Baptism of Akina & Caine

Saturday April 26 Akina (age 8) and Caine (age 13) Cahill were baptized. We have known Eileen Cahill, their grandmother, since we arrived here and have really enjoyed her. She raised 10 children including 3 adoptedAboriginal children. It was a wonderful experience to teach the children about the Savior and the importance of baptism. Both Akina and Caine are beautiful children. The baptismal service was really special.- Sister Sallenbach gave the talk on baptism and Elder Sallenbach gave the benediction. Elder Griffith baptized Akina and Elder Glazier baptized Caine.

The Four Girls: Akina and Talia Cahill with Rebecca and Hannah Davison. These cute little girls came to enjoy the baptism of their friend Akina.

ANZAC Day in Penrith

Friday, April 25^th was ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Armed Corps) Day. We participated in the Dawn Service at the Memorial in Penrith Park. We sang with the Emu Plains Choir which was bolstered by all the missionaries in our zone. John Graves who is one of our veterans and Glenn pose just after the Dawn Service. After the service we went to a free breakfast sponsored by the RSL (Retired Services League) Club. We also helped with the clean up. We figure they served about 1800 or 2000 breakfasts. Dee helped operate the commercial dishwasher and both of us helped dry about 4000 pieces of silverware and 2000 plates along with all the miscellaneous cooking items.

After the breakfast our new friend William Shipway took us on a drive to Mulgoa which is a small village outside of Penrith and to a wonderful outlook there. The Nepean River was really spectacular.

It is fall here and is still hard to comprehend that our seasons are opposite to the Northern hemisphere. The weather is definitely turning cold. Today we went to an Op (opportunity) shop and Dee bought three nice sweaters and a wool jacket for $20 so at least she won’t freeze with the cold weather. We have had beautiful drives to Leura and Lithgow the past few weeks. The colors have really been spectacular.

Glenbrook National Park & Parramatta

We had a great experience with our friends the Marcantelli’s on Tuesday, March 25^th. We went to Glenbrook National Park and got to see a group of 7 kangaroos. The little Joey kept us mesmerized as he jumped around his mom. He would get thirsty and would go to his mom for a drink of milk in her pouch. The kangaroos were really tame and let us get within about 10 feet of them. We watched them for over 45 minutes and enjoyed seeing these animals in the wild.

The next week on our P day (March 31) we went to Parramatta with the Evans and Marcantellis to see this historic area. The first fleet arrived in Australia 18 Jan 1788. The soil around Sydney was not good for growing crops so the area around Parramatta was selected as a good site to grow crops. The Old Government House which was the governor’s home and served as a place to conduct government business. It was constructed between 1799 and 1816. We enjoyed Christine, our tour guide. She was very knowledgeable and got us interested in the history of Australia. It is quite prestigious to have a convict on your pedigree. Many of these convicts were sent here for 7 years for poaching a fish or stealing a loaf of bread.

Fun With Chuck & Diane

Our friends Chuck and Diane Graham from Poway spent the day after Easter with us. They had been on a cruse to New Zealand and had four days in Sydney. They rented a car and drove out from Sydney to see our beautiful Blue Mountains. We went to Mountain High Pie Shop and had meat pies for lunch and then we went to Echo Point which overlooks the Three Sisters.

Then we went to Scenic World where we rode the world’s steepest railroad down into the canyon. It was pretty steep all right. Then we walked through a great trail enjoying some of the information about the early mines and the trees in the area. It was raining and we decided to take the easy trail to the Cable Car to ride up to the top again.

Easter Monday is an official holiday in Australia. Talk about a traffic jam coming back down the mountain. It took us 2 hours to go about 35 kilometers. We had a great visit and had a chance to hear that all is going well in the Green Valley Ward and in Poway.

BAPTISMS AND SYDNEY TEMPLE

The highlight of the week was the baptism of Bob Cochrane on March 22. The Cochrane's have a great family. We have been teaching Belinda Cochrane New Member Lessons the past couple of months and Bob has attended the last three lessons. Elders Wellard, Orton, and Glazier taught Bob the Missionary Lessons. Glenn was honored to confer upon Bob the Aaronic Priesthood on Easter Sunday.

On February 15th Susie (Akuel Abdelrahman Myaing Akol) was baptized. Sister Palatua and Sister Scanlan taught Susie. We helped with one of her last lessons before baptism.

On February 16th Jason Knight was baptized. Sister Tuttle and Sister Batchimeg taught Jason. We were also present for one of Jason's last lessons. Sister Batchimeg is from Mongolia and is doing a great job learning English.

On March 5th our dear friend Anna Lee from the Leura Ward went to the Sydney Temple for the first time. Many of the members of the Leura Ward attended with us. Elder Orton and Elder Brennan who had served in the Leura Ward also attended. We had a great picnic on the Temple lawn after the temple session.

Our Ferry Ride Into Sydney

We needed a second post to get all of our photos in. Posting photos is so much funner than working on taxes but not near as much fun as meeting with people and sharing the gospel which is what we will be doing in an hour.

Our First Trip to Sydney

We finally did it. On Monday March 10th we took the ferry into Sydney and enjoyed the day with three other Senior Couples in our Mission. We had a beautiful day. We left on the ferry for Sydney at about 9:10 am and arrived an hour later. The city was beautiful as we arrived in Circular Quay which they pronounce Key. This is the main train and ferry station. We took another ferry to Manley Island and had a really nice dinner there. Did I say, it was a lovely day? As we went to the train we passed an Aboriginal man playing a didgery-doo. What a great sound that odd instrument makes. Then we went to the Queen Victoria Building. It is like a huge shopping mall but is beautiful inside. As you might imagine we will have to return to see more of this beautiful city. We are still enjoying being on a mission and meeting wonderful people. We have already been away from home for six months. The time is flying by.