The opposite of frozen - is February! Lots of fun in Feb

In Australia, they don't call it February. It's just Feb, and for January, it's just Jan. Australians say they can't be bothered with long words.

5 or 6 days of Feb were around 104+ degrees in Perth. Pretty HOT! Pretty Summer!

A fun picnic with John and Vicki Grinceri, and the Liddicoats. Both of these good couples served as mission presidents/leaders and temple presidents.

The beautiful city of Perth at night.

We all went and watched "The Chosen" together in the theatre! So fun! The Hadfields, The Smiths, The Oates, and Anouck VanDyck.

One of our BFF's. Janine Oates. She and her husband, Marcus, were recently called to serve as Mission Leaders in Pakistan.

Transfer Meeting: One of our fun transfer meetings where we get to see all the transfer news and plan for the exit of departing missionaries and arrival of the new missionaries. The Smiths (housing, mission nurse; Elder Mapa (AP), Sister Harvey (office), The Kipps (office new), Elder Gore (AP), President and Sister Stone, us, The Hadfields (office and vehicles/bikes), Elder Whiting (AP).

From our old flat from the first of our mission: Good memories with Elder Whiting and Elder Pearse

Fun snacks and a life changing book written by a holocaust survivor who is still alive at 104, living in Sydney Australia.

Relaxin', reading, eating! Life is good!

Some of our BFF's, the Sherriff's, let us spend a couple of nights while we attended our three Rockingham Stake conference meetings and then the ER training on Monday morning. We had a blast talking and playing games on Saturday and Sunday nights.

OUR TRIP TO MELBOURNE

This was fantastic! We flew for a 2 day training with our fellow welfare self-reliance team members and leaders from all around Australia. Our leader allowed us to take a few days and see some things. WOW! Our dear friends, the Smith's, picked us up at the airport and we stayed 2 days with them, one at the start and one at the end. We had a blast every minute! Our first stop was at the Holocaust museum. It was sobering, but also inspiring. So well done. Very informative and interactive. After reading the book by Eddie Jaku, it meant even more.

The Smith's fed us a marvelous dinner of lamb roast and told us some fun stories about how they had to transform their scary flat into the 5 star bed and breakfast it is now. They inspire us. They are such great missionaries. The next morning, we headed off early to tour the ocean highway. This is a famous feature: The Twelve Apostles. Three of them eroded, but they are magnificent.

The Greenhalgh's, us, the Peterson's and the Smiths.

Our next stop was walking above the trees

My best friend and adorable helpmeet

Julie Smith, one of Janet's kindred spirits and dearest friends

Our Welfare Self-Reliance team: Training in Melbourne

Fun at the Penguin Parade

Waiting for the 1800 penguins to come in

Emotional Resilience Trainings

Feb. 5: North Coast and Yanchep: Elder Kahmann, Sisters: Biribo, Bartschi, Hillam, Toala, Royer-Tepa, Ariitai David, Elders: Masima (ZL), Tupa, Front: Elders sitting: McDowell, Kirby (DL), Staley, Putnam (DL)

Feb 5: Heathridge and Joondalup: districts. Sisters: Olson, Johns, Ika, Ballantyne, Larsen

Elders: Tauhalaliku (DL), Ginn (ZL), Hill, (tall one) (DL) , Arbutante, Laulu, Neumann, Batiri, Tuilimu

Sorry, somehow I messed up on pictures for 4 of the groups this month. They are all beautiful missionaries. I'm so sad. Many times our missionaries sing to our grandchildren or loved ones if it is their birthday that day and I take movies and forget to take the still shots.

Feb. 26, 2024 Thornlie and Jandacot districts (Southern River Zone) Elders Williams, Manning, Sisters Burt and Larkins, Elders Guillermo, Valley, Bradford, Jones, and Hymas, Wright, Sisters Heelis and Herrman.

Feb. 26, Armadale district. Southern River Zone

Sister Rogers, Heap; Elders Withers, Hittle, Masalo and Tanag (DL)

Elder Tauhalaliku and Elder Tupa were able to teach and help baptize 6 precious souls in this family. The young men in our Duncraig ward also helped. We got to join them in teaching one of the lessons. What a marvelous experience.

I want to tell you a really cool story that happened this last transfer.  We were teaching emotional resilience.  At the first of the class, we often have the missionaries fill out an assessment of how many stresses they are struggling with.  We have them tally their numbers and put them on a little folded sticky note and hand them in to us.  They don’t have to put their names on their scores.  We hadn't done this for a few transfers and felt impressed to do it on this day. I decided to check the numbers before leaving to go to the next group. In this particular group, most of the numbers were very low, but there were two missionaries who scored very high.  If that happens, we usually talk to the district leaders and ask them who they think could be struggling, so we can reach out and offer help.  One of the district leaders told us that it was the other district leader.  He said he thinks he was doing it as a joke.  So, I asked him, and he said it wasn’t a joke.  I pulled him aside and asked if he could share with me what he was struggling with.  He was having headaches every day.  He was having trouble sleeping and focusing. His mind was constantly racing. I asked him if he would like a few sessions to talk and get some help.  He said he would appreciate that.  In his culture, it is not common to ask for help, so that’s hard for him to do.  

He has since been able to see a doctor for his headaches.  He's been able to talk about his struggles and find some solutions. Here’s a note from a counseling session I had with him.

Situation:  Elder "X". has slept better this week. He has been getting up on time and worked on eating breakfast, exercising and improving his morning schedule. He has continued to have headaches, but said that he has had them for many years.

Intervention: Assessed any indication of head injuries. His parents divorced when he was 5. He lived with his Dad's parents for 10 years. His Dad moved to New Zealand, and he had no contact with him for those 10 years. At age 16, he moved to New Zealand and lived with his dad and his 7 siblings. It was a very dysfunctional home environment where his siblings would habitually drink on the weekends and get into fights between each other and their friends. Many times they were close to being killed, he stated. He is the only one in his family who was active in the church when he left to come on his mission. His dad had 5 marriages. He often would solicit Elder X's help for breaking up fights. He and his Dad did sparring together. He would get hit in the face and head from that. Elder X got to the point in his life where he was tired of the darkness in his home and he contacted missionaries from an ad that was posted online. He had worked 3 years in construction with his dad. The missionaries encouraged him to serve a mission. He came to the mission with what he felt was little knowledge and experience in the gospel. The love and concern he has for his family is his biggest stressor. He wondered if he should stay and help his family or go on a mission. He is a remarkable and well-loved missionary. He shared some sacred experiences and miracles.

Plan: He will work on strategies of gospel study that we discussed. We will meet in 10-12 days. I will contact him on Feb. 24.

Here’s what I didn’t put in his note: 

On his 19th birthday, his family forgot that it was his birthday.  He thought maybe they were just planning something for later to surprise him, but nobody said anything or remembered his birthday.  Then his sister brought him an envelope that had come in the mail for him.  He was getting ready for bed and he thought, Oh I will just open it tomorrow.  His interest peaked and he thought, “No I will open it tomorrow.”  Then he just opened it and it was his missionary badge.  He was so happy.  He said, Heavenly Father didn’t forget his birthday.  He said it was the best birthday that he ever had.  He struggled to know whether to stay in Tonga and help his family or come on a mission.  He felt the Lord say to him, that if he would help people on his mission, the Lord would help his family at home.  So, he came.  He has helped many people on his mission.   And the Lord is helping his family. He is one of the happiest missionaries in the mission, and we don't think anyone would have ever guessed that he was struggling so much.  

When I told him in a session, “I can see how much you love your family and want them to have the gospel.”  He started to sob like a little child.  He wiped the tears from his eyes with his tie.  I didn’t even have any tissues to give him.  I wanted to just put my arms around him as a mother or grandma and hug him, but I couldn’t.  I cried with him.  It was such a tender moment. 

Here is a picture of several of our Polynesian missionaries at our most recent zone conference. The Elder that is fourth from the right, Elder Sapa'ia (light blue suit), lost his mother in death a few months ago. She had told him not to come home to Tonga for her funeral. He spoke at her funeral over zoom at like 3:00 in the morning. The next day he showed up for emotional resilience training and was asking to help us carry stuff from the car. We were blown away and beyond touched at the strength and character of this young man. The one on the far left (seventh from right) with a huge smile is Elder Masima; he plays rugby and wants to be a civil engineer. We love these Polynesian missionaries dearly. They all have such amazing life stories.

Our Duncraig Ward Sisters: Sister Olson, Larsen, and Johns. We love them.

Starting the rounds to Stake Conferences

Taking time to enjoy some respite with the senior couples during our zone conference

Anouck and her nephew, Brock. Our wonderful friend, brilliant stake leader, and community leader who keeps us in the loop of all the things happening and places to go.

Beautiful King's Park: Anouck and Janet; plus other senior missionaries.

The Hadfields, The Yips, The Martins, Sister Harvey, the Poulsens, the Davenports, Smiths and us in the back

Departing Senior couples that we love so much! The Davenports, The Poulsens

5 of our beautiful departing sister's on the day of the Northern Zone Conference.

Elder Kahmann's postscript:

Although this posting captures the highlights from the month of February, as we finish drafting this it is the 19th of March, which is but three months and two days away from the day we conclude our mission. While I'm trying hard not to talk about or dwell upon this looming reality, it's hard not to, if only for the fact that most members and fellow missionaries ask when we will be done. We want to finish strong, and there is much yet we want to accomplish. All but a few of the available Sundays between now and June 21 are booked for speaking assignments in wards; and I'm trying to schedule as many wards as possible for some essential WSR training to their RS/EQ presidents (and often their full ward councils). We've had a couple of Zoom meetings already with the Osborne's, who will be replacing us. They are from Temecula, California (about 50 miles north of San Diego). They arrive on June 19, which gives us two days to provide some in-person orientation. We'll have a couple more Zoom meetings with them before they enter the MTC.

As I look for the Lord's hand in each day, I am able to see it; and as I see it, I feel increased gratitude for the blessing and privilege of serving this mission. The gospel is true, the Book of Mormon is not only an additional witness of Jesus Christ, but truly a marvelous work and a wonder.