Video Chat - 9th August 2021 - Helping With A Baptism and Snakes Whilst Teaching

We had our first Monday P Day chat last week and Elder East was able to share with us some photos from the previous Saturday. He and three other Elders had helped with a baptism. The gentleman who was getting baptised only has one leg and is in a wheelchair. The four Elders were able to help him into the water and to be baptised. 

Somebody on Facebook also happened to post up the following picture of the baptism as well. 

With the changeover from Wednesday to Monday P Days it was a shorter week to chat about, but Elder East mentioned some other happenings during the week:

• They provided some service to an older lady by helping to clean out her garage. During the cleanout Elder East found a slow cooker cookbook that she didn't want that she was happy for him to have. He was quite happy about getting a cookbook. 
• One of the people that they've been teaching came along to Church on Sunday.
• They had a meal appointment on Sunday evening.
• He received his package of MtG cards that we'd sent through to him for P Day.
• There is a Missionary Preparation Devotional this coming Sunday (15th Aug) that they were going to be helping with. This ties in with missionary preparation classes that are being started in Darwin which they will be helping with as well. Elder East said that the missionary preparation classes were going to be taught by the only YSA in Darwin.
• The weather in Darwin is getting more humid but has still been nice.
• They haven't tried doorknocking in the evenings yet.

Elder East also shared a story with us that he hadn't told us about when they had trade-offs recently. They were teaching a family on the balcony of the family's home. As they were teaching they could hear movement from the garage nearby. A black-headed python slithered out from the garage about a metre away from them before slithering away. As you can appreciate, they all stopped and watched to see what the snake was going to do when it appeared.

A few other comments from Elder East about their day to day happenings:

• They do have bikes, but only tend to use them to travel when they have a lot of unplanned time, otherwise, it's better to use their car.
• They consider that they have both the largest and smallest areas in the mission. Large in that it covers most of the top of the Northern Territory, but small in that in a practical sense, there are only 5 suburbs around Palmerston that they can travel to and work in. They spend most of their time in only two suburbs, Durack and Woodroffe.
• Elder East was going to try a family favourite recipe - Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas - this week, so we're interested to see how it goes.
• Edler East is happy with how they're doing with their budgeting as a companionship. They're sticking to their budgets and living within their finances - an important skill to learn when you're living away from home.
• The next Transfers is on Monday 23rd August. Elder East would be happy to stay, but he'd like to be able to help reopen some of the country areas like Mildura, Katherine, Kunnunnura or Alice Springs to missionaries.