One of the recent converts in our ward

Three weeks ago a young man from India was baptized by the missionaries serving in our ward.

GVD, the name he goes by because no one can say his real name, came to Brisbane several months ago to further his education.  He had been a Hindu but had not found much meaning in his life from Hinduism and had been attending Christian churches with his friends in India.  After he arrived in Brisbane, he found work at a convenience type store and started classes.  It is very rare in Australia for anyone to have a gun as it is illegal to own one - however, when GVD was at work an armed robber held up the store. GVD was not injured but very traumatized by the incident and had to quit his job and school and seek counseling.  In one if his counseling sessions he asked his therapist if she knew of a church that he could attend - she is a member of the ward and was more than happy to bring him to church and introduce him to the missionaries.  He was at a low point in his life, had no money, no job, no friends.  As the missionaries taught him, he was able to recognize truth and be baptized. I wish you could all see him and hear his testimony.  He is so happy, he just glows - he has been able to find a new much better job that he starts on Wednesday.  He has found many new friends as we have a large group of young single adults in the ward, several of them are also recent converts.  We will share more stories another day.

Getting ready for next intake

As if last week wasn't busy enough, next week is transfer week and we'll have 30 new arrivals plus a new senior couple which puts the total over 250.  Missionaries going home leave Wednesday, and the new incoming missionaries arrive starting Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  And we don't have enough flats for all of them!

In anticipation of never seeing the sun next week we went on a drive to Mount Tamborine yesterday.  Up the mountain the tropical rainforest meets the more typical vegetation so there's quite a mixture of tropical and semi tropical flowers and trees.  We strolled through the botanical gardens, listened to the laughing kookaburras and took a few pictures, notably of the camilia tree blossoms since we have a daughter in law by the name of Camille.  We then drove to the Gold Coast which has Queensland's best surfing waters and because this is "Labour Day" weekend in Australia and the first holiday of summer, the Gold Coast was a big traffic jam with no vacancies galore.  It felt like Southern California.

Here in Brisbane the Jacaranda trees are in full bloom and the blossoms emit a wonderful scent.  They are scattered all over the city, with some right on the street where we live.  We took pictures of some in the neighborhood and also on the University of Queensland campus.  The saying at UQ is that if the Jacarandas are in blossom it's too late to redeem yourself for not studying up to this point in the semester because finals are near!  (See Matthew 24: 32-33)

New Experience

Today we had a new experience.  We have a missionary whose visa expires 3 months before his mission should end and we are starting the process of getting him a new visa so that he can stay to the end of his mission.  It entailed us meeting him and his companion at the temple and taking a ferry to downtown to get a physical.  It took us over 4 hours in travel time and waiting time at the appointment. We asked what he would do after his mission, he said "I have no education, I did not go to grammar school or high school so I will just get a job. He is from the Philippines, and he shared his touching story with us.  His mother passed away 7 years ago and his father has lost his sight. After Elder P's older siblings left home - he became the father and mother to his younger siblings.  He did not attend school but gave all his time to his siblings.  About 4 years ago, a friend asked him if he wanted to come and listen to the missionaries that were coming to his house to teach them. Elder P went, listened, learned and received an answer that the church was true and was baptized. He was able to share the gospel with his siblings and baptize them.  He decided he could leave his family to serve a mission as they had all gotten a little older and could care for themselves.  They do all attend school and he will finish his mission in time to go to some of their graduations.  He told us how he always wanted to be a rich man, but now he doesn't care because he is rich in the things of God. He could barely read when he got to the mission but he has now read the Book of Mormon 4 times, he says I now understand what I read.  He said "I am glad that I was not educated because I am very prideful and maybe I would not have accepted the gospel if I had education".  He is the first missionary from his ward to serve outside of the Philippines. When he got his call he said "I cannot go to another country, I am not educated" - then when he was visa delayed, he said "maybe I should just serve here. He was helped by a senior couple to work through the whole process and finally obtained a visa and got here after learning English. "He says I am now an educated man, I have been to another country, I can speak English, and I can read".  He is a happy man. It was our privilege to help him today - we hope and pray he is granted a new visa so he can finish his mission in Brisbane.

A different view of Brisbane

Sunday night we were invited to dinner by a young couple in the Ward who live on the 32nd floor Casino Towers downtown Brisbane.  They had also invited a family that had recently moved here from Singapore, they are Christian and he is even serving as a minister in his church.  We told them some about the church and hope to be able to share more.

The view from their apartment was a little different from any other we'd see.

It would scare us to live up there.

This young couple met at institute at Queensland University - there are 2 classes with about 8 in each class. Tasha should have finished her course work and be off doing residency somewhere else, but she was nearly kidnapped, an experience that caused her so much trauma that she flunked her classes, resulting in her being on campus one more semester allowing her to meet her future husband at institute.  They were married 3 months ago in the temple.  Her husband has been accepted into medical school at same University.  They are a great couple.