Attending the Temple

Saturday we were able to attend the beautiful Adelaide Temple with 2 of our

wonderful missionaries who will be leaving us on Tuesday.  Elder Rigby has

completed his mission and Elder Briscoe is being transferred to Arizona

where he will complete his mission because of visa problems.  We are so

sad he is leaving us but happy for Arizona:)  We will miss Elder Rigby 

terribly as he served as one of our assistants when we arrived to Adelaide .He 

has been serving as a Bush Elder for the past 3 months.  He has adventures to tell!

We love you both and you will be missed.  Thank you for all you have done to 

hasten the work.Elder and Sister Tennis, Elder Matekohi, Elder Rigby, Elder

Briscoe, Elder Skadins and Elder and Sister Larkin.

Elder Rigby and Elder Briscoe. Two incredible faithful, obedient, hard working

missionaries. We love you.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day my doorbell rang and when I answered it this was part of a 

surprise!!  Someone had decorated our door and sidewalk and left us some

delicious pumpkin cookies and a family favorite Tongan watermelon drink.  It

was fabulous!

We are thankful for sweet missionaries who are so thoughtful and took time

to wish us a happy Thanksgiving.

And these are the sweet missionaries who made our day!  Sister Taylor, Sister

Toufa, Sister Lee-Lo,  Sister Townsend, Sister Goisisi and Sister Soh!  We love 

these missionaries! Don't know what we ever did to be so blessed. Happy 

thanksgiving to all of you. We are thankful for every missionary serving in

this great mission. 

And what else did we do on Thanksgiving?  Sister Townsend and Sister Goisisi

stopped by to help me decorate the Christmas tree in the Mission home. Great 

job Sisters. 

Specialty Training

On Tuesday November 24, we made the beautiful drive to Mildura to have

Specialty Training. This is the great Mildura Zone except for Elder Esqueda!  

We used the timer on the camera and it cut him off.  I am so sad but we will put

him front and center next zone picture.  Can you believe we did that:(  Love 

all of these missionaries so much though.  

One of our incredible Sister Training Leaders, Sister Tamana from Melbourne.

Sister Tamana told us she loves Mildura and never wants to leave! You are one 

dedicated, obedient, hard working sister missionary and we love you so much.

Its always so wonderful to visit with a senior couple and hear all the great

things going on in their assigned area. We are so grateful for the Jurgens. 

They have set a very high bar for all of our senior couples and we are in

awe of all they are doing. We love you Elder and Sister Jurgens. 

Elder Pitcher and Elder Esqueda ordering dinner at the Crazy Mexican Restaurant.

Elder Esqueda, put your wallet away, this one is on President Parker:)

We were serenaded all through dinner by the beautiful voices of our talented

missionaries. We can't get over the incredibly gifted missionaries we are 

blessed with.  Thank you Elders for singing those beautiful hymns during dinner.

More musical missionaries!  The musical group called ,"Gentry" has nothing 

over on these guys! They are GOOD!!!

Elder Hamilton and Sister Asera both had birthdays in November so here they

are with their companions who earned their birthday treat for them.  Happy

Birthday to both of you.  We love you so much!

New Senior Couple!

Oh happy day!   Brother and Sister Tennis arrived from Layton Utah and we couldn't

be any happier.  Welcome to the best mission ever!  The  Tennis's come with

much experience as they have already served 1 mission in Fiji.  They are filled 

with enthusiasm and bring a great desire to serve their brothers and sisters

in the Adelaide Mission! We love you already!

And here they are anxiously waiting for their assignment from the Lord thru

revelation from President Parker.  We are so grateful for missionaries who arrive

with a willingness to serve when and where the Lord needs them.  This incredible

Senior Couple will be serving in Alice Springs and will be a huge blessing to

this wonderful branch in the Northern Territory.  The gifts and talents and vast

experience they bring will bless the missionaries, the members and those

waiting to hear the Gospel.  This is such an exciting day!

Enjoying a bite of dinner with our senior couples to welcome Brother and Sister 

Tennis at"Alphuttes".  Our Assistants joined us for a bit but had to leave early for a 

teaching appointment.  These senior couples work so hard and its wonderful

to talk about blessings, the missionaries and our families as we see the Lords

hand in the details of our lives and the miracles taking place.We are so grateful.

Specialty Training

This is the great Firle Zone  where we held Specialty Training on a beautiful day 

in Adelaide. It was so nice we decided to take a photo outside. It is such a privilege

to serve with these Elders and Sisters.  We love you.

And these are the missionaries who have had birthdays recently that we needed

to celebrate!  Happy Birthday Sister Rougeau, Elder Callahan, Elder Woodford,

Elder Anderson, Elder Mooney and Elder Jarrett!

Mighty Missionaries!  Elder Matekohi, Elder Bouche, Elder Chalke, Elder Taylor

and Elder Mooney.

Mighty sister missionaries!   Sister Toufa, Sister Goisisi, Sister Lee-Lo, Sister

Townsend, Sister Garrote and Sister Condie!

And a mighty senior couple-Elder and Sister Wilmott!!  The couple with so

many skills we stopped counting! We love you!

Happy missionaries because they are working so hard and reaping the harvest!

Sisters enjoying lunch outside on this beautiful day.  Missions are so much fun!

More wonderful sisters having a great time serving the Lord.

Specialty Training

Training in Marion Zone made for another great day. After some training all 

morning, its time for a lunch break.  Elder Martineau, Elder McMurray, Zone

Leader and Elder Pitcher who along with Elder Matekohi did some great

training today on the Doctrines of Christ.

Elder Taylor, Elder Aguilar, Elder Jacobson and Elder Martineau!

Elder Skadins, Elder Matekohi, Elder Acker and Elder Foiakau!

Elder Coroton, Elder Keller and Elder Taleo.

Elder Glova, Elder Lapenmal, Elder Hayes and Elder Orr!

Sister Vaitaiki, Sister Coultrop, Sister Reyes, Elder Skadins and Elder Briscoe!

I love this picture of Elder and Sister St. John!  Thank you for all you do.  

Loving and serving and working-all in the day of a Senior missionary!

Sister Esplin, Sister Abonales, Sister Fa'alogo, Sister Freitas, Sister Tuu'u

and sister Makaya!

A visit from an Area Seventy

The Australia Adelaide Mission was blessed today to have Elder O'Riordan

with us.  He was here in Adelaide to hold Coordinating Council at the Firle Stake Center. 

But not before he met with this great group of missionaries who make up 

our Mission Leadership Council.We enjoyed training from Elder  O'Riordan 

over dinner in the mission home .  A night never to be forgotten. Sister Lee-Lo,

Sister Soh, Sister Goisisi, elder McMurray, Elder Callahan, Elder Tolbert,

Elder O'Riordan, Elder Matekohi, Elder Flinders, Elder Jacobsen, Elder Togia,

and Elder Pitcher. 

While we were meeting with Elder O'Riordan, Glenda and Juhn Ordinario 

were being baptized!  Here they are with 2 of the sweet sisters who taught them,

Sister Makaya and Sister Tuu'u. We are so happy you have followed the example

of Jesus Christ and have chosen to be baptized.  Congratulations and we love you.

Eagle Project

This handsome young man is Sister Parkers nephew, Jake Gillman. A future

missionary for sure!  Jake has chosen to help our mission by collecting

shirts, socks and ties to bless our missionaries.  Here is the flier that  he created

to advertise his project.  This will be such a blessing to many missionaries here.

Thank you Jake and to all who are contributing!

Many are choosing to order directly from 

amazon and having it shipped right to Jake Gillmans home.  This is a great option

if you'd like. Also many large and extra large short sleeved white shirts are needed.

Much thanks.

Specialized Training

We enjoyed a great day with this wonderful group of missionaries who make up 

the Modbury Zone.  Elder Pitcher and Elder Matekohi did some powerful

training on the Doctrine of Christ.  President Parker trained on vision.  We

also talked of showing gratitude for the blessings we have received as we have 

aligned ourselves more with Jesus Christ. This is a mission of miracles and we

are truly being blessed.

We celebrated some birthdays  while we were there. Elder Leutele, Elder Fa and

Sister Omugtong , we wish you all a happy birthday!  Here they are as their 

companions earned their birthday treat for them. We love you all!

Alice Springs

We arrived in Alice Springs and began Specialized Training with these great 

missionaries.  Here Elder Rigby and Elder Toi, the Zone Leaders of the Alice

Springs Zone teach the Doctrine of Christ. They are powerful teachers and we

were blessed to be there.We love these Elders.

Here a few of the elders wait their turn for Interviews with President Parker.

Elder Cultura, Elder Johnson, Elder Johnson, Elder Hefa, Elder Lee and Elder 

McCluchie. Love you all!

After training we enjoyed some dinner at Sammys.  Love these missionaries.

They are working hard and seeing blessings and miracles.  

Working together, praying together, planning together, serving together and now

eating dinner together.  All in a day in the life of a missionary.

Elder Lee taking everyones order. We love you Elder Lee.

Elder Cultura and Elder Hefa. Mighty missionaries. We love you.

Elder Toi and Elder Rigby.  Elder Toi is telling us they have seen 3 huge

reptiles while serving out bush!

Sister Craig and Sister Fanene who celebrated a birthday this month.!  We had

a great time in Alice Springs as we always do and are so thankful for these

valiant missionaries. We love you all.

Katherine

These are our two great missionaries serving in Katherine here with Elder Farrer.

They are searching for a place for a baptism.  these are beautiful clear hot

springs that look like a great place until they saw the sign......

Hmmmmm...maybe not.  Another reason to think twice about this spot...

as they looked up this is what they saw....bats, pretty big bats!  

I think we'll keep looking:)

These two wonderful elders come by to read with Elder Friday a pretty

new member of the church.  He has no furniture so they read the Book of

Mormon together as they sit on the floor.  Brother Friday just gave his

only pair of shoes to someone who needed them more than him today.  He

explained to the missionaries that he might not be able to attend church as

walking is his only way of getting to church and its an hour walk and now 

he has no shoes.  Elder and Sister Farrer to the rescue.  What a sweet humble

man who seeks to follow Christ and feels the joy of having the Gospel in

his life.  We love you Brother Friday.