Strange fruits, flowers and fights

9/30/08 Dear Friend and Family, Our busiest weeks so far are over. We have been out 11 nights of the last 14, and that's a lot for 2 old timers. Teaching wise we have had to have 4 different class preps each week due to the two Universities having different midterm breaks. So instead of teaching the same lesson twice in a week, we have had to teach different lessons at each Uni as they were 2 weeks off their simultaneous schedule because of  Canberra University having its mid-term break 3 weeks before ANU "midterm" break which started this week. I don't think ANU should call their break "midterm" because they only will have 2 weeks of classes before their final exams start in November On top of this we have been teaching a gospel essential class in the Tuggeranong Ward. We have also been doing a lot of ministering. The Y. S. A. and regular members come over or call us to go to visit them . Families that do not live in the area have called us and asked us to visit someone in the hospital. We have had the Y. S. A. ask us to come to some activity and watch them perform or receive awards or just go to some activity with them. Floriade is in full swing here in Canberra. This is a huge flower festival in which 400,000 people are expected to attend from all over Australia & Asia. As I mentioned in a previous e-mail they have planted hundreds of varieties of spring flowers- mainly tulips in raised beds over many acres in a huge park. There are literally over a million individual flowers.  We went last Wed. night  to see some of the entertainment that was at the show with a YSA and her mom. .  The Main Act was called "Strange Fruit". On a large outdoor stage were fastened 7, 16 feet high flexible metal poles. Near the top of the poles were foot rests for someone to stand on. At the very top of the pole was a back support and strap that went around a person's waist. At the beginning, in the dark, 7 persons climbed these flexible poles and strapped themselves to the poles.   Then they pulled up over their entire bodies globes of white fabric about 6 feet in diameter, so that they were entirely incased in the globe. It looked like there were 7 huge plants with these globes looking like unusual flowers.  The show started with music that was very unusual and spot lights changing colors every so often so that the "globe flowers" appeared to be changing colors. The "flowers" appeared to be waving in the "breeze" as the performers swung their flexible  poles in unison.  After a while you could see things slowly coming out of the top of the globe flowers- human  heads with weird pistil like hats, or  one or two human arms waving around. All the time these "flowers" waved back and forth to the music in the "breeze".  Slowly the performers in weird flower like costumes emerged from the top of the flower.  First their head, then their torsos, then their entire bodies that appeared as though they were standing on the "globe flower" 16 feet in the air.  What was really happening was they were slowing lowering the globes so that they appeared to be rising out of the flower. The music changed and became faster and they stated waving more and more in the "breeze" until they were almost touching the stage with their heads. They had a number of different choreographed routines that matched the music, and that was the show. I never had seen anything like this before.  They also had a short (no more than 5 minutes) Film Festival. Some were really bad like one story about a paper poster of George Bush that was trying to kill this woman by stalking her and trying to kill her by slashing her with paper cuts. My favorite one was about a white young man and a Polynesian young man arrive at an empty beach. They start asking to each other asking  where is everyone else is and decide to wait for others. One is carrying a cricket mallet and the other has brass knuckles. They talk and one says he is having trouble with his car stereo and the other says he can fix it, so they fix it, then the two play a 2 man cricket game. They talk about their girl friends. Then one of the men's mobile phones rings and it is his gang members asking him where he is. He hangs up and say's to the Polynesian that they are at the wrong beach and the Polynesian's gang and his gang are now fighting each other at another beach.  The white guy says to the Polynesian "Do you need a ride to the gang fight?" the answer is "Yes" . The last scene you see the two drive off in together in the sunset. On the spiritual side, we baptized another Chinese student last Sunday, Joui Li, who we call Gary Lee.  He is a student of our ANU uni class, and is going for a Master's in Mechanical Engineering at ANU. He is an only child; part of the "one child only" policy of China,  and is 23 years old .  He was first approached last March by Sister Wei,  the full time missionary from China we told you about. She was transferred to Sydney about 4 months ago.   Gary has come to church on a regular basis for all these months.  He is from central China and will be here another year and half. Gary likes to be with Mom & I and after each class he walks us back to our car, helping us with all our books etc. We found out another Y. S.A. woman has decided to go on a full time mission and is in the process of sending in her papers. Her name is Leslie Shepard, is 22,  and has been a member for about 2 years. She is a regular attendee of our Institute class. Up date on Eddie Canton - the young man that was in the terrible auto accident in March. He is now walking and much of his right side that has been paralyzed for all this time has returned to use. He has been unable to speak and had to write or use sign language to communicate up to now. He is now speaking a few simple words. It is amazing that in the beginning they gave him less than a 10% chance of living and if he did it was as a vegetable. He is still included in our prayers. Well enough.         Love you all                               Elder Mac