Senior Missionary Moments

We have been on our mission a year.  That seems hard to believe beause in some ways, the time goes by so quickly and in other ways, we feel comfortable with our life, our surroundings, and our schedule.  This week, we said goodbye to the Smiths.  They are a senior couple from Australia who have served 2 missions.  They have done an amazing work with the young single adults as member leader support missionaries.  We had a farewell dinner for them and the young adults showed up enmass!

We were grateful that the house was large enough to accommodate the numbers, and we also became grateful that the food managed to be enough for the crowd!  We have learned to take lots of pictures and how to smile!  

We visited, sang songs, ate, visited, heard sage advice from Elder and Sister, visited, ate, hugged, listened to piano solos, ate, visited and finally, said goodbye!  But it was enjoyable.

Some of the senior missionaries of the mission.  We all have different assignments and have enjoyed getting to know one another.  They have all sacrificed to be here and keep rigorous schedules helping, serving, and loving.

This good family hosted the event in their home.  They have lived and worked all over the world.  They have just moved here from Asia where they happened to be the early morning Seminary teachers for one of our missionaries!  It really is a small world in the church.

The Smiths counseled all to stay true to the gospel of Jesus Christ because that is where true joy and peace would be found.  They reminded them that would not be easy because family and friends some times want us to follow another path.  But if they would persevere, their lives would be full of love just as the Smith's have experienced.

Because we have been here a year, we became the tour guides to the light show in Sydney.  We took the train, enjoyed dinner at the german restaurant, had a yummy chocolate cheesecake and/or icecream and headed home.  These two couples work in Public Affairs and the couple in the middle are good friends of Cousin McClain.  Once again it is a small world in the Church.

We love the Kookaburras!

On Saturday, we headed back to Paddington and we think this is "pizza down under".  Whatever it means, we thought it was funny.

The old buildings of Sydney are beautiful.  We were able to visit with a nice lady from one of these row houses.  She told us that one of them just sold for $940 thousand.  They are two bedroom.  We are always struck by the real estate, since that is what we work with and have learned about.  

We stopped to visit Centennial Park in South Sydney.  We have heard of Black Cockatoos but had not seen them until now!  Amazing!

The photographer needs a better telephoto lens to capture these magnificent creatures, but this is not a bad shot!  

In Cenntenial Park people can do many activities: walking, biking, jogging, yoga, horse riding, walking the dog, picnicking, casual football.  It's such a large park there's room for thousands of people.

 

Finding parking in Paddington is like finding parking in New York City.  Where's my Mini Cooper when I need it? We found a spot on a very narrow dead end street and Elder worked his parking magic with Sister as guide and consultant.

Ta Da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're in.

We decided to eat lunch at this take away Deli.  So I ordered 4 items, thinking we would eat two and take two.  The cashier asked if I wanted side salads, or meals with those and I said sure.  Not thinking about what that meant, I also ordered something for dessert.  She said they had room in the back for sitting and they would bring us our food.  We wandered through the kitchen, and out the back door to a cute little table.  They brought the first two items on beautiful plates with salads, and then I realized we had ordered 4 meals!  No wonder that cost $50 dollars!  When he brought out the next two meals, we quickly asked if those could be packaged for take away....  we had enough for dinner!  Smart thinking Sister Feil.  :)

We have only seen milliner shops in England but this is Paddington!  

Maybe we should have read this sign before we went looking for parking... we ended up backing out of the narrow street.

The perfect end to the perfect day - yummy chocolates and a room with a view!

Our latest activity - put into the GPS any lookout nearby.  We have found beautiful viewing spots and bushwalking trails.

This trail is 1.3 K's from our home!  Who knew??!

This is called Mobbs Hill Lookout and this directional map shows different distances to various places.  We all need to know where we are going and how long it may take us to get there, but sometimes we take side trips and wander a bit.  We are grateful for the prayers that have been given for Grant and his health.  We are grateful for the many birthdays of children and grandchildren in May and wish each of you our love.  We know this is right where we should be at this time and doing exactly what the Lord wants us to do.  We pray that each of you will be blessed as you walk your paths on this earth this week.  The Lord knows and loves you and always wants you to be on the right path.
Ta Da til next week,
From the master car parkers,
Elder and Sister