We continue with the weekend following the departing missionary events. Let me begin by mentioning a miracle which I had during those events which I forgot to mention. Driving back from dropping a load of missionaries off at the airport, I happened to spot a man standing on the side of the road. He was quite an ordinary man, dressed in working clothes (in Australia they have a specific uniform that most "tradies", or tradesman, wear) and holding a sign up stating he was looking for work, and I felt the strong impression that we should go talk to him. Though I was not driving at the time, I persuaded my companion to turn around, go back up the street, pull over, park, so we could go talk to him. He was from Argentina! He knows the missionaries there in Argentina and invited us to come back around his place.
So that was a cool experience. The weekend came and went and transfer preparations commenced. It went quite smoothly this time. There are a few points to mention:
Two new cities were opened to missionary work, Stanthorpe (part of the Warwick branch), and Maryborough (part of the Hervey Bay Ward). The Chinese program remains much the same -- only one Chinese missionary left, and no new missionaries came. Overall, it remains very much the same as before.
We received our intake of 11 goldens (bringing the total of new missionaries to 15, since 4 came in at 2 different times during the transfer) on Wednesday. One of the is seven feet tall! He is an All-American volleyball player. We received several Filipinos, a few Islanders, and a few Americans, and one Japanese missionary.
Friday morning we boarded our flight to beautiful Cairns. With clear skies, we passed over the Great Barrier Reef, which looks quite beautiful from above (the deep blue water is replaced by lighter blue, where the reefs are closer to the surface). The missionaries there picked us up and we immediately went to work. In Cairns there are a lot of Indigenous , both Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. They have a unique culture and there own mannerisms which are cool. For example, they always say, "Begyapardon?" as if it is all one word. I quite fell in love with their personalities. We met quite a few of them as we contacted people.
We continued on Saturday with the other set of missionaries there in Cairns. In the evening, my companion and I packed our bags and began the 90 minute drive to Innisfail! Innisfail is a much smaller town of only about 10,000 people, supported mainly by sugar cane and banana farming. Its quirky small-time character was endearing. Everyone knows everyone else, and is very friendly and open to a chat. Church was interesting -- it is held in a high school that was closed following a serious cylcone a few years ago. The administration block has been rented by the church and fully remodeled to the point of appearing like most other small chapels, sans steeple. I have a picture attached. At church there was about 50 people -- and only about 35 of them were members! There is only one active priesthood holder who lives in Innisfail, who is the branch president. His counselor drives down from Cairns, and the only other priesthood holder lives 30 minutes outside of town. The missionaries, as a result, have received permission to hold callings -- they are the branch clerks and also the young men's presidents. They have permission from President Henderson to run the weekly Mutual activities for their 5-odd young men, and they will be going with them on a campout this week! Isn't that the best area ever? If only there were Chinese...
On Monday we were blessed with the presence of Elder Hamula of the Seventy. We arrived in Cairns Sunday night to prepare for the tour. It was a revelatory experience, I will have to choose a few of the main points to mention next week, after he has spoken to the other areas of the mission a well. That's all for this week. Love you!
Elder J. Colton Ladd
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