FOUND IT!

The BYU Women's Conference CDs have been found. (Don't you just love that clean-up after Christmas!) If you are still interested in watching any of the talks please see Lindy as they are in her church bag. I think there was a fair bit of interest in Sister Lant and Sister Farnsworth talk on "My Body is the Temple My Father Gave to Me: Teaching Children Virtue and Chastity". Come and collect it on Sunday if interested.

What happened on the last Sunday in 2009

1. We missed Rachael today who is away with her family visiting family! And also Miriam who was called into work.

2. It was lovely to see Helen visiting with us today, as well as Kath back on holidays, and also Kate from Melbourne who is here visiting with her family.

2. Just a reminder to everyone that the missionary meal roster is on the noticeboard for those who are in a position to feed the missionaries at some stage in January.

3. For music time today Sister Diana shared with us 2 christmas carols that are little known but originated in Austria and performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Beautiful.

4. Our lesson was lead by Sister Kristy today taken from the talk at the Saturday Morning Session of General Conference in April this year by Elder Russell M Nelson entitled Salvation & Exaltation. The difference between Salvation and Exaltation were discussed and each sister was given a handout to help us discuss the differences. Sadly, the lesson ended rather abruptly because of a fire drill. Thank you Kristy for your lesson today.

5. Just letting the sisters know that the Young Women will be with us next week in Relief Society for the whole lesson time - should be good.

Merry Christmas to the Page and Leger Families

For the Page and Leger families who have recently sent sons into the missionary field (and half-way across the world) we thought you might like to see how your sons spent Christmas this year.

Elder Page performing magnificently on a very old, flat and without a working pedal piano (of course he did a brilliant job as well - even played one of his own compositions - you would be very proud of your son Sister Page, worth all those hours of encouraging him to practice, a great blessing to us all here - his music invites the Spirit, uplifts his companion and brings tears to the eyes of those who listen).

Enjoying a warm Christmas Night - Elder Leger is going a great job in his first area and enjoyed watching his companion!

They both said it didn't feel like Christmas because there was no snow!! Elder Page was even sunburnt on Christmas Day! They got to spend some time with families on Christmas Eve, and for breakfast, lunch and dinner (or tea-time) on Christmas Day so hopefully they felt the spirit of Christ in the different homes they were in. They even got to play a bit of cricket!! (sorry didn't get photos).

Thanks for sharing your sons with us here in Tassie - they are both lovely boys who are doing a great job as missionaries.

l

OWN UP NOW - YOU CAN DO IT - send us a comment!

OK, just for a bit of Christmas fun and good-will we would love to hear from EVERYONE who is checking out our blog - yes, that's right, even those priesthood who normally wouldn't admit to such a thing, we want you to send us a post at this Christmas time just to say hello!!!

Come on now, don't be shy, you can do it.

Let us know you are out there.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you will send us a quick hello at this time.

Thanks for remembering our missionaries

Thank you to all the families who have fed the missionaries this month. Elder Payne finally left us a week or so back and we wish him well in his new assignment on the mainland. We now have Elder Page and Elder Ledger with us and so far they have been really well fed.

If anyone can do anything over the next week or so to lift their spirits, feed their souls or their tummies (or both) we hope you will do so. They are a long way from home, both experiencing their first Christmas away from loved-ones. Praying for them also will bless them.

We also hope you have remembered the missionaries serving from our Ward:- Brett, Scott and Tyler. It's always nice to receive a card or letter from someone at home.

Thank you so much sisters for all you do for these faithful and righteous young men who are striving to serve the Lord with all their hearts, might, mind and strength.

Here's an inspiring Christmas message from missionaries all over the world.

http://www.ldsmag.com/youtube/081218missionaries.html

What happened on Sunday

1. It was lovely to welcome Sonya (Jill's daughter in law), Lucy (Diana's daughter in law), Emma from Glenorchy Ward and Cathy visiting us from New Zealand (Heather's friend).

2. It was especially exciting to have Leah with us in Relief Society for the first time since turning 18!!! Yeah! Thanks for coming Leah, hope you enjoyed it.

3. We wished all the birthday girls in December a happy birthday - even though only Leah and Jill were blessed enough to have us sing to them!!! (No one else was there at that stage). So happy birthday to Zanny, Josephine, Betty and Chris who all have birthdays in December (as well as Mildred but we got to sing to her last week).

4. For 5 minute music Diana handed out a Christmas song quiz that Kristy had made up for a Ward activity she had organised at some stage in England - I think. Thanks Kristy it was fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. If any Primary or Young Women workers are interested in a copy just let Lindy know and she can email it to you. Everyone received a candy cane for participation.

5. Piret lead us in the lesson today which was Lesson 18 "Beyond the Veil: Life in the Eternities". We talked about the 3 degrees of glory, the fact that Joseph Smith has revealed to us that we don't just end up in 'heaven' or 'hell' (Piret did a fun illustration of this with Marianna and Bek). And we talked about the scripture in John that says 'In my Father's house are many mansions.' How blessed we are to have revelation from the Prophet Joseph Smith that has enlightened our minds and broadened our understanding of the eternal nature and direction of man.

Remembering Missionaries this month

Elder Page and Elder Payne just about to pick (and eat) some beautiful Tasmanian cherries

Please spare a thought for our missionaries this month - those serving from our Ward and those who are within our Ward boundaries.

It looks like we will be farewelling Elder Payne this week as he has been in our Ward for so long now but hopefully Elder Page will stay and of course his companion will be someone who is new to the area. We know it is Elder Page's first Australian Christmas and it may be for his companion also. Please spare a moment to do something special to help lift their spirits and strengthen them at this special Christmas season when they are so far away from family and friends.

Elder Page just about to eat his first piece of flathead - Elder Payne on the left

We know not all sisters can invite the missionaries to share a meal with them in their homes but hopefully we can all do something to make this Christmas special and memorable for them.

I know how grateful I was (and am) to those who feed, cared for and loved my sons when they were serving their missions, particularly at Christmas time.

Let's give our missionaries a good Aussie Christmas.

The wonderful month of December

It's this lovely Christmas season and how grateful we are for peace and plenty in this lovely place in which we live.

Kristy has sent us a lovely Christmas video for us all to enjoy. Check it out at
http://www.joytoeveryone.com. Thanks for sharing it with us all Kristy.