We invite you to share our experiences serving as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Brisbane, Australia. We have the privilege of serving as Area Medical Advisor and Assistant for all of the missions in Australia and Papua New Guinea. From May 2025 to November 2026, we will share our fun experiences, growth, challenges, and the joy of serving our Savior.
Our flights to Brisbane were uneventful, but very LONG. We first flew to San Francisco where we had a six-hour layover. We did have the chance to meet a wonderful member of the church, who is currently serving as a Bishop of a Tongan ward in Salt Lake. He was traveling to New Zealand to visit family. He had befriended a young man who was attending school in the US on a soccer scholarship and was travelling home to New Zealand for the school holiday. He was not a member of the church, and we were able to have a brief gospel discussion and explain our work as missionaries as we shared a meal with them in the airport in San Francisco. Our flight from San Francisco to Brisbane was fortunately non-stop.
We arrived in Brisbane on the morning of May 27, 2025. We gathered all our suitcases and then waited about an hour. We were told that someone from the Mission office would be at the airport to greet us and take us to the Mission Office. After about an hour, we called the office and surprised them. They thought we were arriving the next day.
We were able to meet Sister Widman, the mission office secretary. She picked us up and drove us to the mission office, where we got to meet several other Senior missionaries. We were able to see the Hill’s again. Elder Hill is serving as the vehicle coordinator for the Brisbane Mission. We met them back in December, in Orem, when we went to dinner with Frank and Kathy Edmunds and Dean and Kathy Hill. The Hills are awesome, and we are so to be here with them and to serve with them!
We had been in the mission office less than five minutes when another couple, Elder and Sister Keil, asked if we wanted to go with them to their District Council Meeting (DCM) in Ipswich and meet their missionaries that they work with. I opened my suitcase right there in the office and grabbed out a dress and closed-toed shoes, since I had just been told that whenever we are in the mission office, we must wear a dress and closed-toed shoes. So, no problem, I grabbed some other clothes out of my suitcase, changed into them in the bathroom and off we went to our very first District Council Meeting.
Elder Nelson and I LOVED meeting those missionaries for the first time and being with them. Elder Keil taught a lesson on anger as part of their meeting. We did not meet our mission leaders, President and Sister Vongsawad, on our first day because they were up in the northern part of our mission doing interviews with missionaries up there. President wanted to interview his missionaries before his time as a mission president comes to an end, which is the end of June. We finally met them a couple of days later when they took us out to dinner. They are wonderful and we grew to love them in the short time we served with them.
Our new mission leaders will be President Leo and Sister Kendel Gomez, who are from Liverpool, a suburb of Sydney.
Our first impressions of Brisbane? We absolutely LOVE Brisbane and feel so very humbled and full of gratitude that we have this mission opportunity! It felt so surreal that we were actually here…driving around…and loving looking at everything as we went along. Even though May is the start of their wintertime, the weather has been deliciously perfect. Mid to high 70’s during the day and mid 50’s at night. Elder Nelson and I keep commenting on how the weather, homes on hillsides and the landscape, trees and flowers remind us so very much of San Diego, or even parts of Florida. It really is beautiful here and the people are so friendly. They love listening to our accent as much as we love listening to theirs! We love how Brisbane is green, lots of tropical trees and flowers everywhere, so yes, we have already fallen in love with this wonderful, vibrant, multi-cultural, beautiful city! Downtown Brisbane is gorgeous and is built along the Brisbane River.
Our first night several of the Senior missionaries took us to the “City Cat,” a water taxi catamaran that runs up and down the Brisbane River. It costs .50 cents to ride one way all down the river for two hours and then .50 cents to ride it back again. I was hardly prepared for how gorgeous Brisbane city is all lit up at night! The skyscrapers all along the river’s edge and the stunning Story Bridge all lit up, take your breath away! I don’t have words to describe it, and pictures can’t capture everything like being there in person. You’ll just have to believe me that downtown Brisbane at night is stunning! We were even able to see the beautiful Brisbane Temple which sits on a bluff overlooking a bend of the Brisbane River.
We could not get into our (flat) house for eleven days after we arrived. The Israelsens, whom we would be replacing, had their son visiting and would be gone for most of those eleven days and would not vacate the house they have, which is in Forest Lake, until the morning of June 6th, when their mission ended and they flew home to Chicago.
We stayed with Elder and Sister Hill in their flat for those first eleven days and we loved it. They are wonderful and were perfect hosts. Those days were filled with lots of orientation and training, some jet lag, and some limited sight-seeing in and around Brisbane. We are loving it so far!
Heads up…long post ahead…(This post is a little out of order but was such an incredible experience, we did not want to delay in sharing it! We’ll get caught up…slowly)
We had the privilege of flying from Brisbane to Port Moresby Papua New Guinea! We met with President and Sister Burgess, of the Port Moresby Mission, President and Sister Hosea, of the Lae Mission, and Elder and Sister Colledge. The purpose of our visit was to meet these wonderful mission leaders and the Colledges. Elder Colledge has been serving as the mission health advisor for both missions in Papua New Guinea and will be returning home in August, almost certainly with a gap before his replacement arrives due to visa challenges. Therefore, it was thought advisable that we get a ‘boots on the ground’ orientation as to the challenges and realities of medical care in PNG. Our visit coincided with the creation of the Oro stake in Popondetta.
We traveled to PNG on Thursday, 12 June 2025 around 11:40 a.m., after a flight delay, and arrived in Port Moresby midafternoon there. While at the airport, we met two members of the church that were also flying to Port Moresby. One was a young elder, who had been in Auckland, New Zealand’s MTC and was flying to Port Moresby to start his mission. The other was a gentleman, Paul Bender, who is from Melbourne but will be moving his family to Auckland in about two months for his work in Public Affairs in the Area office. We found out he is serving as Bishop right now in his ward in Melbourne.
Sister Nelson and I were sitting in the waiting area by our gate when I saw Elder Yanguak walking towards our waiting area.
As we stood up to greet him, Sister Nelson had a very strong impression, “He’s hungry” were the words that came to her. Elder Yanguak, who was just arriving from the missionary training center in New Zealand, and traveling to his mission in PNG, went to talk to the lady at the gate desk. And again “He’s hungry” came very strongly to Sister Nelson. She mentioned it to me and I pulled some money out of my wallet and slipped it to her. Sister Nelson then quietly went up to him and asked, “Are you hungry?” He stared at her briefly and then whispered yes. We gave him a few Australian dollars to grab a bite to eat and he was very grateful.
Elder and Sister Colledge met us at the airport, and it was so very nice to meet them and spend six days with them! They are awesome people, and we really enjoyed our time with them. They actually own and operate Wadley Farms in Lindon. They were wonderful hosts and thoroughly oriented us as to the challenges faced by the missionaries and saints in Papua New Guinea. They drove us through Port Moresby showing us a few of the sites on our way to the Range View Condo where we would be staying while in Port Moresby. We were able to meet President and Sister Burgess for dinner that evening at the Stanley Hotel. Coincidentally, while we were eating, we met President Wakolo and Elder Ormsby, along with President and Sister Hosea. It was lovely to meet all of them. President Wakolo and Elder Ormsby were there to organize the Oro Stake from the Oro District in Popondetta that weekend. On Friday, 13 June, we were able to drive around with Elder and Sister Colledge and visit many of the local medical and dental facilities in Port Moresby, including the Gerehu medical clinic, the Ela medical clinic, the Pacific International outpatient medical clinic, and Rainbow Dental Clinic, which was in a dark, metal, shipping container.
All these facilities were quite primitive by US standards, significantly lacking in basic equipment such as IV pumps, suction machines, and heart monitors. I was impressed that they were generally clean, and the staff seemed very competent and caring. We were also able to drive out to Nine Mile and visit President and Sister Franks of the Nine Mile branch. Sister Franks is the lead in the Mums preschool program, and they have built a beautiful school adjacent to their home in Nine Mile. The Franks have a darling ten-year-old son named Thomas, who came right up to Sister Nelson and gave her a huge hug.
We also were able to visit their newly remodeled branch building, which took three years, and has just been completed. We ate lunch at a beautiful nature/wildlife park there in Port Moresby and had the opportunity to meet Elder and Sister Maybe, who are serving at the Port Moresby Temple construction site.
That evening we had a potluck dinner in the apartment of Elder and Sister Huston along with the Colledges, the Maybes, and Elder and Sister Dandoy, other senior missionaries serving there in Port Moresby. After dinner we traveled to the Gerehu Chapel for an enrichment fireside for Young Single Adults and youth featuring Sister Sulley, who is an Australian lawyer who is currently serving on the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea. It was a wonderful and enjoyable experience.
On Saturday, June 14th, we awoke very early and flew to Popondetta, along with the Colledges, the Hustons, the Dandoys, and Bishop Bender.
We were greeted at the airport by a group of beautiful Young Women from the Oro District, who had made yarn leis for us and draped them around our necks.
We were driven by Alex, one of President Hosea’s faithful mission clerks, to our lodging, the Birdwing Butterfly Lodge, to drop off our luggage and get checked in.
We met up with President Wakolo and Elder Ormsby, and the Hoseas, and we all left to travel to the 10 acre secured compound owned by the District President Salaiau. We were all greeted by a wonderful large group of saints, including 20 or so dancers dressed in native cultural costumes who performed a native dance for us.
After a few photos, a baptismal service began in the open-air chapel there, presided over by President Wakolo. We soon discovered that 107 individuals were scheduled to be baptized there that morning! In total, 87 were baptized that morning and another 20, who had arrived a bit late, were baptized a couple of hours later.
After a couple of talks, we all walked the short distance down a grassy, tree lined trail to the river for the actual baptismal ordinances. It was so awesome and inspiring to see so many wonderful people dressed in white!
The baptisms soon began in the river in a pool that had been made deep enough by damming the river with rocks and banana leaves. It was surrounded by dense tropical forest, and the setting was breathtaking!
Initially, two elders began to baptize, one by one, as the names of the individuals were called out. Witnesses surrounded the man-made pool, and attendants were on hand with dry towels to assist those who had been baptized. Many family members, friends and others, including a few missionaries, Elder Huston and my dear wife, Sister Nelson, waded into the cool, clean river for a better view. Eventually, due to the number of individuals being baptized, two more elders were asked to help baptize, making four baptizing simultaneously in the river!
Incidentally, one of those performing the baptisms was the young 15-year-old grandson of President and Sister Hosea, who had only days before arrived in Papua New Guinea from Utah with his father for a visit, and “mini mission.” He had only been ordained a priest one week before and was privileged to exercise his priesthood and baptize dozens of new converts in a river halfway around the world! Those were the last baptisms performed for the Oro District, since the next day they were made a stake and were no longer a district. What a life changing experience for young “Elder” Hosea! I’m sure it is an experience that he will never forget. So inspiring for each one of us who were privileged to be there and experience this once in a lifetime event!
Words are very inadequate to express the incredible spirit present as so many sons and daughters of God covenanted to follow the Savior! It was a scene unlike any other that we have ever experienced, and we will never forget it, or the feelings of joy it brought! It was very reminiscent of the scene we imagine at the Waters of Mormon described in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 18. It was incredible, amazing, unbelievable, and life changing!
A few of those scheduled to be baptized apparently arrived late, and an additional baptismal session was held in the river that afternoon, for a total of 107 individuals, young and old, ages 8-80! There was even an article in the Church News about it, and in one of the photos of the meetings, the backs of our heads are visible, under red awnings! Here’s the link:
After the baptisms and a brief lunch back at the lodging, we traveled to the District Chapel compound for additional leadership meetings and had the wonderful opportunity to meet and mingle with many more of the loving PNG saints. They were so warm and welcoming and happy, and so excited to finally become a Stake! In fact, they even had a banner printed and hung across the main road announcing the Oro Stake creation!
T-shirts with the same logo were seen everywhere. It was a scene of great joy and excitement.
That afternoon, Elder Colledge and I, assisted by Sisters Colledge and Nelson, were able to perform missionary physicals on 26 prospective missionaries. Through out all of Papua New Guinea, there are about 400 young women and young men that need physicals, and are waiting to submit their mission papers. Apparently physical exams are very difficult to get due to the extremely limited availability of medical facilities.
After a wonderful dinner back at the Birdwing Butterfly Lodge with President Wakolo, Elder Ormsby, the Hoseas, other church employees, and all of the senior missionary couples, we all traveled back to the Salaiau compound for a large, well-attended dance. There were probably 800 or more individuals in attendance, and we “spared not”, dancing our hearts out, to the delight of everyone. Sister Nelson was absolutely in her element, dancing, hugging and reveling in the amazing social atmosphere. It was a lot of fun.
On Sunday, June 15th, we attended a wonderful morning session of the stake conference for YSAs, followed by the general session at 10:00am, presided over by President Tanielo Wakolo, assisted by Elder Jared Ormsby, Area Seventy.
The Oro District was dissolved, and the Oro Stake created, with President Salaiau as its first stake president. Wards were created from branches, Bishops and new stake leaders called, and the work of the Lord continues to roll forth. The conference was very well attended, both in person and remotely via Zoom, with attendance locally estimated at nearly 1000!
Despite the light rain, and standing room only conditions, spirits were high, and joy filled the air. We lingered for quite a while, loving and fellowshipping with the saints and feeling their magnificent spirit. Sister Nelson loved walking around and through the people, who were sitting outside on chairs and blankets, visiting with them and giving as many as she could (maybe close to 400 hugs) hugs and smiles. They hugged her back and loved talking with all of us. They were so sweet and friendly!
The rest of the day provided an opportunity for us to rest, study, and recharge as new leaders were set apart and trained.
Monday morning, June 16th, I accompanied Elder and Sister Dandoy, who are serving as Humanitarian missionaries, to a meeting with the local director of the NID (National Identification Service) to discuss ways that LDS charities could assist with their work throughout the country helping create ID cards and birth certificates, and perhaps assist in rebuilding their local government building which burned down about 8 years ago. It was a productive meeting, and I was so impressed by the skill and knowledge of the Dandoy’s, who I believe are serving their 4th full time humanitarian mission! We then traveled to a scheduled meeting with the Provincial Health Authority, only to find out that the gentleman that we were to meet with was out of the country, even though the meeting had been confirmed just days before. We instead met on the spur of the moment with a very kind woman who serves as the Finance director for the PHA in the Northern Province and explained to her the humanitarian work of the church. We asked her to consider proposing any needed projects in their local PHA/hospital that LDS charities may be able to assist with. Our scheduled visit to the local Popondetta hospital also sadly fell through.
We hurried off to the small airport for our return flight to Port Moresby, scheduled for 2:00 pm.
After multiple delays and much uncertainty as to whether our flight would be cancelled, we finally took off about 5:30 pm. As we sat and waited for our plane to arrive, President Hosea’s Assistants kindly brought us boxed lunched of chicken and chips, (french fries) to the airport, as many of us had not eaten at all that day.
We arrived safely back in Port Moresby and were exhausted from the weekend’s activities. We grabbed a quick bite of dinner at the Rangeview mall shops and collapsed into bed.
We were picked up in the morning of Tuesday, June 17th by our wonderful hosts, the Colledges, for a trip and tour of Pacific International Hospital, which is clearly the best there is in PNG, and the only location where MRIs can be performed in the country. It was quite nice and appeared to offer state-of-the-art care.
We returned to the mission home compound to participate in an Area Medical Council via Zoom. We traveled out to Gerica to do a missionary flat (apartment) inspection and see where the Colledges attend church which is just an open air concrete platform under a member’s house, whose house is built up on stilts.
The road to get there was very rough, slow, and often muddy. The Colledges mentioned that one or both of them speaks in sacrament meeting almost every week, along with teaching various classes. We then travelled to the main public hospital in town, Port Moresby General Hospital, which was not nearly as well kept as PIH. Older and not as well built, it shows its age, though it was clean and the staff we met seemed to be doing their best despite less than perfect facilities and equipment.
We then traveled out to the new Port Moresby Temple site. The temple is absolutely beautiful, though in a rough part of town. We am certain that it will greatly bless the lives of the saints, and indeed lift and bring light to the entire area and country when completed.
We briefly stopped at the local stake center nearby, visited with some local members and youth there, and drove along the coast before returning to Central Port Moresby.
That evening we dined at the Hilton Hotel with the Colledge’s and Dr. Suresh, an oncologist who is a friend to the church and the missionaries. He frequently attends, and participates in class and has even spoken in church though not a member of the church. It was fun to talk to him about all kinds of subjects.
We were very excited to learn that the mini Missionary Training Center, tentatively slated to be established in Port Moresby, will likely be located at the Hilton Hotel complex, which will be wonderful.
We had heavy security during our visit to Papua New Guinea! Everywhere we went, we were driven in a four-wheel drive pick-up. We were told never to walk alone at any time of day. Everywhere we went was an area guarded 24/7 by security guards (with guns), secured, barb wired, fenced areas, including church buildings and hospitals. One of the hospitals, in a severely poverty stricken area, was sketchy enough that Sister Nelson and Sister Colledge were asked to stay in the pick-up for their protection and keep the doors locked.
To give you an idea of how scary PNG can be on a daily basis, on the day before we arrived in Popondetta, three missionaries were driving out on a dirt road to visit a family and they came upon large boulders blocking the road. As they stopped, they were suddenly ambushed and told to get out of the car. As the three missionaries got out of their car, they were surrounded by men (called rascals) with guns and machetes, who put the guns to their heads and the machetes to their throats, and who demanded they hand over everything…money, wallets, car keys, phones. The missionaries gave them everything they had. Thankfully, the rascals did not hurt them, but stole everything and left them stranded in a dangerous area. A day or so later, their car was later found abandoned. A side note, at this time, no young sister missionaries are allowed to serve in PNG.
Another incident, just a few weeks before we arrived, Elder and Sister Colledge told us that they had just arrived in Popondetta and had just driven through the security gates of the Birdwing Buttery Lodge when they heard lots of gunshots going off. It turned out that several drunk rascals started running toward to lodge gate, as the security guards were trying to hurry and close it. The rascals tried to force their way in and despite several warnings yelled from the guards, one of the rascals kept fighting to get in and eventually was shot and killed, which is so very sad.
As for us, we felt safe most of the time…only once, near where they are building the Port Moresby Temple, we were forced to drive very slowly through an open air crowded market area, with throngs of crowds walking up near our pick-up truck, did we start to feel quite concerned. Thankfully we were able to drive slowly forward and make our way out of that area. It was after the fact, when we were eating dinner with our doctor friend, Dr. Suresh, who lives near that open air market, that he mentioned three hours before there were lots of gun shots and violence had erupted. Wow!
Sister Nelson and I got up very early on Wednesday, June 18, for a 6:00 am return flight to Brisbane.
Our trip to Papua New Guinea was busy, a few times chaotic, but very enjoyable and enlightening. The Colledges shepherded us around with kindness and great care, and we generally felt safe and secure. We now have a much better feel for and understanding of the medical needs and issues of the people, missionaries, and prospective missionaries from PNG, a perspective that I don’t think we could have fully learned except through an in-person visit. We feel so blessed to be able to help these wonderful people medically and to spread some love, kindness, and hope! Again, we truly are so very blessed to serve them! What an incredible experience to have been able to meet and socialize with the sweet, faithful saints of Papua New Guinea, to feel their powerful commitment to our Savior, Jesus Christ, to feel their loving spirit, and to participate in the incredible, sacred experiences that we did while there.
After completing our week at the Provo MTC, we made a visit to the Scribners whose son, Noah, had been tragically killed in a motorcycle accident earlier that week. We had a wonderful visit and cried with them as we visited. They shared many tender mercies and small miracles that had occurred to reassure them of the love of the Lord and His abiding presence with them. They seemed to be doing amazingly well, and I felt like they were consoling us, instead of the other way around. What a comfort the gospel is in times of trial like this!
We were also able to attend our granddaughter, Elouise’s dance recital performance of “Peter Pan” Friday evening. She did so well and is so talented! We loved it!
Saturday was filled with lots of packing and last-minute preparations, including putting the final touches on our talks for Sacrament Meeting the following day. It turns out that because of Mother’s Day, Fast Sunday, Stake Conference, and Easter, the Sunday after we were in the MTC was the only week available for us to speak. We offered to forego speaking, but that didn’t fly with our bishop! Well, it was worth a shot.
Saturday afternoon, we were very surprised to see that someone was outside in our front yard installing a large “Called to Serve” missionary yard sign. We had briefly considered doing something like that but decided against it. As it turned out, Tam’s mom had arranged and paid for the yard sign installation. We were touched! It was so kind of her to do that, which is perfectly in line with her character and fun, kind, loving personality.
Sacrament Meeting was filled with many old friends, neighbors, and relatives in addition to our beloved ward members and current neighbors. Two members of our stake presidency were there, and it was really wonderful to see so many dear friends. Many friends who were unable to attend in person were able to participate remotely via Zoom. Both Tam and I had independently decided to speak on the Savior Jesus Christ and how and why to place our trust in Him and His promises. Though we addressed essentially the same topic, we each did so in a different way, and there wasn’t too much overlap. We both felt good about how our talks went and the spirit we felt. Our love for the Savior is an easy thing to talk about, and any talk is better when it is over!
After the meeting, we had a small brunch open house at our home for family and friends. It was so nice to be able to visit a little longer with our fantastic friends and relatives. We served fruit cones and sweet breads with juice, and we ended up with lots of extra food, which we mostly gave away.
Saying goodbye to so many dear friends was very difficult and emotional, but we are so excited to serve!
We also were able to celebrate the 15th birthday of our oldest grandson, Ryder Briggs. His birthday was not actually until Tuesday, May 20th, but we wanted to celebrate with him, as we were uncertain of what our schedule would look like Tuesday. He is such an incredible young man, brilliant, creative, athletic, good-looking, kind, and spiritual – the whole package! We love him so much and are so very proud of him!
We drove up to Salt Lake Sunday afternoon and checked in to the Residence Inn downtown, which is where our assignment-specific medical training for the next week was held. The hotel was nice, and we had a one-bedroom suite with a kitchenette. It was nice to have a little extra room to spread out. The training began promptly at 7:30 am with wonderful training, assistance, and support from many full-time and service senior missionaries who have previously served in the roles in which we are now serving. There were probably about 20 other missionaries in our training, all of whom are called as Mission Health Advisors, Area Mental Health Advisors, and one other called to serve as an Area Medical Advisor in Ghana, Africa. Most of the training was all together, but there were also a number of breakout sessions specific to our individual assignments. There was a great sense of collegiality and comradery amongst all of the participants, as most of us shared similar backgrounds and had many of the same anxieties about our service.
The training included both general medical review topics organized by specialties and organ systems, as well as lots of orientation to all the various websites, applications, and online technology resources that we will all be using regularly as medical missionaries. We were oriented to the administrative structure of the missionary medical system and briefed on many of the policies that have carefully developed over many years. We had the opportunity to be taught by several former mission leaders, a former IFR (In-Field Representative), and lots of missionary insurance and medical policy specialists. The seminar utilized a lot of role playing of various interactions with missionaries and mission leaders as we strive to assist and support them in their medical needs. We saw demonstrations of various medical councils that we will lead and participate in.
It was very informative, and we took lots of notes, but it was a little bit like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. The vast amount of information that we were given in such a short period of time was quite overwhelming, and we were very grateful that we had been diligent with our studies and preparations prior to our mission. I am sure that we have already forgotten a lot of what was presented, but fortunately we were given digital copies of all the presentations to refer back to as needed. Those leading the seminar were wonderful and caring and seemed so eager for our well-being and success.
Baptisms in Papua New Guinea with “witnesses” watching for crocodiles
The culmination of the week was an opportunity to meet and hear from Elder William Jackson, General Authority Seventy, who heads up the Missionary Medical Department. He was so inspiring and encouraging, and hearing from him gave us great comfort that we would be able to be successful with our best efforts and the help of the Lord.
We finished up the seminar Thursday afternoon, May 22, and got checked out and headed home for Orem. We had lots to do to finish packing and make all of our final preparations. While we had originally been told that we would fly from Salt Lake to Brisbane on Monday, May 26, when we actually got our official flight plans, we discovered that we were flying out on Sunday afternoon, May 25. Friday and Saturday were filled with lots of final packing, final yard work, visiting family, and a host of final preparations. Trying to figure out how to fit everything that we thought we might need for 18 months into our limited luggage was challenging to say the least. Sister Nelson especially fretted over what to take and what to leave behind. We packed, weighed, rearranged, weighed, rearranged, weighed again, in what seemed like an endless tedious cycle. After much trial and error, we finally figured out an arrangement in which each of our suitcases was at or near the weight limit and we had what we felt were all the essentials packed! Hurray!
Saturday morning, we had the wonderful privilege of participating in the baby blessing of our youngest grandson, Bodie. It was a neat experience and Bodie looked so cute in his little blessing outfit. Our son, Tyler, gave him a wonderful blessing. The only sad part was that Robert, Alyse’s dad, could not be there in person, as his flight from Southern California was cancelled the night before after multiple delays. Fortunately, he was still able to watch remotely on FaceTime.
Saturday evening, we gathered all the family up American Fork canyon above Tibble Fork Reservoir for family pictures. While that sounds like a relatively simple process in principle, in practice, it was anything but simple. Trying to coordinate the schedules and activities of 22 people, find a time that works with the photographer, and get everyone’s color-coordinated outfits arranged was quite a complicated process, and involved rescheduling at least three different times in the end. Saturday evening was our final option and fortunately it worked out. The weather was perfect and pleasant, and the setting was gorgeous. Everyone coordinated well and we just loved being together.
Saturday was also our oldest granddaughter Riley’s 18th birthday, and she was headed down to Las Vegas with her mom, sister, and others to celebrate. But they graciously delayed their departure until we met for family pictures, which we appreciated so much! We loved seeing everyone and celebrated Riley’s birthday briefly before the pictures. Riley is such a beautiful and special girl, and we love her with all our hearts! She made us grandparents 18 years ago, starting a wonderful chapter in our lives. It is so hard to believe that we have a granddaughter that old, and it makes us feel pretty old!
The family pictures turned out absolutely beautiful, and we feel so grateful for our dear friend and former ward member, Jensen Fullmer, for her great skills and professionalism. She is wonderful, and a great photographer!
We took everyone to get a quick bite to eat after pictures and loved visiting with everybody. We love our family so much and are so proud of all of them. We feel very lucky and blessed, and hope that we can always support each other in our various challenges and struggles.
Saying goodbye to everyone was very difficult, but we know they will be watched over and blessed. And it is very comforting to know that we can communicate with them and them with us any time via FaceTime, WhatsApp, phone, text, and maybe even the occasional snail mail. What amazing technology we have been blessed with! We are really hoping and praying that everyone has the opportunity of coming over to see us sometime during our mission.
After final hugs and goodbyes on Sunday, our son, Colby, took us down to the MTC in Provo to catch our shuttle up to the airport in Salt Lake. Brisbane, here we come!
We were set apart on the evening of Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11th at 8:00 pm by our dear Stake President, President Mark Longhurst. He was kind enough to meet with us at our church building despite it being Mother’s Day. It was also our granddaughter Elsie’s 10th birthday! After our Sunday dinner, we had a birthday party for Elsie with presents, ice cream cake and candles. Oh how we love that sweet, kind, gentle empathetic girl! Can’t believe she is now 10 years old!
After Elsie’s birthday party, then we celebrated both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. We decided that since we will be in Australia for Father’s Day, it would be great to celebrate mom’s and dad’s together. Tami’s mom, step dad, two sister’s, Shauna and Jill and brother-in-law Paul, were with us to celebrate Elsie’s birthday plus Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Duane’s mom was not feeling well, which was too bad because she was really looking forward to being with us that Sunday. Our son Logan was not able to make it up from St. George, we missed having him and his family with us.
We met Pres. Longhurst in the Steeple Chase Relief Society room and had a wonderful visit with him before our setting apart. Tami was set apart first. One of the many blessings she was told was that she would make eternal friendships while on her mission. Both of us were given beautiful, inspiring blessings that gave us great confidence that we would be blessed and supported in our missionary labors. We also received powerful assurance that our family would be greatly blessed through our consecrated service.
We had been previously instructed to arrive at the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center) at 9:42 AM on Monday May 12. We were also told not to arrive early and not to be late! The arrival and check-in process at the MTC is a well-oiled machine! We ended up one to two minutes late due to the length of the line to get through the security gate.
We were escorted into the main MTC building and checked in at what is known as the Senior Expo. This is an opportunity to meet with representatives of all the major departments there. We were given our missionary name tags, and it was exciting and sobering to be able to put them on. To be privileged to wear the name of the Savior every day is a great responsibility and honor.
After completing the check-in process, we were treated to some simple refreshments. I met one of my former patients there, who is also just beginning her mission. She will be serving as the mission secretary in Auckland New Zealand.
After lunch we had an orientation with the MTC presidency and their wives, which was wonderful. We then met one of our MTC instructors and the rest of our MTC district. Our district consisted of three couples, all of whom were called to serve as medical missionaries. Elder and Sister Sundberg are from Southern California and are called to serve in Australia Adelaide Mission. Elder and Sister Ballou are from Hurricane, Utah, and are serving in the Adriatic North Mission based in Croatia. They are all wonderful people and we immediately felt a great connection and friendship with them.
Over the course of five days, we developed a strong bond and grew to love them. We will have the opportunity to work closely with the Sundbergs during our mission, as Adelaide is one of the missions that we will support. We felt empathy for the Ballous, who were also trying to learn Croatian in addition to everything else! At lunchtime, we hurried down to the County Health department to receive a couple of immunizations that neither of us could find any documentation of.
Back at the MTC, we were given a short tour by our instructor, Sister Creager, and further oriented as to what to expect in our MTC experience. We were shown all the important locations at the MTC, including the small store where we could purchase ice cream and snacks.
After some brief lessons and reflections, we finished the day with a meeting with our MTC branch presidency and got to know them and their wives. It was a long but wonderful day. The Spirit at the MTC is palpable and very powerful.
Because we live within 30 miles of the MTC, we stayed at home during our week there. Shortly after our arrival home Monday evening. we were visited by Sisters Diane Reese and Janae Hakes of the Stake Young Women’s presidency, with heartbreaking news…they told us of the accidental death earlier that afternoon of Noah Scribner, the 18-year-old son of Scott and Jenny Scribner in our stake. Tam had previously served as a counselor to Sister Scribner in the Stake Young Women’s presidency and knew Noah and the Scribners very well. Noah is a great guy and Tami loves him so much! Noah’s passing was really hard to wrap her heart and mind around! So many tears and prayers were given for their sweet family! Noah had been killed in a motorcycle accident in American Fork Canyon just hours before. We were shocked and devastated to learn this horrible news. He was to graduate from high school just 10 days later and was preparing for his own mission, having just received his mission call to Honduras.
The spiritual high that we felt from our day at the MTC was somewhat tempered by the grief and sadness that we felt, but we were comforted by our knowledge of the great plan of happiness that teaches us of the gift of resurrection and eternal family relationships. We are so eternally grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for His infinite atonement!
We arrived at the MTC Tuesday morning about 7:50 am and met our other MTC instructor, Sis. Hyatt, who was just as wonderful as Sis. Creager. Our classes each day were with our small district and were facilitated by one instructor in the morning and the other instructor in the afternoon. They were very much focused on the “Preach My Gospel” manual and were very interactive. They were fantastic and, as previously mentioned, the spirit was very strong. We were assigned to meet with another couple of senior missionaries from a different district, and to get to know them. Our couple was Elder and Sister Elkins, from South Texas, who are now serving as Military Relations missionaries in Connecticut.
We grew to love them and spent quite a bit of time with them over the week. We eventually prepared and taught a lesson to them based on what we perceived their individual needs to be, and they did the same for us. We had a lot in common, and in fact discovered that they know our nephew Spencer Burgon’s new bride, Kennedy, quite well. They had also met Spencer, who served his mission in that area.
We decided to sing in the MTC choir for the Tuesday evening devotional and ate a quick dinner before hurrying off to choir practice. The General Authority who will speak to the weekly devotional is never announced ahead of time, and everyone always wonders who it will be. They announce who will be speaking just a few minutes before the meeting starts and Sis. Nelson wondered aloud if it would be a member of the Twelve; she even guessed maybe Elder Patrick Kearon. Sure enough, when the announcement came, she was correct, Elder and Sister Kearon were the speakers. We were thrilled! Sister Nelson is always so inspired! We sang our hearts out and were inspired by the messages of both Elder and Sister Kearon. They counselled us not to compare ourselves to others, and to be joyful in our approach to our work. It was such a wonderful devotional to end the day.
Wednesday was another wonderful spirit-filled day. Our instructors were so outstanding and did such a great job of inviting the spirit into our lessons! Preach My Gospel is such a great inspired book and filled with so much wisdom. Though our mission will not be a teaching or proselyting mission, we will be constant examples and representatives of our precious Savior Jesus Christ in all we do, and will certainly have opportunities to share the gospel with those we interact with in our normal daily activities.
Wednesday evening, we attended a fireside called the Character of Christ, based upon a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar at the MTC several years before. It was outstanding and we felt so uplifted and inspired to better try to emulate the Savior in all we do. He is truly our perfect example and we are so indebted to Him! We love Him with all our hearts and feel so blessed to serve Him!
I should briefly mention the food at the MTC. The food in the cafeteria was plentiful and pretty good, though the options were somewhat limited. I’m glad that I don’t eat at a buffet all the time, as my willpower with food is not great! We always tried to sit by a group of young elders and sisters, and it was a lot of fun to talk to them. We met a young missionary, Elder Mandla, from Brisbane, who was called to serve in Japan. We loved getting to know him better as we talked throughout the week.
Thursday was another long day of classes, but because they were so engaging, inspiring and interactive, the time flew by. We loved all our interactions with our district and really grew to love and appreciate them, as well as our instructors and the Elkins. Thursday evening after class we were able to hurry over to the Orem Temple to do a Sealings session. We love the temple and it was amazing to be there!
Friday was our last day at the Provo MTC, with a final class session in the morning, and a safety and security seminar in the afternoon. We thoroughly enjoyed our MTC experience and felt so uplifted by the things we learned, the relationships we made, and the spirit we felt. It definitely exceeded my expectations, which were already pretty high. Our limited interactions with the young elders and sisters were amazing, and we were so impressed with their dedication and spirit. We were sad to see our week come to an end. Our prayers continue to be with the Scribner family!
Now that we knew where we would be serving, we could get down to business with our specific preparations. First, just a week or so after receiving our mission call, we received an amended call, shortening our length of service down to 18 months. We don’t know the reason for certain, but suspect it is because of the growing length of the waiting list for AMA assignments.
One of the first orders of business was to apply for our visas, which took a lot of time and gathering of documents and filling out many forms. Criminal background reports from both the state and FBI needed to be applied for, and fingerprinting at the police station needed to be done. We had to send away for a copy of our marriage license which we tried to locate but could not be found. Working on our Visa application took several weeks and was delayed due to a previously planned trip to Paris and subsequent cruise to Spain and Portugal. Tam needed to renew her passport, as it was due to expire before our mission would be over, but we couldn’t send in her passport renewal until after we returned from our vacation in Europe.
We had been led to believe that Australian visas typically took 4-6 months or longer to be granted after submission, so we submitted everything literally the day the passport came back, which was December 17th. We were praying and crossing our fingers that our visas would not be a problem and delay our departure. We were thrilled and extremely surprised when we got an email 10 days after our Visa application was turned in notifying us that both of our visas had been granted! Miracle or just luck? You be the judge!
The other big thing was that we needed to decide what to do with our house. Our initial thought was to sell it and find something else on the conclusion of our mission. Though we love our home, neighborhood, ward, and stake, our home is really not practical as our forever home, since it has no bedrooms or full bathrooms on the main floor. But within a week or two, the tentative plan to sell our house just began to feel wrong, and we felt prompted that we should not sell right then but keep the house while we are serving. After lots of brainstorming and a few twists and turns along the way. we finally decided to rent out the basement to some extended family, plus have our son, Colby, stay upstairs with his kids, acting as our on-site property manager. Hopefully that plan works out to be a win for everyone involved.
Going on a mission as a senior couple is a wonderful thing, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is in a position to go, but I readily admit that it is a LOT more complicated than the decision to serve as a young missionary! Trying to figure out how to put your well-established life on hold for 18 months is complicated and tricky and involves a million little details that I had never really considered before. Things like medical insurance, Medicare, medications, finances, investments, powers of attorney, taxes, and even little details like yard care all must be considered and planned for.
We also needed to clear most or all of our stuff out of the part of our home that would be lived in by others while we were gone. This was a several month-long process that involved essentially packing up almost everything in the house and moving it to a different spot, mostly to our office, which became designated as our “storage unit.” It also necessitated a lot of clean out, sorting, and dejunking, which was much needed. As our neighbors can attest, we sold or gave away all sorts of stuff that we decided no longer wanted or needed.
I wish that I had kept track of how many dump runs and trips to Savers or Deseret Industries we made. It was a lot, including 2400 pounds of expired / rotten food storage from a long-procrastinated cleanout of our food storage room. That could be an interesting post in and of itself, but I will spare you the nasty details. Suffice it to say, that it involved lots of exploded cans, both dead and living rodents, and the stuff of nightmares!
We also began to participate in a lot of online medical and technology training to get us up to speed on the administrative aspects of the missionary medical system. This involved many hours of practical and mock exercises to help us feel comfortable navigating the various websites and reports we would be using.
We also began to participate in various Mission Health Councils via Zoom for the missions that we would be supporting. This gave us the wonderful opportunity to meet many of the Mission leaders and people that we will work closely with.
After going like crazy from dawn until late at night for about three or four months, we were finally at a point that we felt like we had all of the important things done and most of the less important things done as well. It seemed for while that for every item we crossed off our ‘to-do” list, we added about 3 more! We were getting so excited to finally go, not only to begin our missionary labors, but to be done with all of our exhausting prep work! While we know that our mission would involve long days and exhausting work, we were anxious to be in a situation in which our focus could be more singular and consecrated. May 12th, the day we entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo was finally in sight!
Now the agonizing process of waiting for our call and wondering were we would be called to serve began. At this point, we had not yet revealed our plans to anyone, and we decided to spill the beans to our family. We had all the kids and grandkids over for Sunday dinner and a birthday celebration for a couple of granddaughters in mid October. We did not want to detract from the birthday celebration so we waited until after presents, birthday cake and ice cream, etc. and then said, “Oh, we forgot, we wanted to show you guys a couple of recent pictures.” We got everyone gathered around the TV in the family room and cast our mission photo up on the TV. Most of the family were somewhat perplexed, until we then cast a screen shot of the first page of our online missionary application with that same photo on it. At this point, everyone quickly caught on and started asking lots of questions about when we would be leaving, whether we already had our call, where we hoped to serve, etc.
We explained the whole process up to that point in time, that we had just submitted our application, and were intentionally a little vague as to our location preferences, though we admitted that Australia was a possibility. The mood was mostly one of excitement, though with an element of shock, and some expressions of sadness that we would be gone so long, and that we would be greatly missed. We expressed a certainty that we had received an unmistakable witness that this was the will of the Lord, and an assurance that each member of our family would be greatly blessed as a direct result of our missionary service. In fact, we are absolutely convinced that our family will be blessed in ways that could come in no other way because of our mission.
We also let several in our extended family, as well as a few close friends, know of our application submission. We had heard of calls coming in as few as four days and as long as eight weeks, with most arriving on a Tuesday 2-3 weeks after submission. We waited on pins and needles on Tuesday, October 29 for the much anticipated email, but to our mild disappointment, it did not come. Incidentally, we were in the temple that week performing sealings when Tam felt strongly and repeatedly impressed to tell our Sealer of our impending call. To our surprise, we learned that he was also a retired Ophthalmologist. He knew all about medical missions and in fact, informed us of an ongoing monthly continuing medical education Zoom meeting for medical missionaries and those who are interested in becoming medical missionaries. We were unaware of these meetings , and feel certain that this “random” encounter was in fact another manifestation of the Lord’s love and mindfulness.
On the morning of Tuesday, November 5, which was also election day in the United States, we were again headed to the temple in Saratoga Springs. As we walked to the temple from the parking lot, Tam asked me to check my phone one more time to see if there were any important emails. To our surprise and delight, we saw the awaited email announcing that our mission call was available! We had a wonderful though somewhat distracted experience in the temple that day.
Just as soon as we finished up at the temple, we started making calls to our kids, parents, siblings and others who knew of our plans. We set up a Facebook Live event for that evening and anxiously waited for the big reveal. We had quite a few come to our home, and a few others who joined us remotely. We each got separate call letters, so we decided to read Tam’s letter. I tried to play up the suspense by reading slowly, and even made a poor joke that we were assigned to labor in what some might consider a less desirable location. Finally, I read the actual call: we were assigned to labor in the Australia Brisbane Mission as Pacific Area Medical Advisor and Assistant with responsibility for all of the missions of Australia and Papua New Guinea, seven in total. We were to enter the Missionary Training Center in Provo on May 12, 2025, and depart for Brisbane on May 26, 2025, to serve for 23 months. Everyone seemed very excited and happy for us. We were absolutely overjoyed and excited beyond belief, not just to be called to Australia, but to be called to be servants and representatives of the Savior Jesus Christ. Now we could begin our preparations in earnest, knowing when and where we would be serving.
Australia Brisbane Mission - May 2025-November 2026 