Seminary, Junior Missionary Day, DCM, Teaching Visit, Inspections, and Dinner / Dance

We went back to Seminary this week. It was hard getting up at 5 again. We enjoy our time in Seminary and really enjoy meeting with the kids. After Seminary on Monday morning, we had a Temple Prep lesson with Madison. We only have one more lesson left. 😢 We are going to see if she would like to continue meeting with us each week. We could do Come Follow Me or continue to talk about the Temple or whatever she would like. We have thoroughly enjoyed meeting with her each week.

We also got to visit MyLiege's family. Djeryd, Eva, and RUTHIE come over too. Djeryd shocked us with a haircut and shave. He looks so handsome. 😇And Ruth is so big. She turned a year old earlier this month. I can't believe it. I'm hoping they will join us more often. I have to make sure Ruthie knows us when we come home.

We actually watched a few movies in the afternoon for our P-Day. It was nice. Just after the second movie ended it was time to go to our Family Home Evening appointment. The Elders taught the lesson that night. We had a nice discussion, played a game and light refreshments. 

Tuesday has become our Junior Missionary Day. Not long after Seminary, we got a call from Elder Dixon wanting to know if they could come for Comp Study before Elder Cockbain had to do his "My Plan" call at noon. Of course, they also had some laundry to do. 😉We covered lots of things, including study, discussing people they are teaching in the ward and how we could help, as well as the Seminary lesson they were teaching on Wednesday.

While Elder Cockbain was on his call, Elder Dixon studied and took care of other business, I made some follow-up calls on some of the issues at their flat that we have been waiting on for a while. I also reported a new issue. Just before Elder Cockbain finished, Elder Moyes and Elder Tuaina showed up for their Pathway class. Elder Cockbain and Elder Dixon hung out for a while longer to check on the laundry before they headed out to do some work. We told them we would finish it and they could pick it up later. After the other two Elders left, Steve went grocery shopping and I worked on my Seminary lesson for Thursday. We were supposed to have the Sisters' comp study after that, but they postponed it until Wednesday.

The Seminary lesson the Elders did on Wednesday morning turned out awesome. They brought a big whiteboard and put it on top of the table. Everyone had to draw a four-square comic strip was a story about how to help a young woman who was struggling to understand how Jesus Christ could help her since she had committed sins. I think they learned about the Atonement as they drew their comic strip about how to help the girl. 

Elders Dixon, Cockbain, and Lea'ana in back.
Elders Sanders, Wilcox, and Sister Wilcox in front.

We had a great DCM meeting. Elder Sanders gave the training on a Seminary activity I used to do when I taught early morning Seminary. It is called Scripture Squeeze. I shared it with him last week when he and Elder Lea'ana were over for comp study after he asked me a question. I learned the idea from someone else when I was teaching Seminary. Anyway, it is a great activity and we had talked about ways missionaries could use it to help friends learn more about particular verses of scripture. It is a great way to teach them HOW to study the scriptures and more important, to find answers to their questions. It was a great training activity.

Elder Wilcox, Elder Moyes, Sister Wilcox,
and Elder Tuaina

After DCM, we stopped at several houses to invite them to our dinner/dance on Friday on our way to a teaching appointment. When we got the appointment, the sister had forgotten about it and was on her way to take care of something. She was standing outside waiting for a taxi. We rescheduled it for the next day.

Once we got home, the Bishop stopped by with some stuff for us to do. Not long after he left, the Sisters came for their rescheduled Comp Study. We barely started that, when we got a call from Elder Dixon asking us if we could go to the hospital to give a blessing. The brother was in Elder Sander's ward, but they were tied up in a lesson. They asked Elder Dixon, but Elders Dixon and Cockbain had to be at the flat at 4 to meet the repair many for their heat pump and asked if Elder Wilcox could do the blessing. 

Elder Wilcox, Sister Wilcox, Sister Chapman,
and Sister Ali

We had a great comp study with the sisters. They wanted some suggestions on how to share with a family they were teaching a little later that day. I hadn't come up with the right intro to the lesson. We brainstormed for a while and settled on a sports analogy since the whole family love sports. The Sisters were very excited to try it. Since they had the teaching appointment scheduled and they had a ways to go to get there, we ended our comp study so they could go to their appointment and we could go to the hospital. 

The brother at the hospital was in pretty bad shape. He had fallen off something and broken 5 ribs and punctured a lung. We told him we were there to give him a blessing and he said his nephew had just given him one and left just before we got there. We said we were glad he got a blessing and we visited with him for a while. Elder Wilcox and him swapped young missionary stories. He served in South Dakota from New Zealand and Elder Wilcox served in Australia from the US. They served about the same time and swapped some MTC stories. It was a nice visit.

Sister Enosa, Sister Ngawaka and Sister Wilcox in back.
Elder Wilcox, Sister Szott, and Sister Muaiava, in front.

We had a full class for our Thursday Zoom Seminary class. The three sisters that normally have sports on Tuesdays and Thursdays didn't have them and showed up on our Zoom class. It was nice to have more participants.  After Seminary we had our Mission Zoom SPF meeting. Elder and Sister Bennion trained on Alma 32. They showed a sweet interview they made with a sister in their ward who found the Church and then went inactive for a few years and then came back stronger than ever. They related her story to planting a seed in our heart and nourishing it. If we don’t nourish our seed, it will wither away. We can revitalize that plant by nourishing it again and it can still become vibrant and grow into a full tree. It was a great analogy.

Elder Wilcox, Sisters Chapman, Wilcox, and Szott

We were supposed to have Elders Sanders and Lea'ana over for their comp study, but neither of the Elders were feeling well. We bought cans for disinfectant spray for several flats in hopes of getting rid of these nasty germs that keep infecting the young missionaries. Since our time freed up a bit, we headed over to the teaching appointment we weren't sure we could actually make it. Elder Dixon asked if we could pick him up on the way since Elder Cockbain was a bit under the weather again. He feels good one day and goes out working all day and then he is in bed the next day because he over did it. Anyway, we had a great visit with Peti. No grandkids this week. Lol. We were able to share several things in the Book of Mormon and get her started on reading that. We told her about the dinner/dance the next day and she was excited to go. She asked if we could pick her up. We also scheduled an appointment for next Wednesday after DCM.

Elder Dixon carrying the Washer

We were ready to take Elder Dixon home so we could go pick up Brother Hester and his trailer to pick up the washing machine for Elder Dixon's flat, when he asked if he could go along. He as not anxious to get to the flat full of sick Elders. Lol.  So, the four of us headed to the repair shop. When we got to the flat, Elder Wilcox wanted to get the other Elders to help unload the washer. I reminded him they were sick and I was sure he and Brother Hester and Elder Dixon could handle it. Elder Dixon grabbed the handles on both sides of the washer and carted it all by himself to the laundry room. He 'da man!!! Elder Wilcox got it all hooked up and IT WORKS!!!  Once home we did some ward clerk stuff.

We did flat inspections on Friday. Everyone did a great job. They all managed to either be home or come home when we were there, so we were able to get pictures with the missionaries in each flat. We have six flats to inspect. One of them is empty, but we need to get it ready for missionaries in the near future. The flat we have had all the issues with before is in very good shape. This week the heat pump finally got repaired since the first part of June and we finally got them are working washing machine again. The only outstanding item now is the front two burners on the stove not working.  We inherited three flats from the Kreutzkamps. One is the empty one, and the other two have a few issues we are trying to address. Hopefully they won't take two months to get fixed. It all depends on who is doing the fixing. If Elder Wilcox can do it, it will be taken care of within a week if possible. If it goes to the landlord, then who knows. 

When we finished the inspections, we went home. We had a couple of hours before our ward dinner / dance. I worked on the inspection reports. I filled out a summary sheet for one person, but then I wrote a detailed email to the Garners with lots of other things. Elder Garner had asked us to check on several things that are not in the normal report, but all the different issues we found. Plus, we need to know what he was us to fix and what he may fix and what goes to the landlords. Or what, if any, they just have to live with. We currently have two vacant flats in our area. One has been a young missionary flat that I think they are going to fill again. The other is the Kreutzkamp's flat that EVERYONE wants. Hahaha. We are not expecting any new seniors and I know they want to turn it back to the leasing company, but I'm not sure if the contract has run out yet. Hopefully I will find out next Friday at Zone Conference what they are planning on doing with them. If they stay empty for a while, we have to maintain them to a certain extent because the landlords do visits ever three months.

We headed to the dinner/dance and were almost to the Chapel when we realized that we forgot to pick up Peti for the activity. We turned around and went all the way back because she lives very near us. By the time we got to her house the dinner had already started. I knocked on the door and Peti looked surprised. She told me she sent a text message to the Elders saying she was not able to come. Her grandkids dropped in unexpectedly.  She said she was very sorry. I told her not to worry. It was all right. When we got to the dinner, I gave Elder Dixon a hard time about the message that he didn't tell us about. he knew nothing about the message. Elder Cockbain said he got the message, but he had no idea we were supposed to pick Peti up. So, he didn't know he needed to tell anyone. We laughed and forgave them both. Hahaha. The evening was a lot of fun. I made it a point to invite all the missionaries we saw when we did inspections. Several of the companionships came, which was good because the ward attendance wasn't so hot. 🙁We had a lot of fun and even got on the dance floor a time or two. It was for families so there were several little kids. Everyone had a good time.

The Chicken Dance

Saturday was laundry, Sacrament program updates, and other misc. things on the computer before we headed out to try and fix some of the flat issues on the list. It wasn't as productive as we had hoped. Elder Wilcox tried to fix the slow shower in the Sisters' flat. The best he could do was go from a trickle to a low flowing stream. It more than doubled the trickle so the Sisters were very happy. Without cutting a hole in the shower wall and replacing the whole piping situation, it is the best it can be. We are hoping to get the landlord involved to fix it. For girls with long hair, it is not acceptable. He tried to replace a light fixture in the living room of the same flat, but it turned out to be a VERY expensive light fixture. We are checking with Elder Garner to see if he wants us to replace or if that is something that should be done by the landlord. We did go shopping to get a few things for the flats that we will take care of next week. By the time we finished all that, the day was gone.

Sunday turned out a bit busier than normal. Our meetings went very well. We had a return missionary bear his testimony and then three speakers. The second speaker spoke for a very long time. The last speaker was a High Council member. He only had about 5 minutes. He took a total of about 10 minutes. We dispensed with the closing song. Lol

Brother and Sister Hester Rock'in and Roll'in

After Church, I worked on my recap. Before it was time to go to dinner at Leona's house, we were asked to go to the hospital to give the Sacrament to a member. We gave Brother Hester a call and he went with Elder Wilcox to the hospital. Leona's nephew is the returned missionary. She raised him and his 3 siblings by herself as a single woman. This nephew was only 6 months when she got them. All four of the kids have served missions, both the boys and girls. Since she is single, she has us over for dinner when she invites the missionaries over. After dinner we had a Stake Music Devotional in our Chapel. I think every set of missionaries have done a music devotional almost every Sunday since we got here. They are always nice, but I'm more of a home body.

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

FHE, Shopping, Ice Breaker, The Haka, The Kreutzkamps, RAIN, and a Day of Rest

Monday morning started with a wonderful Zoom Temple Prep class with Madison. We love visiting with her each week and discussing the wonderful blessings of the Temple. Our discussions are rich and meaningful. They are filled with the Spirit. We love it. After our call with her, we had one with the rest of her family. It was fun to hear everything Young Men's Camp and their trip to Hawaii from the boys.

We spent the afternoon with Elder Moyes and Elder Dixon as it was there turn to be sick. They weren't nearly as bad as Elder Cockbain had been. We made them lunch, had some nice visiting with them, and they took turns resting in the spare bedroom. Thankfully they were both able to do limited work the rest of the week. 

We kicked them out just before six as we had a Family Home Evening appointment with a family in the ward. We had a wonderful discussion with them and enjoyed our time together. Their son is returning to Church and Mom wanted somebody besides parents talking to him. He's a great kid and seems eager to turn his life around. We will go back each week for a while.

I have just about given up on planning out our days. For the past several weeks, we have yet to do any of our plans. Tuesday was not different. We were just about to leave in the morning to "execute" our plan before we had to be back in time for the Pathway classes for our two Elders, when we got a call from Sister Allen, the Mission President's wife. She asked us if we would be willing to take a sister who is from Fiji and was serving in the Cook Islands to the store to get her a heavy coat. She didn't have any money left on her card and coming from the islands, she was freezing in the New Zealand winter. Her companion was brand new from the States. The two sisters had only been in Whangarei since Thursday. We drove over and picked them up, then took them to The Warehouse store. It is kind of like Fred Meyer. They pretty much have everything. We found her a nice 3/4 length waterproof coat that she LOVES. The sisters picked up a few other supplies they needed before we took them home. She also needed a blanket, but she was going to pick that up from the Mission at Zone Conference on August 2nd. That is way too long, so we let her borrow our spare blanket until then. 

Before we dropped them off, I asked Sister Ali if she might remember a missionary by the name of Elder Hawkins, who served in Fiji before COVID. She said the name sounded familiar. I then dug out a picture of Djeryd and showed that to her. She said he LOOKED very familiar. When I got home, I sent a picture and some information to Djeryd to see if he remembered her. He said she looked familiar and wanted to know where she is from. I sent that back to him and he has failed to respond to me. 🙁

We got home in time to take a quick walk before our Pathway Elders came, when there was a knock at the door. Elder Cockbain and Elder Dixon were there. Elder Cockbain needed the Internet so he could join his "My Plan" call. It is a plan that missionaries who are going home participate in. We will have him for the next couple of weeks at noon, before the other come at one for Pathway. Anyway, we left them in the house and went for our walk. When we got back, we swapped Elders...sort of. Elder Cockbain and Elder Dixon ended up hanging out for another hour or so before they left with Elder Moyes and Elder Tuaina.

Elder Moyes strumming while Elder Dixon does
the fingering and Elder Sanders looks on.

We grabbed a very late lunch and headed to the office to take care of some computer work and a little shopping done. We were supposed to meet our Sisters for Comp Study at 4:00, but they called at the last minute and postponed until tomorrow as they were home sick. We didn't even know they were sick. Our Mission doctor has officially name it the NZAM virous. Those of us in the Zone and named it the curse of 36 King Street. It all started with the Elders in that flat. 

Elder Moyes and Elder Tuaina doing homework.

Wednesday morning, I started on my Scripture Study before DCM, when we got a last-minute chat from Elder Sanders. He is our new District Leader and our old Zone Leader. Lol. Anyway, he asked if we could come up with an Ice Breaker game to get to know all the new missionaries in the District. Luckily, I already had some
Ice Breaker questions that we use for Family Home Evening. I separated a bunch into six categories to go with the colors of Peanut M&Ms. We made a fun game of it and laughed a lot.

After DCM, we went to the Clerk's office to print some flyers I made for a dinner/dance we are having this coming Friday. My mistake. The flyer was created in Publisher. The computer does not have any Microsoft programs on it. I tried to us a free Publisher to PDF converter, but that didn't work. I was able to copy the flyer because I had posted it in Facebook. I put it into a Google Docs document but couldn't figure out how to change the margins so I could fit 4 to a page. I tried several other programs to no avail. I ended up going home and saving it to a PDF and printing it on Saturday at the Chapel. I did print a few smaller versions. The other fight I had with the printer was it wouldn't print in color, even though it is a color printer and all the settings that I could see said color. Oh well. 

Elder Dixon with the Kreutzkamps

After that, we went to visit a friend the Elder are working with. She is a single lady so they Elder can't go into her house without another adult there. We were going with them, but since Elder Dixon was still sick and Elder Cockbain couldn't get another companion, we went alone. We had a very nice visit. She had her grandkids, so it was a little crazy. She invited us back next week for a study session since her grandkids will be back in school.

Missionaries at the Kreutzkamps farewell.

After we got home, the Sisters showed up for our comp study. We had a wonderful discussion with them. We covered chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel, which is all about the power of the Book of Mormon in teaching the Gospel. The Sister asked some questions, and we had a great discussion. Tomorrow we will have comp study with one of the sets of Elders we have. I would love it if we could do a comp study with all our young missionaries. We have 6 companionships. I would be happy to do 1 or 2 a day so we could do them all. Technically we don’t have the Sisters anymore, but I told them they can continue to come. I love our missionaries!

Brother Ah Mu and Brother Hester at the 
Kreutzkamps farewell.

In our mission SPF Zoom Meeting on Thursday morning, President Allen announced that the Area Presidency has said they no longer want the missionaries to do the Haka at Zone Conferences. We were sad to hear that, but of course we will obey. Sister Allen is asking for any other ideas we can come up with that will be a fitting tribute to those missionaries that are going home. 

After SPF, Elder Sanders and Elder Lea'ana came over for comp study. They are the Elders now assigned to us, but I want to keep the Sisters too. Not long after they left, Elder Moyes and Elder Tuaina came over to do Pathway homework. They need the Internet to do that and don't have it at their flat. We took our walk during their study time. After they left, we worked on the Ward Council Agenda and ran some errands.

On Friday we went to a Māori Hāngī. It is a traditional method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven, called an umu. It is used for large groups on special occasions, as it allows large quantities of food to be cooked without the need for commercial cooking appliances. They cooked several different meats and vegetables in the pit for several hours. This was all for a Farewell celebration for the Kreutzkamps. They have been serving in a small branch in Pipiwai. The Marae is next to the chapel and that is where the celebration was held. I think the entire town of Pipiwai as well as all the missionaries from the Zone and several members from our ward were there. They had some singing and some speeches and of course lots of food. A good time was had by all.

On Saturday we spent the day doing busy work. We cleaned the house, did the laundry, hosted the Elders so they could do their Pathway homework, worked on the Ward Council Agenda, and prepared a Seminary lesson for next week. We also went to the Chapel to take care of a few things in the office and then to walk in the cultural hall so we could get our walk in today. 

It was rainy and windy all day. Steve took a few pictures of a bunch of birds outside our window. I think some of them got spooked when he moved the curtain because the pictures don’t show all the birds that were there. Friday, we had a ton on the wrought iron fence in front of our house. Before we could even get the phone out to take a picture, they were all gone. 🙁

We had the most gorgeous sunrise Sunday morning on our way to the Chapel. The sky had beautiful blue and red and yellow colors. I don’t think the picture does its justice.  We also decided to take a few pictures of the Chapel before anyone got there. 

Church was GREAT as usual. We are getting very close to opening the Stake Center. It looks very nice. I think they were having a few issues with the carpet. I believe they are supposed to get it signed off this week. 🤞Then I believe they will have an open house and a rededication before the other wards move back. They are saying sometime in August. 🤞🤞🤞

After our regular meetings, we had Ward Council. That turned out very good. We covered everything on the agenda and have several things that need follow-up. 

After we got home, I worked on the weekly recap and helped Steve with the minutes for the Ward Council meeting. He also got a head start on next week’s Sacrament meeting and made the calls for the speakers. 

We have a busy week coming up with Seminary starting back up Monday morning.

I hope you have a FANTASTIC week!

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Miracles, Comp Study, DCM Luncheon, and Senior Activity Day

Madison with Elder and Sister Parker

This had been a very full week as things were beginning to get back to normal, whatever that is. Lol It is a school holiday for two weeks so NO ALARMS during the week, well, at least no 5:00 AM alarms. Hahaha Monday morning started with our Temple Prep class with Madison. We missed last week because her family was in Hawaii. While they were visiting the Polynesian Culture Center, Madison decided she wanted to get a real ukulele. She learned to play when her dad bought a small one a few years ago. She really liked it and wanted to pursue it more. So the family walked into a ukulele shop to purchase one. They were celebrating her birthday and her graduation from BYU Idaho, so it was going to be a real treat. They met a wonderful Senior Couple in the store and started chatting with them. They told the missionaries they were from Oregon. After Madison purchased the ukulele, she wanted to get it engraved with her name in Hawaiian. It was going to take a while and they still wanted to do some sightseeing, so she asked if they could pick it up later. The missionaries agreed and asked what their name was. Season said Wilcox and then spelled it for them. The missionaries then said, "wait, you said you are from Oregon, right?" They said yes, and the missionaries asked further if Season's parents had served a mission in the Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission, to which he said yes again. Then the missionaries told them they had served with his parents. It turns out it was President and Sister Parker. He was the second counselor in the Mission Presidency with President Randall. We LOVE the Parkers. Madison took a picture with them and sent it to us. We sent back a picture of us with the Parkers when they were released.  It is a small world.

Elder Wilcox, President Parker,
Sister Parker, and Sister Wilcox

Elder Dixon called not long after our lesson to see if we could take Elder Cockbain again. He was feeling much better, but still not great to be out all day. So, he came and hung out with us and played a couple of games of Risk with us. We left around 4:00 to drop Elder Cockbain off where the other Elders were having a P-Day so we could go visit Elder Bailey in the hospital. 

Elder Bailey home at last

The mission as well as our Ward Council all fasted for Elder Bailey and Elder Cockbain on Sunday. Monday, Elder Cockbain was much better and did NOT stay all day in our spare bedroom. Elder Bailey also had a miracle. We took him to the hospital on Saturday where they diagnosed him with an enlarged left kidney and possible kidney stones. They could see a blockage but couldn't tell what it was because of the dye in his system so they could check for other things. On Sunday they just did pain management for him because the doctors don't work unless it is an emergency. Monday morning they took him in for another CT scan to see if they could determine if he had kidney stones or something else blocking the passage. The official "reading" of the scan was "it spontaneously fixed itself." There was no longer any blockage, and his kidney was back to normal size. We saw the original scan and saw the enlarged kidney and the blockage. It was all gone Monday morning. They had been monitoring his urine outtake to see if he passed a stone and they never saw that. We attribute the "spontaneously fixed itself" to the fasting and prayer by so many faithful members in his behalf. They still wanted to keep him overnight just to make sure it wasn't going to reappear again.

Elder Wilcox, Sister Wilcox, Sister Lilloux,
and Sister Szott

After we got home, we prepared for our Family Home Evening class. Unfortunately, we only had to show up, but we had a wonderful time anyway. We are hoping it will pick up when the weather is better. Until then we will only holding it once a month. I shared my "Lost in the Forest" presentation that we gave several times on our last mission. I will probably do it one more time for the youth in our ward. 

After FHE, we got word of who was getting transferred in our Zone. It is so hard to lose them. Elder Bailey and Sister Lilloux are going South. Elder Sanders is staying in Northland, but we didn't know where, and a few others were moving around.

Sister Szott, Sister Lilloux, Elder
Dixon, Elder Bailey, Elder
Cockbain, and Elder Lea'ana

Tuesday morning, we started our day with a Zoom call with Douhet's family. It was supposed to be the day before, but he asked to change it. They were actually at the Mall, so we got to see the whole family except for Griffyn. He stayed home. It was fun to talk to the girls and Kylee and of course, Douhet. Just as the call was winding down, we got a text from Elder Bailey letting us know he was free to go home. We headed to the hospital to pick him up and take him back to his flat. I grabbed a quick picture of the serial number on their washing machine so we could call in to have it repaired. Then we rushed home to have Comp Study with the Sisters.

We were a few minutes late, but left the door unlocked so they Sisters could just go inside and wait for us. We had a wonderful visit with them as usual. We talked about ways we could help with reactivation. We came up with some good ideas. Bottom line is to just LOVE them, no matter what they decide to do. After that, the Sisters asked us what we did to have such a long and happy marriage relationship. We shared many things we have learned over the years, and we talked about the ups and downs that happened. We told them that when we first got married, we determined it would be forever and splitting up was never an option. If times got hard, we would go to the Temple more and make sure we said our couple prayers. It is hard to be mad at someone if you are kneeling next to them and praying to Heavenly Father out loud. It wasn't always easy, but it was ALWAYS worth it. It is important to WORK at your relationships. Of course, it takes both of you wanting to make it work. Our relationship is stronger than ever.

After the Sisters left, Elder Moyes and Elder Sanders showed up for Elder Moyes' Pathway class. We had a nice visit with Elder Sanders. It turns out that Elder Sanders and Elder Wilcox are 10th (or maybe it was 13th) cousins twice removed. I'm still not related to anyone. 😢 I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to convert my really cool Sacrament Program macro workbook into a Google Sheets workbook that will do the same thing. I used AI to help me with the code but every time I ran the AI code it would error out. I would then ask help with the error and it would give me corrected code. I ran that and got another error. This went on time after time, until I finally gave up. I may try it again sometime, but for now I just keep using my really cool workbook that WORKS. The reason I need to change it to Google Sheets eventually, is the Church computer does not have a Microsoft license so I can't run Excel. I may have to talk to the Bishop and see if a license is in the budget. 😇

Wednesday was our District Council Meeting. It was the last one for that current district. We found out on Monday night WHO was going to be transferred but the actual transfer didn't happen until Thursday. We stopped by the Elders' flat on our way to DCM to load their washing machine in the car so we could take it to the repair shop. We were still the first ones at DCM. We noted when our meeting started that it was the first time in a month that the entire district was together. Nobody was home sick!!! We shared some wonderful Book of Mormon highlights from the past week as everyone went around the table sharing. We did our accountability after that and then finished our meeting with testimonies. It was such a special meeting. When the meeting ended, we all headed to Whangarei to a restaurant for a farewell district luncheon. With transfers and the Kreutzkamps leaving in two weeks, we wanted to be able to have a good time and be able to say goodbye. Unbeknownst to us, the Kreutzkamps paid for the whole lunch. We were all getting ready to pay for our individual lunches, when Elder Kreutzkamp came back to the table having covered the entire bill. We should have been paying for their lunch to show our appreciation for everything they have done for all of us.

After that, Elder Wilcox and I headed to the repair shop to drop off the washing machine. I hope we get it back very soon. Those poor Elders have been without a washer almost this entire last transfer. When the repair guy came out to get the washer, he mentioned that it was probably not a good idea to put the washer on its side. Of course, that is the only way it will fit in our car. We will borrow the Hester's trailer when we go pick up the washer so we can keep it upright.

We had just finished doing our planning for Thursday, when we got a call from the Elders asking us what we had planned for the day. We were just getting ready to go for a walk before starting on the rest of the day, but I asked them what they needed. They had been asked by the Zone Leaders, who had been asked by the Sisters, to give a blessing to a sister in the hospital. Our Elders were asked because the Zone Leaders were in Auckland for transfers. They had three teaching appointments scheduled for that morning so they couldn't go. They wanted to know if Elder Wilcox could go and give the blessing. Of course, we said yes. 

While I was on the phone with the Elders, we had a knock at our door. The Bishop was working around the corner from our house and decided to drop it for a visit. He had some questions about some reimbursements and also wanted us to go visit a particular member that has been inactive for several years. He is hoping we can connect and help them come back. After a nice visit with Bishop, he went back to work, and we headed to the hospital.

We had a wonderful visit with Susan. Poor thing has been in the hospital for almost three weeks. She reinjured herself and wanted a blessing to help fix this last injury. She has done some programming, so we had a nice visit talking about that. She is also planning on immigrating to New Mexico in about a year. So, we chatted about that for a while too. She was in good spirits, and we had a very enjoyable visit. They brought her lunch in, so Elder Wilcox gave her a blessing and we left so she could enjoy her lunch.

After a quick lunch at home, we headed over to the Hester's house for our MCM (Missionary Council Meeting). It has been about a month or more since we were able to meet all together. The Elders brough along Elder Lea'ana since his new companion was still in Auckland for transfers. They were going to pick up Elder Lea'ana from the Hester's house. We had a fairly productive meeting. It is nice to have the Elders back in full force. We have a young man on date for baptism the first part of August. The only hitch is he technically lives in Denby Ward, but his is attending our Ward...mainly because he likes a girl in our ward. 😇 They are trying to determine if we will be baptized into the Denby Ward or if President Reti will let him get baptized into our Ward. That is for someone else to work out the details on that one.

Friday actually worked out according to our plan. We were finally able to get a walk in. We did get a call from the Elders wanting to do some laundry, so we told them to come over. They got it started and we told them we would rotate it for them so they could go do their work. We then headed out to so some visiting ourselves. It feels like it has been forever since we last went visiting. We found out two people had moved, two others had big guard dogs and locked gates across their property so we couldn't get in and we had two wonderful visits. All in all, it was a very good day.

Most of Saturday was spent with the other Senior Missionaries in Northland on our Senior Activity. The Kreutzkamps planned it as their last opportunity. We went up North to Kerikeri to an outdoor market at The Old Packhouse. We walked around all the shops, bought some delicious BBQ for lunch, and picked up a few souvenirs. Then we went across the street to the Chocolate Factory and another very cool souvenir shop. They have some very beautiful wood carvings and jewelry as well as many other things. Lastly, we went to a place called Rainbow Falls for a short hike and to see a beautiful waterfall.

Wilcox, Kreutzkamp, Bennion, Ostler

It is always so fun to be with our fellow Senior Missionaries. This was the last outing for the Kreutzkamps as they will be going home in about 2 weeks. We will miss them so very much. They have been a wonderful example to all of us. They have done so much for the branch they have been working in. It has been such an inspiration.

Once home, I finished up my work for HawkSoft that I started on Friday while Steve finished getting prayers for Sacrament meeting on Sunday. 

Church went very well. We had wonderful talks. The first sister shared her conversion to the Gospel and how it related to the conference talk she was assigned. She did a great job and is such a sweet lady. The second sister talked about the Come Follow Me reading for this past week. She then talked about 4 very important people in her life who had two things in common. First, they were all born on July 13th. Second, they were Ammons to her in her life. She shared how they loved and served her the same way Ammon served and loved King Lamoni in the book of Alma. She finished by pointing out that one of those Ammons was her mother-in-law. When she passed, they sang “It is Well with My Soul”. We happened to be singing that as our intermediate song today. She said when she saw that, she knew exactly what she needed to say. She had been struggling with where her talk was going to go. I love Tender Mercies. Our concluding speaker forgot he was giving a talk today. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and then proceeded to give a great talk. Again, another Tender Mercy.

Relief Society was good as well. We had a GREAT discussion, and everyone seemed to be very engaged. After Church I met the new Sister that is replacing Sister Lilloux. She seems very nice, and I can’t wait to get to know her better. I visited with a few people and then hung around while Steve was in his Bishopric meeting. Then we went home. 

It was nice to just work on my recap, help Steve with a few ward clerk things and then just relax for the evening.

Have a GREAT week!

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Lots of Computer Work, Library Issues, Matariki Celebration, Temple, and Hospital

Monday was supposed to be a very relaxing day with nothing to do. Hahaha. What started out to be a few things to do Monday morning turned into a whole day of computer projects. We also had Elder Cockbain with us the whole day. He stayed in our spare room and slept most of the day. He was doing better, but still under the weather. The day ended around 6:00 pm. So much for a nice relaxing day. 

Tuesday morning, we headed to the library after Seminary to finish up looking at the Electoral Rolls to find our lost members. We found that they had moved the books. A worker got someone show us where they moved the books. We started looking people up, when a library worker came by wanting to know what we were doing with the books. We explained what we were using them for, and she asked if we were copying any of the data out of the book. We told her if we found someone, we would copy the address so we could update the records with a current address.  She then told us we were not allowed to copy any information from the books. She took my name, phone, and email and said someone would reach out for more explanation and get back to me if we could continue to use them or if we have to cease. We are to let all the other missionaries know we can’t use them until further notice. So, we went home.

In the afternoon we had the Elders over for Elder Moyes' pathway class. After they left, I did some work on a new spreadsheet for Elder Wilcox to work on the Sacrament program. It took several days, but I added a few buttons to automatically save it as a PDF, print, and then add the speakers a history sheet. It works pretty slick.

Wednesday was a fun day. Seminary was the last in-person class before the school term end. So, after a short lesson, Sister Paratene played games and had food. The game had good prizes and booby prizes. Most of the students got the booby prizes. I think that was by design. The booby prizes were things like choosing three other people to help you, wearing silly glasses, and dancing to some silly music. Another one was to act like a gorilla talking on a cell phone and have the class guess. Silly things like that. The kids had fun and we all laughed a lot. We got to play too.

After Seminary, I quickly put together a training for our DCM meeting. Elder Bailey chatted with me at 6:30 am to see if I would be willing to do the training. I figured I could come up with something. As we walked out to our cars after Seminary, I asked Elder Dixon and Elder Lea'ana what they wanted to be trained in. Elder Dixon said to just do something with a Seminary lesson I already did. So, I modified the lesson I gave on Tuesday, and added a couple more slides with what was talked about that morning and came up with a lesson on how important service and our example is in missionary work. It turned out very well... especially since I already had a PowerPoint presentation. Lol

Just before we left for DCM, the Bishop stopped by to see if we could help him with a letter he wanted to deliver later that night with Elder Wilcox. So, he and Elder Wilcox dictated, and I typed it up. It needed a little tweaking and we needed to go, so I told the Bishop, I would have it ready when he came by later to pick up Elder Wilcox. After DCM, I tweaked his letter and worked more on the spreadsheet for Elder Wilcox. I used artificial intelligence (AI) to help me with the code I needed for the buttons. It worked perfectly. After they got back from their visit, the Bishop took us to a Matariki Celebration. The Matariki is the Māori New Year. We went to an elementary school not far from our house. They had a beautiful display of artwork by the kids. It was all done with paint and colors that glow under a black light. It was quite pretty. The Bishop then picked up dinner for us and took us home.

After our Seminary lesson on Thursday morning, we started packing for our trip to Hamilton and the Temple. The Bishop chatted us that the mother of one of our members passed away and asked in any of the Ward Council could stop at the mortuary sometime before noon to visit the family. After noon, they took the body another 4 hours south to a marae for the funeral. A marae is the Māori Community Center. Anyway, I looked up the address of the funeral home and realized it was on our way to Hamilton, so we took a slight detour to stop in and see the family. The Bishop and another couple from the ward were there. It was actually near where we used to live in Bream Bay. I'm so glad we stopped and visited for a while. 

After our detour, we headed to Auckland to stop at the Mission office. The construction was finally done on the highway, so we saved almost an hour off our normal trip. The highway detour has been here since we arrived. I was surprised to see some much grass growing on the side of the hills that were on the side of the highway. I wonder how they cut it. Hahaha.

At the office we swapped out the washing machine for the Elders. We also picked up several packages that needed to go up north. Then we headed to our motel and got there around 5:30. We had a nice relaxing evening.

We were up early to attend a sealing and an endowment session. We had a special treat with that session. I kept looking at one of the sisters in the session. She looked so familiar, but I couldn’t think of who or where I knew her from. When we got to the Celestial room, another brother and sister came up to us. They also looked very familiar. They reminded us of our connection. Elder and Sister Welsh were our next-door neighbors for a couple of weeks about two years ago in Utah. They were visa waiters for New Zealand. Just before they left, we connected on Facebook and have kept in touch. They contacted another couple that was joining their mission in Hamilton about the same time we were coming to Auckland. They told the couple to look for us, and they told us to look out for them at the MTC. The first day we were there, we did introductions in our first class. We were on the front row. When it got to the second row, the Hansens introduced themselves, and then looked at us and said I think we’re supposed to get together. Right after we got to Auckland, the six of us got together at Costco and had lunch together. Both couples ended up on our same session. To add to the tender mercy, neither couple knew they were going to the Temple today. So, all three of us “just happened” to be there at the same time. Heavenly Father knew we needed to make that connection again. The Welches will be going home in a couple of weeks so we won’t see them again.

We stopped at Costco on the way home. We needed to stock up on brownie mix to accommodate our Family Home Evenings and all the times we have the missionaries over. They all love brownies. Once we got home, I contacted all the people we brought packages to coordinate times to get them picked up. All of them are in Kaikohe which is much further up north. It is another 2.5 hours from our house. Sister Garner said it wasn’t our responsibility to deliver the packages. I contacted our Zone Leaders, as I know they coordinate with the Zone Leaders in the Kaikohe Zone. As luck would have it, they were able to deliver all the packages for us. I let all the Elders know and everyone was very happy. We did have one in our Zone, and they came by not long after we got home and picked their package up.

Saturday was not at all what we expected. We headed over to the Elders' flat first thing so we could install the washing machine we brought from the mission office. When we finished up we visited with the Elders for a while. Elder Cockbain was still in bed as he was still sick. The doctor told him there really wasn't much they could do for him except that he get lots of rest and drink plenty of water. Then Elder Sanders told us that Elder Bailey was in bed with severe back pains. A few moments later, we were taking Elder Bailey to the Urgent Care center.

I was surprised we were able to get him in right away because he was in so much pain. After a while, a nurse came and got us to go back with Elder Bailey. He has had some serious medical issues in his young life. He has done well since he has been on his mission. The Urgent Care center didn’t have enough equipment to test everything they wanted to so they could rule out some serious issues, so they sent him by ambulance to the Whangarei hospital. 

When we got to the hospital, I checked to see if we could go back to see Elder Bailey. They asked if we were relatives and I explained that he was a missionary, and we were as close to family as he had in New Zealand. They took us right back so we could be with him. They did several scans and bloodwork, and other tests on him. They were able to tell him his heart was fine and the thing they were most worried about was NOT the problem. We were very relieved.

Then they did some more tests to try and determine the cause of his excruciating pain. They finally determined that he had a blockage in his left kidney that is probably a kidney stone. They are keeping him in the hospital for a day or two until he either passes the stone or they can remove it. They wanted to keep him so they could manage his pain and wait for the stone to pass. It was determined that we could go home for the night. His companion is in a threesome, and he could be at the hospital without a companion. The Zone leaders went to go see him later as well as the bishop of the ward he is serving in. Please keep Elder Bailey and Elder Cockbain in your prayers.

Before we left, Elder Bailey thanked us for being his grandma and grandpa. I’m so glad we were able to help and serve him. He is a wonderful missionary, our District Leader, and so conscientious of his work. We LOVE him. I was able to keep the mission doctor as well as President Allen informed about what the doctors were finding out. President Allen is a cardiac doctor and wanted to talk to the doctor, so when they came in the last time to explain the plan, I called President Allen so he could talk to the doctor too. When we left, they were giving him more pain medication so he could go to sleep. He had been able to talk to his mom a couple of times during the day to let her know what was going on. She was relieved with the final prognosis as well. We are sorry he is in so much pain, but the alternative would have been far worse.

Sunday was a wonderful day. We had a wonderful Fast and Testimony meeting. Elder Dixon, Elder Lea’ana, AND Elder Cockbain were at Church this morning. Elder Cockbain looked a lot better, but he is not completely well yet. It was so good to see him. I told him to not overdo it and strongly suggested he go home after Church. That is what they did.

Steve had a Bishopric meeting after Church, so I hung out and visited with several people. After Church, we headed to the hospital to visit Elder Bailey. He had a good night. The hospital kept his pain under control, so he slept very well through the night. His appetite was back, and he actually ate something. He was sleeping when we arrived but woke up shortly after we got there. We had a very nice visit before we headed home. The Elders visited him later in the day. We are hoping they will extract the kidney stone tomorrow so he can go home.

On the way home, we got a chat from Elder Dixon asking us if we could have Elder Cockbain for the evening so he and Elder Lea’ana could go to the devotional in Bream Bay. At home, I worked on my recap. The Elders showed up around 4:15. Elder Cockbain was tired so I’m glad he didn’t do anything during the afternoon. We fed him some dinner and then he crashed in the spare bedroom again. The Elders picked him up after the Devotional.

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox