Ceff Mission Blog

 My writing here this week is going to be necessarily brief. I have spent many hours at the computer, publishing 4 episodes of my "Gather In" interviews. Sitting at the computer is bad for me physically, so I will be just focusing on the interviews for a while, with a very brief mention of other things we have done in the last week. It has really taken us 10 months to become busy here in Cairns. And now doing these interviews has become a time consuming project, which I need to fit in with everything else, but I think it is a very worthwhile exercise. The stories that we are preserving here are worth preserving, and being available to help uplift other members of the Church and also those people who are thinking about becoming members of the Church is a good thing. It is probably good for the people telling their stories too, helping them to relive the moment as they re-tell their life-changing story. I am uploading the videos to YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Spotify (whic...

Monday 16th January 2022 Samuel the Lamanite It was a very sad day for many people today. It was the funeral service for Diana Hanbury, a 2 year old, who Margot and I had only met once. Diana is the daughter of our very good friends Adam and Jessica Hanbury, who we were able to drop in to see in Mackay on our way up to Cairns, earlier this year. She died suddenly a couple of weeks ago, after a very brief illness. Adam and Jessica are wonderful parents, and this sudden loss has been devastating for them and their four older children. We Zoomed in to the funeral service at 10.00 a.m. Sadly, the sound was not great and we could not hear a lot of what was said, but, very bravely, Adam and Jessica both spoke. Tears are building up as I write this. Even though we know that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, families can be sealed together forever, and in the hereafter they will all be reunited, a sudden loss like this takes some time to understand and adjust to. I'm sure they'll all...

This cute little frog has been hanging around in our garden lately!  Monday 9th January 2023 We were off to an early start today, doing some gardening work for the Davies in Redlynch and then the Lawrence family in Smithfield. I think I may have taken a nap to recuperate in the afternoon. Margot went to the dentist early in the afternoon, to have an old amalgam filling replaced. Later in the afternoon we had a wonderful member, Courtney Luki, call us with a referral to teach a friend of theirs. We talked to Tammy on the phone and she is keen to have us come and talk to her and her partner in the morning. Tuesday 10th January 2023 10.30am this morning was our first appointment with Tammy and DJ. What a lovely couple! We invited them to attend Church on Sunday and they accepted our invitation.  Wednesday 11th January 2023 My exercise routine has officially hit the boring level. The wind has stopped blowing and I am reduced to walking, riding, swimming, Tai Chi and my "Ninja trai...

There's nothing quite like an Ethiopian Christmas!   If you are still reading these reports after all these months, congratulations, I'm amazed that I've not bored you to death by now. Let's see what I can remember about the last few days. Monday 2nd January 2023  As per usual, recovery from Sunday which is always our busiest day and catching up on things around the house. Tuesday 3rd January 2023 Huh? Same as yesterday. Not many people in Cairns at the moment - people are away on holidays. Wednesday 4th January 2023 The highlight of the day was having our young Elders Hamilton and Schick come for dinner tonight. They dropped around to pick up some cookies for a birthday cookie drop and I asked them if they had a dinner appointment for tonight - they didn't, so I invited them around for homemade vegie pizza. They jumped at it of course, and they came back at dinner time.  Did I say that I beat Margot at Banagrams and Upwords on one night this week. Maybe it was toni...

  L to R Elder Ceff, Sister Ceff,  Fiona and Heta Erueti Monday 26 December 2022 A day at home mostly today, except this evening we were able to go a share a movie and meal with our friend Tara, who is THE best member missionary in 2nd Branch. (Apologies to anyone else who thinks that they may be the best!)  Naomi Benioni and her son Kash also joined us. The young Elders (Ricks and Spackman) also dropped to assist in giving Sister Benioni a blessing. Tuesday 27th December 2022 Today was a significant for the Erueti family (pictured above). I'm pretty sure I've told their story in a previous report, but I can't find it, so I'll tell the story again. Heta Erueti has been a member of the Church for a long time, but he openly admits that it's been a fairly up and down sort of journey. He married his second wife, Fiona, around 20 years ago. I think they each have kids from previous marriages, and they have had one son together. Until today, Fiona was not a member of the ...