Mission Report No 42

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 be OK in the long run, but this time, right here and now is hard. Really hard.

After the funeral we were able to Zoom in to the Seniors Zone Council and then this afternoon we visited some new friends, who have not attended Church for quite a while.

Tuesday 17th January 2022

We had a District Council meeting with the young Elders this morning - the Cairns Elders in person and the Atherton Elders via Zoom, then the local Elders came back to our place for lunch.

The youth in Cairns started their Book of Mormon Read-a-thon today and we spent quite a bit of time helping out with that - assisting with catering, and sometimes just being there. Government and Church rules are now quite strict as far as having the correct number of leaders with "Blue Cards", the working with children card, in attendance when there is a youth activity. It was a great activity for the youth - just to have them altogether for a common goal was inspiring.

They got roughly half way through the Book of Mormon today. The 2nd Branch Young Women Presidency did an amazing job of organising the schedule for the 2 days. There was group reading, solo reading, reading while cleaning the building, reading while shooting hoops, cameo reading, listening to the recordings of the Chapters, plenty of variety which helped the time go more quickly.

Wednesday 18th January 2022

Off to an early start again today. We were at the meeting-house at 7.30 a.m.  getting ready for the youth to arrive at 8.00am.

We did a couple of cameo rolls today. We had the most fun when I was "Samuel the Lamanite" up on the wall, crying repentance to the wicked Nephites who got angry and threw paper darts at me - much safer than arrows!

We finished by about 7.00 p.m. that evening. It's been a long couple of days, but a lot of fun.

Thursday January 2022

Today at 1.30pm we picked up Bob and Debbie Gilkes from Brisbane, who are going to stay with us until Sunday. Bob is an ordained Patriarch and is here in Cairns for a few days to give some Partriachal Blessings.

It was our first Institute class for the year. Our new Institute instructor, James Gardner, is a teacher by profession, so we look forward to some very good lessons!

Sunday 22 January 2022

DJ came to Church today, which was very exciting. He listened intently, joined in the hymn singing, even though they were all new to him. Plus he has read half of the Book of Mormon already - pretty good for a two week stint!

Margot drove the visiting Patriarch and his wife, Bob and Debbie Gilkes, to the airport during our 1st Branch Sacrament meeting.

That's Patira, up the back in the middle.
Lucy front left and her mum
behind her and Tara in the middle.

We went to 2nd Branch in the afternoon and then visited our friend Tara for lunch. Her "adopted Mum", Patira Schwenke Aisa, was visiting, and she told us her life story and I asked her if we could record and interview with her, which I did with her inside on my phone and me in the car on Margot's phone. It was impromptu, but she poured out her heart and I think it would be good listening. Hope to upload it later this week.

Halfway through the interview with Patira, Tara's sister (NAME?) arrived with her daughter Lucy, who is a returned missionary from the Philipines and also the Wellington Mission.