Come Aboard, Matey, and check out the Fleet

Here are some of the Harbour Beaches Zone.  They are great missionaries!  It was Temple Tuesday complete with oranges, apples, popcorn, and hot chocolate.  They call it a "feed".  But not a Big Feed.  

It's a winter wonderland at Darling Harbour.  After all, it is winter.  Notice the heavy coats with hats and gloves :)   What are those green palm trees doing there??

Plus there's ice skating with a beautiful background of trees. The temperature is a cool 65 degrees.  Perfect ice skating weather. 

The children enjoy playing in this large, inflated "igloo".  We are close to Antartica.

The National Maritime Museum includes several ships from different eras.  The HMAS Onslow is an Oberon class submarine.  It was in service from 1969 to 1999.  The Onslow's crest proclaims "festina lente" - hasten slowly.

The beds are too short for me,  but may have worked for most most of the crew members who were much "older". Sweet dreams!  Below is a picture of  the supply of entertainment items the crew enjoyed.

The kitchen is functional but small.  Notice there's always a supply of Milo - a bran drink which is nice to have when it's cold. Very Australian.

Full speed ahead it is Cap'n.  Full speed ahead.

The equipment and instruments are amazing.  The details are reminders of the time and expense of creating an under water ship.  What's going on topside?  We saw "The Hunt for Red October" so we know just what to do.  

 There's not much room in the shower.  Our tall children would not fit in here very well!

Above at left is the engine room of the HMAS Onslow. There's not a lot of room to move around. 

 Above is a replica of the Endeavor. Notice all the rope - that's 18 miles worth! This world class sailing ship was built in about the year 1768.  James Cook was given command of this vessel and an early 3 year voyage took him all over the world to determine the existence of the Great South Land.  We, of course, have determined that it does exist and we are enjoying the results of his efforts.

 This is the "luxury" hammock the officers slept in.  If it is 6 feet long we will be surprised.  At right is the dining area where they received their rations of 1 lb of bread and 1 gallon of beer per day.  Is that why sailors stagger when they walk?  Just sayin...

The red bag held the cat-o'-nine tails, or naval whip. It was used on crew members who violated the rules or if the captain was just a harsh guy.  Hence the fear of "letting the cat out of the bag".

We understand why most crew members were short.  One little boy on the tour copied the adults and ducked down, even though he was only 3 feet tall.  Oh, the power of example!

The captain's dining area was very nice and there was enough head room. 

 This wood stove was only used when the Endeavor was in port.  You don't want a wood stove going on a wooden ship when out to sea.  There is a wooden nail hammered into the Endeavor which was carried into space in 1992 on the space shuttle Endeavor linking the 18th century sailing ship to the 20th century space ship.

Here's a mix of the old and the new (not including the missionaries although we're a mixture of both)

 The windlass with its two carved sailor heads raises and lowers the anchors.  We thought he looked like one of our guides (front, right).

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum we're off to another ship, the James Craig. This is the museum that goes to sea.  This ship was built in Sunderland, County Durham, England in1874. It was originally named after the Macleod Clan which is the name on the bell.  Below is where the crew slept - they keep a wig hiding there to tease the customers!

We thought this was pretty interesting considering Elder Feil's grand uncle was born in Sunderland in 1876 when his father was working at the shipyards.  Who knows, maybe he worked on this ship???

We have enjoyed learning little  facts as we wander around taking crazy pictures.  Birds are such a huge part of life in Australia that to see them on ships makes perfect sense!

 The James Craig had a large Holy Bible.  

This ship is maintained by volunteers and donations.  The guides as well as the maintenance workers are also volunteers.  

What do you do with a drunken sailor???  A storm blew through as we wandered on to the next ship.  We were actually fighting the wind in this shot.  The clouds in the picture below attest to the storm.  But it does make for a great shot. :)

Now we are on the HMAS Vampire.  A more modern relic and about the same age as this Senior Missionary.  You do the math!

There was certainly more room to move and still plenty of instruments.  We were there at the end of the day so not many volunteers left to show us around.

 This is Darling Harbour looking towards Cockle Bay.  The bridge separates the two.

Here is Elder Feil trying his hand at shooting the big guns!  As office work is mostly the order of the day, this gave him a chance to enjoy the world from a different view.  One of our guides asked if we were Jehovah's Witness missionaries and we told him no.  Then he asked if we were totally against war and armaments.  We assured him that we were strong supporters of freedom and believed that we should protect our lives, our families, and our country and freedom.  

We finally headed back across the Pyrmont Bridge with the wind blowing and the weather actually feeling like winter.  But we have learned that cold weather in Sydney only takes a few minutes to change and become beautiful and clear again.  We headed to another baptism in Greenwich with the Harbour City Zone.  We stopped at Mann Point Park for this spectacular view of Sydney at night.  We have been able to help the missionaries with teaching lessons this week as well as a miracle of our own.

We had given a Book of Mormon to our hairdresser way back in November.  Elder Wilkinson, on the left, while doing some street contacting this week, found and taught the hairdresser.  He mentioned that we had given him a Book of Mormon and pamphlets and would like to learn more.  You can imagine our surprise when Elder Wilkinson called us with that news.  For those of you who have read "The Everyday Missionary" by Clayton Christensen, we had set a goal to find someone for the missionaries to teach by July 1st.  We were able to make that goal thanks to the dilligence of the missionaries and a miracle from Heavenly Father.

We enjoy watching the missionaries taking pictures.  We have great memories this week that we have tried to share with you in pictures as well as words. We are trying to follow the counsel in D&C 88:79 - "... a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms-That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you."  We love Australia and the people who live here.  We watch the miracle of the atonement working in our lives as well as other's lives. We hope and pray that you will recognize the miracles in your own lives.
  Until next week - Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Ginger Beer!
Elder and Sister Feil - Ship Mates in Australia