We're not sure if Elder Haskell was preaching fire and brimstone to the good people of Armadale, Western Australia or if he'd simply had too much fire hot Tabasco sauce, but regardless, this is a great picture. Atually, one of the locals taught Richard and his companion, Elder Ah Ta to spit fire - looks cool!Richard has been in Armadale for several months now and expects he'll be transferred to another part of the mission just after Christmas. Though he continues to report that the work is slow there, he's had some great experiences. His mission president, President Carl Maurer, recently went tracting with him for a part of the day and both Richard and his companion learned a lot from the experience.
He's had opportunities to sing with other Elders in his district at mission functions and has been asked to sing with Elder Ah Ta at an upcoming Christmas event - he's got a good, strong voice and truth be known , I think he likes having opportunities to use it. He's also had a chance to do some good service for members and non-members in the Armadale area.
This photo is of Elder Ah Ta, but it appears that while working on the same project, Richard helped move a large boulder, reminiscent of those he'd helped move for our pond, and it got the better of his back - oh well, it seems the rock won.
Last week, Elders Haskell and Ah Ta returned to their apartment only to find that they'd been broken into, Several of Richard's personal items, camera lens, etc., were missing, and then they realized that they hadn't seen their car outside and the car keys were missing also. The car was found hours later at an LDS Church building in Bunbury, about two hours away from Richard's area.
This will be Richard's first Christmas away from home and I'm confident that it's harder on his family than it is on him - he's busy and engaged in doing the Lord's work, while we're engaged in missing him and counting the months until he comes home.
