Chapter 15--The Transfer

Jacob 7:26

"...the time passed away with us and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream..."

26 August 2019--Entering the MTC

18 Months later--February 2021

Hamilton New Zealand Mission Office

The top picture has been my view for the past 18 months. I knew our time was done when the background picture on my computer changed. 

Our replacements came 3 weeks ago. We have been training them and it's time for them to take over. 

 Lesson learned #1:

The Lord doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies those he calls. 

We had a desire to serve and the Lord needs people who are willing to serve.

We know we are replaceable and we certainly are not perfect. But we feel peaceful about how we have served and what we have learned the last 18 months.

So grateful we had the opportunity to serve in this capacity for a few seasons. 

 

Dwight woke up from a dream he had the other night, and said, "I had the strangest dream. I was reading a book and was just finishing Chapter 14. As the pages turned, I saw that Chapter 14 was our mission in New Zealand. As Chapter 15 came into focus, It hadn't been written yet. I can't wait to see what Chapter 15 brings our way." 

We couldn't wait to sit down and go through the events of our life and see if we really are about to embark on Chapter 15. And by golly, we are!!!

It's time to move on.

We sold or gave away all but a few pieces of furniture, kitchen appliances and clothing before we left. We don't have a roof over our head or a car to drive. We had no idea where life would take us when we finished our mission. 

Well, Father in Heaven hasn't let us down yet.

Things have fallen into place. We will be coming home to Brorson, Montana. 

Elder Clayton will be driving a school bus for this cute little country school!

We will be living in a brand new duplex in the middle of a wheat field! 

We will be about 10 minutes from town in Sidney, Montana.

(OUR house to the left...)

Here is the kitchen in our new house. 

So enough about that. 

We are soaking up the sun, smelling every flower we see, eating so much fresh fruit we get sick, stopping at every beach access we find, eating at all the places we should have tried 18 months ago and flat out enjoying being together in paradise, 

Because we really do know what we signed up for by moving back to Montana....

So our latest adventure involved this little guy or his brother.

Elder Clayton ended up in the hospital on 18 January. The diagnosis was:

?Probable Spider bite

Whatever it was, didn't agree with him very well. 

The good news is I have some really cool footage of the lancing and draining. (If any of you are into "Dr. Pimple Popper", PM me. I'll share.) The bad news is he has to go into the doctor every other day to have it cleaned out and packed wih guaze. 

When we went to the doctor, he immediately sent us to the ED at the hospital. (Do not say ER or you will get a deer in the headlight look) Doctor Keung told Dwight that he would need to have general anesthesia to take care of this. 

He had a blessing and was told he would recover quickly. President Erekson told him he was fired for the day and not to come back to the office. We went to the hospital, I dropped him off at the ED and went to find a parking spot. All the parking garages were full. I drove around for 1/2 an hour and finally parked illegally because the closest parking spot was 8 blocks away, knowing that most likely I would be towed away because it was right next to the security office. We only got a warning not to do that again.

Best. Illegal. Parking. Spot. Ever.

We eventually ended up in the surgical area and I'm pretty sure the bed linens hadn't been changed from the last guy that was there. 

This stuff was under the bed.

The Surgeon determined that he could have it drained with local anesthesia instead of general anesthesia. Which was quicker recovery.

He still has quite a hole on his body, but it is doing better. 

Other news:

We have a new BABY! 

Caleb and Sarah welcomed baby boy #5 into the world. 

(Ali continues her role as princess...)

Carson James Clayton

We can't wait to meet him and kiss his tiny neck...

3 of our parked cars were broken into a while back. The break-inners knew what they were doing. They only broke the small window out of the back of each car so the alarm wouldn't go off. They tore the steering columns apart and destroyed the ignition. Luckily the cars were new enough that when they tried to hot wire them, the alarm DID go off. 

I love our view out the lounge window. The temple is nearing completion. One day we will come back and attend this temple. 

Some more beauty to be enjoyed:

Just a picture of the amazing sky here. NO. Pollution. Ever.

Volcanos are everywhere. 

A Gardenia. The smell was unreal. My new favorite scent. 

A Pukeko

Gisborne on the East

Irregular Fruit--Fruit Huts

 The fruit that is a little different--has a brown spot, is the size of a cantaloupe instead of the perfect orange size, is an odd color or shape, is sold at little fruit stands all over the country side. All the fruit is just sitting there and you use the honor system. Put your money in a box and leave with your fruit. And the fruit is to drool over. 

McDonalds has become our restaurant of choice because of the friendly birds. 

Every Sunday we are greeted by this lovely driveway that leads to our little Branch. 

Our Raglan Branch Building

Unusual finds of the Week:

This car had tape all over it that said "EMERGENCY".  It was here for 2 weeks...Some emergency. 

Mild, Sweet and NUTTY?

Telephone booths are plentiful here.

These letters were sent in March of 2020. "Missent to Bermuda"? I don't see Bermuda anywhere on the address. Come on Covid. Enough already! 

What's for dinner:

Probably not at our house.

Elder Clayton picked up some burgers on sale the other day. They were really cheap! When he got up to the check stand, he realized they were GOAT Burgers. I'm not willing to try those either.

This is something you see quite often. Houses driving down the streets. They are moved off of property and several apartments are built in it's place.  We couldn't get home until the house was parked. 

I just have to share this. Houses are built behind each other. 

They stack them deep. 

When you stack houses, you have driveways like this. Everytime I see a driveway like this, I imagine it in Montana and how you would have to have a helicopter to get you from the bottom of the driveway to the house. 

Because of this

Sign at the Methodist and Presbyterian Church. Such wise advice! 

And this one gets the "Best Mailbox" award...

Adventures: 

We went to Gisborne for a Milkshake fireside with President and Sister Erekson.  

And pick up a wrecked car.

Was a bit hesitant to drive this little honey home through the GORGE, the windey roads, at sunset.

I don't know if you can see the Washing machine in the back seat. The Clampetts have nothing on us.

We did get to see the ocean.

And our room overlooked the port. 

We watched a ship being loaded with logs

And a tug boat pushed it out to sea.

Road Trip with the Atkins

Our mission couldn't end without one final road trip for flat inspections. 9 flats and 12 hours later, we stopped to eat. 

You ordered your choice of meat and it was brought out to you RAW!

Raw, but on a HOT STONE. You would cut a piece of meat off and let it sizzle to the doneness you desired. Mmmmmm. 

Elder Clayton had a fight with one of his pieces. 

The meat won. 

While in Gisborne, our Map lady's voice changed. We could not stop laughing. It sounded like she was sucking helium out of a balloon.

 This just confirmed to me that the Map person is a real person, personally directing each one us, and she had to take a potty break so her little sister took over for her...

This is our neighbor, Lorne. She has shown us so much love and kindness. She and Shadae were our Sacrament buddies during lockdown. We will miss her dearly. She brought Elder Clayton a green stone for his birthday. So grateful our paths crossed in the land of the long white cloud. Hope she can make it to the "Big Sky" Country of Montana when life has some semblance of normalcy.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”

Meet the NZHM totally worn out, thoroughly used up, Senior Missionaries that we have worked with during our 18 months here.

President Nelson tells the story of his daughter that died from Cancer. She was would never say "Goodbye". Instead she would always leave her loved ones with the words, "I love you", so the last thing that they would remember her saying was "I Love You!"

To my amazing fellow Senior Missionaries:

Wow! What a ride!

I love you.

Search Results

Featured snippet from the web

Sharing a Coke with my "Bestie"

God is good folks. He know us by name. He loves us when no one else can. He knows of our struggles, sadness, pains, successes, and happiness. He also gave his only Begotten Son to save our souls and enable us to return to his presence. 

We Love YOU,

Elder and Sister Clayton