Video Chat - 27th January 2021 - Transferred to Onkaparinga Ward With Elder Taua

 We got to speak to Elder East slightly later this P-Day. He had earlier joined in on a district service project in helping to clean a lady’s home. Apparently, it was hard work. We even managed to get some photos of “after” the clean-up.

Elder East had also just called my parents (his paternal grandparents – Nanny and Grandad East) before calling us. They are in their nineties and in poor health and have recently made the decision to move into aged care. Nanny told me later that evening that they’d just found out that they’d received an offer of a place in a home, however, Nanny and Grandad wouldn’t be sharing a room. Nanny had become upset and depressed about this but said that she then received Elder East’s call which had raised her spirits. Elder East will be happy to learn the positive effect a simple thing like his phone call could make – even if Nanny did think that he sounded like he’d gained an American accent. 

Elder East sent us a few additional photos of the past week. The first was from Church last Sunday where a couple of recent converts (Kevin and Nicky) from the Adelaide City branch came to say hi and also had lunch with the Elders at the chapel.

There was a nice farewell photo with Elder Lwin during transfers.

The fire in the Adelaide Hills bordered Elder East's new ward so he was still able to see it on his trip down to his new area. Fortunately, heavy rains would help bring the fire under control the following day. 

Elder East says that his new area, Onkaparinga Ward, is a fairly middle-class area. There are a few “dodgy parts” but not as many as Marion or Prospect Wards. Their missionary flat is a fairly new three bedroom two bathroom, two story home. They share the ward area with the Sister Missionaries from Christie’s Beach. They’ve already met the Bishop, Ward Mission Leader, and Stake President in his first week there. He even had an impromptu dinner appointment with a family they visited who were having a barbecue. They shared a message with the family and were rewarded with the leftovers from the barbecue.

Bishop of Onkaparinga Ward

His companion is Elder Taua (pronounced like Tower) who is from Brisbane and is due to go home in 41 days (and counting :) ). Similar to his time with Elder Lwin, Elder East has been asked to help Elder Taua have a strong end to his mission. Elder East says that Elder Taua happens to know the Punou family that we knew from Tuggeranong Ward.

Elder East has had some positive news with investigators. 

• The Sister Missionaries had a baptism in the ward last Saturday, and Elder Taua got to perform the baptism. 
• An investigator in Morialta Ward that Elder East taught is scheduled to be baptised.
• They were following up with a couple who were investigating the Church. Elder East bore his testimony. He observed that the feeling of the Spirit was strong and the lady from the couple then shared her testimony about the truthfulness of the things they were being taught. 
• Two children that Elder East helped teach in Onkaparinga Ward whilst previously on trade-offs had been baptised.

Some additional dot points from our discussion

• They have started doing street contacting - ie just talking to members of the public to talk about the gospel. This hadn't been allowed during previous pandemic regulations.
• Elder East seems to be enjoying the responsibility of being a Zone Leader. He has Zone Conferences coming up that he has to start preparing some training for.
• It was only a small transfer. Elder Reeves has been transferred up to Darwin and is the Zone Leader up there.
• They are losing some of their senior missionary couples soon who often serve in smaller country branches. With the large decrease in missionaries during the pandemic, several missionary flats in country towns like Alice Springs and Mildura have been sold off. 
• Onkaparinga Ward is one of Dannielle Grant’s old wards from her mission that she enjoyed serving in.

Elder East Becomes a Zone Leader

 We received the following email on Tuesday morning:

Dear Family and friends 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 the Marion Zone Leader of the Australia Adelaide Mission.

This represents a significant accomplishment on his part and I am sure you are as proud of him as I am.  He will fulfill a very important stewardship as he accepts responsibility to lead his zone in this mission.  Future leadership opportunities in family, church and career will be enhanced by this 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 Derek A. Marquis

Australia Adelaide Mission

Transfers, Leadership and Fires

 We received a quick message from Elder East on Sunday evening with two main points:

1. He was being transferred again. Transfers were the following day (Monday) and he'd received the advice that he was being transferred.  He didn't know where or when at that point in time; and
2. Was there a major fire near Adelaide? [with the following photo]

Having lived through the 2019-20 bushfires, Elder East is mindful of the impact that major fires can cause. He had also received the following warning:

At that point, there wasn't anything about the fire on the news, but over the following couple of hours it became apparent that the fire was a concern and there were regular emergency warnings in the media. Fortunately, it wasn't anywhere close to Elder East. We sent him a quick update on the fire.

As the evening progressed, Elder East sent us an update advising that he was being sent to Onkaparinga Ward, that he was going to be the Zone Leader over Marion Zone, and that he would be companions with Elder Taua. We joked that he's served in 6 of Adelaide's wards, his goal should be to serve in the other 7 wards before his mission ends. :)

Video Chat - 20th January 2021 - He Still Hasn't Unpacked Yet

 We got to have a longer chat with Elder East this week. He had just come from performing some service with other missionaries from the district. They helped an investigator to paint his living room and hallway. It was somebody that Elder East had already met when he was in his first area. He'd described him back on the 23rd Sep that "... he was like an atheist version of [Dad] - knowledgeable but stubborn."

Elder East shared with us about the previous P-Day when they had Elder Lwin's "just-in-case" farewell. They played volleyball down at the chapel, followed by a game of ten pin bowling. Elder East said he didn't play too bad. He says that the next transfers is on Monday 25th Jan. Given his history of being transferred at every transfer Elder East said he hasn't bothered unpacking since having to pack for Elder Lwin's "almost going home" the previous week.

The next transfer is expected to be small, but both Elder Lwin and Elder Rogers are due to go home so there will need to be some changes. He thinks that Elder Reeves will become a Zone Leader. Elder East has met the two new missionaries (Stiles & Cook) that came into the AAM mid-transfer and caused Elder East's transfer to Gulfview Heights with Elder Lwin. He met Elder Stiles who is also from Canberra but says that he doesn't recognise him at all from his pre-mission days. The other new Elder, Elder Cook plays Magic The Gathering. They were going to have a game together on P-Day, but their painting service project ended up taking longer than expected and they didn't have time to play.

On Tuesday they had a mini-exchange with the APs. Elder East spent his time with Elder Rogers. They spent some time on Elder East's contacting skills. The missionaries are now allowed to do street contacting and pretty much everything except tracting. They previously hadn't been allowed to do contacting in public due to coronavirus restrictions, so it's a skill Elder East hasn't been able to use yet. He said that they had a KFC dinner in a park and then went out just talking to people around them. Elder East said that Elder Rogers had implied that Elder East should prepare himself to serve in leadership capacities. 

 

Elder East was asked to give a 10-minute talk at Church the previous Sunday. He was only asked on the Saturday morning to do so. He talked about how the Book of Mormon can bring us closer to Christ, and how it helps to correct false traditions.

Elder East spoke about some of the members they'd been with over the last two weeks:

• There was a Brother Steven Pearce who was originally from WA who recognised Elder East's name and worked out that he was my son. I didn't recognise the name, but Elissa did. She said to ask him if he remembered the Yates family.
• They've only just had their first missionary correlation meeting with the Ward Mission Leader. Apparently, he's not too keen on meetings.
• They had a meal with the Pressler family who also gave them some bags of American treats. On finding out that Elder East likes L&P they also got him a can of L&P as well. 
• They had a meal with the Relief Society President. She warned them that her husband has dementia and can be a bit difficult and argumentative. Apparently the husband told Elder Lwin that he needed to teach Elder East how to tie a windsor knot for his tie. Elder East then said that the husband needed to get his wife to teach him how to come along to church. The family gave them a lot of left-over food which helped them with a couple of meals.
• They had another family in the ward give them two bags of "good quality" groceries, which they were obviously happy to receive.

Some other dot point notes from our discussion:

• Elder East has had problems with an ingrown toenail in the past, and he's starting to have problems with it again. He says he also needs new shows - both church shoes and runners. Unsure if his shoes are causing his ingrown toenail.
• The new Mission President for the AAM who will take over from President Marquis in July has been announced., His name is Adolf J. Johansson and he's from Tonga, but has spent a lot of time in Fiji as an Area Authority. We think he may actually have visited and spoken at a Stake Conference in Canberra several years ago.
• A talk Elder East enjoyed from his study recently was President Henry B Eyring's talk "Walk With Me". 
• They're currently only teaching two investigators. Elder Lwin has been teaching one of them for a long time as Elder Lwin first met him when this was his first area in the mission.
• Elder East said that it's hard for Elder Lwin to stay focused at the moment with the uncertainty around his departure.
• Elder Lwin is doing the cooking most nights, but it's mainly because he tends to get hungrier earlier than Elder East does.

Elder East's Christmas Card Home

Catching up with a post I meant to put up a couple of weeks ago. Elder East sent a Christmas card home, but due to the mail backlog it didn't arrive until the week after Christmas. We loved his words to each of us and are proud of him as he serves as a missionary at this difficult time.

Dear Family

You guys are awesome! Thanks so much for existing.

To Mum, you the best. I miss your cooking and your hugs.

To Dad, you also the best. I miss your humour, and your advice, and your incredible good looks.

To Jewel, you OK. I don't miss you. SIKE, you also the best. I miss having fun with you.

To Jayde, whenever you read this, you the best. We should talk more, I miss you too.

But I don't miss home. I love being out here on a mission and I'll see y'all in 2022.

Love from, Elder East

Video Chat - 13th January 2021 - Farewell to Elder Lwin? Transferred Again?

Elissa managed to have a quick 5 minute chat with Elder East on P-Day this week, but that was all. No photos or screenshots of the chat.

Elder Lwin was originally scheduled to finish his mission in March, however, the date had been brought forward to February to coincide with a government repatriation flight back to Myanmar. Elders East and Lwin had to go into the missionary office on Tuesday to do some administration for that, at which point they were told that the flight was being brought forward to this Thursday, via Brisbane.

Elder Lwin had to go and have a Covid test to confirm he was covid-free to be eligible to take the flight. The Elders were then told to go home, pack and wait for a call to confirm if Elder Lwin would be on the flight.

With the next day being P-Day, their district decided to have their District Activity and hold a farewell for Elder Lwin. We don't have details of what they actually did, but that was why we didn't get much of a chat with Elder East. 

We did get a one-line message from Elder East that evening letting us know that Elder Lwin wasn't going on the repatriation flight, so no changes for now, but they'll have to see what that means for him going home.

A couple of other quick points that were discussed:

• Elder East says that they are getting fed a lot in his new ward (Gulfview Heights), but the members haven't seemed too interested in missionary work itself.
• One of the senior missionary couples in the mission was in Broken Hill. They needed to be Covid tested to get authorisation to cross the border back into SA, however, the authorities managed to somehow lose their tests.
• Even though Elder Lwin's nearing the end of his mission his English still isn't the strongest and Elder East says that communication is still sometimes a challenge between them. 

Video Chat - 06th January 2021 - Transferred to Gulfview Heights Ward With Elder Lwin

We got the news that even though Elder East has only been in his current area for just over 3 weeks, he is being transferred again. Normally it is 6 weeks between transfers however several new missionaries were coming into the mission out of the normal transfer cycle, resulting in changes to several companionships. His current companions would be remaining in the area but would be moving to a different flat - the accommodation they stayed in when they first came into the mission and quarantined.

Elder East is being transferred to the Gulfview Heights Ward and his new companion is Elder Lwin. Elder Lwin is from Myanmar and only has 5 weeks left of his mission. Elder Lwin was around Elder East in his first area, and Elder East says' that Elder Lwin "is pretty cool." 

Elder East was of course disappointed at being transferred yet again. His 5th area in less than 6 months. He sent an email to the Mission President with lots of questions about what he can do to help in his new area, etc. He said that he received a quick and large reply from President Marquis. One of the main things is that Elder Lwin is about to finish his mission. He is a convert to the Church and the only Church member in his family. He will be going back to Myanmar where there is only a single branch of the Church. Elder Lwin may not get many opportunities for spiritual support from others when he returns home. President Marquis wants Elder East to help ensure that Elder Lwin has an uplifting end to his missionary service before he heads home. Elder East appreciated gaining an understanding of why the changes were taking place and what the Mission President would like him to do.

Elder East says that he's going to be focussing not only on helping Elder Lwin leave on a spiritual high but also on eating healthy and exercising as well. He believes that they'll have a car in their area and that he will be the driver.

Elder East shared with us about the country trip that he and Elders Nalesoni and Aiho had taken on Monday to visit remote members. Their trip included a visit to a part-member family, a former investigator, as well as a less-active member family who they found out own a pizza shop and who gave them some pizzas. The Elders ended up driving over 230kms 

The main event from the trip though was a visit with Kit Fortune and his mother. Both Elissa and I knew the Fortunes from Greenmount Ward when we were young. I went to primary school (Years 5 & 6) with the younger of the Fortune boys, Mark, and used to go around to their home to play. The Fortune's recognised Elder East's last name and asked if he was related to Ken and Betty East (his grandparents), at which point they worked out the relationship. Kit remembers me as "The Star Wars kid". They were very thankful for the Elders' visit and it was a positive experience for Elder East.

A couple of last points from our general discussion. Elder East said that his favourite piece of artwork is Moroni burying the gold plates. I'm unsure if he was referring to this particular painting or a similar one, but he says he has it as the wallpaper on his phone.

Elder East said that he'd been going through some of old General Conference notes in his journal and came across those from President Uchtdorf's talk "Your Great Adventure". He liked the analogy about us facing our trials, whether they be giant spiders, trolls or dragons. One of the members he'd recently visited - Brother Howse, the former Mission President of Sydney - had reminded him that God knew Covid was going to happen, and how it would affect things. But regardless of whether our trials are Covid, or one of many other things as per Elder Uchtdorf's talk, it's up to us as to how we react and to ensure that we survive spiritually.

Video Chat - 30th December 2020 - Post-Christmas Refocus

Elder East let us know that he'd had an interview with President Marquis on Monday which seemed to help explain some recent decisions. President Marquis said that he was trying to help improve the Mission's culture, especially trying to strengthen the work ethic. Elder Easts said that he was happy with how Elder East was doing but wanted him to learn to "step up". He wasn't quite sure what President meant by that, so we encouraged him to ask more questions to see how President Marquis feels Elder East can develop.

Elder East said that they had a good day on Tuesday. They were following up on people from their area book. He says that it's only a small area book and they can complete a call around in about 2 hours, but they kept on going. The last person they contacted for the day asked to be given a Priesthood blessing which they obliged with.

Elder East commented that they had been talking to one of the volunteers at the Salvation Army Christmas lunch and discovered that they had been given a Book of Mormon and had previously met with the Sister missionaries. One of the people at the lunch was also a less active member of the Church.

This coming week they have scheduled to go out into the country parts of their area. They have two appointments out Mount Pleasant way, which is a small town about 55kms east of Adelaide. They have a 600km/month limit for their car, so they have to be judicious as to how to use their driving allowance.

They are also working with a member from up in Coober Pedy. It's not in the ward boundaries, however, the member comes down to Adelaide periodically and attends Morialta Ward when in Adelaide. Elder East is trying to work out how to help the family with temple preparation lessons.

Their Christmas dinner was good, but the food only lasted a day. They also gave some of their spare food to the Elders in Firle Ward, so didn't end up going to give out food to some less active members like they'd originally planned. We commented that their Christmas dinner was a combination of the two traditions - baked ham and veges from him, whilst the prawns, mussels, and potato salad was a typical Christmas dinner for his companions. Elder East says that he has also cooked up a stroganoff for his companionship as well which his companions seemed to like.

Elder East is working out how to try and increase the trust of the members in the missionaries in the ward. Elder Naelsoni had a cousin visiting Adelaide from Melbourne over Christmas who happened to visit Church with them on the Sunday. The Bishop excitedly came down to meet him, thinking it was an investigator. Elder East is thinking that getting somebody along to attend Church will be a good way. They're still not really getting any meals with members. We did have a chat about different ways to try and work with and gain trust from members.

Elissa had a bunch of questions she asked Elder East. Here are the questions and answers:

• Best quality of your current companions? Both are very loving. Elder Nalesoni can act a bit weird/funny sometimes but Elder East says he gets away with it as a part of his big Polynesian persona. Elder Aiho has a lot of good missionary knowledge and experience.
• What is he currently studying? He did a lot fo study about Christ's birth in preparation for his possible Mission Conference talk, but has also been studying the Anti-Nephi-Lehis in Alma. He's also been doing some study around Joseph Smith's transition of the Bible.
• What was his favourite Zone Conference talk? He liked Elder Rogers' talk. He is one of 9 siblings, talking about that and making an analogy of the Light of Christ and comparing it to the Star being put on a Christmas Tree. 
• Was there anything that particularly made you laugh or sad this week? It was generally a fun week which was good.  He is feeling a little homesick - not so much missing us, but some of the things we'd do together. (eg play games such as Unfair, watch Star Wars) especially around Christmas time.
• Do they have any particular restrictions around New year's Eve? No - just usual mission rules - be back in the flat by 9pm and in bed by 10:30pm.

Zone Activity - Pre-Christmas River Cruise

 Again, we managed to grab some of the photos from the AAM website of the River Cruise activity that the Adelaide missionaries went on on the 23rd December. The missionaries met up at one of the Adelaide chapels and then drove in convoy up to Murray Bridge. There, President Marquis had arranged a cruise along the Murray River aboard the Captain Proud paddleboat.

Unfortunately, it looks like whoever was the photographer for the cruise had a mishap part way through and got something on their camera lens. The rest of the photos of the cruise have a bad smear in the middle of the photos. I tried to clean up the shots as much as I could, but there's not a lot could do. Still, we get to see more of Elder East's experiences on the cruise, even if they are blurry.

Unsure if the following photo has a smear on the lens or if Elder East is speaking to a hologram of Elder Reeves.