14 September 2020

Tena koutou katoa!

Greetings! Hello to you all.

I'm raising both hands in agreement. 

I echo the words of Presdient Russell M. Nelson:

“I can hardly wait to bounce out of bed each morning and see what the day will bring!”

We have had an exciting couple of weeks. We are in the process of closing 11 flats. One of those flats was in New Plymouth,  3 1/2 hours away. The other office couple, the Follands, and a senior sister, Sister Epperson went down to empty it. Whenever we go anywhere with the Follands, we end up laughing so much our jaws ache. We worked hard, but the good news is after the work is done we get to play. The bad news is since we are Elderly we're often too tired to play very much. We went to the flat and boxed up everything in the house.  We removed garbage, clothes, supplies. We washed windows, mold out of window tracks, cleaned the oven, refrigerator, cabinets,  garage, bathrooms, bedrooms, washed walls, and prepared the house for a final inspection.  The anticipation of walking the beaches and watching the ocean as well as seeing snow on MT Taranaki kept us focused. See picture below. 

                                                               What we hoped to see.          What we saw

It rained all three days.

 

On the third day, the clouds did part and we did see MT. Taranaki. (It's the white snow capped peak in the back), Elder F with housing has two office elders that assist in lifting the heavy stuff. They were to bring the15 passenger bus without the seats with an attached trailer to load the furniture out of the flat and take it to the storage unit back in Hamilton by the Mission Office.

We worked for two days and got the house ready for the Elders to load the furniture. Remember: The office Elders were to meet us in New Plymouth with the BUS and Trailer. 

Elder Folland's face when he found out the 18 year old Elders had driven their CAR instead of the bus and trailer!

This is what happens when it's pouring rain, you have no cell reception, and you are trying to talk to the elders who are trying to load an entire house of  furniture into their Toyota Corolla. (I think our eyes are permanately stuck in a rolling position) We pulled off the road when we finally had phone service.  We quickly learned that driving on anything that isn't pavement is a wrong choice.  The grass was a spongy mess. The tires sunk to mid hub and we were stuck. 

Thank heavens for these angels that stopped to help push the elderly Americans out of the grassy bog. 

Here is a picture of us girls soaking up the sun on the deck as the boys had to spend the next morning of our play day helping the Office Elders load the trailer after they drove their car 3+ hours back to Hamilton, picked up the bus, and drove 3+ hours back to New Plymouth with the Bus and trailer...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Regardless, we laughed until we couldn't breath anymore. 

We stayed at an Air B&B. Motels are reallly expensive here. About $200 per room per night. Since we needed 3 rooms, we found an Air B&B with more rooms than we needed. We even gathered eggs from the henhouse for breakfast.

The first morning we walked out the door, we were greeted by this gorgeous peacock on our porch. 

We experienced sleet. It reminded us of snow.

 This is the first time I have seen the top of fern trees. 

They have spirals at the top of the trees called Korus. 

The view from the front door.

The lilies are still blooming

There are wild goats along side the road everywhere here. You know how we always have to avoid hitting deer in the the US? Well, goats are like that here. It's not unusual to have a goat jump out in front of you and wreck your car. 

This is the Three Sister's beach near New Plymouth. (Elder Folland is on top of the rock. He acts like he is 19)  

You have to go at low tide because the ocean comes right up to the cliff. We walked so far out on the beach that I feared for my life as the tide started to come in before I made it back to safety. 

 

I'm still a bit slow in my walking, but we made it. It felt like we walked 10 miles, but it may have been a bit less. 

These rocks are full of caves that you can explore and walk through. 

Entrance to the cave.

Coming out on the other side.

There were large boulders on the beach covered with teeny black shell things. 

Here is a close up of them. They were the size of a small pea.

We finished the day having Dinner overlooking the Ocean.

Our view from the resturant window. 

We attended our first baptism in the ocean. 

It was cold, windy, and wonderful. We then went to the church for the baptismal service and of course food!

We may not have had two full pigs like President and Sister Erekson did after a baptism a few weeks ago, but we did have MUCH food. 

The best part of our mission is being with our missionaries. We love each one of them! Sunday morning, we had home sacrament meeting and we drove these two back to Hamilton. We packed a lunch and stopped along the way to eat. The one in the front is from Thailand. His name has 14  letters in it. (I have to use size 6 font to fit his name on the missionary roster.)We call him Elder Bodee. 

I love it when the missionaries come sit with me behind my desk and chat. Elder Bodee and I were talking and laughing and all of a sudden, 10 missionaries were at my desk, needing supplies, mail, answers and the phone was ringing. When things finally slowed down, I found this taped to my moniter. 

One of our Sisters, Sister Sotogi, has a father who is an artist. He paints the most amazing pictures. This was one he painted of Christ during the last General Conference. It's entitled "Hear Him".She brought a copy in for Elder Clayton and I the other day. I so love this picture!  

                                             

We woke up to frost on the windscreen the other morning...

Which froze my Begonia and turned it into a BE GONE YA.

Father's Day in New Zealand is 6 September. We were invited to our Relief Society Presidents home to celebrate Father's day and a mid winter Christmas celebration. This is a tradition I plan to take back to the US with me! EVERYONE needs to celebrate Christmas twice! We had heaps of good food, watched a good movie, and Elder Clayton got to open a father's day present. He was given a coveted "All Blacks" blanket. (Just to clarify, the "All Blacks" are the famous New Zealand Rugby Team)  It is wonderful for our companionship study at 6 am when it is 52 degrees in the lounge...The Swains are such lovely people and we love sharing their family. 

Their daughter Katie, got in touch with our kids via facebook and put this card together from them. We will miss this family heaps when the time comes to go back to the US. 

Sign of the week:

                                                 

This looked like a fire warning sign. We had to stop and turn around as we drove by it. 

Facial Eczema Risk Monitor

We googled this one really quickly!

Facial eczema is a disease of grazing animals caused by toxins produced by a microscopic fungus, Pithomyces chartarum, which becomes epidemic in warm, damp conditions in late summer and early autumn. It is not harmful to humans.

I felt relieved after reading that... 

Some Flower enjoyment: 

The missions in New Zealand had a special meeting with Elder Stevenson, member of the 12 apostles,  Bishop and Sister Davies, member of the presiding Bishopric, and Elder and Sister Neilson, managing director of the missionary department. Their words were uplifting, encouraging and much needed. 31,000 missionaries were brought home in March and April. Where these missionaries are serving is where the Lord wants them right now. We are in trying times. Just as John was exiled to Patmos, or Joseph Smiths time at Liberty Jail, or the saints troubled times in Nauvoo, what we are experiencing in our life now with this pandemic, is our Patmos, or Liberty Jail, or Nauvoo. 

Joseph Smith said:

“No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, COVID MAY HAPPEN,  (FYI, I added that) but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

For the past 5 years, we have been prepared for 2020!

Every year there is a different Focus that we are admonished to work on given to us by our prophet: As you read these, Try to see how they apply to our circumstances today in 2020. Here were the focus for the past five years:

2015—Keep Sabbath Day Holy--(Remember how we had a "Keep the Sabbath Day holy lesson every 4th and 5th Sunday for months? I wondered how we could discuss anuything different from the month before!)

2016—Read the Book of Mormon--(Read the Book of Mormon all the way through before the New Year? We had around 90 days I beleive)

2017—Simplify our lives—eliminate the unnecessary--(Eliminate activites that took us away from the important things in life)

2018—VT-HT program was changed to “Ministering” as the Savior would—Care for your neighbor

2019—Come Follow Me was initiated and  Home Centered Learning became the focus.

2020—Hear Him (With all the voices in the world today, we have to sift through them all and hear the voice that really matters)

2021—I can’t wait to hear

As we follow the inspired counsel of our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, his counselors, the Apostles, and other Church leaders, and as you pay heed to the ancient prophets who foretold of our day, you will be filled, deep in your heart and soul, with the spirit and the work of the Restoration. I promise you will see the hand of God in your lives, hear His promptings, and feel His love. The Lords work will NOT be stopped!  Elder Ronald Rasband

Last but not least,

Happy anniversary to my best guy. 44 years on Thursday. We will be in the middle of Zone Conference feeding about 60 people. I love him to infinity and beyond! Its been a wonderful wild ride. All is well with our souls. And we pray the same for you and yours. Kia Kaha!

Aroha ki a koe,

Elder and Sister Clayton