Mission Report No 48

It's a different mission report this week. Talking, not typing. Might save some time. I don't know. Experimenting with different video types and platforms.

After doing 48 reports I'm getting tired of writing. You might have noticed that I'm getting briefer.

I'm just looking back over the last week. On Monday the 27th we had a seniors Council and that was a Zoom meeting with all the other senior missionaries in the mission and our Mission president and his wife.

There is a pair of senior Zone leaders and they're based down in Brisbane so they are only 1700 kilometers away which is why we have a Zoom meeting.

In the evening we went to our friend Tara's place for dinner and if you've been reading my blog you would have heard me talk about Tara.

She is the most amazing member missionary. She ministers to so many people and usually by having them over for a meal. She does that regularly and oftentimes with another family and elders so she can have over twenty people in her small living room.

On Tuesday we had a district council meeting. It is led by the District leader and at the moment it is Elder Hamilton. He is a fantastic missionary. Margot taught our self-reliance lesson on finance.

Because we had been called as the District Young Adult leaders, we decided to bake cookies for each of the YA's and have the elders deliver them on their birthday. Many were less active. Because this YA is in Innisfail, which is about an hours drive away, we decided to do the cookie drop. The elders are restricted on how many kilometres they can drive a month. If they go over they have to use bikes or public transport.

In Innisfail, we visited real estate agents looking for a flat for some possible new missionaries.

There was one really nice unit in a multi-story apartment complex that overlooked the river. It will possibly be available at the end of March.

At the end of March we will be going to Brisbane for a Seniors Conference. We will be staying with another senior couple, the Bennetts. He is a retired medical practitioner and is serving as an area medical advisor. He and his wife also do regular MLS missionary work. One of the reasons we are looking forward to the Conference is because we will get to attend the temple which we haven't been able to do for about twelve months.

Among the senior couples, we have become one of the longest serving as most of the others who were here when we arrived, have gone home apart from the Grangers and a few others. The Grangers have taken on two responsibilities, cars and flats. When we arrived there were only 55 missionaries in the mission because of Covid, but the numbers are gradually increasing and now we are up to 170 missionaries. The Grangers have been kept very busy trying to find cars and flats for them because both are in short supply. They will be going home soon so we will be the next longest serving senior missionaries in the mission.

Thursday night we had Young Adult Institute. I've been assigned to be the High Council Representative for Seminaries and Institutes. Seminary starts at 6am and we have not been to a class yet. We know the Seminary teachers and they are truly dedicated.

On Saturday, our friend, Lois, was baptised. She is a social media referral who the elders have been teaching. Lois is a middle aged indigenous lady who is originally from Palm Island. The members have been great at inviting her over for dinner.

In the evening, we went down to the Esplanade to watch Tara play volleyball. They have public courts and Tara introduced us to some of her team members.

On Sunday we drove to Atherton and Leila came to church with her step granddaughter, Natalie. The elders have just started teaching her.