Month: November 2017

We have been busy and doing a lot of traveling these last couple of weeks. President  Walker gave us our assignment and told us to find an apartment up north. That was all good except for the fact that it is very hard to find a rental unit here! Rentals are in big demand and are few and far between! 

We have been assigned to serve in both the Dargaville and the Wellsford Branches. They are in the Whangarei (Fong-gah-ray) Stake;  one is closer to the East coast and about 20 minutes inland, and other is on the West coast. Both are fairly small Branches with about 35 members attending. In Dargaville they have a beautiful chapel as they used to have 75+ members attending and the church built that chapel for them at that time. One of the biggest problems in this country is that people join the church and after a time become inactive. I know that happens everywhere and we are not unique in that respect, but it makes me sad to see these people leaving and missing out on so many blessings! Our assignment is to visit these inactive members and try to help them come  back into activity. We will support and help the Branch president in any way we can and then do a lot of visiting during the week We are also assigned to do checks of the young missionary apartments and teach them how to clean and maintain their homes. It takes us about an hour and twenty minutes to drive between the two branches and about the same amount of time to go into Whangarei to take care of mission business. Add another hour and a half to go further north while checking apartments and you can see we will continue to be on the road a lot! However, since we are living up north and are the only couple missionary in the northland, it will really help the mission office for us to do these inspections.

The first Branch we attended was the one in Wellsford. This little town only has about 1600 people but the main highway north goes right through the center of the town. The Branch building is small but adequate. President Phillips and his wife welcomed us with open arms. It was Fast Sunday that day and of course they asked us to be the first ones to bear our testimonies. We did so and then enjoyed the rest of the meeting, which consisted of one lady telling about her trip to Australia and the scary spiders and snakes there. They don’t have poisonous critters here but let me tell you, the fleas make up for all of them. Yes, I have had the bites already and of course John has not! It happened after a visit to a Samoan members home. We loved our visit with them but came home with more than just good feelings!

We attended all the meetings that day and the lessons were really good even though the classes were small. There were only 5 of us in Relief Society. After church President Phillips invited us to dinner and said he would take us on a little tour of the Branch boundaries. Well, that was not what I expected! After an hour and a half of winding roads, me looking for a barf bag,  and the President driving like a wild man, he finally took us to his house and said he would have to finish the other half of the tour the next time we come! I weakly smiled and thanked him! He really is a wonderful man and I think they are just used to these windy roads here and don’t know what it means to get car sick!

When we got to his house his wife had fixed us a lovely dinner and we enjoyed an hour visiting with them about the Branch and the members here. The Branch covers about a 50 mile radius and goes from one ocean to the other. It will be interesting trying to find them all, but we will do our best! The President and his wife are very strong leaders in  their small Branch and run it exactly the way the church expects them to. We are impressed with their love, service and dedication to these members. She holds several callings and they go Home Teaching together.

This first photo is the Branch building in Wellsford. The beach photos were taken with President Phillips at the east end of the Branch boundaries. The fresh sea air was revitalizing after the roller coaster car ride!

President and Sister Phillips are a cute couple in their late 70’s. They have been married for 11 years and are still very romantic with each other! When the President walked us out to our car, Sister Phillips ran out on her deck and called, “Romeo, Romeo where art thou! Come back to me, my Romeo!” John an I could not help but laugh as he turned and walked quickly up the driveway!

The following three photos are satellite pictures of the towns we will be serving in. The one with the brown looking road, which is actually a huge river, is Dargaville. The other one in the middle of the green woods, is Wellsford.

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When we left Wellsford that day, we drove another hour and a half West to get to Dargasville. it was late in the day but we decided to go there and spend the night. Our goal was to find the Branch president and meet him in the morning. Long story short, the only place we could find to stay overnight was a little cabin in a camping place. It really wasn’t too bad but you almost couldn’t turn around twice in the bathroom!

The next morning we tracked down President Lisiate at his work and went to meet him. He is a construction home builder and was doing a remodel job on a little house by the river. He was so happy to think that he would have a missionary couple work in his Branch. He told us he would find us a place to live and said to come back soon! He asked us to speak in church the next Sunday and we told him we would be there.

During the week we spent time looking for apartments and visiting members in Papatoetoe. We attended Zone Conference and met more of the young missionaries. It was fun to see the difference between Zone Conference here and the way we held it in Romania. It was held in the chapel here but of course they have a lot more young missionaries than we did! Each of our conferences were a lot smaller and frankly, a little more intimate. However, the conference here was really wonderful. The President taught about Christ and the Atonement and the spirit was really strong. For lunch the mission bought them Subway sandwiches and pizza. Our elders would have been jealous of that but each of us go to the mission we are supposed to be at! Not only is there a big mission here but there is also the MTC for the Pacific Islands, and the Area Office is in Auckland! The church has a lot going on here and it is exciting to be a part of it.

The next Sunday we were in Dargaville again. We loved it when we saw the church building. It is really quite beautiful and has manicured lawns and trees around it. When we went in the building President Lisiate invited us to a prayer meeting with the bishopric and a counselor from the Stake. He told us we would have the whole meeting but to leave the counselor five minutes at the end. No problem!

President Lisiate is a Tongan with a large family. They have been faithful members of the church for years and he runs this Branch in an organized and loving way. He really wanted us to live here but in the end it did not work out that way.

Our other meetings were also very good although the same lady who taught the gospel doctrine class also taught Relief Society. She was very good and has had good training since she has taught Seminary for the last twenty years! In Relief Society we had about 8 ladies  there counting me and the teacher. It went really well until one lady said something about abuse and another lady got mad and stood up an talked about how her father abused her as a child. It was not comfortable to say the least! But all in all church was very good.

After the meetings the High Priest Group leader invited us to his home for dinner. His wife passed away from cancer about five years ago and he has a daughter with her husband and two young kids living on his property in a little cottage. We thanked him and graciously accepted his invitation. He told us to follow him to his home. No problem but were we surprised! He lives about 15 kilometers from town and it turns out he is a farmer or rancher, who has 650 acres of land and raises about 400 head of cattle. He said he has cut down on the amount of animals he has since getting older.                            Okay, so we drove through the hills, forests  and (small) mountains! There were little lakes and everything was green and pristine. The cattle and sheep look like they are grazing in a big oil painting! The scenery was gorgeous and was everything you would dream New Zealand to look like.

After driving on a dirt road for a quite a while we finally got to a little turn off with this sign on it: 

We wondered if there was a resort or something here but it was the name and beginning of Brother Midgley’s property. The road then continued on for a kilometer and we finally reached his home where it was sitting on top of a hill, looking down at the ocean in the distance. All the land between his home and the ocean belongs to him. (The first picture at the top of this post is from his back yard.)  He and his wife bought the land when they were first married many years ago.

After showing us around and enjoying the views, we went into the kitchen for a nice chicken dinner. Brother Midgley invited us to spend the night or even a few weeks while we looked for a place to live. Believe me, we were tempted but we don’t want to move twice and are hoping we can get a place in the next week or so.

While we ate he told us all about his wife and how she passed away. He asked us if we knew Avraham Gilead from BYU. We were surprised and told him we did. He said that Avraham grew up in Dargaville and they knew each other.  He said his name was Bart something or other until he spent years in Israel and got his Jewish name. It was fun to have this connection since my Wednesday morning class has been studying on of Avraham’s books this last year. It’s definitely a small world in the church.

The last thing Brother Midgley told us is that he was just diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and is starting chemo in two weeks. He said they gave him 6 months without the treatments and possibly 6 years with it. He opted for the 6 years. We were so sorry to hear this and want to make sure we can be a support to him as he goes through this. You know the old saying, everything that glitters is not gold? I couldn’t help but think of this as I looked at our surroundings. However, Brother Midgley is a very faithful member of the church and has honored his priesthood and served faithfully. Whenever it is his turn to go he will be blessed eternally and that is what matters most.

After we ate we had to leave to go into town and meet President Lisiate. He had a home he wanted us to look at as a possibility for us to rent. We met him at the home and after going through it decided it would work out great It is small and quite old but had the bathroom and part of the kitchen updated. We told the landlord we would take it but then he informed us he had someone who wants to buy it and is at the bank trying to get the money right now. Of course w were disappointed and wondered why he even showed it to us but I guess we were not supposed to live there! President Lisiate was blind sighted by this and very disappointed.

We spent the night in Dargaville and left the next day to go to Wellsford. Before heading back to Auckland, we looked at a house there, an apartment in Te Hana, and another one over a garage in Kaiwaka. We really liked the house and the apartment over the garage. Long story short, we ended up getting the apartment over the garage. It is not big, (but none of them are here), and has windows surrounding the whole apartment. We like that because we will be able to open them when it gets hot this summer and they also take advantage of a beautiful view. This place is in the country. The owner is a widower who is a holistic, natural foods cook who does cooking demonstrations at different places and also holds weekend retreats every now and then in his home. He teaches people about wellness and healthy living. He is a nice man and was very inviting to us. He said that it is very quiet around there and even if he has guests it is not something that will bother us. He invited us to use his decks and make ourselves at home. His name is Rudy Parlak in Kaiwaka-Mangawhai. IF you want to see where we live look up his website on the internet! It is his business site but it shows pictures of where we will live. We will be moving there ometime in the next 5 or 6 days.

 

Dinner with the Graham’s (the Area mental health doctor) and the Hales (the Area medical doctor)

 

Anyway, since that weekend we have been busy with visiting members, going to zone conference and even having Thanksgiving with the twenty couples who are serving with us here in Auckland. Most of them serve in the office, record preservations and the MTC. They badly need MLS couples here and I wish we could get more. Working with the people is the best mission ever!

Photos: The Ferguson chapel were we held Zone Conference. Huge! A picture of Auckland.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was held on November 18th. We were surprised and pleased to see we got turkey for dinner! I say that because we had two, 14 pound turkeys that cost $77.00 each! I think one of the couples bought them as a gift. They told us it was the cheapest way to go as the 25 pound turkey they found was $175.00! I will never take turkey for granted again!

To end I will post a few photos of our dinner!

We are grateful for the opportunity to serve another mission and to be sent to this wonderful country.

 

 

 

 

Okay, to start with you first get your New Zealand trivia! While living in Romania I thought that country surely was the sheep capital of the world but I think New Zealand has them beat! In he 1980’s sheep out-numbered humans, twenty to one! Even more interesting is that they now use Drones to herd the sheep! Those can’t be very loving shepherds! Poor sheep!

You remember that child’s song “Kookaburra sat in the old gum tree; eating all the gum drops he can see. Stop, Kookaburra, stop! Leave some there for me!” (or something like that!) Anyway, according to the information we were given, there is only one Kookaburra bird left in New Zealand! He is about twenty years old and those birds live to be over a 100! Sad, lonely life for that little bird! There are Kookaburra birds in Australia but I guess it is too hard for him to “jump the ditch” (as they say) and go over there to find some friends! However, there are gum trees here and it is something they do export.

Since arriving we have been busy, but also a little bit in limbo as we did not get our final assignment until this past Friday! It has been fun getting to know members and elders in the Papatoetoe community and it has also taken us these two weeks to learn our way around our apartment area and figure out how and where to buy food, get a hair cut and find other services we may need. In he middle of all this it has rained, rained and rained! They say winter is pretty much over but someone needs to tell the sky that!

We will always remember Elder and Sister Plehn as they are the ones who have really taught us to adjust in this wonderful country. They live in the same complex we do and are serving as record extraction missionaries.

I still find myself looking the wrong way for oncoming cars when crossing the street but John is doing pretty well with his driving now. Only once has he made a right hand turn  the way we would do it in the U.S, Unfortunately a car was coming right then and John had to do a fast wheel-turn to the other side of the street to get out of his way before colliding with him. The people looked sternly at us and probably thought we had been drinking a little too much! Maybe Mountain Dew? He did drink one of those here and he rarely drinks any soda pop!

Anyway, another thing we have been doing is going on walks through our community. The first day we did fine and enjoyed seeing the differences in the homes, and checking out all the flowers that are coming into bloom now that summer is almost here. I love the flowers and John is patient when I have to stop and smell them all!

The second day we went for a walk we got very lost! We went the same way we went the first day but somehow, when we thought we were heading back to our apartment complex we saw nothing that was familiar! We asked an Indian lady for directions and in her broken English she cheerfully pointed out the way. Not! We finally found a street worker who did guide us back and we made it home. All I can say is that there is  lot to be said about the way Brigham Young laid out the streets in Salt Lake City! The third day we walked we took our GPS and let it do the guiding for us. No problem—-we made it home just fine! I mention these things to tell you that in-between doing missionary work we are able to lead a pretty normal life and are enjoying getting to know this new country we will be living in for the next year and a half.

Last weekend President Walker sent us on an exploratory assignment to check out the Branches and Wards up north. There are two Stakes in the northern part of the island. However, half of the units are branches and are very small. Even some of the wards are quite small. There has not been a couple serving in that part of the country for quite a while now and he wanted us to report back so he could decide if a couple was needed up there.

We loved the trip! Once you get out of the city of Auckland the scenery is beautiful. Everything is rolling green hills with beautiful trees and bushes. It is like looking at a groomed park that never ends! The ocean is on your right side as you travel north and is also very beautiful with bays and islands all over the place! We first went to The Bay of Islands and met the full time missionaries at the Branch President’s home. He lives in a very lush area. He invited us in to meet his family and his oldest son formally welcomed us to New Zealand.

We had a really good visit with both Bishop Smith and the Elders. They told us of the needs in that area and also gave recommendations of the needs for other Branches in the Stake. Of course they would like us to stay there as couples are so wanted and needed in all the Branches in the mission field. The church would love to have several thousand more couples serve for this reason.

After our visit we were invited to dinner. In fact we weren’t even invited! They just started serving it and expected us to eat with them. The dinner was rice bowls with chicken and vegetables in it. You got to choose the sauce you wanted and it was very good. The bishop couldn’t help telling us about when he was on his mission to the Philippines and the members there served he and several other missionaries dog for their dinner. Needless to say they weren’t told until the dinner was over and the person who cooked the dinner proudly showed them the head of the dog they ate. I won’t go into how the missionaries reacted to that but the bishop assured us he would never feed us dog! Well, thank goodness for that!

The elders in this photo were doing a service project today.

Notice we all have our shoes off except John! I think I fit right in here!

That evening we stayed in a nice resort hotel in The Bay of Islands. It was so fun to be close to the ocean and have dinner next to the sea. By the way, their fish and chips here are probably the best we have ever had!

The next day we attended church in the Bay of Islands ward. There were about 70 people there and the speakers spoke about prayer. I love how friendly and welcoming everyone is no matter where we go! This ward was no exception!

After Sacrament meeting we had to hurry and leave and head further north to the West side of the island where we met President Beatson of the Kaikahe Stake. On our way there we found ourselves driving through the Mangamuka gorge . This road turned out to be windier than any I have ever been on! It was like following the track of a Side-Winder snake! It went on for many kilometers and not once was the road straight. Besides going sideways, it went up, up, up and then curved down again before finally going up and coming to a summit. John and I had to get out of the car at that point and walk around for a little bit to get our heads back on straight before continuing on. It was crazy but it was probably one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. That gorge is stuffed full of all kinds of trees, bushes, flowers and lush grass. It was like driving through a “garden of Eden” park!

We had a great visit with President Beatson. This stake covers almost 1/3 of the Northland and it takes several hours to drive around it. He probably has a half dozen wards in the stake and maybe five branches. He said that he has had a feeling that he was supposed to get missionaries up in his area He doesn’t know if it is us or not but hoped it would be. We did too!  He talked about two specific branches he needs help with and one way or another, we hope he get the help he needs. We are learning that even though many people in New Zealand have joined the church, many, many of them have become inactive. Everywhere we go people say hello and are very friendly. They tell us they were once members too and maybe they will come back one day. We have our work cut out for us and know why we are here!

After our interview with the President, he insisted we come home with him for dinner and to meet his family. Just like the bishop, he would not take no for an answer. They are a great family and we enjoyed very much our time with them. One daughter had just come home from a mission two weeks ago and still has that missionary spirit!

After dinner, consisting of salad, sausages and chicken, the president and his wife took John and I out behind their house to the beach. We had no idea we were that close! He drove his car right out onto the sand and said that this is the “Ninety Mile Beach”. He told us that it is a legal road going all the way up to the top of the island! The sand is hard and people have to obey traffic laws and drive the same way they would on the street or they could get a ticket. At certain times of the year you could not drive it, but most of the time it is drive-able and is a beautiful ride right next to the incoming waves. He also told us that this strip of land is sacred to the Maori people. They believe that when a Maori dies his spirit runs all the way up the beach to the tip of the island where there is a an ancient tree that hangs over a cliff. When they reach the tree they climb it and leap into the ocean where their spirit is set free from this life.

When we left the Stake president’s home we drove back to The Bay of Islands to spend the night again before heading back to Auckland. We had a lot to talk about on our way. We took a different route back and frankly, I can’t decide which part of this land I like best! President Beatson would like us to work with the Waihou branch and the Matauri Bay branch. Matauri Bay is a branch at the farthest, northern tip of this island.

This trip I have talked about here was over a week ago and was pretty wonderful. Again, this past weekend, we left for the weekend and visited another area and Stake in Northland; more on that later. We have decided that it does not matter where we serve. The needs are great everywhere and the people are great everywhere we go!