Mission Possible Brisbane

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Beautiful December

- January 12, 2026

I don't know what we have done to deserve it but we have had the best weather for December. This year the weather has been in the mid and upper 80's. Last year at this time it was in the high 90's and felt over 100 degrees. I'll take it. The trees, bushes and fruit are in full bloom. Mango's come in multiple varieties and each tastes a little different. Grapes will be next. Their grapes are delicious.I continue to be amused by the signs they have here. On the side of the truck it cautions people to stay a safe distance behind other by counting 1 Barramundi, 2 Barramundi, 3 Barramundi. Barramundi is a favorite and plentiful fish in Queensland area. I apologize. I am having trouble with this blog format. It is a little late in our mission to be looking for another one. Liquor here is sold in a bottle shop. No liquor is sold in grocery stores. They make it very convienent as you can see they have drive-thru lanes. They also have a beer brand called XXXX. When I fir...

- November 29, 2025

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...

- October 21, 2025

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...

- September 28, 2025

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...

- September 02, 2025

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 ...

- July 25, 2025

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...