Ceff Mission Blog

 Monday 23rd May 2022 This was our first "fun day" with Miriam and Taylor here. The wind was forecast to blow up at Port Douglas and we wanted to go and visit our friend June and go out to lunch with her, and then go kiting, and that is exactly what we did! Lovely lunch at a hotel, eating semi outdoors - I had a beautiful chicken and prawn salad. I think it was the Courthouse Hotel - highly recommended if you are looking for a nice meal there. If  you really want a job these days, you can get one. Just don't be too fussy and be willing to take risks. But, nearly forgetting this as I write up this on Saturday, we visited Hartley's Crocodile Farm. Well worth the visit, very educational and a bit exciting too, watching the croc keepers in the compound with them, tempting them with bits of chicken. Taylor kiting at Port Douglas Taylor and I kited down the southern end of Four Mile Beach, which is where June lives, so she was able to come to the beach with us for a little ...

 Well, it was a bit of a mixed bag this week! Late Monday afternoon I got a phone call from President Ence asking me to conduct a Far North Zone Council Meeting on Zoom. This is normally something that the young missionaries do, and we attend as guests. We are sort of outside their organizational structure, but there have been some moves lately and they don't have a Zone Leader up here, so President Ence asked me to fill in to conduct the meeting. I quite enjoyed it and it was good to get everybody together, even it is was via Zoom, which is how it is usually done anyway. We are spread from Rockhampton and Bowen in the south to Townsville and then Cairns in the North and Mt Isa out in the west of the state. We were able to view a streamed event from the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne on Tuesday morning - Miriam's graduation ceremony. Miriam did a 4 year degree in Occupational Therapy and she finished her studies last year and has been working since the start of thi...

OK, there's me admiring Elder Fata's hair and  trying to be as tall as Margot  OK Monday 9th May 2022 This was a fun, but also a sad day. One of our young missionaries, Elder Lester Fata, was transferred down to Brisbane to begin a new assignment as a District Leader. His new companion is Elder Harry Roberts from Geelong Ward. They should be a dynamic duo!  We had to get Elder Fata to the airport by 1.00pm for his 2.00pm flight down to Brisbane. Elder Dollery and I waited with him at the airport until he boarded his flight. It was sad to see him go, but he is moving on to bigger and better things. Then Elder Dollery had to spend the rest of the day with Margot and I while we waited for his new companion to arrive on the 8.20pm flight from Brisbane. I'd told Elder Dollery that I would be happy to go any teaching appointments through the afternoon with him, to help use up the available time. He made an appointment to go and teach a family, what we call a part-member family,...

A tropical flower - unknown to me. Can any of my Cairns friends tell me what it is?   Monday 2 May 2022 We didn't realise that today was Labour Day holiday here in Queensland. We were able to have a  fantastic Missionary Correlation Meting this morning with Cairns 1st Branch Mission Leader, Bro James Gardner (who is also 1st Counsellor in the Elders Quorum Presidency) and his wife Yvonne, who is the 2nd Counsellor in the Relief Society Presidency and responsible for missionary work in the Relief Society. I don't think I have mentioned before what a wonderfully dedicated Church family they are. They have 5 of their own kids plus 5 extra that are either fostered or adopted. James and Yvonne both served as missionaries in Japan in their young days and I'm pretty sure both later attended Brigham Young University - Hawaii, and graduated from there. He has been both a Branch President and District President in Cairns and Yvonne has served in many key callings. Having good mission...

 Monday 25th April 2022 Visited Serena Lawrence and family who have recently moved in to Cairns from New Zealand today. Our arrival was perfectly timed - she was on the phone to a Telstra tech trying to sort out her internet connection in her new house. I listened in on the conversation for a while and realised that I might be able to help, so I asked her if she would mind me helping. I managed to get everything working well within a relatively short period of time. Fortunately the Telstra tech was very good. Sister Lawrence, and I think especially her kids, were very thankful to have the internet connected again. There were some major problems that I wasn't able to help with unfortunately, like a car alarm that wouldn't stop going off and a garage door that was stuck halfway, but I've at least been able to get in touch with the Elders Quorum Presidency and hopefully there is someone there who can help her out. Update: Brother Gardner and some of his sons went to visit Sist...