Mission 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014

We continue to enjoy our missionary life.  The elders and sisters are powerful teachers and great examples of the culture of Christ.  Our responsibilities now include Golden orientation.  The Goldens are the new missionaries.  Elder Madsen prepared a power point presentation about adjusting to mission life with help from the tech savvy missionaries.

Before a baptism, the Zone Leaders Elder Niania and Elder Robison showed Elder Madsen how to make a few changes to the slides.

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Sunday dinner in our flat with the Latu family, a girlfriend, her little brother, another neighbor and the sister missionaries. We had a great time getting to know them and their traditions from New Zealand.  

We took this picture from the top of the mountain near the church after a district meeting.  The buildings in the background are of Southport, a suburb of Brisbane.  We have only seen the green areas of Australia to date - beautiful trees and flowers.  The birds sing and sing and sing.

One Friday night we invited the Patuaka family to dinner.  He is the ward mission leader in our ward. He suggested that we include a non-member lady in our complex.  Ann Marie (next to Elder Madsen)
is a delightful person that has now become a friend.

Missionaries from the Coomera and Gold Coast Zones met for Zone Conference on September 26, 2014.  We felt the spirit as we listened to the training from President and Sister Henderson.  The missionaries practiced "teaching people, not lessons."  Preach My Gospel continues to inspire us.

Yesterday we cleaned up our little backyard and spread grass seed on the bare spots.  Elder Madsen also transplanted some of the plants in the flower beds.  After we finished, the Lord blessed us with rain.  We will show a follow up picture when the grass grows.

Missionary Work Goes Forward

It was transfer day on Tuesday.  We participated in the meeting with President 

and Sister Henderson as the sisters and elders met their new companions.  

                   Transfer Meeting was inspiring as we listened to direction from our leaders.

 
We snapped this picture of the elders and sisters from the Cleveland Zone after their district meeting. They are amazing missionaries who know how to teach the gospel.

The senior couples dined at a Turkish restaurant following our Senior Couples Meeting about zone conferences.  The owner brought our traditional hats for the elders.  Dan even ate some of the food (chicken and rice).  We are so blessed to be surrounded by such great missionaries.

Australia Brisbane Mission

We arrived in Brisbane Wednesday, August 27 and were welcomed by President and Sister Henderson who took us to the temple during our first week.  We were assigned to the Coomera Zone, the Cleveland Zone and the Gold Coast Zone.  Elder Madsen will also be assisting with medical concerns in the mission.

On Thursday night the senior couples surprised President Henderson for his birthday.  Everyone brought Mexican food and we had a wonderful evening. It is amazing what wonderful work these missionaries are doing in Australia.

Our auto is a new Toyota Corolla - Elder Madsen's favorite color.  Driving with the steering wheel on the right side of the car and riding on the left side of the road adds new experiences daily. We drove about 800 kilometers in less than a week, most recently to Brisbane where we spent 5 hours in the ER with an elder who had a kidney stone.

We live south of Brisbane in the community of Upper Coomera in a lovely flat in a gated complex.   The members and missionaries have been so helpful and friendly.  We already love it!

Here is a picture looking into our flat.  We are ready to have guests for dinner appointments.

We attended two zone meetings this week.  The missionaries taught inspiring lessons to increase the motivation to do the work of Hastening.  It is apparent that there are great young men and sisters that have great leadership ability.  President Henderson spoke on a mission wide conference call last Thursday to encourage us all to be more diligent.

In our first week here we witnessed two baptismal services in our zones. There are more, but we can not attend all of them because of time and travel.  We are meeting more elders and sisters each day and feel of their great spirits and desires to do good.