An Interruption in Transmission

Elder East was due to go into the mission field this Wednesday, the 1st July. By last weekend we still hadn't heard anything about his travel details. Our Stake President, President Stuart, rang us on Sunday to let us know that many of those who are going into the mission field at the moment were only getting their travel details about two days before they travel. He was expecting that we would know by Monday as to whether Elder East would be going to Adelaide this week or not. If we hadn't heard on Monday he would chase up for us, but he hadn't been told anything either way.

Elissa emailed the AAM mission president on Sunday evening with some admin questions, but also mentioned that we still hadn't heard re Elder East's travel plans. President Marquis replied back on Monday, advising that the Mission had liaised with the Area Presidency and determined that the 1st July intake would be deferred until the 20th July when SA's borders were scheduled to open. He apologised that obviously we'd been missed on the communications about that. He did say that with the various changes that are going on, if the borders came down earlier then we'd likely see the missionaries heading earlier as well.

So, by Monday afternoon we were resigned to Elder East being delayed in getting out to the mission field. We spoke with President Stuart who arranged to come by on Tuesday evening to release Elder East as a missionary. He will then be set apart again when he's due to leave for the mission field.

Earlier this afternoon (Tues 30th Jun) there was more news that might complicate things even further. Victoria has been having a large increase in Covid-19 cases over the last week, and subsequently, South Australia has decided to cancel the scheduled opening of its borders on the 20th of July.  We don't know yet what that means for Elder East. As I speak, he's currently being interviewed by President Stuart for his temporary release. We just don't know how long it's going to be for.

MTC Companion and District Photos

Elder East has shared with us some photos of him and his MTC companion, and his MTC district.

Elissa got permission to put the photos up on a Facebook group (Missionary Mommas). People were quite interested to see how the online MTC was going, with Elissa's post gathering over 200 likes.

The [Virtual] Missionary Training Centre

Elder East officially started his virtual MTC on Thursday 11th June.  The downstairs living room has had a desk setup for him in the bay window, and there are Church related posters up around on the walls. (Seth was worried that he’d be distracted by all of the Star Wars stuff!)

The MTC instructors are based in New Zealand and teach missionaries from across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Most of the missionaries currently in the MTC are Kiwis or Islanders. There’s only one other Aussie in the current group – an Elder Goodwin from Perth. (Trivia – his Dad  was a former Zimbabwean Test and One-Day International cricketer, whilst Elder Goodwin played for the WA 2nd XI.) Apparently the Goodwins and Elissa’s parents know each other. Seth’s MTC companion is Elder Lemoa from Samoa. Elder Lemoa was originally assigned to Papua New Guinea but because of the Covid-19 travel restrictions, he will be serving in Samoa until his mission reopens to foreign missionaries.

The standard teaching hours for the MTC are 10am-1pm and 2 pm-5pm on weekdays - New Zealand time. Because the MTC covers a number of timezones, it makes for some interesting timings. Seth’s standard MTC hours are 8-11am and Noon-3pm. Elder Goodwin starts at 6am in the morning whilst Elder Lemoa is starting at 11am in the morning.  Seth does an hour of companionship study with Elder Lemoa each weekday. They’re also meant to be studying together on the weekends, but we believe that Elder Lemoa, like some of the other Islanders, is getting his Internet access at the local chapel. Seth also does an hour of personal study each day and half an hour of exercise. He’s actually ended up with more free time than he expected during the MTC. We have had a couple of family games in the evenings.

We’ve also made some token attempts at giving him a New Zealand experience food-wise seeing as he’s missing out on actually getting to New Zealand. His first dinner in the MTC was “fush and chups” (New Zealand hoki to be exact). We supplemented this with New Zealand drinks and snacks. I’d been buying up cans and bottles of L&P from IGAs over the preceding weeks, as well as grabbing Kiwi snacks like Rashuns.

Elder East seems to be enjoying the classes and the instruction that is being provided, even if it is being done virtually.

Being Set Apart as a Missionary

President Michael Stuart came over at 8:30pm on Wednesday night to Set Apart Seth as a missionary. Being Set Apart is the formal start of him being a missionary. President described it as being Set Apart from the sins and concerns of the world.

We arranged to have Elissa’s parents join us via a video call, whilst we had my parents listen in over the phone. President Stuart did the actual ordinance whilst I assisted. We made some quick notes of what was said in the blessing afterwards. These included:

• Being able to Obedient, and understanding Obedience as the first law of heaven
• Of having protection, of angels going before him
• To have Inspiration
• To have Health
• He will want for nothing
• To know that people are specifically waiting to hear him
• To know that Heavenly Father loves him

Afterwards, there was time for some hugs and photos before Seth settled down into his new room on the bottom floor for the start of his MTC experience.

Mission Prep - The Final Countdown

Earlier this week was the last chance to get things sorted out before Seth started in the Missionary Training Centre. Normally he would have flown over to the MTC in New Zealand, but the Covid-19 travel restrictions meant that he would be doing the MTC classes virtually from home.

With Monday being a public holiday, things got started on Tuesday where Elissa, Seth and I met down at the bank in Tuggeranong to sort out his bank accounts. Half of Seth’s mission money was put into a 12 month term deposit, whilst Elissa and I were made signatories to the rest of Seth’s accounts. This will allow us to pay his monthly expenses whilst he’s on his mission. In the afternoon Seth had to head down to the pharmacy to pick up a Hepatitis A vaccine. It was the last vaccine he needed to have as a part of his medical checks. Seth would then be spending much of his spare time over the next couple of days sorting through and packing away the stuff in his room.

Things really started to ramp up on Wednesday. In the morning Seth had a 90 minute virtual MTC orientation in preparation for his starting the following day.  Straight after this he had to head on down to the medical centre in Tuggeranong to be given the Hepatitis A vaccine. A surprise rocked up in the mail during the day – his missionary tags – one clip-on, and one magnetic tag. I texted an image through to Elissa – which got her emotional. It was her “This is happening” moment – Seth’s going on a mission!

For dinner Elissa made up one of Seth’s favourites – Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas, as we then waited for the Stake President, President Michael Stuart, to come to set Seth apart. I’ll write that up as a post in itself. After being set apart, Seth went and created a post that he went and put on his social media accounts to announce the start of his mission.

Mission Prep – It’s a New Phone!

One of the big changes for modern-day missionaries compared to when Elissa and Adam went out is that they now have mobile phones. The phone has to meet a certain number of specifications, and once in the mission field, the mission office places a SOE overlay onto the phone that locks down the phone to restrict some functions and allow others.

Seth ended up going out with Alex G to buy a phone last Monday, but that particular store didn’t have what he was after in stock (despite what their website said.) Seth ended up ordering online from The Good Guys and was quite excited to receive his new phone last Thursday. He ended up getting a Samsung Galaxy A70, which he paid for completely by himself. He also ordered a 256GB Micro-SD card to go with it which arrived the following day.

On Sunday we stored a bunch of Church music and LDS audiobooks and talks on his phone for him to be able to take on his mission.

He's already put a wallpaper up of one of his derposaurs towering over Zion National Park ...

The Great Pre-Mission Clothing Shopping Splurge™

Elissa took Seth out shopping two Saturdays ago for The Great Pre-Mission Clothing Shopping Splurge™. Seth's not a huge fan of clothes shopping but recognised this was a necessary inconvenience.

The final tally came to:

• 8 white long-sleeved shirts
• 5 pairs of pants
• 2 sweaters/jumpers
• 1 winter coat
• 1 belt
• 2 ties
• 8 pairs of socks
• 1 pair pyjamas
• 1 pair business shoes
• 1 pair runners
• 1 pair shorts for exercise

Seth didn't just go with all dark suit pants, also choosing a light blue pair that he liked, as modelled below. 

In addition to what was bought, he also has a couple of suits that were given to him by Graham M from Church about a year ago. Most of the clothes are currently down in the spare room - soon to become Seth's "Missionary Training Centre".

Seth also bought himself a satchel with money from Grandma & Grandad Yates that they sent for his mission prep. (Missionaries aren't meant to use backpacks these days.) Nanny & Grandad East are planning to send over money to help buy temple clothing for Seth when the Distribution Centres open up again.

There was a bit of drama later in the day when Elissa realised that none of the white shirts that they'd bought for Seth have pockets, which is how missionaries usually wear their name tags. After some querying, she found out that a lot fo the missionary tags these days actually use magnets, so shirts don't actually need pockets.