2 - 8 November

This has been a week of much learning and understanding, plus some mixed emotions - young missionaries departing and arriving, plus the realization that in the next three months many of our current seniors will be returning home also.  In addition to these things, summer decided to jump right in with both feet and really heat up Brisbane.  The temple grounds are filled with gorgeous flowering plants and we particularly enjoyed this one - the fragrance is very subtle and only wish the picture could convey the total beauty!

Monday began the first day of transfer week, with fifteen valiant missionaries coming together for the last meeting of instruction and remembering with President and Sister Henderson before departing on Tuesday morning for their respective homes - Tahiti, Thailand, United States, American Samoa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Tuesday sent us to Transfer Meeting, which is always a special experience to share with the missionaries.  There are cars to check over and keys to be redistributed for new flats.  It is an awesome experience to sit in the chapel and feel the spirit so strongly as President reads out (another Australian term) the new assignments. Trainers are announced at this time for the new Golden's arriving the next day. This is challenging to some, but they all seem to do a great job during the twelve weeks of training.  Transfers also often bring changes in the office - Elder Dunlop (blue tie) is leaving his Assistant calling to be a Zone Leader. He was just abut dancing as he left the office and be able to go out and "thrash the nation" again - not that he didn't enjoy serving as an assistant, but these elders just love being out working.  Three new missionaries will become Assistants, two of them being a part of the Mandarin Chinese program.

Wednesday morning brought eleven new missionaries to our mission - five from the New Zealand MTC (Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa), and five from the Provo MTC (United States) plus one visa waiter coming from the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. There is all the usual orientation that happens, then off they are whisked over to the Mission Home for orientation, lunch and assignments to their new companion/trainer.

After finishing up everything possible in preparation for not being in the office too much during our senior conference, we dashed off to Kangaroo Point Chapel for the kick-off session of our Conference, dinner and introductions. There were new live-at-home seniors, senior service and stake senior missionaries to welcome to our group. It will be fun to get to know them all better as time goes on.

Thursday morning was spent back at Kangaroo Point Chapel for training and the afternoon was spent visiting sites in the downtown area.  We didn't join the group because there was a lot of walking and we were trying to not have Arlo on his feet too long.

On Mother's Day this year, our children were together vacationing in Mexico and during our Face Time conversation, they had a Neil Diamond video playing in the background.  Then they announced that for Sandy's birthday, tickets for a Neil Diamond concert in Brisbane, Australia were coming our way!  For 5 1/2 months the tickets have been safely tucked away in a dresser drawer.  Thursday the 5th, they came out of hiding and off we went to enjoy a concert together with the permission and blessing of our mission president.

The Brisbane Entertainment Centre hosted the concert and it was sold out - couldn't find an empty seat anywhere.  Neil Diamond performed three concerts here in Brisbane, all were sold out, as one stop in his Australia Tour.  We totally enjoyed our evening and for a 75 year old man, he still has the greatest voice singing for two hours without an intermission.  The only sad thing was the omission of "Coming to America", but we knew that probably wasn't going to happen because after all this is Australia!!

Sandy walked into the toilet (restroom) only to find a line of women.  After joining the que, she noticed the above sign and immediately grabbed her camera.  Turns out some of the other women in line also thought this sign was truly unusual and their cameras also came out and all had a good laugh!



Again Friday morning, all of the seniors were together at KP Chapel for more training, which turned out to be very enlightening for us all.  Both morning sessions we were favored with musical items by four of our elders, two of which are Polynesian voices and so amazing to listen to.  One companionship sang "A Child's Prayer", which  for Sandy brought back Primary memories.  This was the favorite, when the children were given the opportunity to pick a song. After a Subway sandwich lunch in the early afternoon, we drove our cars up to the Mt. Coot-tha lookout and Botanic Gardens.

These are the Japanese Gardens, beautifully manicured and quiet except for the laughter coming from this raucous group, as some stepped wrong and put a foot in the water or were just trying hard to stay upright on a rock.

After picture taking and walks through the gardens we all left to go back to the chapel, freshen up and then head out for our dinner river cruise.

Parking is expensive downtown and hard to find, so four of these Maxi Taxi's were called by Arlo to transport 38 seniors to the boat launching ramp. There were 56 total for dinner, but some decided to come by personal car. 

Friday evening, we spent on the Kookaburra River Cruise boat, having dinner, elegantly plated and served, plus lots of good conversation .  Enjoyed spending some time up top the boat,  later in the evening as we cruised along the Brisbane River.

After a week of hellos and goodbyes and everything in between, we were a little spent, but had received an invitation to attend a musical recital from Hazel, the sister who helps with the cooking for missionary events at the mission home. It was sponsored by the Public Affairs of Brisbane Stake and was billed as only an piano and organ recital, but discovered we were in for more than announced.

The pipes, located in the Brisbane Ward chapel and the organ were taken from the original Kangaroo Point chapel, which was torn down to build the temple and a small chapel.  Each Sunday we see the pipes and hear them accompany the hymns and always thought they were just up for sentimental reasons, but Saturday we found out different!  There were two different organists demonstrating their skills, a group of bell players, a harp player and two vocalists, one was Hazel's husband, dressed for the role of Tevye, singing "If I Was a Rich Man."  Hazel is of Jewish heritage and 17 of her descendants have patriarchal blessings telling them they are from the lineage of Judah.

So the end has come to another week of missionary life, and how grateful we are for what we have learned and felt this week.  Our testimonies and understanding continue to grow daily and we realize how blessed we are to be in this mission at this time in our lives.

12 October - 1 November

Spring is here and summer is partially here!  Heaps of brightly colored flowers are everywhere and we especially like the flower beds on the Anglican Church grounds near our flat.  The care that has been taken to organize and plant these beautiful flowers bring to mind our temple grounds.

On the same church grounds is another example of our breast cancer ribbons and lanterns display. The street will seem very bare when the displays are removed!

Each morning as we made our way to the Post, we passed this little car, advertising the local florist on Racecourse Road.

The jacaranda trees are so beautiful and fragrant, but oh so messy as the lavender 
colored blossoms drop to the ground, leaving a thick purple carpet under each tree.  Some streets have many jacarandas and some only one or two, but they are a popular tree to have on your property.

Both the jacaranda and the lovely plant below, bring back lots of memories from South Africa.  There are many similarities between these two countries we have served in and are serving it now.  

How the YESTERDAY, TODAY and TOMORROW plant got its name (compliments of Sister Henderson's blog).
"The Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow plant. or Brunfelsia Iatifolia, got its more common name because of its fragrant two-inch blooms.  These flowers last for three days and change color with each day.  The first day they are purple (yesterday), the second day they change to a pastel lavender shade (today), and on the third day they change to an almost white color (tomorrow).  Because each flower lasts for three days and goes through this colorful transformation, it is easy to tell whether it is a yesterday bloom or a shade representing today and tomorrow.    

Our weather has been a little different from the usual for Brisbane at this point on the calendar. There has been more rain and the temperatures seem warmer than they should be for the time of the year.  It is amazing that the 1st of November is really here, but many of the stores are displaying Christmas goods, so it must be true.

Some of our missionaries we have become closer to than others, mostly because of their missionary positions.  Elder Pu was an assistant to President Henderson and Sandy as been helping him make application to attend BYU-Hawaii.  China is his home and he has a story that pulls at the heartstrings. His family made great sacrifices to bring him into the world, but lucky for his family, the mission and the church, we have Elder Pu.  This young man has great potential, and we anticipate reading about him as the church makes more and more progress in his country.   Because of visa issues, our elder was going to have his mission cut short by six weeks, but President kept him until the day the visa expired.  Stake training meetings involving both of the Henderson's pre-empted them taking Elder Pu to the airport for his flight home and we were given the blessing of seeing him off.  Sandy even broke the "no hug" rule (sisters can't hug elders)!  

Saturday morning came after a very hectic week in the office and we decided to take a drive to the Springbrook National Park. The sun decided to stay hidden most of the day and there was even fog which covered some of the views we wanted to see.  

Lack of enough rain made these water falls very skimpy.  There were pictures taken in 2008 showing breathtaking falls in the two dark areas on the rocks.

There is much concern about maintaining the natural beauty of the plants, so the forest service has built amazing boardwalks to keep visitors from wandering off and trampling the foliage. 

Our view from one of the lookouts - wondered what might be seen beyond the fog!

An unusual plant/tree that reminded Sandy of an open umbrella. There is such a plethora of lush vegetation wherever we visit- St. George might look a tad bit plain when we are finished serving in Brisbane.

As we walked a short way, we came upon this sign which made us so happy.  Many of the cities and communities in Queensland are called by an Aboriginal name and we have wondered what the names meant.

After our little ride down the coast, we stopped at Eat Street, not too far from our flat, for a quick dinner.  There are many different types of food vendors and no one should ever complain that they can't find the food that they really wanted.

Each vendor has at least one cargo container which has been turned into a restaurant and then there are eating/sitting areas all over the area.  There were three bands entertaining in separate areas of the venue adding to the festive atmosphere.  It is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 4 on. The place gets packed with people quickly, so it is best to arrive as close to 4 as possible, which we did.

The week (26-29 October) before transfers is our deliberation week and lunches are provided by the four sisters in the office (that includes Sister Henderson).  Each sister takes one of the four days of deliberating and for her day Sandy put together a potato bar, which proved to be a hit with the office. Some of our elders had never seen or heard of something like this before and it is fun to see their expressions as they try these new ways of eating. 

Life is the office has become more and more routine and balanced,  mostly because we finally feel fairly confident in our responsibilities.  But sometimes we have a fire drill or two that really stretches us. Sandy has spoken with Thailand, Cambodia, Samoa, the United States, Tonga and China to name a few countries this past week.  Our love for the elders and sisters of the mission grows daily, even though there are times when our patience gets a little thin.  For the most part, all are striving to serve with all of their heart, mind and strength and we are thankful to be a part of this great work.

28 September - 11 October

Each time we receive notification from the Missionary Department that a missionary is due to arrive in the Australia Brisbane Mission their names are added to our Arriving Missionary spreadsheet.  So we have before us constantly these prospective missionaries and our hopes and prayers is that they will come on the designated date and not be held up with visa problems.   Our newest group of "goldens" arrived this week and we were so excited to meet all of them.  Some of their names are easy to say, others very challenging, so we anxiously wait for their arrival and to hear the correct pronunciation.  One elder is from Arkansas, but is a Hawaiian descent and his first, middle and last names comprise 40 letters.  Sandy asked him if when he is not a missionary did he shorten the letters in his first name at all and his answer was yes - down to 7 letters! This group is from Thailand, South Korea, Samoa, Australia, Taiwan and the United States.  Two of the American elders and two sisters in this group were assigned to the Mandarin Chinese program and only one is a native speaker.

After attending the orientation meeting at the mission home, the trainers arrive to gather up their golden companion, bedding (trash bags), bikes, luggage and off they go out to work hard becoming the great missionaries we know they can be. The missionaries love to make faces whenever a camera comes close - how we love them all.

This is the means of transport for all of the luggage of our incoming missionaries from the airport. The trailer is emptied at the garage of the mission and then claimed by the missionaries and their companions.

On the 3rd of October, Arlo felt like it was time for a little excursion out into Brisbane, after being at home and in the office part time.  Our senior office sisters wanted to go to the Caboolture Historical Village and so we joined them. There are over 70 buildings, all with historic backgrounds, decorated and preserved as close to original as possible.  Many of the buildings were moved onto the grounds from their original site and others are replicas.  

The Caboolture Historical Village is extremely busy during the week with school groups, but on Saturday and Sunday, there are not many visitors so we almost had the place to ourselves. Caboolture is a word from one of the Aboriginal dialects meaning "place of the carpet snake".  A great many of the city names in and around Brisbane are taken from the Aboriginal culture.

This train takes riders around the village and the engineer was kind enough to let us have a picture.  A little boy on the ride with us called out that he was going on Thomas the Train and the engine does look rather similar.

The wallpaper showed the thriftiness of the people, by using old newspapers and trimmed up doilies for the shelf coverings.  It must have been quite a project to cover all the walls and studs so carefully.

No office birthdays were to be had in September, so the young elders were so happy that one of the assistants, Elder Greening, had a birthday in October.  It wasn't the fact that he had a birthday, but that there would be treats brought into our staff meeting for all to enjoy at the conclusion!!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, something we are very aware of because for some it has touched our lives personally.  What a surprise when we came out of our flat one morning to see that Racecourse Road had been "pink'd" - decorated in ribbons and lanterns.  Trees are sponsored by different business establishments on the street and the money charged, goes to fight breast cancer in Brisbane. Some of the employees were very creative with their ribbon designs, as seen below.  It was so spectacular to see all the ribbons blowing in the breeze one day as we looked down the street. Many of the shops and restaurants are having specials during the month.  St. Augustine's Anglican church, down a few blocks from our flat, held a special blessing of pets on the 11th, asking the owners to bring dressed in pink and there would be prizes!  We have loved living right off of Racecourse Road, the atmosphere is fantastic!

This weekend (10 and 11 October) was our General Conference broadcasts.  It was interesting to us that there was no announcement in our Sacrament Meetings on the 4th of the calls of the three new apostles. It was as if everything was put on hold until the sessions would be shown here the week later because of the time differences.  How we look forward to these meetings twice a year where we receive so much exceptional instruction from our leaders.  The Saturday morning session we watched at our ward building while downloading the other sessions, to be watched from our flat.  Sunday sessions were shared with the office sisters and we had lunch together between the morning and afternoon sessions.  It was hard to watch President Monson's body begin to falter while delivering his powerful remarks but we are thankful for a prophet who guides and directs us, and for all those who stand side by side with him.  What a great experience to watch three humble men, Elders Rasband, Stevenson and Renlund, take upon themselves the calling to be apostles of our Savior, Jesus Christ and grateful we are to be members of the church.

21 - 27 September

Life is starting to look up for the Mickelsen's!  Arlo spent at at least half day in the office Monday through Friday this past week and did very well for the hectic days that happen during Transfer Week. This time we received 14 new elders and sisters (United States, Thailand, South Korea, China, Samoa, Australia) and said good-bye to the 11 valiant missionaries below (United States, China, Australia, Vanuatu and New Zealand).  The number of missionaries in the Brisbane Mission has been slowly dwindling down in the past six months.  With this transfer, we are at 236.

After the special session which the temple presidency does just for the departing missionaries. The temple isn't open on Monday, but a few workers give of their time to make the session happen.

The departing dinner is always held at the Mission Home on the Monday evening before the missionaries fly away the next day. The past two transfers the sisters have decided to fold the napkins in the shape of a white dress shirt, and that was fun, but it was kicked up a notch this week. Currently, Australia is in late spring/early summer and fresh peas are plentiful.  President Henderson loves them and a new order had just been delivered by our office cleaner when he came from Gympie that morning.  So as the missionaries were snacking on the peas, one of them had the idea to use a pea pod for the tie and President was delighted.

Our arriving missionaries came in two groups on Wednesday - ten from the Provo MTC and three from the New Zealand MTC.  This enthusiastic Samoan elder arrived bearing treats around his neck - there were two strings when he walked through the door, but one was immediately eaten by many in the office.  

For the past two months, we have noticed these hanging banners everywhere in the city and we weren't quite sure what it meant.  After doing some research, we found that the Brisbane Festival is an international arts festival held for three weeks in September, with dance, music, and drama.

It has been interesting and fun to pick up new phrases in Australia during our time here.  This particular one is referring to the number of days until something happens, as in the signage above.  It was really fun at Christmas to see advertising in the stores and newspapers counting down the "sleeps" until Christmas.

The finale of the three week Festival is called Sunsuper Riverfire.  More than 9,000 individual fireworks were released in a 22-minute display between two major bridges on the Brisbane River, several barges and some rooftops of high-rise buildings in the city.  There were also flyovers of military aircraft including F-18 Hornets.  Riverfire usually draws a half million spectators, and we considered going before Arlo's back incident.  But we opted to watch it on the television and had the best seat in the house!  The fireworks were truly spectacular, and this year two new colors were added - lime green and pink. Our favorite was a display of white fireworks that were continuously cascading down from the bridge below.  It looked like a waterfall, just wish we could have found a picture of it. These pictures were "borrowed" and we appreciate being able to capture them.

Our hearts are full of love and thanks to our Father in Heaven for his watchful hand over Arlo as he heals, and for the continued prayers of our missionaries, family and friends.

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.

17 - 31 August

Our last couple weeks have definitely been different for these two missionaries.  Our weather is still beautiful, had a "heat wave" as the weather forecaster called it, but now back to normal temperatures of 65-75 degrees, but not much rain which is always needed. 

If anyone serving in the office has a birthday during the current month, we have a little celebration, singing happy birthday and enjoying a some treats together. The August birthdays include President, Elder Dunlop, one of our assistants, and Sister Arseneau. The Henderson's had just returned from a road trip along the coast, and shared some macadamia nuts, plain and chocolate covered with us. Sandy brought in some Costco enormous muffins, which were quickly grabbed up and Sister Parsons added a fruit plate.  President was a really good sport to wear one of the birthday crowns, but everyone has to a sport to put those crowns on their heads!

Every so often, Arlo tweaks his back, but after trying to pick up and move a rather large, heavy duty paper shredder, he went down to his knees in pain.  One of the senior couples helped get him home in our car.  Later that evening, after some meetings, President came to the flat with two of his assistants to give Arlo a priesthood blessing.  Elder Pu anointed and Elder Greening pronounced the blessing. This was a great experience for us to be part of a learning process for Elder Pu and to see the humble, but powerful blessing come from our Maori elder.  The next morning (Friday), our kind and so compassionate, but very firm mission doctor came to the flat and after examining Arlo, strongly recommended that we all head to the emergency room.  A CT scan confirmed a herniated disc and we left with some pain meds, an appointment with a neurosurgeon the next week, and instructions to be flat down.  This wonderful doctor and his wife helped get us to the medical office for the appointment and then they came again for the requested MRI.  It has been great to have Elder/Doctor Madsen at our side to explain or clarify some of what the doctors have told us.  On 8 September, we will go in for another consultation with the neurosurgeon about the MRI results and to make a plan for the future.  During this past week, Arlo has come to know our lounge couch very well while trying to lay low.  Despite being in a horizontal position he is able to be a regular player in the running of the mission office.  Before the accident, Arlo had been able to get all of the web based office applications running on our laptop.  So between the mobile (cell) phone and our computer, the mission now has it's own satellite office! 

Sandy has not needed or wanted to drive here in Australia, and appreciates the fact that the office is two blocks from the flat, a grocery store is across the street and the chemist is down another block. The chemist knows Sandy's face when she comes in to refill prescriptions for meds and is always concerned with how the progress of her husband is coming.Brisbane has a great public transportation system, which if needed, would get her anywhere else she might need to go. 

Now Sandy walks back and forth to the mission office and home three times each day and passed this sporty guy, complete with his own goggles, waiting patiently in the side car of a motorcycle.  The owner was headed into a popular restaurant called Grill'd which serves the best chips (french fries) sprinkled with coarse salt and dried rosemary and burgers that are to big to get your mouth around!

Signs of spring are showing up everywhere.  Trees with new blooms and lots of flowering plants are beginning to be seen around the city. This geranium on our patio has looked half dead for months and suddenly flowers have popped out all over, with more on the way.  The temple grounds are beautiful with the flower beds overflowing with red, pink and white geraniums, plus golden marigolds.

Arlo is making progress and prayers have been felt from our family and the missionaries.  As phone calls come into the office, and Sandy answers, the first question most of the time is "how is Elder Mickelsen doing?"  Hopefully there will be heaps of progress by the next blog entry.