Transfers, Seminary Zoom, the End of Bream Bay!

We had a very unusual Monday this week. It was Transfer Day. No, we were not transferred, but we were asked to go to Auckland for the day. We left immediately after Seminary and arrived a little after 10. It was kind of a zoo all day. They had the missionaries come in stages. The sisters were there from 10 to 11. The new trainers were there from 11 to noon. And the Elders were there from noon to 1. In a perfect world that is the way it would have worked. It may have started with sisters only, but as soon as they started getting into the next time slot, we had both sisters and Elders for the rest of the day. There were still some around until 3:00 or later. Most of the ones that were late were those waiting to go to the airport to go home.

Cool escalators that lock
the trolley so it can't roll.

We weren't going to meet up with Elder Bailey until 3:00, so we took off on a Costco run around 11. We picked up some lunch, too. There is only one Costco in the entire country, so we save our trip to when we go to Auckland on a Temple trip. This was a bonus trip. Lol. Anyway, we hung around and talked with young missionaries and met several Senior missionaries in the Auckland area. It was a lot of fun. I spent quite a bit of time with Sister Garner about some housing issues we are dealing with. Have I mentioned Bream Bay? Hahaha 

About 3:15 we finally got together with Elder Bailey and another couple in Auckland that is going to help with vehicles in the south. We will meet the new coordinators next week when we go to the Temple. They are Service Missionaries and will only work part-time. I think that is why they are getting some additional couples to help. We were there to observe the transfer day process so we can train the Service Missionaries next transfer after the Baileys go home.

On our walk.

We took our P-Day on Tuesday. I also had my first online Zoom class in the morning. I will be teaching via Zoom every Tuesday and Thursday. We have about 8 or 9 kids that are in Seminary. On Mondays, we usually get 4 or maybe 5 in person. We have another 2 or 3 on Zoom. The Zoom combination with in-person is difficult. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, three of our in-person students have sports so they do not come to Seminary. They do make-up lessons. That means there is usually only 1 student (maybe 2) that shows up in-person, plus the other 2 or 3 on Zoom. The Seminary teacher thought it might be a better experience if they were all on Zoom for those days. It definitely makes the Zoom portion easier because there are lots of interactive things we can do with everyone on Zoom that you can't really combine with people in-person. Or you can do the interactive with the in-person, but not with the zoom people. Anyway, we are trying this for a few months to see if it works better for the kids. We had a few glitches on Zoom for the first class, that I'm sure will smooth out in time.

Sunrise during Seminary

Our "P-Day" was not exactly a normal P-Day. Steve installed a washing machine in the Elders' flat. We brought it with us from Auckland. I spent much of the day preparing for my lesson on Thursday. I also spent time communicating with the property manager for the house in Bream Bay so we could get the remaining "issues" resolved.

The Elders taught Seminary Wednesday morning. They did a really good job. It was the Part 1 to my lesson. We went for a nice walk when we got home. With everything that has been going on, we have missed our walks lately. 

Another picture from one of our walks.

From there we went to DCM. We combined both Districts again so we could play a "getting to know you" game. We had lots of new missionaries in both districts. Elder Wilcox and I presented a spiritual thought on our personal scripture studies. Steve shared Moses 6:5-7 that talked about the priesthood. I chose Mosiah 24:13-14 that talked about how the Lord was going to deliver the people of Alma from bondage and how He eased their burdens while they were in bondage. It emphasized that because they had humbled themselves, kept their covenants with Him, and called upon Him to deliver them, He had compassion for them and delivered them. They were to stand as a witness that God visits His people in their afflictions.

Sister Budge and her "split" companion came over to our house for a meeting and then Sister Budge's pathway class. We made them lunch and spent some time getting to know the new missionary in our district. Sister Bird went back to study, and I did some work on Thursday's Seminary lesson. I also started working on the mean for Zone Conference in June. Sister Bailey has been doing meals for all the Zone Conferences, but she is going home with Elder Bailey. Now each Zone will be responsible for their own meals, and I have been asked to take charge of the Hikurangi meal. We are getting a roasted pig donated by a local member. I just need to organize side dishes. All the Seniors are so good it is a piece of cake to "be in charge." 

Between rainstorms.   

Thursday started with my Zoom Seminary lesson. It went well. We did breakout sessions that turned out good too. We had our SPF zoom meeting with the mission. President Allen talked about some chapters in Alma that will help us grown our testimonies. We walked after that. We still had some time before Sister Budge and her new companion, Sister Szott, came over for Companionship Study. The Elders are now going to study with the Kreutzkamps. Anyway, I used that time to work on HawkSoft for a while. The Sisters arrived and we had a great study session. Since it was noon again, we made them lunch again. Our next session will be at 10:30 on Tuesday and I told them "No lunch." Hahaha.

You can see the
Double Rainbow

When they left, we headed to Bream Bay again for some final work. From the correspondence with the property manager, we had to remove a few more things, including some hooks on the wall. We also had to brush off the cobwebs around the house again. After we got home, I got a response from the missionaries who lived in the house before we moved in to find out what was there when they moved in. There were several things that were not Church issued so we didn't know if they came with the house. We found out that they bought quite a few things that we had left behind because we didn't know.

So, on Friday we went back to Bream Bay for the final inspection. We got there an hour early so we could collect the rest of the things we had left behind. We picked up all the garden tools, two potted plants, a picture, and a set of curtains and a rod. The property manager arrived, and we did our walk through. It looked like she was pleased. She didn't have any other complaints or requests for us to do anything. We were happy to turn the keys over and head back home. On our way home, we did some visiting. We dropped by two homes to visit and drop off birthday cards. 

We went to the Elders' flat Saturday morning to check in with them about the flea issue they reported. Apparently, they have had fleas since they moved in many months ago. The Garners sent a list of things to do and things to buy to help with the infestation. We wanted to go over the list with them. We offered to buy all the products since it is easier for us to get reimbursed than for them. They must wait until someone comes up from Auckland. I am set up as a vendor, so they just do a direct deposit for us. We found out while we were there that their keys don't work so they can't lock the flat when they leave. We called Elder Garner to see if we could get some keys made for them and he gave us the go ahead.

So, we headed to Whangarei to pick up the supplies and to get haircuts while we were out. Then we headed back to the Elders' flat. Two of the Elders were back with we arrived, so we gave them the stuff and instructions on how to use it. We then tried the keys and none of them worked. We then tried OUR keys for their flat and they didn't work either. Apparently, when the Kreutzkamps inspected the flat before and we did last month, the Elders were there and let us in so we never used the keys. I called Elder Garner back to see if we needed to get a locksmith. He said he was going to check his stash of keys to see if he had any others. We may pick them up on our way back from Auckland next week, or they will have to wait until Zone Conference. The Elders said they had a couple of skeleton keys, and it turned out that one of them worked on the back door. The back door also has a dead bolt, but that is one of the locks we don't have a key for. And there is only one skeleton key, so they still can't lock the door because there are two sets of Elders in the flat. Oh well, we will get it straightened out eventually. 😊

Sunday was rainy in the morning and absolutely beautiful in the afternoon. It poured all the way to Church and lightened up long enough for us to walk into Church. Our meeting was good. I really enjoyed our speakers. Steve was sustained as the new Ward Clerk. Their previous Ward Clerk was sustained as the Stake Clerk last week. They did the setting apart during the second hour and he was taking notes for Ward Council after Church. We had a fairly relaxing afternoon after Church.

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

FHE, Farewell DCM, More Bream Bay House, and Stake Conference

I couldn't resist a picture
of Ruth.

Our P-Day was nothing like last week. We stayed home and took care of a few neglected things we've been trying to get done. We started with Seminary. I presented the lesson and I think it went pretty good. I received several more Mother's Day greetings as our Monday is the US Sunday. It was very sweet to get them. Anna's text was so touching it made me cry. I love my family so much.

We made some foot warmers to keep Steve's feet warm in bed. We had a wonderful Zoom call with Season's family. Madison was home from college, so it was wonderful to see and talk to her. We talked to everyone except Brooklyn since she was at work. I love our weekly video calls with our family! I'm not sure we could do this without modern technology. I also worked on some HawkSoft for a while.

We had the Elders and the Davises for Family Home Evening. We should start getting a few more each week. We have to cancel next Monday as we will be in Auckland for the day. I hooked up my laptop to our TV and we discussed the same information I gave for my Seminary lesson. We had a very nice discussion and a fun time playing our game. I love our Family Home Evening. I'm anxious to get more people join our group. 

The two girls next to me are going home.

We went to The Chemist Warehouse after Seminary on Tuesday morning. We have been waiting for Steve's prescription for weeks. It finally came in and we were able to pick it up. We shouldn't have any problems in the future. They now have fixed our phone number and our address. That made all the difference. 😊

After our scripture study and daily planning, we headed out to visit. I printed up some little invites for Stake Conference that we handed out to those we visited. It is always nice to have an invitation to something to give them. We made sure we were back home before Sister Budge got there for her Pathway class. 

Sister Kinikini and Sister Hinton

We had our "transfer" DCM meeting combined with the South District. Two of our beautiful sisters are going home on Monday. We had a RWH (Return with Honor) party. The Elders took care of everything. They decorated with balloons, streamers, and a streamer curtain. Another sister was celebrating her 9 month mark. At the end of our meeting (before the party), nearly every young missionary bore such strong testimonies. It was very touching. The Spirit was strong. 

After the closing prayer, the "party" started. The Elders brought out three little cakes and some ice cream. They sang to the three girls. We took lots of pictures, gave lots of hugs, and shed a few tears too.

Cleaners Cleaning

President and Sister Allen called us this morning to see if we would be willing to serve as assistant vehicle coordinators. Elder and Sister Bailey are leaving in a month. A new service missionary couple will take their place, but they only work part time and won't start for a couple of weeks. They won't have the opportunity to see how transfers work before the Baileys leave. So, we will learn the ropes and train the new couple next transfer. We will also act as assistants to be a backup for the new couple to answer questions that occur when the other couple is not working.

Around 5:00 we got a call from Elder Garner. He asked if we could meet with one of the property managers about two apartments in our area that they have some issues with. He thought an in-person meeting with the property manager would be best. Since it was after 5:00 I emailed to try and set up an appointment for Friday.

The Storm

Thursday was long and somewhat boring. After Seminary, we quickly changed clothes and packed a lunch before heading to Bream Bay again. We met the cleaning crew to take care of cleaning the windows inside and out, shampoo the carpet, and take care of the spots on the walls and ceilings. I was told it might be around 3 hours. We let them in and headed to the beach around the corner. Our original plan was to take a nice walk, but it was rather stormy. The wind was blowing and it rained off and on all day. So, I pulled out my laptop and worked on several different things.

After a couple of hours, we headed back to the house and parked in the garage. I needed to plug my laptop in. We pulled out our camp chairs and plugged the laptops in the garage. I had Elder Wilcox join my Zoom meeting so I can see what the Seminary students will see. I want to teach them how to use some features like writing on a whiteboard or sharing their screen. Their interface looks different than mine as the host. AFTER 7 hours they finished and we headed home. We got there with enough time to grab our music and head to choir practice. Our final choir practice went well.

On Friday, we borrowed a water blaster (power washer) from Brother Ah Mu so we could get rid of the moss on the walkway in the side yard at the house in Bream Bay. While Steve took care of the walkway, I contacted the property manager. I then called Sister Garner to report. We went back and forth a few times. We will be making a few visits over the next few days.

In the middle of all that we got an urgent message about another change for our Stake Conference. To summarize: Originally, we were supposed to have Stake Conference at the Stake Center that has been under construction being remodeled to make it bigger. It was supposed to be done by Stake Conference. That didn't work, so the Stake tried to make arrangements to hold it in the auditorium at the Whangarei Boys High School but were told it was booked already. Then they decided to have 4 wards show up at our chapel in Hikurangi and broadcast to several other buildings for the other wards and branches. That was where it was at last Sunday and that is what was told to the Saints. 

On Monday we were told our visiting authority wanted to see everyone in person, so it was announced we would hold two sessions of conference in Hikurangi. One at 10:00 with 4 wards and branches, and a second one at 2:00 with 4 wards and branches. That was the flyer I printed, and we delivered all week to let people know. That was going to be tough on our little choir. We had about 10 children in the choir, and it would be hard for them to sit through two full sessions of conference. Our choir is AWESOME. Everyone agreed to do both sessions. I was very humbled.

The urgent message on Friday was we were now going to all meet together at 10:00 at the Whangarei Boys High School. Apparently, the event that was scheduled was cancelled. The Lord knew we needed to all meet together. I spent the rest of the time, while Steve cleaned the walkway, sending out all kinds of messages about the change for conference. Steve finished about that time so we could rush home in time to meet the Elders for our Comp Study.

Sister Hinton, Sister Lilloux, and Sister Kinikini

Saturday morning, we took care of a few things around the house like washing the car, doing laundry, grocery shopping, and working on my Seminary lesson.

We headed to the leadership meeting of Stake Conference in the afternoon. Our visiting authority is Elder Paul B. Whippy, an Area Seventy based in Suva. He was so tender and spiritual. He shared great stories and also has a great sense of humor. In our leadership meeting he introduced a pilot program for the Pacific Area that we will be participating in for the next three to six months. I expect we will see some great results and the leadership embraces this.

Sister Kreutzkamp played the piano and I conducted both the leadership and the adult sessions Saturday. Three of our sister missionaries played and sang a beautiful prelude number. For the evening session, both Sister Hinton and Sister Kinikini were back. They attended the Temple that morning and got permission to come back to Stake Conference because they are in my choir for Sunday. Anyway, they were sitting right next to us on the front row of the right-hand side near the piano and organ. Sister Lilloux played prelude music and accompanied the special numbers in both sessions. Near the end of the adult session, the Stake President started doing sign language and mouthing words to the sisters. I thought he was asking them to bear their testimonies, but that wasn’t the case. He finally texted Sister Lilloux and asked the sisters if they would sing a song at the end of conference. They gave a thumbs up.

They whispered a few things back and forth and then settled down to listen to Elder Whippy give the closing talk. He shared story after story about different ways to minister to people and help them get on the Covenant Path. Some stories were personal, others were about other people doing the ministering. It was all so beautiful and loving. The whole meeting was that way. I think the Stake President mentioned to Elder Whippy that he had asked the sisters to sing a song after the closing prayer, because Elder Whippy ended about 10 minutes before the hour. When the closing prayer was said, the Stake President asked everyone to remain in their seats for a few minutes for a special musical number, then he nodded to the sisters, and they got up to sing. They motioned to Sister Budge and Sister Griffin to join them. Then they sang a BEAUTIFUL arrangement of I Know That My Redeemer Lives with interludes and a second ending. The music was straight out of the hymn book, but the arrangement and flair was all Sister Lilloux. The other impressive part about this is they had never practiced a note. It was all on the fly. I cried!

Whangarei Boys High School

We left early Sunday morning to get there in plenty of time to check out the auditorium for Stake Conference. Thankfully all the chairs were set up. The only thing we had to do was set up the chairs on the stage. The first row was for the speakers, the next two rows were for the choir.

The stage was not very deep and only three rows would fit. I would have preferred it to be deeper so we could have had more narrow rows and more of them. The choir was spread out very wide and it was hard to hear them. Several people in the audience told me they sounded beautiful. I’m glad the microphones worked. I also had to conduct the music for the hymns. The music stand was in front of the first row. There was not much room. I felt OK when leading the music for the congregation. When I turned the music stand around so I could lead the choir, I worried that I might fall off the stage. Thankfully I didn’t!

It appears the sound system was great for the audience; however, those of us on the stage could only hear muffled sound at best. We would pick up a few words here and there. Some speakers I didn’t understand at all. The others I at least got the basic premise of their talks. From what I heard was wonderful. It was so nice to meet Elder Whippy and even talk to him several times. I’m so glad the choir got lots of complements. They really did sound good. The pianist and I were so happy it was finally over.

Once home, we had a fantastic Zoom call with MyLiege’s family. It is so fun to talk with each person in the family as they share the different things they are doing. Anna graduates in two weeks!  I can’t believe that because that means I have FOUR beautiful grandchildren graduating this year. Kinzley, Brooklyn, Anna, and Joey. I can’t believe they are that old. It has been a GREAT day.

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

P-Day, Bream Bay House, Choir,  Funeral, Mother's Day, and Ward Conference

Our Senior Missionary P-Day started right after Seminary. We quickly changed and hit the road for a long drive to Manea Footprints of Kupe. It is a Māori Museum. We had two wonderful tour guides who told us all about the history of how the Māori came to New Zealand. They have some beautiful and very unusual carvings of their ancestors and gods. They told us their stories and beliefs. Near the end of the tour, they had a video and interactive presentation. Our tour guides interacted with the video in dance, song, and storytelling. They had some special effects, too. We all enjoyed it very much. I think we had a total of seven couples. It was so much fun to visit with them and enjoy this cultural event together. 

After our tour, we had a very nice lunch al fresco. And from there we went to see the Tāne Mahuta tree about a half hour away from the museum. It is the largest known living kauri tree in New Zealand. We had to scrub the soil off our shoes and have them sanitized before we could walk into the forest on a special walkway to see the tree. It was a WOW moment. 

The day was actually a miracle as it was supposed to rain all day. We had rain on the drive over and a few little drops here and there while we were outside, but the downpour didn't come until on our way home. Tender mercies.  Once we got home, we had time to get ready for Family Home Evening. I made brownies, and Steve cut up ice breaker questions for our getting to know you game. The Elders showed up, but no one else did tonight. We will continue to invite. We had a fun time with the Elders.

Tuesday started with Seminary again. On the way home we stopped by the Elders' flat to pick up several broken chairs. They don't give the young missionaries these wooden chairs anymore because they break too easily. Now they have heavy duty plastic chairs and are practically indestructible.  After a visit with a couple of our seminary students, we headed home to meet up with Sister Budge for her Pathway class.

Wednesday started with Seminary and then our District Council Meeting (DCM) and finally a nice visit with Joe. After that we packed a nice lunch and headed to the Bream Bay house to do some cleaning in preparation for our final inspection on the 24th. We decided to eat our lunch at the beach since it was a beautiful day. I worked in the house vacuuming up spiders and cobwebs. Steve worked outside weeding and brushing down all the cobwebs around the house. We left after several house. Still more to do.

Our Thursday was a little more traditional. We had Seminary, then picked up a few groceries on the way home. We had our weekly Zoom SFP meeting with the mission. Sister Allen shared about the Pacific Area meeting in Tahiti they recently returned from. It sounded awesome. Elder Soares was the visiting General Authority.

Our Tour Guides

After the SPF meeting, our Ward Elders came over for our weekly Companionship Study. We had a wonderful discussion on Faith in Jesus Christ. We shared scriptures and insights we all have experienced. I really enjoyed it. I spent a little time working on our Temple Prep lesson before we headed to Sister Collins' house for a nice visit with her and her husband. She is pretty much confined to her easy chair and doesn't communicate very well. Her husband is a great talker. We always enjoy visiting with them. 

We got another email from Sister Garner about the Bream Bay house. We were trying to get a straight answer on what they needed done. At first, they were trying to get us (the Church) to replace the carpet because it is badly worn in the master bedroom. We can prove it was before we ever leased the property. So now they just keep sending the list of things to do, which includes professional cleaning of the carpet. So, I started trying to find a company to do the carpet and windows all before May 24th. Everyone I talked to was booked through the middle of June.

We finished the day with choir practice. We did not have all our choir members, so it made me a little nervous. We were scheduled to on Sunday. Most of our children were not there and they do a whole verse by themselves. I prayed they would all be there on Sunday. 🙏

We planned on going back to Bream Bay on Friday but got an invite from our Bishop to attend a funeral in a Marae. Typically, the family and friends will have a ceremony for about three days. The body lies on a marae. A marae is kind of a community center for the Māori. It is made up of a courtyard and several buildings that surround the courtyard. They hold weddings there too, as well as other things for the Māori community. The body is placed in a beautifully woven sack. It is open for a day or so, while the family and friends gather together to share memories and songs. There is food too.

On the final day they have the funeral. This can actually be done twice. They will have one at the marae and if the Church is close, they may take the body to the Church and hold another funeral ceremony. We only did it at the marae today.

Before the actual funeral started, several people sang. Some were solo songs, and many others were joined by the whole congregation of people in the marae. We recognized a few songs even though they sang them in Māori. We sang in English. Others we did not know at all. ALL of them were so beautiful. I think I loved the singing most of all.

The funeral itself was similar to what we are used to. The oldest daughter shared the eulogy. She had some wonderful stories to tell about her mother. Two of her brothers also shared their thoughts and feelings. A group of her grandchildren sang a beautiful song called Testimony. It was the same song the missionaries sang for the devotional last Sunday. Most everyone stood up when the songs were sung as a sign of respect. 

After the closing prayer, they carried the body out of the marae followed by family members and then friends. Many of them proceeded to walk up a very steep hill behind the marae to the graveyard, where they buried her and dedicated the grave. It was a very beautiful ceremony. I’m so glad we had the opportunity to attend.

Saturday, we were back at the Bream Bay house. We did some more things around the house. I mopped all the floors and cleaned the blinds. Steve worked in the yard again as well has changing some light bulbs and a few other things in the house. We met a cleaning professional around noon and got a bid for the work we wanted done. Since the other guy never showed up, I went with the guy that did show up. We will meet him and his crew next Tuesday morning. On our way to the house, we got another text from Elder Garner asking us to stop by the Elders' flat to check out the bad leak they reported from their washing machine. They said it was flooding the washroom. 😮 Since we had to pick up the keys, I had Steve drop me off so I could finish preparing all the lessons we are giving. So, I spent the rest of the day working on several lessons and doing laundry.

Sunday dawned bright and early. We were singing for Ward Conference, so I had the choir come early so we could run through the song. It was a good thing we went even earlier than the practice, because Bishop needed some help on the computer that I was able to help with. I was a little worried because we didn't have many people show up early from the practice. It was also Mother's Day, and our song was about mothers. Thankfully, people started joining the choir in the choir seats. Over the course of several weeks' practice, we have never had the same number of people at practice. Everyone that showed up had been to at least one practice so that was good. We ended up with about 8 or 9 children and youth, so our children's verse turned out very well. The rest of the choir filled out well also. The whole song turned out beautiful. I was able to breathe a nice sigh of relief when it was over. Everyone seemed to really like it. The counselor in the Stake Presidency came up to the piano player (Sister Horsford), Sister Ah Mu (ward music leader), and me to talk about Stake Conference next week. Our choir is singing two songs for that. He asked Sister Horsford if she was willing to play the organ next week for the Sunday Session. Sister Kreutzkamp is playing for both sessions on Saturday. He then asked if I could direct for both Saturday sessions as well as on Sunday. One good thing came out of all that directing. I put my Fitbit watch on my right wrist and I get to count ALL those movements as STEPS. Hahaha. I get a good workout directing the music. 

Ward Conference was very nice. During the second hour, we met with the counselor in the Stake Presidency where Elder Wilcox received a new call. I mention what it is in two weeks after he gets sustained and set apart. We talked with the Seminary teacher about some changes that are happening there. It looks like we will be holding in-person lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays when most of the kids show up. Tuesdays and Thursdays we will have only Zoom meetings. I will be doing those lessons, and we can do that from our house. We don't have Seminary on Fridays. This coming week will be "normal." We will implement the new changes next week.

We finished out the day with a special Temple Devotional Sunday night. It was a very inspirational Devotional. They made two key announcements. They are starting a Temple Bus once a month. The Stake Presidencies of both the Whangarei and Kaikohe Stakes talked with the Temple President and have arranged a special time once a month for just our Stakes. They will open the Temple much earlier on Saturday morning for our two Stakes to do ordinances. At first it will be 50 seats on the bus. Of course, we can drive ourselves if we want, but we need to let them know as the number of available ordinances will be limited. Everyone was very excited for this. They also said this will pave the way for a Temple to be built in Northland someday. If we can consistently get our members to the Temple, we will be able to qualify for a Temple of our own. I LOVE THE TEMPLE!

All our Love, 
Elder and Sister Wilcox

Seminary, Family, Walks, Meetings, Inspections, and so forth...

Emma in Réunion

I think we are officially integrated into the Ward! We were asked to help with Seminary because the 2nd adult was sick. She was supposed to come back on Wednesday morning, but her mother is sick, and she has gone to take care of her. So, now we are the second (and third) adult until they can find someone else to be a second. It is OK; however, we need to adjust our going to bed time. Lol. It is a small class that is held at the home of the Seminary teacher. By the end of the week, she asked if I would be willing to start teaching on Mondays to give her a little break.

Since it was P-Day we did our Zoom call with Sierra's family. We were supposed to do it a little earlier so we could have Alena on the call. She is currently working in Newport, but Sierra and Shonee when home a little early because of the weather. So, we called Alena and talked to her until Sierra and Shonee got home. We had a lovely visit with Alena learning all about her job and what is going on in her life. We had a great Zoom call with the rest of the family. I love catching up each week with one of our children and their families. After a nice and fun call with Sierra, we sent Emma a message to see if she would like a video call. She is currently living in a place called Réunion, which is near Madagascar.  It was the middle of the night for her. She texted us back a couple of hours later and we had a wonderful video call with her. I love modern technology that allows us to see and talk to everyone in real time.

Tuesday started nice and early again with Seminary. When we got home, we did our Scriptures Study and then went for a nice long walk. We had a little break from the rain that had been going on since the middle of the night. It started to drizzle on the last little bit, but for the most part we were rain free.

We visited several people and invited them to our Family Home Evening group and a Musical Devotional that is on May 5th. We had to rush back to get home in time for Sister Budge to do her Pathway class. Luckily the class got postponed for 30 minutes, which gave us enough time to get home and her settled before her class started. The last person we visited to a lot longer than expected AND they lived a lot further away than the other. Everything turned out all right. We will make sure we are home before 2:30 next week.

Wednesday, again started with Seminary. We did our walk when we got back and then headed for our DCM meeting. The South District is also meeting at our building, so we were able to connect with Sister Buchanan. Elder and Sister Buchanan have an electronic picture frame exactly like we do, so they let us borrow their remote control. We were able to connect our picture frame to our Internet. Now we have our New Zealand pictures added AND it shows the correct date and time. I have also programed the sleep schedule and the motion sensor, so we don't even turn it off now. It goes to sleep when no one is in the room, or it is nighttime. Pretty cool.

Cool face on a tree in our forest.

We held another Missionary Choir Practice after our meetings in preparation for the Musical. I think we are sounding pretty good. We visited five more people on our way home. We met with four out of the five people so that was good. We had some really good visits. We invited all of them to the Devotional. We also invited several of them to our Family Home Evening group.

When we got home, we connected the picture frame to the Internet. Then it was time to go to the Hesters for dinner. It had been a while since we had been together. We had a wonderful visit with them.

Thursday was a little different for us. After Seminary and our walk, we had our SPF Zoom call with the mission. Then we did Flat Inspections. We have our Denby Sisters as well as the Elders from our ward. The Elders share their flat with another set of missionaries. We did the Sisters' flat first. They did a great job. We found a couple minor things that we had to dock a point for, but they made up for it by doing some extra create stuff, so they got full marks. We left them some candy for a job well done. I told the missionaries we would be coming sometime that week, but I didn't tell them when. So good job to the Sisters.

The Elders were pretty good. We did have to start in a different room so they could quickly do the dishes. They had a few more things that we docked points for and ended up 10 points below the max. It was still good enough to give them candy. Lol.

We stopped at four more houses on our way home. No one was home so we left Devotional Invites. We did find out one person moved. The Elders showed up for Comp Study not long after we got home. We had a good discussion about Preach My Gospel and then about the people we are both working with. I am so glad we meet each week. After they left, I worked on HawkSoft for about 1 1/2 hours before we headed to Choir Practice. We had such a good turnout. We sounded so good. I actually think we can pull this off.

Sister Lawrence at the Whangarei Quarry Gardens

On Friday, we slept in a bit. No Seminary. I ended up staying home all day as I had a lot of things to catch up on. We had several people drop by for various reasons. We had a sister show up to pick up some large pieces of cardboard what we had from our furniture boxes. Then, because several of the boxes had a bunch of Styrofoam in them, we had to pile that up to go out in the rubbish. Of course, that ended up leaving lots of little Styrofoam beads all over the garage. So, we spent the next half hour cleaning up the garage and vacuuming it. Did I tell you we have carpet in our garage? We have a tarp on the floor so we can park in the garage. We no sooner finished that, than Elder and Sister Garner dropped by. They had a big checklist and keys for closing out our house in Bream Bay. Elder Garner asked us if we would be willing to do the walk through with the leasing company. We said yes, before we read the list of everything that needs to be done. I checked with Elder Garner, and we can hire out a lot of the stuff like shampooing the carpets, washing the windows inside and out, maybe touching up the walls, etc. We left the house clean when we moved out, but we didn't wash windows. Lol.

We did our walk before Steve took off to take care of the Elders' flat. They had a leaky toilet, and Elder Wilcox knows how to fix it. He talked to Elder Garner, and he told Steve to go ahead and take care of it. So, Steve bought the part and a new toilet seat (the other one was disgusting) and headed over to fix it. I didn't need to stand around while he worked on that, so I stayed home and worked on other things like HawkSoft. Later, the Bishop stopped by to see if I could help him with his Tools app on his phone. I first had him sign in on Steve's computer. Everything looked good, so I knew he knew what his credentials were. Next, he tried signing into his phone. Big error message. He told me how old his phone was, and how the app used to work but suddenly stopped working. I decided to have him sign in on my phone. He did and was able to get to the Tools app. Now I knew it was his phone that was too old for the app. I explained how programmers want to take advantage of new hardware in their apps so they can do better and better things. Sometimes that means the apps no longer work on older devices. Mystery solved. We didn't get everything done, but it was still a very productive day.

I started Saturday out by planning all the things that have come up for next week. I needed to get it recorded in something, so I wouldn't have to continue to think about it. I added everything to the Todo app by Microsoft. It has become my life saver. I like it, because I have a repeatable task that contains all the things we do every day. I then add all the other things we do that day. But what I really like is adding all the other things that we don't do for a day or two or a week or whatever. Once they are in my task list, I don't have to think about them until they reach my daily list. I usually review all my upcoming tasks every day so I can be prepared, and nothing sneaks up on me. Steve and I went over the master plan list. 

We had three lessons to prepare for the next two days. We had our Temple Prep class on Sunday. I had the Seminary class on Monday. And Steve had Family Home Evening for Monday also. I had a lunch activity with a Sister from our Ward. We had a Relief Society Service Auction several weeks ago and I bid on the lunch she was offering. We had a wonderful time at the Quail Cafe located at the Whangarei Quarry Gardens. What could be better. Delicious lunch, stimulating and friendly conversation, and a delightful walk around the beautiful tropical gardens. We managed to stay busy and got all our lessons prepared. I think we finished around 7:30 that night.

The Quail Cafe

The Sabbath was long and beautiful. We got to Church early so we could greet people as they came in. Bishop grabbed us to see if we could cover for his wife in Primary. She injured her eye, and he wasn't sure if she was going to come. I got with the Primary President to see where the class was and the age group. We can't do the very young classes, because if a young one needs to go to the restroom, we can't take them. That would require us to separate, and we can't do that as missionaries. This class was for older kids. We went to Sacrament meeting, and I glanced through the Come Follow Me manual for the past week to see what I could teach on. I picked a couple of principles. There was a short video, too. I felt pretty comfortable with coming up with a lesson for them.

After Sacrament meeting, I went to set up the room. Just then the Primary President came by and said the teacher was there, so I headed toward Sunday School. When I got to the end of the hall, Elder Wilcox was there waiting for me. The Bishop had just asked him if we could cover the Youth Sunday School class instead. There were about 10 or so kids already in the room. Since I already had something in mind, I said we could do it. Just as we were going to start with a prayer, the Sister Missionaries came by looking for the class. They said the teachers from their ward were in a different room waiting for the kids to show up. Since it was their month to teach, and I hadn't really prepared a lesson, I sent the kids down to the other room and headed to Sunday School once more. After a couple of minutes, the Bishop came and sat next to Elder Wilcox and said they needed us back in Primary. His wife's eye started weeping again and the Primary President sent her home. So, we headed back to the first class. We had about 9 or 10 kids. They were all so good. They participated well in the discussion. I enjoyed teaching VERY much. I have missed that so much.

Last rehearsal before we sang.

After our meetings, we hung around for an hour or so before our Temple Prep class started. Brother Horsford came into our class and had a wonderful talk with Steve. He is a counselor in the Bishopric. His wife came in later and talked with us about Family History and another Devotional we will have next week. She is the piano player for our choir. They left just before our class started. We had a good class and I think the discussion went well. I made a PowerPoint presentation today. It made it easier to display the scriptures they were to read, as well as the different quotes we had them read. I also added pictures that help make it a little more interesting. For example, one of the quotes was from President James E. Faust. He mentioned seeing a Temple all lit up at night and how it is a beacon to all who see it. I displayed a picture Elder Wilcox just took of the Hamilton Temple at night, all lit up. It worked perfectly.

Once home, we had a fun Zoom call with Douhet and Kylee. Normally, we would do that on our Monday P-Day, but we are having a Senior Missionary activity on Monday, so it just was not going to work. Thankfully, they were able to meet with us today. After the call, I worked on my recap and Elder Wilcox worked on dinner until it was time to go to the Devotional. It was a really beautiful devotional of music and testimony. I teared up a few times. The music was so beautiful. The missionaries in our Stake were the closing number. I think it went very well. Elder Kreutzkamp didn't sing, but he did take a video. Enjoy!

All Our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox 

Sister Lilloux at the Piano.