22 - 28 December

The rainy season has started in Brisbane this past week and has cooled the temperatures down for us, at least temporarily.  The country has drought stricken areas, just like the United States, and prayers today at church were for a continuance of the rain to bring much needed help.

Our temporary "camp-site" until the middle of January, when we will move closer to the mission office.  Our balconies are the third and fourth ones back on the second level - one is off the living room and the other off the bedroom. 

Directly across the street from the apartment is a well-used park, both by humans and dogs.

What a wonderful sight we see (the Brisbane Temple in the background) as we start up our street each morning to head out for the office.

This past week, leading up to Christmas has been nonstop in preparations for Christmas Zone Conference and making sure all the missionaries were taken care of by way of a Christmas gift.  All packages coming into the office were recorded on a list, so we would know who hadn't received something.  When we arrived for this new assignment, the list had 91 missionaries on it, out of the 240 in the Brisbane area. Day by day, we were able to check off names, but the list was still very long on the Friday before Christmas.  So the senior couples, along with some Brisbane families, were called into action and we divided up names and went on a shopping spree to fill gift bags for those elders and sisters. The 23rd was the conference and it took a utility trailer (instead of Santa's sleigh) to bring all the packages to the Karawatha Chapel.  Different classrooms were designated by zone names to hold the Christmas surprises in order to avoid mass chaos when picking up the gifts.

Imagine trying to get 240+ missionaries (including seniors) all ready to have a group photo taken. Not included are about 40 missionaries serving in the northern zone who are too far away to travel for conferences in Brisbane.  The senior couples up north planned special activities on the 23rd for these missionaries.

One of three rows of mission cars being checked out at the conference by Arlo and 2 other senior elders.

The Cultural Hall was filled from front to back with beautifully decorated tables and after receiving a hug/handshake, depending on whether you were an elder or sister, from President and Sister Henderson, the missionaries hurried in to find a place to eat.  The luncheon was prepared by a local family and it was truly a labor of love for them to give so much time when Christmas was only a day away.

During lunch time, the Henderson's shared their family tradition of doing a nativity.  Their daughter and her family were visiting for the holidays, so were perfect for Mary, Joseph and a darling angel! Senior missionaries get to wear many hats (literally) at different times, and this was one of them!

Christmas Eve dinner with other senior missionaries serving in the area at The Purple Olive, an Italian restaurant with the kindest French waitress who asked if she could be of help in taking a group picture.  We enjoyed a dinner, which was beautifully plated, plus lots of sharing of what usually would go on in each of our homes at Christmas.  

Burleigh Heads Beach on the Gold Coast, an hours drive south of Brisbane, was our destination after having brunch together at the Madsen's Christmas morning.  Note the high rise apartment buildings in the background.  The beach is a popular destination for Australians on Christmas and was packed taking 30 minutes to find places to park all our cars.  The water was warm and a stunning turquoise color.  The sisters all ventured into the water up to our knees and a little farther depending on the tide.  It was really great fun and we even got a little silly!

 

Have you ever seen such a group of white legs before?  Missionary name tags can be most helpful at times.  A LDS family who was vacationing at the beach and noticed this group and their black tags, volunteered to take a group picture.  Self-Reliance, mission doctor and office support senior missionaries make up this group.  There are two more local couples not with us because they had prior Christmas appointments.

Boxing Day (26th), we received an invitation for lunch at the Shelton's, who we had met at Maraboon Lake in October as they traveled through Emerald on holiday.  Martine and Peter (from Emerald Branch) were there to celebrate with her parents, along with some friends of Peter's.  Around the lunch table were also Martine's grandmother, aunt and brother.

Irene's parents had asked Peter if he would ask a missionary to give their little one a blessing and so Elder Mickelsen was given that wonderful opportunity.  She certainly was not happy for all these men to be holding her and cried and sobbed throughout the entire blessing.  They are a sweet family living in Sydney (originally from South Korea) and are very close with "Uncle" Peter and "Aunty" Martine, even though there is no blood relationship. 

The office training is coming along and will get better as we work into a normal routine, not complicated by Christmas or New Year's.  It will be an amazing experience to serve, support and do whatever is needed for these missionaries from 32 countries throughout the world.  280 missionaries is a huge responsibility and we marvel at President and Sister Henderson and their abilities as they lead the Brisbane Mission into 2015!

15 - 21 December

Monday afternoon, we made our way to Gladstone (4 hour drive) and spent the night with Elder and Sister Miller.  About an hour before we were to arrive, the Miller's called and told us that they had to transport a sick elder to meet the mission doctor about halfway to Brisbane and the front door was unlocked and we know where our bedroom is.  They didn't get back home until about 1 am, so our visiting came at breakfast.  Tuesday, we made the 7 hour drive to Brisbane and moved into our temporary housing for the next month.  The rest of the week was spent starting to learn the ropes of being an office couple, which we are finding includes very long days and much to learn! 

Our last weekend we were able to get more photos of some of the stalwart families, but not all, in Emerald Branch who were so kind to us and we have come to love and appreciate!  

Ray and Jean, New Zealanders and he lives for his All-Blacks rugby team.  One Fast Sunday, Ray prefaced his testimony with the fact that he was "mourning," due to the fact that the All-Blacks had lost their game the previous day.  Ray is a building contractor and repaired some damage in the missionary flat we closed down when we first came to Emerald.

Jared and Cassie and their cute little family - Jared is one of 11 children of Ray and Jean .

This lovely family shared their last Sunday in Emerald with us.  Angie is the Relief Society president and Daniel is the Sunday School president/adult SS teacher and will leave a big hole in the branch. With the coal mine reductions, several of the members have lost their employment and Dan was one of them. He has found a new job (accounting) in Mt. Isa and they will be a big boost to that branch.

This Tongan family shared the 5 kg of grapes with us last week before leaving.  He is the Melchizedek Priesthood Group Leader, she teaches Primary and the twins are the mainstay of the Young Men's group.  

Coal mining bucket outside of the Blackwater Coal Museum, which we never did make the tour, but decided that we had better get this picture on our way through to Brisbane.

If traveling the highways in the outback you will encounter numerous road trains - oversized long trucks. We saw this one about a hour from Emerald on our way to Brisbane.

These two homes are typical of what are called Queensland homes which are built up on stilts.  The top one is only a couple of feet off the ground while the bottom one is about seven feet leaving lots of room for storage and to park cars.  The main reason for the stilts is to protect the home during floods, which are very common, especially in the outback.

The Christmas party with the Brisbane area couples (including one live-at-home missionary couple) and President and Sister Henderson.  It was a poolside bar-b-que, where one couple and two senior single sister missionaries live.  Part of the evening was spent taking pictures to be combined with the Australian version of Jingle Bells (below) for the Mission Christmas Zone Conference, as the couples contribution.

Dashing through the bush, in a rusty Holden Ute, Kicking up the dust, esky in the boot, Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs, Its summer time and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs (flip flops), Oh! Engine's getting hot, we dodge the Kangaroos, The swaggie climbs aboard, he is welcome too. All the family is there, sitting by the pool, Christmas day the Aussie way, by the Bar-b-que, Oh! Come the afternoon grandpa has a doze, The kids and Uncle Bruce, are swimming in their clothes The time comes round to go, we take the family snap, Then pack the car and all shoot through, Before the washing up, Oh! Chorus: Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute. "Holden' is an Australian GM make, "Ute" is a utility truck, "esky" is a portable cooler, "boot" is the back of the vehicle, "singlet" is a sleeveless vest, "Kelpie" is an Australian sheep dog, "swaggie" is an Australian term for hobo. The newest addition to Sandy's nativity collection, which is made from different Australian timber. This quote was in our new calendar that we received at church today and it seemed very appropriate to close our thoughts this week and look forward to Christmas day.  "As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow Him we shall have the Christmas spirit, not for one fleeting day each year, but as a companion always."  President Thomas S. Monson

9 - 14 December

The time has come for us to say good-bye to Emerald and ready ourselves for a transfer to Brisbane to serve in the mission office.  It is always hard to say good-bye and especially hard to all the kind, wonderful people that we have met in our time amongst the Emerald Branch and in the community.  It has been wonderful to rub shoulders with many different nationalities - mostly from the Pacific Islands.   They are loving and would do anything for you - we have shared meals, enjoyed visits in homes of many members and learned together in the gospel.  Today was the last Sunday for two families, one leaving because he lost his job with the downsizing of one of the coal mines and the other family is returning to their roots in New Zealand, so the branch membership is taking quite a hit right now.  

The rainy season is upon us and brings periodic downpours and brilliant shows of lightning and thunder.  The earth really has shown its thanks for the rain, because everything is greening up brilliantly,  showing us where Emerald got its name.  One afternoon this week after the rain stopped, as we looked out the window at the rear of our home, this beautiful sight greeted us.

The Emerald Botanic Gardens have been adding exercise equipment along one of the main walk paths Arlo uses.  They previous had the standard stationary bars but now have 5 prices of equipment with moving parts like this one.

Some homes really go all out with decorations and this was just the beginning for this home, in our neighbourhood - much more has been added since snapping the picture.  What intrigued us, was who was pulling Santa's sleigh and there have been more "reindeer" added to the left side of the roof!  The fence (right) has a koala bear and leaning against a pillar next to the candy canes is an emu.  

Daylight shot of the sleigh being pulled by kangaroos!  Our missions seem to always be associated with animals.  Alligators were found all around in the Christmas lights when we served in Florida, but we never saw a lighted giraffe or elephant in South Africa.

This is from one of our little ladies at the Neighbourhood Centre - she must have never noticed our missionary name badges by the way she began her note!  Our last evening there, one of the local volunteers brought a bag with heaps of wrapped gifts.  You know the game where one person opens a gift and then the next person can decide to "pinch" it or choose another wrapped one.  Everyone who comes on Thursday evenings for dinner loves to "chat and laugh",  a lovely way to say visiting! Another fun phrase was added to our collection, when the hairdresser cutting Sandy's hair, asked her to "pop off her glasses" in preparation for the cut.  

Our Branch Mission Leader (no padding required) who is Santa at one of the furniture stores on the weekends before Christmas.  The countdown to Christmas Day is shown in the advertising here as the number of "sleeps" until the 25th.

Our Institute class selfie is now on Facebook!  This was our last meeting and we had a great lesson on the Doctrine of Christ, Sandy made chicken enchiladas and chips/salsa and as always we laughed and had a good time together.  Each week Sandy has always brought as part of our refreshments carrot sticks (1 kg which equivalent to about 2 lbs.) and ranch dressing, which is always the first thing to be finished.  She decided not to bring them this week, but as we put everything out on the table, the words "Where are the carrots?",  were heard.  We love this group of young adults, but one of our students had to go to Brisbane for a family emergency, so the picture is not complete.

Going away gift from the kindest man in the branch, he is employed at one of the grape farms - 5 kg of huge, plump and delicious, locally grown grapes (Midnight Beauties), selling for $5.98 per kg on sale, which makes them worth about $30 US dollars.  

As we say good-bye to Emerald, we needed to add their city sign with representations of what is in the area - coal mines (truck & coal), railroad track (started in 1879 as a base for the building of the western railway), Fairbairn Dam,  hands of the different nationalities of farm workers and a windmill, To the right of the sign is a glimpse of a huge cotton field.

As we ready ourselves for the change of scenery and location, we are grateful for the opportunities that await us in Brisbane and look forward to each one.  Our last Sunday in Emerald, gave us the opportunity to speak in Sacrament Meeting.  We spoke to the subject of gifts and the greatest gift of all is our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Make sure to visit christmas.mormon.org to share the gift of God's love for us - it is amazing all that the Church is doing with this initiative. 

2 - 8 December

G'Day Mates,

Excitement is in the air around Emerald.  Christmas is coming, but even closer is the day school is out for summer break (8 weeks).  Graduations and proms are being held, kids are antsy and teachers just want to be finished! December 12th is the last day and we are told that the town will become a ghost town as families leave for the holidays.  There has been some rain, but much more is really needed to help the area. It is pretty amazing how even a small amount of rain has helped green up the lawns and such.  It is hard to believe that we have hit our 3 month mark on our mission!

Each Wednesday after we finish our Institute lesson, we share refreshments together.  One of our kids, a recent convert of about 5 months, texted Sandy to say she wanted to bring a SURPRISE that night but wouldn't say what it was until she came.  These are chocolate cupcakes frosted white like snow (they don't even know snow!!) and then she frosted sugar cones with a leaf tip to make them look like Christmas tree branches.  It was a 3 hour investment of time and love on her part and all enjoyed. They took the cone part off and we filled them with ice cream.

Wednesday morning was a Skype Zone Meeting - sharing how the screen looked just before the meeting started.  One group had a problem with their connection and never did show up on the screen.  There was also another mission wide telephone conference on Friday and all over again, we are amazed at what technology does for us on this mission. 

Our typical Thursday evening spent serving at the Neighbourhood Centre had an added bonus - Christmas carolers from one of the churches. Their accompaniment was the guitar and a violin and all enjoyed the "musical item," as programs are referred to.  Arlo was having a conversation with Father Terry (plaid shirt) of the Catholic Church, who comes to give encouragement where needed.  He is a traveling priest, here until February while the regular priest is on a sabbatical. 

Friday evening, we were invited for dinner at the home of the Young Women's President and her husband, who are also two of our Institute students.  We were told that Peter was cooking, so assumed that our meal would have an asian flavor, so were surprised when we were served pasta! Notice the yellow tablecloth and her yellow shirt.  The picture we missed was the table set with her yellow beehive dishes and silverware from Deseret Book - she is so proud of them and because they cost a great sum, plus shipping and taxes coming into the country,  are only used for special occasions.  So we were very flattered!!

Saturday morning was the Emerald Branch Christmas Activity held at Capella Aquatic Centre, which is 50 km (30 miles) north of Emerald.  As a country, Australia is big into swimming and most communities have great aquatic centres.  The focal point of the Centre, is the Olympic size pool, surrounded by four other pools.  This is in a community with a population less than 800.

The area where most of the kids hung out because of the water slide and the water was warmer than the large Olympic pool.

Sandy pulled double duty this morning - manning the grill and trying to keep a baby asleep in the pram. No ham, cheese potatoes, green beans or any of our other traditional Christmas party foods - grilled sausages, steak and onions to be eaten on a slice of bread (not a bun).  Salads and desserts were brought by the branch members to complete the bar-b-que!  Over the shoulder of the other cook is a miniature golf course - this place has everything.

Our branch president with his wife and son giving us their best "cheese" smiles.  The pram (earlier picture) held their 8 month old son who was fast asleep.

Four of our Relief Society sister enjoying the cool waters and the very warm sunshine.  Usually everyone has some kind of hat on, to protect from the sun in addition to heaps of sunscreen!

Yahoo, we finally found a roo!  Just as we do at Brian Head, when we take a drive to count deer coming out to graze at twilight, we took a drive not too far from our home (about 2 miles) in hopes of finding kangaroos doing the same thing.  The count for the night was twelve, but it started to get too dark, so we probably missed the rest of the "mob," as the group of kangaroos are called.

Each year throughout Australia there are Carols by Candlelight held and we were invited to attend Emerald's.  This was the stage and different groups from the community sang and there was one instrumental group that you can see part of.  The stage is a truck that was loaned by a local company and the venue was the school yard for one of the schools.  Santa even made an appearance during the evening, arriving in a red golf cart!  There were so many children wanting "lollies" that Santa finally gave up distributing them individually and just threw out handfuls to the crowd of children.

Never in her life has Sandy "sweat bullets" and needed a mop cloth for her face, while singing Christmas carols.  This was our little group of LDS and it seemed like we were the only ones with real candles, others had candles powered by battery.  Shortbread, caramels, cookies, and cinnamon eggnog were shared by us all.  Others around us brought entire picnic dinners, while listening and enjoying the evening.  Most of the carols were familiar, but there were a few Australian such as "The Carol of the Birds."  

At church Sunday, there was an advisory given out - "frog in the toilet, but don't worry it is the green treefrog and they are ok!" The term "toilet" means the whole bathroom area here, not just the fixture, so we were surprised to actually have the frog inside the toilet and not hopping around.  Brown frogs, at least some, are poisonous and to be avoided, we were cautioned.  Personally, we will just avoid them all, especially in the toilet! (Thought the grandkids would enjoy this visitor.)

The mission is sharing "He is the Gift" from lds.org and we hope you all have taken advantage of this amazing new video, helping us remember why we celebrate Christmas.  Enjoy your families and all the festivities during this "most wonderful time of the year!"

25 November - 1 December

Our weather has had its ups and downs in the last week, clouds rolling in and out, bringing some relief (shade) from the unrelenting heat of the rays of sunshine.  There was lots of teasing about whether or not some much needed rain might fall and it usually didn't happen.  Wednesday evening as we returned home from Institute the skies became filled with white lightning and thunder creating a beautiful show.  Shortly some rain began to fall and then became heavier and heavier - yea!!  Then we had the brilliant idea to back the car onto the driveway and get a free carwash if the skies kept deciding to deliver the rain.  So after 30 or so minutes of downpour, we pulled the car back into the garage and Arlo toweled it down and viola, a shiny blue Corolla was now in our garage, where a slightly dirty one had been there before.  This particular evening, we were able to open the three sliding doors in our flat and enjoy some cool, balmy breezes moving throughout, instead of having the air con unit going and that was a nice change!

Sandy has also had her ups and downs this week with her asthma and it finally required that she visit a doctor. Dr. Mitch, as he introduced himself, is a FP/anesthesiologist and his wife is a FP/gynecologist. He is a wonderful young man, probably in his late 20's or early 30's, who along with his doctor wife are practicing in Emerald, a rural area.  They will spend three or so years working here and when finished it gives them a boost up the seniority latter when they decide to return to the city, plus their housing/utilities are subsidized.  Dr. Mitch decided Sandy needed a chest x-ray, handed her the order and sent her to "duck over" to the x-ray department.  Several days later, he even called to check up on her breathing.  Elder (Dr.) Madsen from the mission has also been of great help in speeding along the recovery process over the telephone and we feel like things are finally headed in the right direction.

During the past weeks, we have shared about our opportunity to perform some service for the community at the Neighbourhood Centre (shown above).  On Thursday evenings, we arrive at 5:15 and get things ready for serving dinner at 5:30. This past week, our Institute class again provided the meal which was spaghetti noodles/sauce, green salad and garlic bread.  

This picture shows the serving cart from which we dish up the food and then take it to those coming for the meal.  Every chair was filled this night and there is a big diversity among the people - some regulars looking for company and a meal and itinerant laborers seeking a nourishing, warm meal after a long day in the fields.

These are part of the regular bunch, who are always in their seats (no one had better try to take their seats!!) before we arrive.  It has been fun to get to know them a little bit as we try to visit after they eat.  The woman with the hat, is a real tease and she has tried to pull our chains every so often, especially the time we came upon her in the grocery store.  Don't know her age, but she had spent 11 years out in the gem fields before moving to Emerald several months ago after losing her husband. She showed us her rings and necklaces, all set with stones she had found fossicking. The pink hues on their faces are coming from the reddish colored canopy over the table.

 One afternoon, we stopped at the Visitors Centre which is adjacent to a park and were very surprised to "notice" this piece of artwork.  This is a giant reproduction of van Gogh's "3 Sunflowers In A Vase" and while Cameron Cross was teaching in Manitoba, Canada, he started The Big Easel Project to reproduce up to seven sunflowers portraits and place them throughout the world. So far there are only three paintings - the first being in Canada, the second one was placed here in Emerald in 1999 and a third was put in Kansas.  The work of art which is a 24 by 32 foot reproduction of the painting on an 80 foot steel easel.  Every year during the Easter holiday, there is the Central Highlands Easter Sunflower Festival and it is really a big deal.  There are numerous activities which span a week's time, such as a rodeo, family day, amusement rides and the crowning of Miss Emerald Sunflower.

In the last few weeks, much of the produce grown here in Emerald has ripened and is being picked. These are green grapes, of which there are miles and miles, all covered with the white tarps, which we figure are to protect some from the sun.  Most of the grapes are being picked and packaged to be shipped somewhere, but we did get to taste some at the home of one of our members and they are really good,  Watermelons are really plentiful right now also.  With the temperatures so hot, the workers take breaks every 20-30 minutes for water and if they want they "crack" a melon open to help quench their thirst.  If any melons roll off the wagon, they are just left there for some lucky worker or neighbor to pick up.

Thanksgiving Day not only gave us our service opportunity at the Neighbourhood Centre, but the branch mission leader and his family, prepared a turkey day dinner for these Yankee missionaries. Their kindness was so appreciated by us, and never have we eaten outside with a few palm trees swaying in a little breeze on Thanksgiving.  We shared a turkey roll, roasted sweet potatoes, white potatoes and pumpkin along with some gravy, peas and corn cobbettes and ambrosia salad.

Friday afternoon, we were so pleased to finally be able to share some English learning materials we received from the mission office with Hiro, a newly baptized Japanese young man as of last July.  He is struggling with his English and wants so badly to gain a good command of the language.  He works at KFC cooking chicken, he tells us with a big smile.  His desire is to earn and save lots of money and then go to university somewhere in a country that we can't understand the name of and study IT!

Our Sacrament Meeting speakers Sunday spoke with an emphasis on the Savior, one was a single senior sister preparing to serve a mission in the next few months and the other was our Branch President.  He shared about an accident he had while serving a mission in Indonesia, which took his memory from him for several months.  He spoke about not wanting to write in his journal before the accident, but how grateful he was to have those precious pages filled with his understanding of the gospel and his testimony of our Elder Brother.  It was through his re-reading of his journal while in re-hab that his mind was able to bring back some of what had been taken away by the accident. Thought we would share this to reinforce the value of journal keeping in all of our lives.

As we close another week, we are grateful for so much - in fact, we should be grateful for everything. Family and friends who mean everything to us and especially we give thanks for our membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is a privilege to serve together and be together 24/7!