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