Mission Possible Brisbane

Happy Thanksgiving! We decided to have an American traditional Thanksgiving. First we had to go to a butchers and have him order a turkey. Some Australians eat turkey at Christmas but only Americans think of it for Thanksgiving. Trying to do pumpkin pie was interesting as you cannot buy canned pumpkin or any other pie filling here. So I baked a pumpkin and pureed it and added eggs, spices, sugar, etc. to make an American pumpkin pie. The picture shows the challenge of making an all butter pie crust in a flat with no central air condidtioning. This was my second attempt and as you can see it basically melted. I even had the aircon cranked up but it just doesn't cool the house like at home. The crust was a disaster but the filling tasted good. Some of the people invited had never had an American inspired Thanksgiving meal. We went around the table and talked about what we were thankful for. Two of the people attending, one from Papua New Guinea and one from China, said they were m...

 The Church's future is in good hands. I have come to admire the young missionaries. Both the Elders and the Sisters.  It is not easy to leave family, work, school, friends, etc. and devote 18 months or two years to the Lord's work.  The majority of missionaries we have worked with are dedicated, sincere, hard working and seeking to gather Israel.  Picture: from L to R Sister Sonntag, Idaho, Sister Miller, Utah, Sister Wilde, Idaho, and Sister Hull Montana. We have worked with Sisters and Elders from, the United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Phillipines, Tonga, Samoa, Australia and New Zealand.  The two middle sisters are wearing candy leis.  It is a tradition to make these for missionaries who are going home at the end of the current transfer. I think the thing that impresses me the most is how as soon as they get to a new location they jump in and learn members names and the work that needs to be done. They also immediately love the companions, friends a...

It's War. . .  First the case of the Ghost Ants. Here is an idea of their size.  They are very small. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas. They are attracted to food (especially sweets) and water. We first saw them in the bathroom when we arrived in Rockhampton. I thought they were gnats but they didn't fly.  There is nothing more exciting than seeing an ant go in and out of the air holes in our laptop. Or sauntering across the screen of my Ipad. If we are diligent keeping things clean and using pesticides we mostly keep ahead of them. We were over to the church the other day when a church maintenance person was working on the internet.  Elder Wright mentioned that he saw ants in the sacrament preparation area and he said, "Welcome to Queensland".    They especially like to come out at night.  If I get up to go to the bathroom at night I may find myself chasing ants and spraying closets.  We rinse our dishes before putting them in the...

 First Excursion Yes, it is a kangaroo on the beach.  We took a three day trip 5 hours north to Makay area.  At Cape Hillsbourgh State Park kangaroos and wallabys at the crack of dawn come to search for mangrove seeds that the tide brings in.  It was actually worth it just for the Sunrise.  There were about 6 wallabys and 2 kangaroos but it was obvious that they are used to having people come and stare at them.  The park service actually feeds them to keep them coming all year round.  It has become a great tourist attaction. We went with another Senior couple from our district who are from Teton, Idaho.  We walked along the beach and lookes for shells. We decided that since it was half way through our mission we had earned a small trip.  It was very nice. We also went to a sugar cane factory and learned how sugar cane is turned into sugar.  It was interesting. It is already starting to get warmer. The nights are still cool but each week ...

   Brisbane    Australia     Temple I have a testimony that getting new members to the Temple quickly is vital for strenthening their testimonies. A couple of weeks ago we had three new converts fly down to Brisbane to attend the temple for the first time. They went down and back the same day.  They all came home with wonderful feelings about the trip. Patrick Donovan, is about 65 years old.  He has a very bad back.  He is quite tall, about 6 ft 4 inches. His body is very stiff and unflexible.  He has a brother in the ward that has been trying to get him to learn about the church for decades.  Finally he was ready to listen.  Every lesson taught him he just absorbed it like a sponge.  He could not wait to be baptised.  The day of his baptism for some reason the font was not filling up as full as it should be.  Elder Wright and myself felt impressed to have Elder Wright dressed in whites and waiting at the si...

  Today's young missionaries are walking miracles. . .  Last night we had an amazing teaching experience. Sister Hsiao from Taiwan and Sister Sonntag from Boise, Idaho along with Elder Wright and myself met with Valli a man from Zimbabwe, We had met with him once before but he works in the coal mines as a machine mechanic and they work for one or two weeks then are off one or two weeks.  It make it difficult to know when they are available. He was very gracious the first time we met met him and he seemed interested. Last night we showed up at his flat and he had invited 4 other men, flat mates or friends, to join the discussion.  So we are teaching 5 men.  They were very engaged and nodded as the sisters talked.  They taught them a lesson on the restoration.  Valli basically encouraged them to consider what was presented. It was one of those lessons where it was spirit driven and each person during the lesson knew exactly what to say and when to say it...