In the Zone: Meet our Missionaries

We just finished up Zone Conferences this past week, which for us Senior Missionaries, is one of the highlight moments of our mission. These young (mostly) 18, 19, 20 and 21-year old "kids" are truly amazing and a miracle to watch their growth throughout their mission experience. Be sure to watch the video at the bottom, too!

Braeside Zone

Craigieburn Zone

Deer Park Zone

Gippsland Zone

Heidelberg Zone

Maroondah Zone

Melbourne Chinese Zone

Narre Warren Zone

Tasmania Zone

Wangaratta Zone

Wyndham Zone

A cheap phone video doesn't do justice to what it's like to be in the same room with 50 or 60 awesome missionaries enthusiastically belting out "Called To Serve", but turn up your volume, click the video below, and maybe you'll get a little bit of a feel for what it's like to be there!

President Vidmar: Master Teacher & Motivator

President Vidmar was really on his A-Game today at Mission Leadership Council training!

“How did it get so late so soon?” ― Dr. Seuss

"Time doth fly", said the poet, and so it has. Another month in the mission field has flown by ... and so much has happened. Another transfer has come and gone, including saying goodbye to some amazing missionaries. And we've welcome 17 new ones to the mission.

Mission President's office on transfer day

The Book of Mormon play is still all the rage in Melbourne and the missionaries have handed out hundreds and hundreds of copies of the real Book of Mormon in many languages. We've heard some incredible stories of lessons taught, miracles that have transpired, and lives that are changing. The blessings of the gospel—and this work—are evident at every turn.

And the more temporal aspects of Senior Missionary work also continue. We've closed down a few flats in some outlying areas and are in the process of looking for new ones in growth areas. I've (unfortunately) had to deal with more than a few wrecked cars recently and have had to process a couple of speeding tickets as well. At our Zone Conferences last week I had the opportunity to spend some time with the missionaries teaching them about responsibility and stewardship, and how to take care of their cars (and not wreck them). The principle of obedience—along with the consequences of disobedience—were mentioned often. Indeed, the work goes on.

This past week many of our missionaries had the opportunity to do some service and help clean the temple, inside and out. One after another they came into the office after 4 hours of pretty intense physical labor with huge smiles on their faces, so happy to have had the privilege to clean the House of the Lord. A few lucky Elders even got to clean the Angel Moroni, which was no easy task!

          

As office workers in the mission, we put in many hours each and every weekday; there's just a lot of work to do. But Saturday is our P-Day and a couple of weeks ago we took a little "side trip" about an hour north and visited the famous Yarra Valley Chocolaterie. It was a pretty incredible place ... and a chocolate lover's dream! It was fun to watch their talented European Chocolatiers at work and browse through the amazing showroom filled with over 250 different chocolate products. Until next time, enjoy a few photos of what Chocolate Heaven looks like!

How Australia is Different Than Home

I decided that I wanted to write a little bit about the differences between Australia and home. The biggest thing for me was learning to drive on the "wrong side" of the road. I took this picture driving home from the office. I was scared to take these two pictures because you can get a ticket here for even looking like you are touching your phone in the car!

I had to learn to drive pretty fast because Brent manages the car fleet for the missionaries and there is a lot of taking them back and forth to different dealerships for ding repairs and maintenance, and he needs me to follow him to give him a ride back to the office. The Australians all drive the speed limit...mostly, and never run the yellow/red lights, because if you mess up, these cameras in the intersection take your picture and you get an "Infringement" notice in the mail and they start at about $194.00 for speeding and $379 for running the red light. The speed cameras are EVERYWHERE! You can see the little white things on top of the light poles here, and there are actual bigger ones to tag you on the freeways and highways and even a main drag like 13th East at home. It is so weird to be all going the same speed and no one weaving thru traffic or having a road rage fit because someone is going slow in the fast lane.


They have these teeny tiny dryers here that don't vent to the outdoors, so I fluff our laundry for about 20 minutes, or as long as it takes the washer to run its cycle, then take the stuff out of the dryer and hang it out on the clothes line outside. Then fill up the washer again. I have actually come to like how fresh and aired out the sheets and towels are. Also, you can't find dryer sheets of any kind in any of the stores we have looked in! NONE! We know people who have had friends come to visit and bring dryer sheets from the states! Well, look what I found yesterday at Costco! These are like gold! Yay!

We have these little square buildings all over the neighborhoods, every few blocks right in the middle of the neighborhood. They are called "Milk Bars." This one we can walk to just down and around the corner. We have gone there a few times for milk, cheese or bread. It only has a couple of choices of things like cheese or milk, but candy and ice cream bars are plentiful. So it's easier than running to the grocery store that is about 8 minutes from home, but we try not to use it too often because it is a little more expensive than the store.

OK, this thing is out of the dark ages and now I will quote Robby...in a letter from Portugal... "There are no heaters or air conditioners here. What? Don't these people believe in heating their homes?" This little mini unit is an air conditioner or heater that is in the family room and goes about as far as the kitchen. When its been too hot, we have a fan that sits in the door to the kitchen to blow down the hall to the bedroom. Barely does anything until about 4 in the morning when we pull up a sheet.

We have this other invaluable little guy (and one more like it) to heat the bathroom, bedroom and office. It will be interesting when it gets cold outside.

This little thing is our "ice maker." You fill up the teeny trays, freeze them and then turn the knobs in front and the tiny ice cubes fall into the tray underneath, about enough to fill 2 glasses. So we try to fill it more often so we have enough for a little extra.


Lastly for tonight's blog, we found out that Easter is the biggest time of year for chocolate in Australia. Cadbury chocolate is super abundant here, you see it EVERYWHERE!! We found these giant Easter eggs at the store yesterday. They claim to be filled with little prizes. Big chocolate bunnies everywhere too. I hope the Easter Bunny remembers I love chocolate and brings me something for Easter!

Sacrifice Brings Forth the Blessings of Heaven

After almost two months in the mission field, I am finally beginning to grasp just how complex — and how many "moving parts" there are — in a successfully operated mission.

At last count, we have 188 young missionaries and 33 "older" missionaries serving in the Australia Melbourne Mission. Every 6 weeks we have what is called "Transfers" and many of the missionaries are moved to new geographic locations (called areas) to work with new companions. At the same time, a dozen or so of them conclude their missions and go back home, and a similar number arrive to begin their missions. Next month we will have a "net gain" of 7 or 8 new Elders and Sisters. Transfer time is a very busy time for everyone, including especially the office staff.

Some of our incredible departing missionaries (We'll miss them!)

Coordinating the activity of all of those missionaries is a massive undertaking. In addition to transfers every 6 weeks, there is housing to arrange and manage, hundreds of bills to pay and other missionary-related finances to tend to. There is the fleet of 85 vehicles and the related maintenance and repair tasks associated with all those cars, not to mention the all-too-frequent traffic accident or speeding ticket (called infringements here) to deal with.

There are baptismal records to record, referrals to manage and distribute, supplies to order and medical issues to address. And, of course, there are other administrative tasks related to things such as answering phones, coordinating travel, planning Zone Conferences, missionary phones, public transportation, and dozens more that have to be attended to every month.

A few of the cars in our fleet

Our missionary force is like the United Nations of missions. Currently, we have Elders and Sisters from 29 different countries serving in the mission!!! (In a few months it will be up to 32!) There are areas within the mission itself where the missionaries have been specifically called to teach the gospel in Chinese, Vietnamese, Samoan and, of course, English.

Similarly, Melbourne is a bit of a melting pot of cultural diversity as well. Its citizens come from many, many different countries. This is evident by (what we call) the Book of Mormon Wall in the Mission Office. We stock copies of The Book of Mormon is 77 languages!!!

Our Book of Mormon Wall

Yes, it takes a lot of resources, manpower and time (and a lot of money) to operate a mission. And the Australia Melbourne Mission is just one of 418 missions in operation throughout the world today. Last time I checked, those missions had 74,079 missionaries. And in case you didn't know, missionary work is voluntary. Missionaries fund their own missions — except for their transportation to and from their field of labor — and are not paid for their services. That's a lot of volunteer service.

For some, it may beg the question, "Why? Why would 74,079 people, young and old, take 18 months to 2 years out of their lives do this?" The answer is two-fold:

First, because Christ's church has always been and always will be a missionary church. The missionary effort is based on the New Testament pattern of missionaries serving in pairs, teaching the gospel and baptizing believers in the name of Jesus Christ. The work of Peter and John found in the book of Acts are great biblical examples of missionary work. Of course one of the greatest New Testament missionaries was Paul. (If you don't know who Paul is, take the time to read up about his conversion story. It's pretty amazing.)

The second reason tens of thousands of us serve is because we sincerely believe that the messages of the restoration, eternal families, and God's plan of happiness are worth sharing. So, we follow the example of the Savior's disciples and we share the gospel, literally, throughout the world.

Sister Gray and I are loving serving. We are forever grateful to anyone and everyone who played a part in some way to make it possible for us to serve. And while we may not be out actually teaching like most of the other missionaries, our efforts with a few of those many "moving parts" helps them do the most important work: Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

The Mormons Are Coming!

You've probably heard of the play called 'The Book of Mormon - Musical'. It is a religious satire musical that pokes fun at the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The lyrics and music were written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park. It's been a big hit, winning 9 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Reviewers have praised it for its music and originality, but also point out the play’s blasphemous and offensive themes and language. I'm not going to see it and I don't recommend you do either.

BUT...

An interesting thing is happening with this play. Many thought the Church would be upset about it, or that there might even be protests. But as people quickly found out, that's not the LDS Church's way at all. When the musical opened in the U.S., the Church released the following statement: “The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.”

Well, two weeks ago the play opened here in Melbourne. Advertisements with the message “The Mormons are Coming” have been running for months now. The message is on TV, in the paper, and even on the sides of the trains and buses. Hundreds of people in Melbourne have posted their excitement about the musical on their social media pages. Word is that The Book of Mormon play has been the best selling show in Melbourne's Princess Theatre’s 159-year history. Who would have thought the three words 'Book ... of ... Mormon' could ever be so widely heard and spoken in Melbourne, Australia?!

Of course, as Michael Otterson, the managing director of Public Affairs for the Church pointed out, "Parody isn’t reality ... The danger is not when people laugh, but when they take it seriously [and] leave a theater believing that Mormons really do live in some kind of a surreal world of self-deception and illusion."

Clearly there's a wonderful opportunity here to set the record straight, which comes in the form of increased genuine curiosity about the Church, the missionaries, and the real Book of Mormon. Since the show started its promotional efforts last January, searches on the Internet in the greater Melbourne area about “Mormons” are 10 times greater than before.

Starting about a week ago, and running through most of February, the Church has launched a media initiative in downtown Melbourne that is incredible! Southern Cross train station (which has daily traffic of over 155,000 and is the major railway station and transport hub for Melbourne) is plastered with Book of Mormon-related themes that "set the record straight" about who we are and what's really inside the Book of Mormon.

Here are a bunch of photos taken in Southern Cross Station, but I wish you all could see it in person. It's amazing! (Click on any image to see a larger, more detailed view.)

Needless to say, it's an exciting time to be a missionary in Victoria, Australia! You should go to the Australia Mormon.org site (mormon.org.au) and take a look at some of the videos and how this campaign is being tied to social media. It's really well done.