Mission Possible Brisbane

This will be my last blog. Sorry I have not been too good at it. But I hope it gave you a flavor of Australia. We have loved being here. It is a beautiful place but more importantly we have been where the Lord wanted us to be. I believe this with all my heart. Saying goodbye to members and friends is difficult. Especially recent converts whom you have had the privledge of helping teach and seeing how they have progressed. Saying goodbye to the young missionaries will be the hardest. We have grown to love being around them. The last couple of "P" days we have taken the missionaries to some of the special sights around Rockhampton. We went to a crocodile farm. Elder Wright bought a croc leather belt. Not my cup of tea but it will be a fun reminder of Australia. Then the next "P" day we went to the Capricorn Caves. It is not very large but it was so fun doing it with them. We then stopped for Ice Cream for kind of a last hurrah. We also a few weeks ago drove three...

What a wonderful Day! I am sorry this post took so long. I am stil having problems with the blogspot. I hope you who want to are receiving Elder Wright's emails. He has been much better at sending them out than me. We have just returned from a trip to Brisbane where we had the priviledge to help Lorenzo, Wiejie Chu, receive his endowments in the Brisbane Temple. This is the first time that I have ever been involved in the journey of a convert all the way to receiving his endoment in the temple. We went down the day before and got his garments so he would be ready. To make it even more special we drove him down to Gladston, 1 1/2 hours away, to meet with the Stake Patriarch where he received his Patriarchal blessing. That was a great experience as the Patriarch let us sit in on the blessing. Among other things he was told he has a work to do in China. I am so proud of Lorenzo. He has a strong testimony of the gospel and he was determined to go back to China with his patriarcha...

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...

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...

Here is my picture with Elder Benar. . . . Well, with Elder Bednar and a couple of hundred of our friends. (Back row, right side, just in front of Elders on the Stage) It was quite an experience. We all get in our places then Elder Bednar and his wife, mission leaders, area seventy, etc. come in and a photographer standing on the top rings of a tall ladder takes a few pictures. Elder Bednar and those who came with him leave.  I would say they have done this a few time, LOL. They know exactly how to organize things to go as smooth as possible. We had a three hour meeting conducted by Elder Bednar. The meeting was very much geared for the young missionaries but wonderful for us all. He is truly a master teacher.  He is also pretty funny. We got to see a different side of him than conference talks. Much of the time was taken up with Elder Benar taking questions asked by the missionaries. He told us all to not to try and take detailed notes but write down what we felt the Spirit w...

European discovery and colonization  Captain James Cook did not "discover" Australia in the sense of being the first human to see it. He was the first European to chart and map the eastern coastline of the continent. In 1770, while on his first voyage, he and his crew, including the botanist Joseph Banks, made landfall near Point Hicks and then sailed north, charting the coastline and eventually claiming the eastern portion for Great Britain, which he named New South Wales. After European arrival in Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations experienced a drastic decline due to disease, violence, and the loss of their traditional lands and way of life. European settlement resulted in a population reduction of up to 90% between 1788 and 1900.  "...without laying claim to this country by conquest, without even pleading the mockery of cession or the cheatery of sale, we have unhesitantly entered upon, occupied, and dispossed of its lands sprea...

 Bits and Pieces. . . . The above picture was painted by Ken Done a modern Australian artist.  We finally made the time to go to the free Art Museum.  It was small but interesting. And it was free. They also had some beautiful Japanese art installations donated from their sister city in Japan. Easter was interesting here.  We were surprized to find out that most stores close down for Good Friday, some for Holy Saturday, Everyone for Easter Sunday, and most for Easter Monday.  There were not many people at church on Easter Sunday because everyone goes camping for the long Easter Holiday.  I guess a group of church members has been going camping together for 40 + years. More power to them. Apparently it has only been the last 7 years or so since stores were closed on Sundays. Rockhampton is a little like going back in time. We had our mission car in the shop and we couldn't pick it up right when it was done because someone parked behind our car in the garage ...

Senior Missions around the world. I thought it might be interesting to learn about how different Senior Missions can be around the world.  We have kept in touch with some of the Senior couples we met in the MTC.  There were four couples in our group.  We were going to Australia, another went to the Philippines, another went to Greece, and the last went to Bosnia. Here in Rockhampton we have a strong ward.  1 1/2 years ago they were a branch in a District which is now a Stake.  We get asked to teach seminary, institute, and the new member, plus non-member, Come Follow Me Class.  We have also talked in Sacrament Meeting.  I got asked to teach the Relief Society Lesson the day before because someone got sick. We follow-up on lists given to us from the Elders Quorum Presidency trying to visit widows, less-active, and part-member families.  A big part of what we do is going to teaching opportunities with the Sister Missionaries and work with new member...