The Happenings in Sydney - March/April
We were able to go to the Temple with Jainentri Devi. She hadn't been to the temple for over 10 years. It was a very special day for her. She then took us to lunch over at the Carlingford mall. Jain is from Fiji and such a beautiful person! She has many challenges as a single mom, but preseveers very well. Love you Jain!
Our Zone is such a fun
group of Young Elders. They
are from all over the world.
The one on the bottom right is
actually from Bear River City, Utah.
Imagine that.......
LOVE THOSE ELDERS!
ELDERS HAKOPA, MATU, SHIM AND
GAO WITH A NEW MEMBER OF THE
CHURCH.......TYRONE. Tyrone is only
13, but you wouldn't suspect it by looking at
him. Elder Matu and Elder Shim came back
for Tyrone's baptism. They had been transferred
just a couple of week's before Tyrone's baptism.
They got special permission to come back from
the mission president.
Were able to have some of the District Elders
over for lunch between Conference Sessions.
We have them over EVERY chance we get.
Love having them come to our house. We
have a Zone P-day next week and are hoping
they spend it in our home. Think they want
to see "17 Miracles."
Josie was baptised in the Bankstown ward (Chinese ward). What a sweet girl. Her best friend on the left is actually from our old ward in Greenwich, and so is Scarlette on the right of Elder Harper.
Jacinta's baptism. She is Jain's (the one we took to the temple above)daughter. Beautiful girl. Jain had a fantastic "MEAL" for
everyone after the baptism.
The trees in Australia are so amazing. The picture above is a block away
from our home. I don't know how old the trees are, but they cover the
entire street. So beautiful.
And the tree roots on this wall were something we hadn't seen before. Just
had to stop and take a picture of it!
Elder Mok had his birthday.....and his two roommate Elders wanted to surprise him. Elder Mok's
family lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He did live in Utah as a young boy. Attended USU for a couple of years. Great young man with a deep voice. Amazing for his size!
Our cute little great grand daughter Autumn Michelle Bagley was born on April 16th.
Her mom ONLY HAD 44 hours of labor before her birth. WOW!
That cute little cow outfit was bought especially by her Grandma
Bagley for the Black and White days in Richmond, Utah.
And she's already been for her first swim!
And our darling little Olivia Beth Sandall was born on April 22nd. Her mom is Erin Sandall.
That is such a special day for us, because her Mom's Uncle Nolan died on that day 30 years
ago. We are so happy that she picked that day to come to earth. Has a lot of special meaning.
She definitely does not want for attention. In fact, Erin hardly gets to take care of her when the
siblings are around........plus Aunt Michelle. She is loved so much.
This is our 2 great grandsons with their parents at Hogle Zoo. Eli was born mid-October (on the right) and Hayden on November 1st (11-1-11). You can see what 6 months does for a baby. We miss seeing them so much and look forward to being a part of their lives next year!
 |
We used to park in this parking lot at McQuarie University when we went to Family Home Evening with the Greenwich Chinese students. We were so glad that we weren't there at this time. It rained for 24-hours non-stop and this was the result in McQuarie. Needless to say, there was a little bit of flooding around Sydney at this time!
We took these Elders with us in our van for Zone
P-day in April. The 3 on the left serve in the Chinese branch and the other 2 serve with Elder Harper and I in the Hurstville ward. We attended a session at the temple and then stopped at Costco on the way home for hotdogs and pizza. They had NEVER been there before. What a treat!
We had these fun Sr. couples over to our home for dinner on the last Friday night of April.
The Lambarths (sitting on the soft right of me) left on May 2. They were going to New
Zealand for 3 weeks before returning to the states. They have finished their mission.
They live in St. George, so we will be anxious to get with them upon arriving home
next year. Fun people. They have been teaching English in the city with the Bakers in
front. And the Crawfords on the right serve over in 2 wards in the Campbelltown area.
We had a great time reminiscing over experiences here in the mission field.
Sister Black and Sister McDonald are enjoying
the Stake Relief Society Birthday program with
us. They even served us popcorn and drinks.
This was the same program that I showed pictures
of the decorations last month. WOW.....they
went all out for this program.
Elder Harper can't seem to get warm. Bought him the warmest garments they had, flannel PJ's, his vest and long socks. AND he's sitting in front of the space heater. No furnaces here in Australia!
Karla is the newest member of our
ward. Elder Hokopa baptised her
on May 6th. They are actually both
from New Zealand. And she just turned 18 on the 20th. Beautiful young lady.
She actually has an Aunt and Uncle who
live in our ward that she comes to church with. I think the Elders actually
found her at a "Hungry Jacks." She comes over to our Family Home Evenings on Monday nights.
We went over to the city with the Crawfords to the IMAX where we saw "Under the Reef." This picture was by the IMAX. When I saw the picture, I was shocked, because it looks like a painting of Sydney. Very beautiful area!
Had an exercise in the Zone meeting where the Elders held twine across the hall. They had our Elder from Sweden with a mask on so he couldn't see. Then they dropped the twine, removed it and helped him by directions through the obstacle. It was hilarious seeing him jump and crawl to get through the maze. It was the Friday before Mother's day. They gave me a boomerang with all of their names on it and a cool onyx Australia picture frame with the Zone picture in it. They say "I'm their mom away from home." Love each one of them.
And then my mother's day gift to them was to take them to Sizzler for lunch. I've decided Elders CAN EAT A LOT! What a fun day........
The Stake Primary had a program for all of the Seniors over 60. They sang, danced and played instruments and had a little lunch for us. This was the Saturday before Mother's Day.
We went to the Mall for a little while that afternoon and I think it was definitely worse than Christmas Eve! I've never seen so many people......
The florists were super busy and I couldn't resist taking a picture of these roses. How did they do that???
AMAZING! And yes they are real!
This past Sunday we had a special treat when some of the students from McQuarie came over and
went to church with us. They are such fun people and we're always excited to see them.
LOVE THEM! (AND MISS THEM)
We have now been in the mission field 8 months (on May 12). We're finally getting into the swing of things. Seems like time is going much faster since we transferred to Hurstville. Since Elder Harper is in the Bishopric now, it has really helped us to get to know people better. He does struggle with names and we are constantly going over them to try to help him get their names straight.
Our focus the last 3 weeks has been on an investigator that was referred to us from the Elders in the city. She has been taking the train over to the city for lessons and church. As it turns out, she is only about 1/2 mile from us. She was expecting a baby when we met her, but unfortunately mid-week after our first lesson to her, she lost her baby. She has been very sad and depressed. She has a 19-year-old son back in China. She has only been speaking English about a month, but is progressing quite well. We had a baptism date set, but have had to put that on hold now.
We met a member this past week that hasn't attended church for 2 years. He has to work on the weekends and goes to school the one day that he has off. We sure hope we'll be able to meet with him weekly for a lesson. He is from Napol.
We also meet with a part-member family weekly. She and her son are from Peru....the husband is from England. She has been a member her entire life, and is patiently waiting for her husband to grasp the gospel. He is progressing slowly. They have a son, Eltorro that is going to go on a mission next year. She didn't know any English when she got to Australia.
We also have a member who hasn't been active. She comes from Columbia and took her endowments out when she was 19. Her father was a Patriarch and passed away at the age of 41. She has breast cancer, been through her first series of chemo, and just started a 12-week series today. We take her to the hospital every Tuesday morning. She has finally realised what should be important in her life. She is going to come back to church, get a recommend and attend the temple again. She and her husband will be moving back to Columbia the end of the year.
Between these appointments, we are going door-to-door trying to find "LOST" members of the ward and attempting to clear up the ward records. This, in itself, can be a full-time project. And we're hoping that we can see each one of the older members of the ward in their homes.
We're still attempting to serve at the temple on Tuesday nights, also. This makes for a busy week! We're praying that we can get it all accomplished and remain healthy. Missionary work is so vital and there are so many Sr. missionary couples needed for the work. We hope that anyone, who is capable, will take the challenge and step up to the call and serve a mission. You are needed so badly!
I told Carl when we left that we'd probably have 6-8 great grandchildren when we got home. He thought I was crazy, but we're not half-way, have 4 and who knows what's going to happen in the next 10 months :)
Hope all of you are doing well..........and BEING HAPPY! Life is too short to be anything else, right? We pray for all of you daily and hope things in your life are going great. We sure love you and miss you. Take care.......and I'll try to be a little quicker on the next blog :)
Love to all,
Elder & Sister Harper
