Mission Report No 37

L to R: Alberto, Elders Hamilton and Schick, Amoi

Well, I have slipped back into my old habits this week and I write this report on the Saturday night, and the week is all but over. Let's see how much I can remember (with the help of our calendar and Fit Bit and Google calendar, I may be able to reconstruct the week to some extent.

Monday 12th December 2022

We don't have a P-day (preparation day) like the young missionaries do, but their P-day is Monday and they often come here to wash their cars, and Elders Ricks and Spackman did arrive here this morning to wash their car. Margot and I were home for most of the day, catching up on things around the house.

My friend Brett had today off work, so I rode the bike down to the Esplanade and met him down there, where we had a stroll and a chat, and then I rode home.

We had a young fellow (about my age) named Peter Roberts come up from Innisfail, so we could help him with his family history today, particularly using Family Search. Peter, like me, is descended from a Scottish family, and some of his ancestors joined the Church and left the UK and headed to Utah, and some stayed behind. Peter is descended from the ones that stayed behind and then came to Australia, just like me!

Tuesday 13th December 2022

District council meeting with the young Elders this morning with Margot teaching the financial self-reliance lesson.

And I have no idea what we did for the rest of the day!

Wednesday14th December 2022

Zone conference on Zoom this afternoon.

Thursday 15th December

A bit of running around today. It started with Margot picking up Leila from the airport at about 6.00am and taking her to Hana's place. Then I dropped the Kia in to the dealers to get the floor mats and tow bar fitted. Then at 11.00am I went to Specsavers to talk to them about hearing aids. After a lot of Googling, trying to figure out what brand to get, the audiologist there, Angus McKenzie, was able to steer me in the right direction and assist in choosing the right type/brand for me. Specsavers are significantly cheaper than the big hearing aid "chains" and, from my experience, offer very good service. So, I have ordered the hearing aids and am hoping they come in before Christmas.

Friday - nothing significant in my calendar and I can't remember much else - flat inspections and a Zoom meeting.

Saturday 17th December 2022

Leila had come home from Ethiopia quite sick, but she wants to come to Church in Cairns tomorrow. My wonderful wife, full of faith says, "Get the Elders to give you a blessing and you'll be able to come." So, we met Elders Ricks and Spackman at Hana's place in the morning and gave Leila a blessing. We talked with Hana about getting together with her and her kids for a family Home Evening and when we described what it was about, she said "How about tonight, and come for dinner!" And Leila was a lot better tonight and gave me a nice Ethiopian shirt and Margot a similar dress - both made from cheesecloth, so perfect for Cairns!

Sunday 18th December 2022

We had a really good day today, with our non-member friend Leila and her niece and nephew coming to Chruch with us. You may remember last week I mentioned that Endreas and Emmabet came to the Christmas party at the Fun-E-Farm with us. Today their Mum, Hana, had to go to work, so she was happy for them to come to Church with us. Leila had been to Church with us before, but up in Atherton where there is just a very small branch, so it was good for her to come to Cairns 2nd Branch today to see how a larger unit of the Church operates.

Endreas went to youth Sunday School and Emebet went to Primary. Leila sat with Margot in the courtyard rather than going to the Sunday School class, as she wasn't feeling 100%.

Endreas answered a question in the class that none of the other class members knew, plus he got the AV system working, that Bro Gosney and I couldn't figure out. He's a bright kid!

Margot and Leila went into Primary for a little while to see how Emebet was doing. From what they could see, she was fitting in well and enjoying herself.

It really helped that both Endreas and Emebet made some friends last week at the Christmas party and that they gravitated towards them as soon as they saw them at them at the end of Sacrament meeting.

At the end of the Branch 2 meetings, I noticed a young man who look like he was a visitor wandering around the meetinghouse. Then at the start of Branch 2 meetings he came in and sat by himself, on the side and down the back. He wasn't your typical looking LDS young man - long hair, beard, wearing casual clothes. Not long into the meeting, after the sacrament was passed, he left. I sat for a minute thinking about what to do, as he had not spoken to anyone. I walked out of the meeting, hoping I might see him somewhere. He was not in the courtyard, so I went out the front entrance, hoping I might see him there, perhaps walking down Woodward St. He was nowhere to be seen, so I turned around to head back to the Chapel and I caught a glimpse of him heading out the south entrance and east. I ran diagonally across the courtyard and caught him as he was leaving the Church property. I found out he, Alberto, is a young single member of the Church from Spain, here for 2 months learning English His English is actually very good, but he has the typically strong Spanish accent.

He was leaving early so he could catch a bus home. I assured him that if he came back in, I would make sure he got a lift home. So, he came back in for the remainder of the sacrament meeting and then came to our Young Single Adult Sunday School class.