Video Chat - 21st February 2022 - The NT With President Johansson & Elder Nattress

 Much of our chat this week was about the APs trip up to the Northern Territory the previous week.

The APs flew up to Alice Springs on Wednesday and had trade-offs with the missionaries in the afternoon. President Johansson and Elder Nattress (First Counselor in the Area Presidency) flew up to Alice Springs on Thursday and took some personal time to head out to Uluru and Segway around the rock before returning to Alice Springs. This gave them a long amount of time to do some one-on-one counseling/training together as well as getting to see a famous tourist sight. 

On Friday they had a meeting with the Alice Springs missionaries as well as a Fireside in the evening for members and investigators. They had four investigators come along to the Fireside in the evening. 

On Saturday they flew up to Darwin. Elder East sent us the following message:

But truthfully I had this really great experience on Saturday.

We had just flown into Darwin and we had gotten the Elders to the chapel to meet Elder Nattress. We went to get lunch for everyone to bring back and then had a meeting with him.

During the meeting I was about to fall asleep. I just felt so dead and I remember thinking that straight after this meeting when I go with the Elders I'm gonna go nap.

But I was also like I gotta help these Elders and be an example and so I said a prayer and was like "hey if you need me to do something up here can you please give me the strength to do it, but if not can I please get some rest."

At the end of the meeting President turns to us APs and says he's gonna need us for a bunch of things and almost Immediately I felt wide awake and full of energy and felt like that the rest of the day.

So it was pretty simple but for me, it was a really clear cause and effect of God helping me in that moment that I loved.

After helping out President, they went out tracting in the heavy rain with the Darwin missionaries and got a return appointment. On the Saturday evening, there was meant to be a Leadership Dinner with President Johansson and Elder Nattress, and the local priesthood leaders. Unfortunately, of the local leaders, three had covid, two were away and of the others, only one was able to make it. 

On Sunday there was a combined Church meeting for both the Darwin and Palmerston Branches. The APs were acting as greeters. They were getting worried when with several minutes before Church was due to start both President Johnasson and Elder Nattress hadn't arrived yet, and as noted most of the other local leaders were away, in isolation or otherwise indisposed. Fortunately, they arrived right at the 9am start time. 

There was a lunch put on after Church finished and Elder East was able to catch up with a number of members from Palmerston Branch who he knew. The Stubbs, who have recently moved from Canberra to Darwin also happened to recognise him. They sent the following photo to the Canberra Stake Facebook group. 

On Sunday afternoon they went out to visit some of the former investigators from when Elder East was in the area. The only person who they managed to catch up with though was Sister King - again, another former Canberra member who had recently moved up to Darwin. The Kings hadn't been to Church in a  while so Elder East was happy to get a return appointment with them for the Palmerston missionaries.

They then tracted a complex of six houses. From those six houses, there was no answer from two, they taught a lesson at one and got three return appointments from the others. They were happy to be successful with the tracting as the NT missionaries had been saying that they don't see any success tracting, however, Elders East & Evans taught or got return appointments every time they went out tracting in the NT during the week.

They ended up flying back down to Adelaide on the P Day Monday, so our video chat was in the evening. 

Some other quick notes from our chat:

• Elder East managed to get some sand for his "collection" from one of the Darwin beaches.
• He bought himself a souvenir tie in Darwin.
• We sent him some PDFed university course guides to read on the plane on the flight back to help him make a decision about whether he needs to apply for university before he finishes his mission in June. We confirmed that his return date was the 15th June - about 5 days earlier than we'd previously thought.
• Elder East said that It has been really good being with Elder Nattress - he's a very nice, and spiritual, man. The whole trip has been really tiring though - even President Johansson is super tired.
• He commented about how being an Assistant to the President has been hard, but he's never felt unfulfilled. He feels that he's doing really well, both spiritually and emotionally.
• Here's a photo of a baby thorny devil that they found during their time in Alice Springs.

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 - 1st November 2021 - His New Trainee, Companion Number 18, Elder Rea

The big news this week of course was Elder East picking up his new trainee, Elder Rea. I'll give a bit of a summary of Elder East's week as per usual.

The rest of his previous P-Day (Mon 24th Oct) was spent helping to open up Elder Reeves' new flat. Elder Reeves' area was being split and he was opening the new area with a new trainee as well. Elder East said that he was jealous that the new flat had a barbecue, although it did have a garage only accessible from a laneway, which wasn't so good. 

On Tuesday Elders East and Reeves went to the combined Adelaide Zones' Conference. Elder Reeves was providing the music (piano) for the conference so it was otherwise fairly quiet for Elder East. He said it was good with the missionaries doing a breakdown of D&C section 4. He did lament however that conference post-lunch sessions are always hard as they "digest" after lunch. 

Elder East said that he caught up with some of his previous companions at the conference - Elder Davey & Evans as well as Elder Stiles - the other missionary from Canberra.

On Wednesday the new trainees arrived during the afternoon. Elder East has been assigned Elder Rea from Mount Marrow, near Ipswich in Queensland. Elder Rea was originally assigned to the Wellington New Zealand Mission but will be serving in the AAM until the respective boundaries open up and missionaries from Australia can travel to New Zealand. Elder Rea is young - only 18 - and is the third of six children. He has two older brothers that are both on missions at the moment as well, and two younger sisters and a younger brother. Prior to coming on his mission Elder Rea was doing a carpentry apprenticeship. When we asked Elder East what type of carpentry he said "furniture, heritage stuff". Elder Rea is very tall - six foot two. Elder East describes Elder Rea as a "real country boy."

After orientation for the trainees on Wednesday afternoon, President Johansson took them all out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. It turned out to be a more expensive restaurant than President Johansson was expecting, but he decided they'd stay and told the missionaries to order what they wanted.  Elder East ordered a $65 rack of ribs. He reckoned it was the best meal he's had since Christmas dinner last year. 

The Elders all spent the night at Elder Reeves' new flat again before joining in a District Council on Thursday morning. Elders East & Rea then drove up to Port Lincoln and got Elder Rea settled in.

On Friday they went out to several appointments and taught several lessons.

On Saturday they went and provided some service at a member's home doing gardening. The family then gave them lunch and the Elders also taught a lesson. Afterwards, Elder Rea had his first taste of tracting which Elder East said that he enjoyed. 

On Sunday after Church, they attended a barbecue that was put on by some of the members. 

They have a referral from a Bishop in Melbourne from somebody in one of the country towns who is interested in being taught and getting baptised. They have to try and work out how they can teach them, and how the members can help support them as the person is 3.5 hours away from the missionaries in the Eyre Peninsula and an hour away from the nearest members.

Elder East says that Elder Rea is doing well after his first few days in the mission field.

Other notes from our discussion:

• Elder Rea went to school with one of the missionaries in the AAM.
• Elder Rea reckons that Elder East must be cheating at a card game they've played together :)
• They have four dinners and two lunches scheduled with members for the coming week.
• On Thursday nights they will often get leftover bakery products from one of the sisters from the branch who works in a bakery.
• Elder East has had a quick message from Elder Haycock since he returned home to say that he's doing OK. 
• Elder East reckons that he's getting into "Christmas mode" - whatever that may mean :)
• President Johansson is looking at reintroducing some of the rules around when and how missionaries can get together for social gatherings. He'd previously removed the rules in place from President Marquis. I think Elder East is kind of happy to see some of them being reintroduced.

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.