Sunday, 15 July 2018

Mon, 9 Jul - We attended the funeral and cemetery service for Tom Anderson, long time friend and husband of Virginia Anderson.  Tom was Scottish and they had a bag piper at the cemetery.  It was a sad day and a happy day - all at the same time.  We were able to be with heaps of old friends and enjoy reminiscing about the past and sharing memories of Tom. We spent the rest of the day with Rhonda Crosbie and then went back to the Jeffree's for a good night's sleep.  Boy was it cold as there was NO heat in the house during bedtime and the temperature got down into the low 40's F.

Tue, 10 Jul - We had a delicious (and large) breakfast cooked by Katie Jeffree.  Then climbed into the car and headed for Grafton.  We did make a short stop by the LDS Distribution centre to pick up some primary supplies for Sister Cave.  We stopped just outside of Coffs Harbour (at Halfway Creek, if you must know) and visited with Barry Ward and his dogs - Honey & Midnight for about an hour before finishing the last hour of driving home.  Ah, it was good to be home.

Wed, 11 Jul -  No seminary this week - hurrah.  We visited with a few of the sisters & husbands in the branch.  Elder Haley went bowling with the Elders Quorum and young men - a way to get the two generations to have some fun together.  We did have heaps of fun, ate pizza and rolled the ball down the lanes a bit (and sometimes in the gutter).  No world records in the bowling world were set tonight at the Grafton 10 Pins place.

Thu, 12 Jul - We worked at Family History this morning.  Then ran more errands and Sister Haley worked on her pillow dress for the Relief Society activity.  Elder Haley worked on the lock on the front door of the meetinghouse - to no avail, so we have to get a new lock installed.  We also met with the seminary teacher some more and did some final planning on our trip to the Brisbane temple this coming Monday. Normally the Temple is not open on Monday, but it will be this coming monday for some of the young missionaries, so we are taking Sister Kerry Arthur up so she can be sealed to her parents.  Her sensitivity to magnetic waves and radio waves means that special consideration has to be made by the temple so she can be an environment that is as "safe" as possible for her.  Bless the temple President and staff who are doing this for her.

Fri, 13 Jul - It was not such a bad day, for Friday the 13th.  😨😱😁 We met with the seminary teacher to see if she could use Skype in the meetinghouse, but it was just way too much electromagnetic & RF for her - so back to the drawing boards.  We then played taxi driver for one of the younger members of the branch.  He bought us double Big Macs which ended up being a life saver as we had no time for dinner before meeting some others at the meetinghouse for the weekly cleaning.  Then we popped in at the Normans for a few minutes to visit with Ex-Elder Ta'ala who came back from NZ for a short visit, after completing his mission

Sat, 14 Jul - We went over in the morning to help fix a vacuum at one of the sister's homes.  Than home for lunch before the start of Branch Conference training meetings.  Branch Presidency training from 230 to 4pm.  Then Auxiliary & quorum leader training until 530 pm.  Then Pizza - hurrah.  The final meeting was on Family History and it was quite instructive on how to learn the history part of finding family names.  The class was presented by President & Sister Denley and was quite good.

Sun, 15 Jul - Branch conference Sunday.  We held all 3 hours of meetings in the chapel as one combined group (men & women).  The talks and instruction were good. The talks in the sacrament meeting portion were instructive and uplifting.  We had a potluck luncheon afterward which was also enjoyable.  Then home for a few hours before going to sleep, as Monday will start early - it is our day to drive to the Brisbane Temple with Kerry Arthur.

Katie Jeffree - one of our Aussie daughters

Elder Haley in the Jeffree family room

Mike & Paulette Phillips

The fearsome, foursome - Rhonda Wakeley, Helen Jeffree, Rhonda Crosbie, Sister Haley

Tom Anderson memorabilia.  Note the army medal and scottish tartan

Tom Anderson and some of his professional soccer photos

Virginia Anderson, Daemon, Sarah & Dennis Phillips with his back to the camera

Sister Margaret Haley & Paulette Phillips

Dennis Phillips and Elder Haley

Ambika Phillips, daughter of Luke Phillips

Charlotte Jeffree and Ambika

Katie and Tallulah

Tallulah, French bull dog

Grafton Branch Elder's and young men bowling team.

Pearce, Karl, Clive, Tom, Peter, Dave, Richard

Are we good looking or what?

The infamous lock (upper deadbolt portion) that will need to be replaced.  Oops,it started working and will not be replaced at the moment.

Margaret & Emma Helen Norman - with her wardrobe (sure looks like she is a girl, huh?  More clothes  than she could ever wear.)

Are we done yet?  I am getting bored and hungry.

Peanut butter & Chocolate Shard.  The swirls are made when the dark chocolate is poured on top of the peanut butter/white chocolate mixture.  Then the dark chocolate is swirled with a knife to give the fancy, swirl look.  Way to go, Sister Haley.  This dessert is for the branch luncheon.

Relief Society is continuing with the "fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" theme in August.  What do you have that could be used again or in a different way.  Sister Haley where are the pillow case dresses???????