1 - 20 September

Our regular blog entries have gone to nil, since Arlo has been basically restricted to the couch and short walks to the bathroom and Sandy is at the office, there are no pictures of any preparation day activities to share!  But we need to give a report of what has happened in the last few weeks.

Tuesday the 8th, was the day for the second neurosurgeon's visit to review the MRI which showed a severely ruptured disk which has spread in two directions - up and out.  She wants to give it 6 - 8 weeks to see if it will heal enough naturally to eliminate the pain, which she gives a 30% chance. So the need to "lay low” for at least another two weeks, which he has been great at doing.  The doctor also gave us the option for a nerve block injection, if needed. We discussed the surgery option for later which would not be a sure thing fix.  Not exactly what we wanted to hear, but still ok.  Time has passed since seeing the doctor,  and good progress has been made.  So Arlo is hoping to be back into the office, at least part-time, this coming week, the time for arriving and departing missionaries.

Arlo has been privileged to receive the sacrament from two of the assistants and their temporary companions. After administering the sacrament on the first Sunday, Elders Dunlop and Iakopo shared a good gospel discussion.  The next Sunday Elder Greening and Iakopo came.  This has been a blessing for Arlo, because as he shared with these young men, seldom in his life has he not been able to attend a church service and partake of the Sacrament.  Our senior missionaries here in the Brisbane area, along with President and Sister Henderson have paid many visits to our flat which have been so appreciated.  It is so good that Arlo has access to all the mission office applications through the internet, plus cell phones, so we really have a mobile mission office.  This is being his saving grace! In our weekly Office Staff Meeting, Sandy commented on being part of an amazing blessing to have 230+ missionaries, plus friends and family in which prayers are being offered in Arlo's behalf. Several temples in the world also have his name on the prayer rolls, another blessing.

One Saturday morning, Elder Greening and his companion called on the phone and asked if they could come over and have us help with a situation by using Facebook.  That morning they had been at Kangaroo Point, where they had found a wallet.  The owner's name was discovered and so we searched for the name on Facebook and found there were about 10-12 pictures all with the same name.  Sandy opened the wallet and found a driver's license with a picture on it.  Sure enough, as we followed down the list of names on the Facebook page, a picture matched the license.  Then Sandy wondered how we were going to make contact because there was no phone number anywhere, but these missionaries know how Facebook works and showed Sandy how to send a message, giving a contact number for the woman to call.  Shortly a message came back and arrangements were made for these elders to come to her home that night to return the wallet.

As the mission secretary,  Sandy has to make calls to stake presidents with whom President Henderson needs to speak.  This past week, a call was needed to be made to Johannesburg, South Africa, where Sandy found that she was very familiar with this particular stake president. He had been our "boss" in the PEF program while we served in Durban, South Africa.  It was an enjoyable short conversation recalling our time of service together.

In the mail this week was a note from some sweet sisters who attend the Brisbane Ward as we do. They both are from China and we love to see them each week.  The number of missionaries serving in this mission who speak multiple languages is amazing.  There are many times when we get a bit frustrated because of the difficulty in communicating with these fantastic missionaries, but we take our hats off to them because we don't know two languages!

These two sisters will not be companions anymore, as each are being given a brand new missionary to train and they will be wonderful teachers and examples. The picture below was taken at a recent Chinese Missionary Training Meeting, held every six weeks.  Our letter writers are on the front row of sisters,  2nd and 3rd from the left.  The Chinese members are growing by leaps and bounds here in Brisbane!

The photo below is the current mission presidency and their wives.  The big news this past week was the announcement of a new temple president for the Brisbane Temple.  Robert and Jenny Cowan (the couple on the left) will begin their service on 1 November as the new temple president and matron.  President Henderson will now have to reorganize the mission presidency. The other counselor and his wife on the right are Robert and Rose Gordon.