Departing missionaries spend Monday in a special temple session, interviews with President, a last dinner together followed by a farewell/testimony meeting and a huge sleepover at the Mission Home. Dinner is served on china and glassware, which requires lots of dishes. We come just before dinner to meet with the missionaries, give out paperwork and passports, collect support and insurance cards, then have the privilege of staying to share the meal with the missionaries sitting at the table in the breakfast area. The kitchen is our usual spot for after dinner cleanup, so the meeting preparations can be taken care of. There are usually a few helping hands among the sisters, but tonight this elder was willing to spend some minutes helping before heading into the meeting. Arlo always grabs first call for the dish water, just like at home! Sandy and our favorite District Leader from our skype district meetings while serving in Emerald are trying to keep up with drying the rinsed dishes. He is from Bakersfield, California and his mother's family has some ties to Ridgecrest. He and his mom are returning to Brisbane the middle of August and we hope to get to meet her in person, after exchanging quite a few emails.
One Aussie, One Chinese, One Canadian and One Tongan - truly an international group!
The last time together as our Assistants, Elder Hatch (Canada) was transferred the next morning and will finish his last six weeks on mission as a terrific Zone Leader. One might notice the slice of strawberry shortcake on the table - not a usual dessert item here. The sister who comes and prepares the departing dinner, made shortcake in honour of the 4th of July coming at the end of the week.
Six Americans (two of these were Mandarin Chinese speaking), One Russian, One Peruvian, One Canadian, Two Kiwis (New Zealand), One Australian and One Mission President and his beautiful wife! By 11 the next morning, nine of these valiant missionaries were on planes winging their way home, while three were going to spend 7-10 days visiting the mission field with parents.
Tuesday morning found us at Transfer Meeting, checking cars while the missionaries were anxiously waiting for their new companions and assignments. It is such a joy when we watch the young elders and sisters interacting with each other, smiling, laughing, hugging and just being so loving. There are moments for us when we say "why can't they take better care of things" but these are over ruled by the enthusiasm of the day. A new American elder came to us looking so scared and probably a little sick inside, after he had just learned that he was going to be the designated driver in his new companionship. Remember, the Australian's drive on the "other side" of the road! Lucky for him, he had a confident, supportive companion who owned a GPS, even though he had never driven and wouldn't ever because of the small little country he comes from. As we were leaving the car park, these two elders drove past with the scared elder at the wheel, but he gave us a thumbs up and we know he will be ok!
Wednesday brought eight new missionaries (five American, one Philippino, 2 Thailand), plus the prospect of two additional elders coming next week. Orientation goes so much smoother when there is a small group and they understand our English! Two little sisters from Thailand really had a struggle with English, even after spending twelve weeks at the Provo MTC and we look forward to watching them progress during their missionary service.
4th of July needed to be celebrated and most of the local Brisbane senior missionaries met up at Coochiemudlo Island about 35 minutes southeast from Brisbane in the southern part of the Moreton Bay. The little island is popular because it has nice beaches on three sides and mangroves on the fourth. The trail that rings the five square kilometer island can be walked in about an hour. The name has Aborigine origins - coochie (red rock) and mudlo (stone). There are red clay banks above one stretch of beach where the clay is taken by the Aborigine people to use as a color for their traditional artwork.
A ten minute ride on a ferry brought us to the landing jetty and off we walked to enjoy Coochiemudlo. While walking on a trail that rings the island, a woman riding her "jazzy" stopped along side of our group and shared a lot of history about this little bit of paradise. There are about 400-500 homes, some holiday homes, with about 720 people residing here. We passed a group of 10-12 men and women on their hands and knees, so we stopped to see if there was something we were missing out on! Upon asking what they were doing, a woman told us that they were weeding. Our response among ourselves was how do you know what is a weed with all the tall grasses growing. This group comes once a month to try and make a difference along the shoreline by weeding.
Lunch together enjoying fish & chips, salt and pepper calamari, and a hamburger or two at the only real restaurant on the island. All were in agreement that the food was great, but we still missed hot dogs, potato salad and all the other traditional 4th of July food! This special holiday holds many special memories for our family - pool parties, 4th of July Children's Program, flag raising ceremony, fireworks, root beer floats and being with good friends! Not any of these happened this 4th with the exception of sharing the day with good missionary friends.
If we had brought a picnic, we could have hired this pontoon boat and put some shrimp on the barbie and sail out into the bay!
There were several families fishing or picnicking on the beach. The water was beautifully clear and smooth, but a little cooler than we had anticipated it would be. A young girl's birthday party was going on, complete with a piñata, and we watched as the group of girls all lined up on the ferry jetty walkway and jumped together into the inviting, but cool water. The sand was littered with seashells that many of the sisters collected by the hand full. The shells were beautiful and pretty much intact, instead of the bits and pieces found in other beaches we have visited. While searching for the perfect shell, we came across an area with lots and lots of holes in the sand with little crabs popping in and out. The body on the crab was a beautiful blue color and the legs were transparent.
Different sailboats were out in the water during the hours we were visiting, causing us to think about our two sail boating sons and their adventures. There were a few jet skis having fun ripping around the island. It was a relaxing time to sit, watch the water and take in all of the beauty surrounding us. As the sun was beginning to set, we boarded the ferry to go back to our car and journeyed back to Brisbane. The senior sisters traveled with us and one had bought sparklers in the small party section of their local grocery store. So before parting ways, we stood in the dark street, lit a sparkler in each hand, and while twirling them around, sang the Star Spangled Banner. It is always hard to be away from our beloved United States, even with all of the turmoil and strife, and so we close with Happy Birthday, America, Happy Birthday!!
We are a little jealous when we read about your outings with the other senior missionary couples. We are not as far away from other couples as you were in Emerald City but about the only time we see other couples is when we go into Joburg for transfer meeting or zone conferences. No senior couples conferences and no outings. But we do get to go on game drives!
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