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