Video Chat - 16th December 2021 - Post Mildura Visit

It was a delayed video chat this week as P Day had been moved from Monday to Thursday due to mission events. It was also a relatively quick chat. Even P days are busy for the Assistants. 

Elder East focused on letting us know about his and Elder Evans's trip to Mildura the previous weekend (Fri 10th - Sun 12th Dec.) He said that the trip was really great. President Johansson decided that he wasn't going to go up as originally planned, however, the Elders felt impressed that they should still go.

They left Adelaide at 9am on the Friday morning and then drove up to Berri where they had lunch. They then headed over the border into Victoria. They said that there wasn't anybody manning the border - a big change from the recent hard border restrictions during the pandemic. 

They went and turned up at the home of Naomi, a recent convert they've been teaching online. She was surprised to see them. She'd been told that they were no longer coming up when President Johansson had canceled his travel for the weekend. She was pleasantly surprised to see them and be taught in person during the afternoon. 

On Friday afternoon they ended up teaching an investigator and pastors from her Fijian church that were holding a prayer group. They had dinner with the group and were able to teach about the restoration of the gospel which Elder East said went well. 

On Saturday they did some flat inspections of missionary flats that were not currently in use. They were checking to see what needed to be done if the areas were reopened. Elder East was surprised to find a box of Magic the Gathering cards in one of the flats. It was part of various items left behind by missionaries when the pandemic started and the foreign missionaries all departed back to their home countries.

Later in the day they were invited to join in the missionary homecoming of Sister Halalova, who was returning from her mission. She'd finished her mission in Elder East's home ward. Elder East said that the homecoming was all done in Tongan.

On Sunday they attended Mildura Ward. Elder east said that it's only a small Ward - probably not more than 40 people in attendance. The Sacrament program included a testimony from Naomi, a talk from Elder Evans, and a homecoming talk from Sister Halalova. They headed back to Adelaide on Sunday afternoon after Church.

The rest of the week had involved lots of Missionary Coordination Meetings with the various Stakes and arranging of travel. The Mission would be having its Christmas conference the following day (Friday 17th Dec), so they were arranging travel down to Adelaide for the missionaries in the Northern Territory. What was making things difficult is that the pandemic-related border restrictions were being changed. There was concern if they brought the Northern Territory missionaries down to Adelaide, would they then have to quarantine for 2 weeks before being allowed back into the NT.

We spoke briefly about some mission announcements of people from back home. Arie Wolff - one of the YSA from back in Canberra had just announced his call to the AAM. Emma Davison, a family friend has received her call to Auckland.

Come Unto Christ in Adelaide - "Traditional vs Biblical" Christmas Video

Elder East took part in the shooting of a Christmas video for the Australia Adelaide Mission which was posted back on the 14th of December. 

Video Chat - 6th December 2021 - Meeting Elder Gard from WA

It was only a quick video chat last P day as they were involved in picking up a new trainee who had just flown in a couple of hours earlier. It turned out that the trainee was Elder Guard, from Bunbury Wa. We know the Guard family well. Elder Guard's auntie Kylie was his Mum's best friend at Church as a teenager. I on the other hand once went on a date with his other auntie, Donna. We also both knew his dad, Jared. Elder Guard is going to be trained by Elder Rea in Port Pirie. We were all surprised about how Elder Rea is so new yet is already training. Elder East says that Elder Rea will be good though.

A quick rundown of the last week:

Tuesday was the last of the recent Zone Conferences. Elder East said that the conference went well.

Wednesday involved participating remotely in a District Council, as well as being able to teach a lesson to a lady named Naomi.

Thurs involved President Johansson, the APs, and the Sister Training Leaders spending the day (11am-8pm) planning out the calendar for 2022. This included events such as conferences and other mission events and activities. Elder East says that President Johansson shouted them lunch and dinner throughout the day. Elder East noted that they've been eating a lot of fast food lately, mainly either for convenience whilst rushing around, or because they're in a large group of people being fed (eg conferences.)

Friday - they got to teach a lesson to an investigator in Broken Hill. We're presuming it was done remotely :)

 Saturday - they helped out with the Marion Stake activity "A Night in Bethlehem".

Sunday - they attended church in the City Branch. Elder East said it was good to see some old friends from when he was serving there.

Some other quick notes from our chat:

• The AAM has 9 missionaries waiting to go to New Zealand missions when the borders open. There are apparently 9 missionaries in New Zealand also waiting to go to the AMM.
• Elder East says that it's uncommon for them as APs not to see President Johansson each day. They have met his family, but haven't seen them very much.
• The AAM has a tradition of a member who wons a property out in Murray Bridge having all of the missionaries over for Christmas each year. It's likely that it may be limited to just a single Zone this year. 
• The mission is having a Christmas Zone Conference next week, and so P-Day is being moved from Mon (13th Dec) to Thurs (16th Dec).
• He commented that he had to get some Minties for Christmas - he associates Minties with Christmas. This is probably because we normally don't buy them, but several times Jewel won Christmas trees made out of Minties at school fetes when they were younger.
• Elder East received the Christmas decorations and Nativity set that we'd sent to him. He'd hung up the Missionary Christmas stocking that had been made for him by Kathy Reeves. He was also enjoying the Dice Advent calendar that we'd sent through to him as well.

Video Chat - 29th November 2021 - Training During Zone Conferences

 Another busy week for Elder East. We got to speak to him early on P Day and he gave us a run down of his past week.

Tuesday of last week was the Firle Zone Conference which Darwin also joined in via Zoom. The plan was for Elder Evans and himself to start off the training after which President Johansson would then take the remainder of the session. President Johansson ended up having to take a phone call though leaving them to do all of the training. The topic was Teaching with Power & Authority. Elder East said that it went well. 

Wednesday was spent contacting and talking with remote Ward & Branch Councils throughout the mission as well as getting to teach a lesson with a recent convert.

Thursday was the Modbury Zone Conference where they once again were involved in training and teaching with the missionaries in the Zone. Elders Brown & Rea (his old companion and his last trainee) were called as the new Zone Leaders for the Zone on Thursday after Zone Conference.

Missionary Leadership Council was held on Friday where they worked with the Elders and Sisters in leadership roles. The MLC also included involvement with the Pacific Area Social media Council which was a Zoom meeting chaired by leaders in Salt Lake City. Elder East commented that he saw Sister Page, serving in Stromlo Ward during the meeting. He said that he also got chatting with Sister Malu, another missionary from Canberra, about things back at home.

Later on Friday, they got to return and visit the recent convert again that they taught on Tuesday and got to spend another time teaching her, but also with her kids this time as well. 

Saturday was spent helping to move missionaries around as a result of some more companionship changes.

On Sunday they attended Church at Firle Ward. They had the opportunity to bless the sacrament as many of the youth were away.

Elder East says that the coming week should be less hectic. They have one more Zone Conference, to do which will happen on Tuesday (30th Nov), whilst Thursday is a planning day. They have to help President Johansson plan out the mission calendar for 2022.

Two of Elder East's previous companions headed home this week, Elder Kennach and Elder Cooke. Elder Kennach was having to do a long trek to get home, Flying Adelaide to Perth to Dubai to Auckland. All up they have seven missionaries heading home in the near future and only two trainees coming in.

A few other notes from our discussion:

• Elder East is getting a South Australian driver's licence. Because the mission covers areas in SA, NT, VIC, NSW and WA they have to cross borders reasonably frequently, and having a local licence will make things easier during Covid times.
• In doing this he checked how many demerit points he has. because he's still only a P plater, the two fines he's received means he only has a single demerit point left. he says that he's been driving extra cautiously.
• He commented that he received the Dice Advent Calendar that we sent him, but is yet to receive the Christmas decorations that Elissa has sent to him.
• One of the enws sitser missioanries is a "D&D geek". He'll appreciate having somebody to geek out with.
• He mentioned that he has had a lot of members try and joke about his surname during his mission  ... but he's heard them all several times over by now.
• Elder East has been focusing on journal writing recently. He hasn't written much in his journal up to now but does have three notebooks of notes from meetings, conferences, spiritual thoughts and impressions he's received and so on. 

Video Chat - 22nd November 2021 - Elder Evans Joins as a New Assistant to the President

We chatted with Elder East twice during last P-Day. He was rather down when we first spoke to him early in the morning as there had been some issues in the mission over the last 3 or 4 days. This had resulted in a lot of interviews by the Mission President and a number of changes in companionships. Missionaries hadn’t been the best at keeping the mission rules – nothing serious enough to be sent home over – but enough that it would affect the work and their ability to recognize the promptings of the Spirit. Helping President Johansson deal with that had obviously taken a bit of an emotional toll on Elder East. When we spoke to him again later in the day he was more upbeat and positive about how things were going.

Elder East filled us in on some more details of Elder Read. He said that they had been getting along well. Elder Read had previously lived in London, working as a kitchenhand before heading back to Melbourne. He was originally called to serve in one of the Chilean missions and spent several months there before Covid hit. He was reassigned to serve in the Adelaide Mission, but got caught up in the Melbourne lockdown and served some time there. He is now in the Adelaide Mission to complete his service. 

The rundown of their previous week (16th - 22nd Nov) was as follows:

Monday (15th Nov) - after having spoken to us on P Day he also contacted and spoke with Grandma and Grandad Yates to thank them for a car and money that they had sent through to him. They were pleasantly surprised to get to talk to him.

Tuesday (16th Nov) was Transfers, so a hectic day, as well as learning the ropes of being an AP from Elder Read. They got to have a farewell meal at a Burger restaurant with one of Elder East’s former companions (and his 13th cousin)  Elder Aiho who was heading home.

Wednesday (17th Nov) they had several new trainees fly in, so it was a matter of dropping Elder Aiho off at the airport and picking up three new missionaries - Two Elders and one Sister. They got to have lunch with the new trainees.

Thursday through to Saturday was helping President Johansson in dealing with a lot of interviews to deal with the issues that had arisen. He commented that they went out so that Elder Read could get a new suit on Saturday at one point. 

On Sunday they joined in the Marion Stake Conference. He said that they had a number of difficulties with their technology as they tried to broadcast the meeting. He said it got a bit humorous as the Zoom chat full of messages about problems with the broadcast was displayed behind the speaker at the pulpit.  Elder East mentioned that he got to catch up with some of the missionaries and old investigators he had taught in Onakapringa and Marion Wards. 

As a result of the missionary interviews, there were a number of leadership changes and movements amongst the missionaries.  Elder East now had a new companion as a fellow Assistant to the President, his former companion Elder Evans. Elder East said that Elder Evans was very surprised to be called as an AP. He had been serving down in Victor Harbour.

The coming week was going to include a lot of Zone Conferences where they would be accompanying President Johansson. 

Some other short notes from our discussion:

• They'd only had one "home cooked" meal during the week as quite often they're accompanying and eating with president Johansson. 
• One of Elder East's former companions, Elder Taua, who is now home from his mission, has gotten engaged to one of the former Sister Missionaries from the AAM. 
• Part of the upcoming training will be on rebalancing the service vs proselyting hours for the missionaries. As Covid restrictions reduce, the options for proselyting are opening up and should be more of a focus.
• Elder East got to show us a nativity display that is set up outside the mission office.

Video Chat - 15th November 2021 - Called as an Assistant to the President

In a huge surprise, Elder East let us know last P Day that he was being transferred yet again. Elder Rea was Elder East's third trainee and he has yet to finish training one of them. The transfer news was rather exciting and intimidating though. He was told on the Saturday night (13th Nov) to pack his bags because he was being transferred but he thought it was just the APs playing a joke on him. It turns out that they weren't. Elder East was called to be a new Assistant to the President to be companions with Elder Read.

Elder East is sad to be leaving Port Pirie, he'd expected to be spending Christmas there. He didn't get to say goodbye as they had arranged to be attending church in Whyalla on Sunday (14th Nov) and visiting investigators and members in Whyalla and Port Augusta during the day. 

Elder Brown will finish training Elder Rea - the second time Elder Brown has finished the training of a missionary who started with Elder East. Elder East says that Elder Rea is strong - he'll be a good missionary. 

The traditional rundown of Elder East's week.

Tuesday was spent doorknocking in the rain. 

On Wednesday they had a big companionship study session preparing for several planned lessons later in the day. Unfortunately, both of the lessons ended up canceling, but they thought the preparation they had done was really good. Elder East said that they then went and visited a nearby small town to ascertain if they were going to undertake some missionary work there. Then it was time to drive down to Adelaide where they stayed with other Elders overnight.

Thursday was a special devotional for the AAM missionaries. Elder Lekias, the Area Authority was there in person, but they were also joined via video by Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita, the second counselor in the Pacific Area Presidency, Elder Carl B Cook from the Presidency of the Seventy, and Elder Ulisses Soares from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder East said that the devotional was good. All four of the area and general authorities spoke to them about their missionary service. He was called up by Elder Lekias at one point to share the purpose of being a missionary. Elder East thought it might be because Elder Lekias knows our family, however, we found out later that he'd actually asked for a recommendation from President Johansson on who to ask up, and President had recommended Elder East.

On Thursday evening Elders East and Rea spent the night down in Adelaide, spending the evening phoning people around Whyalla and Port Augusta to visit on Sunday. 

They drove back to Port Pirie on Friday morning and then spent the afternoon doorknocking and doing lessons.

Elder East said they had a lot of lessons on Saturday. 

Sunday they headed out to Whyalla for Church. They have their own chapel and had 23 in attendance even though they were missing a couple of families, so Whyalla Branch is actually bigger than Port Pirie. Elder East commented that the main entrance into Whyalla is through the industrial part of town. He said that it looked like the setting for a Young Adult dystopian novel. Having said that, once you were in town there was a nice view out into the bay. Being a holiday area the town also has a lot of touristy things to do. 

At the Whyalla Sacrament meeting they had the opportunity to bless the sacrament for the branch. Their investigator wasn't able to come to Chruch that day, but they were able to meet up with another former investigator and a less active member family in Whyalla and have lessons with both. They also caught up with a family in Port Augusta and had a lesson with them too. Elder East said that all of the lessons they had that day were really nice and that he enjoyed them. They arranged to eb able to keep in touch and continue teaching with all of the people they visited. They learned on the way back to Port Pirie that the APs weren't joking about Elder East being transferred, and Sunday night was spent starting to pack.

When we spoke to him on P Day he said that he'd only been down in Adelaide for about 2 hours, having left Port Pirie around lunchtime. He said that some of the other missionaries were acting a bit differently around him now that he was about to become an AP. He commented that the APs flat was big. They quite often have to accommodate missionaries in transit both in and out of the mission, along with transfers and conferences. 

Typically APs serve for about three transfers, so he's hoping for a bit of stability in his new role. He doesn't know many of those in his new district, only having served around one of the 8 missionaries. He thinks that his role will now be more orientated towards ministering to missionaries rather than directly proselyting. The APs physically attend Firle Ward, but are remotely responsible for Mildura Ward. As an AP he is likely to travel a lot on tradeoffs and to accompany President Johansson as he travels in his official capacity. 

 He mentioned that one of the people he had been teaching in Onkaparinga Ward is now in Firle Ward so he might be able to catch up with them.

Elder East Becomes an Assistant to the President

 We received the following email from the Australia Adelaide Mission on Monday:

Dear Family of Elder East,

It is with great pleasure that I inform you that your missionary, Elder Seth East, has just been called to serve as an Assistant to the President.

This represents a significant accomplishment on his part, and I am sure that you are as proud of him as I am. He will fulfill a significant stewardship as he accepts responsibility to lead the missionaries in the Australia Adelaide mission. Future leadership opportunities in family, church and career will be enhanced by the great experience he will have. 

 We are most grateful to you for helping to prepare your son to take on this very important responsibility in the Lord’s army. Please join me in congratulating Elder East and in providing continuing encouragement in the future. We love him and are blessed by his service in this mission.

With love and appreciation,

President Adolf J, Johansson

Australia Adelaide Mission

Video Chat - 8th November 2021 - No Fish & Chip Shops in Port Germein

Another weekly recount of how Elder East is doing out in the mission field.

Tuesday was spent doing a lot of doorknocking. They're trying to do at least an hour of doorknocking each day. They had a lesson with a lady who is involved a lot with family history. Elder East said that there was a name in her family tree (William Yates) that was the same as from one of his ancestors in Family Search. He was wondering if there could be some distant relation knowing that he has relatives from around the area. He also discovered that some of these people had graves in Port Pirie so he'll investigate further.

On Wednesday they did more doorknocking as well as provide some service for a member. Elder East said that the service involved a lot of shoveling and that a lot of the service they do is gardening or outside maintenance-related. 

They also had a teaching appointment with somebody they've been teaching for a while. He'd decided that for a laugh he was going to pretend to be a "Fundamentalist" to try and shock Elder Rea during the lesson.

On Thursday they helped a branch member with her family history. Specifically, there was a bit of ICT help required in trying to get her family history off of the old Personal Ancestral File and on to the Family Search website. 

On Friday they did over three hours of doorknocking, and as always is the way, the success didn't come until the end. The last three houses they doorknocked all resulted in return appointments. Maybe they just started at the wrong end of the street :)

Every Saturday they are providing service for a family in helping with their backyard cleanup and this week was no different. Later in the day they also taught a lesson. Elder East said that there was a "cool" thunderstorm that came through during the afternoon. In the evening they were at the nearby town of Port Germein.  They were hoping to get Fish & Chips for dinner whilst in town but found none, so ended up heading back to Port Pirie. Elder East sent us a photo of the two of them at the jetty at Port Germein. 

Elder East said that the highlight of the week spiritually was on Sunday. Besides Church, they were doorknocking and were able to teach two lessons that afternoon. One was to an 18-year-old guy with two of his mates and then another man later on. Elder East said that the Spirit was strong during the lessons. I'd like to hear more of these types of experiences from Elder East and in more detail. Sometimes we only find out about interesting or poignant events weeks or months after they occur when he'll casually mention them. It would be good to record more faith-promoting stories on this blog rather than just being a travelogue. Elder East has them, but he often doesn't think to share them with us even we ask about spiritual highlights of the week. 

Next weekend  (13th-14th Nov) they are hoping to get out to Whyalla Branch and visit the members around Whyalla and Port Augusta. They have contacted the referral from the previous week and arranged for them to come along to Whyalla Branch next Sunday (14th Nov).

They had been hoping to travel down to Adelaide last night (Sun 7th Nov) and then spend P Day with other missionaries before heading back to Port Pirie. Elder East is aiming to try and have a P Day meetup with the Adelaide Elders as a regular fortnightly event. Their plans were thrown into disarray though when they found out on Sunday that they had to travel down to Adelaide over Wednesday and Thursday (10th-11th Nov) for a devotional being held on Thursday. It is going to be a streamed devotional with Elder Lekias (Area Authority), several Area Seventies, and Elder Soares from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Other notes from our discussion:

• They are being fed a lot and are being given lots of leftovers as well. He said that the previous night's meal appointment had left them with about 6 servings of bolognese to take home. he says that their fridge is full and that they have "So much food."
• The mission had a Zoom meeting scheduled with President Johansson for that P Day evening (Mon 8th Nov.)
• Port Pirie Branch averages about 20-25 people in attendance at Sacrament each Sunday.
• Elder Rea is very physically fit. It's motivating Elder East to exercise. They've been going out jogging each morning. Elder East says that Elder Rea is also very smart. High praise from someone who's definitely no mental slouch himself. 

Video Chat - 1st November 2021 - His New Trainee, Companion Number 18, Elder Rea

The big news this week of course was Elder East picking up his new trainee, Elder Rea. I'll give a bit of a summary of Elder East's week as per usual.

The rest of his previous P-Day (Mon 24th Oct) was spent helping to open up Elder Reeves' new flat. Elder Reeves' area was being split and he was opening the new area with a new trainee as well. Elder East said that he was jealous that the new flat had a barbecue, although it did have a garage only accessible from a laneway, which wasn't so good. 

On Tuesday Elders East and Reeves went to the combined Adelaide Zones' Conference. Elder Reeves was providing the music (piano) for the conference so it was otherwise fairly quiet for Elder East. He said it was good with the missionaries doing a breakdown of D&C section 4. He did lament however that conference post-lunch sessions are always hard as they "digest" after lunch. 

Elder East said that he caught up with some of his previous companions at the conference - Elder Davey & Evans as well as Elder Stiles - the other missionary from Canberra.

On Wednesday the new trainees arrived during the afternoon. Elder East has been assigned Elder Rea from Mount Marrow, near Ipswich in Queensland. Elder Rea was originally assigned to the Wellington New Zealand Mission but will be serving in the AAM until the respective boundaries open up and missionaries from Australia can travel to New Zealand. Elder Rea is young - only 18 - and is the third of six children. He has two older brothers that are both on missions at the moment as well, and two younger sisters and a younger brother. Prior to coming on his mission Elder Rea was doing a carpentry apprenticeship. When we asked Elder East what type of carpentry he said "furniture, heritage stuff". Elder Rea is very tall - six foot two. Elder East describes Elder Rea as a "real country boy."

After orientation for the trainees on Wednesday afternoon, President Johansson took them all out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. It turned out to be a more expensive restaurant than President Johansson was expecting, but he decided they'd stay and told the missionaries to order what they wanted.  Elder East ordered a $65 rack of ribs. He reckoned it was the best meal he's had since Christmas dinner last year. 

The Elders all spent the night at Elder Reeves' new flat again before joining in a District Council on Thursday morning. Elders East & Rea then drove up to Port Lincoln and got Elder Rea settled in.

On Friday they went out to several appointments and taught several lessons.

On Saturday they went and provided some service at a member's home doing gardening. The family then gave them lunch and the Elders also taught a lesson. Afterwards, Elder Rea had his first taste of tracting which Elder East said that he enjoyed. 

On Sunday after Church, they attended a barbecue that was put on by some of the members. 

They have a referral from a Bishop in Melbourne from somebody in one of the country towns who is interested in being taught and getting baptised. They have to try and work out how they can teach them, and how the members can help support them as the person is 3.5 hours away from the missionaries in the Eyre Peninsula and an hour away from the nearest members.

Elder East says that Elder Rea is doing well after his first few days in the mission field.

Other notes from our discussion:

• Elder Rea went to school with one of the missionaries in the AAM.
• Elder Rea reckons that Elder East must be cheating at a card game they've played together :)
• They have four dinners and two lunches scheduled with members for the coming week.
• On Thursday nights they will often get leftover bakery products from one of the sisters from the branch who works in a bakery.
• Elder East has had a quick message from Elder Haycock since he returned home to say that he's doing OK. 
• Elder East reckons that he's getting into "Christmas mode" - whatever that may mean :)
• President Johansson is looking at reintroducing some of the rules around when and how missionaries can get together for social gatherings. He'd previously removed the rules in place from President Marquis. I think Elder East is kind of happy to see some of them being reintroduced.

Video Chat - 25th October 2021 - Companion Number 17 ... Elder Burgess

It was only a brief chat this week ... as Elder East was once again preparing for a new companion. To see his full companionship list see the Companionship Page on this blog. Elder East had spent the previous week as companions with Elder Burgess from the Gold Coast. 

On Monday  Elders East & Aiho drove down to Adelaide where they stayed overnight for a District Council on Tuesday morning, at which point Elder Burgess then went with Elder East back up to Point Pirie on Tuesday afternoon. 

Elder East said that he and Elder Burgess provided a lot of service to people in Port Pirie during the week. This included going to Sister Harrison, the older Sister who feeds them in the branch, as well as heading out to the town of Gladstone to help clean up a backyard for somebody there. 

Elder East had identified that Gladstone is where one of our relatives was meant to be buried, so they visited the town graveyard whilst out there. They were unable to find our relative's grave though. He did comment that there were unmarked graves there though, so we might need to do some additional research to find out more details. 

Speaking about Elder Burgess Elder East said that they talked a lot and that Elder East helped Elder Burgess out. He says that Elder Burgess has good factual knowledge but little experience teaching or role-playing, so it sounds like this companionship was an opportunity to provide an extended training experience for Elder Burgess. Elder East commented that they did get the opportunity to teach a lesson to a new member in the Branch.  

Following their shortened week together, they got the call on Saturday that Elder East would be receiving one of the new trainees arriving the next Wednesday (27th Oct) and that Elder Burgess would be transferred up to Darwin. 

They drove down to Adelaide to stay at the Playford Elders flat so that Elder Burgess could fly out on Monday to Darwin. In the meantime, Elder East would be companions with Elder Reeves for the 2 days until his trainee arrived. Elder Reeves' area is being split and he is also getting a new trainee on Wednesday too.

Elder East and Reeves had developed a friendship before Elder East's mission started, and their Mums have become friends. They were both excited to hear that their sons would be serving together, even if only for a couple of days. Elder East said that Elder Reeves didn't count as a proper companion though - it's just a temporary companionship. They had spent some time that P Day afternoon driving through some of the Barossa Valley that makes up the Playford Elder's area.

On Tuesday (26th Oct) they will be having a combined Zone Conference for the Adelaide Zones, and then picking up their trainees on Wednesday. 

A few other quick notes from our discussion:

• Elder East discovered that he'd incurred a speeding fine back in Darwin (45km/h in a 40km/h zone), so had to arrange to pay for that. 
• We had planned on going to WA before he started his mission, however, Covid-19 caused that trip to be canceled. We will likely plan for a trip to WA next year after he returns home. 
• Elder East got to see his Mum hand-feeding wild cockatoos on the balcony back home.

Video Chat - 17th Oct 2021 - Companion Number 16 ... Elder Aiho (Again)

 Lots of changes during the past week for Elder East when we spoke to him last week. We actually spoke to him briefly on the Sunday night as he wasn't going to be free during P Day the next day. He sent us a couple of photos from the week and gave us a rundown of his week as follows:

Tuesday - With Elder Haycock preparing to fly home back to Perth, Elder East spent the day with the APs. They were involved in a District Council, after which Elder East found out that he would be companions with Elder Aiho. He and Elder Aiho had previously been companions back in Morialta Ward over the Christmas-New Year period. Elder Aiho had been moved into a three-way companionship during the last transfer. They drove back to Port Pirie on Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday - They had a teaching appointment that went well.

Thursday - They provided service to a member, cleaning out their backyard that had forty years of accumulated junk in it. Family friend Dannielle also served in Port Pirie on her mission. Presumably, the family made the connection that she and Elder East knew each other as she was sent the following photos which she forwarded on to us.

Friday & Saturday - The Elders had trade-offs over Friday/Saturday with the Elders in Gulfview Heights, swapping the companions on each day. Elder East said that they went tracting on both days and were able to give out a Book of Mormon and also get a return appointment at another home.

Sunday - they were at Church in Port Pirie. Edler East said they had about 30 in attendance, which is good for the branch. Elder East was advised that they needed to come back down to Adelaide tomorrow (Mon 18th Oct) as he was receiving a new companion, Elder Burgess from Queensland. His new companion needed some assistance and President Johansson felt that Elder East was the right person to assist.

Elder East was sounding a bit tired/down during our video call. He's tired of driving to Adelaide - it's a 5-hour round trip and tomorrow is going to be his fifth trip in 2 weeks. (Transfer up, get spare key, change of companion, trade-offs, change of companion)  as well as having his 3rd companion change in 2 weeks. (Roberts > Haycock > Aiho > Burgess.) He's feeling a bit run down.

Some other quick notes:

• He made the comment to us that he believes that one of Mum's ancestors is buried in Gladstone, a town only about 30 minutes away from Port Pirie. Her family came out to South Australia as free settlers back in the 19th century. Elder east will try and get out to visit the grave.
• With all of the driving he's been doing, he needs some different church music to listen to. 
• He got the chance to go to a games store whilst on trade-offs ... and now wants to buya  Dungeons & Dragons book that's just come out ...