Library
We went to the City of Karratha Library today to get library cards and to check out the possibilities of volunteering. Wow we have an incredible library. Not only is the facility beautiful but they offer so much. You can even check out a sewing machine or a guitar. Of course I love the techy stuff and they have a book shelf that you put your books on to return them and the shelf scans them and checks them in for you. I forgot to take a picture but I will when I go return my books.
Christmas in Australia
When we met with President Wi Repa as we left Perth and headed to Karratha, we asked him what would he like us to do. He responded take good care of your young missionaries and make sure they have a good Christmas. There wasn’t a lot of service we could do around town because everyone is out of town so we focused on the 4 elders in our district, the Pilbara District.
Christmas eve daytime we had a district meeting and the 2 elders from Port Hedlund were here. After the meeting was over we ran to the bakery to pick up the bread for the day and then we jumped into Christmas eve activities. First, we made gingerbread houses. This is no small task in Australia because they do not have cute little kits at Walmart. Elder Darton and I made all the walls and roofs for the gingerbread houses. Now, we had never done this before so I can’t say they were the greatest, in fact one of our walls was cracked when we started and then one of the roof pieces cracked as we were trying to assemble. The elders from Port Hedlund did an amazing job and I will attach pictures. We then ate the typical Stobbe family Christmas eve buffet but there was nothing typical about it. In our family we let everyone chose their favorite food item and that creates the menu. This year the Pilbara District family buffet consisted of Chop Suey, Rice, Guacamole and chips, unfuneral potatoes (because they looked and tasted nothing like funeral potatoes), ham, monkey bread, baklava and a little bit of lemon cheesecake.
Normally, we have a nice looking buffet layed out on a counter with a few Christmas decorations interspersed. This years had a few dishes in the kitchen, a few in the family room, a few on a counter in the dining room and a lot of Gingerbread house decorations scattered all over.
After dinner we went into the backyard because we thought it would be fun to show them the Mentos and Diet Cole geiser. The experiment was a total flop. We think all products are not created equal here in Australia. Everything seems to be just a little different. It was totally fine though because they all ended up trying to remove a dead palm frawn from the palm tree in the back yard, swinging on it, pulling it etc. until it finally came down. All in all it was a very fun day/night and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.
Christmas Day
We hosted a dinner for the district that was the same 4 elders we had on Christmas eve but also another senior couple that serve in Port Hedlund. We had Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, brisket, peas, stuffing and chocolate cherry brownies for dessert.
THE BREAD RUN
The Pillbara Bakehouse is kind enough to donate their unsold bread and meat pies at the end of the day to the senior missionaries. We then divide it up and take it to a few shelters and then we find any individual families that could use the help. Today was our first day to do the bread run and even though a lot of people are out of town for summer vacation, yes I said summer vacation, it was still so fun to be a part of. Bonus for me one of the shelters has a Plumeria Tree in the front. Plumerias are my favorite flower.
ZONE CONFERENCE
Today we attended our first zone conference. The Mission President presented a great message on baptism and the sacrament.
We took a zone picture and then had a lunch prepared by some sweet women in the area.
After the zone conference we went and applied for something required called a Working with Children permit. We had to take a mug shot which was super hard for me because we couldn't smile at all.
We are in Perth
We made it to Perth Safely, thank you for your prayers. We will be in a hotel for the next couple of days because Thursday and Friday are Zone Conference days. We leave Saturday for our assigned area. We have not been assigned anywhere yet but we have a guess it might be Karratha.
A fun little thing I saw and I love these techy things so I took a picture. This is the public bathrooms at the airport, soap, water and air to dry your hands all built into the mirror.
Day One at the MTC
Last night we checked into the MTC and they let us know there were no available rooms here so they have placed us in a hotel. We spent last night in a hotel provided by the MTC. When we arrived back at the MTC this morning they told us they had a room open up and we could move to the MTC if we wanted. We decided to get the full experience we needed to stay here so at lunch time we dashed to the hotel packed everything up and brought it to our room at the MTC. It's bigger than the hotel room but probably not as nice. So here's our room.
We always receive a full day of really good training on the first day of Zone Conference. The 2nd Day we go out and see some of the Perth...
