Tall grass, sunrise, clouds and beach 2-18

March 2018  Tall Grass at Beach 

G'day from Australia Sydney North Mission.......

We are moving closer to when Sydney North and South become 1 mission.  It will take place July 1 2018.  This won't be the first time Sydney has only had one mission.  It has split and combined a couple of times that I am aware of.  In July President and Sister Checketts will be departing and the new President will take over.  We are still waiting to hear who will be replacing President Bingham.  President Bingham from the South mission was to take over both missions but had a serious biking accident and was medevac home to the States last week.  We are praying for his recovery from his injuries.  He will be closer to family and loved ones for this long healing  process.  

We are slowly making some changes to the process of combining.  Our mission is taking our 7 Zones down to 4-5 Zones and the South mission will be doing the same.  We have a new senior couple moving up from South mission to replace Elder and Sister Cox the first of May.  Their last name is Adams from SLC.  We have not met them yet but look forward to working with them.

Elder Ellison is always busy with the Flats and getting broken or damaged items fixed.  It has been very interesting hearing from Elders and Sisters how holes in the walls happen.  For example,  Sister jumping up between two narrow walls trying to do the splits.  Diving for bunk bed and crashing into the wall putting shoulder and arm through wall.  Or big Polynesian boys wrestling and putting large holes in the wall.  Thank goodness he has 2 Senior Church Service Missionaries that are working with him to expedite the repairs.  And as usual there are always a number of cars that have been in fender benders or more that need taken to the "Smash" shop, that's Australian for auto repair shop.  Elder Ellison left at 6 a.m. today to go trade cars with some Sisters and take their car into the shop.  6 a.m. may sound early but if you know Elder Ellison you know he is up at that time anyway.  Another bonus with moving that early is you beat a lot of the heavy traffic that surrounds us 18 hours a day.  I can literally feel the traffic starting up while laying in bed about 4 a.m.  The vibration gives a slow heave to our property.  I dread hearing it every morning.

I just finished a very smooth running of our MLC that takes place every 6 weeks.  Like most things in life the longer you/I do the job, the more comfortable we get with the process.  Each time, I see things that I can tweak and make the next MLC run even smoother.  By the time I head home I should have the ordering, purchasing, organizing and dispersing of materials and home goods down to a well tuned process.  I am really enjoying this hectic schedule, now that I know what I am doing.

The picture above I took on our trip to Port MacQuarie last month on our 6 a.m. walk along the beach.  It was very beautiful.  Of course the picture only shows a glimmer of the beauty of the area.

Port MacQuarie coastal drive February 2018