Greetings from Robina (suburb of Gold Coast) about an hour south of Brisbane! Our area is called Mudgeeraba (Mudge-er-buh).
yep i got here ok. Anyway we ended up leaving SLC at 9:00pm instead of 8:11. I dont know why they delayed it, but we landed in LAX just in time to grab a bite to eat, board and sleep. How was Jan. 4th? The plane ride from SLC to LAX was kind of annoying, it was packed full, but more annoyingly it was a narrow plane (six seats in each row divided by about and 18 inch wide walkway, and the ceiling was quite low. I was a little claustrophobic about that for a while, but it was only an hour and a half long flight. The Qantas Flight from LAX to BNE was much better. There was a row of eight seats, with isles between seats 2-3 and 6-7. They served us dinner and breakfast. We got some good sleep, about 12 hours. I woke up every three hours, because of turbulance. It wasn't very severe, it was just annoying and made it hard to get back to sleep.
Anyway, its thursday the sixth here, and it's not P-Day. Normally our P-Day is Wednesday, but we didnt get much of one since my companion, Elder Prina (pree-na) came up to Brisbane to pick us up from the Mission Home. So normally expect my email's on Wednesday (Tuesday in Utah). It's about 3:15pm here. Elder Prina is District Leader, grew up in Michegan and moved to Orem when he was about 13. He went to Timpview and has been out about 20 months. He is a really good trainer! We pretty much have the best apartment in the mission. (here they call homes/property flats) our flat. He said it was small compared to the other ones, which i dont believe because its quite large. I'll send pictures next week probably, once i get settled in (Im still living out of my suitcase). The kitchen is kinda small, but it's really nice. We have a dishwasher. So our flat is pretty much posh. But i dont know any different right now. The shower is huge; 7 ft. by 3 and 1/2 feet, and we have a washer and dryer in our little utility room. All together, the unit is about as big as Whitney and Chris', but with only one room, giving more living space and a larger bathroom. We share a car with some Sisters (Leon and Yost), they have it generally from sunday to wednesday, then we have it thursday to sunday.
It is really rainy, but quite warm as well, about 85 degrees F. (30 or 35 Celcius here). im bearing the humidity alright, it seems like missouri and illinois were worse, but im probably wrong, because its quite tropical here. Tons of Eucalyptus trees, Palm Trees, Birds of Paradise Flowers, Hibiscus, all kinds of rainforest type flora. Haven't seen a kanga yet, but i might see a Wallaby soon (mini kangaroo). I have seen quite a few spiders hanging around on webs between trees. You have to watch really carefully where you are going. Havent seen any snakes yet, but when im walking past someones garden and i hear some rustling in the leaves, i run. The city is beautiful, the ocean is beautiful, its all just gorgeous!
Yesterday President Langeland (Lang-land) and Sister Langeland picked us up at the Airport, along with his assistants Elder Jensen and Elder Waipeo. We went to the Mission office to apply for a Blue Card (allows me to legally work around children), and recieve a small orientation. We went back to the mission home where Sister Langeland cooked us lunch. Then President took us to the chapel right across from the Temple. ok, the temple is absolutely tiny. The spire only reaches about 30 feet in the air, but it's pretty nonetheless. There we met up with some Elders (Sowards and Paki) and we three-sum'd up and did about an hour of tracting. We met a woman named Margaret. Her husband passed away, and she was really interested about the Plan of Salvation. So we gave her a Book of Mormon and set up a time for a lesson ( i of course wont be at the lesson, because i wasn't assigned my area yet, but Elders' Sowards and Paki will return to teach her). Afterward we went back to the mission home for Mission President Interviews and dinner, then we met our trainers and went back to our area's (Elder Pond is about 20 minutes south of Brisbane, and I am about a half hour further south, and I cant remember which area Elder Dahl is in).
Busy, busy day yesterday.
This morning we had District Meeting, and we out to lunch afterward. We went to a restaurant called Nandos where we ate spicy chicken and chips (fries). It was pretty good :)
After i'm done with this email, we are going grocery shopping (because we obviously couldn't yesterday), and proselyting. Then we have a dinner/lesson with an investigator named Jade at the member's flat (the Parker's Family; i wonder if we are related way far back?). We might also meet with a less active (LA) member named Doug Knight and give him a lesson. All in all we are doing pretty good.One month down, only 23 to go. Happy Kangaroo! (for the Cranneys)
Love, Elder Stringfellow
