A Chinese New Year Celebration...year of the Ox!

 February 14, 2021

Hello, dear friends & family! Although it's passed, we sent you our love on Valentine's Day as well as happy greetings for the Chinese New Year...the year of the Ox! I've wondered at times who decided what animal gets assigned to the new year & why? I'll share a bit of that later on in the blog. But for now...

Meet our new friends! We have eight gentleman Bishop Papasin introduced us to who are here working in the goldfields as engineers. They are all very intelligent & hard working guys who are sacrificing so much to provide a better way of life for their families back in China. They're working here for several years & will only be able to return home maybe once a year...depending on Covid, of course. They are away from their wives/children & we can only imagine the challenge this will be for them. It's been hard serving so far from our loved ones, but I can't even imagine being gone from my home for that length of time w/out regular visits/time w/my family. 

They are delightful men who are excited to learn & improve their English language skills & hang out w/us. We are very hopeful that through the English lessons, which includes listening & reading assignments from Preach My Gospel, they will want to learn more about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. So far, they have been very positive & have come to church a couple of times. The challenge is in their listening/conversation skills, but with continued effort & mingling w/members at our activities, we know their understanding will increase & they will receive great blessings from the Lord.

Here we are at our Ward Valentine's Dance & what a sweet evening it was! The food was delicious, the music energized & fun, the decorations sweet & the company excellent! We had a lovely evening w/some wonderful people. It was nice to be able to dance w/my companion...haven't done that in awhile! 

This is little Jeremiah & his mum, Camilla. He had a great time being her escort... she didn't do much dancing, but he gave her a run for her money! Camilla is a single mom who lives w/her parents, younger brother & sister. The Riquelme's are an amazing family from Chile & some of our favorite people here in Kalgoorlie! 

We have a new Bishopric! They are great brethren...all returned missionaries who love serving & young w/lots of energy! Bishop Sheck's family are our new 'Murder marble game' experts & will take on anyone! We love them sooo much! Their family inspires us to be better & try harder when it comes to prayer, living the gospel intentionally, studying the scriptures & applying them to our personal lives. 

One of the counselors is 24 & the other is 26, so we are very excited to work w/them. 

Our new EQ Pres is Brother Mortley, who is very energized towards missionary work. His family are like our own & it will be hard to say goodbye when the times comes. He's a prison administrator & he/his wife Melissa are the ones who introduced Josh/CeCe to the Church & are currently working w/another young couple, so we know great things will be happening here very soon.

We're back to second hour meetings! Woohoo!! I know most of you in the States cannot even meet every Sunday, so I apologize for the happy dance. But when one considers how many members there are back home, we'll take our little gathering of Saints & the blessings of being able to assemble together with great celebration. Last Sunday we had almost 160 people in attendance...that's pretty dang awesome!

Bishop Papasin & his wife Saylee are leaving Kal & moving to Perth in the next few weeks. They have a RM son at university in Perth & another one serving in our mission. They will be sorely missed! She makes the most delicious spring rolls & he has been very influential w/bringing others unto Christ, especially in his workplace. He's never shy about sharing the Gospel w/everyone, so far in the 7 months we've been here we've met 10-12 people he's brought to church/activities. They will be missed! 

On Sunday, Valentine's Day, our Chinese friends invited us to celebrate the New Year with them & cooked us up a feast! No kidding...it was incredible & totally authentic. Come to find out, Mr. Huong, who they call boss man, is a PhD chemist & also quite a chef. We had a fantastic time gathered around a big table sharing great food, funny stories, many toasts (w/juice) & learning more about the Chinese culture & traditions. It was a fantastic evening spent w/some wonderful new friends. Here Elder van der Linden is teaching Bibo about missionary work...what we do, why, etc. His English is probably better than most & he's a Christian, which is rare in China. He had lots of questions & we are hopeful he will be starting the missionary lessons soon. The other one looking at the phone w/Elder Tate is James. He loves to fish, so the two of them had lots to talk about & he's looking at pictures of Randy's last fishing trip to Canada.

His wife & two children will be here in just a few weeks. He is so excited for them to arrive & has been busy preparing a home to welcome them here. We will be going over this week to help him get things set up & organized w/a welcome sign & house warming gifts. There are three member families that live close by w/children who attend the same school & they are looking forward to becoming friends w/this young family. We know the Lord is preparing James to receive the gospel message & we are so looking forward to that day! 

 

Here we have Jordan, in red & Ethan assisting Mr. Huong in food preparation. 

Here are the finished dishes! Not only were they lovely to look at & smelled divine, they tasted fantastic! Mr. Huong did himself proud & was so very happy the way everything turned out. I think he might have imbibed a bit in the kitchen while prepping. Here we are gathered around the table ready to partake. They loved giving toasts & offered one every five minutes to our friendship, our health, our success & to romance! Considering none of their wives are around, I can understand their well wishes to us!  

Around the table left to right: Eason, Bibo, an excited Mr. Huong, Huabio, Jordan, Ethan, Liang, James. 

Our Ghanian sister, Nawal, wanted us to meet her friend, Peggy, from South Africa. Nawal was hoping her friend would let us volunteer to help out in the deli/store for a few hours a week as she works it all by herself. She is a staunch Jehovah's Witness, & unfortunately, she thought we were there to try to convert her on the spot, so she wasn't overly friendly, nor did she take us up on our offer to help. Nawal will clear the misunderstanding up & hopefully we can give her a hand a few hours a week.

We went up to Mr. Charlotte to see what we could see...as it was, not much! It's only maybe a few hundred feet higher than the rest of Kal, but holds much of the fresh water supply for the town. It is piped in from a large aquifer a thousand kilometers away. While investigating we noticed a group of people below...it was Nawal & Alison w/their kids, on an outing to burn off some energy...(not the mum's...the littles).

Here's two of the hoodlims, minus a few front teeth! They are best buds & were pretty excited when they lost their teeth at the same time. We got a good laugh at their expense.  

So, back to the Chinese New Year...the year of the Ox. What does that mean? Without going into too much detail, in Chinese zodiac tradition, there are 12 animals & the year you were born determines which animal you fall under & the characteristics/traits you possess. It's actually quite interesting, but you'll have to Google it as there's too many years & info to post on here. According to this tradition, those born under the Ox possess strength, are honest, hardworking, kind, humble, logical & faithful...they also make great leaders. 

Even if we don't believe in these traditions, these are all wonderful traits to seek after. In Preach My Gospel, chapter six...we learn more about our Savior & the character traits he possesses. We are encouraged by our leaders & by the promptings of the Holy Ghost to learn of our weaknesses that they may be made strong; to honestly seek after those qualities that bring us closer to the Lord. By keeping our focus on the Savior & striving to emulate Him in every aspect of our lives, we can all gain/improve upon these attributes, as well as many others. 

As we continue on our journey as full-time missionaries, we are constantly reminded of the need for humility & increased kindness. Quincy Sheck is a 10 yr. old boy (Bishop's son) & he carries a notebook w/him all the time so he can record impressions & important lessons he learns throughout his day/week. He recorded an observation which made an impact on him & wanted to share it w/all of us during our last Fast Sunday. His message was one that Christ often taught...do not judge others. I loved his earnest & sincere words & the calm, sweet manner in which he shared them. 

I know this past year has been tough on everyone & we have often jumped to conclusions, made snap judgments & maybe even said or thought unkind things about others. Let us try to follow the example of this young boy & strive to be more Christlike & see everyone as a beloved child of God. If we could do this a little better everyday, imagine the change that could be wrought in the world.

May you all be safe & find joy in your journeys! We love & pray for you, our sweet family & dear friends & trust in the Lord's tender care. Thank you for your continued support, prayers & kind words...they mean the world to us! We love you all.  

Hurrah for Israel!!  Elder & Sister Tate

Fires, floods & covid...oh, my!!

February 6, 2021

The past couple of weeks have been quite the rollercoaster ride for the people of Western Australia! We've been very protected & safe here & still are for the most part, but lately things have gotten a bit more like everywhere else. 

Last Sunday evening Perth went into lockdown when it was discovered that a hotel worker...one person, tested positive for C19. Yep...you read that right, one person & we went into lockdown! All church meetings/activities were cancelled until further notice. Lucky for us, that ban was lifted as we are in the middle of nowhere & the infected guy had no contact with anyone coming our way.  As of now, there have been no new cases reported & all the contacts of this one person have come back negative, so hopefully things related to C19 will probably return to 'normal' by the weekend. But we did get face masks...just in case.  

In other news, fires started about 18.miles east of Perth in areas w/beautiful vineyards & rolling hills covered w/trees & bush. The fires spread very quickly as the deep valleys create their own weather patterns with high winds that make fighting the fires very difficult. So far, over 80 homes have been lost & about 60K acres.  You can barely see the outline of the skyscrapers below in these hazy photos.

So while fires are burning out of control east of Perth, we went to bed Tuesday night to the sound of pouring rain & howling wind. It was still going strong Wednesday morning & outside our driveway there were rivers of red water, tree limbs & debris floating down the sides of the road to who knows where?

These pictures were taken by a member in our ward as they drove their kids to school. The red lake is actually an open park type area off one of the main roads. 

We have a little Toyota Corolla so didn't go out anywhere...we know with sudden flash floods/high water, cars stall out. Later on in the day we saw several on the sides of roads & being towed away. By the end of the day the water was pretty much gone & completely filled the large local reservoirs. And yes...the dirt is that red everywhere you look around here! 

For those who remember our driving back & forth from Karratha to Perth, here is a picture of just one section of the only main road. Another cyclone passed through the area & the results were pretty devastating with a hundred or so miles of destroyed road. The truck you see here is only one of dozens stranded along the road carrying food & provisions to numerous out of the way towns. Our friends in Karratha say they are all good & didn't have this kind of flooding, so we are grateful for that. The prices for food/fuel will be going way up though.

Birthday cake for Detroyt TePuke...his wife Nawal & their three very energetic boys; #1 baby reveal party for Josh & CeCe Katane...their little princess is coming the end of June! We are sooo sad cause we will be leaving to come home before she arrives &  a few months before they are sealed in the Temple. 

This past week we had a Pacific Conference Tour w/the Pacific Area Presidency, which includes Elder Nattress from Fruitland, Idaho. Elder Yamashita & his wife gave us great counsel over three days on how to 'open our mouths' & help share the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ w/our neighbors/friends/strangers. They had infectious spirits & were so very joyful to be among all of us...even if it was just on Zoom.

Sister Yamashita had a sweet sense of humor & attempted to teach all of us how to do a piece of origami. It was comical to watch the looks & confusion on all of our faces as we tried to understand her accent & follow her directions. She was very emphatic that we must listen & do what she said w/exactness to be successful. It wasn't as easy as it sounded to make the folds, creases & lines as close to perfect as possible. When we saw the results by those who had trouble following her directions because of her accent, or because it was hard to see what exactly was being done, or because someone just didn't listen/follow well...their origami creation was less than ideal. For those who managed to follow her instructions w/exactness (or as much as possible) their origami 'mouths' worked as desired & were fun to see. Everyone else learned a valuable lesson & had a good laugh at the silly things we made. You can see in ours that in one the lips are together & in the other the mouth is open...Glad we didn't receive a grade for it!

So what did we learn from this exercise? Well, a few things...it takes patience, time, practice & obedience in order to successfully share the gospel. It isn't hard, but it does require attention to details. Kindness, sincerity, good listening skills, asking pertinent questions & listening to the Spirit are a few of the skills necessary to be effective missionaries. And regardless of how well we learn these lessons or develop these skills, unless we are willing to open our mouths, nothing will ever be gained.

We pray for you our dear family/friends & are so grateful for your prayers in our behalf. We look forward to the day when we can be reunited & see all those sweet faces once again...making new memories together. May you all feel the love of our Heavenly Father & His Son in your lives & be unafraid to open your mouths to share the good news of the restored gospel w/our brothers & sisters whom the Lord also loves & desires to learn of Him. 

Be safe & be happy!! Hurrah for Israel!  Elder & Sister Tate