26 March 2012

We got a new table and chairs!  Our old one was so rickety and ugly, we had to keep a table cloth on it.  So I asked if the mission could furnish a new dining set.  (We have been to some of the flats for other senior missionaries, and none of them had a table so bad.)  We picked out something modest, and now Elder Ashby has been covering it with several coats of varnish.  It looks nice in our lounge room.  (We don’t have a dining room.)

And…we got new missionaries!  Elder Gillkes and Elder Ariki, who are both really good Elders who have experience and follow all the rules, etc.  I think they’re both from active families in one of the eastern states of Australia.  Yesterday we spent most of the day with them.  They had breakfast here; then in the afternoon, we had a long meeting at the church together, explaining everything we could about the area, the branch, and the individual members.  They made lists as we went through the members of part-member families and of less-active members.  When we got through, they said, “There is a lot of work to be done here—66 opportunities for referrals!”  I was so glad to hear them put it in those terms.  Also, now we can be taught by some skilled, but humble missionaries.  We’re excited to work with them.  They went over to meet the Branch President after our meeting, and then back to our flat for dinner late.  What a day!