Greetings from Australia!

May, June, July

You would think that with our COVID-19 restrictions we would have a lot of time to write, but since our activities have been restricted, we have not had a lot to comment on. We are conducting most of our work electronically using ZOOM, email, and texts. We are doing all we can to keep up the spirits of our members and minister to their needs while contributing to the Lord’s work in Australia.

So, what have we been doing? Elwood continues to hold presidency meetings and now that we have recently (as of July 26) been allowed to hold sacrament meetings have met with the groups in Armidale and Inverell. It is wonderful to be together again, but we are not supposed to socialize before or after and there must be social distancing as well. This is a challenge, especially with the Inverell group who always held a potluck and social time after church each week. Before the 26^th of July we continued to take the sacrament to various members who did not have a priesthood holder in their home. We have been instructed not to visit members or non-members in their homes unless we have an invitation.

Community service has begun again. We are now volunteering at an animal league thrift store. We are meeting a number of new people and hope to have the opportunity to teach some of them about the restored gospel. The work is pretty basic. Elwood has won the praise of the director for his sorting skills and I am quite talented in pricing items, attaching labels to donated items and placing them on hangers.

We celebrated our anniversary by taking a trip to the outback. The Lightning Ridge/Walgett area is known for black opal mining and a large aboriginal community. We toured an opal mine and viewed small digs undertaken by individual treasure hunters. Aboriginal centers and museums were gathering places for members of the local tribes with small sections for exhibits. We did talk to some interesting “old timers”, who are probably younger than we are. They recommended we read two books that so far we have not been able to locate: Goodbye Riverbank by Cilka Zagar and Dark Emu by Bruce Pascagoula.

Zone meetings have begun again which requires us to drive the six hours into Sydney and we enjoy the change of pace. The conferences have been inspiring and we have enjoyed spending time with the young missionaries as we have none in our area. Mingling with the other senior couples has been invigorating as we have gone out to dinner together.

We continue hiking in the beautiful areas near where we live in Armidale observing kangaroos that we imagine cheering us on our way.

Branch Presidency

Armidale Branch 

Hiking Pictures

Coff's Harbour

Zone conference in Sydney

Sydney Temple 

Helen Uguchukwu and Emmanuel

Double baby shower in Inverell

Church in Inverell

Aboriginal cemetary outside Lightning Ridge in the outback

Trip to the outback

Lightning Ridge and Walgett - Opal mines, aboriginal tree carvings, aboriginal cultural center, carvings inside an opal mine

March/April 2020

March

Before the Coronavirus hit Australia, we enjoyed a quick trip to Coff’s Harbour. Elwood had a doctor’s appointment and so we decided to make it a fun trip. We stayed at the Opal Cove Resort and had a perfect view of the ocean. Walking on the beach we met a crusty old fisherman (Elwood said he was probably younger than us) who handed me his fish to examine.

One amazing experience, on March 2nd, was the birth of the Ugochukwu’s baby. We were with Helen at the hospital because her husband had just started a new job and was not able to be there. Penny was there for the miracle of Emmanuel’s birth. Elwood was excused when labor got intense. Elwood had baptized Helen and Christopher Ugochukwu in February.

We held regular church services through March 12^th. At that point the government and church leaders informed us that we could no longer meet.  We then delivered the sacrament to a number of people who didn’t have priesthood holders in their home, but tried to follow the safety guidelines. One of our favorite people to visit was a sister who lives three hours away and who greatly appreciated our coming. When we were instructed not enter anyone’s home we were no longer able to continue this practice.

All of the young missionaries assigned to Australia and New Zealand were instructed to return to their home countries. However, about 50 were not permitted to return because of their home government restrictions. The senior missionaries have a choice of whether to stay or not. We have elected to remain here as long as we are allowed.

April

Almost all the missionaries have been sent home. There are still 5 or 6 couples here, 20-25 young missionaries as well as the mission president and his wife. We are all confined to quarters except for grocery shopping, trips to the pharmacy and exercising. This is not what we expected on our mission, but then this is an extraordinary time for people all over the world. We are grateful that we and our family are healthy and agonize for those affected by this virus.

We have had two Zoom conferences with our mission president and the missionaries that remain. We communicate electronically with the members of our branch since visits are no longer possible.

One of the blessings we have experienced is living in an area with beautiful mountain trails with waterfalls where we have been able to hike. Armidale, where we live, is located in the Great Dividing Mountains.

Below are pictures from some of our hikes: