Day 30: May 30, 2009

I worked on my paper all morning. Fun stuff. It is coming along, but I am just taking forever! Around four o'clock we left to head into Melbourne to a stake center across from the temple for a fireside. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was in the country and he was giving a YSA fireside, so we were allowed to attend. It was absolutely amazing. The spirit was so strong, I can't even describe it. I love how Elder Holland is able to combine humor, power, authority, and testimony. His talk was fantastic. I took notes like crazy and I filled up over two pages of college-ruled notebook paper. He bore such a strong witness of the truthfulness of the gospel. He is an apostle of the Lord and it was evident as he spoke. He spoke to us about being "righteous in the dark" as Brigham Young said. It was amazing. He pleaded with us to, "be somebody God can count on." He needs us to stand strong amist the dark times. It was great. I will have to write more about it later. I left with a stronger testimony of this gospel and that the apostles are special witnesses of Christ. It was one of those, "it was exactly what I needed to hear" moments. The Church is true! I love the gospel!

Day 29: May 29, 2009

Today we headed into Melbourne for the last time, just to explore a bit. We went to the Vic Market to purchase a few last minute items and then we headed to Federation Square to find a museum. We found a cool museum with aboriginal art. I enjoyed seeing their basket weaving pieces the most. They were so resourceful! We also saw a decorated toilet. Weird, I know. But, some artist decorated the stall of the toilet in a public bathroom by this museum. So, the toilet is a work of art. We took pictures and it gave me quite a laugh. While our group of about 8 of us was taking pictures of this toilet, other ladies walked in and looked at us like we were crazy! I suppose we did look a little out of place taking photos of a toilet! After the museum, we walked and found some gardens. It was basically just a big park in the middle of the city, but with pretty landscaping. I was really pretty. We ate our lunch there--peanut butter and jelly, yet again. Then we headed back home. It was fun to explore the city a bit. I don't know that I could ever live in a big city for an extended period of time. They are fun to visit, but I like smaller cities better! (I guess it would depend the city and circumstances though.) Anyway, Melbourne is a fun city and we had a great day wandering around. Oh, and I won't miss the smokers and littered streets. I love clean Provo!

Day 28: May 28, 2009

Another crazy crazy day full of homework. We had to finish our group community assessment project in the morning and present it in the afternoon (to our instructors). It was chaos and we were all stressed and annoyed with the silly assignment, but we got it done! It was great to finally be done with our presentations--what a relief. Now I just have to write a paper and then I am done with homework! After we rested for a bit, we made more plans for our New Zealand trip. I am so excited for it! It sounds like we are going to have a lot of fun. We had Dominos pizza for dinner and then later in the evening we went to get ice cream cones from McDonald's. The fifty cent cones here are quite a good size--plus that means that it is really only about 35 cents in the U.S.--what a bargain! The only downfall is that they only have vanilla cones. But I quite enjoyed the ice cream. It was a very refreshing treat after a big day.

Day 27: May 27, 2009

We had quite the interesting experience today....hahaha it makes me laugh just to think about it! We went on a "walk-about" in Melbourne. We had an aboriginal woman as our tour guide. We walked to a few spots in Melbourne and she told us about the history of the aboriginal people there/what the land was like in the early years of Australia. It was interesting, until she started getting quite passionate about it. Then I kind of felt like she was lecturing us and was upset with white men then and now (even though she lives like we live now too). We were walking around in a big group to a new site and when we arrived there, she informed us that we had killed 70% of your children/posterity (or something odd like that). She then explained that because we were walking so carelessly across the land (i.e. not in a straight line) that we had killed the land and therefore in turned killed our posterity. Mind you we are walking on cement. Not through the jungle where we get our food! And then she proceeded to make us walk in a line to our next site! So, we looked quite silly walking through the city of Melbourne in a single file line. Haha! It was freezing while she was talking to us too, so we all just wanted her to be done speaking, but she liked to talk :) My favorite part had to be at the end though. She had us all stand in a circle. Next we had to bend down and touch the ground. She gave us a moment to think about the land we were on and collect our thoughts. Then she wanted to know how it made us feel. So, we were squatting in a circle in the middle of a shopping area, touching filthy cement. ( it isn't like we were in the jungle!) Haha, so I was thinking, "Can we stop touching this nasty ground yet?" But I decided that might offend her so I didn't say that I promise. Haha the whole experience made me giggle. I was quite relieved when we got to go warm up inside for lunch!

After lunch we went to the 55th floor of a tall sky-scraper. We got to see a beautiful view of Melbourne, so that was very neat. After, we went to an aboriginal museum which had some neat art piece. I was also able to try on a possum blanket. It was pretty soft actually. Our day in Melbourne was quite funny, but it was good to get out of the house!

We got home and had a couple of hours before we had to catch a bus to the church for Enrichment. Six of us taught the relief society sisters about nutrition and childhood illnesses. The sisters sure loved to talk! I guess that was a good thing because it helped ensure that our presentations were long enough :) Before the meeting started, two of the Relief Society sisters fed our group a spaghetti dinner. It was very nice of them and the food was great! I love the unity of the Relief Society, no matter where you are in the world. The Relief Society sisters are amazing!!--they are so generous and fun to talk to. It has been a fun experience to interact with them for the few weeks we have been here.

Day 26: May 26, 2009

Another day of homework--exactly what I want to be doing in Australia---oh well, I guess I am technically in school still. We gave our global health presentations today, so that was three hours of presentations! Actually it was quite interesting, it was just a long time to sit! It was Emily's birthday today (one of our instructors), so we had cupcakes after dinner to celebrate. Yum!

Day 25: May 25, 2009

Homework day! I worked on homework all morning. At one we went on a tour of Gordon Institute. It is a local college. I was basically asleep on my feet the entire time! They took us on a tour of the college, which is probably as big as Timpview High School. It was ummmm cool, I guess. At the end we met with their nursing students. There were close to 100 of then I would guess. Two of the girls in our group gave a presentation to them about our nursing program/nursing in America. Before we left they gave us some treats in their "tea room." That was the best part, although the deserts were only mediocre. Then we got to work on homework again! Later that night we were all burned out. It was time to watch, "Rudy." What a great movie!!

Watching "Rudy" in our living room.

Day 24: May 24, 2009

It is Sunday again, and we went to church for the last time in our normal building (next week we have a stake church meeting). Our bus driver was the same nice man that dropped us off at McDonald's yesterday, even though his route was done. When you ride the bus system, you have to ring a bell to let the bus driver know that you want to get off at the next stop. When we rang the bell to get off at the church, he slowed down but instead of stopping at the stop like usual, he turned up the street that we have to walk up to get to church. He told us that he was ahead of schedule so he had time to drop us off. How sweet! He knew we were going to church, and he was kind enough to drop us off right in front of the building. I think very highly of this nice bus driver! What a good man.

Sunday school in the Geelong Ward--they have a special young adult Sunday school class.

At church, one of the young adult girls brought a cake just for fun/to say goodbye to us. It was a perfect Sunday School treat and it was very yummy. We waited the 45 minutes for our bus as usual, and make it home safely. Oh the joys of public transportation. It makes me very grateful for a church that is close to my home. Rae Jeanne (our instructor) made enchiladas for dinner, which was very nice of her. After dinner we went on our usual Sunday walk. Wearing pants and a sweater, it was quite a pleasant evening. We couldn't resist taking silly pictures as we walked around the streets :)