Tim Tam Slams

On Mother's Day, two girls in our ward made me Mother's Day cards. I was worried about Mother's Day. Worried I would miss the children and grandchildren too much and be sad. Holidays can be difficult without family around. The handmade cards with a little candy bar attached made me cry but they also really helped me feel loved. Sydney who just turned eight and was baptised last week was one of the two sisters who made me a card. We went to her baptism and there we learned about Tim Tam Slams. They were served as refreshments because they are Sydney's favorite Australian treat. The Tim Tams are chocolate coated cookies, they come in multiple flavours like chocolate, caramel, white and dark chocolate. We were novices at this and had to be walked through it, but basically you bite the diagonal corners off the Tim Tam cookie and then use it like a straw to suck milk through the cookie!  It is doable, then you eat the cookie which has gone kind of soggy inside from the milk. A little like dipping Oreos in milk, but more fun and it tastes great.  Thanks to Sydney and her family for initiating us to this new Australian treat.  Elder R from Mexico and Elder R from Idaho, two great missionaries who live close by stopped by so we could give them some items from the office. We invited them in for our new found treat, Tim Tam Slams!

Unto Every Nation

We attend the Brisbane Ward. It is as internationally diverse as the cityof Brisbane. The Bishop is American but there are many nationalities here. For Sunday School we attend the gospel essentials class. We love it, there are usually about fifteen to twenty people. We are not the only missionaries. We have four young missionaries assigned to the ward. And there are more young missionaries (Chinese speaking missionaries) assigned to the YSA ward that meets in the same building, who occasionally come to our ward if their investigators are older. The missionaries bring their investigators to our class. We often have people from all over the globe. It is common to have people from India, Vietnam, China, Poland, Peru, Thailand and more. In the past few weeks we have had five baptisms in our ward. Men we have gotten to know a little from our Sunday School class. One week Mohammad who is from India, Niroshan who is from Sri Lanka and Kumar who used to live in New Zealand were baptised. Muhamond was Muslim, his brother is visiting him here soon and he is so excited to share the gospel with him. Niroshan is a refugee, the missionaries found him crying in the middle of the street. They forced him to the sidewalk and started talking to him. They had a friendly young adult with them that day and he was inspired to invite him to a family home evening, he accepted, he loved it and they started teaching him. When Kumar, the third gentleman, lived in New Zealand he was married. His wife died and he started drinking. When the missionaries found him and taught him the word of wisdom he quit drinking that very day. All three of these men are friendly and love the gospel. We can only imagine how many others might be brought to the gospel because of them. This picture was taken on Sunday after they were confirmed. Some of our great missionaries are in the image too. There is a story behind every baptism, we are honoured to be witnessing the hastening of the work. 

Mission Tour

This past week we had Mission Tour. Elder Hamula of the First Quorum of Seventy is the area president. He and his wife spent the week with the Australia Brisbane mission. President and Sister Henderson and Elder and Sister Hamula spent two days in the northern part of the mission. They held meetings with missionaries in the north, held a family home evening and enjoyed meeting saints from that part of Queensland. They flew from the north to Brisbane and met with all the missionaries here over three days. They gave instruction, interviewed some missionaries, held a leadership counsel and inspired all of us! It was a wonderful week for all involved and every missionary in the mission got to take part.

We had the opportunity to use some of our skills to organize and take large group photos each day in the Brisbane area. We arrived early and got all the missionaries organized. Each morning when the Hendersons and Hamulas arrived the missionaries greeted them with song. Then we would take the group photo. The song always brought a beautiful spirit and set the tone for the day. We love being with the young missionaries. We always feel of their spirit, marvel at their enthusiasm and enjoy the kindness they always show us. 

This first photo was taken before the Hamulas and Hendersons arrived. We are in the middle, there are three zones here including our zone which is the Brisbane Zone. Just having a little fun!

Flowers for Mothers Day

In Brisbane,the merry month of May, is not spring but autumn. The weather has cooled, the humidity has backed off and it feels a lot like spring in Utah, lovely! Sometimes we have to force ourselves out of the office for a short walk just to enjoy the day. It is dark now when we get up and often dark when we leave work, so daylight is getting shorter, unlike spring in Utah where it is getting longer. Through the summer we have enjoyed the flowers here. There are flowers still blooming and everything is still green even though winter is around the corner. I understand if you go to higher areas like Mt. Tambourine some trees do change colors. 

Mother's Day is celebrated here. At the farmers market this morning it seemed that everyone bought flowers and there were more flower vendors than ever. We are including a picture of the Gerber daisy plant we bought for Mother's Day, we also bought a scarf. It is getting cool enough I might be able to wear it soon. 

As a small Mother's Day gift to all the wonderful mothers we know, enjoy a few flower photos!

Ever Changing

Today was Elder and Sister Miles last day in the mission and what a day it was! In the normal routine of the office we have groups of young missionaries leaving and coming in every six weeks. A lot of what we do is to prepare for this time. Today we had two missionaries come in not at the normal rotation time. Both of them had been awaiting visas and when the visas were granted they came. We also had a missionary released from the hospital and it was leadership conference. To make the day more interesting Elder X who is from Cambodia had to leave items behind because his luggage weighed too much, so he needed to get towels, sheets, toiletry items, shoes and exersice clothes. He came in early in the morning, shortly after five. Elder Y coming from American Samoa was supposed to get in at one thirty. Leadership counsel was over so President and Sister Henderson went to pick him up, but couldn't find him. It turned out he missed his connecting flight in Sydney because he couldn't figure out how to get a complimentary shuttle to a different terminal and ended up walking a long distance, poor guy. We were a little frantic in the process. He came with no luggage because when he started off on the first leg of his journey he got to the airport so late that he got on the flight, but his luggage did not. It will come on Saturday. So we have two missionaries who both need items. Elder and Sister Miles were already donating most of Elder Miles white shirts and his ties to the mission, so Elder Y got some of those along with a couple pairs of garments other missionaries had ordered (but were the wrong size) so we had them in the office. Elder and Sister Miles took Elder X shopping for what he needed, while we manned the office. Many of our missionaries come with very little. We get a lot from Tonga, the Philippines, Asia and the surrounding islands. We realise what a struggle it is for some of these men and women who have so little to come serve a mission. We have had missionaries come with basically the clothes on their backs. When missionaries leave they can donate usable items and the missionaries who come with nothing can often "shop" the mission home. 

Elder X from Cambodia has a remarkable story. When the Khmer Rouge was slaughtering people in Cambodia, the UN sent in a peace keeping force. Elder X's mother met his father who was a peace keeping soldier from Africa. When he went back to Africa she was pregnant. She had the baby, he was so dark skinned that she left him under a tree to die. His grandmother heard about it and went and got him, he was in bad shape but lived. The grandmother raised him until he was about ten, she then became impoverished, couldn't support him and sent him to an orphanage along with a half sister. When he lived with his grandmother, his aunts and uncles treated him badly. Because of his skin color they wouldn't let him eat with them and they physically abused him. The woman who runs the orphanage is LDS. Through the years she taught him the gospel.  He had to wait until he was 18 and then he was baptised. He is twenty now. He has a beautiful testimony, he is sweet, kind, humble and soft spoken with a wonderful spirit. He will be a fantastic missionary! It strengthens our testimonies to hear what some of these young people go through to serve The Lord.

So, missionaries leave and others come but we are really going to miss Elder and Sister Miles! We are so grateful for their patience and friendship. We have had some great times together and are thankful for all they have taught us and shown us and the great example they are of Christ like love.

Shopping in Brisbane

Shopping is different here on many levels. First of all it is expensive. Food, clothing, everything costs more. People earn more, minimum wage is about seventeen dollars. Even the McDonalds workers make that. So it makes the cost of all goods more expensive. Some other tidbits, people rarely tip, not even in restaurants. Right now the American dollar against the Australia dollar exchange rate is good for us, by a little bit. The stores do not stay open in the evenings because it is too expensive for them to pay the help. The major malls stay open late on Thursdays only. Most of the grocery stores close early too, even on Saturdays, so we have to be more organized with shopping. No last minute Saturday night store runs! The malls have major grocery stores in them. You can buy your groceries and then walk all around the mall with your cart, everyone does. The grocery carts go forward and backward but they also go sideways, yep, it's kind of crazy. Because everyone pushes carts around the escalators don't have stairs, they have ramps. When the carts are on the ramps they automatically lock so there are no runaway carts. There is a costco being built here, about 30minutes from the office, we will go take a look when it opens. Our refrigerator is small and so is our kitchen, so we don't buy a lot at one time but we do stock up when certain items go on sale, like coke zero! There are targets and kmart here, but they are usually smaller stores than in the US. There are Subways and Kentucky Fried Chicken stores everywhere, also McDonalds and Hungry Jacks (kind of like Burger King) the Australians take their holidays seriously, this Easter weekend even the post office is closed Friday through Monday. On Good Friday most retail is closed, even gas stations. Speaking of Easter, Happy Easter to all!

Saturday at the farmers market

Almost every Saturday morning we go to a farmers market somewhere. Usually it is the West End market which is a ten minute drive away. Two other Saturdays we ventured further to other markets but the west end market is so close we usually go there. It is year round. There are a lot of food booths to purchase ready made food, selling everything from kebabs to paella to pancakes. There are booths that sell flowers, clothes, trinkets, paintings, wood cutting boards, cheese, hats and toys. A booth selling coconuts for drinking. There are even booths for foot rubs, palm readings and eyebrow shaping using thread, yep, really. There are booths that sell meat, fish and of course fruit and vegetables galore. We always buy fruits and vegetables. Today we also bought some chicken, some plum chutney, some eggs and some cards too. We spent about sixty dollars, more than usual, because we bought some blank greeting cards featuring trees, original work by a local artist. He does beautiful work. There are some gorgeous trees here (the subject of another blog post) We are including a picture of our purchases today. It is a happening place, with people singing, eating, visiting, browsing and buying. 

The population here is so diverse and the market reflects that. You can get products and foods representing Asian, Indian, European, Greek , Australian, pacific islands and more cultures.