Off hours

 Here's a few pictures taken in the off hours, which there are few, but by taking advantage of Saturday's there are things that are close enough that in a few hours you can have a mini-holiday.  We've visited botanical gardens with all types of vegetation and flowers.





This is Redcliff, which has a terrific beach area and is also great for whale watching and is noted for being the hometown of the BeeGees.

 We drove to festival days at Toowoomba, which is due West of Brisbane and much higher elevation and much less humidity.  Festival days were like the Idaho State Fair, a rose parade (sort of) and tours of local gardens.  It was big on floral arranging, quilts, parade and of course food and beverages.

 The quilt work was world class, the women who do this surely work year round to bring their secret handiwork that filled an auditorium.

Meanwhile, the men engage in lawn bowling, which is like big time bocci ball, some very accurate lagging was seenThe parade had something for everybody and we mean every body!



.

 There were lovely flower gardens open for viewing, got some great ideas - to bad so many of the plants will not grow in Idaho

 Saturday was the last day of the Brisbane festival - it had lasted all through the month and featured live entertainment, a light show, craft fair and etc.  We walked through several times during the past weeks.  It was capped off with "River Fire" which is a big fireworks show which we watched near the temple.

 Thousands of people attended the fireworks - from our vantage point we could see them go off from 7 different locations.  It wasn't the 4th of July, but was a pretty good show.

A fast week

Can't hardly believe a week has passed by.  It was very busy as usual.  Monday and Tuesday (26 and 27) were spent preparing for our big arrival of missionaries on Wednesday and saying goodbye to 13 . We attended the farewell dinner and testimony meeting of those going home. Even though we had not known most of those leaving, we were deeply touched as they shared their testimonies and growth they have experienced.  We had a couple who go home to less active families or non members and are terrified of their future as they try to remain faithful to the gospel.  We were deeply touched by a Tongan Elder who had to learn English to come on his mission along with our assistant Elder Caby who is from France and also spoke no English before his mission.  He extended until Oct 4 so we have a few more days before we have to say goodbye.

I started this post last week but will finish it today, we have a bit more time before church as it is stake conference.

After we said goodbye to our 13 missionaries, we started the 28th with our first group arriving on a 5:10 a.m. flight.  We fed the first group breakfast at the mission office and did an orientation and then just had them study for a while.  We had only one hiccup in meeting all the  flights and one Elder that arrived by himself at 7:00 a.m. was forgot, but when the President arrived a bit late to pick him up he was on the sidewalk surrounded by people that he was sharing the gospel with.  The next group arrived at 11:15 from the New Zealand MTC, we had expected 6 on this flight but got 7.  One sisters visa had come through that morning so they just put her on the flight with no advance notice.  We had word that she was going on temporary assignment to American Samoa, where she is from, we quickly made arrangements for one more at the hotel and moved on. This group came to the mission office for lunch and orientation - we started moving the first group to the mission home for lunch there - the last flight was 12:35 with the last group -more lunch and one more orientation.  We received a total of 31 missionaries that day.  It was too big of a group to stay at the mission home so we had to put them in a hotel that is near the temple and owned by a member.  Sister Henderson stayed with the Sisters and the assistants stayed with the elders - the next morning they had exercise by the river and then had a trainer meeting at 9:00 a.m. and left for their areas by noon.  It was a wild and crazy day but actually went quite well - the trainers are chosen early but aren't actually paired up until after the new missionaries are interviewed.

This past week actually went well and we were able to work more normal hours and give us a chance to get some exercise.  We did the 45 minute walk to the city along the river two nights - it is really interesting being down there at night - not a place you would want your young missionaries!

Yesterday we actually got a p-day (only 1 phone call all day).  We went whale watching - it was a beautiful day and were out on the water for about 4 hours.  Always amazed at the beauty of the earth.  It went well the first 2 hours then I got sea sick ----- made me so mad to be having such a grand experience and not able to enjoy it.

It is time to get ready for conference- it is being held at the Brisbane convention center in the city - thinking about walking.

Enoch will post pictures later from the whale watching.

So Much to DO

I had high hopes of being able to write on this blog every week but we are having long days and short nights with not much down time. I suppose that all missions in the church are going through growing pains right now but here in Australia ours are being compounded by visa issues. The Australian government changed the kind of visas that they grant to missionaries and they are issued for exactly two years.  Therefore, if the visa is applied for too early then the missionary must leave the country earlier than his release date.  This is resulting in many visas not being issued on time - we were expecting 44 missionaries for Aug 28, but then it dropped to 28 - some we knew had been given temporary assignments in other missions, but 6 we have no idea about.  In an effort to understand this, the president called our travel representative to inquire and we were told that we really won't know until Monday morning SLC time because a visa could still arrive for them and they would be put on planes that afternoon.  That is Tuesday here that we will actually know the exact number of missionaries to expect to arrive as early as 5:10 a.m. Wednesday morning.  It really does take a lot of planning for each missionary, having chosen a trainer, having enough housing available, enough phone lines, making sure you have received their debit card and that there is money on it and etc, etc.  This situation is driving us all crazy. Salt Lakes solution is sometimes they try and just keep sending missionaries all sorts of different days which President Henderson is saying no more of that, It is just too disruptive - how do you plan zone conferences, training meetings and interviews if you continually are having transfers.  As a result of this visa policy, we now have missionaries here whose visa will not last for their entire mission, some by 2 or 3 weeks.  We just received a statement saying if we have missionaries in that category then they should just be sent home one transfer early.  If it is 3 months or longer, then we will apply for new visas, which entails a whole lot of paperwork, chest x-rays for anyone from the islands, and an additional $1200.  Then you have the problem of tracking all of this -- the missionary system will not let you change the departure date if it is more than 30 days before the original release date and we don't have copies of everyone's visa so that is my main project right now building a spread sheet to track the information and trying to obtain a copy of everyone's visa.  Also, all missionaries have to obtain a blue card when they arrive, which is a card issued after an investigation saying you are safe to work around children.  These are usually issued for the duration of the mission plus some but once in a while you get a shorter date - another thing that has to be tracked.  We also driver's licenses expiring and even one passport.  It can all make a person crazy!

Enoch spends his time getting new apartment leases, making monthly rent payments and paying bills.  Plus answering a continuous ringing phone to keep the missionaries in supplies.  Most days we go to the office with a plan for the day of what we are going to get done and often come home with having never touched the work.

Saturday we did get a couple of attempts at a p-day - We went to the office at 6:30 and worked for an hour and then drove to a suburb about 45 minutes away to meet up with a couple from Townsville that had come to visit their children that live in the Brisbane area, we had breakfast with them and returned to the office, because we were having our internet upgraded we could not really work so we left the office and came home and went for a walk on the Brisbane river. We found that we were able to walk right to the heart of the city.  We really enjoyed that.  We'll do it again and take our camera so that we can share the experience with you through photos.  It was about a 6 mile walk there and back.

Even though we are working hard, we enjoy it and our association with the young missionaries. I don't know if we mentioned before we have about 12 Chinese speaking missionaries-we even rent an office space downtown to teach in because they find these people in the streets of the city and take them there for a quiet place.  We are teaching and seeing many of these Chinese people accept the gospel.  Many are here for schooling and will return home - China will be one place when it opens for missionaries that the leadership will already be there because of all those who have accepted the gospel in other countries.  It truly is miraculous to see all of this unfold - especially when you know the end of the story.

Sister Henderson has started a mission blog if any of you are interested in seeing pictures and reading more about our mission. It is www.australiabrisbanemission.com.

It is springtime here now and everything is blooming and the weather has been perfect, the nights still a little "fresh".  (we love some of their word choices)

Guess we better wind down and get some sleep - it will be a long week with 28? new missionaries arriving and 16 leaving.

The best news of all is that we get a new bed tomorrow - -we have a worn out queen size mattress and are getting a king -- can' wait for that.

Love, The Miles

August 18, 2013

We're celebrating 42 years of marriage on the 19th.  Who'd have thought it would be in Brisbane?  Extremely busy here with all the new missionaries arriving.  The growth in missionaries also means more apartments, more furnishings, more bicycles, more cars, more of everything.  Some days seem like a week's worth of work and there's no time to squeeze in much else.  You have to get innovative to put 36 hours into a 24 hour day.  So, you do things like take the "city hopper" ferry to do sight seeing.  Here's some pictures from the city hopper which is a free ride on the Brisbane river through the central part of town.  The free ferry only does the most central part of town.  If you want to go further in either direction, you get on a catamaran type ferry, called a city cat, which is very fast.  Of course you can also go pampered and slow on a paddle wheel style river boat.  The attached pictures start on one end of the free ride and show the tall apartment buildings where many live on the river bank and have beautiful views.  The Brisbane ward bishop lives in one of those pictured.  From there we go under the Story bridge that connects Kangaroo Point (where we live) with the central part of the city.  We drive across the Story bridge every day.  In one of the pictures you can see people who've taken the stairs to the top of the bridge for a view of the city.  As darkness descends the city takes on a "New York City" kind of appearance, with very tall buildings lit up in the town.  On the southbank of the river there is a long stretch of park like facilities, including a ferris wheel and on the opposite side of the river, there's a beautiful, spacious arboretum.  Between the southbank and the arboretum is a footbridge and you can see folks crossing from one side to the other.  You'll also see a fuzzy picture of the top of the Brisbane temple.  And then there's this amazing "light show" that appears to be light bulbs in the sky changing colors and moving shapes.  I don't know how that works physically, it's like the lights are connected on

hanging on wires, but from what you don't know.  A few years ago stuff like this would have been called flying saucers or close encounters with aliens.  The pictures end with a shot of the Story bridge at night when it's all lit up in different colors.

Wow what a week

If the rest of the weeks go as fast as the last one, this mission will be over before we know it.  The office is just crazy as there is so much to do with so many missionaries.  As of Thursday we have 116 companionships.  Transfers were this week and that usually happens on Wednesday.  The outgoing missionaries come to the mission home for a good-bye dinner on Tuesday night and usually leave Wednesday morning and the new missionaries arrive throughout the day on Wednesday depending on where they come from USA or New Zealand.  This time because we have missionaries serving all across the US and other places that have been visa delayed they asked if they could send them on other days as well.  The 16 from other missions in the US arrived Tuesday - there was a nice plan in place to have all 16 orientated and fed dinner, with their trainers arriving at the mission home to pick up their new companions at 6:00.  The outgoing missionaries would then arrive for a 7:00 dinner and then their other farewell activities, spend the night and leave Wednesday morning.  Most of the trainers did not arrive on time. At 10:30 they finally sent the last elder somewhere else to sleep as his trainer never did show up.  Two of the sister wrecked their car on the way and they were going to make the sweet sister from IF (Eagle Rock Stake) drive home all the way across Brisbane, with two very up set other sisters. Sister Henderson said no way and other arrangements were made. Pure Chaos!  The next day 6 more arrived and it wasn't quite as bad although trainers still did not arrive in a timely manner. Finally Thursday 3 more came, the first one at 5:10 am from the USA.  Got a call from the President at 7:30 asking if we knew what flight the sister was on as they had not seen anyone yet, while on the phone she appeared. She had been in baggage as her luggage did not arrive with her. Later in the day two came from the MTC in the Phillipines. The Thursday US Sister did end up driving the first day but at least it was daylight.
One elder was from China and spoke very limited English his trainer came to interpret, he will serve as a Chinese speaking missionary. It was a week! We then got a notice from travel wanting to send 3 more on Tuesday - we have been able to put them off until the 29th, still an intermediate transfer.  We have missionaries from 24 countries serving here.  Only 2 official languages English and Chinese but we give out Books of Mormon in many other languages.

Saturday was our p-day and we started early by taking the Judd's to the airport to fly to Townsville for some R & R and some sightseeing before they leave for home. This is the couple we will replace when they officially leave August 13.  This is the test week!

After we grocery shopped we went to the Brisbane Food Festival. This is an annual event where 100 food vendors set up tents along the Brisbane river and you can sample and purchase many different things.  We ate our way through and enjoyed being outside, although it did start to rain.  There has been a lot of rain, much more than usual.  Today was beautiful and sunny.

Had a chance for some real missionary work today - during sacrament meeting we noticed a man of African decent sitting a few rows behind us and we guessed that he might not be a member and we felt that we should get to him quickly at the end which we did. He had come to church today as the missionaries had left a note telling him that one of them would be speaking and inviting him to come.  Joe told us that he had been learning about the church for about a year and had attended about 6 times over the past year.  He had many questions and we were able to spend all of the second hour and most of the third talking with him.  Enoch got him to commit to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, as well as answering many questions.  He said that he had not been serious about it, he also committed to next Sunday.  He is a Baptist and has strong faith in God and Jesus Christ.  He will also meet with the young missionaries again.  It was a very spiritual experience and we will eagerly watch for him next week.  While outside talking with him (church is on the temple grounds) another man came wondering in.  I left Enoch and Joe and went and talked with him. His name is Sam and is from Russia, just moved to Australia.  He had been down on the river and saw the angel Moroni on the temple and said he felt compelled to come up to the temple.  He had known Mormons before and had admired them for the kind and happy people that we are.  He is set up for the young elders to visit also.  It is great time to be a missionary!

Had wanted to share the amazing conversion story of one of the missionaries from Thailand but that will have to wait for another day - need to go to bed!

We send our love to all!

The Miles

Couple fun

About four weeks ago Enoch called the couple that had come into the mission a short time back that we had not met or talked to before, they lived about 8-10 hours from us in a town called Gladstone and we decided that we would plan a get together and meet somewhere in the middle. The middle was in a town called Mackay and we thought that it might be August before this could happen with the change of President, the car couple bringing a car North and a few other things.   The Fenton's called back the next day and said "why don't we just do this next week?"  We are so glad that we did this as it could not have happened otherwise with our change of assignment. We stayed at a lovely beach and spent a couple of days sight seeing inland a bit.  One of the places we visited was a National Park called Eungella.

 It is one of the places that you might get to a platypus in the wild. They are usually only seen at dawn or dusk, we chose dusk and were able to get a great showing.  One came up right in front of us and we were able to get a few seconds of film.

This town of Mackay was just crazy busy as it a mining town and because shifts continually rotate the malls were full during the weekday. It is also very expensive to live there but there is a small branch of the church and 2 missionaries serve there.

The town the Fenton's serve in is called Gladstone. It also is a mining town, mainly coal where they export 100 million tons of coal a year to China and that should double by years end. They are also building a huge natural gas plant to begin exporting.  The Branch President is an American who is working over there for a couple of years.  They have a Branch of about 35 people and the Fentons are having some success there with activation and some baptisms.

I can't remember if I told you this story before but was so mind boggling to me I'll retell it.  We read an obituary of a man in his 50's that had fallen of his windmill and died from his injuries.  He owned a cattle station that included 800,000 head of cattle and 1 billion acres. He lived in an area that is about 10 hours west of Townsville.  This country is so big and spread out it is hard to wrap your mind around it.

Since the last blog we have received notification of 5 additional missionaries arriving, making the total 27. President has done transfers 3 times. He has several couples arriving soon to help in the work, so more of the small branches will be getting couples.  The office has really been crazy but we are starting to get a small understanding but still much to learn.

We live within walking distance to the Temple and meeting house.  We attend the Brisbane Ward, which we understand was the first one in Brisbane.  The Bishop is an American and we have probably 6-7 other American families in the Ward.  We have the apartment cleaned now and are settling in, only problem is that is about 20 minutes drive to the office.

We have full time internet and Sunday afternoons free now so will probably keep the blog more current.

We are missing the perfect weather in Townsville and are feeling chilly all the time - how will we survive an Idaho winter again?

Take Care, enjoy summer.

Enoch and LaRue

Change of assignment

We had such a great couple of weeks right after the last post I vowed to write sooner on the blog but then our world turned upside down when we got a call from President Langland asking us to come to Brisbane and take over the office because the incoming couple had been visa delayed. We heard it was a major delay and actually had been forgotten to be ordered with all the hustle and bustle in church travel these days. We have about 40 missionaries that have been delayed, but should get 22 next week. We don't know when the poor couple will actually get here, we wondered what we would have done in such circumstances as we really could not have gone back home.

We spent the last two weeks having a few farewell dinners and lots of good-byes to people that will be in our hearts and memories forever. We were sad to leave as we were in the midst of some grand experiences but are willing to serve where needed.

We started our drive on Thursday last week and were able to meet the new mission president on our way down, as he was traveling north. It was a much nicer drive this time of the year with cool temperatures and things still a bit green. We took a short detour and did a bit of sight seeing at the Glass House Mountains and a tourist town called Melaney, really beautiful  country, hills and mountains with dairies and grazing cattle. It was very picturesque, felt like we were looking at a puzzle. We arrived Friday night and didn't feel to bad until we got to the apartment----it was filthy! The Assistants lived here since the last senior couple. We are still in the cleaning mode as well as trying to learn the office. Some is similar to Ghana but the church has a new operating system since then so new things too. We had no blankets, only sheets the first night and it was a it nippy, around 50.

Really impressed with new president, President Henderson from St George. He has hit the ground running. Has met all the missionaries in the north zone which included stops in 3 locations, next two days will be zone conferences in Brisbane area, so he will have personally met all but 2 elders. (197 missionaries). Tuesday is transfers, but not an ordinary day as half are arriving a day early because they couldn't get them booked on the right day. We hope he can breathe sometime next week.                   

 Ocean baptism held 2 weeks ago at Ingham, the branch that only met once a month but now gets weekly meetings.

This is a photo of the Glass House Mountains.