Mission Report No 28
 |
| President Jared Arvidson with his wife, Rachael, and youngest daughter. He looks even more handsome without the dreadies now that he is Branch President! |
A trip to Atherton today to see the Cashmores. We had a good talk with them about the Gospel and the need for the Restoration. Neither of them is really overly interested, which is partly due to age and partly due to misinformation that David has read over the years. But they are very good people, and we love talking with them and perhaps we can help them prepare for the spirit world?
Tuesday 11th October 2022
One of our favourite older sisters in 2nd Branch is Sister Skewes and she's just had a knee reconstruction. We were able to help her out today by taking her to her physio appointment. She's doing well and making progress in her recovery and she was very grateful that we were able to help her out.
Wednesday 12th October 2022
We have become very close to a wonderful Japanese sister in 2nd Branch by the name of Yoriko. I can't remember her surname right now. She was recently called to the Primary Presidency, and this has given here a new wave of enthusiasm for sharing the Gospel. She is a nurse at the local hospital, and she has made friends with a Japanese lady there, Ayako, who wanted to receive a priesthood blessing, to help her with her illness. It's quite serious and she did spend some time in ICU.
We met for lunch at Corea Corea, which is a (surprise, surprise) a Korean Restaurant in the Orchid Plaza. It was just a week after my birthday and a week before Margot's birthday on the 18th, so Yoriko very generously bought us lunch. We then drove to the hospital to visit Ayako. We sat in a corner with her in a visitor's area, and we talked about the very basics of the Gospel, to help her understand why Jesus Christ is so important and why he gave us priesthood authority and I then blessed her to be made well as she exercises faith and follows the medical advice and diet she has been given. She said that she felt warmth and happiness flow into her. It was a good experience for all of us.
We asked if it we would be OK for us to come and visit her again and she was happy for us to do that.
After leaving the hospital, we drove with Yoriko towards Yarrabah, an indigenous community about an hour from Cairns. There are a number of Church members there and there was a child on the records who was having an 8th birthday today, and Yoriko had a present to take to her. We looked up the address on Google Maps and the street does not exist in Yarrabah. We started driving out that way anyway, thinking that we might find someone out there to just ask where the family lives. As we were driving out there along Pine Creek Rd (the address we were looking for in Yarrabah was See Lee Creek Rd), we notice some number in the range of numbers that we were going to be looking for on See Lee Creek Rd. We then looked at the name on the records and realised that it sounded more like a Samoan name than an indigenous name. Yoriko spotted a lady in the front yard of her farm, so we drove in to ask her if she knew the family. She said that there used to be a Samoan family down the road a bit in a blue house. There were a few blue houses, and the first one we found was little more than an uninhabited shack. But we went further up the driveway past that shack and a man in a ute followed us up that track and got out to ask us if we needed help. He was very friendly and told us of another blue house up the road a bit more. We went to what we thought was the house that he meant and it was the same number as the house on See Lee Creek Rd, Yarrabah, that we were trying to find, except we were on Pine Creek Rd, East Trinity, about a 20 minute drive from Yarrabah.
There was a sign saying No Unauthorised Access on the front gate. (I decided I was going to say that my wife authorised me to enter) There were cars everywhere, to the left and the right, as we drove on to the property. A possibly inhabited caravan was near the front gate. Dogs on chains, dogs running up to the car. For all the world, it could well have been a bikies den or a meth factory! One of the dogs, off his chain, came to the drivers door wagging his tail. A Staffy, which look mean, but really just want to make friends with everyone, so I decided to get out. I beeped the car horn a couple of times, called out "is anyone home" a couple of times, and there was no response. Yoriko got out and headed to the front door while I patted the Staffy. A big Samoan looking guy came out - that was a relief! Friendly as anything - we were at the right house and it saved us a 20 minute drive over the hill to Yarrabah and a 20 minute drive back!
Thursday 13th October
A quiet day but a busy night. Bro and Sister Hunt from the Temple Presidency arrived in Cairns for the coming weekends District Conference and to interview some people, so we unlocked the Church meetinghouse for them to do that. Margot cooked a meal to take to a family "in need". And then we got to meet the Tokorahi family, who we had been hoping to meet for ages but never managed to catch them home. We made a time to come back and visit the Tokorahi family the next day.
Friday 14th October
President and Sister Vongsawad, our Mission leaders, arrived in Cairns today. They are staying at our place for a couple of days for District Conference, so we had a really enjoyable time having them stay with us.
Coinciding with District Conference was mission transfers. Every 6 weeks a new batch of young Elders and Sisters arrive from one of the Mission Training Centres (MTCs) around the world, and roughly at the same time there are a group of young ones going home, so those who are staying need to be moved around to cope with the new ones going and the old ones going home. It can be a chaotic time. It was meant to be all sorted by today, but visa and other problems meant that the MTC could not send some of the new ones here, so the number coming in was fluctuating over a couple of day.
On top of the problems with the transfers, one of the branch presidents here in Cairns had a change of employment which means he is moving up into the Gulf country. And the Elders Quorum President recently made a similar move, so there were changes everywhere.
Saturday 15th October
Leadership session of District Conference (equivalent to a Stake Conference) started at 3.00pm and then we had the Adult Session at 6.00pm. I was really happy to have my friend John (with the boats) attend tonight. It was his first time at any Church meeting for a few months.
Sunday 16th October
We had a special meeting for older youth and Young Singles with President Vongsawad this morning at 9.00am. His main thrust was based on President Nelsons recent comments about serving a mission being a Priesthood responsibility for the young men to prepare to serve a mission and that they don't need to pray about whether they should be going or not. On the other hand, the young women should be serious and make a prayerful decision about whether they should go on a mission or not, as they don't have a direct responsibility to serve a mission - they have a choice. The boys made their choice when they accepted the Aaronic Priesthood (my words in that last sentence)
In the afternoon, we made another visit to Yoriko's friend in hospital. She was very happy to see us. Lots of bowing happening, the Japanese way of showing gratitude. She said that she felt much better since she received the blessing. She again said she felt warmth and happiness and is more determined to get better.
Among the changes in Cairns on Sunday was the calling of a new President for 2nd Branch, as the former president, David Uelese, has a job for 3 years on Mornington Island up on the Gulf. Jared Arvidson is the new branch president, and he is living proof that even having a wild and crazy hair style won't stop you being called as a branch president here in Cairns.
Comments
Post a Comment