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