18-31 May

Each week we comment between us, "This week just can't be a busy as the last week." and then it turns out to be just as full as the previous week and then some!  Some days are full of the normal routine of busyness, and others bring brand-new excitement! 

This amazing young man came to our mission as a three month trial run missionary.  His proud father brought him to the office, put the name badge into the suitcoat pocket of his son, gave him a huge hug and off he went.  Three+ months later, after the recommendation that he can serve a full-time mission, we are in President Henderson's office with the elder as he prepares to open his official mission call from President Monson.  Before opening the white envelope,  he bore a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and thanked his companion for the support and strength he had been to him over the last three months.  With tears streaming down his cheeks, he opened the envelope and read aloud to us in the room and his family who was watching via Skype, that he would be serving in the Australia Brisbane Mission!  President had never before seen that happen, and our now official elder was overjoyed to be able to continue to serve here.  His paperwork went before the normal missionary assignment committee and he could have been called anywhere in the world.  So he left the mission field and attended the New Zealand MTC for training and came back with our new intake of 17 missionaries this transfer.

Departing and Arriving, plus Transfers week is always hectic and filled with emotion.  Several of our elders leaving this transfer have become close to our hearts and Sandy had tears as we wished them everything good as they prepared to start a new chapter in their lives.

The Last Dinner at the mission home is always fun for everyone and Elder Low was doing a super job of mashing the potatoes.  His big smile will be missed and the work he has done in the Mandarin Chinese program has been so important.  Returning to his native Singapore, he will become a great asset to the growth of the church.

The original intake group for the elders in this picture two years ago was 37 new missionaries. The original sisters have left and other elders left the transfer before, due to shortened visas, but this was a very large group leaving.  Most are from the United States, with Tonga, Samoa, New Zealand, Philippines and Singapore represented.

On the Monday of Transfer Week, the departing missionaries spend Monday morning at the temple in a special session the temple has just for them - one more dignified picture and one of excitement as they anticipate what is ahead for them in their lives. 

Monday evening, we come to the Mission Home and bring the departure packets to them.  These contain their passports, travel itineraries, Certificate of Release and every other piece of paper that was in their folders in the office.  Even though we counsel these young people to be careful as they open their envelopes because items can get mixed up with the missionary sitting next to them, they are so anxious to see all of the contents!  

Saturday, the 23rd, we celebrated Sandy's birthday by taking a leisurely ride up the Brisbane River on the City Cat, and seeing some new sights along the river.  The morning brought several singing birthday greetings via phone calls from missionaries.  The trunks on these trees in the City Botanic Gardens were really impressive as we walked past this row.

Sandy had to gather a lot of courage to walk across this amazing foot bridge, the Goodwill Bridge over the Brisbane River. It is well used by walkers and bikers alike. 

On the Brisbane River, there are several types of boats that seemed to be used for parties or gatherings. Usually the boats are anchored, so we don't see them moving.  But this day, the riverboat was really moving along.

Our comment quite often is "the grounds around Brisbane are so beautiful and well planned." This was one of several walkways we passed through at Southbank, on our way to catch the City Cat back to our flat.  Later in the evening, we had dinner at the Portside area, which is where the cruise ships dock.  From our seats in the restaurant, we could see into the windows of the staterooms.

Each of us in the office have a little celebration in honor of our birthdays, when the time comes. Our Senior Sisters had spent their Preparation Day at a Greek Festival and brought in delicious pastries from their adventure to share with us.  This was the first Staff Meeting with our two new assistants and one new office elder.

Our FHE one Monday, was shared with Elder and Sister Richins.  They taught us a game called Hand and Foot, which our special neighbor Ken in St. George has been wanting to teach us for a long time. The Richins are living in temporary housing for another month, until the couple they will be replacing leave for home. 

The weather is wonderful, couldn't ask for better with temperatures being in the low-mid 70's during the day. The skies have gorgeous sunsets and life is good.  Tuesday was officially the first day of winter and our night time lows are becoming cooler and now we are requiring another light blanket.   We couldn't ask for anything more to be serving together as missionaries, helping support the daily needs of all our missionaries who are working so hard to serve valiantly!

4 - 17 May

Greetings from the land of the Southern Cross, which is now directly overhead and can be seen clearly at night.  After our Family Home Evening two weeks ago, nine missionaries could be seen standing in the street gazing up into the skies, searching through the stars and it was really fun when we were all able to pick out the constellation.  Autumn is really here and we are enjoying some spectacular weather with temperatures in the 70's.  When the sun goes down, the temperatures are much cooler and we have had to add a blanket to our bed.

Monday, May 4th was our usual Office Staff Meeting, but it also turned into a little birthday celebration for Sister Henderson, since this was her actual birthday.  Her sweet daughter made her a special breakfast, so she came into the meeting a few minutes late, while we were singing our opening hymn.  As she opened the office door, President immediately changed mid sentence over to "Happy Birthday" from "Do What Is Right!"  He was so excited to honor her special day with all of us in the office!  The hymn that was sung this past Monday was "Carry On", but our clever President's wife, sang it as Carrie Lon, Carrie Lon, Carrie Lon - their first names!

Since February, the mission has been waiting for a visa to be granted to the Richins but with no success.  These wonderful seniors asked for a temporary mission at the Family History Center until their visa did arrive, since they could live at home in the Salt Lake City area. They served a mission in Namibia and it was extremely difficult to obtain the necessary police clearance for the Australia visa, but with time and patience it finally came through and they arrived on May 6th.  They will be staying in the Brisbane area, assigned to support two or three stakes and will be replacing the Shute's when they leave the 2nd of July.

Mother's Day is celebrated on the same Sunday as the United States, so there was a special program for Sacrament Meeting. As we entered the chapel, the sisters were given a beautiful single rose corsage to pin on and a small fabric bag containing a golden chain necklace.  Our little group of Primary children (about a dozen-reminds us of the 8th Ward) sang a song that was new to us.  They even invited the counselor from the bishopric over Primary to sing with them, for moral support he told us later. Arlo had been asked to speak about Honoring Motherhood during the Sacrament Meeting.  It was interesting to us that later in the evening, he received a text from the bishopric thanking him for his remarks that day - maybe something that could be started in other wards!

Due to the time difference all of the American missionaries called their mothers on Monday.  Here is Elder Pinegar (one of our assistants) Skyping his family.  The office was noisy with several other Americans trying to speak with their mums, so he went out into the hallway to make his call!  It was fun to be in the office with them all and feel the excitement they were having with their families. This brought back all of the warm memories we had with our missionary sons during the Mother's Day calls from Texas, Brasil and the Philippines.  Like the other American missionaries, we spoke with our children on Monday, a unique experience since most of them were all together in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on holiday!

These four great elders are the current Assistants to President.  Elders Pinegar and Robison (the two left of center) will be leaving this next week to return to their homes.  Sandy took this picture of these wonderful young men in front of the transfer board, which holds all the changes for the coming transfer.  Usually there is a blind that comes down over it to keep information secure, but she caught them just before the blind was put into place.  On Friday morning, after a week of deliberations, the assistants, President and Sister Henderson attend a temple session together and meet for some time afterwards in the Celestial Room to confirm that everyone still feels the choices are correct.  Later that afternoon, the office elders were given permission to look at all of the changes.  They were just pacing around the office and making some predictions.  The three office elders were as excited for the unveiling, as they might have been in their younger years for Christmas morning to come! 

Since we are into the autumn season,  it has been recommended that all of the missionaries get a flu shot. The Mickelsen's decided to wait an extra two weeks and get a four-strain variety, versus the three-strain variety.  Sandy was intrigued with the signage at the doctors office.  Lucky for us, the only reaction was a small amount of tenderness in our upper arm.

It was a mutual decision for Arlo and Sandy that a real preparation day was needed, so we decided to make the hour drive up the coast to the Steve Erwin Australia Zoo.  Due to forgetfulness, we missed the photo shot of the Zoo Welcome sign, so chose to use the illustration on the gift bag, which we were very impressed with!

Koalas were in abundance and a delight to observe.  In one area you could walk through their habitat and zoo handlers would allow you to interact with them.  They are so fun to watch because the usual position is to be nestled in the tree branches, sleeping.  Sometimes as we watched an arm or leg would stretch out and then pull right back in.  Usually they are not as awake as the little one above.  We love how they are so sweet and gentle looking.  If they are not sleeping, they are eating at a fairly rapid rate, the eucalyptus leaves from branches brought into the koala compound.

The Crocoseum was our stop for the Wildlife Warriors show.  Lots of colorful birds were sent flying through the stadium and one even had been trained to land on the outstretched arm of a visitor.  Their person's hand was holding a $5 bank note, which had been folded into a compact rectangle.  The bird would take the bank note and fly back to the trainer, then shortly flew back to return the money! 

The star of the show was of course a crocodile.  Crocodiles are found in many of the waters of northern Queensland and the reason to stay out of bodies of water where they could be found and at least 15 feet back from the shore line.   Using their powerful tails to propel them, they can attack with lightening speed in the water and at the waters edge.  The trainers were very cautious and stayed way clear when the croc was in the water, but when he was on land they were more brave as they could out run him with his stubby legs.

Heading into "Roo Heaven",  Sandy is having a conversation with her new "golden contact."  The zoo had several acres where one could wander around and interact with the kangaroo population which had become very tame and use to human company.

Roo Heaven is home to several varieties of kangaroos, including the wallaby.  The Zoo is so well planned and laid out and a beautiful place to spend an day. There are many more sections, that we didn't take the time to visit during our time there.  When some American company arrives in November/December, this will be on the list of places to visit.

Although the office has kept us busier than we ever imagined, we have found time to interact with the other senior missionaries in the area.  We are enjoying getting to know the St. George senior missionaries assigned to the Brisbane Mission and will have many new friends when we return home. The local couples are meeting together every two weeks for Family Home Evening, taking turns hosting the evening and presenting the lesson.  Several of us got together for a pot luck dinner last Sunday evening on Mother's day to say goodbye to the Montague's who are returning home to Salt Lake.  We replaced them in the office and they have been serving the last four months in the northern zone in Townsville.  

It is a great privilege to serve together in the office, helping our president and his wife with the everyday needs of the missionaries.  We love to speak with them on the phone and shake hands with them as they come into the office.  They are amazing young people so happy to be serving as missionaries in the Australia Brisbane Mission and so are we!

27 April - 3 May

Monday morning was marked with sadness, but yet happiness as we bid Elder Kumar good-bye. After every effort humanly possible to extend his visa, the Immigration Department did not grant our request and he had to leave Australia.  A member of the Quorum of theTwelve re-assigned him to the Fiji Mission, where he served the first 6 months of his mission, while waiting for his unusually short Australian visa.  He was a kind, gentle yet strong Zone Leader and loved by all. Each time we saw him, he always asked what could he do for us.  He will bring a great strength to Fiji and has grown tremendously since coming to Brisbane six months ago.

Thursday and Friday brought some pretty "wild weather" according to the local television report. All day Friday rain kept falling (300 mm or 12 inches) causing the rescheduling of the annual rugby game between Australia and New Zealand for the first time since 1948.  Sister Arseneau, in Alaska right now, sent an email wondering if everything was ok because her news broadcast talked of our floods. Two of our elders went out to pick up their suits from the dry cleaners and found the roads were flooded, came back empty handed, but soaking wet and holding their shoes and socks in their hands,  after trying to help a man stalled because of all the water.  These pictures (borrowed from the web) are of the flood in 2011 and we were fearful that there was going to be a repeat in 2015.  It was amazing to watch the skies just continually empty out.

After spending Saturday morning taking care of some office work that required quiet, concentration and no phones ringing, we took to the road to find Brisbane's tallest mountain.  Mt. Coot-tha (287 metres above sea level),  means "place of honey" because the Aboriginal people used to come to the area to collect honey produced by the native stingless bee.  It has a spectacular look-out, well known in the community as the perfect spot for parties and weddings.  A 90th birthday celebration and a small wedding were happening as we visited.  

As we drove down the hillside from Mt. Coot-tha, we stopped for a short visit to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, as it was almost closing time.  Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium is located within the gardens, another spot we will visit at a later time.

This stunning rose sculpture marked a small, but beautiful garden area filled with many varieties of fragrant roses. 

This has been an especially busy week as Sister Arseneau, one of the senior office sisters, needed to return home to Alaska to help her daughter following some back surgery.  She is truly missed because we have to pick up many of her responsibilities on top of our own.  The Henderson's welcomed their youngest child and daughter home from her mission in Taiwan.  It was interesting to learn that our President has set apart and released all six of his children in their respective missions. There was special permission given to him to release Sarah.  She will be here for the next couple of months, until needing to return to Utah for school.

Autumn is really here and it is so exciting to need a light jacket at times and not have to have the air conditioning running constantly.  It was even feeling drier, until all the rain started to fall, but should soon feel dry again.  Life is moving at a rapid pace, but we are feeling very blessed to be a part of the missionary effort here in Brisbane.