7 February 2012

Thank you, humbly, for your unselfish fasting, prayers, faith, putting my name in the Temples, and kind expressions of love that have lifted and blessed me.  I felt strengthened and loved by so many.  (More about the blessing below.) 

I am much better.  I still get small shocks, but I’m taking the maximum dose of Lyrica, and you can bet that I don’t miss taking it!  I wobble and weave a little, but I can handle that.  I am trying to get my medical records sent down here so that the doctor will treat me.

We just arrived home to Albany after several days in Perth.  We stayed with our friends, Phil and Trish Baker, who actually live across the Swan River in North Perth.  Finding our way in Perth is embarrassing because even with our GPS, we always get lost!  The GPS often seems to wait until the turn is upon us before it warns us to turn; or we don’t see the signs (they’re always on the wrong side of the road!); or we don’t hear, or we misinterpret it; or it steers us completely wrong! 

Anyway, it seems that someone usually ends up having us follow them.  Perth is a big city with lots of waterways going through it in all directions.  We have no compass or sense of direction; so once we enter the city limits, you can count on us taking twice as long as anyone else to get there!

This time, we used the map, studied it beforehand, asked questions of the Bakers, and made it out of the city onto Albany Highway with only one small, but scenic detour!  Has anyone ever heard of Jarrahdale, WA?  It’s small and hidden in the mountains south of Perth, and beautiful!

This was a fun trip.  We made it into the city by around 5:00, but we had some business to do at the Mission Office, so with our above-mentioned deficiency, we didn’t get to the Bakers until 6:30.  Trish prepared some chicken schnitzel, fresh green salad and potatoes, with a fruit crumble for dessert.  Just right, and very good.  It was essentially the first real meal I had had for 3 weeks!

Saturday morning we attended the Temple.  It was our stake Temple Day, so we saw many of our faithful members there.  The Temple is small, so an appointment must be made; but even so, the session was overflowing.  We barely made it in!

Ray had afternoon Priesthood Leadership, and then we had an evening meeting, just like home.  Trish and Phil went with us to the Sunday morning session, even though it was not their stake.  We had gotten lost again the night before and missed the first part of the meeting; so this time, they led the way for a full 45 minutes; and we got there in time to sit on about the fourth row.  The meeting is held in a great hall called “The Barn” because of its size and shape. 

I sat down next to a beautiful young woman, part Maori I think, sitting alone.  A returned missionary herself, she was warm and friendly, so we struck up quite a conversation while we waited for the meeting to begin.  I loved her immediately.  She’s engaged to be married to a Filipino man in May, but she’s in Perth with her inactive sisters at present.  She came quite a way to find the church, seeking help for her relationship with her sisters.  She was happy to find that we would be having a general authority visit.  During the meeting, I saw tears filling her big dark eyes and rolling down her beautiful brown cheeks.  I hugged her several times during the morning.  Then she waited while I received a Priesthood blessing, and Phil Baker, bless him, drove her to the train station.  I gave her, and the woman sitting next to her from Alberta, Canada, our address in Utah.  We may receive lots of visitors in future!

The meeting was attended by the mayor and several political leaders from WA and their wives (?), seated on the front row.  I couldn’t help thinking about what they might be thinking as the speakers stood and bore testimony.  One was a 10-year-old girl, also a 14-year-old boy, a 6-month convert to the church (a young Asian man), President Smibert (our mission president), and  two women, as well as President Pemberton and Elder James Hamula of the Seventy.  What an inspiring meeting!!  A large projected picture of the Perth Temple illuminated the screen in back of the stage, which was periodically replaced by the words to the hymns, which rang out bold and strong in the great hall!  I couldn’t help feeling proud of our members, and thought how the dignitaries on the front row must be able to feel the glorious spirit of truth and love in the meeting!  It was so wonderful!  Well worth the trip.  Some of our Albany members have family and friends to stay with during the conference weekend.  One man slept in his car.  Many rented motel rooms.

My blessing was given by the men I mentioned last time, less President Pemberton, who was too busy ordaining new Elders, etc.  My own Elder Ashby was the mouthpiece, and I could feel his hands trembling, even though there were lots of hands on my head.  I felt the power of the Priesthood, as those worthy, really faithful men all stood round me in their dark suits.  Ray was slow and deliberate in giving the words he felt the Lord wanted him to say.  We were all fasting, and the Spirit did not fail us.  It was powerful.  I was told that I could stay to finish my mission.

The rest of the Sabbath was restful for us with our friends in their home.  Monday morning we got up and out early, catching the 9:00 o’clock ferry from Perth down the Swan River, joining the Canning, and on down to Freemantle, the historic city where the first settlers to WA landed.  Phil drove us around town, and we went to an old Maritime Museum of early shipwrecks on the coast of WA dating back to the 1600’s.  We had seafood and chips for lunch at the harbor, near the fishing ships, then drove along the coast back to Perth.  WA has more money per capita than any place in Australia, and believe me, there are some beautiful mansions here.  We saw one on the river as we came on the ferry which sold last time for $57 million dollars!

The Bakers were gracious hosts, and we became good friends while we were there.  Trish did all of the cooking and most of the cleaning up, I am embarrassed to say.  I am still a bit wobbly and dizzy from my medications.  They invited their children to come over just so that we could meet them, as if we were some great guests.  I enjoyed one hour or two with Trish and their daughters, Alex and Stacey in a rare ‘girl visit.’  Son, Kent, also came, and his wife, Georgia, along with their friend, Somebody Romney!  Yes, a relative to Mitt, though distant.

Phil asked Ray to present a short FHE lesson, and then we watched a film, “Galipoli,” a famous battle in Turkey when a great contingency of Australian troops was mowed down by machine guns and rifles when they landed on the wrong beach in the beginning of WWI.  So sad.  I don’t know how many of them were killed, but it was slaughter.  They were facing the guns with only bayonets to defend themselves.  Wave after wave of them died as they were commanded to attack from their trenches at close range. 

Trish gave me a children’s book about it.  30,000 troops from all over Australia and New Zealand gathered here in 38 ships, I think in King George Sound (next to us in Albany), and left from there for the war in 1914.  There was a great send-off, and then to think that so many of them died needlessly, …people are still talking about it here!