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.

Mission P-Day

Australia is home to many unique and interesting animals. We had a great

P-day at the Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane.

Koala Bears were so fun to watch. They eat leaves that do not give them much energy so they sleep for up to 20 hours a day.

We did not get near this snake!

Photo of a sleeping koala bear

We enjoyed the company of Elder and Sister Mickelsen from St. George at the Koala Sanctuary. 

                         


                This was a very large lizard.

This is an emu.

Elder Madsen fed a kangaroo.  There were "heaps" of kangaroos.

Sister Tavalea knelt by a baby kangaroo.   The kangaroos were so tame and not afraid of humans at all.








This emu was happy to pose for a photo with some senior sisters.

This is a wild Australian dog called a dingo.

"Kookaburra sits in the old Gum Tree
Merry, merry king of the bush is he,
Laugh, kookaburra, laugh"...
He really does laugh.

Here are more beautiful birds...

This one would squawk at you if you squawked at him.
  

The Tasmanian Devil is named correctly - you would not want him as a pet.

        Sister Tavalea from Tonga spent a few days with us to get a medical evaluation.

Mission Life

                  Elder Madsen working in his home office.  He is now the Pacific Area
                  Medical Advisor for 18 missions.  He is dealing with medical issues he
                  never saw - only read about in med school!

Part of the Coomera Zone at interviews

       







                                                            

We celebrated Sister Madsen's birthday with Elder and Sister Mizukawa at a restaurant on Tamborine Mountain.

      An old mansion called the Coomera House will be torn down and a new Coomera Stake           Center will be built on the site.  The groundbreaking was held on February 7, 2015.

The neighbor boys came for a visit...

and wanted to take our picture.  Sister Madsen is wearing her apron as usual.

Cleveland Zone posed for a picture after the temple session.

                        

We love the plants and trees in Australia - so many different varieties.

The woods behind our complex can be seen from our kitchen window

We meet the new missionaries at Golden Orientation.  We present a
Power Point discussion about adjusting to missionary life.

Mission Experiences

Elder Maden is giving instructions for medication to Elder Esekia - just released from the hospital and Elder Howell, his companion.  Elder Coles was the temporary companion during that time.

Sister Iurato and Sister Isenberger served in the Coomera Zone.  They were transferred to Cairns and Mackay in the northern part of the mission.

Elder and Sister Johnson from Salt Lake City came to dinner at our flat
one evening.  They serve as Self-reliance missionaries for the mission.

We watched our next door neighbor, Zico,
play in a tennis tournament.  He and his
dad agreed to listen to the missionary lessons.

We spent part of the day with Elder Laufale Lua and Elder Allapitan
as we traveled from Warwick to Toowoomba and back for dental work.

We returned home one day to find hearts with messages printed on them stuck to our front door.

The Coomera Zone at the Brisbane Temple in February 2015.