Is that what you're chasing?

On top of a lookout at Whitehaven Beach! 

 Hello! We've been happy as Larry in the land down under! Let's get on with the bits and bobs!

We had a visitor to our back patio! I believe it's called an Atlas Moth. It was as big as a bat and yes did fly at my head when I went out to take a picture but I did survive! 

Quite beautiful actually. And to keep up with our Australian wild life more Kangaroos at the golf course. 

I can't get enough of these! 

And a huge fruit bat flying over our house eveynight at twilight. Millions of them. Incredible. 

These beautiful creations are from beach crabs. They are building underground tunnels and bring up the sand and make these designs of little balls of sand all over the beach. They remind me of the Aboriginal art we see all over and I wonder if these sand designs were the inspiration for that art! 

And what Australian animal post would be complete without a large spider picture?

Remember these falls? 

The Barron River Gorge Falls in September.  We went to see them again in January during the rainy season. 

We were wrapped to see so much water! We are desert dwellers so we were definitely keen! 

We got Elders! They made a switch and put the sisters in Innisfail and the Elders came up to Atherton. Elder Labaste from Tahiti and Elder Taylor from Las Cruses, New Mexico! My home state! No one's from my home state! We are loving them. They are working hard and connecting with the young men and many seasonal workers who are in the area! Right now they have 2 people on date to be baptized and about 15 very strong friends they are teaching! 

Here they are at a meeting in our home with Brother Maka the Branch Mission Leader, Rogan Fox, a recently returning member and Joel discussing how to best meet the needs of the branch. 

I had a birthday! 

Joel made a delicious  birthday dinner of mac and cheese! 

I made the cake because I knew what I wanted! Haha! 

We had a little neighborhood gathering of some friends we've made since we've been here. It was a sweet evening! 

Sorry for the bad quality. We got mucking around and forgot to get a group picture! Joel took a video of them singing to me and these are screen shots from that.  

This sweet family is the Lacambra family. They live in Cooktown. 3 1/2 hours from our chapel yet they are in our branch. They try to attend the branch once a month. We decided to take a road trip up there to see them and they made it such a nice day for us. Here are some of the sights of the lovely costal town of Cooktown. 

Hey Malorie! This is Finch Beach! 

The week after my birthday we took a break and flew to Whitsundays Islands. What a beautiful place! 

We got to ride in a plane, here's our pilot, and we flew over these beautiful islands and the Great Barrier Reef! Here's what we saw! 

Joel reliving his air force days! 

A great landing! 

This is Whitehaven Beach. The sand is softer and cooler than normal sand Part of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed on this island! 

Great Barrier Reef. Surreal. 

Do you see the little heart shaped figure? They call that the heart of the reef! Pretty cool. 

The next day we got on a boat and got to snorkel, and hike on Whitehaven Island and swim a bit. We had to wear stinger suits to protect us from the many stingers (JellyFish) in the warm waters. We actually had a fairly large sting ray swim right by our feet! 

Stinger suits for snorkling. 

It was a phat time for sure! Oh...dinner at our hotel! 

Dinner at Airlie Beach

View of Airlie Beach from our hotel room. It's a really beautiful place. 

One of the meetings we are in every week is District Counsel Meeting.  Usually we don't meet all in person, just over zoom but this past week we were all together after our district P-day. Each of the companionships talks about their friends they are working with and get advice from the other missionaries to help them be more effective teachers! I love this meeting. It's so nice to hear how hard they are all working and how much support and love they have for each other. Here's our fine Elders talking about their goals and plans. 

One of the things I do every week is help Sister Susuvuro work on her English. Since she was transferred to Innisfail we now do it over Messenger. I really enjoy teaching her. 

We helped Sandra's daughter move in with her. Our elders and Rogan worked so hard to move her and all her heavy stuff. 

Last night, we went to a movie. We saw Song Sung Blue at a drive in near by. Can you imagine a drive in! Haven't been to one of those since before I was married. It was so fun! A very pleasant night, lots of people were there. And Hugh Jackman is an Aussie! Very fitting! 

Are you looking at my cold sore! It's a winner. My birthday gift from Airlie Beach and that boat tour. 

Still worth it! 

And lastly TODAY! We had 63 people at church! 

That's double what we normally get. It's seasonal worker season and there are many islander's who come over to work and many are members of the church or friends of members and enjoy coming to church. Many are from Tonga. One Sunday Joel asked them to sing and it was the most lovely song I've ever heard. They harmonize and you can tell they feel the meaning so much. I cried the whole song. Sandra was there at church as was my lovely friend Colleen and we just held hands and gave thanks that we were right there listening to it. Today we had people from America, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Tahiti and a few Aussies. Haha! We sang the Hymn called "Come Unto Jesus" for our closing hymn. 

In the last verse it says, 

Come unto Jesus from ev'ry nation, 

From ev'ry land and isle of the sea. 

So beautiful and to be here living it. It is such a blessing and privilege.

That's what I'm chasing....Jesus Christ!