Paddocks of Wallabies

This e-mail has been approved and recommended for all future missionaries. That means anyone who reads this!   Dear family,                                                                                         7/18/08 Well today we saw a mob of about 30-40 Wallabies (small species of kangaroos) grazing in a cow pasture( called a paddock here) right next to a suburb of Canberra. One of our YSA is on holiday for 3 weeks up in Cape York, which is as far north as you can get in Australia, and is driving a 4 wheel drive jeep type vehicle. He called back on his mobile phone that he had hit and killed 3 kangaroos on his way up. Some of these kangaroos can weight up 400 lbs. Luckily he has "Roo bar" or some times called a "Bull bar" on the front of his car. This is a curved steel bar round in shape about 3 inches in diameter and chrome plated that is mounted in the front of many vehicles here. They save the vehicle from a lot of damage.  We just fed two of our elders and they said that they saw mob of kangaroos on a hill, 2 days ago, right in Canberra about 1 mile from our flat.   Australians love their holidays ( we call them vacations). Almost everybody gets 4 weeks paid vacation each year even if you are part time worker. Men and women  get paid maternity leave and most get paid sick  leave that can be as long as 5 weeks per year. On top of that, Australia has more national holidays then almost any other country - about 12 per year. There is even a holiday for Good Friday and Easter Monday and Melbourne Cup Day – a horse race that is similar to our Kentucky Derby.  We had our opening social for the 2nd semester Institute class this last Tuesday. We had it in one of the chapels because it is cold out. We played volleyball , had a karaoke machine which they call "Sing- Star" and then I had a Old Testament treasure hunt that was similar to my Easter basket hunts . They had to use their scriptures to look up OT verses to find the next clue. I. E. Exodus 17:6 "thou shall smite the rock and there shall come water out of it, that  the people may drink"  This clue led them to the chapel's water fountain where the next clue was.  There were 4 teams and each had 5 different clues that lead them to the treasure of a bag of Solomon's gold coins. (Chocolate, shaped like coins and covered with gold foil.) They really get into it, get very competitive, and really seem to enjoy it. We then had 16 Dominos pizzas and hot fudge sundaes. We closed the social with a testimony meeting in the primary room.  The other 2 Institute socials are outside in the autumn and summer ( remember we are in winter)  and we have a testimony meeting at the end of these socials around a campfire.  So I put about 20 chairs in a circle and borrowed 4 split logs from a member and cut out flames from red construction paper and taped them to the logs and then put a flashlight in the middle that shone through the red paper. I then turned the lights off. The effect was great and we had a great testimony meeting.   Next week all the universities start up again so it is back to the usual schedule of 4 to 5 classes a week.  Hope all is well with all of you.               Love Elder Mac   P.S.  We went through a yet another mission transfer(companionships are split up and missionaries are transferred into different locations and paired up with a different elder or sister)    and I STILL have the same companion! I guess the mission president thinks we work well together. Now all I have to do is convince my companion of this.