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.