Beach Trip, Whangarei South District Meeting, and Happy Easter! 

On Monday we got up fairly early for a P-Day. We had to travel 1 1/2 hours to Coopers Beach for our Northland Senior Missionary Activity. We had a total of 6 Senior couples. They try to have an activity once a month at a location near where the Missionary Couple that is planning it lives. This time it was at the topmost portion of the North Island. Now, we have a beach not very far from our front door, but we traveled 2 1/2 hours to join our fellow Senior Missionaries to go to their beach. 😊It was so much fun getting to know the other couples. We are the newest couple, but only by 2 weeks.

Lunch was delicious. Someone brough pulled pork for pulled pork sandwiches. Someone else brought oven roasted potatoes that were in something wonderful. So delicious. We also had a vegie tray, a yummy fruit salad, and of course cookies and desert squares.  We talked and visited and just enjoyed each other. The weather was a little breezy but not too cold. I only put my jacket on when the wind started picking up a little stronger. When it came time to leave, we all packed up and then stood around a talked for at least another 1/2 an hour. No one wanted to leave.  

On the way home, we stopped on the side of the road to have a Zoom call with Sierra's family. That was a lot of fun too. We talk with each of our children each month. Each child gets a week on their own.

On Tuesday morning I went out the front door to check if the trash needed to be put out. I walked right through cobwebs. That started the hour-long project of cleaning cobwebs all around the outside of the house. We were too late for the trash, but did manage to be in time for the recycling items.

Once we finished with that, we headed into Whangarei to enroll with a doctor's clinic. We have some prescriptions we need to get refilled, and we can't do that without being enrolled in the Medical system. As soon as they finish getting us enrolled, we will be able to get our prescriptions. 

After we finished that, we started visiting the members we had picked for the day. The first sister we visited was very sweet. She acted like she had seen us at Church, and we had a very nice visit. We realized about halfway through our visit that she wasn't the sister we were looking for. For one thing she mentioned she was 81 years old and the sister we were looking for was 92. She also mentioned her neighbor name and it wasn't the name we were looking for. Finally, she talked about the Kingdom Hall and we realized she was not a member of our Church. We still had a great visit with her. I think she welcomed visiting with someone. I left our "calling" card with her and told her to call us if she needed anything. She sent us on our with with a nice box of chocolate! The other three people we contacted didn't go nearly as fun. One wouldn't talk to us, one thought she had COVID, so we only talked a little through the screen door, and the last one was at the apartment, but she no longer lives there. She was visiting the people who live there now. I think they were family.

On Wednesday, we attended our first Whangarei South District Council. We were supposed to meet in the local chapel, but the Sister Missionaries were unable to get the key and so we held our meeting at a park nearby. Where we thought was a picnic table, turned out to be a big square bench kind of thing. Since we didn't want to sit with our backs to each other, we thought we would try the skateboard "bowl" and sit on the edges. It was a little tricky, but we managed to climb up the ramp and sit on the edge. Our meeting went very well. Again, I am so impressed by these young missionaries.

Thursday morning started with our SPF (Short, Power, Frequent) Zoom meeting. Our topic was the last week of the Savior's life. Several Sister Missionaries and Elder and Sister Bailey presented it. They did a very good job. We went over to the Hester's for a light lunch, before heading out visiting with them. They are so good to us. They have volunteered to help us move this week. Brother Hester has a trailer that he is going to bring down to help us. We will have to do something special for them after we get moved in.

We ended up staying home on Friday. We spent our time working on the Ward Directory, making birthday cards for members with birthdays in April, catching up on our studies since it has been hard to stay on top of that since we moved out to Bream Bay, and working on some stuff for HawkSoft. It is a long holiday weekend because of Easter. The whole island shuts down for Good Friday and Easter Monday. Stores close and everyone goes on holiday for the long 4-day weekend.

We planned on packing for Saturday. That didn't work out. We got a text on Friday evening asking us to clean up the side yard. Most of the yard work is done by gardeners. We don't ever go on the side of the house, so we didn't really think about it. We had a house inspection a week or so ago from the home association in the neighborhood. Apparently, they were the ones asking for the cleanup. So, we tackled it on Saturday. 

Steve did most of the tackling, as I was doing laundry and working on HawkSoft. I did go out and help with the picking up of everything when he was almost done hoeing and digging out the dead stuff. I think it looks pretty clean now. Our showers sure felt good after that was done.

Easter Sunday started early so we could make it to Church before 8:30. We had a lovely program. The Primary started the Easter story and sang a song. The Young Women continued the story out of the scriptures and sang a song. The Young Men continued with scriptures. Then ALL the Priesthood sang a song. Next, we finished the scripture story with our Young Missionary in the Ward. He also gave a brief talk. He was followed by our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Hester. The last speaker was Bishop Henare. He also gave a very nice talk. Elder Wilcox gave the closing prayer. We just had one meeting today. We were home by 11. We spent time reading and studying more about the Easter Story. After that, we made dinner together. We then settled down for a nice relaxing evening.

I hope you have all remembered why we celebrate Easter. The symbols of the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs should point us to the Savior. Easter Morning was His resurrection. He overcame death and paved the way for all of us to one day be resurrected. Our bodies and our spirits will be joined together, never to be separated again. Easter is related to new birth or a newness of life. Both the bunny and the egg symbolize new life. Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!

May you all have a VERY HAPPY EASTER!!!

Elder and Sister Wilcox

President Interview, District Meeting, SPF Meeting, and Zone Conference

We stayed home on Monday to recuperate from the very busy week and our move. I worked on the computer getting our Ward Directory into a format I could use for sorting. I'm able easily select members in a particular area or by age or anything else. It makes putting together a nice list for visits that are generally in the same place very easy.

In my front yard.

Tuesday started our busy schedule again. I don't think it will be this crazy all the time. Hahaha. While I was working on our daily planning schedule, we got a text from our District leader asking us if we would be willing to do the teaching segment of our DCM meeting on Wednesday. We got a quick start on it so we at least knew what we were going to talk about before we headed out on our visits. We had a meeting with President and Sister Allen scheduled for 3:30 Tuesday afternoon. While driving to our area, we got a call from President Allen asking us to find a place closer to Kamo for our meeting, instead of driving all the way out to Hikurangi. He mentioned maybe ice cream or a park. When we got to Whangarei, we checked out a few places but quickly discarded them because of parking and crowds. We thought about it some more while we visited.

President and Sister Allen and their friends.

We got another call from President telling us they were running late and could we meet at 4:30 instead. We said yes and decided against finding an ice cream place because it was too close to the dinner hour. We settled on Whangarei Falls. It was beautiful there. We had a wonderful visit with them and got to know each other better. Just as we were ending, Sister Allen invited us to go to dinner with them. They were meeting some other friends and wanted us to meet them. As it turns out, they only live a few blocks from our house in Bream Bay. We are already seen Tao out walking once this week. 

Taken from a bridge overlooking the golf course.
The back of our red brick house can be seen.

By the time we finished a delicious Thai dinner and a very enjoyable visit, we got home close to 9:00 PM. We still needed to finish preparing our training for the next morning. I think we got to bed around 11:30 or so. 

Wednesday started with another phone call from President Allen. He asked if I would be willing to briefly share what Easter means to me at our SPF Zoom meeting the next morning. He also said he would be attending our DCM. We headed to the DCM (District Council Meeting) in Hikurangi. There were more people there than usual. Come to find out, another District was meeting there so the young missionaries could have interviews with President Allen after the meetings. 

We had to wait for them
to cross the road.

Our meeting went well. President and Sister Allen were in the building, but not in our meeting. Just as we finished all the preliminary things we were ready to start the training. Elder Wilcox barely said three words when the door opened and in walked President and Sister Allen. 😱 We took a deep breath and went on with our training. It turned out well and everyone participated in a great discussion. After our closing prayer, President Allen gave an announcement. He said that Elder and Sister Wilcox (yikes, that's us) were going to split their time for a few weeks and report to the Whangarei South District in Bream Bay. We belong to the Whangarei North District. Anyway, the previous Senior Couple either went home or was transferred to the Cook Islands. (I know a couple got transferred to the Cook Islands, I'm just not sure if they were the ones working with the Whangarei South District or not.) The young missionaries are not supposed to be in the building without a Senior Couple for their district meetings. We should only have to do it for a few weeks while we are living in Bream Bay. They are supposed to be getting a new Missionary Couple soon. We did more visits Tuesday afternoon. Actually, we tried for visits but either they weren't home, they had locked gates and very big dogs, or they had moved. 😢

Elder Wilcox getting our
car ready for inspection
at Zone Conference.

Thursday started with our SPF (Short, Powerful, Frequent) Zoom meeting. President focused mostly on Easter. He ended with several people sharing about what Easter means to them.  got to go first. I felt impressed to share a scripture found in Mosiah 15:10 and a quote from Elder Merrill J. Bateman.

Mosiah 15:10 And now I say unto you, who shall declare his generation? Behold, I say unto you, that when his soul has been made an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. And now what say ye? And who shall be his seed?

Elder Merrill J. Bateman     

“The prophet Abinadi … states that ‘when his soul has been made an offering for sin, he shall see his seed’ (Mosiah 15:10). Abinadi then identifies the Savior’s seed as the prophets and those who follow them. For many years I thought of the Savior’s experience in the garden and on the cross as places where a large mass of sin was heaped upon Him. Through the words of Alma, Abinadi, Isaiah, and other prophets, however, my view has changed. Instead of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt ‘our infirmities’ (Hebrews 4:15), ‘bore our griefs, … carried our sorrows … and was bruised for our iniquities’ (Isaiah 53:4-5)."     And might I add, One by One!

“The Atonement was an intimate, personal experience in which Jesus came to know how to help each of us” (“A Pattern for All,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2005, 75-76).

Jesus saw ME as his seed. The Atonement is a very personal experience for me now. I ponder the Sacrament differently because of this. Every ordinance in the Church is performed One by One. Why wouldn't the Atonement, the greatest of all ordinances, be done One by One. Time stood still. 

Elder and Sister Kreutzkamp

And with that Sacred gift for each one of us, Jesus Christ has given us the greatest gift possible, the ability to return to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Celestial Kingdom. In other words, as D&C 13:7 says, "And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."

We spent the afternoon visiting members. We were able to visit two members and find out that a few had moved or were not home. It is all good. We had wonderful visits with the two we met.

Friday ended up being a very long day. It was ZONE Conference. It was WONDERFUL! I am so impressed with the caliber of young missionaries we have serving the people of New Zealand. They are all so strong and faithful. The entire conference was run by the young missionaries. President and Sister Allen addressed us in the opening remarks. All the other presentations and trainings were done by the young missionaries.

The Elders doing the Haka
for Elder and Sister Jones

Elder and Sister Jones will be leaving in a few weeks. Most of the young Elders and probably half of the young Sisters performed the Haka dance for the Joneses. It was pretty emotional. After the dance, we all sang "God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again."

We helped clean up the building after the Conference in preparation for our Ward's Relief Society Social later that evening. Then we left to grab a quick dinner. We also got the address of our "new" house in Kamo, so we drove by that to check it out. I'm so excited. It is a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood. We will move in around April 5th, maybe before. Then we headed back to the Hikurangi Chapel for our RS activity. We held a Service Auction. Steve got to be one of the Auctioneers. He did a GREAT job and had the sisters laughing and enjoying themselves. Brother Hester was the other Auctioneer. He did a great job too. Again, the sisters were laughing and enjoying themselves. It was a very fun night. We finished with Ice Cream Sundays. It was perfect.

Saturday was a catch-up day. We had laundry to do. We also had to prepare a lesson for our Temple Preparation Class on Sunday. We had planned on going out for a walk, but it rained pretty hard about the time we were ready to go. So, we just decided to be a little lazy for the day. 😇

We had a wonderful Sabbath day.  always enjoy going to Church. I love fellowshipping with the members of the Ward. I enjoyed the talks and our Relief Society class. We talked about President Ballard's last General Conference talk in October where he paid tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith. We shared testimonies and grew together in love. It was a really beautiful class.

Our New House (not our car)

After Church, we had Ward Council. We are feeling more comfortable at sharing and contributing. We got a list from the council about some members we can visit this coming week.

After Ward Council, we held our first Temple Preparation Class. I think it went really well. I already love everyone in our class. We keep Temple Prep classes small and personal. We had 4 there in class. We will also have the husband of one of our students in the future. He was home with the kids. Everyone participated and we had a good discussion. We won't meet again for a couple of weeks because of Easter and General Conference. 

The view out our NEW front yard.

After class, we drove by the "new" house again. It is so lovely. There is a beautiful forest right out our front window. We can hardly wait to move again. Hahaha. Actually, we just want the move to be over. We don't want to have to pack and unpack everything again. Hahaha

I hope you will spend time this week to read and ponder about the Savior and His great Atoning Sacrifice for us. The miracle of Easter is He rose from the dead on Easter morn. He gives that gift to everyone who has ever or will ever live upon this earth. ALL will be resurrected, never to die again. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! 

Our New Street Sign

May you all have a wonderful Easter!

All our Love,
Elder and Sister Wilcox

Hospital, Member Visits, and Move!

I'm so sorry this recap is so late. It has been a little crazy! Here is the recap of last week.

We spent pretty much ALL day at the hospital on Monday. Thankfully it wasn't very serious, just painful. On the Thursday or Friday before, Steve's toe started hurting. He thought he must have bumped it even though we remember doing anything that might have hurt his toe. The pain kept getting worse, but we didn't see any evidence of a bruise. Then we noticed it was very swollen and red. He thought it might have started to feel a little better, but it still hurt and even woke him up during the night. So, Monday morning we called the medical missionary at the Mission Office to see what it might be and we he should do. Elder Dayton said he thought it was probably gout and said he should go to the emergency room since we don't have a doctor in New Zealand yet. It turned out he was right. Steve got a prescription and is doing much better now.

Brother and Sister Hester

On Tuesday, we spent a delightful afternoon visiting with our Relief Society President and the Ward Mission Leader. They shared a little about themselves and we shared a little about ourselves. We became fast friends. We will be working with them in our work in the Hikurangi Ward. They want to take us out and introduce us to some members of the Ward to get us acquainted with who we will be working with. We learned a lot today.

Hepi and Steve

Wednesday started with our DCM (District Council Meeting). We have a wonderful District. We are the Whangarei North District, and the young missionaries are so awesome. I am very impressed. We also have three senior couples counting us. Everyone had great reports for the week. We didn't report on much except arriving in New Zealand. We hadn't really done much yet.

After a quick lunch at the Kreutzkamp's house, we went to visit a wonderful brother in our ward who had fallen a while before and had missed Church for three weeks. The Bishop asked us if we could check up on him. We had such a wonderful visit with Hepi. We found him sitting outside him home enjoying a beautiful afternoon. It was not too hot nor was it very muggy. We visited for a little while outside, when his wife came out and invited us inside. We visited with her briefly before she headed out to go walking with a friend of hers. 

Whangarei Falls

Hepi is a very interesting man. He has done so many things, some of which are owning several businesses, driving big rigs, managing a dairy and beef cattle farm, coaching rugby for many years (including national championship teams), serving the school board, and on the board of directors for the Maori community center called a Marae. It is a really big deal. It was very fun to hear all about him and his family. He is doing much better after his fall and will be back at Church on Sunday. He had been our working in his garden before we got there.

Thursday morning started with a Zoom Meeting called SPF. That stands for Short, Powerful, and Frequent. The meeting was short, and the missionaries are encouraged to teach that way. Make it short, powerful and frequent, but teaching them often. The Kreutzkamps did the training segment and did a great job.

Baptism of Debate with Elder Bailey,
Sister Liloux, Debate, and Sister Kinikini

After the meeting, some preparation, and lunch, we met with the Hesters again. They are the RS President and the Ward Mission Leader. We may be meeting with them weekly for a while. We split up and the Brothers when and visited some people and Sister Hester and I went and visited some sisters. We didn't see everyone on the list, but we did get to have some great visits with two different sisters. Both had fascinating lives to share. On our way home, we got a text from the Kreutzkamps informing us of a Baptism that evening. 

So, we went back to the house to meet up with the Kreutzkamps and then headed to the Hikurangi Chapel for the baptism of a very special sister. She was taught by the sisters in our district, so we try to support the district in their baptisms. It ended up being very long, because they didn't start filling the font early enough to be ready by 7:00. The Bishop "stretched" the meeting by inviting a few people up to bear testimony and they giving a fabulous impromptu talk. We just happened to be two of the ones he invited to bear testimony. It was amazing how the words just came to us. We both shared personal things about our own baptisms and what that meant to us. The Spirit felt very strong all night. After she was baptized, she got up and bore her own testimony. She shared briefly how she came to know the Church was true. It was very heartfelt and special.

On Friday, we got a call from Elder Jones. He had some good news for us. He secured a house for us!!! The bad news was it wouldn't be ready until April 3rd. The other good news was he had a temporary house for us we could move into the next day. The bad news was it was about 45 minutes further south, away from our assigned area. We figured we could live with the long drive for a few weeks.

After that news, we went with the Kreutzkamps to a school program not too far from where we were living. It was a warm day, but not too muggy. We headed over to the school. The whole thing was outside. There were about ten different schools represented. Each school got up and performed some Mauri songs and haka dancing. It was GREAT. We loved it.

After the Kreutzkamps took us to lunch, we headed out to visit a sister the Bishop asked us to check on. She suffered from a stroke quite a while ago and hasn't been able to go to Church. A couple of Brethren take her the Sacrament each week. He husband takes care of her 100%. He is such a kind and loving man. We had a wonderful visit getting to know them. He did most of the talking. He has worked on many of the chapels in the north region and had some wonderful stories to share. We go home in time say good-bye to the Kreutzkamps before they headed off to the Temple with their Branch. They decided to overnight it instead of driving it all in one day. It was a good decision.

Our New Temporary Home

Saturday was MOVE day. We got up kind of early so we could wash the sheets on the bed and remake it before we were to meet Elder Jones. We met up with him about 12:30. He had already started installing the washer and dryer. Elder Wilcox helped with that a bit and then helped with the fridge and the bed. That was about all Elder Jones had so he left, and we started unpacking. The house already had a sofa and TV. Elder Jones left a few folding tables and some chairs. It is bare bones since this is just a temporary house. However, we will be taking everything with us to the house in Kamo that we get in April. We will get some more furniture and whatever else we may need. This house was stocked with dishes and things from the previous missionaries. We will take them with us. It is an INCREDIBLE house. It has 4 bedrooms (two of which are empty), big living room, big kitchen, two bathrooms, laundry room, dining room, garage. It sits on a golf course and it just a short walk from the beach! WOW! The other house is supposed to be quite nice as well, but it won't be that close to the beach. The only drawback, (besides the distance) was all the spiders that were in the house. It had been vacant for a while, and they sort of moved in. It took us several hours to suck them all up in the vacuum cleaner. Now everything is practically perfect! We ended the day very late and completely exhausted.

Our First Cooked Meal

Sunday, we had to get up an hour earlier to get to Church on time. We barely made it. Just as we walked in about a minute before the meeting started, the sister in charge of the music was waiting for me to see if I was willing to lead the music again. I said yes. After Church, she asked if I would do it every week. It ended up being a very long Sunday. We hung around for a couple of hours after our ward ended so we could attend the Sacrament meeting for the sister who got baptized on Thursday. We wanted to be there for her confirmation. I'm so glad we stayed. We sat next to her and got to support her at this special time. We became good friends. I hope we get to see her again. 

Not far from our new home.

We went to our new home for about 1 1/2 hours so we could have dinner and then headed back to the Hikurangi Chapel for the Relief Society Worldwide Broadcast. It was a great broadcast and testimony meeting afterwards. From there we went home again to finally rest up from the weekend. Hahaha.

All our Love and Prayers,
Elder and Sister Wilcox

Whangarei and Hikurangi 

We had a busy week. Monday we were able to talk to Douhet's family on a monthly call we are doing with each of our kids. He is the oldest, so he gets the first week of the month. It was fun to see them face to face. Their whole family squished on the couch, so they had to move the camera from time to time to see everyone. We enjoyed that very much.

We ran a couple of errands in the afternoon and got caught in a nice rainstorm. I think it rained the hardest when we got to the grocery store, so we waited in the car until it let up enough to run in and not get too wet. By the time we were done it had quit raining for a while. Back at our flat we put things away and just poked around a bit before we heard a knock at the door. Elder and Sister Bailey stopped by to let us know about the Family Home Evening event that night at the Chapel. Just as they were leaving, I got a call from Sean about an SQL question he had, so we jumped on a Teams call. Before the call ended, he went into the living room so the family could say "Hi". Djeryd and Eva stopped by with baby Ruth, so we got to see her, too. She smiles when she hears our voice over the computer. 😁 It makes this great grandma very happy!

Tuesday was spent going to the Hamilton Temple. It pretty much took the whole day. We enjoyed that very much. I loved all the diversity of people in the Temple. It truly is a melting pot here. On our way home from the Temple, we stopped at the Mission Office to check on the progress of our flat up north. President Allen was there. He just got back from the Cook Islands. We were able to meet him and have a nice little visit. He said he was sending us up north to our new area. We don't have housing yet, but we can stay with a wonderful Senior Couple who has an extra bedroom and bath. They host a lot of visitors.

Wednesday marked the official start of our second week in New Zealand. We spent the entire day in our flat. We cleaned it in preparation for our move tomorrow. I worked a few hours on HawkSoft. Steve read the car manual. We have a really good car! He found out several things he wanted to know about. We did laundry. We played some games and just hung out for a very relaxing day.

Elder Bailey, Sister Geisler, and Elder Geisler

Thursday was our travel day. We had to do another load of clothes so we could wash the sheets for the next people to get the flat we were in. It gave us time to do all our packing. We headed out after lunch and stopped at the office to turn in our keys and say goodbye to our new friends. Then we stopped and visited an employee we worked with on our previous mission with Interpreters. He is in the area office but works from home. That was a fun visit that we had been planning on since we received our call. Finally, we were on our journey.

It was long, through lots of curvy roads. At times we were right next to the ocean. Other times we were in thick green foliage. It was a very beautiful trip. When we arrived, we had to wait a while, as Elder and Sister Freutzkamp were much further away in their assigned area. While we were waiting, Season called us over the Wifi, so we had a nice visit with him. We met and visited with our wonderful hosts for a while before we all headed to bed. We slept like logs. 

Steven Stebbings from Area Translation 

On Friday, we got to tag along with the Freutzkamps while they worked in their area. It is a long way away. It was a very long day, but we had so much fun. We did flat inspections of the young missionaries in the Stake. We stopped for lunch before heading to the Freutzkamp’s area. We visited many people. Sister Freutzkamp gave several piano lessons at the chapel. Elder Freutzkamp and Elder Wilcox gave two blessings. Lastly, we went to a brother's house where we had dinner. The Freutzkamps have a standing appointment every Friday. The food was delicious. He sent the left-over desert home with us. Everyone was so nice and friendly. We learned a lot and enjoyed even more. Everyone greets you with a hug and a kiss. It doesn't matter that we are strangers. It was wonderful.

Elders Wilcox and
Kreutzkamp

By the end of Friday, Elder Wilcox knew he needed to get some different shoes. You have to take your shoes off in every home you go to. Elder Wilcox's shoes are TIE shoes and don't slip on or off very easily. There usually isn't a bench to sit on, because everyone wears slip-ons. So, Saturday we headed to a little shopping mall in Whangarei where Elder Wilcox could get some new shoes. We also decided to get haircuts since we were beginning to get a little shaggy. The Kreutzkamps had an activity planned in their area so we had the day to ourselves. It gave me some time to get caught up on some work for HawkSoft. We also made it to bed fairly early since we have early morning Sacrament meetings for the next few months. 

They are remodeling the Stake Center in Whangarei, so now we have 3 more wards that meet in our building. We are the Hikurangi Ward. We start at 8:30 AM. Our Ward is wonderful. The Bishop is so kind and humble. He is so happy we are here. Before the meeting started, I was asked if I played the piano. I shook my head and said, "No." Then I was asked if I could lead music and I admitted that I could do that. The next thing I knew was I was leading the music in Sacrament meeting today. Elder Wilcox was called on to briefly introduce us. We were both invited to the Ward Council that met after Church. At that meeting we were asked to start a Temple Prep class. They are getting us access to the Ward Directory etc., so I think we are ready to jump in with both feet.

Mayree and Sister Kreutzkamp

We are still waiting on permanent housing. I talked to Elder Jones yesterday, and he said he should find out for sure on Monday. If we don't get the house he is trying to get, then he is looking at another one near the Freutzkamps. I wouldn't mind that, as they live in a very nice neighborhood.

Until next week, All our Love and Prayers,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Paradise, or in other words, New Zealand!!!

Ready to leave the MTC

Monday was the LONGEST day ever. We were up while it was still dark so we could check out of our room by 7:00. (It was more like 7:15.) We had to wait in the lobby of the MTC until our shuttle that took us to the SLC airport arrived at 11:15. We waited at the airport until about 4:30 PM when we were finally able to board the plane. That flight took us to the Los Angeles airport where we waited until about 10:45 PM, when we could finally board our plane to New Zealand.

We tried to spend our waiting time wisely. I worked on HawkSoft. We walked around a bit. We ate lunch in SLC and dinner in Los Angeles. And of course, we played some games on our tablet. The plane to New Zealand was an Airbus 350-900. That means it is pretty big. There were 9 seats across. Three on each side and three in the middle. We were in the middle of the back row of the Main 1 section. I actually liked our seats. Even though the flight was very full, we managed to just be the two of us in our row so that was nice. They fed us very well. Those flight attendants worked hard. We tried to sleep, but only managed to doze from time to time. I did most of my "sleeping" while supposedly watching movies. I tend to sleep at home when movies are on too. 

We have Arrived!!!

We arrived in New Zealand at 9:00 AM Wednesday morning. Tuesday disappeared sometime during the last movie. It went from Monday night to Wednesday morning just like magic. It took a little over an hour to go through customs. A friend of mine was here a week or so ago, and she said it took her 3 hours to go through customs. It really went pretty smoothly. The lines were long, but we got right through.

Elder Wilcox on the Left
side of the road.

Elder and Sister Geisler were there to greet us and take us to the Mission Office. I think it was about an hour's drive. We met Sister Jones and Elder Bailey in the office. Their companions were out at the time. We met them later. Next, the Geisler's took us to our temporary apartment so we could unload our luggage. Then we went to the grocery store a block or two away to get some groceries for just a few days. We dropped our groceries and then went back to the Mission Office so we could pick up our brand-new Toyota Corolla car. Pretty cool! Once back at the apartment we intended to shower and take a nap as we were very tired. We managed to shower and then spent time unpacking and getting situated. About the time we finished, The Geislers and the Joneses were knocking at our door to take us to dinner. It was a "short" walk to the restaurant they chose. Talk to Elder Wilcox about how "short" it was. I think his definition and their definition of short are two different things. We had a very nice time with the missionaries. We met Elder Jones; and, Elder and Sister Bailey met us at the restaurant. Needless to say, we slept GREAT that night.

The beach a couple of blocks
from our apartment.

Thursday, we ventured out on our own. Elder Wilcox did pretty good driving on the left side of the road. We only got lost a few times but managed to find our way back OK. We headed to the only Costco in New Zealand. It is about 30 minutes away. We needed to pick up a few things that we couldn't pack from home. For one thing, I wanted a monitor for my laptop. Two years on just the laptop screen was not going to work for me. We bought the display model because the monitor was being discontinued. We got a good price and were happy. After we made it home, I hooked up the monitor only to realize that it had probably been dropped at some time. The laptop recognized it just fine, but the display was a mess. It kept blinking in and out and there was a weird squiggly line and only part of the screen actually showed. Big disappointment.

Friday, we ventured out again. More shopping! I normally hate to shop, and today did not change my mind. We got a text message from one of the missionary couples we met more than a year ago. They were visa waiters heading to New Zealand and were waiting in our apartment complex in Salt Lake on our last mission. We met them and immediately were jealous because they were actually going to go to New Zealand. We exchanged contact information and have kept in touch. We also met a couple at the MTC who

The Bay Bridge

were also going to New Zealand. Both of those couples are assigned to the Hamilton Mission on an S&I Mission. They were coming up north to go to Costco today and wanted to know if we could meet for lunch.

So, we ventured out to Costco again. We had to return the broken monitor and get a new one that worked. We also wanted to pick up a few other things that we will need. At about noon, we went to the Food Court in Costco to save seats. We took two tables, the guys on one and the girls on the other. We had a wonderful time visiting and learning what each other is doing or going to do. Elder and Sister Welsh have been here the longest. Elder and Sister Hansen got here a few days before us. We hope to see them again.

The Norfolk Pine Tree

After lunch we did some more shopping. I got tired of that, but it was necessary. We missed a few turns and ended up going back to the same shopping center we were at earlier because we didn't know a different store we wanted to go to was in the same complex. I guess that is what you might call gaining experience.

After we got home about 5:00, I set up the new monitor and it worked perfectly. I put in a couple of hours on HawkSoft. The funny thing about that was the time difference. Even though it was March 1st where I'm at, the time sheet recorded it as February 29th, so I made it on the end of the pay period. Hahaha.

Suzanne and her family.

Saturday, we spent the afternoon with Suzanne Huffman Bharade and her family. She used to be one of my young women back in Oregon City. When they first moved to Oregon City, they only lived a few blocks from us. Then they moved closer to the Church. Anyway, I haven't seen her in over 12 years. She immigrated to New Zealand even before that.

She has a wonderful husband and delightful little boy. They took us to the Sky Tower in Auckland. It is the tallest building around. It kind of reminds me of the Space Needle in Seattle.

Elder Wilcox on top of the Sky Tower.\

After that we went to Mission Bay. It is a beautiful town on the beach. We walked along the beach for quite a while. Then we went for ice cream. The ice cream in New Zealand is so rich and creamy. We can't eat too much of it or we won't fit into our clothes anymore.

We spent ALL evening doing laundry. Everything in New Zealand is small. The washer and dryer are no exception. I think we could only put about 10 or 12 items of clothing in each machine. The wash cycle is 1.5 hours, and the dry is at least that or closer to 2 hours. I think for the future, we will do laundry multiple times a week, so it doesn't take a full day anymore.

Sunday! We are still in Auckland, so we attended the Takapuna Ward. We LOVED it. The Bishop is from Brazil. He was really quite funny and yet very spiritual. 

Our Temporary Apartment

He bore his testimony about Temples and Missionary work. He shared an experience when he was taking a bus load of members to the Temple in a different country. This was when he lived in Brazil. When they got to the border they were stopped, and everyone had to get out. The guards were very mean looking and carried guns. They pointed them at everyone, including the kids that were going to be sealed to their parents. The Bishop proceeded to talk to the guard. At first the man was very gruff. He asked them where they were going. He didn't know what a Temple was. As the Bishop explained things, including the fact that everyone had a obtain a Temple Recommend to enter the Temple signifying they were keeping the commandments and being honest, the guard became less hostile and even somewhat friendly. Finally, the man told them to not show their passports, but instead to show their Temple Recommends. He looked at all of them, including the youth recommend for the kids, and said, "oh good. You are all honest. You can go to your Temple." He didn't check any luggage or anything.

Everything is smaller in New Zealand

The other testimonies that were born today were equally spiritual. We loved hearing all of them. I loved all the different accents...especially the New Zealand accents. 

Our weather was a little cooler today. We still hit the low 70s and the humidity was above 80%, but there was a nice gentle breeze all day. It was very pleasant. We spent a nice relaxing day in our apartment.

All our Love and Prayers,

Elder and Sister Wilcox