Dec 8th

Boy is it hot! In the 90's each day. Sun and then thunder showers, then sun and hot but very little high humidity. We have a YSA Christmas outdoor pool party the 18th of Dec. Christmas is great in Canberra.
Today mom and I went to a ring exchange ceremony at the Lyneham Chapel of two former YSA's who were married in the Sydney Temple at 9 AM this morning. They then drove 3 hours back to Canberra to hold a ring exchange ceremony at 3 PM in the chapel where over 200 people attended and at least 125 were not members of the Church. 2/3 of the attendees where in their 20's. The meeting was conducted by the 1st councilor in the Belconnan ward, who opened with an explaination that this was not a wedding for the couple, for they had been married in the Sydney temple this morning. He then explained that they were not married "until death do us part" but for eternity and that we were just attending a ring exchange ceremony. After a prayer and a song the bishop got up and spoke on the difference between a civil or church marriage and a temple marriage. He stated that a civil marriage was a earthly legal contract between two people, where a Temple marriage is a lawful heavenly eternal covenent between two people and the Lord . He then explained what was an ideal temple marriage - all in a non-threating manner. They preformed the ring exchange then the couple both spoke to the audience why they chose to have a temple marriage versus a civil marriage or a defacto marriage( just live together). They had prepared their talks well and the talks were powerful and spiritual and they bore their testimonies at the end. The audience was very attentive and I know they felt the spirit. What a great missionary experience!
The stake president came up to me and jokingly challanged me by saying "I want a YSA marriage every 2 months. We had more non-members in church today then we have had in over 6 months"
I told him "The match makers were already working on it." By the 1st week in Feb 2008 we will have 8 YSA couples get married in the temple since we came in July. This is out of a group of active YSA's of 40-50.
We have another seminary graduation excercise next Sunday. The last week of the school year is next week. This time we have to drive to the South Coast to Norwa 3 hours away. . We are also appointing new seminary teachers for next year, if we can get the Bishop's and Stake presidency to agree on teachers. Decisions are made at a much slower pace here. I am still waiting for a Stake YSA rep. that I gave names for 3 months ago. Seminary begins in February when the new school year begins. A little different timing here in the down-under.
We now have two classes in our flat, one with one new YSA and the other with 3 New YSA's. They love the one on one attention. This is okay with the university classes down for the summer. We still have not met with the Sudenese with a Bible class which they are requesting every time they meet with the FTM.
Chistmas is spoken about a lot this time of the year but I have yet to see a Chrismas tree or a house with Christmas decorations. We had a YSA fast breaker last Sunday and the YSA girls said in church before we went to their house that they had filled their house with Christmas decorations. When we arrived at the Fast-breaker meal later we found that they had put up ballons and crape paper and that was it. It looked like decorations for a birthday party. Similar but different cultures

What a blessing to be in the scriptures so much each day, to work with the Full time Missionaries,
and to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to so many spiritually hungry people. We are truly blessed
to be on this mission!

Love Elder MacPherson Aka Dad, Grandpa and Didjeridoo Doug

Dang, I left the prawns(shrimp) on the barby too long!