This quote is in the Pacific Islands Church History Museum in Hamilton, NZ, next to the temple. It is the only other Church History museum in the world, besides the one in Salt Lake City. When I read it, I could not help but think how true it is! We do have an “unconscious memory” of who we are and where we came from. The truth sits quietly within our souls, ready to burst forth as we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. As missionaries, we help people find this truth and as the light grows brighter and brighter within their very beings, they accept the gospel and then their own baptism. Lives then change and it is such a joy to see these changes in a person.
I haven’t written for a long time and will now try to share some of the bits and pieces from the last few months. We moved up North to a little village called Kaiwaka. If you blink twice you have gone through it. However, the town stretches out into the farm land and covers a fairly large part of the countryside. Our home is an apartment over a garage out in the country. The landlord’s name is Rudy. He used to own three restaurants in Auckland but sold them and moved to the country to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city. His home looks over vast rolling hills of green pastures, trees, bushes and flowers. The land has little herds of cattle scattered throughout the hills. They don’t call them ranchers here; only farmers. There are also lot of sheep in this country but we don’t have any close to us. In fact, to give you an idea of how many cows there are, there are four and a half million people in New Zealand and eleven million cows! It’s a good thing cows can’t rise up in rebellion, although they have it pretty darn easy around here! The grass is green all year round and they just go from one green pasture to another, munching away and getting fat! Little do they know, but most of them are just plumping up to one day become barbeque on the beach!
We were surprised to discover that the dairy industry here is one of the biggest in the world. 26 % of the milk is sent around the world. They make more baby formula than almost any other country and ship most of it to China. Unfortunately for us, the dairy foods are very good and it is hard to resist the ice cream, milk and other products they make! The beef and lamb is also very good. There is definitely a difference eating meat from all grass fed animals. Even better, they have Venison farms here and you have never tasted Venison like theirs. Of course that makes John very happy!
Our home is that little house you see under the big blue sky! This is how the countryside looks….everything from open fields of grass to jungle-like trees and bushes. I have to admit that we love living here and are also very happy to be out of the city! The country outside our door is all rolling hills, with winding, twisty roads. Auckland is the biggest city in the north and it is like any big city except the ocean is all around it and it is beautiful too.
For our mission we have been assigned to support and nourish two different Branches, in two different villages. Neither are very big, and the membership is small. It takes us about twenty minutes to get to the Wellsford Branch and an hour to get to the Dargaville Branch. We alternate every week going to church at each of them.
During the week we go visit members that have become inactive and try to teach them and help them get going to church again. It seems like whenever people are going through trials and problems, they want the church and God. But the minute things are going well for them, they forget about God and the church, and make excuses not Attend church. They smile and say it is not for them right now, but one day they will probably start going again. I am amazed at this! I wonder if they really understand the committments they made when they became baptized, or if their parents didn’t really teach them when they were growing up!
The sad thing is that if we expect God to help us through our trials, we need to love and keep His commandments all the time; even when things are going smoothly for us. This life is a big test and we will only pass that test by showing Him our faith and dedication, by doing what He has asked us, during both the good and the bad times. I wonder sometimes how people expect God to answer their prayers when they only go to Him when they are struggling. This is what we have been assigned to do; to help people realize they need to go to church every Sunday, so they can take the sacrament, increase their knowledge of the gospel, renew their covenants, and be worthy to go to the temple. To understand God’s Plan of Happiness!
Anyway, we try to help those who are inactive to realize that they need the church. The church doesn’t need them, but they REALLY NEED IT in order to progress in this life and have God right next to them. Going to church for 3 hours a week is pretty simple if you just make up your mind to do it, and hopefully we can help people see that. We have also been encouraging them to read out of the Book of Mormon every single day. Even if it is just a page!
Besides visiting inactives, Lenore teaches Relief Society, John teaches Priesthood, we both speak in Sacrament meetings and usually end up saying at least two of the prayers each Sunday! John has been going Hometeaching with President Phillips in the Wellsford Branch and the two of us do the visiting teaching and home teaching to three families in Dargaville. As of General Conference there will be no more Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching but what we will be doing will not change. They call it ministering now but it will be the same for us! One of our favorite things is doing Family Home Evening every week for two inactive families. One is the Buxton family and the other is the Richards family. The kids love to have us come and we love being with and teaching them.
The Cheyenne and Campbell Richards family.
The Buxton kid’s doing their FHE assignment.
To fill you in on the people we served and work with, here are some photos from the Branches we are serving in.
First, in Wellsford: We love the people n this Branch and the members who come every week are very faithful and gospel oriented. Most members here come from 3 or 4 generations back of family who have been in the church. We are finding that the members of the church all seem to be related to people in all the other Branches and wards. However, many of the family members have become inactive. As I said, we spend our evenings trying to catch people and visit the in-actives.
Photos: from top going right: Irene & Fets with their baby boy, Kyra and Sam with their baby and little 7 year old boy
Bottom: John with Manasseh and Paul Paki (very active members), and Claire and Willy Wolfgramm.
The Dargaville Branch is on the west side of the island close to the Taisman Sea. This ocean is very rough and most people would rather swim on the east side of the island where the waters are calmer and even warmer. The Branch here is also dear to our hearts. At one time it was a ward with around a 125 people but in past years the membership has dwindled and there are only about 35-40 people attending. They have a beautiful church built to accommodate the numbers coming when there were over a 100 people. Here are a few photos of people we visit in this area:
Photos: Top, left to right – Dargaville church building, Vera and Tama,
Haki Wihangi (1st counselor to President Lisiate), President and Sister (Fane) Lisiate
Lenore and Rosalie Covacich, Two investigators with Siuaki Lisiate (in shirt and tie)
Lenore receiving a Maori “Hello” from Kelly, and John teaching Kelly
Mission to New Zealand 