31 May 2020

Freedom. Sorta. We'll take it! 

 Here we are at Kapu Te Rangi. I love the Maori carved art. These are  pouwhenua. Tiki totems. They all tell a story. It is autumn here. Everything blooms, blossoms, and produces fruit a second time!!! Incredible. 

67 days and New Zealand is finally down to level 2! We are back in the mission office working! We still have to go through road blocks and security to get to the office and we answer NO to the SAME questions every time we go past the SAME security guard each morning--"Have you been out of the country recently?"  (Ya, I flew to Paris for Dinner last night after I left the office at 7:30 PM and flew back into NEW ZEALAND through the CLOSED BORDERS when I was finished)  "Have you been in contact with anyone with COVID 19?"  Dwight did answer "Not that we know of" the other morning and was reprimanded. I know they are just doing their job. But heaven help us all. We also have to write our name and phone number when we enter any business or store.

We can drive out of our region now. Which is good because we have been cleaning up the 64 empty flats. Some are amazingly clean, others leave us shaking our heads and I go home and look at my mission application and try to find where dragging maggot laden garbage, rotting pantry potatoes, and cleaning stinking food out of a refrigerator was listed as one of our responsibilities. (I don't remember signing up for that!) This purging really should happen once a year. We also remove years of left behind clothing, suits, shoes, coats, and misc STUFF! We clean out the closets as we go and it's not unusual to fill 5 large rubbish bags with clothing, left behind suits, old bedding, and junk. But on the bright side, we also get to see the beauties of the earth from the east coast to the west coast of Paradise! 

Each pole represents a differnt Maori tribe's leaders. Each one is uniquely different.

If you look closely you can see White Island in the background. This is the active volcano that erupted a few months back and killed several people. I wish the day would have been clearer.

This is the river at Huka Falls. It goes under the bridge and forms a water fall. The water is rushing.

Here again, the cheap phone doesn't catch the real beauty.

Two months without creme buns almost killed us. The 1st day the bakery opened we were standing in line. I will miss my creme buns...

I'm sure everyone was feeling the same as us about needing a hair cut. Elder Clayton wasn't following mission rules with his hair length.

There was a considerable amount of white fluff on the floor...

 I just love our missionaries. They have been trying to stay busy during lockdown. It has been tough for them not being able to go out. But they still find ways to lift others and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. My spirits were lifted this day.

It was hard to say goodbye to 124 missionaries. Sister Le'ota made this weaving out of flax and brought it by before she left the country. We miss them all. 

On one of our cleaning trips we saw these HUGE sandstone balls. I remember playing with marble size balls like this as a child. EVERYTHING is bigger in New Zealand. If I were to stand by them, they would have been as tall as me, 

I still love the signs here.

And another one. 

The rocky black West Coast. The sand is magnetic! I put my name tag magnet in the sand and pulled up half the beach. 

Fire Appliances. If I called and said I needed a fire truck, my house would burn down. Word of the week, Fire Appliance. So many new words to learn. I needed to buy a cane and no one knew what I was talking about. It's like they didn't exist in New Zealand! Finally my friend from England told me to ask for a WALKING STICK. Every store I had called prior, had one...Another example of language barriers. "Elder" Clayton was talking on the phone with "Colleen". When an email was sent to "Elder" Clayton regarding the subject, it was addressed to "Albert Clayton" from "Pauline" not Colleen. It's a wonder we get anything right around here. 

                                                      Albert putting his new grill together...

Our 1st grill was stolen 1 week and 2 pork chops after I purchased it for Dwight's birthday. The 1st day we were allowed to purchase non essentials online, we ordered another one. Here he is putting grill #2 together. For the amount of $ we have spent on these 2 little grills, we could have bought a 6 burner Weber! This little piece of heaven has it's own parking spot in the garage...

Lockdown has taken it's toll... 

Wading boots and shorts. A very popular dress. Worn all summer long. Next purchase--wading boots.

First day back to the Ocean.  He stood there forever. Probably needed some space away from his companion who has been in his face 24/7 for over 2 months. White Island Volcano in the background. 

Dwight spoiled me for my birthday

He bought me a REAL pillow and a fry daddy. (We need more fat in our lives!)

When we moved into our new flat, we were blessed to live next door to the Owens. Lorne and Shadae. Lorne is a widow and has raised 6 children alone as her husband was killed in a car accident when he was 35. Shaday is her daughter, and they live on the other side of our duplex. We have sorta been in each other's bubble. We have them over each Sunday for the Sacrament. We also include the widow next door to the Owens, Kris. The bishop said we were really pushing it to include her in our bubble too, and this was it--NO more extension on our "Bubble." We have come to love these ladies. We sit and chat for hours each Sunday. When we left to come to New Zealand, I didn't bring a winter coat, because we were going into Spring. In an ideal world when autumn and winter arrived I should have been able to purchase a coat. NOTE: In an ideal world...Not during lockdown...Coats were not an "ESSENTIAL" item. (I strongly disagree!) Kris knocked on my door the other day and said, "I hope you aren't offended. The spirit has strongly told me to bring you this coat." I was so grateful! The morning temps are just above freezing and it's BONE CHILLING humid cold. Lorne and Shadae came by on my birthday and brought me this greenstone. Maori tradition states that you NEVER buy a greenstone for yourself. It is placed over your head and the giver "blesses" you or wishes you good things. This one has a blessing of Unity and Strength. It was quite a privilege to be gifted this necklace. 

This carved symbol is often gifted to close friends, family or to signify a binding between two entities. It is the perfect gift for friendship, love and family to signify eternity and togetherness. 

None of us know what tomorrow will bring. The only thing we can count on is change. I would never have even imagined 9 months ago, a virus would shut the world down.  I try to find good in what is happening in the world or a lesson to be learned. I haven't come up with a whole lot in both areas.  I do know that God is a God of Miracles. Miracles have been manifest throughout this whole ordeal. I think we have experienced every emotion possible during the past few months. The borders are still closed. When the virus hit, there were 67,000 missionaries serving all over the world. 50% of them were sent to their home countries. That's about 35,000 missionaries! We received an e-mail from Salt Lake asking where we were. They wanted to know if we had gone home or if we were still here and if we would be willing to go back out. I assume that means that most Senior couples went home. I'm sure the missionary department is crazy right now. I'm grateful we were able to weather the storm. To date, New Zealand only has 1 active Covid 19 case. No one in the hospital, and only 22 deaths in the whole country. We continue to pray for our loved ones, and their safety and that life can resume some form of normality. We will continue on here. We did not come to the earth for easy and we didn't come this far to quit. 

Much love to all, 

Elder and Sister Clayton