Mom, Grandm mac from down under!

Dear Family: It is a bit late, so I'll try to keep this update hopefully not too long. We are in a particularly busy time with uni, Institute and Eternal Marriage classes, which seem to take a fair amount of time for prep as we teach the Old Testament, Pearl of Great Price, Eternal Marriage, (but we finished the Book of Mormon class we were teaching). It has been a bit less stressful as far as prep time not having to prepare the B of M. I just recently said to my companion, Elder Mac, that it seems somewhat easier to prepare now then previously. Dad responded it isn't necessarily the prep time is easier, but that our ability to do the prep has increased. Gee, how come as we close in on 14 months of service, we're finally finding it a bit easier. Alright all you return missionaries, when was your most productive time. It is hard to imagine even with all/ or so many life experiences under our belts, there is still a learning curve. And it sure hasn't been because we ever sloughed off. Da you think, your Dad would ever allow that? Dad said last week the Stake President asked if we would extend another 18 months and Dad responded he would, but me/grandma mac wouldn't. Kind of felt he hung me out there and I  said why didn't you say I need knee surgery as to be less offensive. Dad responded to me, would you stay over here beyond the 18 months if your knee weren't a problem. And I had to own up, NOPE. Miss the grandkids way too much. We had the wonderful privilege of attending the temple with Van, a member of just over a year, as he took out his own endowments, having asked Dad to be his escort. Along, were two couples of our Eternal Marriage class and one of our most beautiful YSA- YM. There is nothing like the sweet peaceful spirit that you feel only in our beautiful temples. Van is 33, unmarried and finally got the picture, his next step should be marriage. Tomorrow evening his (past?) girlfriend, who previously called us this past weekend,  said she wanted to come over to our flat to just talk. She is the one that en- couraged him to take the discussions, be baptized and to continue to grow in the church and her support has been monumental to him. I'm sure Dad had told you of us driving into Sydney to hear Elder Quentin Cook speak to our mission. Well, he had to go back to the states for health reasons; but we were still remarkably blessed to hear Bishop McMullen of the Presiding Bishopric,& his wife and Elder Jay Jensen (one of the 7 Presidents of the Seventies). Each of them were so dynamic spiritually. What a great day it was. I just want to share one story from Elder Jensen. He said he is one of 10 children (lived in Utah as a kid). He dated a young gal while in his later years of high school close to the time to make the decision to either serve a mission or not. Is that really a choice, don't think so; isn't a mission a commandment for worthy young men? Anyway, Elder Jensen continued, just after the new year, on a date with his high school sweetheart he said he thought the right thing to do was to get married. Doesn't exactly sound like it was done in a romantic way, does it? He went home later, checked in with his parents telling them he was home and said by the way, he and his girlfriend had decided to get married and then went straight to bed. Years later, Elder Jensen said his Mom told him that night his Dad cried for a long time and couldn't believe his son, Jay, wasn't going to serve a mission. Several weeks later Elder Jensen, while attending a Sacrament meeting, where a returning missionary talked about his mission, it made such a strong impression on Elder Jensen; he told his sweetheart, he knew he needed to serve a mission. Rest of the story, 31 or 33 days after returning from his mission, he married his sweetheart in the temple. He never said it, but I thought it, had he not served a mission; he probably wouldn't be in the beautiful church service he is currently doing. A week ago, Thursday, one our wonderful YSA's stopped in about 7:30 PM, just wanting to talk and stayed til about 11:30 PM. The next day, Kiki (return missionary and aged 26) called Dad while I was getting a perm asking if I wanted to attend a play the next day and to call back. I didn't as I thought oh, it just to close to using up a good part of Saturday afternoon. Well, I going to fast forward to next day and I had already asked Dad to call her back and say I couldn't. Just as Dad was to pick me up, Kiki called saying let's just go to the play. How could I resist? The play wasn't something I'd see twice, but we both thought it was magical and just fun, good for a few laughs. She was going to take me home, but just a heartbeat away, was a lovely art museum and she asked if I'd like to see some of the art and it was stuff she really likes. After that Kiki said, want to go out for dinner? I said, no, I need to go home fix dinner for Elder Mac and then we had a baptism we planned to attend. We had a nice conversation on the way home. I'm sorry all you great men, sometimes as women, we need women friends. Albeit, I could pretty easily be her grandma. When I got out of Kiki's car, I thanked her for a lovely afternoon and she wanted to give me a hug, which I sure appreciated. I KNOW I didn't come over here to play, but a bit of wholesome recreation sure helps every so often. I know some of you, have said, there is no way in heck, you would have ever been interested in ever hanging out or around people our age when you were in your 20's. I continue to be amazed, at the many, loving kindness of these great Aussies. Without a doubt, we will carry a bit of them in our hearts as we return. We have a young YSA couple who attend Institute and are engaged to be married in late November in Sydney temple and another one of our YSA's, a young woman who is also engaged to be married and she had previously asked if we could fly back late spring, 2009. Well this past Tuesday, she said they have moved up their date to Jan. 31st  in the Melbourne temple and couldn't we change our flights for after that. I said, oh, I want to be back to see two new grandchildren, attend the baptism of the twins, Jacob and Makayla and get my knee fixed. And she responded, oh you can just hobble around a couple of weeks longer. Well life is mostly good here and again I can't say a mission isn't a bit hard at times; but these beautiful YSA's have gotten into our hearts big time. Hope this finds you all well. Miss and love you all, sis mac aka mom/ grandma/ pat __._,_.___ Visit Your Group Give Back Yahoo! for Good Get inspired by a good cause. Y! Toolbar Get it Free! easy 1-click access to your groups. 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Vetnamese; Tongan, American Riot in Park with Aussie Flowers, all new news from down under

Required reading for all Aaronic Priesthood grandsons! This is a patriarchal order!                                                    Love Grandpa Mac P.S.   New MacPherson family motto -  to my Grandchildren. That includes the Fernquist's, Smith's, John's, and Tsubaki's because within you all flows some of that magnificent MacPherson Blood.  Humbly speaking, of course.                   "Motivated MacPherson Missionaries Make More Mormon Members"   Dear Friends and Family,   Well another 2 weeks have gone by and we are in a good groove. Our attendance in the classes is good. A total of about 24-26 come  each week in all the classes. This is out of about 32 possible.  Someone is always on holiday here and they are usually out of the country. We have some in the U.S. and Europe right now . A week ago Saturday we went to the temple in Sydney to be with Van Dang, a Vietnamese immigrant, who is a now an Australian citizen. I was his escort (helper), as this was his first time to go through. We also took Chris Kalbali a Tongan who is also an Aussie citizen. This was the first time he has been to the temple in 10 years. He fell away shortly after serving his mission and has only recently returned to church. Both have been attending our classes. Van joined the church a little over a year ago and is 32 and Chris was 30 the day he went to the temple. Both are still single.  The classes at the University of Canberra and Australian National University have been changed to the noon hour on Wed. and Thur. and Mom prepares sandwiches, fruit, brownies etc for them to eat after our lessons. Last week one of them said that the class day was her favorite day of the week. We probably spend $50 to $75 a week on food to feed many of them at our classes and at our flat.. My favorite saying to them is "One more meal from us and I get to declare you as my dependant on my U. S. Income taxes." We even had some of the Y.S.A. call us up and ask if they can come over for dinner. We have yet to refuse them.   We heard a story in Sacrament Meeting today. An American from Dekalb IL who is going for a PhD at ANU spoke. He grew up in the Los Angeles area and as 13 year old played in a Junior High school band. The band was performing in the inner city area of LA one day and had a picnic in a park after the performance. Suddenly they heard a commotion coming from the other end of the park and saw a policeman running towards them. He told them that a gang riot had broken out and that police were arriving but for the time being they where to hide under the picnic tables in a secluded area of the park. He said there were many of the 12 & 13 "bandees", as he called them that were crying in fear. The only other members of the church there was a girl from  his ward and her mother who was a chaperon. After a period of time the mother crawled over to him and asked if he was okay and said to him "You hold the Aaronic Priesthood  don't you?  He said "Yes. He was a deacon" The mother said " You are the only one here that holds the priesthood of God and do you know you have been blessed with the keys of ministering Angels  when you were ordained?  He said "Yes."  "Then please use them." she answered. He said he had never considered how he would use them before this, but he knelt and in front of the huddled band prayed to Heavenly Father that they would be protected and left alone. Though they were there for many hours until the police pulled them out of the park, no one else came near them.  Yesterday Mother was asked by one of the YSA girls if she would go to a dance play with her, so I took her to the theater, and on the way home I stopped at the park where the Canberra Floriade Festival will be held. This is a huge flower display of over a million plants spread of 8-10 acres of this park very near Parliament House. It is nearly spring time here starting in September, and the display is mainly made up of tulips, dahlias and  pansies, all cool weather flowers. Though they are just coming out of the ground the display of color and design is phenomenal.  Last Year they had over 325,000 visitors come from all over Australia and Asia, especially China.                  That's  all there is  from down under.                                                                           Love Elder Mac

Check out Mud Puddles and Dandilions

Check out Mud Puddles and Dandilions

http://members.shaw.ca/mcinnes-hume/mud_puddles__dandelions.htm

MOM--Sincere Condolences

Hi beloved family, sleep seems far away from me at this moment of time, so just thought I'd share part of my insomnia. The death of this relative, Aunt Wilma, 98, no less is the last from my Dad's generation. Still have Aunt Leona, the youngest brother of my Mom, who now lives in Florida. Hope this finds you all well and hopefully I can fall back to sleep. Love, Mom/ grandma mac aka sis mac From: mac9pcom@msn. com To: diannemahoney@ tds.net Subject: RE: MOM Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:41:06 -0500 Dear Dianne: It is Friday, August 15th here in Australia. I woke up at 1:00 AM,  this morning and for some reason decided to check our e-mail; which I don't normally do in the middle of the night like this. So sorry to hear about the gentle passing of your most special Mom. How she blessed your lives and you & your siblings blessed her life; and as well, she (and your Daddy) blessed the lives of so many. I tried to go back to sleep, but a flood of memories filled my mind. One that came first, was when Frank & I had the privilege of living with Grandma Bormann when we were 10 and 11 and us traveling up to your home and taking a train to Seattle, Washington to visit Aunt Bea and Uncle Harold and then down to California to visit Aunt Corrine and Uncle Vic. That was a summer I will never forget and in fact I always had it in the back of my mind to take my own grandchildren on an adventurous train trip as she did for us. When you are a child, you don't always have enough wisdom or life experiences to know what a sacrifice of time that was for Grandma Bormann to have had Frank and I with here for the year before our Dad then taking us up to Wisconsin to live with his third wife for our junior and high school years. Years ago, I knew that Grandma Bormann's loving, kind care of us showed just what a queen of a woman she was. Part of our train trip started at your home and I  have such sweet memories of your parents and your family. What a special summer that was and it pretty much started at your home. We were so grateful, as adults, to attend a special celebration for your parents 60th or was it 70th? wedding anniversary in Minnesota. It was at a park with a indoor shelter where we had a nice picnic style lunch. I so remember your beautiful Mom, as we all stood around in one really large circle to pray and your Mom so lovingly acknowledged all who were there and the distances many had traveled and then I believe she a knowleged those of her grandchildren and family that couldn't be there to celebrate with them. I believe after speaking for a few minutes and the prayer of blessing on the food was about to happen, your Daddy said he had something to say. How you were all blessed with some of the most remarkable parents out there. There are so many other things I can say, but I will finish with the very last time, I was in Estherville with my husband, now several years back. I had called and found out many of my Mom's nieces and nephews would be that one magical weekend as were most of you from my Dad's side also. Your Mom had told me, just about every day as she drove past the cemetery on the way to her home, she would think of my Mom as she was buried there; which so touched my heart. Your Mom & Dad are two of the finest of the many fine relatives that blessed my life. That weekend, I naturally visited the graves of both of my parents and I remember saying to my husband as we drove away from Estherville, that I knew that would be probably be my last time to visit there and it was as if, I was mourning my great childhood memories there. On my Mom's side, only her youngest brother, Uncle Bob's wife, Aunt Leona lived there in Estherville at the same time of that visit and shortly after that Aunt Leona moved to Florida to be near one of their two sons. Please convey my condolences and love to your siblings and families and I want to acknowledge my love for your beloved parents and for all of you. May you all feel of the tender mercies of the Lord and be comforted at this time in your lives. Love, Pat, Doug and family of nine children and (husbands and wives) and 32 beautiful grandchildren with the 33rd on the way. We have now served 13 months of our 18 month mission in Australia working among the teenage and older youth of Australia, ages 18-31+. We have enjoyed (mostly, that is ) our time with these most loving and inclusive young people; but I am looking forward to returning to our own wonderful grandchildren, aged less than a year and up to a 20 year old. This has truly been an adventure here, also.   From: diannemahoney@ tds.net To: mac9pcom@msn. com Subject: MOM Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:56:33 -0500 Dear Patsy and family,   My Mom died Tuesday morniing in her sleep.  The funeral is Saturday, I am just walking out the door to go to Estherville now.  Wake is Friday, 5 - 8.  Know you will be with us in spirit, and I will fill you in on the details when I return, which will probably be in a week or so.   She was 98, and such a special person.   Love, Dianne

News from Australia

Dear family and friends; Well we just got some news. I guess we will be the last of the American Senior CES missionaries to Australia for a while. The church has changed its policy in that seminary and institute teachers will be called by the stake president  and not assigned by CES. On top of this the Australian area and the New Zealand areas have been combined and the Australian area offices in Sydney have been closed and moved to the New Zealand office complex in Hamilton New Zealand. The area will be called the Pacific Area.  The new Pacific Area president has said that the CES missionaries, if called, must be called from local people but not from the same stake. This country needs to step up to the plate and start running more of its own programs. In leadership meetings with the President Keith Hilbig of the Area Presidency,  said that only 7 % of the Australian young men are going on fulltime missions and in stake conference our stake president said only 30  %  of the stake's 1500 members attend sacrament meeting.  Home teaching is less than 20 %.   There have been at least 5-6  American Senior CES missionary couples that have been in Canberra since the late 90's.Although they & we  have been  fairly successful ,  I think that the expense to both the church and the senior missionaries has been too much.  Our mission president's wife  told us that the Sydney mission's  are  the 3rd most expensive missions in the church behind The London, and Tokyo missions.   I guess they will be looking for Australian  Senior couples  to live at home and serve a nearby stake by being Seminary supervisors and Institute teachers.    I noticed on lds.org., that the church is still looking for 14 senior missionary couples for Australia that will either be prostylizing  missionaries or mission office missionaries. So that demand has not diminished but the problem is that there is not enough senior couples that want to go on foreign missions.         All is busy and well   Love Elder Mac