Fiona lives in Dubbo

Fiona 

Is a young girl dating a young man in the Dubbo Branch. His name is Ririwai.   His brother Jordan is also dating a young lady. These two young ladies come to church regularly. Fiona has decided that she wants to be baptized so we have been teaching her the discussions.

The brothers are from New Zealand and are away for the holidays.  She has done this on her own. 

We taught her on Dec 21, 27, 31 and today we taught her after church.    Sister Deana Francis (a return missionary) and young mother of a 1 yr old, wanted to sit in on the discussion.    She is very strong in the gospel and was able to share her a lo of good thoughtst.      

Fiona is what you call a golden contact.   She reads and studies and is so ready to be baptized.    She commited today to be baptized.     

The Branch President and wife are on holiday until Jan 9th and would love to be at the Baptism or she would have agreed to do it sooner.    So as for right now we are aiming for sunday January  15th.    Sunday because everyone has to travel so far that they usually do it on Sundays.    Then they have to wait a week until the next Sunday to be confirmed.    She is so excited and ready.    

Sister Francis asked her if she really wanted this bad enough even if she was to break up with  Ririwai.    She said she really did.    Sister Francis then told her to encourage Ririwai into going on a mission and she will wait for him.     Jordan is a return missionary and Ririwai seems to have a great knowledge of the gospel and would be a great missionary.   

We also talked Family History to Fiona.    She went right home, downloaded rootsmagic.com and got right into putting her family names in.    Asked her father for information and he gave her a book about the Stevenson's.   She is all fired up about genealogy too.  

I will keep you posted on her progress.  

Dubbo chapel

The Dubbo Chapel:

Friday Dec 30 we met Fiona Stevenson (abt 19) at the Dubbo Chapel to teach her the missionary discussions.
The Building consists of 1 hallway. The Chapel itself is a room filled with chairs and a small pulpit like the ones they have in a Primary room.
If there is a party, it is to held in this room being the largest in the building.
The kitchen has folding doors that open up into the Chapel. The custodian room also opens up into the Chapel. Large curtains hang draping the whole back wall and the whole front wall.
There are 5 class rooms, male and female restrooms, a mothers room, Bishops office, & a small foyer. In the back end of the foyer is a small Baptismal font. It is about 4'x8' with steps going up each side to the back of the restrooms.
There is a Family history closet at the end of the Relief Society room. It has a sliding UP door that looks like a Garage door. Lift it up and there is a desk with a computer on it and a shelf up above.
I have noticed the last couple of weeks that we have come, that the Building inside is absolutely filthy. And I mean FILTHY. I have never in my life seen an LDS church building look so sloppy.
I don't think it has been cleaned for months and months. So we set out to clean it today after Fiona had left.
Part of the back walled curtain was falling loose from it's hooks at the top. I re-hooked it and made it hang decent again.
There were dead bugs lining the edge of the hallway and the outside edges of the classrooms. The glass doors were plastered with finger prints.
The mens restroom smelled of Urin. The carpet had black spots all over concentrating in large groups. I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed and they came out pretty good. Elder Tietjen cleaned the restrooms.
The glass of the baptismal font was very fingerprinted and the inside looked kind of like some one splashed mud on the glass. Anyway, it is all nice and shinny now. The church looks a hundred percent better. I wonder if anyone will notice.
They really do need some new carpet. This carpet is so faded and worn. No holes but old looking. When things look old then cleaning sometimes does not help it look clean. Oh, well, we can sure see and feel the difference.
We shined, vacuumed, scrubbed, straightened and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.
We spent 3 hrs and 45 min (each) We were beat but full of gratitude for all those that share in cleaning the churches.
The main active families that come to the Dubbo Branch live 1 to 3 hrs away from the church. They bring lunches for their children and feed them inside the church immediately after church meetings ends. The parents then get to visit with each other for awhile. (Which I don't blame them at all) Therefore, fingerprints, everywhere. And crumbs. Then leave for their long journey home.
It does not look like they have any kind of a cleaning schedule for this building.
So keep those buildings clean for the spirit of the Lord to dwell in.

Our Christmas Day

Sunday December 25, 2011 Christmas Day

7 am I got up and started to wrap gifts for the Haeata family. Then I got ready for Church.
I am prepared for my talk that I am to give today. "Thou shalt not fear if you are prepared", right? Well, I will have to learn that somehow. I was prepared but still I feared.
9:10 am we headed for church. Winston was having a lot of family coming for a traditional Christmas Hangi dinner today so he did not want to go to church because he said he had to get ready.
I was hoping no one would show up at church today because then I would not fear, right again?. Well, just the opposite happened. There was about 34-36 people there. The majority of them were visitors. Our Branch members mostly were out of town and people visiting family in Orange came to church here. The chapel was fuller than usual today.
But my heart was extra full to see Ken Doyle there. He has not come to church since we have been here. And Josephine Schyveschuurder, (what a name) also inactive, drove all the way from Dubbo to come and listen to us speak. She came with her mother who is not a member. I was so excited to see both Ken and Josephine here. But nervous because I was speaking.
But I felt the Lord had truly blessed me with things that I should say. Gennie Cartmill kept sending things about keeping Jesus in our thoughts this Christmas Season. My talk all came together well. (I thought anyway).
I started out telling of our VIP Party tradition:

When our oldest child was very young there was a song that came out called "I'm a VIP in my family" I got the idea to have a Christmas family dinner with my young children called a VIP party. We set the date to be the Monday before Christmas.
I got the children all excited about the event by telling them that a Very Important Person was coming to dinner. But, I would not say who. I encouraged them to get the house all clean and decorated for the season because a Very Important Person was coming to dinner that special night that we had set. As the days went by they got more and more excited to find out who this very Important person was. I would not tell them.
The day finally arrived and the dishes were brought out and the table set for this special dinner with a Very Important Person. The children started asking when this person would get here. Soon, I would say. They started to make guesses but I would just tell them that it was someone really Important and they would just have to wait and see. I remember once one of the Children asked, "Is it Jesus?"
and then all of a sudden I felt the spirit so strong, I could not talk.  Tears were coming to my eyes.    I started to shudder or shake or something came over me , I thought I was going to faint. I have never had anything like that feeling come over me like that before. It was as if every cell in my body was shaking. I prayed hard for Heavenly Father to bless me to continue. Finally with Heavenly Fathers help, I got my composure together and was able to finish my talk.
I could truly feel Heavenly Father and Jesus' love for me and wished that so many others here in our mission that we visit could also feel their love. I was so filled with their love and what Jesus had done for us that I had no desire to open the gifts that we had received for fear that it would ruin the wonderful special feeling of the knowledge of the gifts Christ gave us all. I hope I can always live up to his expectations of me. This verse of Away In A Manger stuck in my mind.
I love Thee, Lord Jesus
Look down from the sky
And stay by my side,
'Til morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus,
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray
Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care
And take us to heaven
To live with Thee there
I had been a little resentful knowing that we had to speak on Christmas Day. Plus I did not seem to get much time to spend preparing for it like I wanted. Elder Tietjen kept us traveling so much of the time. He packs our schedule so full and tight that we even overlap sometimes.
But I can now truly say that I am so grateful to have been able to have the opportunity to speak. It brought me so much closer to Christ than I know I would have been if I had not been constantly thinking and searching for my talk.
Elder Tietjen then gave an excellent talk about the Other Wise Man. Then Pres. James spoke.
The chapel was so silent the whole time, you could probably hear a pin drop. And no they were not sleeping, all their eyes were on us. That made me even more nervous. There was only 4 young children in the whole congregation. This is sure a switch from home.
Let us always hold our knowledge of what Jesus did for us in our hearts and lives and always do as he would want us to do.
After church was over there was a visitor from New Zealand that came up to us and asked if we were related to New Zealand Coach Tietjens. We told him that his name has an "s" on the end and ours did not. He said that New Zealand people are strange like that and like to change names and so he is probably related. We had heard about him before, but know not if he is related. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE4FJwM3TBs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Tietjens
There was much visiting, hugging and wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas and we all dispersed to go home.

Tasha Haeata

We then went to our home and gathered the gifts that were given to us from the Haeata's and the gifts we had for them. We would open their gift to us while they opened their gifts from us. We traveled to Cowra and got there by 12:30 pm. Tasha has 5 children age 2-13 yrs old. Her husband died sometime in the past 2 yrs.
Kirra (11yrs) was telling me that her brother Jacob (7) had wanted a Matchbox airplane so bad that when he did not get it, he cried and cried. But seeing his 2 other brothers playing happily finally gave up and got in on the happiness and played too.
Elder Tietjen had picked out some small airplanes for their gifts from us. So when Jacob opened it, boy did he jump for joy. He held that airplane the rest of the day.
I also gave them each a little crocheted stocking that I had made and filled with candy. I put a $25 gift card in Tasha's. (The gift card is a story in itself).
Tasha Haeata had also invited the Paki family (very active members). Tane and Katarina Paki have 3 small children and is expecting a baby this week.
Tasha had a lovely luncheon ready for all of us. After we ate Elder Tietjen told them all that a Very Important Person was coming to visit. He would not say who and they started to guess who it might be. One of the boys piped up and asked Is it Jesus?

Again Jesus was there this Christmas Day.

Tasha is being so brave raising her children alone and trying to get activated back into the gospel and do what she knows Jesus and her husband would want her to do.

We had hunted and hunted for little flash lights for the VIP lesson and finally when we found some, I told Elder Tietjen that we should get one for Tasha too. Then I thought, we better get 2 extra incase one stops working. So now we had 8 flashlights. We did not know that the Paki's were coming and so now that we had the extra we had just enough for the children. The flashlights representing the Holy Ghost that guides us like the light through the darkness. Sister Paki especially thanked him for the lesson for her children.
3:40 pm Paki's and us left to go home.
4:35 pm we stopped in Blayney to wish the Samgood's a very Merry Christmas and give them a Christmas Card. Sister Val Samgood is down in bed with bad Arthritis.
5:30 pm we are back in Orange and gathered our gifts that Winston's family had given to us and went to their home. We wanted to open them with them there. Nakita (7) said she could hardly wait to see our faces when we opened them. They gave us a glass Biscuit Jar (cookie jar) full of biscuits (cookies). The twin babies are doing great.
6:00 pm we then went to visit Norman Aukland in the assisted Living Center. He was just finishing his dinner and then we walked up to his room to visit with him.
6:45 pm we wandered over to the Jason and Michelle Matter's home. Our friendly Branch President Policeman had invited us over for refreshments if we had time. So we went. We visited and then played Phase 10, eating off a fruit plate, drinking pop and visiting. We stayed until 9:30 pm and then went home.
Now dark and still Christmas Sunday evening, we sat by our little 4 ft  lit up Christmas tree and opened our other gifts that some of the members had given us. Our hearts truly filled with the Spirit of Christmas.
We then fell asleep on the couches watching "It's a Wonderful Life"    It sure is.

Through rain or shine

Through rain or shine, the mail must get through.

This is the way the mail is delivered whether raining or sunny. 

Looks like Santa even got into the act of delivering this way.     ho ho ho

Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia

Australia does not celebrate Thanksgiving, so we spent the Day hunting for lost in-active members.    Lightning Ridge is 6 hrs North of Orange if you make not stops. 

There are supposedly members there on the Dubbo, and Narrabri Branch membership lists.   How could that be?   One town and assigned to 2 different Branches.   We went there to find them all.   Narrabri is only 2 1/2 hrs away for them instead of 4 hrs to Dubbo.  We are hoping to be able to get all their memberships sent to Narrabri.      But the first thing we need to do is see if they still live there.  

Lightning Ridge is a come and go town.   Or is it a villiage?    It really reminded us of Bluewater, New Mexico.   A lot of people live outside of the town in camps.  But to live there you get no city Utilities.   So the city does not keep track of them.   You can come here and get lost.  

The President of the Narrabri Branch told us that there were some new active members that had just moved there.   They are going to his branch in Narrabri.     We contacted the Bro. S to see if we could come and visit.    Brother S. said he would come and pick us up at the motel we were staying at because it would be hard to describe where they live.   He came and we went with him to his house and met his wife.    He lives in one of these camps. 

Brother S is retired and he likes to buy old houses, fix them up and sell them.   This is looking at the end of his current home.    He has moved around a lot.    He came to Lightning Ridge and fell in love with it.    He bought this really worn down  shack and fixed it up.    It is all really nice and modern inside even though it does not look it on the outside.     It all runs on solar power, generators and tank water.    You can see the big tanks by the house that collects rain water which runs off the roof into the tanks.   It has been raining for 5 days straight.   He says that his tanks are almost full.    The refrigerator, stove and hotwater heater all run on gas.     He showed us his solar power setup with batteries all lined up to store the power.    They say they love it there in the country and the peace and quiet.   They have enjoyed the challenge of this new way of life.   Notice the 2 kangaroos just roaming free enjoying it too.     

People in camps buy a plot of land and then mine it for Opals.  That is what all the mounds of dirt are.   So the camps are built among these mounds because they live on their plots.   Just be careful of where you walk.   You might just find yourself down a deep hole.   Brother & Sister S. said they did not care to mine their plot, they jsut wanted to live there.    They had 2 daughters move their families there too.  

You can live like this,

Or this.

Take your pick.  There are both levels of living and anything in between. 

Lightning Ridge is known for it's Black Opals.  The only place in the world that has Black Opals.   We went into this store that looks like a cave.    In fact it is called the Opal Cave

It has a dirt floor.   It is an Opal jewelery store.   I asked what a Black Opal was and the receptionist invited us to step into her office (at the end of the counter).   She then explained it all to us and you will have to take my word for it that there are Black Opals, because it was a loooong explanation and I can't repeat it so you would understand.    All I know is that the Opals are very expensive.   

This has water running down it.  It shimmered and looked a lot better in real life than in this picture.

We stayed at the Black Opal Motel  in room 5.

Hey, look, there I am in the mirror.   This was a nice compact little room for $75 a night.

As for non-members, we found one lady out of 5 families that we went hunting for.   At one address, the house was empty and being gutted out for remodeling.     Brother S. is very active and has been a Branch President twice so we gave him the list and he said he will try to find them.  Between us, him and the mission President we will try to get there membership records to the Narrabri Branch.   

On the way to Lightning Ridge in Walgett, we had the membership record for a 7 year old boy.   No parents.   We stopped at the address and found that his mother is a member.  She is from an active member family from the Phillipians.    It would be an all day outing to go to Dubbo to church so she was glad to hear that we could change her records to Narrabri.    She has a three year old son that she wants blessed and her 7 year old son to get baptized next August.    Her husband is a Anglican but inactive.   He says he is very supportive of her going to what ever church she wants.    I think she will start going.    We will get the blessing information to her soon.  

So we did have some success along with having a good vacation.   

Brother & Sister S., along with their 45 yr old daughter,  took us to lunch at the bowling club there in Lightning Ridge.    It was a really nice meal.   Good enough to be a Thanksgiving dinner.   

Other information about Lightning Ridge.    We were told by a couple of people that there are more Millionaires living there per capita, than anywhere else in the world.   So if we were to see a scruffy dirty looking person, don't shun them for they may be a millionaire.   Many of them live in the camps and don't look like millionaires at all.    It was an over all fun, educational, succesfull trip.  

Matthew's Park in Orange

In Matthew's Park there are miniature trains that come out for the public to ride.   Only on the second Saturdays does this great event happen and Elder Tietjen tried to figure out a good reason to be there.    Since Norman Aukland is such a train lover still, Elder Tietjen decided that Bro Aukland would love to to see them.    We invited him and he was very excited.   So Saturday Nov. 12, 2011 we picked him up at 1:00 pm and found a nice shady spot under a tree.   We set up our chairs and enjoyed the ride.   At least we enjoyed watching all the others ride.
  

I think these train fans are jealous. What do you think?

Doesn't he look like a jolly fella?

Hop right on, the train is waiting.

Yay, Thomas the Train is ahead

Obvious differences between Australia and America

November 14, 2011

Susan asked me a while back if we could understand the people here in Australia.

Most Auzzie born people we can understand quite well. It is those Tongans and other Islanders that have their heavy accent that we have trouble with.

Interesting facts about Australia.

1. The dirt is bright orange (we feel like we are in New Mexico) come on down and visit us.

2. Americans that we have met here have all told us that Australia is about 30 years behind time, except for computers. Just look at their roads.

3. 30 yrs ago, Thongs were what you call Flip Flops today in America. They still use the word Thongs like they did in the 70's. A real Aussie told us this one. "The reason that the Aussie's wear Thongs is because they don't have the IQ to be able to tie shoes."

4. The crows and magpies sit along the side of the road waiting for their road kill. When they see a car coming they just walk slowly off the side of the road. Very few get up and fly. They are probably too fat and heavy from all that meat they eat. (Kangaroos, fox, what ever)

5. Police cars are either white, blue or yellow with checkered pattern on them.

6. There are a lot of Taxi's running around town. Every block, just about, you will see a Taxi or more.

7. When getting gas you pump and then go in the store and pay. No swiping of the card outside the gas station.

　

Obvious language differences from Americans.

1. Ute= flat bed pickup. (Utility truck).

2. If a word ends with an "R" they don't pronounce the "R".

3. They pronounce an "A" as "R"

4. Example: Mazda (you know the car?) They say (pronounce the "ma" as you would in "mad"

add the "z" sound and put an R on the end. Stephanie Collins from Utah laughs her head off when she hears them say it that way.

5. Petrol = gas

6. Timber = lumber

7. Ring me or give them a ring = call on the phone

8. Lollies = candy of any sort.

9. when you go to McDonald's they ask "ate hey or go?" = eat here or go? Remember they don't pronounce a lot of their "R"s It took us a few times to figure that one out. (We've only been a few times)

9. If you say Thank you to some one, they say "No worries" back to you.

10. Noows = Nurse

11. You don't sit around and visit with someone, you sit and "chat" with them.

12. A "road train" = A semi truck.

13. The letter "Z" is pronounced "Zed".

14. The letter "H" is pronounced "Hach" with the "a" being the long sound as in hate.

15. Teen numbers are pronounced with a deen on the ends. Like Eighdeen, thirdeen.

16.. "Dear" = expensive. Ex. The bananas are sure dear. Now say it without saying the "R". It sound like they are always saying Deee.

17. Push bike = bicycle

Foods

1. Sultanas = raisons

2. Semoina = cream of wheat.

3. The Mayonnaise pours out of the bottle and is sweeter than Miracle Whip. Susan would hate it.

4. Sour cream pours out of the container too.

5. Potato Nuggets = Tator Tots

6. No loose hash browns at all

7. No Pistachio pudding, only chocolate and vanilla

8. Glucose syrup = corn syrup

9. Haven't found Enchilada sauce yet.

10. Tasty cheese = Cheddar cheese

11. No cinnamon flavored candies

12. Yay, I found some Worther's.

13. Ice block = ice cream bar on a stick.

14. Chick peas = garbanzo beans

15. No Catalina Dressing

15. No curly chips to make the Catalina dressing salad.

16. Sweet & sour Cucumbers = sweet pickles

17. Dill cucumbers = dill pickles

Additional information:

1. Lots of different animals: kangaroo, Emu, brown snake, lots of Llama,

2. Power poles are straight from the tree, whether it has a curve in it or not.

Stores

1.. McDonald's in just about every little town you go to. Like Stephanie Collins puts it. "There are as many McDonald's here as there are Temples in the Salt Lake Valley." I will add "as many LDS chapels as in Rexburg". You never lack for food.

2. Kentucy Fried Chicken are usually found right next to a McDonald's.

3. Subways are usually close by too.

4. K-Mart

5. Target

6. Woolworth's

7. Cosco ( in Sydney only) I hear they have some American foods that we can't get out in our little towns.

8. IGA only they are called Supa IGA. Might as well, they don't pronounce their r's on the end of words anyway.

9. Police cars are either Blue, Yellow or white with checker board pattern on them.

10. Rubbish bin = trash can

Sunday November 13-what a day

Sunday November, 13, 2011                 
Because of the shinny silvery little Saran wrap looking stings across our living room floor, I drank lots of water last night so I would wake up often to catch the culprit. The Slug Ball has got to come to an end. This is the third one now. I am sure that the other 2 that got thrown out told the Slugville that we had the best Ballroom in town. The word has spread.
So this morning I was out to catch another one, or many. So my Sunday started our with me first waking at 12 midnight. Now isn't that a fitting time to start a Ball? Or is the time to end a ball? Cinderella had to LEAVE the ball at 12 midnight. Maybe the fairy princesses at the ball turned into slugs at midnight. I put on my shoes this time. Quickly turned on the light to catch them in the act and ............No one, nothing, not even ONE Slug . Ok, so they start later. I drank some more water so I would wake up again and I went back to bed.
2:00 am I awoke again. I went through the same process and still no slugs to be found.
Ok, more water, I am going to get those slimy slithering slugs if I have to wake every hour.
Oh, dear I did not wake until 5:00 am. Still no sign of the shimmering Ball across our floor.
Just before going to bed last night (out in the living room) I told Elder Tietjen my plans. I am sure they must have heard me talking. Because there was not a sign of them this morning. Not even their silvery little trails they leave behind

Today in our Orange Branch they were showing General Conference from video. 10-12 conference, then lunch, then 1-2 conference. Winston said his family was going, so we planned on leaving early to get them there in the 2 shifts.
Because of lunch being served, I made a Chicken pot pie to take. It was in the oven and almost ready.
It was almost time to go when I was shutting down my computer. I all of a sudden thought about going online to find some pictures to print out for Winston and Lee's kids to color. So I opened the internet again and a notice came up saying there was a phone call from my mom, Lodema Wilson. At first I wondered what I had clicked on and wondered if I had called her on accident. But it was wanting me to answer. So I answered. It was mom. She said she was just checking to see if this skype phone really did work. She was as excited to hear my voice as I was to hear her. Uu, oh, I forgot to call her this last Friday. She asked if I was just out of bed, and I told her no just almost out the door. We visited a few minutes.
Winston then called Elder Tietjen and said they had decided not to go to church. So then Elder Tietjen decided that he wanted to rush and head down to Cowra for church. Well, they start at 9:30 am and it takes 1 hr 45 min to get there, so we will miss most of it. Mom said she knew we had to get going so she would let me go. We said good bye and I started to run.
I took the chicken pie out of the oven and stuck it in the freezer. Hope it does not melt everything and I find the freezer door opened from oozing food coming out.
9:35 am Elder Tietjen went over to the Orange Branch to drop off some flyers about Sid Goings fireside that is coming up. Then we headed out to Cowra with a half a tank of gas. I had mentioned getting gas to him last night but Elder Tietjen had planned yesterday to go to Dubbo and get gas tomorrow morning. So now we are going South to Cowra and back to Orange and then up North to Dubbo this evening. No way will we make it, gas wise. We will have to be sinners again and get gas on Sunday.
10:17 am we got to Millthorpe. It is a cloudy day keeping it a little cooler.
10:33 am we stopped to help someone with an over heating car. They had plenty of water from ice melting in a cooler and did not need any help. Elder Tietjen gave them one of our juice bottles that was filled with water and we pulled out onto the road just barely in time to have to pull off again to let an ambulance go by.
11:17 am we got to the Cowra church. We opened the door and the chapel was a tiny room straight ahead with the people looking straight at the door. No sneaking into the back of meetings here. They were in a circle holding Sunday School. There were 9 people. One lady was in the back room having an activity with her own 3 children, since they were the only children there.
The Church building is a house that has been restored into a church. It had 2 class rooms, a kitchen, a small Primary room type Chapel that could be divided into 2 rooms if needed. There was also a room for the Branch Presidents office. The restrooms were outside in an add on building. They were modern and clean but if you sent your kids out to that they probably would end up playing out on the lawn before coming back in. If they did come back in.
In Relief society there were 3 ladies besides me. The teacher did not come nor the Relief Society Pres, so one lady conducted, played the music & gave the lesson. These Branches struggle badly with so many in-actives.
Church was over by 12:30 and then Elder Tietjen and I hung out visiting until 2:25 pm
We need to get up to Dubbo to teach Lu, LILI and Halery tonight at 7:30 pm
3:10 we got to Blayney and stopped to get gas. A lady came out and pumped the gas for us. Elder Tietjen and her had what he said was a good visit. Gas $144.9 cent per liter, which cost $71.86, for 49.591 liters.
3:50 pm home in Orange, eat lunch & pack.
4:45 pm leave for Dubbo. I am determined to get some typing done these trips. I am getting too far behind on my journal.
6:25 we got a beeping sound on the cell phone. It was a message that we had missed a phone call. I looked but did not recognize the phone number. I looked up LiLi's phone number to see if that was hers. It was not the one we had for her. This person had called 3 times. We have a lot of area out and about that we don't get signal on our phone. It is frustrating. So Elder Tietjen stopped to call them back to see who it was. It was LiLi. She was cancelling again tonight. They were going out for the evening and would be home late.
We were almost to Dubbo by now, and decided to go straight to the hospital to see Nancy Taylor.
6:40 pm we got another phone call. We are now about 15 min. from Dubbo. This one came through all right. It was Winston. He said he needed to get to the hospital. I repeated him and Elder Tietjen quickly pulled off the road and stopped. I was sure that Lee was having the babies. But he said that HE needed to get to the hospital. He said that he had collapsed and could not get up. He wanted us to take him to the hospital. We are 1 ½ hr away. I gave the phone to Elder Tietjen to figure out what to do. He asked Winston if he could wait till we got back or if he wanted him to call Pres. James. He said to call Pres James. So he did. Pres James suggested getting an ambulance to get him picked up because no one would be able to lift him he is so big. Pres. James is a little guy compared to Winston. Elder Tietjen asked if he could arrange one for him and we would be coming back. So our appointment is cancelled and we are now on our way back to Orange. Another reason to have a full tank of gas on Saturday night. You never know how your schedules may change.
Just about 15 min after turning around and traveling toward Orange we again had no signal on the phone. I tell you miracles do happen.
Oh, my, if he is in the hospital for awhile, we had better stick close to Orange incase Lee has to get to the hospital to have the twins.
I guess we will be going straight to the hospital after all, but not the one in Dubbo to see Nancy
Taylor
We noticed that there was no signal in Bakers Swamp Neurea, Wellington, or Gurie. Practically the whole trip to Dubbo. We did not realize that we did not have signal every time going to Dubbo.
We got 1 bar signal at Molong just through the highest part of town and then it was gone again. There a message came through from Pres. James saying that they dropped Winston and Lee off at the hospital and it is nothing serious. Winston has the Flu. Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid that he broke his back or something bad like that and Lee is about to have these twins. That would be terrible.
8:15 pm Winston called and asked if we could pick him up at the hospital because they did not have the money to get a taxi. We are about 15 min from the hospital now.
Wow, what a day.
8:30 pm we were at the hospital and picked up Winston and Lee. That is the main reason that he decided not to go to church this morning because he was not feeling well. We took them home and then home ourselves.
Ever feel like you are running around all day and get no where. That is just the way I feel right now. We have driven 280 miles and gotten no where. Elder Tietjen was really glad that we finally got to get to the Cowra Branch and visit with those (few) people there. This was our first time.
Good night all, we shall try for Dubbo tomorrow morning. We told a sister that we would come and mow her lawn.
Church:

A couple of weeks ago Elder Tietjen wanted to call his brother Bill with the Skype phone. Since it is set up on my computer and he wanted to call him early, he got me up at 4:00 am.
Well, I was too sleepy to think about the Slug Ball going on in the living room. So I walked out half asleep in my bare feet. I stood by my computer where they have their Promenade. All of a sudden as I stepped down I felt something very slimy. Oh, my gosh, I knew right that moment what it was. I had stepped on one of those slimy Slugs. I was now wide awake.
I had an envelope, a ruler and the camera ready to capture the thing on film. I scooped it up onto the envelope. It wasn't moving very much. I don't think I would either if I had just had a giant step on me.
Ooooo, oooo, have you ever tried to wash Slug Slime off of your foot before? It does not want to wash off. Standing in the kitchen with my foot up over the kitchen sink I rubbed and rubbed. It is like trying to wash off soap when you have soft water in your water.

That stuff stuck. I had to scrape it off. If you ever need to glue anything just try some Slug Slime. I bet it would work great.

This one was smaller than the first.

Headstone Hunting

On November 5, 2011, My sister Corinne Carter asked me if I would be able to hunt for some headstone here in the Orange Cemetery.   A lady was requesting on findagrave.com for a photo of a headstone to be placed on her ancestors site that she had created.    Mrs. Elizabeth Anne Scott Valkenburg, supposedly was buried here in the Orange Cemetery.  
Corinne also requested for photos of headstones of Pvt. Timothy Joseph Cutcliffe age 21 killed in Vietnam and Harriet Catt Fuller both to be buried in Orange.   
Elder Tietjen and I took the names to the Cemetery Clerk and she looked them up.    She said that the Pvt. was in the Orange Cemetery and Harriet was in the Byng Cemetery.    But there was no sign of Elizabeth being buried in the area.  

We looked up the Orange Cemetery and found it only 5 minutes from us.    We found Pvt. Timothy's headstone right off with the directions from the Clerk.   His parents were also right next to him.  

We found that the Byng Cemetery was only about 20 min from us so we took a little ride there.  

There  we found this quaint little valley with a church and a very small run down cemetery.

This is the entrance to the Byng Cemetery.    We looked and looked in the tall grasses and many flowering bushes but could not find Harriet Fuller.

We decided to come back the next day more equipted with rake and clipper in hand.   We would use the rake to pull back some of the tall grasses and most of all probe around to scare the snakes.    This is the time of the year for the snakes to come out.    We were very glad we did not see any.

We finally found Harriet Fuller grave on the second time here.   According to the findagrave web site that was submitted, she died on March 7th 1873.   But on the records we got from the Clerk she died on June 7th 1873.   We took photos from many angles to see if we could read it correct.   As we looked Elder Tietjen and I were both positive that it said she had died in June.    Was this really the Harriet Fuller that we wanted?

That evening as we enlarged the photos on the computer  we could see plain as day that she had died in March.   We had found the right Harriet Fuller.    I sent the photos to Corinne and she wrote to the submitter on findagrave and told him that we had found a photo but she was not buried in Orange.    He changed the information and her headstone photo is now entered as being in Byng, NSW, Australia

We took other headstone photos that Corninne will get submitted to findagrave.com
It is so neat how you have such a reverent feeling and a slight connection to these people when you go out amongest their grave sites.   I could spend a whole mission doing this.

Helping Anne find her genealogy

Sunday November 6, 2011 trip to Dubbo
 
2:15 pm– leave Orange for Dubbo

2:25 pm  pick up a hitch hiker, you could smell the tobacco on him. I told Elder Tietjen that if he gets shot in the head, well, then?    He just said "then you know how to get me to the hospital."    

This man was going to Warren. That is past Dubbo farther up NW. His name is Pau. He grew up in Warren and still lives and works there.

He seemed to be quite a nice fella. I am sure he was an Aborigine.

4:10 pm we dropped him off at Dubbo out on the Highway so he could try to get another ride up to Warren. He seemed to really appreciate the ride, especially since it was raining.

4:15 pm we made a pit stop at our summer cabin and then

4:30 pm we went to visit Anne to give her the genealogy that we found of her family.    (Denise helped me find it on their Ancestry and their many computer monitors.)  

When we got there, Anne was cutting out some photos of her grand daughter to make a couple of scrapbook pages for her.    She was in tears.    She apologized and said that she was emotional from the photos.

She talked for some time before we were able to talk genealogy.    I finally handed her the information that I had found.

She was totally thrilled.    She had never seen so much information in her life on her family.    She is seriously thinking of going to see her Uncle this week  for a 2 week long visit.    Now I feel like that is a miracle on the timing.    Because he will be able to give her more information now that she has as much as she has.    Maybe start gathering records from other family members.   She is very much interested right now to start finding her genealogy. 

Wow, she loved visiting and she talked and talked and talked.

Elder Tietjen got a phone call and he went to answer it.

Finally she got a phone call.   So Elder Tietjen told me that the phone call was LiLi cancelling our visit tonight because she has to go babysit and will not be home.

It was after 6 pm now and I was getting stressed wondering how we were going to get away, she was enjoying talking so much.    But now we did not need too so we just sat back and relaxed and enjoyed the rest of our visit.

She had made a remark that she could not get her new ink cartridges into her printer.    So Elder Tietjen taught her how to do that.     She was so grateful.

I still don't know her whole story.    As far as we know, her husband was a member. But she had found a letter that she showed us from some missionaries and it dated back to 1979.    She just loved the missionaries coming whether they were couples or single Elders.     And they had many through the years.  But as far as we know she is not a member.

As long as she is willing to let us come we will keep coming and hopfully help her into the gospel.     Her husband was paralized for many years before his death, so he probably did not go to church. 

7:50 pm we left Annes home and went back to our apartment

We got dinner of split pea soup, pear, and banana. Mmmm  banana. (the price is down to $5.99 per kilo)

Monday we head to Forbes to see Doris Polambo in the assisted living center. 

Doing genealogy

Just about every week we got to the Doyle's for a genealogy lesson, or search some ancestor.    Brother Doyle thinks I should send this picture to let you know that I will not be able to do genealogy again without this set up.   What do you think?

Teaching Winston

We went to Winston's tonight  Thur. Nov 3, to give them a gosepl lesson. Elder Tietjen said it was teach only.   So we got ourselves some dinner.    We were not very hungry so I just fixed a half of a sandwich for each and the last of the left over fruit salad that we have been having all week.
I then made some popcorn for our snack when we got home.
We went to Winston's to give the family the lesson.    Winston was out in the back yard.    The aroma of steak was in the air.    I looked at Elder Tietjen and said "smells like steaks".
We were welcomed into the house and Winston came in and said he did a barbeque for us. "Oh, no".     Elder Tietjen said "mmm yum".
Winston always stays outside doing the barbeque while we are giving the kids and Lee the lesson.    They seem to be real receptive and have questions. They seem to like what we are telling them. We challenged them to come to church. They said they would. Last Sunday, only Winston came.
After the lesson, again Winston dished up the plates.
On each plate was 1 large steak, 1 lg piece of chicken, 2 long skewers packed with chicken pieces, 2 Prawns, (have attached a picture), and a scoop each of the following: lettuce salad, macaroni salad, pickled beets, and corn. This time while Winston was still dishing up I told Elder Tietjen to quickly take one plate full back and bring an empty plate because we would share. No way was I going to force myself this time. Especially since we had just eaten.
I ate 1 skewer of the chicken (delicious) some macaroni salad, lettuce salad, 1 slice of beet, and a couple bites of corn. I was done. Elder Tietjen tried a Prawn, but no way was I going to be that brave. I was stuffed. Later he said he did not like it.
Winston kept telling me to go get more that there was plenty. No way. Uhg. When Elder Tietjen said he could not eat any more, leaving the steak, chicken and 1 prawn, Winston said he would have to call the police. He was just joking. He is Tongan and Lee says she has never seen any people ever that can eat like those Tongan's.
So much for my snack of popcorn. Tomorrow maybe.

Our "First Time" Day

Tuesday October 18, 2011                　
Today we will label as our "First Time Day". This was our first day for a lot of things.
I got up and fixed a lunch for our "First Time Day" . Why do I call it a "First Time Day"?    Because it was a first time for many things today.

First of all I will start off by telling you about this really nice elderly gentleman in our Orange Branch. He is really devoted to the church. I would guess he is in his 90's. Norman Aukland lives in an assisted living center. He comes to church every Sunday with the assistance of the Branch President picking him up and taking him back home. He is very hard of hearing and can’t see details enough to show him a picture, but he still comes.    Every Sunday he is faithfully there in the chapel seat.   

He asked us one day if we would come and visit him.    He is lonely and I think only has 1 daughter that comes to visit him.    The sisters were telling us that it was a long time that his daughter didn’t even come.    He was very sad.    So we go visit him every Sunday now.

When we first went into his tiny little mentholated smelling room, the walls were covered with large photographs of trains. Very old steam trains.   Elder Tietjen asked him about them and he told us that his life’s occupation was working with trains.    His main job was the switching of the tracks or switchman.     We talked trains a lot that day.     We asked if he would like to take us to the railway station and show us around.    He lit up.     The next time we came to visit he said he had a better idea about the railway visit.    He wanted us to take a little trip on the train to Dubbo.     And he would come too.
Monday Oct 10we took Norman Aukland to the Railway Station to have him show us around the station.    He knew it all and seemed pleased to be showing it to us.    We were there to see 2 trains come in and go out.    He wanted us to buy tickets.    He said he had a pass to get on the train for free.     We went in to check on the tickets.     It turned out that his pass had expired back in 2008. But the station man asked if he had a pension card.    He did, and could get his ticket for $2.50.    We had planned on going on Tuesday Oct 18 but it turned out that he could only use his card 7 days before the event.  Since this was Monday Elder Tietjen had to come back the next day on Tues Oct 11 to get the tickets.     It cost us each $45 round trip for our tickets.Norm still has a very sharp mind.    It is just hard to visit with him because he can’t hear too good.  You have to get up to his right ear and talk very loud.    On Sunday he reminded us of the train trip to be on Tuesday at half past 11.     I think he was really excited.    Almost as excited as Elder Tietjen.
So Tuesday Oct 18 finally came.    I fixed a large sack lunch of sandwiches and the normal junk foods for trips.    We then went to pick Norman up.    He was ready and waiting in the foyer.
We drove to the station and waited for the train to come.    11:50 am we boarded the train.
This was a "First Time" for Elder Tietjen to ever in his life ride on a train.
We were assigned 2 seats together and then 1 seat across the isle.    The train was pretty packed because a school group of kids were going on an field trip to the Dubbo Zoo.    That same zoo that we saw the $46 a ticket per adult zoo.    Elder Tietjen sat with Brother Aukland because there was a lady that needed to sit there.    So we had her sit by me.

We visited and I showed her my family photos.    She kept saying that I was so blessed to have such a wonderful family.   

At one moment, and I still can’t believe that it was at that very moment, that I looked out the window. The track was built up and down below on my side the ground had a flat trail running along side of it. And right at that moment, there was a kangaroo running along the trail going the same direction as the train.   I could not hardly believe it that I got to see another kangaroo and so close.    The train moved faster than the kangaroo could run and therefore we over took it in no time.   I could not get my camera out fast enough to snap a shot at it.

The lady rode for 1 hr and got off at Wellington.    Then a man had to sit by me.    He was a young man probably in his 30's.    He was black and very nice looking.    Elder Tietjen introduced himself and because of "our" accents he asked where we came from.     After telling him we came from America he asked the popular question of why were we here.      (Now isn’t that suppose to be our question as a missionary?) We told him we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.    He said he had seen several other missionaries walking around.    Then the lady in front of Elder Tietjen turned around and said, "No you probably saw Jehovah Witness Missionaries, there are a lot of them".     Elder Tietjen commented that there were probably a few of them around too.    And she let him know that she was a Jehovah Witness and there were a LOT of them.     The man then started to ask me questions about the church.       As the lady was talking to Elder Tietjen so I was on my own.  I could not answer all of his questions.     I was telling him about Joseph Smith and he asked how do you know his story is legitimate and not just some other fairy tale.    The train then stopped.    I gave him a pass along card that gave the mormon.org web site. He went away acting like he wasn’t too sure of me.     I felt like a real failure as a missionary.
Hopefully he will go to the website and read more.     I also gave him our card with our name and address and phone on it.
So this Day was:

A "First Time" ever in his life that Elder Tietjen got to ride on a real life size train.

A "First Time" ever that I got to see a Kangaroo running along side a train.

A "First Time" ever for me to talk the gospel to someone all alone.

A "First Time" for Elder Tietjen to talk to a Jehovah Witness and she did not want to hear about the Book of Mormon. The Bible is all there is.

Now the train ride was something else especially for here in Australia.   It was smooth and straight.   shocking huh?    Elder Tietjen was amazed at how smooth a train could feel.    He always imagined that they would be very bumpy and go clank clank as it went over the rails.     It was a very enjoyable and relaxing trip. (Except when I was put on the spot).

We rode to Dubbo, sat in the station for 15 minutes and then boarded the train and came home to Orange.    Dubbo was the end of the route as far as this train goes.    They push a lever at the bottom of the seats and turn them around backwards.    The engine that was pulled is now the lead engine.    Very cleaver.    On the way home the train was almost empty.    Very very relaxing.

Brother Aukland said this will not be our last ride. I hope not. It was a total of 4 hrs for the round trip.

As I walked him towards the home, those that saw him coming asked him about his train ride.    Everyone seemed to know about it.    The manager lady of the place walked by and said to me "thanks for doing that for him".    That made the day complete.
Now most of you have been told the typical missionary story like the following. "Overeating."

5:40 pm -To top off our wonderfully ecstatic day, we had our "First Time" barbeque with W........., L...... and kids.     We gave them a short missionary lesson first and then Winston dished up the plates and oh, my goodness.     Each of our plates had two pieces of chicken, a steak, a huge sausage, a scoop of cooked veggies, and a scoop of fresh veggie salad. Which consisted of large chunks of fresh onions, green and red peppers, whole peas, corn and avocados. Before we hardly even got started, he was offering us more. They were all finished eating before our plates even looked like we had started on them. And he kept offering us more. I did not see him go back for seconds. I ate almost all of it. But if you know me very well, I will probably go into Uric Acid shock tonight along with onion breath. He wants to have another barbeque again this Saturday out at the Lake. I will be sure to dish my own plate up.
We played 2 rounds of Phase 10 and then said we had to go home.     It was 8 pm and there is school for the kids tomorrow.     We both went home to explode.

All in a Days work

Friday Oct 14, 2011

Every morning now for a few weeks, across our front room carpet, we have seen shiny shimmery slivers of what looks like threads of Saran plastic Wrap.    But when you go to pick it up, it disintegrates to the touch of your fingers.    What in the world is this we thought?    We could see it strung across the room and back and forth and around here and around there.    Under the table over by the couch.    Some places had bigger spots rather than just thread like shimmers.   I looked it up on the internet as having shiny streaks on carpet and all I could find is some articles about Slugs. Slugs? I thought.    Where in the world would a Slug come from?    The lines went straight to the corner of the sliding glass door. Well, not really straight, but they made their way back to the corner. "We would rub them away each day and each morning they would come from the same corner. OOOO, a slug in the house?,    oooooo gross.    We hunted and hunted everywhere not being able to find any critters that might be making them.
Last night I told Elder Tietjen that we should sleep on the couch in the living room to see if we could see the slug ball going on.   He just laughed and we went to bed.
Today we stayed home most of the day.   We had scheduled 4:00 pm to go to W.........'s home and teach our 1^st lesson to the family.
We studied and got pictures and such all ready for the lesson.
We did get a shopping list together and went to town for car parts and a lot of groceries.   We were out of a lot of things.   We shopped Woolsworth's today.    I don't know any of the grocery stores well enough yet to find things and so it takes so long.    Elder Tietjen  gets so worn out shopping at a grocery store.    I don't like going shopping with other people.   I like to take my own time trying to find things and not boring others.   But he is enduring.
We then came home and had some lunch and Elder Tietjen fell asleep on the floor.   With the slug? Oooooo.
I studied and got more pictures ready for my lesson that I will be teaching Monday evening at Lisa's home with her 4 yr old Rhys.
At 2:30 Elder Tietjen took our car into a car dealer repair place just down across the street a ways to get it inspected.   We are suppose to have it inspected before we can get the final registration for it.   We have been fearing that because the cover over the air bag is curled up that we may have to have that replaced and it may cost us a lot.    It was to take the man about 45 min to do the inspection.    Elder Tietjen walked home and again fell asleep.    I don't mind, it gives me more time to study at my speed.
W......... called and cancelled our night together.    After teaching the lesson we were going to have a barbeque with them.    He said that L..... was not feeling well.    I don't think I would feel well either with expecting Twins in December and so overly over weight.
So we spent the rest of the day organizing our lessons and visual aids.   At least me, Elder Tietjen was still asleep.    Elder Tietjen will be teaching Lu, Li Li and Halery on Sunday nights and then at Tasha's home on Monday nights.
Elder Tietjen was awaken with some strange message on his phone that we could not figure out.   Something about covering the Payneham and weather permitting will uncover at 9 am.   Well, I do think they got the wrong number.    I looked up Payneham and it is a town.   So I have no idea what that was about.  It was now 4:15 pm. He commented that the guy had not called about the car being done, so at 4:30 pm he finally got up and walked over to the place.    The guy said he was just about to call him.    Whew, the air bags passed.    But we do have to replace the rubber bushings that hold the sway bar in place.    That will cost about $200.    Charles where are you when we need you?
We then spent more time on our lessons and pictures until 9:30 pm.
We decide to rest and take a break by watching a movie.   I know we should have gone to bed right?    We watch "The Inheritance".    Thanks to Wayne he put  a whole bunch of movies onto my external hard drive.    We did not know what this one was so we decided to watch it.
We slid the couch up to the desk and played the movie on my little tiny lap top.   For some reason Elder Tietjen's computer will not play the movies.    So we endure with my little one.    I don't mind it so much.    We are close enough that it is like sitting in the back at the movies.    Well, maybe, not, but it isn't too bad.

It was a very enjoyable movie.     It got over around 11:30pm  and as I was gathering my blanket up off of me, I happened to look down at the floor.    In the dimly lit room, from porch and computer light only, I could see a little dark spot on the floor under the chair that I had my legs resting upon.   It kind of looked like a cat had come and done it's thing.    Since we don't have a cat and I knew there was no dark spot under my chair before, I reached down and touched it. OOOOOOOO, it was so slimy.    I grabbed my hand away and told Elder Tietjen to hurry and turn on the lights.    He did.   

Oh, my goodness,right  there was our party animal, the SLUG.    AND I TOUCHED IT!!! Gross.    Was he big or was he big.   They grow things BIG here in Australia.    Remember the mushroom that was about 8 or 9 in across.    Well this thing was about 3 in. long.    I told Elder Tietjen to hurry and get a napkin or paper towel.    He did.    I was thinking "down the toilet this critter is going" but I did not say it out loud.  Elder Tietjen can't even kill a spider so I knew he could not drown a slug.    He gathered it up and took it outside someplace.    He said clear across someplace to throw it into the grass.    Well, we have no grass at our apartment so I don't know where he took it.    But at least it is finally out of our house. Good riddance. Ooo shudder shudder.

All's well that ends well

October 5th-9th trip to Dubbo, Cobar, Gilgandra, Mumbil

The birds are HUGE here.    That Ewu that we saw could probably carry you away.

We got to see many Emus on the way from Cobar to Gilgandra but we were whizzing by to fast to get a good picture.   Plus it was cloudy and rainy.  They are huge birds.  

We also got to see a large turtle crossing the road and what we thought maybe was a Wombat waddling across the road just ahead of us http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wombat

but someone told us that since it was waddling it was probably a Echidna  http://australian-animals.net/echidna.htm   What ever it was, we saw it waddling into the grass along the side of the road before we got to it.     We were just glad we didn't hit it.

Motel in Gilgandra that we stayed at

This is the cabin we got to stay over night in at Gilgandra.  There are about 36 cabins at this motel. 

 The Dubbo Branch President and his wife (from Utah) owns it.  

Even though there are so many cabins we still had to share our room with another guest. Economical, right?

We will be coming here to their motel for Thanksgiving.   They have a big dinning room for their motel guests to eat at.    The guests let them know what time they want breakfast or dinner and they are served there in the big dinning room.    We are excited since Australia does not celebrate Thanksgiving.    But the wife is from Utah and she likes to celebrate still so we are having a real Thanksgiving dinner.   

Our apartment in Dubbo

Here is our set up.   There is no central heating in homes or apartments so we moved into this one room.  

Ate, computered and slept right here on the floor with one heater and the door closed. 

The lovely roads of Australia's Outback (it seems like it)

Here is the type of roads we travel on a lot.   

I just figured out a good way to describe these roads here in Australia.  

Remember in the 1st "Cars" movie.   Lightning McQueen had to pave the road that he messed up.  

Do you remember how he did it the first time?   

Madder went riding down it bbbbooooooooooouncyinnnng aaalll tthhhe wwwaay.  

Well, that's the country roads here in every direction  the second you leave Orange.    And these are just the main roads.   Get off the main roads and they are dirt.     

 

All the roads are lined with trees, even the main roads.   You have to look close to see the country side through opening in the trees.     

Here is one of those times.

It was raining hard and we were driving so the picture is a little blurred in front but you can see how flat it is on this trip. 

Now does this look scary or does this look scary?   Cars coming at you on the right side of the road. 

Let me tell you from experience.   It is scary.  

And that truck up in front of us took up 2 lanes.   All the cars coming towards us had to pull clear off of the road.   Many places there are not sides of the road to pull off onto.    So a police car with lights flashing goes ahead to warn people so they can find a place to get off.    

There is a lot of mining that goes on here and so I assume that this is some kind of mining equiptment.

We are starting to get comfortable with the driving now.   But  like wild animals, our instincts kick in and we find ourselves making  mistakes.   Going to the wrong side of the car to get in.    Reaching for the break on the left side, now the passengers seat, when it is not there.    Not looking to the right before taking out.   NOW THAT WAS REALLY SCARY ONCE.    And those "Give Way" signs?    I yell stop at every one of them now when Elder Tietjen is driving.   We went through one of those one to many times.   We had cars honking at us coming from both directions.       We have learned to not get to comfortable as we drive. 

YET!!!

We met lots of nice people and made new friends.   We also got home safe in our apartment in Orange without any exciting episodes.