Thursday, October 29, 2015

Meanwhile, Back at Home Part 2


Brinley and Preston sang and Jalen accompanied them on the piano in sacrament
meeting.  Send us a video kids!!  Can't wait to hear it!


Brinley just had her 7 year old birthday party.  She had a Halloween party
and I'll bet her big sister did her nails?  Happy Birthday Brinley. We are so
excited you will be reading the Book of Mormon this year before you turn 8
and are baptized!  Love you Brinley.



And this is Brighton Keller who is almost 2!  His mom, our daughter Jaimie,
is lucky she has such a big helper.  Brighton is all boy and never stops.  He 
is learning to talk and I'm pretty sure he was saying where's grandma last
time we skyped!!  Love you so much Brighton!



Kellers at Disneyland!  Have a churro for us!  


Our daughter Kimberly and her husband Craig as they sent Elder and Sister 
Farrer off to the MTC.  Love you Craig and Kimber.  Thanks for all of the
packages.  Kimber and Craig are my go to people when we need something 
sent from the states.  We are so grateful for all of our family who sacrifice
and support us while we are in Australia.  Love and miss you all.  We know
you are being watched over and blessed. 

Meanwhile, Back at Home!


Meanwhile back in the States, our grandchildren just get cuter every day.  This is
our youngest granddaughter, Halle Parker.  I miss kissing those sweet cheeks!!


This is Charlotte, Halle's sister who will turn 4 on Nov. 4th.  She's our dancer!



This is McKenna.  Halle's other sister.  McKenna is 4 years old and knows all
13 Articles of Faith.  She attends preschool and is a wonderful cook and big sister. 
Cameron and Emily have 3 beautiful daughters.  They all live in Boston and 
we miss them every day.  We love you so much.


For Halloween the girls are a Russian nesting doll.  Adorable idea!!  


It's great being a daddy of 3 beautiful daughters!


Our youngest son, Brandon and his amazing wife, Alex surprised us with this
great photo of them with our dear friend, Elder Craig Zwick of the Quorum of
the Seventy.  He was presiding at their Stake Conference in Los Angeles. 


Back in Las Vegas, Nevada, this is our oldest granddaughter, Jalen, who just won
the Duel in the Desert Tennis Tournament in her age group.  Jalen is 12 and is
the Beehive President in her class.  She is in 7th grade and plays the piano
beautifully. We are so happy you are developing your talents and living 
righteously, Jalen.


This is Preston, who is 9 years old.  Preston loves being a cub scout and just 
earned his wolf.  Preston is in 3rd grade, sings, and plays the cello.  He is also 
a great swimmer and won many ribbons this summer.  We miss you Preston.  
Can't wait for you to come and visit us in Australia and see all the great
wildlife here. You will love it!


Preston's 9th birthday party.  They showed an outdoor movie and this is the 
snack stand they created.


This is our granddaughter, Brinley, walking to school in the rain.  Brinley loves 
pink and girly things. Can you tell?  

Interviews


Looks like stripling warriors to me!  President Parker is always smiling when he
gets to interview and counsel with these great missionaries.  We are in awe of
each one of them.  Elder Anton, Elder Barnes, Elder Beard, Elder Hamilton, Elder 
Fuhriman, and Elder Paeu.


President Parker and Elder Hamilton talk about their fathers and uncles who
are in the dentistry field.  It's so fun to get to know about each of these
wonderful missionaries and their great families who have taught them. 

Interviews



On Monday, Oct. 26th, we traveled up to Mildura so President could do interviews.  
It is such a beautiful drive and I saw kangaroos again.  Woohoo!  They are so 
awesome!  We arrived late Monday night, attended district meeting and then
began interviews.  By the end of the day everyone was hungry so we ate dinner
at Fasta Pasta.  Here is the whole Mildura Zone of incredible missionaries!



Great place, great food, and especially great missionaries.  We love hearing about
all those they are teaching and of their great service here in Mildura.  We love
each one of these missionaries so much.


This is Elder and Sister Jurgens who are two of the hardest working people you'll
ever meet.  They lovingly watch over our missionaries here in the Mildura Zone
and bless the members here in so many ways.  I'm pretty sure they do the 
work of about 3 senior couples.  We are so grateful for you Elder and Sister
 Jurgens. 


Nothing more fun then being with these great missionaries!!


Elder Kata, Elder Boyd, Elder Fuhriman, and Elder Barnes.  Eating a good meal
so they can go serve with all they have!


Sister Tamana and her companion, Sister Asera.  Two angel sister missionaries 
working hard.  Elder Soli and his companion, Elder Kelese, one of the zone 
leaders here.  We love you all!


Elder Beard, Elder Paeu, Elder Hamilton, Elder Anton, and Elder Punou worked
up an appetite at training all day.  Love these elders!


President Parker, Elder Matekohi, Elder Kata, and Elder Boyd, the other 
zone leader of this Mildura Zone.  Love these elders also!!

Arrivers Training!


Sister Toufa with her new trainer, Sister Lee-Lo and Sister Freitas with her 
new trainer, Sister Fa'alogo at their first training session.  They've had a good
night's sleep and are ready for their first whole day in the wonderful Australia
Adelaide Mission.  We love you sisters!!


Elder Leutele with his new trainer and companion, Elder U-Fa.  These two 
have a lot in common and will no doubt work miracles as they work hard together. 
The assistants, Elder Pitcher and Elder Matekohi, did some great training today. 
These are prepared missionaries and we are so grateful to have them in this
wonderful mission.


Elder and Sister Larkin trained today on staying healthy and taking great care 
of our cars and bicycles.  What would we do without our senior couples?!?!


Elder and Sister Farrer as new trainees here in the mission.  They are ready
to take on Darwin!  Enjoying a great lunch provided by our senior couples.

Senior!


The Australia Adelaide office couples sadly say goodbye to Elder and Sister 
Gray.  We are happy for them to return to be with their wonderful family
again but this mission won't be the same without them.  We keep telling them
we would love to have them return!!  We love you so much.


President with Elder and Sister Farrer as they leave for their assignment in Darwin.
We keep finding out more and more relatives who have either served in Darwin
or have some connection there.  The Lord's hand is definitely in the Farrers'
service up north.  We will miss you but rejoice in the great work we know you 
will do.  Love you to the moon and back!


So blessed to serve a mission with my sister.  See you at zone conference Sister
Farrer :)

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Senior Couples!



Since we were in Sydney when our dear friends, Elder and Sister Larkin
arrived, we didn't take the traditional picture by the mission office.  So,
we officially welcome the Larkins to the Australia Adelaide Mission.  We love
you.


And here are Elder and Sister Farrer who have been in Adelaide 3 weeks. 
We stop for a picture before they are off on their assignment in Darwin. 
Love you Elder and Sister Farrer.  Welcome to the best mission on the planet.


It's always a great day when we take these pictures.  That means we have new
missionaries ready to go share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We welcome you all.


The welcome dinner at the mission home for our new arrivers.  Here a few
of our senior couples enjoy gathering together to celebrate new missionaries.


Sister Freitas and Sister Taufa wondering who their new trainers will be???


I love this picture!  Elder Matekohi and Elder Pitcher, 2 of our wonderful
assistants sit on either side of Elder U-Fa and Elder Leutele, who are now 
new companions!!  These elders are ready to get to work!  We love you.

New Missionaries!


It's always a great day when new missionaries arrive!  Introducing Sister Freitas
from Guaruja, Brazil.  She is the first Portuguese-speaking missionary we have
had serve.  Her English is superb!  We are thrilled to have you in this mission.  
We love you!  



Welcome Sister Taufa from Doonside, Australia!  Love that smile.  We love you 
already and can't wait to see all the good works ahead for you.  


Meet Elder Leutele from Napier, New Zealand.  Welcome to the best mission
ever!  We are so excited to have you serve and know you will see miracles
as you serve with all of your heart, might, mind, and strength.  We love you.


Three great new missionaries here to invite others to come unto Christ.       


After some training by the office staff, we stop for pictures.  This is just 
outside the mission office.  Welcome Sister Freitas.  
     

Welcome Sister Taufa!  Great things are ahead.     


Welcome Elder Leutele!  We feel your excitement and love welcoming you to
the Australia Adelaide Mission. 

More Tie Cutting


The great missionary, Elder Litster is leaving his tie with us.  It will hang on the
tie board in the mission home with honor.  You have been a great blessing to this
mission, Elder Litster.  We love you.


The great missionary Elder Hobbs is also leaving us his tie.  We will miss all
of these wonderful missionaries.  They have served with all of their heart, might,
mind and soul.  We honor you and love you so much.  


I think President Parker is having way too much fun cutting Elder Gray's tie!  Elder 
and Sister Gray will be missed terribly.  We love you so much.


And there you have it!  The tie cutting is complete!


We love these valiant sisters.


One last photo before this wonderful day ends.  We love everything about this
mission except the goodbyes.