Melbourne Pettys

Austin in the Regional Church Basketball, Vern spends some time in Sydney, Austin spend a weekend with the Missionaries, Vern and I taught classes at the Seminary Mastery activity,    

The first week of the month was the first week of the school holidays so Austin and Mum have no school and no Seminary. Carmen has been on a course in the city this week so has been up with me each morning.

Janet and Johnny were out of town on Vern’s birthday so they treated us to dinner at the Yarraville Club on the second. It was great to catch up and we were the last to leave the restaurant.

A friend of Vern’s brought a youth basketball team down from Sydney to play some games here. So she has been at the stadium most days of the first week of the holidays looking after things.

Saturday the fifth was the Regional Youth Basketball competition down at Knox. Austin was in the senior boys team and I think was the tallest. Since Vern was involved with her visiting team I took him down and watched his first game. They did ok and made it to the semi finals, however I had had enough after the first game and drove up to Sassafras in the Dandenong ranges and went for a walk down the Sassafras steam track. It was cold wet and foggy but I enjoyed myself walking through the big gum trees looking for birds.

The next week Vern went up to Sydney for a few days to spend some time with her friends Joanna and Cheryl from the Gold Coast. She picked a good time to go since it has been cold and wet all week. I was happy because I get to eat baked beans when she is away.

When she got back we went out to Misty’s for a birthday dinner with Gary and Tina Judd. Gary is a funny guy and really knows how to tell a story. Friday night we went out again to South Yarra to meet up with one of Vern’s cousins who is over from New Zealand. Mark, Eldon and Deshon came along as well, Deshon is finally growing.

I have been enjoying my calling and working with the missionaries. It is great because they always do what I say.  

The weekend starting on Friday the eighteenth was the Missionary weekend for the youth. We dropped Austin down at the Stake Centre early Friday evening and he stayed with the Elders from the City Second Branch until we picked him up after the testimony meeting on Sunday night.

He had a great day on the Saturday GQing in the city. He approached one guy and got talking to him. He came back with them to have a look around the chapel in the city and then attended church the next day. He also challenged another investigator to get baptised and he said he would, even after the Persian translator repeated it.

Adam Dudfield was with our missionaries so he attended my Missionary Coordination meeting, came to PEC with us and also attended the investigator class. It was a good class, we had three non-members there. The testimony meeting that evening with the youth was great, just as they always are. It was funny as Vern and I were waiting in the chapel for the youth to come in from their dinner and  it was like waiting for one of your children to come off their mission, ‘there he is’. Dylan was home when we got home and they were swapping missionary stories.

Vern got be to teach a class at the multi-stake seminary scripture mastery activity on Friday the twenty-fifth down at Wantirna. We each took a class on the Title of Liberty and had them write up their own flag. It went pretty well, lots of youth and they had a dance afterwards. Austin was there so after Vern and I had packed up we got some McDonalds then came back to pick him up after the dance.

Vern has been inviting different people from the Ward over for dinner on a Sunday. On the thwenty-sevenith we had the Smiths and the Murphys over. Dylan and Glen also invited some of their friends that are down from Sydney over as well so there was quite a crowd. Afterwards we drove over to the Dudfields to drop off an engagement invitation.

It was a wet cold end to the month and on Thursday evening in the pouring rain Vern and Ellen picked me up from the Nunawading station and we did a temple session. We met a returned missionary that served in Port Vila with Calvin, I can’t remember her name but she knows Jordan because she comes from Masterton in NZ.