Elder East Goes Into Lockdown

Due to a case of the Delta variant of Corvid-19 in Darwin, both Darwin and Palmerston were put into a full 48-hour lockdown at 1pm last Sunday (27th June 2021.) We sent a one-line message to him checking to make sure he was aware he was meant to be in lockdown. We got a thumbs up response.

Following additional advice, the lockdown was extended on Monday by another 72 hours until 1pm on Friday 2nd July. Elissa sent him a copy of the updated information to keep him in the loop/ Elder East's response to the news of the extended lockdown was the crying emoji ...

Elder East usually has his video chat with us via the wifi at the Chapel on P-Day (Wednesday), so we're unsure if we'll get much of a chat with him this coming P-Day. It might just be a text conversation.

Video Chat - 23rd June 2021 - Nandos: The Fanciest Place to Eat In Palmerston!

 We started out on P-Day last week letting Elder east know that friends of the family - Don and Tamara from Perth were on their way holidaying around Australia, and were currently in Darwin, wondering if they could take Elder east and his companion out for a meal. We passed on their number to Elder East and they ended up going out for lunch that day. 

Don and Tamara told the Elders they could choose wherever they wanted to eat - money was no limit ... so the Elders chose  .... Nandos. When queried by Mum as to why Nandos, it's because that's about the classiest place to eat in their area :) There isn't apparently much open in the way of high-class food establishments in Palmerston in the middle of the day. They then went out for dessert afterward. 

Elder East said it was great catching up with them. We got some photos of their lunchtime together. Elder East said that this involved Elder Evans showing them some tricks on how to take selfies. 

Last week they ended up doing trade-offs with the Darwin Elders over Thursday and Friday. Elder East said that he and one of the Darwin Elderws did service for a lady on the Friday morning and had an appointment with her again in the evening to be fed. They explained that they were on trade-offs and it would be a change in Elders in the evening. Elder east went back with Elder Evans in the evening for dinner. He said that the lady mustn't have realised that he was still the same missionary that came by in the morning as the lady was "talking smack" about the service they provided. [shrug]

On the Saturday they had the farewell dinner with the Marquis' and the other missionaries. Apparently, all of the previous farewell dinners with the other zones during the week had had pizza for dinner. President marquis was apparently over pizza and wanted Thai, so he took them all out to a Thai restaurant for dinner. The photo of Sister Marquis and Elder east was of Sister Marquis holding up Elder East's squid dinner. Elder East commented that he's really going to miss the Marquis'.

After the dinner, they had a Family Home Evening at the senior missionary couple's home. They had an activity where each person wrote something on a piece of paper, then folded the paper over. The next person then had to draw what the person had written. The paper was then folded again and the next person had to write what the last thing drawn was, and so on and so on. A bit like Chinese whispers but with writing and drawing.  Elder east said it was fun, but he commented that his drawing skills weren't bad, whilst a lot of others struggled with the drawing part.

Elder East let us know that he'd received his 12 month "halfway there" package that we'd sent him.  He said it was good, but some of the stuff was unusable as only part of a pair (eg gloves)... we pointed out that we'd send the other half of the missing stuff soon.

They had a good day on Tuesday. They had a lesson with a lady they had found during trade-offs who really enjoyed out. She was happy to have a copy of the Book of Mormon. They had a second lesson with her on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday they had a follow-up lesson with an Indonesian lady who wanted them to also teach her family. He said that besides the ladys' daughter, her mother-in-law was also there. The mother-in-law was a Seventh Day Adventist and when she raised topics, the lady and the mother-in-law would debate things. he said that they sometimes got off track a bit, but it was still good to be able to have a discussion with them, especially where the lady was defending principles that the Elders were teaching.

Some minor dot points from our discussion:

• On Sunday they had between 30-40 at Church.
• After Sister Ip's greenie went back to Sydney, Sister Smith flew up from Adelaide to be Sister Ip's new companion. Sisters Hall and Degaris are now serving in Palmerston.
• We gave Elder East grief about wearing white socks with his suit, saying that it was a fashion faux pas. 
• They visited a Filipino family in the ward. The family told them to come back later. When they did, the family had food for them to take away for dinner.

Farewell Dinner With the Marquis' - 19th June 2021

Elder east told us that the Marquis' would be coming up last Saturday to have a farewell dinner and Family Home evening with the missionaries in the Darwin Zone. The AAM blog updated the following day with photos of the evening. As usual, I've gone through and pulled out the photos with Elder East in them. First a couple of photos from the dinner.

Then several photos of the Family Home Evening. We have no idea what's up with Elder East wearing white socks.

Video Chat - 16th June 2021 - One Year Mark and Door Knocking

Elder East held a District Council this week so we were lucky enough to get some photos of the Darwin District/Zone from him during our P-Day chat.

They also participated in a Missionary Leadership Council via Zoom. I've already reposted some of the photos from the MLC that had Elder East in them.

Some observations from Elder East on Darwin: He says he never needs to look at the weather forecast. he knows it will get down to about 24 degrees at night time and about 30 degrees during the day. Humidity will set in around 10am and last until about 5pm. The humidity isn't really bad at the moment, but hard when you're walking around a lot in it.

He also says they haven't encountered any cats yet, but lots of loud dogs. He mentioned that the Sister Missionaries had a small dog try and attack them recently. He also sent through the following photo. Not sure of the story behind it, but the dog doesn't exactly look very loud or ferocious.

Elder East says that seeing as they're allowed to doorknock, they're trying to do 2-3 hours of doorknocking per day. They're effectively reopening the area, so there's a lot of finding to be done. Elder East commented that they seem to be meeting a lot more different people whilst doorknocking. They were both prompted to door knock what turned out to be a government housing street and didn't get to finish it as they ended up teaching people.

Elder East also sent us the photo below - I presume it's from when they were out doorknocking.

Elder East commented that whilst the strangest experience he's had was back in Onakapringa, he's had most of his "milder" strange experiences in Darwin. He didn't really elaborate on that as we pushed him to find out about what this strangest experience was that we hadn't heard about.

He said that it occurred just before he transferred to Darwin, which is why we didn't hear about it - most of the news was about the transfer to Darwin. He said that they were trying to visit some less active members. The member had moved but the person referred them to their next-door neighbour who "might be interested". It turns out the next-door neighbour was a schizophrenic "bible basher" who would shout out 'hallelujah" whilst talking and arguing. Elder East said that he was only about 5 foot tall, had a stocky build and a beard - it was like trying to talk to an angry gnome. What's more though, was that as well as wanting to argue, the angry gnome was insisting that the Elders had to purchase one of his paintings, which they declined to do. That wasn't the end of it though. Apparently, after Elder East was transferred the angry gnome found the phone number of a Bishop in a different Ward and was insisting that the missionaries come back around to see him.  

Some dot points of other things we spoke about:

• President Marquis was coming up on Saturday (19th June) to have his Farewell Family Home Evening and Dinner with the Darwin missionaries.
• The Marquis impending return home is starting to hit in. They received their 2nd last email from President Marquis during the week. The new Mission President, President Johanssen arrives on the 28th June, while the Amrquis' leave on the 1st July. Elder East says that he'll miss President Marquis.
• He received an email from Kendal asking questions about preparing to serve her mission.
• The Darwin Sister Misisoanries are now in a three-way companionship after the greenie returned to serve in Sydney.
• The Missionary Training Centres are starting to open back up throughout the world.
• They've had one meal with a member so far. They did some service for a Sister who fed them afterwards.
• Elders East and Evans are sharing the meal preparation. They're eating a lot of salads and walking a lot. He commented that there seems to be a pattern for missionaries to start off becoming unfit during the first half of their mission, then spending the last 6 months of their mission trying to get fit again.
• Elder East is looking like he's developing a tan.
• This week represented one year since Elder East started his mission via the home MTC on 11th June 2020. He knows that we've sent him a "halfway" package that should be amongst the mail that President Marquis is taking up to Darwin with him.

MLC Photos - 10th June 2021

The AAM blog updated with photos from the Missionary Leadership Council that was held on Thursday 10th June. With the Darwin leaders joining in via Zoom, playing "Where's Elder East?" in the blog photos isn't exactly difficult. 

Video Chat - 9th June 2021 - Darwin is Great!

After his first full week in Darwin, Elder East let us know that he thinks that Darwin is great, and that Elder Evans is a good companion. Elder East commented that they seem to be in tune with each other.  He also commented that they’re allowed to door-knock in Darwin – the first time that he’s done that on his mission. 

He says that they’re getting a reasonable number of return appointments when door-knocking, but he doesn’t like “gate knocking”. He says that in some of the rougher areas the houses are typically surrounded by metal fences with chained-up gates and invariably a loud, angry dog in the yard. Door-knocking at these houses usually consists of banging a rock against a metal pole in the hope that the residents inside will hear you. He hasn't been attacked by any dogs yet, but apparently, it's only a matter of time.

Elder East said that their area had been pretty dead when they arrived, but that they have been working hard. They had 7 appointments the previous day … well, 8, but they forgot one! They’d been out doorknocking and out at appointments before coming home. They were starting to make some dinner when they got the call ‘Elders – are you still coming?”. Luckily the appointment was nearby and they were able to rush out the door. Elder East says they’ll make it up to the family.

They taught a lady the previous Friday where Elder East described as being prompted to be in the right place at the right time. The lady's husband had recently passed away and she was interested in learning more about the plan of salvation. 

After P-day (Thurs 10th June) they were going to be having a Missionary Leadership Council. Being in Darwin they'll be joining the MLC by Zoom. In the following week, President Marquis will be having a special Family Home Evening each evening with one of the Zones. Elder East wasn't sure whether Darwin's would be via Zoom or in person. There was talk that President Marquis was going to be heading up to Darwin in person before he leaves.

Some additional dot point notes from our chat:

• The Palmerston Branch gets around 30-50 members attending sacrament, whilst the Darwin Branch is slightly larger, getting 50-60 each week.
• When transferred up to Adelaide they don't take all of their stuff with them but have some stored at the mission office. Elder east realised that he'd accidentally left his recipe book back in Adelaide.
• He didn't ever get his apron back that his Mum made for him, that he'd left at a previous flat.
• They haven't done a stall at the evening markets yet as some have done previously. Elder east isn't too keen to do so, as it's primarily based around Family History and he doesn't feel very knowledgeable about it. 
• They were playing basketball together as a District P-Day. Elder East said that he's sued to going out and playing hard as some of the other missionaries were good basketballers. By comparison, everyone's only putting in about 50% effort when playing in Darwin because it's always too hot temperature-wise.
• The Sisters that also serve in the branch only live down the road. Sister Ip was training a greenie - her fourth trainee. Unfortunately, the greenie is having trouble adjusting to Darwin and mission life, and the word was that she was going to be transferred to serve back in the Sydney mission. Elder East wasn't sure what that would mean for Sister Ip and where she'd be serving.
• Elder East commented that you need to make sure that everything is locked up in Darwin - theft is bad.
• He says that they have some crazy stories from speaking to some of the aboriginal locals. One was complaining to them that the police forced him to go in an ambulance just because he'd had a heart attack.
• Two families from Canberra would soon be traveling up to Darwin. The Clements would be visiting within the next month, whilst the Stuarts would be visiting in September. President Stuart has booked a day fishing trip for the family whilst in Darwin, however, the girls are no longer interested in going. If Elder east is still there, they may see about trying to get permission for him and his companion to join the fishing trip.

Video Chat - 2nd June 2021 - Transferred to Darwin!

We found out on P Day that Elder East had been transferred the previous day ... to Darwin! Don't know how accurate it is, but it's meant to be one of the longest missionary transfers in the world. When transfers were announced on Monday night, Elder East wasn't told where he was being transferred to, but he was told to pack to be ready to fly. He knew that meant a transfer to Darwin.

His new companion is Elder Evans who was born and initially raised in Perth, but who has lived in most Australian state capitals. He's spent most of his recent years in Brisbane, which is where he was called from.

Elder East announced his transfer to us by sending us the following photos.

He complained that much of the land was covered by clouds during their flight, but the photos he took of the outback were pretty good. 

Their new area is the Palmerston Branch, which is a satellite city of Darwin, about a further 20kms inland.  Besides taking in Palmerston, they cover the entire top part of the Northern Territory - extending about 700kms east-west, and in the north-south direction, about 250kms at its narrowest point and out to about 470kms at its widest. The only bit of it they don't cover is Darwin itself, which has its own missionaries.

Elder East is happy to be up in Darwin (yes, I know, technically not Darwin, but everyone refers to it as Darwin). Both he and Edler Evans are the Zone leaders for Darwin. There are currently two other Elders and two Sisters in the zone as well as a senior couple, but they will be joined by another companionship of Sisters in a couple of days. One fo the Sisters is training a greenie who is arriving a  couple of days after transfers.

We asked Elder East what his new companion was like, and he was like "You can ask him yourself, he's just over here". Elder Evans then joined in our chat for about 5 minutes. Elder Evans has already served around a year as well, having served in the San Pablo Philippines Mission. After arriving in the AAM he was "trained" by Elder Guzman (Elder East's trainer), so they joked that he and Elder East are brothers.

He lived for a month in Canberra staying with the Sandlers, a family that Elissa knew. He is into sport, and not playing Magic the Gathering (to Elder East's disappointment.) Edler east has said that they're aiming to try and be fit in Darwin, knowing that they're going to be sweating a lot in the warm weather. Elder east also wants to get back to the same weight he was when he came out on his mission (85kgs).

A few more dot points of things we discussed:

• He's interested in going to Kakadu National Park, but it's probably too far away (about 240kms.)
• He wants to see crocodiles while in the NT. There is a crocodile tourist park not far away (Crocodylus Park.) They might be able to go there.
• Missionaries aren't allowed to go near beaches in the NT because of the threat of crocodiles.
• Elder East was wearing the West Coast Eagles face mask during his transfer flight. I gave it to him on my way back from Perth. I'd gotten it in Perth as a gift from Don & Tamara. Don & Tamara have since left Perth for an extended holiday and are currently travelling and exploring the northwest of WA. They are planning to go to Darwin, so will try catching up with Elder East.
• Elder Evans is Elder East's twelfth missionary companion ... and he still hasn't reached his twelve-month mark yet.
• Elissa is getting ready to send a "12-month" package to Elder East.
• Seth and one of the new Sister missionaries recognised each other, but couldn't pick where from. They worked out they were in the same group during the 2020 FSY in Sydney. 
• The hymn they were singing in the transfer day photos was "Hope of Israel."