SLIDING DOWN THE SLIPPERY SLOPE...

Hard to believe it has been 6 weeks since I last wrote. 

It is now past mid August and winter is passing. Some days have been rainy but not enough. New South Wales is officially in a drought. The farmers and ranchers are in trouble as there is not enough food or water for their animals and with no rain there are no crops. Many animals are skin and bone. Some ranchers have given up and committed suicide - so sad! Farmers in Tasmania have tried to come to the rescue sending tons of hay bales to the beleaguered farmers, but it may not be enough. There are ongoing fund raisers to help as well.

Wow! Just Wow!

This came during a time of great stress for me and I loved it!

But we are isolated from all that tragic stress as we have enjoyed lovely weather almost every day where we drive and we see something blooming all of the time.

A sunny day at Circular Quay.

Aboriginal Buskers at Circular Quay

Sydney Opera House at Circular Quay

Since we were delayed from November until February to begin our mission we have been in the situation where our visas will expire November 11 before the end of our mission on January 20.  Because we are too old, both over 70 now which might be a problem with getting a new visa, and summer vacations in December and January bring self-reliance meetings to halt it has been decided that we will be released a couple of months early. So we will be leaving Australia on November 9th to fly home.

It is coming so fast and I feel almost like we are in free fall. Somedays I feel like  I just need to drink in everything - the sunsets, the clouds, the trees and flowers and the wonderful people. It will be hard to leave it and them all. I just cannot believe it has been almost 2 years since we came and now we are preparing to leave and likely will never be able to return. We have purchased some souvenirs and are beginning to figure out our luggage weights.

We feel like we are living in two worlds. 

One in which we continue on with our many self-reliance duties including helping roll out the new Eat Healthy Be Active course which aims to help in preventing and controlling diabetes. Apparently the Polynesian people have the highest incidence of Type ll diabetes in the world. This course is directed to them but all of us who deal with diabetes and who want general good health can be helped. And there is a brand new English language course called EnglishConnect. There are 2 levels to be administered through self-reliance and a 3rd to be offered through PathwayConnect. It is very inclusive and includes the computer for pronunciation modeling. That is brand new and very exciting. It will be helpful as we work with the missionaries from other countries as we are still teaching every week. But we will have a coordinating meeting next week to try and get all the English classes for the missionaries on the same schedule. We want to leave things as organized as possible in case there are no new self-reliance missionaries coming to replace us. And we continue to give English proficiency tests to the missionaries. We also are doing 'departing missionary' seminars at every transfer to give the leaving missionaries some tools for entering their next stage of life.

And in our 'other ' life we are making plans for our future. Sadly our house did not sell by the end of July as we thought it would. The home inspection showed water damage in  the walls from a flood issue in our basement a few months ago and the buyer backed out.  But we do have another buyer now who is waiting to close by end of August.  I do not know if the repairs will be done in time. So we may lose that buyer as well. We are losing thousands of dollars through this process but there is nothing more we can do but what is being done. Our realtor has been fantastic and we are very grateful. But we have turned this over to Heavenly Father because only He can help us through this.

In the meantime our new home in Pleasant Grove is under construction. The only thing there is that we have to choose a wall color which is much harder than one would think.

And we continue to make our plans for our research trip beginning in April. We have many places reserved and waiting for our arrival. But there is still much work to be done before we leave. I plan to begin a new blog which will tell about our ongoing adventures as there never really is a dull moment in our lives.

Last month our 10th great grandchild was born. It is quite amazing to be a great grandparent and we are grateful. I think that makes us officially old.

Our grandson who was serving a mission in Tahiti returned home this week. It is hard to believe it has been 2 years since he left. And next week his brother will be leaving to serve in the Argentina Cordoba mission so there will still be 3 Elder Jenkins, at least for a little while. 

We love our missionaries both in our family and here in Australia. We miss those who return home and are glad when we can see a glimpse of their lives on Facebook. We wish them well in all their efforts and hope that they will do all that is necessary to keep the Spirit with them so they can be happy in their lives.

I end my writing today as I look over our balcony on a beautiful sunny sky with just a few clouds. It is Sunday. We had the opportunity to attend Parramatta Ward today and heard some wonderful talks of pure doctrine that inspired us and strengthened our testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A lovely eucalyptus flower on a tree near where we walk almost every day.

Another WOW! I will miss these skies!

On a large tree/bush - just lovely!

Yup, this is in winter!

Another beautiful bloom.

Again from our balcony!

Saw this whole tree in bloom one Saturday morning. 

CHANGING HORSES MIDSTREAM AND THEN AGAIN! -in other words a change in our direction.

Vivid is so awesome! the harbour is bathed with light from so many sources!

June is almost over and fall is definitely here. And a lot of the time it feels like winter. It is much colder this year than we remember when we first came. Or maybe it is that we have acclimated enough to feel the weather. But I did buy a new puffy coat that  goes down to my thighs to keep me warmer. I love that I can feel warm on the chilly days! And I bought some fuzzy slippers to keep my toes warm which I wear at home now everyday! I don't remember cold toes last year.

Cockatoos resting in the almost leafless tree.

And then it rains!

A rainy sunset.

The moonset. It seems that the full moon comes around so quickly.
 I am amazed at how fast the time goes.

So much has been happening in our personal life that it is hard to keep up with everything. When we first prepared for our mission it was our plan to serve our 23 month mission, return home to Blaine to put our things in order with the idea of 'someday' taking a research trip to Wales and then possibly relocating.  That was the game plan.

Yet midway into our mission we realized that rather than spend a lot of time at home after our mission getting organized we needed to take our research trip to Wales soon after we returned from our mission. Some of Elder Jenkins' ancestors come from Wales and although we visited a few years ago and were successful in finding some information about his family in the archives there are still many unanswered questions. We asked his sister who had travelled with us before to begin the process of  preparing what we needed to learn and where we needed to go to find out more about his ancestors. And we began the process of making arrangements and finding accommodation for the trip.

But knowing that this would likely be the last time we would travel to Europe we also wanted to see the parts of Ireland and Scotland where he also has ancestral ties. And since it was so close we also wanted to visit dear family and friends in Rügen and Denmark where my ancestors lived. And so the proposed trip grew into several months and we planned to leave about 3 months after we returned from our mission.

We sandwiched our planning between our missionary assignments and plans were coming along nicely.

Imagine our surprise when we had the very strong impression that we needed to move to Pleasant Grove, Utah and that the time to sell our home in Blaine and make arrangements for a new home to be built was now. As has so often been the case in our lives, we make plans and Heavenly Father sends us in a different direction. Who could even have imagined a couple of years ago as we prepared for our mission that we would need to worry about buying or selling houses while we were gone?!  But we have also learned that when the Lord gives us instruction we follow. Things are just better that way.

Prior to our leaving we had packed up most of our belongings and put them in storage leaving only a few of the larger pieces of furniture in our house. And we packed a lot of things we had planned to go through after our return. But at least things were packed and ready to be moved.

With the assistance of our children and grandchildren we were able to have our belongings moved from our home and our storage unit in Washington and trucked to a new storage unit in Utah.  So grateful for strong willing helpers!

Our home in Washington was listed for sale last week and almost immediately was  under contract. It should be closed the end of July. We have made arrangements for a new home to be built in Pleasant Grove. Although it has been kind of tricky while we have been over here  technology is amazing and has allowed us to review house plans, make modifications, choose flooring, counters, etc! Our new home should be finished soon after we return home so we can move in and put everything in place before we leave for our research trip.  That will also give us adequate time to go through our records to be better prepared for our research. 

Not a typical missionary activity and yet for some reason there has been a sense of urgency. Everything has fallen into place so well. There is no doubt that the Lord has been in the middle of this process. I wonder if we will someday understand the need to take care of all these things now?

We are grateful for our wonderful children and grandchildren without whom none of this would have been possible. They stepped up to help us in many different ways in the midst of their already busy lives. Now as things in our personal life settle down we are refocusing on our mission responsibilities.

It has been exciting to see the progress of the self-reliance committees. Our job really is to 'work our selves out of a job' so that the committees will be self-relaint. The new emphasis on 'ministering' allows the self-reliance materials to be used as tools to help lift those who need lifting. As we watch committees 'get it' and move forward we are thrilled.

We enjoy our time with the wonderful people here in Australia. It is nice that where ever we attend church meetings we recognize and can greet those we have come to know and love. And being in the temple almost every Friday evening has been so great! We love our missionaries in our English classes and it is a delight to become 'friends' on facebook when they return home. 

Last week one of the Sister missionaries discovered it was Elder Jenkins' birthday and she orchestrated a small celebration for him. We always begin our English classes by singing a hymn and then discussing the vocabulary in the hymn. I love to hear them sing. Since his birthday fell on a Wednesday when we have English class one of  the sisters asked if they could have a closing song. As the missionaries  began to stand I realized something was up and I asked if I should be recording and they said 'maybe'.  All the  missionaries stood and sang "Happy Birthday" which brought tears to his eyes and left him speechless. Then he was presented with a card and some nice cookies. It really made his day! We love our missionaries!

A special birthday treat from our friends.

It was a nice birthday week as he was able to hear from our family across the miles. Technology really is wonderful to think the we can be thousands of miles away from our loved ones and be able to see them on the screen and talk with them! We miss our families and friends  so it is great when we can 'see' them and communicate with them via technology!

I was pleased to be able to give a Book of Mormon to a young man who has a love for the Savior. We often are able to give "pass along" cards to people with whom we speak to let them know where on the computer they can go to learn more about their purpose here on earth. It just seems like we are often led to conversations with those who have that extra spark. It would be nice to know the 'rest of the story' to know if they were able to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Maybe someday. Although we love working in self-reliance there are days when I wish I could spend time actually teaching the Gospel. I love the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation! How wonderful it is to know that we have Father in Heaven who loves us and has a plan for us!

There will be a big change in our mission this week. The Sydney North and Sydney South missions will combine to become the Australia Sydney Mission. President and Sister Checketts who have served so well for 3 years will return home. President and Sister Leota, who stepped in when President Bingham returned home after he was injured in a bicycle accident, will also return to their home here in the area. Elder Leota is our Self-Reliance manager, we have missed his kind counsel. President and Sister Runia will come to lead the Australia Sydney Mission. What a huge responsibility.  We love the Checketts and the Leotas and value their service. And we will love the Runias as they come to serve.

This is an exit from the train. It takes 2 trains to reach the eye doctor's office.
So we had to change trains here.It takes about 45 minutes to get into Sydney by train.
 I am so amazed at the train system here.
It transports tens of thousands of people everyday seemingly without hitches.

We have come to know several of the doctors and physios fairly well as we  work on our various medical issues, some issues more annoying than others. But I guess as we age there are parts of our bodies that just get old and need attention. Our walking has had a few hiccups being interrupted by some necessary early morning overseas phone calls. But now that things have settled down in our personal life we intend to get back to our regular morning walks. Elder Jenkins is doing better if he will remember to do his exercises. That weakness in his hips has made it very difficult for him to walk for any length of time. We are hopeful he will continue to  improve. He will have a biopsy in a couple of weeks for a 'bone growth' on his rib near his sternum which has caused him considerable discomfort. We are so grateful for good health insurance that covers us even so far from home.

Here is the Angel Moroni at sunrise.
The soccer field we walk around is just behind the temple grounds.

As July draws near it is strange to me that it will be winter time. My seasonal clock still expects it to be spring or summer. Many of the trees still have their green leaves and every morning when we walk we have a cacophony of bird song. The Lorikeets seem to be the loudest. There  is always something in bloom deceiving us to think it cannot possibly be winter. But the cold weather reminds us!

Vivid happened again this year! It is such a lovely event. Along with 2 other couples we took the train to Circular Quay and walked around a bit to view the lights. We did not go around as much this year because it was too hard for everyone to walk so much. But I love the displays on the sails of the Opera House. I am not sure the camera did them justice.

Life is good. I am grateful for my many, many blessings. To know that our Father in Heaven is aware of "me" and blesses my life is so amazing. And I absolutely know that if He is aware of me He is equally aware of each and everyone  of His many children. He blesses us and gives us challenges that allow us to grow to become the people He knows we can become. He wants us to return to Him again.

The sunsets and skies continue to amaze us!  Almost every day we are treated to a marvelous show and sometimes I actually take some pictures! I hope you will enjoy a few of these samples.

It had rained all day and then the clouds began to leave so we could have a sunset.

Yes, a rainbow and then it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

May the clouds of your life disappear and leave sunshine in their place!!! Have a  great day!!!