Clarifications or notes that have been inserted by Adam are in [square brackets].
This week I have been transferred to the [Adelaide] City Branch area with Elder De Guzman as my trainer.
Apparently Elders assigned to the City area often stay there a while and may [frequently] spend some time up in Darwin. The City Branch is also a Chinese speaking area however [attendance is low] because of the Covid restrictions. Many members are stuck back in their home countries like China or Hong Kong. The City Branch takes up an entire floor in an office building in the city. The entire seventh floor to be precise. Although the missionaries normally assigned to the City Branch are Chinese speaking I don't have to learn it thankfully, though if I spend long here I may end up learning some anyway.
On the bus ride from our flat to [the chapel] (where we do all our work), we pass by four churches, the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, the SA Museum, the SA Art Gallery, the SA State Library, and [the Freemason's] Grand Lodge. And just across the street from the [chapel] is the Adelaide War Memorial (or at least one part of it). You can see it from the [chapel] window which is awesome.
One of the missionaries in quarantine with me was assigned to the City Branch as well but with a different companion so I'll still see him every day.
We had an in-person Zone Conference this Monday which had all the missionaries come together for. It was great to hear from Pres Marquis and to hear and see all of the presentations made for us. We did a musical item that I'm sure Pres will release in a while. I was able to see all of the quarantine missionaries there as well which was great to catch up with them.
In the field, I've gotten a couple of clarifications of rules from my companion. I'm not supposed to use Messenger at all unless it's on P-day with family or it's with investigators. So it's best if you email me during the week instead. Another clarification I've had is that I'm only supposed to have plain socks so all of my socks are unfit to wear :(
[In response to finding out that the heater under Jewel's desk had caught fire] That's what Jewel gets for putting the heater under her desk, that place was a safety hazard since day one.
[In response to both Dad and Jewel being sick] Sending my love home to Dad and Jewel hoping that they get better from their sicknesses.
[In response to news about increasing Covid restrictions in Victoria] I heard Melbourne had introduced curfew but I didn't know it was that bad. Rumor has it (rumor because we don't have news) that SA is bringing back a lot of restrictions because we're getting a handful of cases, only 15 or so but it's enough.
[About keeping in touch with his friend, Alex, back in Canberra] I'll be sending Alex an email today, don't worry.
[About the fact that Elissa and Elder Reeves' Mum have struck up a friendship] It's great that you and Sister Reeves have been talking a lot. It was funny in quarantine because Elder Reeves and I would talk a lot then we'd both talk back home to Kendall and then we'd talk back home to our respective parents who would talk to each other. We were/are getting pretty involved with each other's family.
I'll talk more about my companion in a sec. But Elder Reeves trio seems a lot more chill and less strict than my companionship for sure. The hike though was pretty amazing, we saw a bunch of koalas closer than I've ever seen and so close to humans as well. Photos in drive.
I talked to a guy [at Church] who said he was told to look out for me and he blessed the sacrament while I passed. Thanks for sending the word out.
My companion is alright, he is a zone leader as well as being a trainer so he's got a lot on his plate. And while he's doing both as best as he can I don't think he wants to be either. Especially as he's been a zone leader for 4 transfers. But he's an excellent missionary and we've had some great moments during study together and he's a great cook.
I had an interview with my Pres Marquis last Friday right before the transfer on Saturday, he is an awesome guy and so far I keep loving everything he does for us more and more.
Also thanks for the insights from your seminary class, I won't respond to them but I love reading them.
A response to last week's email: (half-written quite a while later).
South Australia has a mandatory 12th day Covid test, so all 5 of us got tested on the second Tuesday of quarantine. It was a 40-minute drive to the testing centre and an hour and a half wait. Thankfully the test was short but by the time we got back to our flat, we'd spent half of the day out already. None of us have Covid but three of us got tested in the same room so we had fun laughing at each other's pain, I actually took the test the best and barely had a reaction. As being written we don't know exactly when quarantine ends but it's either Friday or Saturday. (The quarantine ended on Friday but we got our new companionships and areas on Saturday)
I did get my shoes - thank you - and thank you especially for the hot chocolate, I've waited 'til out of quarantine to enjoy them the most.
We got Elder Reeves package last Thursday, and it's amazing. The cookies look and taste amazing! (Photos in drive)
Pancakes did turn out pretty good in the end. We had them a couple times and they were always good. The quality of meals in quarantine slowly decayed until the end when we got KFC.
Bread Nachos is bread with oil, taco mix seasoning, and cheese on top of bread put in the oven for 5 minutes, and it's really good. Elder Reeves and I created that last Monday in quarantine when we mistakenly thought we were getting our groceries that day.
The mission/zone conference was just an announcement that we're limited to 10 hours of service each week and only 2 hours of service for members.
Love from, Elder East.
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