Video Chat - 11th April 2022 - Overnight Trip Up to Broken Hill With President Johansson

We got a run down from Elder East on some happenings from the previous week.

On the previous Tuesday (5th Apr) they had a Missionary Leadership Council on the importance of the Book of Mormon. Elders East & Ma’a also had the opportunity to have dinner with the Adelaide Temple President and his family.

Wednesday was a day of meetings - Technology Council followed by District Council. They then had trade-offs with the Zone Leaders. They went out tracting, as well as providing some service in Fulham Gardens.

They completed their trade-offs on Friday morning after which they headed off with President Johansson to go and get their flu shots at 10am. Whilst waiting, President told them that he had to drive up to Broken Hill in a couple of hours and wanted the APs to accompany him on the drive. So that was their Thursday afternoon, accompanying President Johansson on a drive up to Broken Hill to do some paperwork that had to be done in person. The mission had re-opened the Broken Hill area for missionaries only three weeks earlier, so they ended up staying with the Elders overnight before driving back on Friday morning. Once back in Adelaide they were able to catch up and have a meal with a family who were visiting from Alice Springs. Elder Ma’a knew them well from his time serving in Alice Springs.

They were able to teach a number of lessons on Saturday including a video lesson with a lady that Elder East had previously taught when in Onkaparinga Ward. Saturday evening was taken up with making calls advising missionaries who would be affected by the following mid-cycle transfer.

On Wednesday Elder East had received an email about starting his preparation course for returning home. He admitted that this made him a little but trunkee. He is feeling a bit burnt-out. It is likely that he will remain AP until the end of his mission. If that is the case, he’s likely to be in a three-way companionship during the last 3 weeks of his mission as he helps train up his replacement.

Other notes from our chat:

• The mission is dealing with several missionaries who have Covid or are in isolation including the Port Pirie Elders. Probably the most unfortunate is the Elder who was due to leave for his original assignment in Italy. He undertook his mandatory PCR test two days before leaving even though he had no symptoms … and subsequently returned a positive result.
• They have an Elder Chick coming into the mission. He is the son of a missionary who was in the same MTC and mission as Elder East’s mum. We’ve actually caught up with them several times in the intervening years and sent a few photos of the younger Elder Chick through to Elder East.
• Elder East says that his new suit is doing well. It’s a bit darker than he expected it to be. It’s also “stretchy”, which he likes.
• We also spoke a bit about Easter. Elder East wasn’t too keen on having too much chocolate, so we arranged for a Coles delivery to the office. It included lots of small Easter chocolates that he could share with other people as well as a selection of fruit.
• He called Grandma & Grandad Yates later in the day which they were absolutely thrilled with.

Video Chat - 4th April 2022 - Teaching via Video to Mexico

It was back to a regular Monday P Day this week, so it was only 5 days since our last chat, with most of the discussion being on things happening back at home:

• Elder Reeves' Dad has said that he'd like to get baptized. As you'd expect, his family is excited.
• Elder Aiho has gotten engaged. He's been home from his mission for 5 months now.
• We chatted about how Elissa is having some problems at her work, and how I was still sick from Covid.
• They were studying the Passover in Seminary this week and so we talked about different historical versions of the Passover.
• We chatted about General Conference that had just been held with the announcement of 17 new temples being built.

A couple of quick notes from the mission field as well:

• The First Counselor in the Mission Presidency, Elder Raeside has been called as an Area Authority.
• Eight missionaries are coming into the AAM next week - five from New Zealand and 3 greenies. Elder Wolff from Canberra will be one of those greenies.

Elder East also shared that they ended up having a lesson last Wednesday with somebody whom Elder Ma'a had previously taught at the start of his mission. The person in question had moved back to Mexico in the meantime however he and Elder Ma'a reconnected via Facebook. Elder Ma'a and East taught him a lesson via video last Wednesday. He has committed to be baptised and the APs have referred him to the local missionaries in Mexico to continue his gospel lessons.

Even though there wasn't much mission news, Elder East did send us a bunch of photos. 

Given the missionaries, in the above photos photo, we're assuming that this was part of the "Leavers" meeting for those missionaries who were completing their missions last transfer.

We're presuming that this is Elder East's collection of dirt from various towns he's worked in during his mission.

Later in the day Elder East also went suit shopping as he needed a new suit. He contacted us for some feedback on the suits he was trying on. 

Video Chat - 30th March 2022 - Mini-training of Elders Tu'itavake and Rogers

P-Day had been moved to a Wednesday (30th Mar) this week, so it was a Wednesday afternoon video chat for us. It had been a busy week+ for the APs. The previous Tuesday had been Transfers, with all of the usual work involved with ensuring the missionaries ended up at their new assignments. 

On Wednesday (23rd Mar) morning they picked up a new missionary from the airport, Elder Tu'itavake. Unfortunately, his trainer had to get tested for Covid and had to go into isolation. They had to pick up another new Sister from the airport on Wednesday evening. 

Elder Tu'itavake stayed with the APs until Friday when Orientation was held for the three new missionaries arriving this transfer. Elder East said that they took Elder Tu'itavake out tracting on Thursday as well as following up on previous lessons. He said that they had a good time with him during their "Mini-training" session.

On Friday morning they picked up the third new missionary from the airport - Elder Rogers. The rest of Friday was taken up with the orientation of the three new missionaries. 

Elder Rogers would also be staying with the APs over the weekend. The significant thing about Elder Rogers is that he was flying in from the USA. He's actually an Aussie, but living in the USA. Still, he was the first missionary to come out to the AAM from America since the Covid border restrictions had been relaxed.

Elder East commented that the missionaries with international assignments were now getting ready to travel. The AAM has missionaries preparing to reassign to missions in Japan, Italy, and Chile. They're also expecting those originally called to New Zealand missions to be leaving in May, as well as start receiving missionaries from New Zealand.

They had several missionaries recently leave for their assignments in the Perth mission. Don & Tamara, friends of the family are currently serving as a missionary couple in the Australia Perth Mission were quizzing the new arrivals from the AAM to find out if they knew Elder east. The answers of course were "yea". (Technically they actually asked if the missionaries knew Elder Yates, before realizing their mistake and correcting it to Elder East.)

On Monday (28th Mar)  they had a District Council, as well as providing service. I had a note that they provided service at a hospital, and then another note that President Johansson joined them as they did 2½ hours of service working on ladders, but I hadn't noted if they were part of the same service activity. Either way, President Johansson bought them dinner afterward and they all sat in the car eating dinner at an ocean lookout.

On Tuesday (29th Mar) the Elders had three teaching appointments with members, although one ended up canceling. 

The next two days (Thurs 31st Mar and Fri 1st Apr) were going to be Zone Conferences. The APs had been asked by President Johansson to change the way they train during these Conferences. President wants the APs to focus on doing this training by the Spirit, running it more as a workshop rather than "teaching a sermon". Elder East is a bit nervous about how well he'll do.

Video Chat - 21st March 2022 - The Borders Start Opening Up

Another P Day chat with Elder East. Transfers was coming up the next day (22nd Mar) and the big news was that the borders are starting to open up. The AAM would be losing three missionaries as they proceed to their original assignments in Perth.  

There would also be three missionaries going home this transfer including his former companion Elder Nalesoni and Sister Ip. 

There were several new missionaries coming into the mission. One would be arriving on Thursday (24th Mar) and staying overnight with the APs until Friday when his trainer would be arriving. Then on Friday another missionary would be arriving. This one was coming from America although he holds an Aussie passport. He was going to be staying with the APs until Monday (28th Mar). Elder East joked that he should probably count both of the misisoanries who'd be staying with them as additional companions and trainees of his. 

A quick photo of Elders East & Ma'a eating out last week.

A few updates on events during the week:

• They went street contacting in the CBD during trade-offs with members from the City Branch on Thursday.
• On Thursday evening they had dinner and did a lesson with Sister Johansson and the Johnasson family.
• On Saturday they had an appointment with an investigator fall through. It was the same person that Elder Lekias had accompanied them to fellowship with the previous week.
• We commented about how two girls Elder East knew had both just been set apart for their missions - Utopia Kikkert and Emma Davison.
• The APs attended Firle Stake Conference over the weekend. (19th & 20th Mar.) We had Stake Conference in Canberra as well, with Elder Lekias in attendance. We were planning to catch up with him to chat about Elder East, however, we ended up being in quarantine with Covid, so didn't get the chance. We did learn whilst watching the Stake Conference broadcast that Elder Leakias and President Johansson had been mission companions serving in Christchurch together.

Elder East shared with us several photos during our chat.

Elders East and Ma'a joined Sister Bridge and her trainee, Sister Denton, to help provide some service on Saturday morning. They joined in with some members from Onkaparinga Ward that Elder East knew in helping somebody to move house. The other three missionaries apart from Sister Denton are all in the last few months of their mission and Elder East said they were joking with Sister Denton about the fact they were all going home whilst she's only starting her mission.  

There were also several photos from a District Meeting during the week. A member who runs a donut shop had provided donuts for the missionaries.

The final photo he sent us was of a waterfall and lake. The APs were doing some location scouting for a video to be made around the "Waters of Mormon" and this looks like a candidate to be used. 

Video Chat - 14th March 2022 - They Didn't Lose A Mission Car

It was only 4 days from our last chat with Elder East on the previous Thursday, so there wasn't a lot of news to share. He did share with us that Elder Ma'a's original mission call was to the Ivory Coast in Africa.

Also, earlier in the day the Zone had a farewell party for Sister Ip who was finishing her mission the following week. The APs helped with the decorations which had a "yellow" theme. 

The APs went to Firle Ward on Sunday after which they had a Mission Correlation Meeting. Elder East sent us a photo with the Travers family in Firle Ward, who are related to the Travers that we know.

Elder East also sent us a picture of Elder Rea and himself on trade-offs.

Later on Sunday the APs had a 5-hour meeting with President Johansson to go through transfers for the following week. Even though transfers are meant to be every six weeks, the pandemic is still resulting in missionaries arriving "mid-transfer" so they're really happening almost every three weeks.

Elder East noted that he only has two "full" transfers left.

Commenting on the recent conferences during Elder Nattress's visit, he said that they felt bigger than normal. The mission is growing. He doesn't really know the missionaries well outside of his zone, but he knows of everybody - that's part of the role of being AP.

Elder East also told us a funny story about the mission tour. With all of the missionaries from country areas and the NT down in Adelaide, the mission office provided some additional cars for missionaries to get around. After the tour finished and missionaries went back to their area, the office Elders advised that they were a car short. They'd given out 3 but only had 2 come back. The APs were sure that they'd gotten back the cars they'd given out. Elder East went and did a check where they stored the cars that aren't in use, and sure enough, the missing car was parked there and wasn't missing. This story was especially funny given both of Elder East's sisters have accidentally lost vehicles in the past that turned out not to be lost

Video Chat - 10th March 2022 - Elder Ma'a Is The New AP and Elder Nattress' GA Tour

 P-Day this week had been moved from Monday 7th March to Thursday 10th March due to the mission tour. Despite the extended time period, it was a relatively short chat about what had happened mission wise over the previous 10 days. 

Transfers resulted in Elder Evans being transferred up to Darwin as Zone Leader for the Newly created Alma Zone in the Northern Territory. Elder East's new companion is Elder Ma'a who was part of the group that arrived and quarantined together with Elder East back in 2020. Elder Ma'a is from Sydney. Elder East says that Elder Ma'a has had a steep learning curve with all of the AP work over the last week.

First up, the transfers on Tuesday 1st March were impacted by the Alice Springs missionaries missing their flight down to Adelaide. The next flight down they could go on was Friday 4th March. This had a flow-on effect throughout many of the other missionary companionships that were changing during transfers and caused a lot of extra work. Elder East said that the last of the "ripples" were resolved the day that we were chatting - Thursday 10th March. 

Friday 4h March featured a whole mission Leadership Council with President Johansson, with another Misisoanry Leadership Council run by Elder Brett Nattress, the General Authority from the First Quorum of the Seventy (and 1st Counselor in the Pacific Area Presidency) who was doing a mission tour. Elder East said that they spent a lot of Sunday night doing reports for Elder Nattress. The APs were also involved in leading sessions at both MLCs, covering the topics of accountability and goal setting.

Elder K. Brett Nattress

On Tuesday 8th March there was a Zone Conference and mini-MLC held. There was meant to be another MLC on Wednesday but Elder Nattress' flights were changed by the airline at the last minute.

On Wednesday 9th March Elders East and Ma'a had a lesson with a person who was referred from the Sisters in the City Branch. It turned out that it had been arranged for Elder Paul Lekias, an Area Authority that knows us and Elder East, to came along as a friendshipper to the lesson. Elder East said that it was great having Elder Lekias there and that there were times they let him lead the discussion. He was very positive and very bold.

Elder East shared with us a mission video that he was a part of that would be posted on social media later in the day. Besides introducing the video, he also speaks some lines of Samoan in the video as well. We know he'd been trying to learn some Samoan earlier in his mission, Apparently Sister Johansson helped him get his pronunciation correct and the Samoans we know reckon he did a pretty good job.

https://fb.watch/bOJZEnVRkv/

Video Chat - 28th February 2022 - Visiting Robinvale Branch

It was only a brief chat with Elder East on P Day (28th Feb).  The previous Monday they had flown back from the Northern Territory.  The following week was spent sorting out transfers and the upcoming Mission Conference. 

Elder East advised that they are changing the way they do transfers. They will no longer be announcing all of the changes beforehand, simply advising missionaries whether to get ready to be transferred or not. We asked Elder East if he was being affected by transfers but he wouldn't let us know.

He let us know that during the week he refilmed a video with Elder McCarthy about the Spirit World. Apparently there were issues with the quality of the first take. The video now has to be edited and gotten ready to put up on social media.

On Saturday morning they provided some service to a member in Firle Ward who is getting ready to move by shifting a load of bricks in their yard.

Later on Saturday they drove up to Mildura. They would be spending the rest of the weekend there to help assist with a devotional being put on by President Johansson on the Sunday evening. 

On Sunday they went to Church in Robinvale - a town about 90km east of  Mildura. Elder East said that it's meant to be an English-speaking branch, but most of the meeting was in Tongan. The one-hour Sacrament meeting also went for nearly two hours.

They had dinner with the Mildura Bishop before the devotional on Sunday evening and drove back to Adelaide on the P Day we chatted. Elder East ends up doing a lot of traveling on P Days. 

Some other quick dot points from our conversation:

• Five new missionaries are coming into the AAm during the next mid-transfer cycle. Four of them are reassignments of missionaries meant to be heading to New Zealand. There's a family friend in Sydney who's meant to be heading to New Zealand in April, however, she's currently scheduled to go to the AAM if unable to go to New Zealand. She probably doesn't know that yet though.
• There are three Missionary Leadership Councils coming up followed by a Mission Tour by Elder Nattress from the Area Presidency the following week. Consequently, P Day on the 7th March has been rescheduled to Thurs 10th March. 
• Elder East had forgotten to tell uis that he'd been able to attend the Adelaide Temple the previous week. The Mission Leadership Council had been invited to go along with the Johanssons to the temple.
• Elder East is currently thinking that he'll focus on doing a general science degree at ANU when he returns from his mission.