Especially for Sue!

On Monday morning I got up is it raining, or sunny again?
I’m going to the airport to pick Sue up today, it play time, its playtime again.
Antonio, Antonia I’m singing, I’m singing again!

What a week we have ahead of us but first into the office to work for a few hours. There is no mail today as its Waitangi day and a public holiday. They are celebrating the signing of the treaty of Waitangi. Look it up if you are interested. Sue and Malcolm were due to arrive 1.45pm but their flight was delay an hour so that gave us more time to do deliveries on our route to the airport. First we delivered a washing machine to the Zone leaders in Papakura. They were ready and waiting for us with their old machine. So we were quickly on our way to deliver the microwave to the sisters. Another four satisfied customers (missionaries).

After we picked up Sue and Malcolm it was getting a bit later to do any sightseeing so we bought curry from our local Indian in Dinsdale. Very nice too and enough for two meals.

 

Surfing Saturday!

We had a bit of a sleep-in on Saturday. When we did eventually arise the Bellistons were waiting for us to go out for a drive. About 45 minutes away from their home is Rere. If you can remember last year we went to the Waterfall and the Rock slide promising to come back in the summer when the water was warmer. Well today is that day!
But will we go down the slide? To be honest I did not feel at all confident in having a go which was a shame because it looked like fun. We watched as many youngsters faced the slide and eventually Elder Saunders and Elder Belliston took their turn. It was amazing and in fact they went down twice.

I’ll try and load a video of it.

 

Yippee that worked I hope you can see it.

 

I came, I saw, I conquered. I have the scars to prove it!

 



Gisborne 2016

This is our first trip to Gisborne this year and possible our last. We arrived about 8pm and went straight to Elder and Sister Belliston’s home. We had a nice little chat but I enjoyed watching an Australian cooking show. This is a good way to de-stress after a stressful day. Not that I found this day stressful, I’m just saying.

Friday morning we were up nice and early and at the Elder flat by 9. The elders have now moved into a more suitable area. They were meant to be there at 9 with their key but they didn’t turn up until about 9.30 and they had forgotten the key! Never mind but I did make them work hard after that. I must admit that most of the contents of the house had been taken out and it was not too bad. Just a little bad, for missionaries that is. They did a very good job of following instructions and cleaning up. Just to clarify not all of these Elders lived in this flat they were just good enough to come along and help out.

We went to the Warehouse shop to buy a dustbin for the Elders and then dropped it off at their flat. They wanted to show us how smart the new duvet looked on their bed. We were also offered some of their delicious American biscuits, obviously I said yes otherwise how would I know that they were delicious. Because they worked so hard we treated them to lunch not that they were expecting it. In fact one of the missionaries wanted to treat us so he bought us a real ice cream milkshake from Carl’s Jr. Need I say more.

After this big meal we decided that we would fast until tomorrow lunch time. That was from Friday to Saturday instead of Saturday until Sunday. One of the reasons was that we would be travelling home on Sunday and you can get a little heady travelling such a long way with nothing to eat. Ours was another special fast. I will just to explain why we fast for some of you who do not know. The first Sunday in every month we call Fast Sunday. We either do not eat for 2 meals or fast for 24 hours. There may be reasons sometimes why you cannot fast, medical or something but generally the whole church fast on this day. The money that you save from not eating we put into a fast offering fund. This money is used to feed the poor and needy throughout the world as well as members in our church. We are encouraged to donate a generous fast offering. Meanwhile while we are fasting we can pray for a specific purpose. In fact it is said that “fasting without prayer is just going without food.”

Our special fast this month was for a little girl and her family, she is going for a serious operation tomorrow. Also a friend is battling cancer and we are joining our church members in England who fasted last week for him. We always hope for a miraculous result even if we don’t get the answers we are hoping for we are given the strength to cope with whatever.

 

Thirsty Thursday

First I should mention there is no reason why I put thirsty Thursday only that it rhymed!
We went into the office first thing to check out the mail, emails and sort any post for the missionaries on the final day of Conferences 

Today we wanted to listen to all of the 3 presentations but it didn’t quite work out like that. After listening to President Rudd’s opening remarks Elder and Sister McGregor introduced themselves before Elder McGregor talked about car safety. We then went outside and took all the old blankets out of the cars from Taranaki Zone and replaced them with the new ones. I had instructed Taranaki Zone leaders to ask all their missionaries to place a label inside their car stating their Zone and their names and I must admit they all were brilliant at doing this.

By the time we had finish loading all the cars the second presentation was almost over. So I offered my help to Sister Papple again. This time my role was to place cheese on top of all the Mexican mince. Another yummy meal from Sister P. After lunch we choose to go into Elder Tibbetts presentation which was excellent.

We all met back in the chapel for the conclusion which was after we did our Daft Duvet Demonstration. Again very funny! We didn’t stay for President Higgins final remarks, which would have been excellent I’m sure. We had a long trip down to Gisborne (6 hrs) ahead of us, ready for our flat clean-up the next day.  But that is a story for the next blog entry which I can’t write about now because it hasn’t happed yet. Just arriving into Gisborne now.

Weary Wednesday!

We woke up really early and had plenty of time to get ready and walk all the way to the airport from the hotel, about 3 minutes. The plane had arrived two minutes early at 5.48am and we were waiting from 6.20 until 7.30 for them to get through customs. We then drove back to our office in Hamilton where Elder Saunders talked to them about flats, fleas and finances. He then took them to the shops to sort out Phones, Falmers (for a hair dryer) and food.
He instructed the couple to read a Driving in New Zealand manual before he took the Elder out on the road. Then he let the Elder loose on the New Zealand roads! They first followed Elder Saunders to the garage then to the Church History Centre, only nobody was there, so he then took them to the motel they were staying at.
I stayed in the office the whole time catching up on loads of paper work. We left the office gone 6pm and headed for the lock-up where we first stuck sticky labels on all of the quilt cases. That was a bit of an improvement on using the tape and useless gun. Thanks Elder Saunders for this brilliant suggestion. We then loaded the trailer with the quilts, covers and blanket for tomorrows trip to Te Kuiti.

 

Travel Tuesday!

Even though we were spiritually feed last week by an Apostle of the Lord, President Rudd still continued with our planned Zone conferences this week.

After going into the office to check all the mail and emails and picking up any post, we travelled down to Whakatane. But first Elder Saunders had to collect 50 quilts and 50 quilt covers. All the missionaries are getting new quilts and quilt covers. This is because they can no longer take their blankets with them when they transfer from area to area. The quilts and covers will stay in the flat and hopefully be washed before the next missionary moves in. The blankets will be cleaned and returned to the flats to be used if needed. At least they will all be clean.

We listened to a little of Sister Rudd’s presentation before I went and helped Sister Papple in the kitchen. The oven in the kitchen was not working properly so I helped heat the food in the microwave, but that was only for a short while.

I took some good photos of the missionaries eating their yummy lunch.

After lunch we went outside and unpacked the 50 quilts and sorted the covers out so that each flat has two different style quilts. I then stuck the basic instructions on each of the quilts. I can hear you say what instruction? Believe me some of the missionaries need to know that you put the quilt inner inside the quilt cover. This was meant to be a serious presentation but I had Elder Saunders demonstrating each stage. So it turned into a comedy act!!!!!!! Hopefully the message was received. Going back to me sticking the instructions on each of the quilt cases, that was a hard job. The tape gun was hopeless at cutting the tape and it literally was a blood, sweat and tears job. I cut my finger several times, it was so so hot and yes I was in tears.

After conference we travelled back to Hamilton (about 3 Hrs) and dropped the trailer off at the lock-up. Then we popped in home to pick up some tablets and drove up to Auckland airport. That took us over 2 hrs because of road works. We were staying at a hotel near the airport because early Wednesday morning we were meeting a new missionary couple arriving from the States.

A Surprise Visit.

It is sad that one man’s loss is another man’s gain. The Apostle Elder D Todd Christofferson was due to speak at a conference in Vanuatu this weekend but the run way at the airport had some problems so he could not go there. So he decided to go to New Zealand instead. What a delightful and uplifting two days we have just had.
That was after we had a few days of preparing for the Hamilton and Auckland Mission Conference on Saturday morning. Elder Saunders took charge of the car park and with the help of the other senior missionaries everything went smoothly. I organised inside and because of the help of the other sisters, that too, went smoothly.
What a blessing it was that Elder Christofferson wanted to shake all of our hands.
The talks were brilliant. First was Sister Pearson who encouraged us to have faith in ourselves and in our callings. “Who the Lord calls he qualifies.” Lovely talk.

President Pearson is the Pacific Area President. Wow he is such an animated and motivational speaker. We just loved the counsel he gave.

Sister Christofferson looks quite a small, frail lady but boy does she have a massive power when she speaks. There is nothing small or frail about this humble lady.

Elder Christofferson’s talk was so special.

He invited the missionaries to ask him questions and then he gave marvellous answers to each of the questions. What impressed me was that at the end of his talk he blessed us all with the ability to receive the answers to the questions that were asked him earlier.
This included that we would know how to get closer to the Lord, we would know that he is pleased with us. There were a lot of other special things that were said during this meeting but I would have to refer to my notes to get them right.

When I explain that we went to a special Stake conference that evening in Hamilton and also to Hamilton’s Stake conference on the Sunday you will understand why all my talks are jumbled up in my head. That is why I write little notes of who said what.

Elder and Sister Christofferson, President and Sister Pearson spoke at all three meetings, I think!

Sister Gowing the Hamilton Temple Matron spoke on Saturday night.
It was just such an uplifting weekend. I may write another blog about this but I will have my note to guide me.

All Change!

We have a new couple in the office, I would say to replace Elder and Sister Marsden but no one can replace them. So welcome Elder and Sister McGregor.  We don’t have any replacements for us YET and that is a bit worrying as we are supposed to leave in two months. If our replacements need a visa then that could take between 3-6 months to sort out. So I’m hoping they are from Australia or New Zealand then they don’t need visas.

 

Transfers – All Change

I guess you all know by now how much we love transfer meetings. It’s our chance to catch up with the missionaries as they change area or collect their new companion but best of all it is seeing the new missionaries meet their trainers. I am normally shut away in my little room waiting for missionaries to collect their mail and the new missionaries to collect their bedding but in between I like going outside and taking photos, lots of photos. In fact December Transfers I must have took and posted on Face Book about 80 photos. That has all changed now. In a recent training meeting the Mission Presidents were told (amongst other things of course) that anyone who is still holding transfer meeting, to stop! So bye, bye to our transfer meetings and I thought bye, bye to my photos. At January transfers the missionaries had to catch buses to their next area and the bus station is just around the corner from the Mission Office. All the missionaries leaving from Hamilton came into the bus station to travel either north to Auckland or South. That was in the morning. In the afternoon all those travelling from afar came into Hamilton to either stay or catch another bus. I was there in the morning and I have to admit it was fun especially as I had my phone/camera with me. I didn’t take as many photos as normal but that was okay.

 

That’s all about me but what did Elder Saunders do on transfer day? Well two of the missionary Sisters were going into a flat that was occupied by two Elders. They said that they had tidied it and it was quite tidy but it was very dirty. So with the help of two other missionary couples they cleaned the flat up. In the meanwhile after I had finished playing at the bus station I was an actual companion to one of the missionaries until she picked up her new companion. Then we all travelled to Coromandel. That is such a beautiful part of the country although the roads are very windy but this sister is a good safe driver so shell will do good.

So while Elder Saunders was grafting away at the flat I was having so much fun in the company of these two sisters.

Roll on next transfer day and just in case you didn’t know.

Welcome to your new home sisters.


FEBRUARY TRANSFERS IS OUR LAST TRANSFERS ON OUR MISSION IN NEW ZEALAND!

Now what have we here?

 

 Oranges? No lemons and all for me.

 

January Outing Going Missionaries

Saying goodbye is quite sad as we may never see these missionaries again but on the other hand it is a happy occasion because they are going home to their loved one. We can always keep in contact on FB. I think when I get home I will need a couple of hours every day so that I can remain in contact with all our friends.

These photos were sent to us from the air port. Not that we are getting trunky but that will be us soon.

 

Taranaki - Rainforest!

We reached our first destination which was in Mania. The Elders had recently been moved out of the flat and we needed to check the tidiness and cleanliness. We have no idea if more missionaries will be moving in there or not. Either way it needed to be sorted out. We met Elder and Sister Cochran there and had a lovely chat with them. Then we travelled to New Plymouth to stay the night at an empty flat waiting for a new Missionary couple to fill. We decided to follow the satnav , not sure if that was the right thing to do. But I guess this signpost meant we were going in the right direction.
It was still raining so the visibility was quite poor but we just headed in the direction the satnav told us to. Although we started to go up a hill which is not normally the way to go back to Taranaki. The bush was all around us but the trees were just a little different and the road was getting narrower. It is times like this when I wish we had a map in the car. We crossed over several one lane bridges as we wound around the road. The hour long journey was almost coming to the one and a half hour mark. Thankfully it was not getting dark. We eventually started to come out to more open spaces and we could even see some road sign. They were on the other side of the road so I looked around as we drove passed. Hmm! Welcome to the ………..Rain Forest. I just knew that we were going up Mount Taranaki into the bush lands, ha ha ha. We may even try that route again when it is not raining as it did look very pretty from what we could see.

 

Taranaki - 1

Our trip to Taranaki was quite eventful. Our journey down was the worst weather we have ever travelled in. It rained all the way, that’s about 4 hours. It wasn’t always heavy rain but none the less the blue skies did not appear for us at all. Which really is unusual.

We were held up in traffic for about 30 minutes just before the first tunnel on the route down to Taranaki. There were two cars in front of us with quite a big space between then, the the road bent around to the left. A long artic lorry was parked on the other side of the road facing in our direction and there was a long queue behind us when we eventually moved off. One of the drivers behind us got out of his car a went to see what was happening. When he came back he stopped at our car and explained that a motorcycle had hit the artic lorry. He also explained that the motorcyclist was not moving. Oh dear! Then another man came by and said he was now moving, thank goodness. Unlike in England when an accident happens everyone stays where they are, in this county members of the pubic seem to get involved. Sometimes they even move bits of the damaged vehicles out of the way. In this case nothing needed to be moved but the occupants of the cars in front of us started directing the traffic around the cyclist. That is why we were only delayed by 30 minutes and I should add that no emergency vehicles arrived during that time. About 30 minutes after we had left the scene we did see an ambulance and police cars coming in our direction. Sadly the motorcyclist had died, very sad.
The fatal accident had only happened just minutes in front of us and that was about 10 minutes after the motorcyclist had overtaken us which I must add he was not driving dangerously. Life is so precious!