Video Chat - 8th November 2021 - No Fish & Chip Shops in Port Germein

Another weekly recount of how Elder East is doing out in the mission field.

Tuesday was spent doing a lot of doorknocking. They're trying to do at least an hour of doorknocking each day. They had a lesson with a lady who is involved a lot with family history. Elder East said that there was a name in her family tree (William Yates) that was the same as from one of his ancestors in Family Search. He was wondering if there could be some distant relation knowing that he has relatives from around the area. He also discovered that some of these people had graves in Port Pirie so he'll investigate further.

On Wednesday they did more doorknocking as well as provide some service for a member. Elder East said that the service involved a lot of shoveling and that a lot of the service they do is gardening or outside maintenance-related. 

They also had a teaching appointment with somebody they've been teaching for a while. He'd decided that for a laugh he was going to pretend to be a "Fundamentalist" to try and shock Elder Rea during the lesson.

On Thursday they helped a branch member with her family history. Specifically, there was a bit of ICT help required in trying to get her family history off of the old Personal Ancestral File and on to the Family Search website. 

On Friday they did over three hours of doorknocking, and as always is the way, the success didn't come until the end. The last three houses they doorknocked all resulted in return appointments. Maybe they just started at the wrong end of the street :)

Every Saturday they are providing service for a family in helping with their backyard cleanup and this week was no different. Later in the day they also taught a lesson. Elder East said that there was a "cool" thunderstorm that came through during the afternoon. In the evening they were at the nearby town of Port Germein.  They were hoping to get Fish & Chips for dinner whilst in town but found none, so ended up heading back to Port Pirie. Elder East sent us a photo of the two of them at the jetty at Port Germein. 

Elder East said that the highlight of the week spiritually was on Sunday. Besides Church, they were doorknocking and were able to teach two lessons that afternoon. One was to an 18-year-old guy with two of his mates and then another man later on. Elder East said that the Spirit was strong during the lessons. I'd like to hear more of these types of experiences from Elder East and in more detail. Sometimes we only find out about interesting or poignant events weeks or months after they occur when he'll casually mention them. It would be good to record more faith-promoting stories on this blog rather than just being a travelogue. Elder East has them, but he often doesn't think to share them with us even we ask about spiritual highlights of the week. 

Next weekend  (13th-14th Nov) they are hoping to get out to Whyalla Branch and visit the members around Whyalla and Port Augusta. They have contacted the referral from the previous week and arranged for them to come along to Whyalla Branch next Sunday (14th Nov).

They had been hoping to travel down to Adelaide last night (Sun 7th Nov) and then spend P Day with other missionaries before heading back to Port Pirie. Elder East is aiming to try and have a P Day meetup with the Adelaide Elders as a regular fortnightly event. Their plans were thrown into disarray though when they found out on Sunday that they had to travel down to Adelaide over Wednesday and Thursday (10th-11th Nov) for a devotional being held on Thursday. It is going to be a streamed devotional with Elder Lekias (Area Authority), several Area Seventies, and Elder Soares from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Other notes from our discussion:

• They are being fed a lot and are being given lots of leftovers as well. He said that the previous night's meal appointment had left them with about 6 servings of bolognese to take home. he says that their fridge is full and that they have "So much food."
• The mission had a Zoom meeting scheduled with President Johansson for that P Day evening (Mon 8th Nov.)
• Port Pirie Branch averages about 20-25 people in attendance at Sacrament each Sunday.
• Elder Rea is very physically fit. It's motivating Elder East to exercise. They've been going out jogging each morning. Elder East says that Elder Rea is also very smart. High praise from someone who's definitely no mental slouch himself. 

Video Chat - 17th Oct 2021 - Companion Number 16 ... Elder Aiho (Again)

 Lots of changes during the past week for Elder East when we spoke to him last week. We actually spoke to him briefly on the Sunday night as he wasn't going to be free during P Day the next day. He sent us a couple of photos from the week and gave us a rundown of his week as follows:

Tuesday - With Elder Haycock preparing to fly home back to Perth, Elder East spent the day with the APs. They were involved in a District Council, after which Elder East found out that he would be companions with Elder Aiho. He and Elder Aiho had previously been companions back in Morialta Ward over the Christmas-New Year period. Elder Aiho had been moved into a three-way companionship during the last transfer. They drove back to Port Pirie on Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday - They had a teaching appointment that went well.

Thursday - They provided service to a member, cleaning out their backyard that had forty years of accumulated junk in it. Family friend Dannielle also served in Port Pirie on her mission. Presumably, the family made the connection that she and Elder East knew each other as she was sent the following photos which she forwarded on to us.

Friday & Saturday - The Elders had trade-offs over Friday/Saturday with the Elders in Gulfview Heights, swapping the companions on each day. Elder East said that they went tracting on both days and were able to give out a Book of Mormon and also get a return appointment at another home.

Sunday - they were at Church in Port Pirie. Edler East said they had about 30 in attendance, which is good for the branch. Elder East was advised that they needed to come back down to Adelaide tomorrow (Mon 18th Oct) as he was receiving a new companion, Elder Burgess from Queensland. His new companion needed some assistance and President Johansson felt that Elder East was the right person to assist.

Elder East was sounding a bit tired/down during our video call. He's tired of driving to Adelaide - it's a 5-hour round trip and tomorrow is going to be his fifth trip in 2 weeks. (Transfer up, get spare key, change of companion, trade-offs, change of companion)  as well as having his 3rd companion change in 2 weeks. (Roberts > Haycock > Aiho > Burgess.) He's feeling a bit run down.

Some other quick notes:

• He made the comment to us that he believes that one of Mum's ancestors is buried in Gladstone, a town only about 30 minutes away from Port Pirie. Her family came out to South Australia as free settlers back in the 19th century. Elder east will try and get out to visit the grave.
• With all of the driving he's been doing, he needs some different church music to listen to. 
• He got the chance to go to a games store whilst on trade-offs ... and now wants to buya  Dungeons & Dragons book that's just come out ...

Video Chat - 11th October 2021 - Elder Haycock Comes and Goes

It was a busy week for Elder East. He flew down to Adelaide for transfers on Tuesday morning (5th Oct). knowing that his trainee wasn't arriving straight away. He would go out to join Elders Brown and Burgess in Tea Tree Gully Ward. It would turn out that his trainee, Elder Haycock, from Perth, would be arriving the following day.

Wednesday was Elder East's grandmother's funeral, and he had permission from President Johannson to join in watching the broadcast of the funeral service and burial. Elder Haycock's flight arrived whilst the funeral was on, so Elder East didn't go to meet him at the airport. They then spent the rest of Wednesday doing training and admin with Elder Haycock, staying overnight in Adelaide with Elder Reeves and his companion.

On Thursday they then drove up to Port Pirie and spent the day cleaning up the missionary flat from the previous Elders as well as unpacking and setting up their own stuff.

On Friday they started to focus on more training for Elder Haycock, including watching a bunch of videos that are part of the training. To do this they went to the chapel to be able to use the internet connection for the video streaming. After finishing in the evening they went back to their flat, and as they were trying to get into their flat, the front door key broke. OK ... time to call the mission office to find out if there's a spare key. Unfortunately Elder East realised his phone only had a 3% charge left before it would go flat. 

They did manage to get in touch with the mission office but had to spend Friday night in a motel with nothing but the clothes on their backs. On Friday morning they then had to drive halfway down to Adelaide to meet up with the APs who had a spare key to their flat at the mission office. 

Whilst all of this was going on, Elder Haycock had received a call to let him know that his elderly father had been admitted to hospital. His parents are not overly active in the Gospel and his Mum, who is from the Philippines has little in the way of a local support network. She was asking that Elder Haycock come home from his mission for support. 

The Elders went to the chapel for the Saturday evening broadcast of general conference. During the evening  Elder Haycock was able to contact his father who also requested that he come home to help. Elder Haycock spoke to President Johansson and then his Bishop and Stake President back in Perth. He made the decision that he would head back home to assist even though he wanted to be staying out in the mission field. 

On Sunday morning they went to the general conference broadcast and managed to catch up with Craig, a gentleman who describes himself as a "professional investigator." They were invited along with Craig to a member's house for lunch. She was an older lady who has a reputation for unusual food recipes from old cookbooks. Elder East advised that lunch included such things as curried bananas and a salad made from rockmelon, capsicum, onions and marshmallows. 

After their meal, they spent Sunday afternoon repacking their bags and then heading down to Adelaide. They had dinner with the Port Pirie branch president in Kadina, a town about an hour south of Port Pirie on the way to Adelaide. After dinner, they were able to teach a lesson to the Branch President's family before making their way down to Adelaide to stay with the Playford Elder's overnight.

Now, on P Day, Elder East was with other missionaries at a P Day activity in Fremont Park. Elder Haycock would be flying home on Tuesday (12th Oct). Both Elders East and Haycock said that they knew that it was sad for him to be returning home after having just arrived but they knew it was the right decision. As the entire situation unfolded, Elder East said that things just kept "happening" but he felt calm and OK about how things were progressing. Elder Haycock wanted to stay out in the mission field but wanted to be able to return and help as well. He is wanting to return back to the mission field when he can. 

My personal opinion is that sometimes we shouldn't second guess the Lord. Maybe Elder Haycock will get the chance to return quickly and enjoy a full two-year mission. Maybe all that the Lord required from Elder Haycock was to prepare and show that he was ready to serve a mission. Having shown his willingness to do so, maybe the Lord knows that his responsibilities now lay with looking after his parents for a long time. Maybe his service will fall as a mixture between the two. As long as we try and seek Heavenly Father's will for us and try to align ourselves to it, we will be an instrument in the Lord's hands to help others in His way.

A few other tidbits of information about Elder Haycock:

• He plays gridiron competitively back in Perth. He had been planning to go to the USA to play gridiron before Covid hit. 
• Elder Haycock knew both Holly Olde and Connor Dowe, people that Elder East knew from Perth
• Elder Haycock and Elder East both attended FSY in Perth in 2018. They were in different groups, but did know some of the same people from FSY.
• Elder East says that Elder Haycock was really into cars.
• Even though they only served together a short time, they got on really well, and Elder East would love to catch up with Elder Haycock back in Perth after both of their missions are finished.