A Jolly 'Down Under' Christmas!

Dec. 27, 2019

Ho, ho, ho to all our family & friends~

These past 30 days have truly been most excellent!! We have been to the Perth Temple twice; once during our Senior missionary conference the end of November & then again last week when we flew back to Perth for a Christmas conference with all the missionaries, young & older. It was fantastic to feel the love & energy of the amazing young elders/sisters that are serving here & working so hard to bring other souls to Christ. They are becoming the Lord's converted disciples who  are dedicated to teaching those prepared to receive the message of the restored Gospel. It is wonderful to feel of their love for the Savior & how that impacts their own testimonies & others. We sure love them! 

At the temple our first evening with the missionaries from our district. This was the first time we had met all of them. Elder Yavala is from Fiji; Elder Poxon is from Birmingham, England; Elder Tate & I; Sister Canon from Salt Lake area; Sister  Lyman from Raleigh, N. Carolina; Elder Gardner from Gilbert, AZ; & Elder Peterson from Payson, UT

Several sisters from one of the wards in the Temple district prepared an amazing luncheon for all of us...about 80 at this day's conference. They did another one two days earlier with about the same number of missionaries serving in the Perth area.

After the luncheon we had some fun activities in a nearby park...the kids played football, soccer, had races & games. Santa made a surprise visit & I decided to give him a big kiss...I shocked our young missionaries more than Santa! 

There were six missionaries who had completed their missions & were leaving to go home late that night, so several missionaries who are from Tonga or Samoa honored them by doing the Ha'ka dance. This is the one where they take a firm stance & stomp while shouting out a blessing. It's pretty impressive, even without being in traditional costume & having their faces being tattooed!



Here is our President Bennallack & his wife (on left) & seven of the twelve couples serving in the great Australia Perth mission. We are so happy to be serving with such wonderful, strong senior couples & know they love the Lord & are here because they desire to serve Him...wherever that may be. 

The afternoon was spent singing Christmas carols at a local mall. This, too, was a wonderful experience. Such a simple tradition that we take so much for granted is not common here. We got lots of strange looks; some people tried to give us money while others whipped out their cameras to video cause they had never seen it done before. We had one Jewish lady & her daughter ask if they could join us...which we gladly let them do. They were so excited to post pictures on their FB account so all the Jewish friends could see them singing Christmas songs with young Christian missionaries. She commented that if all Mormon men were as good looking as these were, she might have to reconsider her faith & join the church! We handed out almost 300 invitations to the Dec. 22 Sacrament services that afternoon. It would be very interesting to find out how many of those invitations were actually accepted & if anything comes from that day's joyful singing.

 




While in Perth we received a very thoughtful early Christmas gift from our son, Josh & his girlfriend, Tara. They sent us a gift certificate for a beautiful restaurant downtown Perth overlooking the city skyline & the waterfront. The restaurant revolves 360* so we could see everything & the food was the best we've had thus far. It was so much fun! 

In many ways it's like Elder Tate & I are courting again! We are going places & doing things together that we had dreamed about for so many years & now here we are! There certainly are challenges, but because we are each serving with our best friend & eternal companion, the desire is to help one another become/do our best. We truly are loving our time serving as full-time missionaries in this part of the Lord's vineyard & are so very grateful for the blessings that have come to us & our family members.

It was so nice & cool while we were in Perth. While others complained of the cold weather, a lovely 75*F, we were loving it! We had an unexpected rain storm one afternoon & our Karratha/Port Hedland elders ran outside to do a celebratory dance since we haven't had rain up north in our areas for over four months. I don't think I had seen them all so happy at the same time! All they need is an umbrella & some music & they could have channelled Gene Kelley & 'Singing in the Rain'. 

After three days in Perth, we returned home to blazing hot Karratha. This week's average temperature has been 105*! There's no way we were ever having a winter wonderland for Christmas! However, thanks to our wonderful Elders & branch members in the great Australia Perth mission, Elder Tate & I had a most excellent Christmas experience! 

Many of the branch members, as well as over half the town, leave for other parts of Australia or New Zealand during the long holiday break. There are lots of Kiwi's here (term used for New Zealanders) who have family there, so they load up the kids & take off for a month or so. They are sorely missed, but we are happy they are able to renew those loving family ties & know how challenging it is to be apart. So we baked 12 dozen cookies  & decorated 6 dozen to deliver in a goodie bag to our friends in Karratha before they took off. 

Elders Poxon & Yavala did a great job decorating & actually left a few for Elder Tate to put in the goodie bags.

Christmas morning we went with the Elders to the Salvation Army's church. They have a wonderful breakfast set out for any homeless or lonely to mingle/visit & not be alone. We had a lovely time meeting a dozen new people & Elder Tate actually made a new friend (shocker, I know!) to go fishing with in a couple weeks. After all, missionary work actually is about fishing. 

A couple hours later we returned home to  have our own Christmas morning breakfast of fruit, egg gravy & biscuits (family tradition) which we shared with the Elders & our friend Anwar (from Iraq).  

We opened gifts from each other...Elder Yavala was pretty overcome w/joy when he received a Utah Jazz jersey of his favorite player. Elder Poxon was almost as excited to receive a couple new really, really white dress shirts & a tie bar. Overall, it was a wonderful morning spent with people we truly love. 

Later that afternoon we went to the Dimitrov's for Christmas dinner with all their family... much like ours, there a quite a few of them! There was sooo much delicious food...I think Elder Tate's favorite was the seafood salad made w/fresh fish/shrimp, etc caught by Caleb the day before. It was very good...& Caleb in turn enjoyed the cherry pie we made. They don't do fresh fruit pies here...very strange cause the fruit here is excellent. Expensive, but worth it. It cost me almost $30 to make the 9x13" pie. We almost always make a big potato salad, too cause it's always a popular hit...we never have any leftovers. But, again...the best mayo is almost $11/jar! Crazy!! But worth every penny when we are sharing it with people we love & who love us right back!

We also taught them one of our favorite family games, which they loved...the name game! It will now be shared at all our branch parties. 

Elder Tate loved his gift from Elder Yavala & is ready to go on another mission to Fiji or New Zealand if he can wear the traditional lavalava. Heaven knows it's much cooler! I love mine, too...but it's much more complicated tying it than one would think!

So...even though our first Christmas in Australia was very different than our snowy, wintery cold Idaho Christmas & we missed time spent with our family in our fun celebrations & traditions, it was the same in every way that truly mattered.  We sang the same joyful songs about the Christ child born so many years ago; we feel the same hope that filled the hearts of shepherds as they heard the message of angels; we still seek the same Messiah that the wise men sought; & we still believe in the testimony of prophets who foretold of His coming. 

We testify that Christ is the only begotten of the Father & He is our Savior & Redeemer. We know He loves us & that this is His restored Church. We know He will return in glory & power & pray that we will be ready to receive Him at that great day. 

We are happiest when we are serving others...We love this work and are privileged to be part of the gathering of Israel.  Elder & Sister Tate +61431579372 

A wonderful time of Thanksgiving

December 09, 2019

Hello from sunny Western Australia! It's been a super busy couple of weeks with so many things happening. We've celebrated our first Thanksgiving outside the USofA! Even though we've certainly been missing our holiday traditions of family, food, & fun, we've been making new ones filled with friends, food & fun! Although Thanksgiving is an American holiday, we certainly have much to be grateful for here among these wonderful people & are so blessed to live in safe, comfortable surroundings.

Our new friends put on two lovely Thanksgiving dinners for us...one was planned by a non-member whom we've befriended here at our complex. Her name is Nari & she's the head custodian here. She's 75 yrs. old & such a hard-worker...wonderful lady with so much love for others...one of our member couples are her good friends. Together they put on a real holiday feast w/turkey & dressing (we don't say stuffing here) as well as several other American Thanksgiving dishes, plus ham & some Aussie foods. Then they decorated for Christmas just to cover their bases! A lovely evening of singing Christmas songs, lots of laughter & making new memories. They included our young Elders too & we are hopeful they will soon be teaching Nari & her husband Clinton very soon. Below is Sister Emery & her husband Manuel, Nari & Elder Tate. We are very thankful for good friends.

We left Karratha for Perth to attend a Senior Missionary Conference for several days & had a wonderful time meeting the other nine senior couples serving as MLS(member leader support) missionaries in the Australia Perth mission. We spent one day receiving instruction from Pres. & Sister Bennallack, our mission president & his wife, & two other couples who serve as specialists in Self-Reliance & English. It was an excellent day filled w/so much information...we encourage everyone to go to the Church's website & look at all the classes offered through the Self-Reliance program & become educated as to what is offered. It's really just amazing what can be done in one's own home to get a better job; education; financial security, etc. We are so thankful for this amazing Gospel that provides for our temporal needs as well as our spiritual.

After a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, we all headed next door to the small, but beautiful Perth Temple where we attended a session together. The temple is such a place of peace & comfort...it was a sweet experience considering we haven't been able to attend the temple in over three months because we are serving so far away & most likely won't again for many months. It was also wonderful being with such kind & devoted senior couples who, like us, are so happy to be serving the Lord as full-time missionaries.

It is almost impossible to describe the sweet, yet powerful feelings we have experienced knowing this is exactly where we are supposed to be at this time in our lives. Even though there are times it is difficult to be away from our family, we know the Lord is aware of our concerns. As much as we love them...He loves them even more so will watch over them for us. We are so very thankful for His love & faith in our abilities to serve Him.

The second day of the conference we went to one of the large downtown malls & sang Christmas carols in the large atrium. We had a large #LightheWorld sign & another sign with who we were. There were lots of strange looks...probably because we didn't sound that great...or perhaps because we just stood out amongst the scantily dressed, tattooed holiday shoppers. At first we noticed that the  majority of people just didn't really look very happy so it was sweet when a father & his two little girls stopped & listened...then his girls asked if they could sing with us & joined in the group. Several others stopped & started singing along & one of our sisters handed out candy canes. Soon people were smiling & waving as they watched & took pictures. Hopefully we helped make others feel a little happier & lifted a few spirits.

Afterwards we returned to the chapel by the Perth Temple & decorated/packaged 30 dozen gingerbread & sugar cookies. We enjoyed lots of silly stories, laughter & 'accidents'...just plain breaking cookies as an excuse to nibble. These were boxed up for the different mission districts for all the missionaries to deliver to less actives & investigators in their areas & for themselves.

Later that evening we went to a beautiful old performing center in downtown Perth...His Majesty's Theatre to the ballet, Alice in Wonderland. Yes, you read that right...Elder Tate & all the other missionary brethren took their wives to the ballet. And most of them loved it! The music was fantastic...the costumes were amazing...& the dancing was superb! I will say, however, that the storyline was more than a little bizarre. Lewis Carroll most likely had a word of wisdom problem when he wrote the book, but whoever wrote the storyline for the ballet had to have been institutionalized! We are so thankful for the talents with which the Lord has blessed all His children. They is such beauty in how some have the gift of music; movement & the ability to combine the two.

                                                                        

                                              

We came home for two days then took off again to participate in the Port Hedland Branch Christmas Party. It was quite the production & I think we had enough food to feed an army...a good thing cause they had planned on 40 & there were about 60 that came. The decorations were beautiful, the children had a blast playing games & decorating cookies & the photo area was awesome! So many fun & silly pictures. Here's a few of our faves.

 

                                                      

Here's our Elders...Elder Gardner & Elder Peterson w/Joseph. Joseph loves Christmas & makes us all smile. He was also an amazing Santa...made all the kids laugh.

The photo booth was a huge hit & everyone took advantage of the funny dress up items... especially the kids. The children had fun too!

Our elves on the shelf were cute
as are the Wagner family. Special people...in so many ways!
 

And here's Joseph again w/his buddy, Brother Reedy, who is a counselor in the Branch Presidency. The first conversation I had with him was by text. Elder Tate & I were having a horrible first day in Port Hedland trying to get everything perfect for our initial get together with the YSA & absolutely nothing had gone right.
When things finally came together I was totally frazzled. He asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
I replied..."Do you have any valium or prozac you could sell me?"
"Well, let me see what I can find!" he texted back. "There might be something stronger in the evidence locker."
I had a good chuckle...until I found out he's a police officer then I just about died! We've had a good laugh over that several times since...I've thankfully remained out of jail. :-)

Here's a picture of the only white stuff we'll see here in these parts. It's actually salt that's processed from inland seawater ponds in Port Hedland...there's lots of it. Not sure where it goes...most likely to China like every other mineral around these parts.

So we are home for a few days but will head back this Saturday for a quick trip to Port Hedland for the baptism of Hans...a 14 yr old whom the elders tracted out not quite a month ago. He's an amazing young man & so excited to be a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are so excited for him & know he will be a great influence in his family & in also the Church. We are so thankful for our young missionaries & the dedication they have to the Lord. They are so willing to do hard things & we learn how to be better teachers by following their examples...we sure love them!!

And finally....we are so very thankful for all of you & the love & support you extend to us as we serve far away from our family & home. Our hearts are filled with joy as we keep our hearts & eyes focused on Christ & His Atonement. May you feel of His redeeming love & know He is the Savior & the Redeemer of all mankind, not only during this Christmas season, but throughout the year. God bless you...everyone!   Elder & Sister Tate