Video Chat - 29th November 2021 - Training During Zone Conferences

 Another busy week for Elder East. We got to speak to him early on P Day and he gave us a run down of his past week.

Tuesday of last week was the Firle Zone Conference which Darwin also joined in via Zoom. The plan was for Elder Evans and himself to start off the training after which President Johansson would then take the remainder of the session. President Johansson ended up having to take a phone call though leaving them to do all of the training. The topic was Teaching with Power & Authority. Elder East said that it went well. 

Wednesday was spent contacting and talking with remote Ward & Branch Councils throughout the mission as well as getting to teach a lesson with a recent convert.

Thursday was the Modbury Zone Conference where they once again were involved in training and teaching with the missionaries in the Zone. Elders Brown & Rea (his old companion and his last trainee) were called as the new Zone Leaders for the Zone on Thursday after Zone Conference.

Missionary Leadership Council was held on Friday where they worked with the Elders and Sisters in leadership roles. The MLC also included involvement with the Pacific Area Social media Council which was a Zoom meeting chaired by leaders in Salt Lake City. Elder East commented that he saw Sister Page, serving in Stromlo Ward during the meeting. He said that he also got chatting with Sister Malu, another missionary from Canberra, about things back at home.

Later on Friday, they got to return and visit the recent convert again that they taught on Tuesday and got to spend another time teaching her, but also with her kids this time as well. 

Saturday was spent helping to move missionaries around as a result of some more companionship changes.

On Sunday they attended Church at Firle Ward. They had the opportunity to bless the sacrament as many of the youth were away.

Elder East says that the coming week should be less hectic. They have one more Zone Conference, to do which will happen on Tuesday (30th Nov), whilst Thursday is a planning day. They have to help President Johansson plan out the mission calendar for 2022.

Two of Elder East's previous companions headed home this week, Elder Kennach and Elder Cooke. Elder Kennach was having to do a long trek to get home, Flying Adelaide to Perth to Dubai to Auckland. All up they have seven missionaries heading home in the near future and only two trainees coming in.

A few other notes from our discussion:

• Elder East is getting a South Australian driver's licence. Because the mission covers areas in SA, NT, VIC, NSW and WA they have to cross borders reasonably frequently, and having a local licence will make things easier during Covid times.
• In doing this he checked how many demerit points he has. because he's still only a P plater, the two fines he's received means he only has a single demerit point left. he says that he's been driving extra cautiously.
• He commented that he received the Dice Advent Calendar that we sent him, but is yet to receive the Christmas decorations that Elissa has sent to him.
• One of the enws sitser missioanries is a "D&D geek". He'll appreciate having somebody to geek out with.
• He mentioned that he has had a lot of members try and joke about his surname during his mission  ... but he's heard them all several times over by now.
• Elder East has been focusing on journal writing recently. He hasn't written much in his journal up to now but does have three notebooks of notes from meetings, conferences, spiritual thoughts and impressions he's received and so on. 

Arriver Training Photos - 12th & 13th May 2021

 The AAM Blog has put up some photos of the missionary intake from the 12th May. This includes the Arrival Dinner ion the evening of the 12th May, and the Arriver Training on the 13th May. As a joint trainer of Elder Davey with Elder Brown, there are obviously several photos of Elder East. 

I've done the usual search and download from the blog so that you the reader can play along with "Find Elder East!".

The first three photos are from the Arriver's Dinner, whilst the second lot of three photos are from the Arrviers Training day.

Video Chat(s) - 12th May 2021- Training, Transfers & Grandparents

P-Day was punctuated by three short video chats with Elder East as his big news was that he was going to be training a new missionary from the mid-cycle intake coming in that day.  He didn't have any details of the new missionary, but he would still be in a three-way companionship in Onkaparinga Ward. He would still be staying with Elder Brown as Zone Leaders whilst they trained the greenie together. Elder Cooke was being transferred out to another area.

Because of transfers, he wouldn't get long to chat with us. I also didn't get any screenshots during the calls and didn't get any photos from Elder East, so this is a pictureless update.

When he did call, he hadn't been chatting long when there was somebody banging on the window wanting help. He said he'd try calling Elissa again later but didn't get a chance to.

A few other items that were mentioned:

• Elder Reeves was being transferred down from Darwin and would be staying with them overnight.
• Elder East is wanting to get a new jacket to wear with non-proselyting clothes. He says that his trench coat is fine when he's in missionary gear, but no good if exercising, P Days, service activities, etc.
• President Marquis had granted permission for Elder East and his companions to come out to see me during my four hour stopover at the Adelaide Airport the following Monday.
• Elder East had also been given permission to participate in the Canberra Stake Youth Fireside the following Sunday evening.

Elder East had two quick video calls with his grandparents - one with Grandad and one with Nanny during the afternoon. Adam was currently with his parents down in Albany. They were only short calls but they were both happy to see him and told him how proud they were of him.

Video Chat - 28th April 2021 - ANZAC Day and Birthday Surprises

Elder East started off our weekly video chat by letting us know that he had another companion – Elder Cooke. He was now in a three-way companionship. Their companionship got the call at 6:40am on Tuesday morning to be at the chapel by 9:30am for their scheduled interviews with President Marquis … and to pick up their new companion. Elder East thinks that their three-way companionship will only last for a couple of weeks as there are a bunch of new missionaries scheduled to arrive on May 12th.

Elder Cooke is from Brisbane (like most in the AAM) who came out into the mission in January. Elder East describes Elder Cooke as being a “White Poly” who is into games. In fact, Elder East reckons that he himself is the least "nerdy" member of their three-way companionship - funny noting that he is a self-confessed geek/nerd. 

A summary of the week:

On Thursday of last week they received an invite to Saturday dinner from the Mahina family in the ward.  When they got to the dinner on Saturday evening, Elder East was greeted with a surprise birthday combination of Star Wars and Lego 

On Saturday night, after the dinner, Elder East prepped all the ingredients for “Dad’s chilli recipe” ready for his birthday dinner on Sunday.

Sunday was also ANZAC Day, so they were up at 4:00am, left the flat at 4:40am and went to the Onkaparinga Memorial Gardens for the local ANZAC Day Dawn Service. I had organised tickets for them earlier in the week and emailed them through to Elder East after confirmation that they were allowed to attend.  They said that the service didn’t actually start til 5:50am, so they got there too early. Elder East says the service was good. He reckons that there were probably over 500 in attendance, and they did see some other members there at the service. 

Elder East cooked up the chilli in the morning after returning from the Dawn Service.

At church that day the Sacrament Meeting had a missionary theme, so Elder East was one of the speakers. His topic was “Feed My Sheep”. He said that he talked about how they were all there at Church because we have some level of love for the Saviour. Also, that one of the ways we can show love for others I to be friendly, smile and similar in our actions. 

Elder East mentioned that they took on teaching lady that the Sister Missionaries had started teaching.  She came along to Church on Sunday along with her husband and son. 

Whilst at Church the Ellis family called the Elders into the kitchen. There they had a birthday cake and treats for Elder East - it also happened to be the birthday of their twin children. 

Elder East said that they got to teach a lesson in the afternoon, and then for dinner got to have the chilli that Elder East had cooked earlier.  He says that it was OK, but it tasted like a “normal” chilli, and not like Dad’s chilli.

Elder East says that he got spoilt with presents for his birthday. He had previously received a package from us and from the Reeves before his birthday. He said that the mission couple happened to come by on the day as well, and he received a package from Grandma, as well as his mobile phone case that I’d ordered for him

Amongst the photos Elder East sent us, he included these photos, but I'm not sure of the stories behind them. Noting who is in each picture, I'm presuming that the photo with all three elders in it would've been taken on Tuesday 27th April, with the other being taken earlier in the week.

A couple of final dot points from the week:

• They visited a member's home on Monday night and she decided that she was doing a  personality test on the Elders. She reckoned that Elder East was "officious, logical and would make a good Stake President." He's not sure what he thinks of that assessment.
• Elder East has lost 3kgs in weight - down from 96kgs to 93kgs. They're trying hard to be healthy.