19 Sep 2019



Our House. We live on the left hand side.


Our frig kept tripping the breaker. This is our replacement. It goes to my armpit. But at least we have one...

The Hamilton New Zealand Temple. It will be completed 3 months after we get home. 

Another view

New Zealand is called "the land of the long white cloud" The sky looks like this every day. 

This is our office. We are on the second floor to the right. The rest of the building is a distribution center, Museum, and family history center. .  Note the 22 wooden steps on the right up to our office. Yep, my hip has felt every one of them several times a day.

My office is the second set of windows on the second floor. Elder Clayton is stuck behind the 3rd set of windows in a small office in the back. He has no windows.  I tend to stare out the window in awe too much of the day. The FM guy is next door to us in the 4th set of windows.

Every plant that isn't an evergreen has flowers on it. It smells so good here. There is no pollution! We can see a snow capped mountain that is 2 hours away from my office,

This is my office, 
19-9-19                                                                              
This week has been intense! Training from 7:30 am to at least 6 at night. Dwight has been given a new assignment! President Erekson called him into the office on his 3rd day of Housing training and told him he was to be the Financial Secretary. He pays all the mission bills, takes care of the cars, bikes, telephones, gas cards and expense cards for 180 missionaries. 

I am the front office secretary. I get to answer the phone and greet people. I Keep the rooster up to date—where each missionary lives, what car they drive, their phone number, who their companion is…It changes on a daily basis. I also do baptismal records, keep the store room stocked, order supplies, keep the transfer board up to date, take care of all correspondence, feed the missionaries for conferences and do the mail. Mail takes forever. Each piece of mail has to be catalogued to ensure that it is not over looked or forgotten and it is distributed at Zone Conference or when we make a trip to out lying zones. We have missionaries coming and going all day and it’s never boring. I love working with these dedicated, strong willed, covenant keeping young people.

Today was our day off. That didn't go quite as we had planned as we spent most of the morning at the office when one of our Elders called and had been involved in a car accident. No one was hurt. But the car was a more than a bit scathed...There have been 8 car accidents in 3 weeks. Lucky Elder Clayton.

  Our mission had a "Finding Fast" last weekend. There were many miracles that happened due to faith and fasting. I want to share one story. One our District Leaders comes from a small 3rd world country. These missionaries come with very little material possesions and have rarely had any medical care. This Elder had a severe toothache and was on medication. He called President the night before the fast, seeking guidance as to whether he should participate in the fast as the medication he was taking was making him very sick and fasting would make him even sicker. President responded that this was between him and the Lord, and what ever he decided would be right. The District Leader prayed about it and felt that he needed to be an example to the Elders he was responsible for and that if he fasted, he would be sustained. He started his fast and when he woke up in the morning, he had no tooth pain. (He didn't know what no pain felt like because he had this toothache for a very long time. His stomach wasn't upset. He was given energy and strength and he continued fasting and found 9 new people to teach that day!

I don't think this video will work. Need help (Carli). We have such a variety of missionaries from all over the world. This is Elder Smallman. He perfromed a HAKA for the office staff. It was incredible. We have copies of the Book of Mormon and pamphlets in over 75 languages. I get to order those and keep the storeroom stocked. We had a man come in for a Greek Book of Mormon yesterday. And we had one!

We are exhausted beyond measure but completely sustained all at the same time. This is what we are suppose to be doing. Tomorrow, Sunday, we go to our assigned Branch in Raglan. They have about 25 memebers and are about 40 miles away, by the ocean. Can't wait to see more of New Zealand.

Love to you all,
Elder and Sister Clayton
Dad/Mom
Grandpa/Grandma


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