Video Call - 23rd May 2022 - Running on Two Hours Sleep & A New Companion

Today was the big day of the New Zealand assigned missionaries flying out of the AAM. When we spoke to Elder East he told us that he was operating on only 2 hours of sleep overnight due to the early check-in times (3:30am) for the departing missionaries. 

Just to add additional drama to the early start, they discovered that three of the missionaries didn't have the right Covid clearance certificates to be able to travel. They did have Covid clearance certificates, but not international Covid clearance certificates. The mission didn't even know that was a thing, and it was just fortunate that the other 12 departing missionaries did have the right type of certificates. Those three missionaries that were unable to depart were rescheduled to fly out on Wednesday (25th May). He said that whilst they were trying to sort out the Covid certificate issue the airport went from empty to full with long lines everywhere.

Just to add further complexity, they also received a call letting them know that some of the missionaries flying into the AAM from the New Zealand missions had missed their flight.

Because of everything that has been going on, lots of Elders have been using the APs flat as a temporary sleeping place. Elder East was happy that now that the other missionaries had flown out, the APs flat could get back a semblance of order again rather than being full of missionaries and luggage in transit.

Mid-transfers were happening the following day (Tues 24th May). President Johansson had made some last-minute changes to those originally planned. Elders East & Ma'a would be going into a three-way companionship to help train a new AP to replace Elder East when he leaves. Their new companion is Elder Nelson - one of the American missionaries who recently arrived into the mission. Elder Nelson is from South Jordan in Utah and has already served about 18 months of his mission in the USA whilst the borders were shut. He will be Elder East's 21st (and presumably final) companion on his mission.

Other quick notes from our chat:

• The Ward had a cottage evening activity during the week. The Elders taught a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. Elder East said that it was a good night.
• They were expecting eight people for Church on Sunday, but none of them ended up coming for various reasons, which they were disappointed about.
• Elder East successfully voted in the Federal Election on Saturday - he'd transferred his enrolment to SA. He ended up having to help other missionaries who still had their enrolments back at home to find appropriate polling centres to vote at
• Elder East will be heading up to Alice Springs next weekend where a number of baptisms will be occurring.