures, he messed with some wires and managed to get them working for a short time.  Now we have a total of 40 watts lighting our living room.  It gives us a good excuse to not study much.

We think we are finally getting a clearer picture of what our role is here.  We were called to a “member/leader support” mission, and that is what we are doing.  We make lots of food, wash lots of dishes, mop the kitchen floor, empty the garbage, vacuum the carpets, and assist the missionaries and members in any way they ask.  I’ve done some clothing repair for the missionaries, and it seem as the word spreads that I can work a needle, more of them bring pants to be hemmed and seams to be repaired.  They in turn love to help us with any computer/Ipad issue we might have, help us eat leftovers and treats, give us rides places if they have a car, tell us where the good places to eat out are, ask us to help with teaching, and are very solicitous and kind.  Their energy, and enthusiasm is contagious and they are certainly forces for good.

We attended the Melbourne temple last week with the missionaries in our zone, and that was a good experience.  Gone are the days when we can leave home, do a temple session, and be home again in two hours.  We left on the tram before 7:00 am, returning home at 1:30 pm.  Pretty much all we did was a temple session, and walk, ride, or wait for a tram or bus.  I love seeing the countryside, looking at all the shops along the streets, and following where we are on the IPad.  Have I said before how thankful I am to have an IPad.  And, I have an IPad tutor, a kid from Thailand I think, who keeps me up to date and always has something new to show me.  He likes to hang around with the senior couples, and since we are the only couple here, he has become our shadow.  Last Saturday we decided to ditch the Branch for a while and go to the Royal Melbourne Botanical Gardens.  Johnny decided he wanted to come, so he was our guide until he had to leave to catch a plane to go home for a couple of weeks.  The gardens were huge, and consisted of plants brought in from all over the world.  It was fun to see families having picnics, kids running around, ducks in the ponds, and lots of beautiful flowers.  We liked seeing a black swan taking her 5 little babies to the pond for a swim.   Unlike botanical gardens most places, it was free, so I'm sure we'll return there often.

Life is good, and we are looking forward to a senior couples retreat this week.  The missionaries kind of look at us funny when we tell them we won’t be around for a couple of days, since they never get a day off.  Even PDay has lots of string attached, for them as well as for us, as we come back to the Branch for Family Home Evening.  This week I taught them "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" and the missionaries liked teaching the actions.  They laughed and giggled and had a great time singing and playing Fruit Basket, even though in all the excitement of trying to find a chair, the new missionary twisted his ankle pretty badly.  Guess we'll have to come up with games that are a bit more tame. 

Saturday is Australia's equivalent  to the Super Bowl.  It's fun to ride the tram and talk to some of the Aussies and get their perspectives.   It seems like a really big deal, and there will be lots of beer consumed, I'm sure. There are lots of liquor stores in our neighborhood; in fact one takes up pretty much the entire block.   We live close to the stadium where the game will be played but won't be attending the game.  Hopefully we'll take in some of the Australian Open in February.  

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'll never get over being homesick and missing home, friends and family.  This morning we were walking to the grocery store, and a baby in a stroller was crying.  I started to tear up thinking about Zada and Jack.  Max just tolerates my unstable emotions, and I’m sure shakes his head in unbelief.  Such is life.  We spent $190 and "topped off" all our prepaid phone, internet, and 3G data, for the next six months or so, so I guess that means I need to stop looking for plane fares back home.  However, we sure hope to have some visitors.  Love to you all,  Sharla