Ceff Mission Blog

All North Zone seniors with the Wakolos  and the Vongawads at the Waterfront Restaurant Townsville, Monday 21st November   Monday 21 November 2022 Quick visit with my friend John this morning for scripture reading and prayer. Then by 11.00am we were ready to do the big drive down to Townsville for Zone Conference with Elder Wakolo of the Area Presidency, as well as the Vongsawads of course. It's a four-hour drive but it took us longer with a few "pitstops" along the way. We arrived in Townsville at the Hargraves (senior couple) home at Mt Louisa at about 5.30pm, so with time enough for us to get ready to meet all the other senior couples with the Vongsawads and the Wakolos. We met at the Watermark restaurant at about 6.45pm, picking up the Myers from their hotel along the way. It was good to catch up with the Myers as we had not seen them in person since we stayed the night with them on the big drive up to Cairns. We also got to meet the Speights and the Stokes for the fi...

This happened on Saturday - see below Monday 14th November 2022 We spent part of today with two of the best "ministering sisters" in Cairns. Tara, who came to Innisfail with us yesterday and took us to visit 2 families who don't come to Church at the moment, and Yoriko, who we have been visiting with to quite a few families and individuals over the past several weeks. Tara invited us over for lunch, as we were dropping off a loaf of bread and some watermelon that some members in Innisfail had given her, but she had accidentally left in our car when we dropped her home. She's such a generous person, with her time and material means, constantly giving to others. Yoriko is the same. Today we dropped in, with Yoriko, to see old Sister Stafford in the Aged Care home that she and her husband are in. Yoriko had a DVD player to give to Sister Stafford, who asked us several weeks back if there was a way she could listen to the Book of Mormon. She is blind, and so is unable to ...

Our collection from a short walk this morning. It's mango season, and while they sell for $4.00 each in the shops (even up here), you can pick them up for free, under a tree, all over Cairns. (Lemons too!) Brief report this week. I'm going to try writing on a daily basis, but still only posting once a week. I think I can write something more meaningful if I write daily, plus I don't have to rely so much on my memory, which is very unreliable. What I currently do is write my whole report on a Sunday afternoon, so I am basically reconstructing my week. Will be better to write everyday and include more thoughts and feelings I think. Monday 7 November 2022 We had a lovely dinner tonight with Murray and Julie Gosney, a family we met when we first arrived in Cairns. Their son Tristan recently married Kayla Bradbury, whose father Graham, a good friend of mine, joined the Church in Geelong many years ago. They were curious to know about that connection. It's interesting how liv...

Elders Ricks and Pemberton looking serious and relaxed! Monday 31st November Visited our good friend David in Atherton today. Gave him a little hand around the house (Leila is away at the moment) and had a good chat with him too. Tuesday 1st November 2022 Well, we had a full day, whole mission Zoom, conference today, with a couple of special guests from SLC. I can't say who they were, so this is really just a note to my future self, to remind me that we had a very special day. Let's just say it was a Q and A format (which very few people would ever get to benefit from) with a couple of very senior Church leaders. Wednesday 2nd November 2022 Our friend Yoriko is a great example of how a member of the Church can use missionaries to help further the Lord's work. Again today, we went with her to visit two elderly sisters in aged care facilities. The first sister was Daphne Elliot. By the level of excitement she displayed when she realized that we were from the Church, it may ha...

 I thought it would be good to keep a record here of which Elders served here with us, in order from when we arrived here until when we leave. I might get around to putting dates on these. Lester Fata/Braydon Dollery - City Waters, both Cairns Branches Braydon Dollery/Jacob Pemberton -  both Cairns Branches Jacob Pemberton/Nico Tuave - City Waters, Cairns 2nd Branch Braydon Dollery/Carson Pollock - Quetta Close, Cairns 1st Branch Misinale Misa DL/Jordan Black - Quetta Close, Cairns 1st Branch Jacob Pemberton/William Ricks - City Waters, Cairns 2nd Branch Carson Pollock/David Taufelele - Tower St, Atherton David Taufelele/Jayden Chadburn - Tower St, Atherton Jordan Black/Jayden Chadburn - Tower St, Atherton William Ricks/Cole Spackman - City Waters, Cairns 2nd Branch John Hamilton DL/ Elder Schick - Quetta Close, Cairns 1st Branch John Hamilton DL/Elder Wintz - Quetta Close, Cairns 1st Branch Cole Spackman/Elder Key - City Waters, Cairns 2nd Branch Elder Schick/Elder Bergeson -...

Halloween in the carpark I didn't mention in my previous report that on last Thursday I received a friend request on Facebook from a young lady who I was a carer for back when I worked for MacKillop Family Services. This was a real thrill and I must admit that I shed a tear or two. She is now a young married mother of 4 kids and about 26 years old. She is reaching out to her old carers to say thank you, as she feels that we all "helped her become the woman that she now is". She was a young teenager when I looked after her and I guess she was "in the system" as she had suffered neglect and possibly abuse (same thing really). It's probably over ten years since I last saw her, so, as I said, it was a real thrill, and a big surprise to hear from her. Monday 24th October 2022 We had a very brief visit with Yoriko to see Ayako in the hospital today. Ayako's husband and her daughter arrived at about the same time, so we went into Cairns Central to kill some tim...