Sunday go to Meeting

A quiet week with a few little challenges means that we can spend time telling you about going to Church on Sunday.  We were busy in the office, it rained, we hit the Parklea market on Saturday, we watched "Saving Mr. Banks" and surprisingly enough, we were able to watch 3 sessions of General Conference with a live stream.

For each General Conference Sunday regular chuch meetings are held.  Today was Fast and Testimony Meeting.  Although "streaming" of General Conference can be done on computers, members come back to the chapel next Saturday and Sunday to view all the sessions.

We enjoyed Sunday afternoon at the Mount Druitt Ward.  The members are wonderful.  It's enjoyable to attend our meetings with them and receive gospel instruction.  At Fast and Testimony meeting we learn and see how humble and loving the people are.

This young sister is leaving on her mission this week.  First stop is Provo, Utah for language training. Then she goes to Korea to teach the gospel.  She is one of the youngest in her family of 11 children.  Her older siblings have served missions and were married in the temple.  They are a very dedicated family to each other and the church.  She was a bit worried about the dry, cold weather in Utah.  But she's taking her jacket along so she will be okay.

The ward is a mixture of young and old and there are generations who attend here.  The children are very happy.  And they are enthusiastic learners of the gospel.

The missionaries there are dedicated and continue to teach several people of the restored gospel.  They are a great influence and help as they serve with the ward members.  There are many members here of Samoan descent.  One of the missionaries is from Samoa so he enjoys speaking with the members.  One is from Canada and he appreciates the warm climate here in Australia.

The chapel is fairly large and houses 3 wards comfortably.

The recent rainfall has made the grass, trees and bushes green and flowers to bloom in abundance.

This is common Sunday attire for many of the Polynesians-lava lava.  Sometimes they wear their suit coat as well. Even though it's cool weather they wear flipflops, or as they call them here, thongs.

There is a recent miracle that happened last Friday.  One of our missionaries who had developed kidney failure had transplant surgery.  It was miraculous in several ways.  This includes how the donor was connected up as a match for him.  The donor was of a different culture who was in Australia on a sabbatical leave from his work.  If this elder had stayed in his country he would have died.  There were no treatments in his country and no compatible donors were available amongst his family.  They ended up in the same ward here.  When the donor heard the missionary's story he was impressed that he should be the donor.  The missionary has served most of his mission while receiving dialysis treatments twice per week.  Both donor and recipient came through the surgery well and are recovering quickly.  This is a great blessing but also a wonderful miracle.  We heard General Conference talks instructing us to avoid selfishness.  These two brethren demonstrated selflessness-serving a mission while facing possible death and giving up a kidney to a virtual stranger, to save his life.  We hope and pray that all of you will look at this example of selflessness and strive to implement this into your lives, even in some small way.  We know that God lives and Jesus Christ is our Savior and that miracles, small and large can still happen today.
With love from Elder and Sister Feil