KEEPING ON KEEPING ON

If you look really close you can see the whole rainbow. It was very
dim but it was really there on that cloudy day.

 Blog writing time again. As I was pondering this blog the other day I wondered exactly what is the purpose of writing this blog, or any other blog for that matter? Why do I feel compelled to write about what is happening in our lives, about my thoughts, and does anyone really care?

Somebody is reading it and looking at the stats I can tell there are readers from  several parts of the world. Why do you read this? Does what I say actually make a difference in your life? It is just an interesting  thing to think about. I can only hope that something I send out into the blogosphere  will from time to time touch someone's heart in a positive way. For some reason I do feel compelled to write so...

These past few weeks have been somewhat challenging. But lots of good things interspersed with the various challenges. 

We are so grateful for our physio who has identified Elder Jenkins' hip issue and actually fixed it!!! After 3 years of intermittent pain and grief he is thankfully actually cured. She has given him exercises to rebuild the lost muscle strength and they are beginning to work. 

After watching her identify his issue and understand how to fix it I asked if she thought she could help my trigeminal neuralgia and my spinal stenosis. She felt she could and with great skill she is realigning my body from some injury decades ago. The progress is not without grief but it is coming along. I am just amazed at how she manages to find just the right spot to make a difference.

It gives me great hope that with her ministrations we will leave this country in better shape than we arrived. That bodes well for our future travels.

This has also been a time for great reflection of my many blessings. My life has been richly blessed and I guess I am old enough now to look back on the incredible experiences I have had and see the Lord's hand in  my life. 

Of course the blessing of having the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life is everything. Knowing that there is a Plan in place that will allow my family to be together FOREVER with our Father in Heaven is such an integral part of my life. I would be nothing without that knowledge.

Being blessed with Posterity is amazing. I love that we have 10 children with their different personalities who are each amazing in their own right. We love to see them overcome obstacles and find success in  their lives. We love their spouses and their families. They are all our favorites! We love to see them and spend time with them. 

Of course we miss spending time with them while we are so far from home but are very grateful for the miracle of technology that allows us frequent contact. And grandchildren!!! Wow! what a blessing they are. And some of them are even grown up enough to have their own children. It is still an amazing concept to think of having  great grandchildren. We are so blessed!

Elder and Sister Jenkins Australia Sydney North Mission - that's us!

Elder Jenkins Tahiti Pape'ete Mission

Right now we have 4  of us from our family serving missions. What an incredible feeling and blessing to know that 2 of our grandsons are concurrently serving their missions with  us. One is serving in Tahiti and currently on Bora Bora. He has learned French and Tahitian so he can work with the lovely people in the areas to which he is assigned. 

His cousin has recently begun his service in the Argentina Buenos Aires East Mission. He is speaking Spanish but the Castilian Spanish which is a little different than what he learned in high school. It makes me so happy to know that they both love the Lord and are willing to sacrifice their time to serve Him.



We love it when they take the time to write to us and share some of their experiences. And we try to write a little note to them each week as well.

Elder Jenkins Argentina Buenos Aires East Mission

   We have 2 more grandsons who will soon be submitting papers so they also can serve. Actually several of our grandchildren will soon be of that age. What joy! 

Despite our age related ailments and minor discouragements we have a great life and it never ceases to amaze me at how very blessed we are! We are so grateful for this missionary experience and feel that we are learning and growing through our experiences. We love to help people understand the Self-Reliance Initiative. It was fun to give a presentation to some International Students the other day about the merits of the  Finding a Better Job Course and to have 3 of the 5 students sign up to participate in the class. 

I finally was able to complete the "Monthly"Newsletter yesterday. That was a feat in and of itself. Our crazy schedule has prevented me from thinking clearly enough to get one out since September. I hope I can keep it up.

Our goal  on this mission is to work ourselves out of a job, to help the Stake Self-Reliance Committees to be self-reliant in assisting their units in providing classes to those over whom they have stewardship. I would absolutely LOVE to get in there and facilitate a course but I have  to "sit on my hands" so to speak and let  the committees grow together.

Still teaching weekly English classes to our great missionaries. What courage it takes to come to a country that speaks a different language and try to teach the people in that new language about the Gospel. But they go out and just do it. These young missionaries come from Tonga, Samoa, China, Taiwan, Mongolia, the Philippenes, and many other places.  All coming with faith that they will be able to do what the Lord has called them to do. And we just try to teach them a little more English so their lives can have more opportunity when their missionary service is complete and they go home. We give them tests to try to gain admission in to BYUH, and tests to certify their English ability for when they go home and look for work. The better their English the more opportunities they can explore.

A beautiful tree in front of our office!

Summer is drawing to a close. Every day we are out we see the varied hues of school uniforms indicating that once again classes are in session. The weather has been very nice for the most part. Not too hot and sadly not enough rain to make a difference. There is a beautiful tree in front of our office which has bloomed and is almost finished blooming. It was just finishing when we came last March. Because it has been so dry the blossoms seem to have come early and gone quickly. 

Many trees have dead leaves due to insufficient  moisture. And the grass is brown in many areas.So sad!

Random beautiful sunset.

Beautiful sky!

 But we never lack in beautiful skies! It is such a respite for our sometimes weary souls.                                                          

A 10 acre view

The ever changing sky!

Kookaburras in the evening.

What can I say? But another beautiful sunset!

I never tire of seeing them but  I do not ALWAYS take pictures of them!


Last week we were invited home for dinner with one of the members of a ward we visited.  

We had the chance to walk around their lovely property. it was beautiful out there at the base of the Blue Mountains and we got to hear the "bell birds" with their delightful tones which sounded just like bells. I love finding out new things about the nature here.

On our last Family Home Evening, after we bid a fond farewell to yet another of our Senior Missionary couples who will fly home this week, we walked outside to find several Kookaburras just sitting on the grass. Every now and then one would fly a foot or two find something of interest in the grass, eat it, and then sit some more.

There is a sadness as we bid farewell to missionaries who we have come to know and love. And several have left since we came almost a year ago. Never have we lived in a circumstance where we could  associate with so many like minded people who all love the Lord and are wiling to serve Him. It is truly a delight.

There are aspects of serving a mission which are difficult but the friendships developed as we all serve are very special. I look forward to mission reunions when we can catch up with each other.

But we are also grateful for all our friends near and far. It was a delight to have lunch and catch up with our friends from Lynden WA who came to Australia last week last week and took time out to spend with us.. And they were so kind to be couriers, bringing Lotemax drops which Elder Jenkins needs to keep a cornea rejection at bay but which we cannot purchase here in Australia due to government paper work because of the socialized medicine situation here.

So, now you have read my story for this time. Wishing you all the best in your own lives.