The news that Elder East was excited to tell us about was that Elder Bataar was going home to Mongolia. Mongolia had completely closed their borders as a result of the pandemic, and Elder Bataar had been unable to go home and was now heading towards 29 months on his mission. Apparently, the Grants, the senior missionary couple in the AAM office, had developed a good relationship with those in the Mongolian embassy, and Elder Bataar was one of only 30 Mongolian ex-pats who were chosen to be repatriated. The district held a mini-farewell party at the chapel on Tuesday afternoon along with a couple of investigators. Elder East said that one of the investigators reminded him of Jayde in personality.
Elders East & De Guzman finally finished making phonecalls to previous investigators from their area book this week. Elder East doesn’t think they’re having much success using this method, but there aren't a lot of other finding options at the moment. Only about a third of people answer their phone calls, and they have had a couple of rude/abusive responses. We’d commented that he still seemed to be teaching a lot, so he went through how many lessons they’d taught in the last week. Unfortunately, the three appointments they had for last Wednesday evening all fell through. They taught a lesson to a member on Thursday but didn’t teach any lessons on Friday. There were another two lessons on Saturday, but none on Sunday or Monday, and another two on Tuesday. They had a lesson scheduled for just after our video chat at 1:30pm.
He commented that most of their investigators are students, and of those that are in the country, it's currently a busy time for them at university. The word from other missionaries though is that investigators in the Adelaide City branch are more "chill" than those in the rest of Adelaide. When we asked what that meant, he said that missionaries sometimes encounter "weirder and angrier" people in suburbia.
Sunday attendances at the branch are still small - leaders, missionaries, several couples, and several new converts. One of those in attendance was a backpacker from Belgium. The branch has started up Sunday School classes again as a part of the Sunday meetings. Last Sunday they talked about the Stripling Warriors and Elder East drew upon a lot of the seminary lessons that Mum had sent to him during the week. He said that one of the speakers during Sacrament was one of Elder De Guzman's converts who shared his conversion experience.
Elder East and Elder De Guzman have started going on runs in the morning as part of an exercise routine. They go for a 15-20 minute run past a nursing home and down to the Firle Chapel and Mission Home before doing the 15-20 min run back. Apparently Elder East was a bit self-conscious of trying to exercise in front of his companion in the flat, so he's happy that they're exercising together. We asked if they go anywhere near the Temple but it's apparently in a different direction.
He commented that his clothes were getting a bit tight in a few places. He wasn't sure if he was gaining muscle or putting on weight. Mum queried "where?" - he commented his shirts were tight around the chest. Mum then asked if he was doing any weight training - he said no. Mum commented it's probably not muscle then ... He has been doing a lot of push-ups so it could actually be muscle.
In regards to going to the Temple, Elder & Sister Grant have dropped off a Church booklet for him called Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple. His Mission President has said he'll arrange for a Temple Recommend interview, but they're still waiting on details of when they will be going.
Some other dot points from our conversation:
- President Marquis is trying to reply to each email/letter he sends to him (Missionaries are meant to write to their Mission President each week.)
- The bank that has his mission funds is The Bank of America. He finds that their debit card doesn't work a lot.
- He has only encountered one cat so far, and it ran away
- He received his package with his new set of scriptures, as well as treats from Mum and a Subway voucher.
- They tend to shop weekly, but do a large shop one week, then a smaller shop for perishables the following week.
- He was unsuccessful in making himself a decent ham & cheese toasted sandwich using a frying pan. We did point out that sandwich toasters aren't that expensive.
- No meals from the members during the week
- Next Monday there is meant to be an Australia-wider Zone Conference with a member of the Seventy in attendance.
- Elder East enjoyed watching Minori during the videochat - she had decided that she was going to head-bump and rub herself all over Dad's phone at one point during the video chat.
- He gave us a virtual tour of the Adelaide City Branch chapel.
- He has received a new name tag - in Mandarin!
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