July 18th

Ga-day mates!
We are no longer homless,migrant, or UNEMPLOYED! We are in our flat (not called an apartment here) and it is comfortable.
There is no central heating in Australia and we have 6 space heaters for our 5 room flat- 1 bedroom, 1 fully eqipped office, 1 dunny(bathroom),1 living room/dining room and 1 small kitchen. We arrived in Canberra Tue afternoon from Sydney and the Lord was so pleased he greeted us with a snow storm- the 1st in 3 years! It melted the next day and we got less than 1 cm. This city is beauthiful and reminds me of Wahington DC and is encircled by a range of mountains. Yesterday,as we came down from Sydney about a 3 hour drive, I saw more sheep then I think I saw in my entire life- 1000's and 1000's of them.
The temp ranges between 30- 50 farenheight degrees but we still see flowers blooming and 1/2 the trees with leaves on(gum Trees we're told). The birds are completely different than in the states. Cock-a too's and many parrot species and except for a crow none of the american type birds are here.
The YSA's knew we were coming and knew our names and we met about 25 of them last night at an institute class taught by an American woman who was subbing for us until we arrived. Our CES coordinator downloaded enough information and tasks to keep us busy for weeks. The work load will be heavy but we are excited about the tasks that lay before us. The Canberra stake is
small and covers a large area. We also cover the Norwa District and this means we will have to travel 3-5 hours to cover the small branches it has.
Which brings me to the driving, all on the left side of the road. Our CES coordinator gave us our mission car, a Toyota Corrola.
told us to hop in our car and follow him as he drove all over the west side of Sydney(4 million pop.). WE SURVIVED! However, mom almost had a nervous breakdown and I( the driver) was a calm as a cucumber and only had to stop twice for the EMT's to give me CPR.
I guess we could say though, In the words of 4 year old Brady MacPherson " We don't like Australia. We LOOOOVE Austraila!
Love Elder MacPherson