Floods + Queensland = Elder Neil L. Andersen

Holy Moly Mates! It has been a good week! A fetching good week! So good you probably won't even believe me! First off I want to say I love you all oh so much and miss you heaps! Especially since this past week Jordan was sealed in a temple of God by priesthood authority for time and all eternity to a fetching beautiful woman! Good on you Jordan and congrats! I totally wish I could have been there but I was too busy driving around New South Wales but it is all good! I just love mission life. I will just make sure all my brothers will be home for my wedding. So that gives me a month or two to find, court, win over and marry someone before Dalton leaves for his mission. Consider it done! Anywho, let's get to the week.

So Monday Elder Hansen and I began the last leg of our mission tour. We were doing the south half of the mission which consists of the Canberra and South Coast Zones and man does this country have some beautiful scenery! The first day it took us about three hours to get down to Canberra where we checked out the flats and saw what Canberra had to offer. Canberra is no D.C. but it is still way cool and probably one of the only cities in Australia that was actually planned so it is not a headache to drive around but anyway, we saw the Parliament Building, Telstra Tower and the War Memorial Building. It was pretty legit! We did make the mistake of parking in the parking garage and on our return to the car we found that the garage had been closed and locked up so we frantically ran around the place until we found a security guard who helped us out. It gave us a scare but it all worked out. The next day we took a three hour drive down to a small coastal town called Merimbula. Holy cow this place is beautiful. I loved it and due to scheduling conflicts with some of the other missionaries we got to spend the night down there so it was fun to spend some time down there. The next day we just drove and drove and drove. Since we were one day behind we tried to make it as far north as possible so we hit up Narooma, Ulladulla, Nowra and we made it to Dapto where we ended up staying the night. The next day we finished up the South Coast and made it home. That was when we found out the big surprise...

How was that cliff hanger?

Elder Neil L. Andersen was scheduled to visit the Melbourne and Brisbane missions but due to the flooding that is going on he had to make a change in plans so with a little more than two days notice we found out an apostle was coming to our mission. So within 48 hours we had 176 missionaries gathered to hear the council of an apostle, that is 22 shy of getting the whole mission together. It was such a wonderful meeting and it had a great spirit. I know he was called of God. It was a quick yet powerful meeting and I am so thankful to have been able to listen to him! Elder Andersen, Elder Callister, Elder Vinson and Bishop Edgeley were there and it was so cool! I really loved it.

That was basically my week. Transfers are this week and I am 100.1% sure that I am out of here! I am going to a place called Manly, one of the most touristy places in Sydney so I guess that is cool but I am stoked I get to go back out to the field. I am sad to leave the office. I can't lie about that. It has many perks. I get to go anywhere in the mission, know all the missionaries, get to hang out with President and Sister Simmon. I get a personal phone with texting. I have a fetching office and I drive a diesel van. But there is nothing like getting on a bike and riding up and down your area hunting for those elect. I am so excited to chase people down look them in the eye with sweat pouring down my face panting and say you are a child of God and he has a plan for you and everything that is unfair about life can be made right! Just to have them shut me down and then I go and do it all over again. Goody! I am excited!

I love you all so much! It is true Australia is hot but a great place to be right now! Till next week.

Elder Landon Brough- Grunt Missionary!