Mission Report No 8

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, and so he and I went together. It sort of felt like I was a young missionary again, except for the fact that I am now officially (according to the Beatles) an old man. Look up the song, "When I'm 64" if you don't know what I mean. But, it was a good experience, teaching some of the kids in this indigenous family. Interestingly, some of the kids are already Church members but neither parent is. Hopefully that will change in the future.

Elder Dollery had dinner with Margot and I while we waited for Elder Pembertons 8.20pm flight to arrive. I thought I would Google it to see what the actual ETA was. Mmmmm....9.20pm. The plane he was flying on was one hour late arriving in to Brisbane, hence the flight was one hour late in leaving.

And to top it off, departing a flight and waiting for your luggage at Cairns airport is currently very, very slow. Be warned if you are coming to Cairns, or worse still, waiting for someone to arrive!

Tuesday 10th May 2022

Started the day at 7.30am with an incredible Polynesian breakfast with the Kimiia family. Sr Kimiia is an 80 year old and I'm not sure what time she got up to cook brekky for us, but just to give you an idea - scrambled eggs, chicken sausages with tomato and onion, Samoan chop suey, pasta salad, rice, all cooked fresh that morning. There was probably some other dishes that slip my memory now as I write this on Sunday. (Sr Kimiia also taught the Sunday School lesson for adults today too!)

At 2.00pm today we were able to "attend" via a livestream, the funeral of a wonderful friend, the legendary Jack Fimmel, of Geelong. Jack was a fantastic support to me when I joined the Church in Geelong in 1981, and later as a returned missionary when I worked with him for a year or so, and later as I went through a marriage breakdown. He is also the father of two of my best friends.  Long live my friend Jack!

To top the day off, Margot and I taught (with the assistance of Jordan Luki) the first lesson in the Temple Preparation class to a couple of young adults preparing to go on missions - Chris Walker and Tammuz Fa'aoso. Very enjoyable teaching these two quality young men!

Chris and Tammuz - two star students!

Wednesday 11th May

Seniors Zone Council this morning,(via Zoom from Brisbane) , probably our last one with the President and Sister Ence, before they go home. It was all a bit emotional really - we will miss them!

Sister Stows, a single sister in Cairns 1st Branch came to dinner at our place tonight, she is enrolled in the Indigenous Studies Program at James Cook University here in Cairns. It was fascinating listening to what she is learning.

Thursday 12 May

Since Zone Council yesterday, we have been putting in a lot of effort to finding a new flat for an extra pair of young missionaries to come up to Cairns. We've been visiting agents, going to inspections, putting in applications and then I had a thought to ask the agents that handle the unit that Margot and I are in. It turned out that they have a unit which they have sold that will be available in a couple of weeks. As soon as I get the application form filled in, the property manager said she would recommend us to the landlord. Success!

Friday 13th May

Br and Sr Davies, who I have mentioned before, came to our place for lunch. A very enjoyable time!

Games night in the recreation hall at the Church meeting-house - a fun evening organized by Thomas Gosney. Afterwards, the young Elders (Dollery and PErmberton), come to our place for soup and dessert (Margot's famous lemon meringue pie) and then we had a game of Upwords.

Saturday 14th May

A visit to the Port Douglas area, to visit our friend June  who we visited up there several weeks ago. She was really pleased to see us as she need to organise getting to hospital next week, so we are going to help her with that. We also visited Brady Johnson in Mossman and he took us to Newell Beach and we sat in the shade there and had a good discussion with him. He's not able to get to Church down here in Cairns very often, so it was good to take the Church to him, in a way.

Sunday 15th May

Attended both branches of the Church here in Cairns. Margot and I had the pleasure of teaching two wonderful young ladies, the Mitchell sisters, in the Temple preparation class. Forgot to get a photo!

Young Elders came to our place for dinner.