Mission Report No 3

Stand Up Paddling at Palm Cove
 

Monday 4th April - Took off early to Palm Cove for a SUP session. Nice to get on water and get some paddling in. No waves of course here, so I just paddled a few k's up and down the beach, keeping a sharp eye out for crocs. Couldn't find one. I hope to make this my regular early Monday morning exercise, just to keep my paddling muscles working. Palm Cove is a beautiful spot - very tourist oriented but not very busy this time of year. I suspect in the middle of the dry season it may be very busy with people coming up from down south.

Tuesday 5th April

Early walk together.

We were asked by the 2nd Branch Mission Leader, Br Gardner if we could go and give a blessing to an older single sister who was suffering some severe back pain. We met the young Elders there. If I am administering a priesthood blessing to someone outside of my own immediate family, I like to have another elder come to assist. Margot and I stayed for a lengthy chat with Sister Skews after the young Elders left. She really appreciated the visit. Living on her own, she gets tired of her own company, she said. 

Wednesday 6th April

Early swim at Tobruk. Afternoon visit to the Davies family, a lovely older couple, with many years’ experience in mission districts in NSW and Queensland.

Nightime visit from the young Elders Dollery and Fata to pick up some bread that I baked this morning.

Thursday 7th April

Margot and I went for our early morning walk together at about 7.00am. We usually try to go earlier, but it was a little cooler this morning, so it was still not too hot, not that we didn't work up a sweat of course! We have a few different routes that we take. There are some very steep hills for us to climb in this area, so we will normally tackle a hill. We often walk up Junction Street, past the tennis courts, on the way to a steep hill.

This morning a young lady stopped us for a chat. We say hello to everyone of course. Most people return the greeting, some are engrossed in what they're listening to through their ear pieces. Margot and I usually listen to a podcast or a General Conference talk via the loudspeaker on the phone, so that we are not cut-off from the outside world.

The first thing this young lady asked as was "Are you Mormons?" The simple answer was yes, and this initiated a longer conversation. She introduced herself as Marcella, and told us that she is from Colombia, that she lives very nearby with her husband and young baby and that all her family back in Colombia are members of the Church. (When I say, "the Church", I mean The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If I say, "a church", I mean any other Christian church.) Marcella said that she is not a member of the Church, and that she has other beliefs. We asked if we could come and visit her, and we made a time to see her Friday week. It pays to be out in the community and wearing our name-tags at all times, even though we dress appropriately for the activity.

We "found" this tree this morning - it's huge!

Friday 8th April

 Yesterday we were given a bike! A lovely young sister in one of the branches of the Church here responded to my request for any old bike, so I now have a pink lady’s bike to ride to the pool for my early morning swims. It just needed a bit of oil on the chain and the tyres needed some air in them and it was good to go! 

 And this evening we went to meet a relatively new member of the Church, who has not attended Church for a while. I won't mention his name, but will say that he is having some difficulties, suffering from depression and the effects of a stroke at a relatively young age. We had a nice visit with him, letting him tell us his story and just trying to encourage him a little. He's started taking some medication to help with the depression and hopefully this well start to help him soon. He knows that in the past he has always felt better when he has been exercising, so we tried to encourage him to get back into that habit. We are really looking forward to getting to know him and seeing if we can help him in his life.

 Saturday 9th April

 General Conference videos are on this weekend. We attended all three sessions today. We met some new people, one that I will mention now is Sister Bell.

 We had a chat with her for a few minutes and we asked her where she works. She works in admin at the Cairns hospital. Do you remember in my report where I talked about Paul, who we met at the fruit shop? She sits almost beside him at work! What's the chances of that eh? Maybe we won't get to teach him in this life - maybe all we can do is prepare him to hear the Gospel in the next life. This at least gives Sister Bell the opportunity to raise the Gospel as a subject when she next sees him.