Adelaide Airport Lunch with Dad - 17th May 2021

I emailed President Marquis prior to recently going over to Western Australia, requesting:

President Marquis,

I will be flying between Perth and Canberra on Monday 17th May and will have a 4.5hr stopover in Adelaide between 11:30am and 4pm. 

Would it be possible for me to catch up with Elder East and his companions and to take them to a short lunch (assuming he is still in Adelaide post the 12th May missionary intake)?

I understand if it’s not allowed, but thought I would ask and see if it was possible. 

Thanks for all you are doing for Elder East and the other missionaries,

President Marquis responded back:

Thank you for reaching out. I’m sure a short “reunion” at the airport would be a boost to Elder East. If he does not feel it would be a distraction, I’m happy to have him meet you at the airport. There are restaurants in the airport terminal and there is also one just off the main baggage claim area in the Atura Hotel which is connected to the airport. I’ll leave it to you to talk with him about this and to coordinate the details. I do not know yet whether he will be impacted by the transfer next week but it is the case that even if he were, he’d still be serving in Adelaide as all our outlying areas are currently closed except Darwin and I do not anticipate any changes in Darwin on 12 May.

Sister Marquis and I love Elder East and are grateful to you and Sister East for raising up such a valiant and noble son. He is a true blessing to the AAM.

Following the approval from President Marquis, we arranged to meet up at the airport at noon on Monday 17th May.

I arrived at Adelaide Airport from Perth about 11:30am on the Monday morning, and received a message from Elder East just after noon that they had arrived. We quickly found each other and I was introduced to his two companions - Elder Brown, and his new trainee, Elder Davey from Rockhampton in Queensland.

I treated all three to a lunch of gourmet salads from Soul Origin at the Airport and we spent our time chatting. Whilst in Perth I had grabbed a bunch of Magic The Gathering booster packs as a gift for Elder East. I know that he often plays the game with other missionaries during their spare time on P Days. He was quite happy with what I'd bought him.

It was great seeing Elder East. He looks like he's lost some of the weight that he'd put on - he is trying to be conscious of his health. More importantly, he carried the Spirit with him and he sounded and acted like somebody who has been set apart as one representing the Saviour Jesus Christ and who is there to serve others.

It was great to spend time seeing him again after 11 months. It was only an hour of time spent with him and his companions, but it was an awesome time to treasure until we see him in person again in mid-2022.