10 - 17 November

G'Day Mates, how ya'going?

Summer is definitely upon us, with temperatures hitting 39/40C (102/104F) and higher, and sunscreen being part of our daily getting ready ritual.  Our week seems to be much of the same,  but that is great!  Tuesday mornings always brings us District Meeting, via Skype and we are impressed by the knowledge and understanding that our District Leader shares with the missionaries in four different areas.  Elder Smith likes to share one of the Bible video clips on the church website and then we take apart and discuss what we have seen. There are times when we miss the direct interaction that happens in a personal setting, but again, we are grateful for the means of meeting together. Wednesday evening brought the halfway point of our Institute class, which we look forward to so much because of the bright lights these kids are to us - one invited us to dinner where we ate Vietnamese rice paper rolls and we shared brownie sundaes with her, so each of us had a new experience with the meal.  Two of our guys helped Arlo give Sandy a priesthood blessing as she has had some breathing issues.  Thursday, early evening, is our time to help with the dinner at the Neighbourhood Centre.  This week, a local Primary school brought in the dessert and served the filled dinner plates to those who came for dinner.  The dessert was trifle, which of course we had to try since it is a cultural experience and found it wonderful.  Each day, we always are looking for members and trying to make visits to families in the branch, trying to get to know them better, which happens when you meet them in their own surroundings. The seminary teachers (husband/wife) are from New Zealand and have lived here for 3 years.  He works in the mines doing something electrical and she has several different things that keep her busy. They have 3 children, two girls and one boy, and one is seminary age.  Seminary was being done by self-study and the parents decided they didn't want that, so went to the priesthood leaders and volunteered to teach a class in their home, at 6 am.  This really took the district president by surprise, saying he had never had anyone volunteer for early morning duty before, but he would accept their offer! Again it has been a blessing for these young people to have more interaction with each other than only on Sunday.  The local vocabulary brings smiles to our faces when we hear new ones.  During the Sunday School lesson in which we were reading from  Hosea about the faithful husband and an adulterous wife, the teacher asked us what did the husband do about the wife - he didn't "kick her to the curb", did he?  Another man talked about a scripture that just "sparked right out to him."  We love these and will share from time to time because they bring smiles to our faces. 

Last week we shared some pictures of the Emerald Botanic East Gardens, which are primarily a native landscape.  The pictures below are from the West Gardens, which are maintained and more park like.  As you can see it was an overcast rainy day.  The Gardens cover 42 hectares (104 acres) and has 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) of walking trails.  

Below is the Nogoa River which divides the East and West sections of the Gardens.

You might be wondering why we would share a picture of our not "smart" phone.  Even though it is a small, simple device, it is an really amazing part of the work.  Missionary phones all over the mission received a text from the Zone Leaders in their respective areas last Thursday morning,  telling them of a mission wide conference call to be held in 30 minutes and please be on line 10 minutes before the appointed hour. There is a special phone number that is called and then a password is entered and all 284 missionaries were connected with President and Sister Henderson.  It seems that he had just had some thoughts that he felt needed to be shared with the mission and that was possible on the spur of the moment by the means of modern technology! One thought that he shared stood out:  "Count yourself blessed if you are rejected in your work, because that is what Christ faced each day in his ministry."  The month of November has a Pacific Area wide special focus on Hastening the Work of Salvation and the Brisbane Mission has set a goal of 100 baptisms during those 30 days.  It began with a fast on the 1st Sunday and will end with a special Christ centered Sacrament Meeting on the 30th.  

Other calls have come as we have had Senior Missionary Conference Calls, where President gives us a pep talk on how to help the missionaries and the wards/branches we are called to serve in.  One comment he made to us seniors was that as we serve, we are examples to the members of what they can look forward to later on in their lives when they are "wiser" (we are not going to say when they are older!). 

Technology has also been a blessing by allowing the spread out distant northern zone to participate in a zone conference via Skype.  Also the Rockhampton District, which consists of four small branches separated by hours of driving, holds its semiannual general priesthood meeting using a webcast over the internet.  Technology is indeed helping to hasten the work.

Stay well and "no worries".