Video Chat - 16th September 2020 - Statue Found

 It was only a short video chat this week. On Tuesday night Elder East sent us a quick couple of images:

This is one of the statues we told him to keep an eye out for, as we have a photo of it from when he was young. (see below) Elder East said that their bus stop at the chapel is being renovated and was moved down the road about 100 metres. He found the statue right next to the new bus stop.

Elder East commented that he realised that you can see the building with the Adelaide City Branch chapel in the old photo (he circled it in red.)

The chat on the Wednesday P-Day had to fit in amongst a lot of other things. There was a get together from some of the missionaries and investigators in the morning to celebrate Elder Roberts' 20th birthday. There was both cake and ice cream. We managed to get a quick video chat at this point even though it was in the middle of the day.

Then they traveled out to a different chapel so another missionary could cut Elder De Guzman's and Elder Kennach's hair. Elder East wasn't going to get his hair cut - he wants to grow it out for a bit.and see how it goes. He did manage to catch up with Elder Reeves whilst the others were getting their hair cut. Oh, and we already know what Elder East's hair will look like if he grows it out ...

Then it was back to another location for a game of soccer. After an hour the score was still nil-all (typical soccer score), so they ended up playing til "first goal wins."

We had another quick chat with Elder East before dinner time, so that Jewel could chat with him. She got to tell him about her win at the Inspire Art competition and get some advice re working at McDonalds.

Elder East made a request to Jewel to send him some song lyrics - "I can't listen to music, but I can sing." For posterity, the lyrics he requested were Kokomo by The Beach Boys, Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's, Your Man by Josh Turner, Loch Lomond by Peter Hollens, Caledonia by Dougie Maclean and September by Earth, Wind and Fire.

We also had a brief cameo appearance during the chat by one of the Branch members - Stephen. He said that he often translates for the missionaries into Chinese.

We did have a bit of a chat about transfers. It's scheduled for next Monday, and they'll find out the changes on Saturday evening. He is expecting changes because of the three-way situation, but unsure if either Elder De Guzman or himself will transfer at all. He said "It's very likely a lot will happen because Kennach will leave us, Elder Peate our district leader is also in a three-way training two guys and he goes home next Wednesday ... A lot of stuff needs to happen and there are only so many companions that it always affects a lot of people." Elder East is hoping to stay in the Adelaide City Branch.

A few more quick dot points:

• Things are a bit haphazard at the moment in the area. Elder East likes things to be organised, so he's finding that frustrating.
• He emailed the Mission President on P-Day with a more detailed explanation of the issues he's having in adjusting to missionary training. 
• They went to teach Elder Kennach's investigator from Prospect Ward on Tuesday evening. Elder East said that the investigator had a lot of questions, but Elder East was happy that he felt he knew the answers to all of them.
• He knows that a number of the recent converts are coming up to having been members for 12 months, and was wondering about preparing them for the temple. I suggested speaking to a member of the Branch Presidency as the Branch should really take the lead in temple preparation, and the Branch President needs to interview them about their readiness.
• Last Sunday they had another investigator come to Church after asking a member friend about Church. The investigator had a grandmother who was a member of the Church. The investigator dreamt about their Grandmother and consequently became interested in investigating the Church. He came to Sacrament meeting last Sunday and stayed for Sunday School, and then had a discussion with the Elders afterwards. The Elders were prompted to invite him to baptised and he has agreed - setting a date in October. It's exciting for the Elders and for the investigator.