It begins

 

A great place to start is at the temple. We didn't actually get to go in but it was nice to see it in the bustling city of Brisbane. We arrived on a Wednesday morning after a 14 hour flight from San Francisco.  We spent the first 3 days in Brisbane then got our first assignment to pop up, via a two hour plane ride, to Atherton in the north of Queensland. We don't know how long we'll be here but it's a beautiful little spot here in Australia! Joel has been called to be branch president in a small branch with 20-25 people who regularly attend. 

Here are some of the other senior missionaries serving in the Brisbane mission. There are about 60 seniors serving here doing a variety of jobs like Elder Hill, in charge of all the cars we drive and also responsible for teaching us to drive on the left side of the street! That's no easy feat but we are getting there. Our biggest issue is hitting the windshield wiper lever whenever we mean to hit the turn signal. They call it the American salute. Joel and I salute often. Others make sure there is housing for all us missionaries, others are involved with medical needs, leadership positions, doing welfare projects, supporting local wards and branches. They are all amazing people and we enjoy being part of them. 

These pictures are from the little town we live and serve in. Atherton. It's very agricultural. They grow everything here and it's considered the bread basket of Queensland. Avocados, mangos, sugarcane, all sorts of berries, (The blue berries are huge and more delicious than any I've ever had!) oranges, bananas, absolutely everything! It's part of what they call the tablelands which are a bit higher than the coastal areas and hence a bit cooler and a bit less humid. We're told we will be very grateful come summer, December-February, that we are here and not in Cairns (pronounced Cans) down by the coast.

We've been told we'll be seeing some really cool wild life but other than the above iguana we've only really seen cool birds. There are parrots in the tree above. We saw some Brush Turkeys today while visiting some new friends and when we asked if you could eat them the man said you can use them to make soup. "Put one turkey in the water with a rock, boil it, take the turkey out and eat the rock." Haha. Apparently they are not tasty. 

Right now since we are so new here we spend our days getting to know the branch members in our little area. Most are converts to the church. All have a story to tell. They are lovely people. Today we met a lady and when I greeted her she kissed me on the lips! As I hugged her I said, "Wow! I got a kiss on the lips!' and she said, "Don't you feel better now?" I had to admit I did. Many of these people have had rough lives and there are obstacles  blocking their paths to full joy and success. Joel and I hope to be able to bring them along, draw them closer to Christ and help them reach their full potential in the gospel. Australia is a relatively secular country and we hope to bring the peace the restored gospel offers to heaps of people while we are here.