Monday, August 2, 2010

I guess it's my turn!!



(We love our Lemon Tree!)


It seems to be my turn (Scott's) to start the Blog for July. Since we've acquired a Telly (TV) we watch the evening news several times a week. So, we're delighted to pass on the news to our readers that someone just bought Winston Churchill's false teeth, his dentures, for $26,000 lbs. Is that a "newsworthy" piece of info everyone wants to know? Also another interesting news item for us is about controlling unsafe 'drivers.' If you are caught speeding, your car can be taken away from you for a 'week.' 2nd offense- your car is locked up for 'several' weeks. 3rd offense- your car is crushed in a public displayed Crusher, whether it is paid for or not. Our temperatures go down into the low 40's, high 30's at night.
I do not yet understand the rules for "Footy." The ball is similar to our football, but seems to be bigger around. The Players wear shorts and t-shirts. They bounce the ball like a basketball, and kick it in any direction. I get weary just watching them run. Our Branch President plays Rugby on a local team, but we have yet been to one of his games.
Well, our big news is last Sunday, the 25th, the Relief Society sponsored a Music Fireside. The Branch Choir sang "O Lord My Redeemer"; the Relief Society Sisters sang "I Heard Him Come"; the Youth sang "In This Very Room"; the Primary sang "Pioneer Children Sang"; a lovely young married Samoa Sister sang "O That I Were an Angel" and our Elder Baker sang "I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked". We also had Narration, which were beautiful scriptures about "Bringing But One Soul Unto Christ", and a lovely talk by our Branch President about being Pioneers Today. Also, the poem "Columbus" about going "on and on and on" of course delivered by our own Scott Solomon. A fun side-note: Shirley had the primary kids walk up the middle aisle from the back singing their song. It was a delightful "twist" having Samoan Children singing this, and with their accents sounding to us like they were singing "woked and woked and woked". Shirley reports that when she introduced this song to the children, they thought her "walked" sound equally as funny!
All of this music was thrilling to say the least! But the topper to it all was when the new Mission President and wife walked in just after it started. They had left Melbourne at 4:00am that morning and traveled and visited all over our District and stopped in on their way back to Melbourne! The Branch members were so happy and elated to have them care enough about our little Branch to stop in and watch the show. And of course we loved performing for them!
This next week, we get to experience doing "Flat Inspections" throughout our District. It's a "first" for us so we'll be doing some traveling to 6 different towns to visit the Elders and Sisters. Cheerio!

Enjoy the pics!!!



(Trunk with shopping bags full of groceries)


(A typical school bus loading zone)




(An Australian map showing the distance from Melbourne to Mooroopna/Shepparto)





(Our Branch Choir singing "Oh Lord Our Redeemer")





(Another quilt Scott quilted on for Brenda)





(Visiting "Ned Kelly" shrine (Notorious Outlaw/Hero in Aussie)




(Another shot; my head doens't even come up to his knees.)





(Another Ned Kelly shot)





(Our stand-space "toilet" room!! (Kind-a-feel like the "Great Houdini" waiting for the water)





(Our laundry room)




(Our bathroom)






(A view of our kitchen)






(Church supplies)






(Our infamous Seminary Group!)





(Seminary students with Elder Solomon)






(Visiting a Textile Factory with the Lauders (an Aussie couple we're friends with)






(Tall Eucalyptus Tree)