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
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
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
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
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
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.
Ocean baptism held 2 weeks ago at Ingham, the branch that only met once a month but now gets weekly meetings.
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.
This is a photo of the Glass House Mountains.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
June already
The month of May really seemed to fly by and now June is one third over. May was an exciting time in Townsville as we saw a husband and 3 children of a member be baptized. This sister had been less active for many years when she decided to come back to church, she has really become a major part of the branch and is the first to volunteer for every thing that is needed in the branch. We now get to participate with a Branch missionary to teach the new member discussions. It is exciting to watch the changes that come to people as they embrace the gospel.
It was really good to get to see President and Sister Langland when they came to district conference. They will be missed as they will now return home the end of the month. Hats of to all Mission Presidents, three years is a long time to be away from home.
Last week was transfers and we said good bye to a really great elder, Elder Sio. He is from Sydney and did some great work here. His companion, Elder Morrison also had to leave as he had injured his back and had ongoing pain and needed time to heal, he was possibly going home to Melbourne while he healed and then come back to the mission. The President took opportunity of an already white washed area to send us sister missionaries. They have settled into Townsville quickly and said they have never been in such a productive area, so we are looking forward to good things continuing.
Today Enoch decided to ring another couple serving about 8 hours away in Gladstone that we had never met. They are also feeling a bit isolated and so we are planning a get together, possibly each of us driving 4 hours to meet up. They are from Cody, Wy and arrived the end of March. We are excited!
We had another holiday Monday. It was the Queen's birthday, not too many people did much as most consider it way to cold for camping. Most stores were closed though.
The weather does actually get a bit chilly in the evening, we are forced to use a cover at night. Temperatures range from a low of 60 to high of 80, so it is very pleasant.
We took advantage of some of the tourist attractions and went to the Reef Museum, great way to see the reef without getting wet.
Saying goodbye to President and Sister Langland
Hammer head sharks
Sea horses
Good bye Elders, welcome Sisters
They also run a turtle hospital at the museum
It was really good to get to see President and Sister Langland when they came to district conference. They will be missed as they will now return home the end of the month. Hats of to all Mission Presidents, three years is a long time to be away from home.
Last week was transfers and we said good bye to a really great elder, Elder Sio. He is from Sydney and did some great work here. His companion, Elder Morrison also had to leave as he had injured his back and had ongoing pain and needed time to heal, he was possibly going home to Melbourne while he healed and then come back to the mission. The President took opportunity of an already white washed area to send us sister missionaries. They have settled into Townsville quickly and said they have never been in such a productive area, so we are looking forward to good things continuing.
Today Enoch decided to ring another couple serving about 8 hours away in Gladstone that we had never met. They are also feeling a bit isolated and so we are planning a get together, possibly each of us driving 4 hours to meet up. They are from Cody, Wy and arrived the end of March. We are excited!
We had another holiday Monday. It was the Queen's birthday, not too many people did much as most consider it way to cold for camping. Most stores were closed though.
The weather does actually get a bit chilly in the evening, we are forced to use a cover at night. Temperatures range from a low of 60 to high of 80, so it is very pleasant.
We took advantage of some of the tourist attractions and went to the Reef Museum, great way to see the reef without getting wet.
They also run a turtle hospital at the museum
Monday, May 6, 2013
It's About time
I really cannot believe it has been so long since we wrote on this blog. We are really busy these days helping the young missionaries, branch missionaries and our own contacting, plus our assignments with the district.
One of the things we are doing is inviting people that we can friendship to dinner. We are having some great times doing that and so we will continue doing that, plus it makes us feel like we have a social life so it is really working well and we truly are making some great friends.
On April 25th it was another Australian Holiday. It is called ANZAC Day. It is the commemoration of the first time that Australian troops joined with New Zealand troops in going to war. This first occurred in World War 1. It seemed to be a holiday similar to Veterans day and Memorial Day combined. There were parades and other celebrations and almost all businesses were closed even the major grocery stores. They have special cookies, Anzac cookies that are available only at the holiday time. They are basically just an oatmeal cookie with coconut in them. When people were sending goodies to the soliders years ago they found that these were the only cookies that did not arrive moldy or otherwise uneatable and so the traditional Anzac cookies were adopted.
We had training with Elder Oaks this past week, he was in Brisbane so were only able to join in via the internet but that was better than nothing. The technology is a huge blessing in missionary work. The 18th and 19th we have district conference and President and Sister Langland will be here, we are looking forward to that. The one thing that is different is that there has to be meals provided for all the leaders who attend the afternoon training as there is not enough time to return home before the evening session and then on Sunday they serve a lunch for all attendees, mostly potluck but all the Sisters with district callings are bringing a little extra. After conference then President Langeland will spend 2 hours with the missionaries (just the 6 of us).
I may not have mentioned that I am now serving as the district primary president. That has been a great experience as we have an awesome primary in the Townsville Branch and there is only 1 other Branch with a primary of 3 children. The Townsville Presidency have been visiting less active children with great results, now the question is where will we put all these children as there is not enough classroom space. We have also heard that we have 3 active families moving here in the next 2 months that will bring an additional 17 children! We are all excited though!
The young missionaries are really on fire. We will have 6 baptisms in the month of May - not positive but I think that may be a Townsville record. We love the work and are happy to be a part of it. Especially we are enjoying our work with some recent converts and seeing how the gospel is blessing their lives. This truly is God's plan of happiness.
We send our love and greetings to all. Would love to hear from any of you!
Enoch and LaRue
One of the things we are doing is inviting people that we can friendship to dinner. We are having some great times doing that and so we will continue doing that, plus it makes us feel like we have a social life so it is really working well and we truly are making some great friends.
On April 25th it was another Australian Holiday. It is called ANZAC Day. It is the commemoration of the first time that Australian troops joined with New Zealand troops in going to war. This first occurred in World War 1. It seemed to be a holiday similar to Veterans day and Memorial Day combined. There were parades and other celebrations and almost all businesses were closed even the major grocery stores. They have special cookies, Anzac cookies that are available only at the holiday time. They are basically just an oatmeal cookie with coconut in them. When people were sending goodies to the soliders years ago they found that these were the only cookies that did not arrive moldy or otherwise uneatable and so the traditional Anzac cookies were adopted.
We had training with Elder Oaks this past week, he was in Brisbane so were only able to join in via the internet but that was better than nothing. The technology is a huge blessing in missionary work. The 18th and 19th we have district conference and President and Sister Langland will be here, we are looking forward to that. The one thing that is different is that there has to be meals provided for all the leaders who attend the afternoon training as there is not enough time to return home before the evening session and then on Sunday they serve a lunch for all attendees, mostly potluck but all the Sisters with district callings are bringing a little extra. After conference then President Langeland will spend 2 hours with the missionaries (just the 6 of us).
I may not have mentioned that I am now serving as the district primary president. That has been a great experience as we have an awesome primary in the Townsville Branch and there is only 1 other Branch with a primary of 3 children. The Townsville Presidency have been visiting less active children with great results, now the question is where will we put all these children as there is not enough classroom space. We have also heard that we have 3 active families moving here in the next 2 months that will bring an additional 17 children! We are all excited though!
The young missionaries are really on fire. We will have 6 baptisms in the month of May - not positive but I think that may be a Townsville record. We love the work and are happy to be a part of it. Especially we are enjoying our work with some recent converts and seeing how the gospel is blessing their lives. This truly is God's plan of happiness.
We send our love and greetings to all. Would love to hear from any of you!
Enoch and LaRue
Monday, April 8, 2013
Time IS moving
Whenever I feel like the time is moving slowly I just need to look at this blog and realize how quickly a month has passed by. The other way that I judge time is that it seems like I always need a hair cut.
We have been pretty busy as well - we are seeing some people that we visit return to church and that is very rewarding. We were able to hold a family home evening with one of the families that we are working with last night and 4 of the children were eager to particpate with us. Two are YSA age and were asking if there were any activities for them and the good news is that an institute and YSA group is just being formed in the branch so they will be a welcome addition to the program.
Elder Pickett from IF that I mentioned in the last blog is now our distrct leader and is such a hard worker that things are really moving forward here and we should soon see some additional baptisms.
We had a sister show up about 3 weeks at church, she had been baptized about 17 years ago in Cairns and moved to Townsville 11 years ago and not attended church in about 15 yrs.(record movement is almost nonexistent here) She did not know if her return to church would cause her marriage to end, but was resolved to return to activity. The next Sunday she showed up with her husband, who really enjoyed himself, felt the spirit and announced at the end of the 3 hours of church that he wanted to be baptized. He has had to travel and so the teaching will begin later this week. This week she showed up with two of her children that had been nervous about coming. Her 16 year old son soon realized that he knew and was actually friends at school with some of the members. The girls in the branch were really doing a great job of fellowshipping ! The 11 year old also enjoyed church, only the 13 year old has not attended but the Young Women President has made contact and so we anticpate seeing 4 baptisms soon. The Sister has also asked for a calling and was sustained as a RS teacher on Sunday. Love it when things fo right!
Another thing that we are doing is working with the Branch missionaries to teach the new member discussions to the last two people baptized and that is really an enjoyable experience being able to have great discussions and answer questions. We are so thankful to be here and be able to share in these great experiences.
For P-day last week we went to Billibong's wild animal sanctuary and so today you finally get the photos you've been waiting for.
We have been pretty busy as well - we are seeing some people that we visit return to church and that is very rewarding. We were able to hold a family home evening with one of the families that we are working with last night and 4 of the children were eager to particpate with us. Two are YSA age and were asking if there were any activities for them and the good news is that an institute and YSA group is just being formed in the branch so they will be a welcome addition to the program.
Elder Pickett from IF that I mentioned in the last blog is now our distrct leader and is such a hard worker that things are really moving forward here and we should soon see some additional baptisms.
We had a sister show up about 3 weeks at church, she had been baptized about 17 years ago in Cairns and moved to Townsville 11 years ago and not attended church in about 15 yrs.(record movement is almost nonexistent here) She did not know if her return to church would cause her marriage to end, but was resolved to return to activity. The next Sunday she showed up with her husband, who really enjoyed himself, felt the spirit and announced at the end of the 3 hours of church that he wanted to be baptized. He has had to travel and so the teaching will begin later this week. This week she showed up with two of her children that had been nervous about coming. Her 16 year old son soon realized that he knew and was actually friends at school with some of the members. The girls in the branch were really doing a great job of fellowshipping ! The 11 year old also enjoyed church, only the 13 year old has not attended but the Young Women President has made contact and so we anticpate seeing 4 baptisms soon. The Sister has also asked for a calling and was sustained as a RS teacher on Sunday. Love it when things fo right!
Another thing that we are doing is working with the Branch missionaries to teach the new member discussions to the last two people baptized and that is really an enjoyable experience being able to have great discussions and answer questions. We are so thankful to be here and be able to share in these great experiences.
For P-day last week we went to Billibong's wild animal sanctuary and so today you finally get the photos you've been waiting for.
The weather really is changing able to sleep at night without air conditioning, should have some great months ahead weather wise.
One other noticeable thing here was Easter weekend, the place was like a ghost town on Good Friday, everything was closed then on Saturday the shops were packed. Some businesses had a few hours open on Sunday and then Monday was still a holiday so many things closed. We wondered how many even thought about Christ or were just simply delighted to have a 4 day weekend.
We were awake yesterday morning early enough to catch the last session of conference over the radio,( ksl through the ipad) but we will actually watch the whole conference as a branch in two weeks.
We love the work, so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and to watch it change lives and bring peace and happiness to those who embrace it.
Hope there is a another post before April is over!
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
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