Mission Report No 26

Our good friend from Geelong, came to stay in Cairns this last week, arriving on Wednesday. It's been fantastic having her here and we've taken her to a couple of places and manged to both spend time with her and still get our work done.

Her (let's call her Sue) husband of 57 years, died around 18 months ago I think, after a very long illness. He had pancreatic cancer, a form of cancer that you just don't want to get. He had major surgery, called the Whipple Procedure, a few years back, which probably extended his life by at least a couple of years, but it was a couple of hard years. Having observed what he went through after the surgery, I don't know if I would be willing to do the same thing if I was in the same situation. Sue, being a retired nurse, did most of the caring for her husband, except when he was in the last and very difficult stages, when he spent some time in hospital and in a nursing home.

After his death, we would visit Sue regularly and assist her as much as we could, as she was very lonely. Can you imagine what it would be like, after being married for 57 years, and having eight children, to suddenly be by yourself? It's very difficult to have true empathy for someone in that situation. Perhaps it's impossible, unless you have been in that situation yourself. 

Perhaps this quote from the late Elder Neal A Maxwell helps us understand why we as Christians look to Christ for comfort in times such as this. "President Brigham Young spoke of what evoked the "why" from Jesus, saying that during the axis of agony which was Gethsemane and Calvary, the Father at some point withdrew both His presence and His Spirit from Jesus (see Journal of Discourses 3:205-6). Thereby Jesus' personal triumph was complete and His empathy perfected. Having "descended below all things," He comprehends, perfectly and personally, the full range of human suffering! (D&C 88:6; see D&C 122:8). A spiritual sung in yesteryear has an especially moving and insightful line: "Nobody knows the troubles I've seen, nobody knows but Jesus" (see also Alma 7:11-12). Truly, Jesus was exquisitely "acquainted with grief," as no one else" (Isa. 53:3). [Neal A. Maxwell, "Apply the Atoning Blood of Christ," Ensign, Nov. 1997, p. 23]

Monday 26th September 2022

Perhaps other old men like me, who like to surf or kitesurf, or play golf or go fishing or whatever, get inspired by reading my mission report and realize that serving as a missionary as an old man still allows you to stay fit and active? Yes, I went kite foiling again late this afternoon, after getting a good deal of our "missionary stuff" done. My occupational therapist daughter, Miriam, well understands the benefit of staying physically active to stay mentally (and, as an extension, spiritually) active through one's senior years. At the moment, while I am still in my early stages of kite foiling, it is still quite demanding physically, but as my skill level improves the physical demand will get less, so as I age, kite foiling will become an activity that I can continue to do, hopefully in to my 70's.

Tuesday 27th September 2022

District council meeting this morning at the Church meeting house. I taught the first of the Financial Self Reliance lessons for the young Elders. I had to compress what would normally be a two hour lesson in to half an hour, but I think I did it reasonably successfully.

This evening we visited Sister Jones, who had two young grand-daughters staying with her, and enjoyed reading a story book to them, an Australian produced book based on the story of Jonah, from the Old Testament.

Wednesday 28th September 2022

Margot had to go to the dentist this morning. Five hundred and fifty dollars later, a tooth was filled. That was painful! Seems sort of expensive, but unfortunately necessary. Stephanie arrived this afternoon.

Thursday 29th September 2022

"Sue" had always wanted to witness me kitesurfing, so this afternoon we went out to Yorkey's Knob. It was unusually windy today, and I could have used a smaller kite. My son-in-law, Taylor, is sending up an old 6m kite from home for me. It's seems that as the wind starts to turn more to the east, and becomes a little less regular, it perhaps gets a little stronger.

Friday 30th September 2022

I don't usually go kiting two days in a row, but I went late this afternoon, after Margot and I had done all the shopping for all the food that we need to prepare over the next couple of days. 

Elder Pemberton with his
"birthday brownie" made by Elder Black.
Margot made him a big birthday cake too.

We had all the Elders come for lunch today too, as it was Elder Pemberton's birthday. Margot is very good at cooking for larger groups of people! There were nine of us in total for lunch today.

Saturday 1st October 2022

We took "Sue" up to Hartley's Crocodile Park today and then on the way home, we did a tour of Cairn's Northern beaches. It was my third time at Hartley's. If you come to Cairns, it's on the "must see" list of places to go. It was another great day!

Sunday 2nd October 2022

We drove up to Atherton for Church meetings again today. Last week in Atherton, I invited our new member, Shawn, to say the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting this morning. After a lot of encouragement on my part, and some hesitation on his part he happily accepted the invitation, so we were keen to be there for Shawn this morning and he did very well.

It certainly took me back to my early days in the Church, when my good friend Daryl Crouch, asked me to say the opening prayer in a Sacrament meeting in Geelong Ward. I knew exactly what Shawn was going through. I was equally terrified, but accepted the challenge nonetheless and moved on from there to accept lots of invitations to pray, speak, teach, and organize in various roles in the Church over the years.