"THE OFFICE"
The day I arrived in Brisbane, Australia, I was introduced to "the office," both the physical space and the wonderful people that work there. Over time, I suppose the personnel will change, but this is how it was that first day (even though the pictures were taken at various times over the next month or so).
The Australia Brisbane Mission Office of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in a suite on the second floor of this building. All of the windows that you can see above are part of our office.
Sister Dever's corner (as secretary to the Mission President) is this corner, just inside the front door. The face front and to the left is that of Elder Fukofuka, one of the Assistants to the President. At the "bench" (in American - counter) are two Elders, Sister Callahan (Medical coordinator for all of Australia and a bit beyond) and a Sister missionary. Down the hall to the left are the cubby holes for the office elders and the assistants. At the very end, straight ahead, is the lunch/storeroom and opposite is President McSwain's office.
The photo above was taken at a conference dinner, but pictures the four elders who work in the office: (L to R) Elder Jackson is an Assistant to the President; Elder Morris and Elder Banks are the Office Elders; and Elder Fukofuka is the other Assistant to the President. All four are American; Elder Fukofuka is from a Tongan family and speaks fluent Tongan. That has been vital on more than one occasion. Which brings up an interesting statistic about our mission -- we have the most diversity of any LDS mission in the world -- the missionaries come from over thirty countries and speak that many or more languages. The two "official" languages of our mission are English and Mandarin, so many of the missionaries are learning yet another language. They are amazing and beautiful. Our stockroom is filled with scriptures and tracts in many additional languages.
The rest of the office staff are senior missionaries (over 40 years of age). Elder and Sister Bean are from New Mexico and take care of a host of things -- baptism records, referrals, housing (for nearly 200 missionaries that move every six weeks), and finance.
Elder and Sister King take care of vehicles (about 100) and housing. The are local Australian missionaries.
Sister Fulton is a temporary, but very busy volunteer who works on making sure all of the housing contracts are up to Australian legal standards. She lives in Australia now, but recently moved from New Zealand.
I am the "new kid on the block," learning all of Sister Dever's duties, which include preparing for arriving and departing missionaries, with all of the multitude of details that entails, answering phone calls, and preparing for weekly staff meetings.
The Australia Brisbane Mission Office of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in a suite on the second floor of this building. All of the windows that you can see above are part of our office.
The photo above was taken at a conference dinner, but pictures the four elders who work in the office: (L to R) Elder Jackson is an Assistant to the President; Elder Morris and Elder Banks are the Office Elders; and Elder Fukofuka is the other Assistant to the President. All four are American; Elder Fukofuka is from a Tongan family and speaks fluent Tongan. That has been vital on more than one occasion. Which brings up an interesting statistic about our mission -- we have the most diversity of any LDS mission in the world -- the missionaries come from over thirty countries and speak that many or more languages. The two "official" languages of our mission are English and Mandarin, so many of the missionaries are learning yet another language. They are amazing and beautiful. Our stockroom is filled with scriptures and tracts in many additional languages.
The rest of the office staff are senior missionaries (over 40 years of age). Elder and Sister Bean are from New Mexico and take care of a host of things -- baptism records, referrals, housing (for nearly 200 missionaries that move every six weeks), and finance.
Elder and Sister King take care of vehicles (about 100) and housing. The are local Australian missionaries.
Sister Fulton is a temporary, but very busy volunteer who works on making sure all of the housing contracts are up to Australian legal standards. She lives in Australia now, but recently moved from New Zealand.I am the "new kid on the block," learning all of Sister Dever's duties, which include preparing for arriving and departing missionaries, with all of the multitude of details that entails, answering phone calls, and preparing for weekly staff meetings.
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