14 - 31 December

We have exciting news to share – our son Jared has asked Ali to marry him on January 23^rd in the Newport Beach Temple. The next news is that we are cutting short by one month, our mission to enable us to be in attendance for the wedding. Missionaries, at the discretion of the mission president, have a leeway of 30 days on either side of their release date to return home. So this week a list has begun of the “last times.”

Monday (14 Dec) was our last dinner with departing missionaries at the mission home. This group we don't know as well as some, so it was a little easier to let them go. The transfer in January is huge and has many elders and sisters whom we would like to give hugs and goodbyes to, but it won't be happening.  Elder and Sister Mickelsen were invited to listen in on the “last advice from President Henderson” portion of the evening. Thank goodness we don't have to worry about going home to start school or think about getting married!

The wonderful sister, Hazel, who pepares these dinners is always sung to by group – this is a smaller group so they almost all fit in the picture.  Right now the favorite song is "The Army of Helaman."

Another last  for us - Transfer Meeting.  Two new elders getting to know each other as they walk to the car.  The elder on the left does not drive, but cheers on his new companions if they are at all concerned about being behind the wheel on "the other side."  He is one the most conscientious elders we have and wants to make sure things are done right, so he calls the office heaps and asks for "his friend" (Elder Mickelsen) to give him direction.  

Our Queensland resident Elder Campbell finished his mission on 24 December - last day photo.  He is almost totally blind, so couldn't receive an official call.  President Henderson  tried his hardest to get the call, but it just didn't happen, so President just had him serve mostly in the office as our computer guru. He has additional health issues that make it impossible for him to door knock, so he was part of a three-some companionship.  His companions would go out "finding" and he would stay in the office until they returned to do their work as office elders.  Such a spiritual, sensitive and independent young man whom we have come to love and respect.  He will start school the first part of February and will not be an easy journey for him, but we know he will make it.

First day of mission photo as Elder Halo (tall) and Elder Campbell (short) leave the mission home after orientation.

The day before Elder Campbell left, all of the elders in the office were being silly and just having a little bit of fun before he walked out the door.  The hats were leftovers from a Senior Conference event and were headed to the rubbish bin, so they were rescued for a picture or two!  

Elder Fu has had some fun with "infringements" for the Mickelsen's.  After church, we find them on the windscreen.  The one above, really touched our hearts!

The office missionaries love Sandy's burritos and ask for them every time deliberation week came, thus the reference in this particular "infringement."

Dinner (18 Dec) with the local senior couples at The Shore Restaurant before attending "The Spirt of Christmas" at the near-by Queensland Performing Arts Centre.  This event was the start of several get-togethers in December, again the last we will share with this group. 

The program was filled with beautiful music from different musical groups in Brisbane, accompanied by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra . There was also a fantastic organist sitting up above the 250 plus singers.  A Christmas message was delivered by an African Australian, which was a real surprise for us, to have a religious musical program and a spoken religious message, sponsored by the government.  The evening was a memorable event for us during the Christmas season.

(Dec 23) The Christmas zone conference was split with five zones coming in the morning for training, then lunch with the entire group of missionaries.  After lunch and the program, the second set of five zones had their training and the morning group returned to their areas of labor. One of the wonderful aspects of the ABM is the diversity of cultures among the 237 Elders and Sisters serving here.  There are missionaries from 32 countries speaking 35 different languages.  Six different presentations were shared including dances from Thailand, China and Samoa, singing from the Philippine missionaries, a Khmer traditional monkey dance and then the big finale - the Haka.

From the Book of Mormon, Alma 53:20-21 we read:  And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant ...  they were men of truth and soberness.  The ABM loves their "stripling warriors" who battle daily for the spiritual  lives of their investigators.  This is a group representing New Zealand, the Maori culture performing the Haka.  Sandy didn't really like watching this because the looks on the faces, were not the usual sweet and kind elders we know, but it was amazing and could have incited a great deal of fear if there had been an opponent!

Elder San, the native Monkey Dance performer, with the Henderson's.  He is from an orphanage in Cambodia, is an outstanding leader,  and is hoping to attend BYU-Hawaii in August.  This orphanage was the source of the Christmas ties given to the elders by the Henderson's last year.  A beautifully drawn picture of the Brisbane Temple had been made into a temple recommend holder for all of us this year, a wonderful reminder of our missionary service in Brisbane, as we attend the temple.

2015 Australia Brisbane Mission Christmas Zone Conference 

(All of the missionaries minus the Northern Zone)

Not an easy task to get all the excited missionaries all positioned, but it happened.  The camera was set on a tripod, across the drive from the group.   Sister Henderson checked everything, set the timer and then did a mad dash to get back into her chair in time.  It took several tries with both Henderson's making runs and the young ones cheered and loved every minute of the process!

We love the gorgeous flowers, plants and trees here in Brisbane.  The jacaranda came out with lavender blooms, but didn't last long enough for us.  But then the poinciana trees bloomed and gave us more beautiful canopies over the streets,

The winner of the most unusual Christmas gift to come in the mission office this year - 35 lbs of frozen food - a Puerto Rican Christmas dinner and it was still frozen after 3 days of travel!

At the Brisbane Ward Christmas party (19 Dec),  a nativity scene and costumes were all set up, so people could dress up and portray different parts.  One young couple and their new baby used this backdrop for their family Christmas photo.  Two of our Mandarin speaking sister missionaries and their investigator acted out the parts of angels and a shepherd above.

Carols by Candlelight is a tradition throughout Australia and since candles can't be lit in the building, some fun battery operated candles were handed out to be used.  The sister in charge of this particular part of the program called up different groups of people to sing, such as those dressed in red, priesthood holders, Relief Society sisters and then there was the missionaries from the ward singing a carol or two.

The Senior Missionary Zone leaders, Elder and Sister Richins invited the seniors who didn't have other plans and the assistants over for a ham dinner and to celebrate Christmas Eve.  We played a game or two with the gifts each of us brought and many laughs were had that night.  The evening closed with a special Christmas story and singing Silent Night.

Christmas morning found the group back together for brunch at Elder and Sister Madsen's.  Lots of good food, which we always eat too much of, and great fellowship.  Each couple shared a favorite Christmas story or experience, and most of these were the kind that brought tears to our eyes.

December 30, brought three new senior sisters to our mission to serve in the office.  Sister Dever came from Arizona and Sister Vande Merwe left from Farmington, Utah.  Our third new sister is Sister Denton who hales from Sydney.  It is fun to hear a sister's Aussie accent in the office now.

For New Year's Eve, Elder and Sister Mizukawa shared their traditional celebration with us all. All of the ingredients for making our own sushi were on the table - salmon, shrimp, avocado, cucumber, rice and sea weed wraps.  Sister Arseneau brought some sparklers and so about 10 pm on the front lawn, a bunch of seniors were out making designs in the sky with the lit sparklers. Several cars on the street drove by slowly, wondering what in the world was going on with all these "more mature" adults playing around!

President Henderson concluded his Christmas conference telephone call to the missionaries with these words:
Rejoice in laboring this season and think about the other labors that went on.  Heavenly Father laboring to send His Son to a little manger to Mary laboring to bring her baby into the world to be wrapped in some rags.  The wisemen laboring to get to the place where they could see the Christ-child and the shepherds laboring in the fields with their sheep.  Finally as missionaries, we are all laboring to bring souls unto Christ.  President's wish for us all was to "come to know Him, our Savior better this season and to rejoice in being worn out in His behalf as we serve."

It is truly hard to believe that 2015 has come to an end and now it is time to ready ourselves for another fantastic year starting with a few more weeks of missionary service and the wedding of Jared and Ali.