12/22/25 – 12/28/25
This week has been getting ready for hosting Christmas Festivites, visiting people, shadowing another senior couple for the Preventative Mental Health lessons and actually getting unpacked and settled into our flat!
Sister Doane, one of our mission leaders, has been holding a zoom devotional each night at 9:30 to count down the 12 days of Christmas. On Monday she asked senior missionaries to share a “memorable” Christmas (in 90 seconds). I was able to share about my 1984 miracle Christmas and 13 years ago, meeting my earthly angels (the Byingtons) who saved my life by taking me to the hospital right away. I know they were instruments for the Lord that night. All the devotionals have been beautiful – reminding us WHY we celebrate Christmas – not just the birth of Jesus Christ – but the life that he lead and the saving powers of the atonement so that we can repent, become clean again, be resurrected and one day return to live with Him and our families!
Tuesday– We were able to shadow the Kimberlings – another senior couple who are showing us the ropes for teaching the Preventive Mental Health curriculum to the junior missionaries. They were able to smoothly and effectively teach two zones of missionaries! They made us relax and better understand how the training should go so we feel more prepared to start teaching in January! 🙂
Wednesday – Christmas Eve – Time for holiday meals! Cooking here is a challenge – the ingredients are slightly different, we had to make some substitutions, convert to metric, and learn how to use an old, partially broken oven – ha ha (notice the overcooked cookies!)!! Even shopping is tricky as we now live downtown, on the 10th floor of an apartment complex. This is Eric’s new “ride” to get our groceries to our flat. 🙂
Today was also made special by having 6 sister missionaries, 2 elders, and one group member join us for Christmas Eve fun – doing a craft, having dinner together and decorating sugar cookies.We were so grateful to have these sweet guests who helped us feel the Spirit of Christmas!
Crafting fun
Eating, ravioli and pesto sauce
Decorating cookies
Leaving with there fun little craft.
Ready for Christmas!
Thursday – Christmas Day – Today was full of cooking, baking, games, and enjoying Christmas with 20 new friends, who felt like family! We started the day at 10:00 for brunch – waffle bar, eggs and bacon (actually just ham), hash browns, and sweets! Lunch was supposed to be at 1:00 but was delayed by an hour due to enjoying the name game and Uno teams! Eric and I were a great team, in a tiny kitchen, making ham, pretzel salad, garlic mashed potatoes, homemade mac and cheese, corn, green beans, rolls, Christmas punch and trifle! Even though this was our first Christmas without being with our kids, grandkids and other family members – and we did miss them today – it felt homey with a house full of love and laughter-our new Aussie family! ♥️
A group selfie!
Christmas fun! with new friends.
The Elders singing a Tongan song for us.
Friday – Boxing Day-We haven’t had time to do exploring yet so today we took the ferry to Manly beach. We also walked over to Shelly beach and had lunch with the wild turkeys that were walking all around us. That evening we met with the missionaries in our district for our weekly council meeting to discuss the needs in our area and how we can best share Christ’s light, His gospel, and the blessings we receive from following His covenant path! We are working with INCREDIBLE junior missionaries! They are so kind, selfless and passionate about the work! It’s a privilege to work alongside them!
Downtown Sydney
First ferry ride
Manly beach!
Saturday– Today was “P” day (preparation day). We first went to Bunnings (the Home Depot of Australia) to get some items for our flat. Next we went to Bondi beach! WOW-the water was turquoise and the sand was white and super fine!! There were some awesome waves there and lots of surfers! We didn’t have a towel or swimsuits but I laid on the sand and took a nap. It was so relaxing to listen to the ocean!
We haven’t seen any kangaroos in the wild yet so we drove to Cattai Campground where we were told kangaroos come out in the evening to eat. It was about an hour drive but the drive was gorgeous!!! Sure enough, we saw at least 100 kangaroos. It was so cool!! We even saw one with a Joey in her pouch. We were surprised to see how BIG that “baby” was. It was fun watching him get in and out of the pouch!
Bondi beach! I love the ocean!
So many kangaroos.
Sunday-I love the Sabbath-going to church, mingling with friends, partaking of the sacrament to renew our covenants we’ve made with God, feeling His spirit, and being uplifted and inspired to serve Him the coming week. I’m so grateful for the miraculous gifts of repentance and forgiveness (which I need daily!), knowing that everyday I can try to do better in following the Savior – keeping His commandments and loving His children.
The Helland's Down Under 