In Every Thing, Give Thanks! 1 Thes. 5:18

Greetings to our dear family and friends, 

What a special time of year to count our blessings. We hope your Thanksgiving holiday was a time to gather and enjoy family and special friends as you reflected on blessings granted. As we review the myriad of opportunities we've had as missionaries here in the Australia Brisbane Mission, we feel so richly blessed.  Though Thanksgiving came and went largely unnoticed by Aussies, we keenly felt the goodness of the day and season to return thanks to our Heavenly Father for all we are given each day.  You all are among those most precious gifts we've been showered with through no merit of our own!    

Our Thanksgiving Day was spent with our two PathwayConnect classes.  Our turkey was in miniature---a roasted Costco chicken!  Many of our Pathway students had never tasted pumpkin pie, so we stopped at Costco en route north and bought 3 pies, much to their delight!  Yes, if you put enough sweet whipped cream on the pie, anyone will wolf it down!  Australia has amazing squashes, so we must admit, the pies were divine.The chefs probably used a sweet pumpkin for the occasion.  Pictured here are the Levasa brothers, our Lead Students for the Academic gathering portion of our evening class.  Ether on the right just returned from a Fijian mission, and Enoch awaits his call soon!  Talk about polished young Samoan men---they are rock solid!  If every ward was blessed with such YSA, we'd have automatic "Armies of Helaman" marching forth in light worldwide!  Notice Enoch's footwear---or lack of it.  Yes, it's culturally quite normal to wear flip flops to church and even shed them once inside the building.  The boys' Mom and Dad are also in PathwayConnect---a family endeavor because they believe in gaining all the education and knowledge they can.  For most everyone, it's a fine opportunity to attend University on a tight budget and having the benefit of BYU online studies for a fraction of the cost.  After 3

Life's just a bowl of frangipani and
passion fruit blossoms! 

semesters of PathwayConnect, students who earn at least a B average can go on for an Associate and Bachelor's degrees at the same CHEAP cost of PathwayConnect--$69 per credit!!  Hey, enrollment's open now for Winter Semester 2018, so check out their website at byupathway.lds.org.  And, no this isn't a paid announcement, just a plug from an excited missionary couple who are just finishing up their 4th semester of teaching Pathway and have witnessed abundant growth and miracles in the lives of their students!  

Our gratitude continues as we said goodbye to the only other self-reliance missionary couple in the mission, the Osbornes, who have completed their mission.  We have been serving side by side for our entire mission,

A fond farewell to our "right hand couple", the Osbornes, the
 only other Self-Reliance couple in all of Queensland!

and they are headed on a cruise  before returning to St. George. We have learned so much from them as they served another Self-Reliance mission before this one.  Great friends and mentors they are, for sure. Now our workload increases as we attempt to cover our assignments and pick up all we can of their responsibilities.  It will be a busy run for us, but we truly owe the Lord some "double time" as He blessed Elder Yates so marvelously during our triple bypass adventure with its attendant "down time."  Yes, Elder Yates continues to gain strength and endurance to handle these productive days which hold plenty of opportunities to assist others.  

Darling baby koala's first day out in the public's view at the koala sanctuary!
With no fences or cages keep them in the sanctuary, they're born free to roam.

Two  of our precious family members came for a long-awaited visit the first week in November.  Hurrah! Michael and Rochelle Yates filled the bill to quell our longing for family. Planning ahead, we cleared most of our schedule to have a few Aussie Adventures during our splendid days together.  Hikes to a beautiful waterfall outlook, precarious roads leading to a tree-top canopy adventure, basking in the unusual privilege of dwelling with the wallabies and kangaroos, and even seeing 3 new baby koalas out with their moms were among our enjoyable activities. Nothing could beat the two close encounters with wild birds and parrots flying in from the rain forest to be fed.  Ah, this had to be near the top of our 'favorites' list.   How we adored the few days spent with Michael and Rochelle!  Thanks guys for coming to Queensland to share a bit of the paradise we've been immersed in for the past glorious 15 months! Mother Nature is astounding and spent plenty of extra time dolling up the vistas and wildlife here. For the beauty of the earth and skies  we are so thankful!

The true "King Parrot" of Australia.  They're the only parrot to have red heads. At least, the male does.  Female's head is green.  They are close cousins to the crimson rosella, but they don't look very similar to the eye!  See one below... 

Cousins, my foot!  As witnessed below, once crimson rosellas are introduced to humans, they
don't forget it!  Naturally they eat eucalyptus seeds, grasses, shrubs and tree blossoms.
Their diets will diversify to include insects and oh, tuna sandwiches?  What's up with that?

Hey, make room for one more, please!  Michael
feeds the wild king parrots and a rosella lunch.

A cheeky crimson rosella invites himself to our picnic! Don't
take your eyes off your food or it will instantly 'fly' away!

"Ah, this is the life!  Free lunch and a back rub,
and all I had to do was bat my big brown eyes!'

Back to our missionary adventures:  On Halloween, we began meeting with a group of refugees from

all over the world through a governmental non-profit organization, the Mercy Foundation, to help them find jobs.  We didn't quite know what to expect as we've not worked under the direction of another agency before.  The experience has been challenging and very rewarding.  The 6-week course will be over next week, and these dear folks have stories to tell that humble us to the core.  Some are political or religious refugees, but most are economic refugees.  One man, Mahdi, had to flee Iran when he converted from Islam to Christianity.  He will never be safe to enter his country again.  He would be killed as an infidel.  Even his parents turned on him. Another,  Teddy struggled for 3 years to make it from Ethiopia to Brisbane, by way of several countries.  Finally making it to Indonesia, he stayed there one year, finally securing a visa to enter Australia.  His case is still pending in court as to whether he'll

be granted a "bridging visa" which will allow him to stay 5 years longer and become a profitable citizen.  These folks have skills and experience in their own country, but they can't compete in the job market against the locals because of inadequate English skills. Also, often their credentials from their home country are not

An imaginative painting created by one of the refugees.

honored.  They're now asking us to please teach them more English after the course is over!  Truly, there is so much work needed in this world to give people a needed hand.  We are blessed with so much and often don't recognize all that we have been so freely given. Epitetus  reminds us, "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."  This axiom is so evident in their lives---they're so grateful for what little they have! In talking to our manager in this morning's meeting, we're looking at ways to perhaps carry on in a dual role---job searches and English classes.   The group varies from week to week.  The picture above shows (back  left)  Bushre from Iraq;  Front left, Hamida from Iran, Winnie from Papua New Guinea, Raj from Sri Lanka, Mei Lein from near Beijing, China, and Carl Maurer, our Regional Self-Reliance Manager. We'll see how we go! 

A November thunder buster hits Brisbane with all its fury

As winter settles over the US, we're swamped by summer thunderstorms' bounteous rainfall.  One night this month a horrific thunderstorm blew through landing over 173,000 lightning strikes in less than two hours!  Loud beyond anything we've ever heard out of the sky, we watched the sky intently knowing we were witnessing something grand and ominous at the same time. There are often many ways the Lord preaches His sermons.  This one spoke loudly to us, reminding us of the power of nature and of He who created this incredible planet we inhabit!  

Caught in the act--Cockatoo snacking on vital wiring! 

And speaking of  creations, a lovely critter is causing big problems in Queensland!  A large white parrot, the sulphur-crested cockatoo, has decided to sharpen its beak on whatever it can find to chew on.  Like many animals, their beak continues to grow, and if not worn down naturally by them foraging for food, they'll take to wearing down their beaks on anything they can get it around or into!  These birds are beautiful yet very noisy. They chew on buildings, open the rubbish bins for more ffood, which isn't natural foraging.  Thus, their beaks get overgrown and need to be worn down.  Their latest favorite thing to chew is wiring---mostly the wiring for the new high-speed internet system that Brisbane has been installing since we got here.  The birds have taken a shine to the taste of the wires, and have done millions of dollars worth of damage. They've downed the project so it's 6 months behind.  (We'll be home before they figure out how to protect all this wiring from the cockatoos' attacks!!  The locals are quipping,  "Well, if the snakes and the spiders in Australia don't get you, the cockies will!!"

ThatWe'll sign off with a blooming shower of purple to white blossoms all on the same tree found in Tambourine Mtn.  The sunset is a shot out our back window of the gorgeous sun setting over the Pacific,  The 'sky-blue-pink' sunsets never cease to gladden our hearts. Please know of our love and admiration for each of you as you live exemplary lives.  Good on ya! We always think about you, our special friends, neighbors and loved ones, and you are so much a part of the fabric of our lives!  Happy days as we head into the Christmas season with all its joys!   

Love in bunches, 💕💛💟
Elder and Sister Yates
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
David and Marsha