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.

MLC Photos - 10th June 2021

The AAM blog updated with photos from the Missionary Leadership Council that was held on Thursday 10th June. With the Darwin leaders joining in via Zoom, playing "Where's Elder East?" in the blog photos isn't exactly difficult. 

Video Chat - 9th June 2021 - Darwin is Great!

After his first full week in Darwin, Elder East let us know that he thinks that Darwin is great, and that Elder Evans is a good companion. Elder East commented that they seem to be in tune with each other.  He also commented that they’re allowed to door-knock in Darwin – the first time that he’s done that on his mission. 

He says that they’re getting a reasonable number of return appointments when door-knocking, but he doesn’t like “gate knocking”. He says that in some of the rougher areas the houses are typically surrounded by metal fences with chained-up gates and invariably a loud, angry dog in the yard. Door-knocking at these houses usually consists of banging a rock against a metal pole in the hope that the residents inside will hear you. He hasn't been attacked by any dogs yet, but apparently, it's only a matter of time.

Elder East said that their area had been pretty dead when they arrived, but that they have been working hard. They had 7 appointments the previous day … well, 8, but they forgot one! They’d been out doorknocking and out at appointments before coming home. They were starting to make some dinner when they got the call ‘Elders – are you still coming?”. Luckily the appointment was nearby and they were able to rush out the door. Elder East says they’ll make it up to the family.

They taught a lady the previous Friday where Elder East described as being prompted to be in the right place at the right time. The lady's husband had recently passed away and she was interested in learning more about the plan of salvation. 

After P-day (Thurs 10th June) they were going to be having a Missionary Leadership Council. Being in Darwin they'll be joining the MLC by Zoom. In the following week, President Marquis will be having a special Family Home Evening each evening with one of the Zones. Elder East wasn't sure whether Darwin's would be via Zoom or in person. There was talk that President Marquis was going to be heading up to Darwin in person before he leaves.

Some additional dot point notes from our chat:

• The Palmerston Branch gets around 30-50 members attending sacrament, whilst the Darwin Branch is slightly larger, getting 50-60 each week.
• When transferred up to Adelaide they don't take all of their stuff with them but have some stored at the mission office. Elder east realised that he'd accidentally left his recipe book back in Adelaide.
• He didn't ever get his apron back that his Mum made for him, that he'd left at a previous flat.
• They haven't done a stall at the evening markets yet as some have done previously. Elder east isn't too keen to do so, as it's primarily based around Family History and he doesn't feel very knowledgeable about it. 
• They were playing basketball together as a District P-Day. Elder East said that he's sued to going out and playing hard as some of the other missionaries were good basketballers. By comparison, everyone's only putting in about 50% effort when playing in Darwin because it's always too hot temperature-wise.
• The Sisters that also serve in the branch only live down the road. Sister Ip was training a greenie - her fourth trainee. Unfortunately, the greenie is having trouble adjusting to Darwin and mission life, and the word was that she was going to be transferred to serve back in the Sydney mission. Elder East wasn't sure what that would mean for Sister Ip and where she'd be serving.
• Elder East commented that you need to make sure that everything is locked up in Darwin - theft is bad.
• He says that they have some crazy stories from speaking to some of the aboriginal locals. One was complaining to them that the police forced him to go in an ambulance just because he'd had a heart attack.
• Two families from Canberra would soon be traveling up to Darwin. The Clements would be visiting within the next month, whilst the Stuarts would be visiting in September. President Stuart has booked a day fishing trip for the family whilst in Darwin, however, the girls are no longer interested in going. If Elder east is still there, they may see about trying to get permission for him and his companion to join the fishing trip.

Video Chat - 2nd June 2021 - Transferred to Darwin!

We found out on P Day that Elder East had been transferred the previous day ... to Darwin! Don't know how accurate it is, but it's meant to be one of the longest missionary transfers in the world. When transfers were announced on Monday night, Elder East wasn't told where he was being transferred to, but he was told to pack to be ready to fly. He knew that meant a transfer to Darwin.

His new companion is Elder Evans who was born and initially raised in Perth, but who has lived in most Australian state capitals. He's spent most of his recent years in Brisbane, which is where he was called from.

Elder East announced his transfer to us by sending us the following photos.

He complained that much of the land was covered by clouds during their flight, but the photos he took of the outback were pretty good. 

Their new area is the Palmerston Branch, which is a satellite city of Darwin, about a further 20kms inland.  Besides taking in Palmerston, they cover the entire top part of the Northern Territory - extending about 700kms east-west, and in the north-south direction, about 250kms at its narrowest point and out to about 470kms at its widest. The only bit of it they don't cover is Darwin itself, which has its own missionaries.

Elder East is happy to be up in Darwin (yes, I know, technically not Darwin, but everyone refers to it as Darwin). Both he and Edler Evans are the Zone leaders for Darwin. There are currently two other Elders and two Sisters in the zone as well as a senior couple, but they will be joined by another companionship of Sisters in a couple of days. One fo the Sisters is training a greenie who is arriving a  couple of days after transfers.

We asked Elder East what his new companion was like, and he was like "You can ask him yourself, he's just over here". Elder Evans then joined in our chat for about 5 minutes. Elder Evans has already served around a year as well, having served in the San Pablo Philippines Mission. After arriving in the AAM he was "trained" by Elder Guzman (Elder East's trainer), so they joked that he and Elder East are brothers.

He lived for a month in Canberra staying with the Sandlers, a family that Elissa knew. He is into sport, and not playing Magic the Gathering (to Elder East's disappointment.) Edler east has said that they're aiming to try and be fit in Darwin, knowing that they're going to be sweating a lot in the warm weather. Elder east also wants to get back to the same weight he was when he came out on his mission (85kgs).

A few more dot points of things we discussed:

• He's interested in going to Kakadu National Park, but it's probably too far away (about 240kms.)
• He wants to see crocodiles while in the NT. There is a crocodile tourist park not far away (Crocodylus Park.) They might be able to go there.
• Missionaries aren't allowed to go near beaches in the NT because of the threat of crocodiles.
• Elder East was wearing the West Coast Eagles face mask during his transfer flight. I gave it to him on my way back from Perth. I'd gotten it in Perth as a gift from Don & Tamara. Don & Tamara have since left Perth for an extended holiday and are currently travelling and exploring the northwest of WA. They are planning to go to Darwin, so will try catching up with Elder East.
• Elder Evans is Elder East's twelfth missionary companion ... and he still hasn't reached his twelve-month mark yet.
• Elissa is getting ready to send a "12-month" package to Elder East.
• Seth and one of the new Sister missionaries recognised each other, but couldn't pick where from. They worked out they were in the same group during the 2020 FSY in Sydney. 
• The hymn they were singing in the transfer day photos was "Hope of Israel."

Transfer Photos - 1st June 2021

The AAM Blog updated with photos of the missionary transfer that happened on Tuesday 1st June. These photos went up before we'd spoken to Elder East on P-Day the following day, so we saw pictures of him at the transfer, but didn't know if he'd been transferred to a new area or had a change in companion(s) ot otherwise affected by transfers. The fact that he was physically at the transfer meeting tends to suggest he was somehow affected.

Elissa was happy to see that Elder East had received the package with the winter coat that he was after.

It's not that hard to play "Where's Elder East?" in these photos. Whilst almost every other missionary is in thick jackets to keep warm, Elder East is there in just a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves ...

The first photo is the Zoom meeting on the previous night letting the missionaries know what was happening.

The rest of the photos are from transfer day itself.

Zone Conference Photos - 25th May 2021

The AAM blog was updated with the photos of the Zone Conference that was held on Tuesday 25th May. I think Zone Conference is a bit of a misnomer. During the Covid reduction in missionary numbers, all of the Zones meet together for Zone Conference, so it's practically a Mission Conference.

As always I've grabbed the photos that feature Elder East and invite you to play "Where's Elder East?" [Hint: he's not in the photo of President and Sister Marquis.]

Video Chat - 26th May 2021 - Zone Conference and Stake Conference

Time for another update from the weekly video chat with Elder East.

Reflecting on his opportunity to go through the Temple on the previous P Day he said that it was a good experience, but he couldn't help shake the impression that his focus should be "out there" (ie doing missionary work), rather than "in here" (ie doing Temple work.)

They had Zone Conference the previous day. Elder East joked that the Marquis' are trunky, or at least ready to go home after their three years of service. Their personal effects have already been shipped home and they're currently living out of suitcases in a hotel. They have three grandchildren that they haven't met yet, and another one due soon.

The focus for Zone Conference was on teaching skills. This included remote training from Elder Bednar on talking about Gospel principles. They also broke into Zones for individual Zone training, which for Marion Zone meant training from Elder East. He mentioned that he didn't get to socialise that much during Zoen Conference compared to normal due to his training preparation, as well as focusing on chatting to several missionaries and a senior couple who were due to go home the following week.

He said that there was a surprise announcement during the last 15 minutes of the conference that they're going to be allowed to start tracting again. (ie door knocking.) Elder East is excited as this is another opportunity to be able to find people willing to hear the gospel. He's missing the fact that his Zone Leader and training responsibilities have reduced his opportunities to find people to teach.

The previous weekend they had Stake Conference and were happy to have one of their investigators at Stake Conference one of the members had helped bring him along. The Stake President had met them and their investigator before the meeting started and made a special effort of acknowledging the missionaries serving in the stake.

The regularly scheduled transfers are due to occur on Monday (31st May). Elder East reckons he wouldn't mind a change, as he's now been in the ward for over 4 months. At the same time, he'd be disappointed to miss seeing those whom they're teaching progress in the gospel.

A few final dot points from our discussion:

• He asked us if we had any MoTab music that he could have. It's one of the things they're allowed to listen to, and he didn't take any with him.
• They were going to be heading off to get a sewing needle later that afternoon. A member had offered to fix his bag that had broken, but they needed a stronger sewing needle to do so.
• They had a lesson scheduled to teach that evening as well as for each of the next three days.
• All three members of the companionship are doing cooking. They've learnt to buy frozen vegetables as fresh ones tend to get forgotten and go off.
• Edler Brown and Edler East are having to adjust to having different training styles.
• Elder East has been out on his mission for 349 days ...