AND JUST LIKE THAT OUR AUSTRALIAN MISSION HAS COME TO AN END!!!

 After many years of dreaming, hoping, planning, applying, dealing with delays, medical issues and fingerprints, entering the MTC, flying to Sydney, meeting wonderful people, driving many kilometers during our assignments we have left Australia and returned to the USA.

It was hard to leave Australia and our wonderful friends behind. Sitting in the airplane winging our way across the ocean my mind and heart were filled with many thoughts. All of a sudden it was time to begin REALLY thinking of the future. It was the first day of the rest of our lives.

We have told our returning missionaries that the day they left on the airplane would be the 'first day of the rest of their lives' as we talked with them about education and job searching, etc. But until I was sitting in that airplane I not realized that it also applied to me/us even if we are over 70 years old.

We left our flat at about 7 AM with a lovely missionary couple who work in the office and drove us to the airport. Sadly we did not have enough time to clean the flat as much as I had wanted to clean it. But we understood that within hours a couple of young Elders would be coming in to live there until one of them got better from his medical issue. So, we left  milk, bread, eggs and other food for them and we are trusting that when they leave the flat will get a proper clean before the next senior couple comes to replace us.

Our flight was a LONG 13 hours from Sydney to LAX in Los Angeles. We saw the terrible flames of the California fires against the dark skies as we landed. We cleared Customs without issue. It is nice to have TSA Precheck which got us through several places smoothly and more quickly. After our 3 hour layover we flew another 3 hours to SEATAC where we waited for our 45 minute flight to Bellingham which arrived at 3:47 PM. We were over 24 hours in transit and glad to be done traveling. But we also wondered just what was coming next. It was kind of scary to go out through security.

We were met by some dear friends and were so happy to see their faces. We were humbled and so grateful to realize they had sacrificed their time to meet us and welcome us home.

We found the Stake President waiting for us when we arrived at the Stake Center. Our friend had been so kind to pick us up at the airport and be our chauffeur. After a tearful interview with the Stake President during which we recounted some of our experiences and expressed our love for our mission and the people we had been privileged to serve, the Stake President 'released' us as missionaries and said we could remove our missionary badges. Funny how something that had become a part of our wardrobe was now no longer a part of us and we became just Steve and Liz, no longer Elder and Sister Jenkins.

Sunday morning we reported our mission to the High Council brethren and then we spoke to the congregation in Sacrament meeting. We discussed the Self-Reliance Initiative and what it can mean to those who participate in it. We shared a few of our experiences and bore our testimonies of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But it is impossible to condense 21 months of experiences into 10 minutes each. So much was left unsaid and is just left to be  treasured up in our hearts and minds.

And then we were done! No longer missionaries.

It was wonderful to see the dear faces of so many of our friends. We love them and were so happy to see them again.

And now the 'rest of our lives' begins. We have many plans and many dreams. If you would like learn more about our dreams and plans and the events of our lives you are invited to check out my new blog which will be: furtheradventuresofsteveandliz.blogspot.com
This new blog is work in progress but I plan to include our travels beginning this week to Portland to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter and her family.

Thank you for taking the time to read of our mission experiences in this blog. As once stated in our profile when I began this blog:

Here is a record of our mission to the Australia Sydney North Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as PEF Self Reliance missionaries and our service in Sydney Australia. As well as our ups and downs during our preparations and activities prior to reporting to the MTC in Provo UT which was supposed to be on November 28, 2016 but which after many delays has been changed to February 20, 2017.

And our profile photo will change but we are the same people.

Serving our mission has been a big highlight in our life and we are so grateful that circumstances allowed us to serve and to share our testimonies with others. May the Lord bless you!

At the Sydney Airport ready to check in our luggage.
Yes, we had a LOT of stuff and had to pay a little extra for a couple
of overweight cases but it was still less than shipping it home.

We had to surrender our prox cards which had given us access to the buildings.

In front of the Sydney temple just as the jacaranda were beginning to bloom
with the Botts, our dear friends and co-workers.

The Sydney temple! What more can I say. We loved going almost every Friday evening
and will miss it and our dear friends who served there.

The night before it had rained and knocked off many of the jacaranda blossoms.

From the parking lot of the Sydney temple.

The Angel Moroni on top of the Sydney temple framed by the jacaranda blossoms.

A beautiful large eucalyptus [or gum tree] on the temple grounds.
I love these trees and there are so many varieties.
I will miss seeing them as we drive along our way.

The view of the temple from the Buckland House which houses the mission office.

Amazing clouds on our flight.

Leaving security at the Bellingham Airport after MANY, MANY hours in  transit.

We were greeted at the airport by some of our friends.
It was good to see their dear faces again. And it was very nice to have someone greet us
since our daughter and her family had moved out of the area.