Thursday, April 23, 2015

Trip to Papau New Guinea

Elder Madsen flew from Brisbane to both of the missions in New Guinea.   He left on Friday and returned on Monday.  It was a wonderful experience to meet so many great people.  He was accompanied by security guards wherever he went because it is a dangerous place.


Some of the missionaries in the Papua New Guinea Lae Mission with a senior couple.  Elder Madsen gave a powerpoint presentation about sanitation practices and how to prevent and treat the diseases common to this area of the world.  He also did exams on all of them.

The missionaries in the Papua New Guinea missions are from Tonga, Samoa
and Papua New Guinea.  They are wonderful representatives of the Savior.
                     Here is another group of missionaries who came to the mission 
                           home on Tuesday for the presentation and to be checked.


                                           










Some of the members in the Lae Branch and others who wanted their picture taken.

People set up stands along the road to sell anything.
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
                       The people love to have their pictures taken.  This is a member 
             family and friends. Though the people live in poverty they seem to be happy.

                 Sister Peteru, the mission president's wife with members of the church.   

President Peteru and Elder Madsen with a member couple who
teach at the technology school in Lae.




This is the emergency room of a private hospital in Lae.





Hospital employees explain the lab tests to Elder Madsen.

This is the waiting room of a public hospital in Lae.
People ride in the bed of truck on benches. This is
a common mode of transportation.
Two elders in front of the Lae Mission home.
The last group of missionaries in the Lae Mission gather for the
training session and check ups.
 
Dr. McCarthy, a doctor and member of the church with Elder Madsen
at his clinic in Port Moresby.
This is one of the church buildings in Port Moresby.
This is where some of the elders wash their dishes.
            This is the local swimming hole and where the elders bathe by
              laying in the water with their clothes on.  Then they walk home
              and put on dry clothes and hang the wet ones out to dry.

This is the inside of the missionary flat.
The elders cook on a hot plate powered by gas.
The flat has no electricity so the elders study using battery powered lanterns.
Elder Madsen with the two happy elders from the Port Moresby Mission
who live in the humble flat described above.  They are amazing young men.
This photo was taken from Elder Madsen's hotel room in Port Moresby.  It is a beautiful country with valuable natural resources.  Note the open pit mine on the mountain.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Senior Conference

Senior Conference of the Australia Brisbane Mission 
March 2015

We had a glorious three days together as senior missionaries.  We laughed, we played, we ate, we prayed, we worked and we rejoiced in the opportunity to be part of the Hastening.










We met at the Mission Home on Monday
evening for dinner and introductions.





                                    We attended a special temple session on Tuesday 
                                    followed by a special meeting in one of the sealing 
                                    rooms with President Pitman and his wife.








We toured Brisbane on a double decker
bus to see the historic sites of the city.



We ate dinner in restaurant on Southbank before seeing the
performance of Wicked at the theatre.







We participated in training meetings.  Each couple shared their successes and best practices.







                                      Here are the wonderful missionary couples:


President and Sister Henderson


 
                  Elder and Sister Montague

                                                                   Elder and Sister Johnson


             Elder and Sister Hannant
                 Elder and Sister Pipers
                Elder and Sister Hansen
                 Elder and Sister Dennis
         Elder and Sister Walden
              Elder and Sister Mickelsen
     Sister Arseneau and Sister Parsons
                     Elder and Sister North
              Elder and Sister Johnson
              Elder and Sister Mizukawa
              Elder and Sister Shute














                Elder and Sister Slemboski

     
                                  We did a real play of a ward council meeting in our training.