Member Leader Support missionaries have many interesting experiences.  One of my opportunities is teaching a Sunday School class for new members and others interested in learning more about the church.  As we studied Jesus calling his apostles to become "fishers of men" I am reminded that our calling is to also be "fishers of men."  This can come in many ways as we help new members learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help those who have not yet learned of the love our Savior and Father in Heaven have for all of us.

We come to the church to do our e-mail as we have no internet at home.  One Monday morning just after we arrived a young man came to the door looking for someone to talk to.  (There is no one at the church on a regular basis except for scheduled meetings.)  This young man had made some choices that were weighing him down and the burden had become almost too much to bear.  We met with him everyday for a week and taught him of Our Father in Heaven's love for him, that he is known to God as are his choices and other hard circumstances he bears.  We assured him of the Savior's love and that his load is not his to carry alone, that the Atonement is for him.  Each day his face became a little brighter and his eyes a little more responsive.  We pray that he will continue his journey for peace.  This is one of the small things that happens in everyday missionary life.  We are grateful for the blessing of this service.

We teach an adult class called "Institute of Religion" one night each week where we study The Book of Mormon.  We help with a singles Family Home Evening one night a week. This includes a spiritual lesson and games and dessert (of course).  One night a week we facilitate a program called H.O.P.E, Helping Ourselves Progress Eternally.  It is based on the 12 step addiction recovery program but is for people with any kind of problem or addiction that is preventing them from living the kind of life they wish to live.

We enjoy some community volunteer work which includes sorting donations at Vinnies (St. Vincent de Paul), playing piano for "Happy Hour" at a rest home, helping make quilts for a cancer support group, and singing in the Armidale Chorale Society.  We also visit the rest home daily. There are other things that come up from  time to time for which we are happy to assist.

Armidale is a quiet town of about 20,000 and is advertised as the highest city in Australia.  Supposedly winter starts in June but so far autumn has been fabulous.  Cool at nights and 60-70 in the daytime.  Winter can't be anything like St. Louis, or Idaho or Wyoming for that matter.

We look forward to new opportunities everyday.  We are thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and know it is the way to happiness and peace.


                                                            A Primrose in our garden

                                               When it cooled off the roses bloomed again

One of the quilts I bound for

the charity

The autumn leaves were wonderful

Many have fallen now and it is

about to turn into winter

We had 4 Dahlia plants, which froze about 

a month ago.  We will give two of them to 

a neighbor.  Elder Hokanson planted some

stock and poppies and some other flowers

                                              Terry Wright, a descendant of Joseph Smith, who
                                              lives in Diamond Head, has been building  a
                                              wonderful rain forest for the last 17 years.  This
                                              is one of the images in one section.  His place is
                                              wonderful, with many species of plants.  His
                                              footpaths are covered with moss, as he brushes
                                              away the leaves.

If you have time please e-mail us at julinah@gmail.com or pmhokanson@juno.com.  Love to hear from you.

Autumn Festival in Armidale

Each day we have small miracles that may seem insignificant to others but prove to be truly small miracles.  Usually it is a small thing like being in the right place at the right time.  We had a booth during Autumn Festival and enjoyed meeting new people.  Since time is short I want to share some pictures from the parade.

A little bit of summer

I just noticed that we have not written anything since December and we are already into February.  Just for an update while most of you are freezing, we have summer.  Many tell us it is the hottest summer in many years.  The farmers are having a really hard time because there has been no rain for so long.  Our location is blessed with a wonderful evening breeze.  At night we keep the windows open and cool the house down and shut the windows about 9 am. to keep the cool in.  It works in Idaho and it works here also.

As I was reading  the Gospels the other day I pondered seriously on the call Jesus gave to his apostles.  In Matthew 4:18-19 "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter,and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. "

Each day I think of the opportunity to serve My Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ in bringing the Gospel to people of this wonderful land.  We are grateful to know that our Savior lives and that His plan for us brings happiness.  .

The world is divided into many missions, each with and man and his wife serving as Mission President and Mission President's Wife.  They usually have about 150 young men and women with whom they serve and possibly 5-10 retired couples.  The mission president is our leader, guide, mentor, teacher, and many other things to each of us.  Our mission president is a humble, kind man.  He asks us to pray each day for miracles so that we might better use our time and talents in the way our Savior would want us to do.  This is truly a blessing in our lives as we follow his leadership.

One small miracle we would like to share.  In making some phone calls one day I had a wrong number and ended up talking to a lovely young Chinese student who had just been in the country for two days  We met her that evening and have had several more discussions with her.  Teaching the gospel and the great plan of happiness to someone who has little knowledge of God and was raised with no religion is a wonderful experience and a learning one for us as well.

The comfort of Psalm 84:5 blesses us each day.  Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; and whose
heart are the ways of them."  We strive each day to have that strength and pray it such strength will bless each of you.

Here are some fun pictures if I can figure out how to do it.

We drive through and near several national parks to some of our meetings.  This is a the Gandwana Rainforest if I spelled it right.

The little garden in front of our house.  We added a couple of tomato plants that are now bearing fruit.

This is our cute little kitchen.  Notice the interesting stove and oven .  The whole house is painted that color.   The oven door does not close completely.  Someone came to fix it one day but after I opened it four times to back a cake (and check it twice, kind of like Santa) it was back to its old way.

On our drive from Sydney to Armidale.  This is a land of many contrasts.

The ocean at Coffs Harbor looking from Muttonbird Island toward the city .

                                            If you go the the ocean you have to at least touch it!

You may know that for years we have composted (I guess you could call it that.).  Our town has a composting system that is a really good idea.  Each home has a little green bucket with a little green bag in it, which is made of starch. Just about anything goes in it for the city to collect and compost locally.  So leftover food, cooked or raw, paper towels, tissue, cat litter, etc. When the little bag is full you just put it into the bin outside with the green lid.

We also buy leaf lettuce with the root still on it, which means the lettuce is always really fresh.  I really like this method.

Last week we had a mission conference in Sydney.  The church has a wonderful Christmas lights exhibit at the headquarters there, just next to the temple.  There was also a life sized nativity outdoors and inside one of the buildings an art show depicting the life of Christ.  It was wonderful!   Here are some pictures of the nativity.  Hope you feel the spirit of the Christmas message.

We made it! It is wonderful, updates to come. In the meantime please enjoy this video.

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-05-01-they-gave-up-their-christmas?category=welfare

The first responsibility of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to invite all to come unto Christ.  In addition the Church teaches and encourages self-reliance and provident living.  Included after a brief summary of our first three weeks is a small glimpse into the world of church humanitarian services.

Still No Visa

We finished our regular studies on October 28 and then spent a week attending classes for seniors working in offices doing newsletters, correspondence, taking care of cars and apartments for missionaries.  We learned a really, really lot . 

 The next week we attended classes for senior missionaries going to work with church education or young single adult centers.  Throughout the world teenagers study the scriptures daily in classes called seminary.  In St. Louis our youth go to a church near their high school at 6 am. everyday.  The teachers are some really dedicated and amazing people.  Love you all.  This early morning class is the desired way and is held wherever possible.  Classes and gathering places are also held around the world for singles  18-30. They usually meet three times a week.  One night is called a Family Home Evening, one is scripture study and one is an activity. We learned a lot that week also.  

On November 11 we decided to follow the senior missionaries doing humanitarian service.  We toured Welfare Square which is an amazing place.  Anyone who travels to Salt Lake City should take the tour.  We learned the many things the church does to help people in need whether through disaster, unemployment, illness or other misfortune.  The typhoon in the Philippines was fresh on our minds so seeing first hand the many things the church does to help throughout the world was timely.  We also had several presentations from different phases of the humanitarian services.  Must brag that our son Robert was one of the presenters and we learned of a gardening project among the Navajos in Arizona.  It is amazing how this project changed the lives of the participants.

 Warehouse where supplies are stored.  This is one of about 6 aisles of goods.  Things can be moved to a disaster area on a moments notice.

 The flash kind of hinders the view of the milk bottling part of the dairy.  It is really massive but you cannot really tell that.

 This is a small view of the Deseret Industries used goods store.  It is one of the cleanest, biggest, and nicest charity stores I have ever seen.   People who work here are often being trained for employment.  Some employees may be individuals with handicaps that would prevent them from other types of employment.

This vat contains the makings of cheese.  There is as huge paddle that goes up and down the vat churning it constantly.  It is hard to tell but the cheese is curds at this point.  When we lived in Wyoming we would love to stop at the cheese factory and buy fresh curds.  They are delicious, and if they are fresh they squeak when you chew them.  The cheese is then pressed into blocks.


This gigantic granary  stores many tons of wheat and I have forgotten the correct amount.  It is something like 13,000 tons.  It is only one of many granaries throughout the US.

After our tour they treated us to some of the products produced from church farms and processed in church plants.  The bread was still warm and it is the best chocolate milk I have ever tasted.  They use the same recipe as Stephens chocolate.  There was also honey, raspberry and strawberry jam, peanut butter, and butter, all grown and produced by church welfare

For more information on Church Welfare you may find the following links interesting.

. http://www.lds.org/topics/welfare/the-church-welfare-plan/history-of-living-providently?  http://mormon.org/faq/welfare-serviceshttp://mormon.org/faq/welfare-serviceshttp://mormon.org/faq/welfare-services