Sunday May 22nd

Watch what side you let people pass on!

Tom, Heidi and Anthony

Sunday in Brisbane with the family....It's a holy church day... dressed up and went to church. Everyone except me is a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). I felt slightly out of place but very welcome to come to their place of worship. The service itself was similar to any other worship experience. Singing hymns and hearing speakers talk about their faith. After an hour though then they had Bible class for an hour (taught by Gene  that particular time). The lesson was on the New Testament story of the lost sheep. I had that Bible reading for the Gospel last Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday at my home church in Cedarburg. Wow, we are all so far away and yet things are the same.  Sometimes someone would speak or ask a question and Tom and I would look at eachother because even though it was English, we had no idea what they were saying! After Bible Class then I went to something called Women's Relief Society Meeting. Basically it was a meeting on our mission as women to tell others about Christ....nice meeting with some great heartfelt messages. Amy (the mom) was off teaching Sunday school so they paired me up with a nice lady named Paula who had just moved there from Houston. She explained a few things to me so I would know what was going on. Mormons use some different words for things but basically the meeting made me think of the Bible where it says whoever comes through Me (as in Jesus) will enter the Kingdom of God. The people in that meeting certainly loved Jesus...even if the history of their church is very different from the history of my church. It was very nice and I am glad I had a chance to experience something so normal in the lives of Australians. Gene did tell Tom and I that in Australia only about 2% of people attend worship on a weekly basis. That isn't very many!   After church it was really nice to get up and move around! Tom and I went for two walks, one with Amy in the park by their house and one with Gene and Amy so Gene could show us where the bus stop was. By the way, I forgot to mention that everyone drives on the opposite side of the street here. That means even when you are walking you let people pass you on the right instead of the left! It is very confusing. When we were driving to Adventure Land yesterday I had the chance to sit in the front left seat where the steering wheel is back in Wisconsin...weird going around corners!

Tonight we also had Pizza night for dinner. Tom and Amy made really good pizza dough and everyone made their own pizzas. Yummy!