13- 19 April

Our weeks from Monday to Friday seem to be a blur of regular office work, but truly no day is the same as the one before.  Our wonderful missionaries are able to present different challenges, both large and small, that work to keep us on our toes.  Two sisters had minor accidents, but it sure shook their confidence in driving on the "wrong" side of the road.  One of our elders had the ATM eat his support card and now "what was he going to do?"

Thursday, the Angel Moroni was replaced on the temple spire due to extensive hail damage last November.  This happened before we arrived in Brisbane and these are the hailstones borrowed from a missionary blog.  Several of the mission cars have hail damage to the roof.  It was shared with us that there is a spare Moroni in the basement shared with the other four Australian temples because damage from birds or weather often take a toll on the statues.

The week had some sadness because one of our sisters decided to return home after being here three months.  She is 36 and had wanted to serve a mission, after joining the church a few years ago, but found that she couldn't make the adjustment to missionary life.  

Saturday morning, we accompanied the senior office sisters up north to Maleny and the Glass House Mountains, almost an hour and a half drive north of Brisbane.  The mountains were named by explorer Captain James Cook in 1770, who said the mountains reminded him of the glass making furnaces back in his native England.  It is thought that the peaks were formed from some volcanic activity in the area.

The Sunshine Coast Hinterland or the coastal range inland from the Sunshine Coast.

This chair was built for the Maleny Botanic Gardens and we were told it had set a record for being the largest in Australia.  All of us were reminded of Lily Tomlin and her huge  rocking chair on the TV show Laugh-In. It was so new that the paint was still a little tacky and we were afraid of taking away a purple souvenir on our backsides!

"Maleny Botanic Gardens cover more than ten acres.  They are a panorama of waterfalls, ponds, colourful plantings and manicured lawns.  Over six kilometres of walking paths meander through thousands of different plants, ranging from roses, azaleas, orchids, annuals and perennials to some of the rarest cycads in the world." (Taken from their brochure)   The flowers and plants are so beautiful in this part of the world and we are taking lots of pictures, maybe one day we will make a  Brisbane collage of the flora in the area.

Entering the subtropical rain forest in the Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve.  Our entry fee was a "gold coin," dropped in a box at the door.  Both the one and two dollar pieces are gold in colour, so we guess it didn't matter which one we used and gave them two dollar coins, small cost for entry into "the natural jewel of the Sunshine Coast."

Tall, tall trees with unbelievable root systems and trunks.  Some type of small animal was digging out a home inside one of the sections at the base of this tree, piles of dirt but didn't see the occupant.

As we walked the trail, we were alerted by a passer-by that there was a pademelon ahead.  He was found in the brush, but we couldn't get a clear picture, then just a short distance a baby was sitting in the middle of the trail.  Even though we were quiet, he quickly hopped over into the brush and there was mom, so he popped into her pouch.  A new experience to watch that happen!  Pademelon comes from the Aboriginal name for a rainforest wallaby.  Pandemelons, wallabies, and kangaroos are very alike in body structure, and the names just refer to the three different size groups.  Multiple attempts to get a picture in the dark rain forest, made it necessary to borrow from Goggle one of a mom and her joey.

A Queensland home near Maleny. This one was up for sale and we might have taken a tour if our time hadn't been so short in the area.  The architecture of this type of home is becoming very intriguing to us as we drive past many in the Brisbane area.

This is the week in which our new Golden missionaries come back for training from their local areas, now that they are more alert and the jet lag is gone.  We are invited to have dinner with them in the evening and enjoyed watching and hearing them interact with each other.

At our Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, we heard from two missionaries - one from the Brisbane Mission and the other is a local going to the Portugal Lisbon Mission.  The soon-to-be missionary was baptized 18 months ago and very excited to be able to serve.  Most of the missionaries from Australia usually serve in this country or New Zealand, so his call is a little unique.  Our local missionary, who happens to be the Zone Leader, was assigned to speak on the topic of raising children.  He commented on how he thought it was strange item for a single person to talk about, but shared experiences in his home that have made him who he is now.  His parents would have loved to hear his talk!

"God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability."  Neal A. Maxwell.  This was on our Sunday program and is our testimony, because without Him we couldn't even begin to do all that is needed each day.