25 November 2019

 (Stores close at 5:00 and aren't open on Saturday...I'm never going to get a selfie stick.) 

The Beach in Gisborne. 

I've decided that I am not going to post any more pictures. My phone can't capture the majesty of this beautiful country. I take a picture as we are speeding along at 100 kilometers, or I make Elder Clayton turn around and stop, (He is so patient with me. I love him to pieces) and I take a picture of THEE most beautiful flower, countryside, waterfall, river, plant, ocean that I have EVER seen and then we turn the corner in 50 feet and see something even more grand! I really think that when Enoch and his land were taken up and Enoch was taken into the bosom of the Lord, his land was dropped into the Pacific Ocean and it was called NEW ZEALAND!

This week, we needed to pick up a mostly wrecked car that sorta drove. (We have never driven so many cars with missing body parts in our life!) Lucky for us it had to be picked up in the farthest South Eastern part of the mission. It took so long to get there, that we HAD to stay in a hotel.  We went to Gisborne. (Gis-Bun) When we arrived, we took the missionaries out to dinner, exchanged cars, and went to our motel. We stayed at the Emerald Hotel. It looked a little sketch from the outside and had homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk. (I really shouldn't have been worried for my life, because if I would have opened my windows, they would probably have given us money because we looked like we were in a dire situation with our car...) But upon entering, The room was bigger than our house and had three rooms. We couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on. The card that opens the door had to be put in a card holder by the door that triggered the electricity. When inserted, the lights came on! We could have had Thanksgiving Dinner in the bathroom, it was so large. Oh heck. I need to post pictures. 

Here again, my phone couldn't get the whole building and I was not about to get out of my locked car to take a picture!

We started the trip by stopping to buy a soda. Fountain drinks are about 12 oz and have no added ice and are still $4.50. I miss ice. So Elder Clayton bought gas and a can of Coke. Of all the cans in the cooler, how and why did he pick the one that had been dropped and dented? Once it was opened and quit squirting all over... 

He tried to drink it. His mouth didn't fit the around the bulging top. Then we started laughing. And the Coke just kept dribbling down his chin. Good thing we brought another white shirt...

We went through Tin Town. The first tin thing was pretty spot on. "Jesus said, I died for you, will you live for me?" 

Every business has a tin something attached to it or is made out of tin. I know I have posted some of these before, but I was on the right side of the car this time and traffic was stopped so I could take a good picture. 

These are buildings you can walk into!

Someone has way too much time on their hands. 

And yet another.

After Tin town we drove through Fitzgerald Glade. You literally drive on a road the trees grow together over the top of the road. For a really long time.

Then we passed Hamurana Lake 

We then came to the mountains and went through a gorge. The road followed the windey river. 

Waterfalls every few feet in the gorge

This was the straight part of the road. 

Then we came to the ocean. White sand beach compared to black sands on the West beaches. It was a really good SHELL day! Shell count is up to 20 lbs in my collection now. 

These TREES!  They don't look real! The leaves are so sparse. I had to go touch one. 

They are like fern pines.

Aloe vera grows wild on the shore line...

Gisborne is a shipping port. They mainly ship lumber.

This ship was gone Saturday morning. 

I'm not sure how I feel about this. It was shocking to see the forest gone and this left behind. I guess the lumber has to come from somewhere. But it was so out of character for New Zealand to see the waste and destruction. 

We then drove out of the forest into the agricultural area. Miles and miles of grape vines, orchards, citrus trees, fields of broccoli, cauliflower, and other veggies. All along the road there were little open sheds full of fruit that was odd sized, misshaped, speckled, but perfectly tasteful,that they couldn't sell to the grocery stores. Some of the fruit was HUGE. kSome was tiny. This avocado was bigger than a can of coke. The grapefruit was on steroids.  It was sold on the honor system. You drive up to the shed, take your bag of fruit, and put your money in a can. For reals! I would have taken a picture if my darn phone wouldn't have been dead. They have signs that read: "Preserve our farmlands, you can't eat wood." I detect a little agricultural discontent between farmers and loggers.

Signs we saw this week:



This makes so much sense! And everyone just does it! We need to teach this to the Americans who are always in such a rush and won't let anyone merge in. Everytime we go around a round-about, one of us says, "Be a zipper!"

Going up the winedy's--(Wine-dee's)--I was kind of smirking about this sign. 

And this one. 

Until we were dead stopped on the road for 1 1/2 hours because of an accident. Life flight landed in the pasture.  (The cows didn't give any milk that night from fright) 2 firetrucks, several police, and  2 ambulances passed us. Jaws of life had to be used.

That hill can kill!

But on a lighter note, you just never know what you are going to find along side the road! We had a stare down. I won.  Only because there was something in the grass he could eat...I wanted to get closer, but Dwight said this guy would poke my eyes out if I got out of the car. 

I have no words for this one. The painter had one job to do...

This week was zone conferences. Zone Conference is a time when all the missionaries in a certain area assemble together for training.  We fed about 60 people a day on Tues, Wed, Thur, and Fri. On Tuesday and Friday, our days are long as we drive to the far away zones. We pack and haul all of our food and equipment and supplies for the day. We take the Mission van and mission bus with a trailer attached to haul our stuff. We sure are tired at the end of the day. The days are long and hard, but there is so much joy in what we are doing! Seeing the missionaries, talking to them, encouraging them, hearing their successes and failures.  At Zone conference last week, one of our newest missionaries came and he was struggling. I noticed his demeaner and invited him into the kitchen to help. We talked for awhile and he just burst into tears. He was homesick, tired, sad, discouraged, scared to death to have to be the designated driver, and drive on the left side of the road because his Senior Companion and Trainer doesn't drive,  and he missed and needed his mom. He talked, I listened, we cried, we laughed. He ate. (It was his first real meal in a week!) I didnt think much more about it. His mom called me today in tears. They are from Hawaii. She had talked to her son and she kept thanking me over and over for talking him through his hard time. We get to serve in so many different ways.  What does service look like in  your life? These Elders and Sisters are such wonderful young men and women. My favorite part of the day is when they come into the office and sing to me. I just love them all! They are the best of the best! 

Happy Thanksgiving this week. We will be in the office as it is just another day here. But I have much thanksgiving in my heart. As we have many that come to our mission to serve from the South Pacific Islands, I recognise what blessed lives we live. We have enough food to fill our bellys, water comes out of our taps when we turn a knob, we have toilets, phones, computers, cars, heat,air conditioning. We are healthy, happy, and loved.  We have a loving Father in Heaven that allowed his son, Jesus Christ to atone for our sins and shortcomings so we can return to live with him again. We have been given a living Prophet , Russell M Nelson, to guide us and direct us. We have temples and the ordinances therein that can bind us together as eternal families, being together forever. So grateful for our parents, our children and their goodness, our precious grandchildren, and my brothers who gave me my favorite sisters. Grateful for my forever friends that I have left behind.  Missing you all this time of the year, but so grateful to be doing what we are doing. 

And last but not least, we are exceedingly grateful that the Missionaries in the New Zealand Hamilton Mission have been accident free for 13 consecutive days!!! 

Kia Kaha, (STAY STRONG!)

Elder and Sister Clayton