Marae, Seminary, and Zone Conference

It's been kind of a crazy week. On Monday, I had a very spiritual experience with my morning scripture study. I was studying 2 Nephi 27 and learned so much about how the Atonement works in my life. It became very personal and taught me a lot about myself. Basically, I know that I can never do enough to “earn” my salvation no matter how hard I try. I can only receive it because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It finally sunk in.

We managed a nice long walk. We decided we should probably take two shorter walks instead of one long one. We both hurt by the time we finished. We had a call with Elder Garner to discuss where we were at with all the flats and the different issues we were dealing with. We think we are hearing about more issues because we are taking care of issues that have been around for a very long time. I think they quit reporting them because they weren't getting fixed. There have been so many times where the missionaries have said something was broke even before they moved in. It is now fixed!

We had a very nice video call with Sean and MyLiege and their family. Djeryd and Eva were over, so we got to see Ruthie. She is getting so big. It was so fun to watch her play with Elle and Alyx. Anna joined the call from Provo. It was good to catch up with everyone and see how school is going. I worked on my Seminary lesson for Tuesday's lesson. This was the last week of Seminary for the year. 

The Bishop called and invited us to go to a Marae that evening. A previous member of our ward passed away the day before. They hold the body in the Marae for about three days so people can come and pay their respects. It is called Tangihanga or Tangi for short. You have to wait out front until you are invited in. Then you walk up to the casket, which is laying on the floor, and kiss the forehead of the deceased. Or you can just touch the coffin and the forehead. Next, you walk all around the outskirts of the inside of the Marae and hug and kiss everyone until you get to the other side near the coffin again. You are then directed to a place to sit. Because the men went first it ended up that the men went on one side and the women on the other side. There were a lot fewer men, so they finished early. When we finished, we were directed to a completely different place to sit.

It was nice; however, we didn’t understand anything because it was all in Māori. After everyone spoke different people would stand and sing a song. Our Bishop spoke to represent our group. He spoke in both Māori and English for our benefit. Then we stood up and sang God Be with you till we meet again in Māori. That was very cool. It turned out to be a very late night.

Tuesday morning started with our early morning Seminary Zoom class. It was our last Zoom class. I hoped for a few more students to attend. We only had one. We had a good discussion because Elder Wilcox and Sister Paratene also joined in. We took another long walk and decided we definitely needed to do two shorter walks. On the way home from our walk, we stopped by Charlotta's house to see if we could borrow a saw from her husband. Charlotta was in Sweden to help care for her dad. Her husband works from home, so we were able to talk with him. He had the perfect saw that Elder Wilcox needed. 

Once home, I worked on the New Convert Initiative while Elder Wilcox worked on fixing a small vanity door for a bathroom cabinet in the Sisters' flat. The glass had been missing for who knows how long. The property manager decided we needed to fix it since it was probably there when we took over the flat. The saw was able to cut the plexiglass perfectly. 

We had our missionaries over for Pathway. After that, we headed to the Sisters' flat to install the vanity door. We also took pictures of all the other issues the property manager pointed out and we fixed. Most of them we a bit "nit" picky. The flat is really looking good, and it is as though she is not doing her job unless she finds something we need to fix. Anyway, once we got home, I sent the pictures and a report to the property manager, the Garners, and the Carlisles. I'm hoping we will be good for a while. At least in that flat.

We went to the in-person Seminary class, since we thought it was going to be the last time the whole class would be there. We had a short lesson, and they had kind of a party for the end of the year. We had a lot of fun. As we finished our class, I found out everyone was coming in-person on Thursday as well. Leona called all the parents to strongly encourage them to come. Even our three students who have sports on Tuesdays and Thursdays came to in-person Seminary. 

We headed to the Chapel after Seminary to walk around the Cultural Hall. We thought it might help our aches and pains if we didn't have to do so many hills. It didn't help. At home, I worked on my final Seminary lesson for Thursday. I tried working on it on Tuesday and had a mental block. On Wednesday, everything just fell in together. The same thing with our Family Home Evening lesson for Wednesday evening. No inspiration on Tuesday, and the whole lesson just came to me on Wednesday. I love receiving inspiration like that.

That all happened before we headed to DCM. Both the North and the South Districts were meeting in the building, because President and Sister Allen were there for interviews before Zone Conference on Friday. Our DCM meeting was great as usual. President Allen attended our District this time. We usually get Sister Allen. After DCM, we headed to Whangarei to get some duplicate keys made for the Bream Bay flat so we could give them to Elder Garner at Zone Conference.

Not long after that, we went to our Family Home Evening lesson. The kids were pretty wound up. We managed to get them settled enough to give the lesson and play a game. I think it went OK. 

Elder and Sister Rose

Thursday's Seminary Lesson was awesome. It was so much fun to not only teach in-person, but to have every singled Seminary student there. I think the kids enjoyed it. They were all engaged. The Bishop and the Elders were also there, so we had a full house. Everyone brought something for a shared breakfast. There were tons of food. The glass will be all speaking in Sacrament Meeting in November so that should be nice.

We had a nice Mission Zoom SPF meeting. Six different missionaries were assigned to present share their favorite General Conference talk and why it was their favorite. It was really good to hear their insights. Not long after that was over, all four Elders from the King Street flat arrived at our house for Comp Study. We usually do it with just two of them, but the other two came along because they had a video call Mentoring Meeting after our comp study. So, Elder Moyes and Elder Derrick hung out for another 45 minutes, while Elder Sanders and Elder Shupe took their car in to get it washed. Elder Wilcox stayed home and washed our car for Zone Conference, while I got a ride with the Carlisles to the store to pick up food for Zone Conference.

Since we have such a small refrigerator, we decided to take some of the food down to the Chapel. We put a sign on the food that said, "Don't Touch, it belongs to the Mission", because the youth were having an activity to decorate the Cultural Hall for a dance on Friday night. We ran into the Bishop at Church and had a nice visit with him for a few minutes. I think he was secretly hoping we would stay and help decorate. Lol. We couldn't stay as we still had food to cut up and also to prepare for guests for the night.

Just as we finished cutting up the fruits and vegies, and popping the brownies into the oven, Elder and Sister Rose arrived. They are from Auckland are be overseeing the Zone Conferences. I will work with Sister Rose to coordinate things we need to know for Zone Conference. We had a wonderful visit before going to bed.

Friday was a very long day. It could have been even longer. I'll explain that a little later. We arrived a little before 9:00am to start setting up everything. The Cultural Hall was beautifully decorated. Everybody thought we went out of our way to make it really nice. Hahaha. I teased and said I did it just for them, but then I confessed that it was our ward who set it up for a dance that evening. We got to enjoy all their hard work. 

There were several missionaries there already. They helped put up the tables and chairs. Unfortunately to get to the tables, we had to take down the beautiful display that had leaning up against the stage. It was covered in balloons and white lights. I told the YM/YW leaders we had to take it down and they should come early to make sure it was fixed after we tried to put it back together. It was all good. We had everything all set up well before our first meeting started. We actually got to see more of Zone Conference than we have for the last several conferences we've had. Elder Wilcox and Elder Carlisle left a little after 11:00 to pick up the pizzas and KFC chicken. About 11:30 a few Sisters headed to the kitchen to put together the two fruit platters and put out the salad bar. Most everything was already cut up, so it was just a matter of putting them in bowls or on the tray. Just as we were putting the last of our things on the table, Elder Wilcox and Elder Carlisle arrived with the hot food. We were ready for the missionaries to come to lunch.

I was so surprised at how much they dove into the salad bar. We almost ran out. Of course they ate everything else too. We had quite a bit of pizza left over, but they took it all home, so all was good. I heard everyone loved it. Our cleanup was a breeze too. The missionaries had all the tables and chairs picked up before our group pictures. And we were all done with a spotless kitchen well before they broke into groups for the last training. We have a Senior Missionary training at that time too. The leftover food was bagged and set out for them to just pick it up after the meeting.  If we hadn't gone to help Elder Garner with a project, we would have been able to stay for the Testimony meeting too.

But we needed to help swap out a washing machine so we could make a stackable washer/dryer in the Murdoch Crescent flat. Earlier, we had moved the dryer out of a bedroom because the property manager told us to. When we put it in the laundry room it was blocking the back door, so we knew we needed to do something else. Elder Garner brought a new washing machine and a bracket so we could stack them. It worked perfectly. After that we dropped off a new mattress to the same flat since we had taken one of the spare mattresses to Elder Shupe to replace his horrible mattress. We gave the bac mattress to Elder Garner. It was so bad; you could roll it up. Absolutely no support. Then the Garners left for home, and we dropped off 4 folding chairs that the Garners brought up for us for the Sisters' flat. They were short, two chairs and two other chairs they had were broken. We picked up the broken chairs and now they have nice folding chairs for their dining table and their desks.

Now for the "could have been longer" part of the day. The Young Women's president had asked for some help from the Relief Society with the meal for the dance on Friday night. Sister Hester and I volunteered. I don't think I realized it was the same day as Zone Conference. Anyway, we were dead when we got home. Luckily, we would have a couple of hours before they wanted us back at the Chapel. I thought it was going to be 6 to 7, but they didn't start the meal until 8. Sister Hester called me and neither of us knew what was going on. She called the Bishop, and he said he thought there would be enough other adults there so we wouldn't need to be there. Sister Hester and I had a prayer and crossed our fingers and never got the call to come back at 8! YAY!!! They were tired having just got back from Auckland that day, and we were exhausted from Zone Conference. We both told the Bishop we would come if they needed us. But we were blessed with "Tender Mercies."

I thought we would be able to just rest up on Saturday. I didn't have a lot on my plate, but did have a few computer things that I needed to take care of. It ended up being much busier than expected. I had a video call with the supervisor over the New Convert Initiative project. Part of that call was questions he had, and part was in preparation for our Monday group call. We finalized the Sacrament Program and sent out reminders to the speakers and prayers. I wrote an article for the Ward History. I paid bills and paid tithing. Took care of multiple emails and text messages. Visited a brother in the Hospital who is not doing very well. Went to the Church to pick up a few things left int he fridge from Zone Conference since we didn't go back Friday night. I worked on HawkSoft for about an hour. I helped an Elder put together a resume so he can get a visa to the Cook Islands as he is being transferred in December. He needed to send it to one of the Senior Missionaries in Auckland so she can take care of the visa application. And, finally, I tweaked some formulas in the New Convert Initiative spreadsheet. 

Before Church started on Sunday, the Bishop asked me if I could type up the Māori version of “God Be With You ‘Till We Meet Again”. I got it all typed up and printed a copy to show the Bishop. Then I tried singing it and realized without the notes I would be lost. So, I copied the song in his little book. It turned out OK but was too small for me to read. Next, I took a picture of the copied song so I could make it bigger. That was going to work just fine. I brought the copied page home so I could scan it into my computer to see if I could get rid of a shadow on the page. He wants us to learn the song so we can sing it when we go to the Marae. They go a lot.

When it was time for Church, we didn’t start out with very many people at the beginning of our meeting but managed to fill in quite a bit before the end. Elder Moyes texted me they weren’t going to make it as he woke up sick. Our speakers did a great job. Our new counselor conducted the meeting. He is quite funny. For example, one of the announcements after Sacrament meeting was to let the family know they had to turn in their FSY money today. They are responsible for the first $50 and the Stake will cover the rest. Then the counselor said, if you don’t have the $50, don’t worry about it because the Bishop will cover it. Everyone laughed. When we were in the hallway getting ready to go home, a few people were waiting for the Tithing Declaration appointments. He spoke up and said, “what are you all doing here. All appointments will be before Church from now on. Go home.” One Sister spoke up and said, “we have an appointment”, and he said, “I’m just messing with you.” I can tell he is going to keep us on our toes. 

Just as we got home, I got a call from a member who was supposed to have the Elders over for dinner tonight. Since Elder Moyes is sick, they called to see if we wanted to join them for dinner. Of course, we said yes. We had a lovely evening.

All our Love,
Elder and Sister Wilcox

New Convert Initiative, Seminary, Walks, and More

Elder Derrick and Elder Moyes

We saw lots of movement this week with the New Convert Initiative program. I received a couple more High Councilors to work with. I also had several Bishops update their spreadsheets. We are making progress. We were asked to do a presentation at our Stake Conference coming up the first weekend in November. Hopefully we will be able to do a few more in the coming months. 

Another thing I spent time on this week was organizing the Zone Conference lunch that will be happening on the 25th of October. Sister Carlisle has been helping me with the planning. We have asked the Senior Missionaries to supply dessert again. We are buying pizzas and KFC. Both have catering options, so we can get a lot at a good price. Elder Wilcox and Elder Carlisle will pick it up Friday morning just before lunch. Thursday, the Carlilses will go shopping with us to get fruits and vegetables. Then we will go back to our house to cut things up in preparation for Friday's meal. Overall, I think it will be pretty easy to pull off.

Elder Derrick, Elder Shupe, Elder Moyes,
and Elder Sanders

In addition to those two major projects, we also spent time on Monday doing Seminary Prep, Flat Issues, and HawkSoft. The Elders called us the Saturday before to say their water heater wasn't working. They said they were OK with cold showers for a day or two. 😢🚿So, Monday morning, Elder Wilcox went over to the flat to have a look at the water heater. He checked out all the "obvious" things, like a blown fuse, but nothing seemed out of order. I sent in a request to the property manager and asked if it could be looked at ASAP, They called later to have us meet the electrician at the flat to take a look. It turned out, someone had turned the temperature up on the water heater too high. It has an automatic shut off when that happens. My way of thinking is, if they shouldn't turn it up that high, then don't give them the option. Oh well, the electrician turned it down and it works perfectly again. I told the Elders they are NOT to touch that dial again!!! 

Elder Sanders, Elder Derrick, and Elder Moyes

Next, he and Elder Carlisle took some cleaning supplies to the Clark Road flat to see if they could degrease the overhead filter in the kitchen. We had the Sisters soak it in hot water and then the degreaser did the trick. It is much better now. Next, they went to Murdoch Crescent to see if they could scrub out two stains in the carpet. The property manager was complaining. They stains have been there since we got here. The property manager thought they were burn marks. Elder Wilcox confirmed they were not burn marks. We are not sure what it is, but the carpet cleaner did not do anything to remove the stains. Elder Garner will tell them we won't do anything about the carpet until we turn the flat back to them sometime in the future.

While they were doing all that, I had my Area video call and worked on the Seminary Lesson prep for my Tuesday class. Sister Carlisle also spent time on the Zone Conference food planning that day.

Tuesday started with our Seminary Lesson. We did a recap of all the invitations that were given at General Conference. I had a quote from every single speaker in Conference. We had a great discussion.

After the lesson, I did my scripture study and then worked for a bit on HawkSoft. I was trying to finish up a few certifications I didn't finish before. I did some New Convert Initiative too. The weather looked better, so we went for a walk. It was chilly and windy. 

After lunch, we had six missionaries over for Pathway. We baked some brownies because it was Elder Moyes' birthday. They hung out for about a half an hour after Pathway. I’m so happy they enjoy hanging out at our house. 

On Wednesday we did our final flat inspection. Elder Carlisle and Elder Wilcox were going to do it on Monday when they went back for the electrician, but Elder Wilcox said it was too messy. He wanted to give them a heads up. So, when I told them they were not to touch the water heater dial again, I also told them we would be back on Wednesday to do their inspection, and it better be perfect! 

We went to DCM first and had a great meeting. The Sisters decorated the Cultural Hall because we were celebrating Elder Moyes' and Elder Derrick's birthdays. I think they are day or maybe two days apart. The Sisters bought pink birthday sashes for them to wear. We called the "Princess" throughout the meeting. After the meeting we had a short party with birthday cake that Elder Sanders bought and brownies that Sister Carlisle made. Great fun was had by all. 

After the meeting, we inspected the King Street (Hikurangi) flat. They did NOT disappoint. Everything was SPOTLESS. We deducted one point for something I can't remember but gave them a bonus point to bring them back up to a perfect score. It was the cleanest I have ever seen that flat. We were so proud of them. 

After that, we headed to the Sisters' flat. At DCM they were complaining about only having warm water at their flat. So, we headed over to check it out. We turned the hot water on, but it never got beyond warm. They said it hadn't always been like that. It had only occurred recently. We found the water heater outside. It is a hot water on demand box. We couldn't see any controls out there. We finally found a thermostat hanging on the wall in the kitchen. The temperature was set to 40 degrees Celsius, which is about 105 degrees Fahrenheit. There is NO way their temperature was 105. We turned in a report to the property manager when we got home. The rest of the day I worked on Seminary.

On Thursday, we started with our Seminary lesson again. We talked about how Jesus commanded the people to study the scriptures. I started with one of those "hidden" pictures where you have to find hidden object in the picture. We talked about how they had to really search for them and how good it felt when they found one. We then compared that to studying or searching the scriptures. You have to ask questions, so you know what "picture" you are searching for. Then you have to really dig deep to find it. It also always helps if you know what you are searching for.

Right after class, I joined the Quarterly All Hands-on Deck HawkSoft online meeting. The time difference made it possible to participate in the meeting. It was exciting to hear about all the progress HawkSoft is making. They are such an AWESOME company to work for. I loved seeing so many people I have worked with for many years. NO one leaves HawkSoft. It has been one of the top places to work for the last 8 or 10 years now. HawkSoft is located in Canby, Oregon, but they have people all over the country that work for them. 

Steve took the car in for a 15,000-kilometer checkup. They drove him home and said the car would be ready in the afternoon. We had our SPF meeting. President Allen shared the General Conference talk by President Nelson. After the talk, three or four missionaries shared what they took away from the talk. President Allen then asked us all to study the talk on our own and look for three things. He wants us to look for the Doctrines and Principles in the talk. Then we are to look for the things that we should take action on. Finally, we are to look for the promised blessings in the talk. 

Our Missionary Council Meeting was bumped to 4:30 with a dinner invite after that. The dealer was not done with our car. The Carlisles dropped Elder Wilcox off while I did some work on the New Convert Initiative. I called Steve after an hour, and he said he was still waiting. I let the Hesters know we were probably going to be late. We ended up 1/2 late but it all worked out. We had a nice meeting and then enjoyed a delicious dinner. The Elders were with us. Just as we started eating Brother Au Mu stopped in for a short visit. He ended up eating dinner with us. We had a wonderful evening.

On Friday, we coordinated with the Carlisles for our November Temple trip. We are going a week later so we can tie it in with the Senior Missionary Thanksgiving Dinner on that Saturday. It should be a lot of fun. 

I got a few emails about the New Covert initiative, so I spent quite a bit of time working on that. We took a long walk and stopped at the lake to look at the ducks. After that, we went over to the Clark Road flat after receiving a report from the property manager about several things they wanted taken care of. We were able to coordinate with the plumber to look at their water heater. We are not really sure what was going on with that one. The plumber said it is a really old unit. He feels if we have another issue with it, the owner should replace the unit. He was able to service the unit and get it up and running again. So, everyone has hot water again. YAY!!! The property manager was complaining about the stains on the drapes. Again, they have been that way since we got here. We tried to spot clean them and made a little progress. I read the care instructions and found we could wash them in the washing machine. So that is what we did. The Sisters are supposed to let me know how they turn out. I haven't heard anything yet. We also had to reseed the grass where we put in the new walkway. The last piece they wanted was the glass replaced in the vanity door in the bathroom. That has probably been out since we got here. We picked up some plexiglass on Saturday and will get it fixed by next week.

Not long after we got home, we headed to the Thomassons for a delicious dinner and a nice visit. We were having such a good time; we didn't realize how late it was getting. They live up a VERY windy road and we didn't really want to travel that in the dark. We left just as it was getting dark. We took it slow and made it home safely. 

On Saturday, I put together a "potential" Christmas Sacrament Program so the Relief Society can start making flyers to pass out to the community. I also spent time working on the presentation I will be making at our Stake Conference on the first weekend in November. I will be presenting the New Convert Initiative program in the Leadership meeting of Stake Conference. 

After we finished those two things, we headed into town to pick up prescriptions and the plexiglass for the Sisters door front. When we got home, I spent an hour or two on HawkSoft to finish out the week. 

Saturday was Joey’s 18^th birthday. But since we were a day ahead, we sang to Joey on our way to Church. We started the day early with Ward Council. We were missing a few people from our meeting, but we accomplished quite a bit. We found out we didn’t have an organist for Sacrament. The Sister what was supposed to play was sick. The other Sister that plays was not going to be there. I texted the music coordinator to let her know. I figured I was going to use my phone for music, because I didn’t think Sister Au Mu was coming either. She had a medical procedure this week and wasn’t feeling great. But she showed up and played for us. I was very grateful.

During Sacrament meeting, they released the 1st Counselor in Relief Society. Then they moved the 2nd Counselor in the Young Women up to the 1st Counselor and called a new 2nd Counselor. After that, the Stake got up and released both Counselors in the Bishopric. The 1st Counselor and his family are moving to Australia. His wife was the 1st Counselor in Relief Society. They moved the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric to the 1st Counselor and called a new 2nd Counselor. We still need a new Counselor in Relief Society, and we need a new Counselor in the Elder Quorum. The Stake keeps taking our people, or they move away. It is only going to get worse in the next few months. Our speakers were great. 

Sister Ali, Sister Jones, and
Elder Fernandez

Because the organist was also the music person in Primary, they were short in Primary. So, I volunteered to do the music. That was fun. I haven’t done that in a while. Then, as I was leaving Primary when they broke up into classes, the older class was without a teacher. So, I sort of volunteered to do that class. It was fun too.

After Church we had a Linger Longer. We were in the Clerk's office making all the changes that occurred. By the time we got out, the Linger Longer was no more. They were cleaning everything up. 😢

After dinner we headed to the Stake Center for a Devotional put on by the Denby Ward. We had several missionaries speaking or doing music, so we wanted to attend to support them. Sister Carlisle and Elder Derrick both gave talks. Sister Griffin played the violin as prelude music. Later she played the piano as Sister Jones, Sister Ali and Elder Fernandez sang. Elder Moyes also sang a duet. All of the music and the talks were great. The theme was about the restoration of the Gospel. It was really good.

Sister Carlisle

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Elder Moyes with a
Denby Ward Member

Meetings, Inspections, Top of the Island, and General Conference

Monday was a little different that other days. We planned on staying home and catching up on all the things we didn't do last week. For the most part, that is what I did. However, Steve was busy all day. He started by picking up Elder Carlisle so they could pick up a trainer from the Bishop so they could pick up a mattress from one flat and deliver it to another flat. We received a phone call from one of our Elders complaining about his horrible mattress. It was so bad; you could actually fold the mattress in half! One of the other flats had a couple of spare mattresses to accommodate visiting Elders to their flat. Elder Garner will deliver another flat at our next Zone Conference.

The Cape Reinga Lighthouse

They also fixed the windowsill at the first flat that had been destroyed by someone, putting wet towels or clothes on the windowsill a LOT. They had to sand it down and refinish the frame again. It turned out very well.

While they were gone, I had our video call with Douhet's family. I thought Steve would be home in time for the call, but I didn't know he was going to fix the windowsill. Anyway, we had a very nice visit. Laila and Tyus joined the call so I could see our delightful little Roman. He is so bright eyed and cute. Laila says he is a good baby and growing so big already. 

You can see the whitecaps
in the Tasman Sea
on the left and the
calmness of the
Pacific Ocean on the right.

Steve got home not long after the call. I had to send him out again; to go pick up the keys and remote we got for the Bream Bay Sisters last week so he could take them back to the property manager. He decided to do grocery shopping on his way home. We were supposed to have a Family Home Evening with a family, but they were in Hamilton, so we cancelled.

On Tuesday, we managed to take a nice walk. We also were able to watch part of General Conference. And of course, we had our six young missionaries over for Pathway. We always love Tuesdays! That took up most of the day. I also prepared a Family Home Evening lesson for our little family we visit every other Wednesday evening.

Wednesday turned out to be very busy. We had a wonderful DCM meeting in the morning. I got to give a short presentation on how I have recognized the promptings of the Holy Ghost in my life. We also had a fun and very instructional role play by the Hikurangi Elders and the Ngahere Sisters. 

Pacific Ocean

After our meeting, we swung by the Toyota dealer to schedule an appointment to have our car serviced. It is just the normal scheduled service based on mileage. At home, we grabbed a quick lunch and opened a couple of packages from Amazon before we headed off to a Family History teaching appointment. We are helping the Denby Sisters with this family. We have seen them several times over the last several weeks. 

The brother said he was related to George Washington, so we spent the entire time working on that. The George Washington that he is related to is NOT President Washington. There is about 50-year difference. I told him that it might be possible the two George Washingtons were related to each other, but without more information we couldn’t make that assumption. So, I tried finding any source records about his ancestor so I could perhaps go back another generation. In the meantime, The guy kept pulling up records about President Washington and asking if that could help me connect them together. I told him we needed records closer to the dates of his ancestor, but he kept finding earlier and earlier records about President Washington’s family. It did NOT help.

Tasman Sea

The first time we visited him, he told us he was related to royalty. When we researched that we were able to find that one of his lines is for the last name of Royals. No royalty there. They are trying to find some famous or royal lines because the government may pay money of you are a descendant of certain people. They are more interested in connecting to someone like that than to find out who their actual ancestors are. 

Thursday was another full day. We picked up the Carlisles first thing and headed to Bream Bay to start our flat inspections. All five of our flats are going to the Carlisles and we are getting two flats further up north for this transfer. We got to the Sisters flat in time to watch SPF before doing our inspection. We are training the Carlisles. We needed to be at the Sisters flat before they headed out for the day, because we were having trouble with their door locks. Hopefully they will be fixed soon. While we were in Bream Bay, we decided to show them the Chapel and our old flat. 

It was a little windy! The Tasman Sea
is in the background.

Next, we headed for the Murdoch Crescent flat. It is far different from the Sisters flat. We were able to show things that we deduct points for, as well as what we can do to add bonus points. If the missionaries get 5 perfect scores in a row they get a cute hand carved kiwi. If they get another 5 in a row, they will get another smaller hand carved kiwi. We do our best to help them get their kiwis. If their deductions are only a couple of points, we do our best to find bonus points so they can still qualify for the kiwi.

Lots of sheep up north.

The Carlisles got a call from the Elders that serve in their Branch asking them to meet up with them around 3:30. We still had three flats to do. We figured we could get two more flats done since they were very close to the flat, we were just at. We saved the Hikurangi flat for next week. We inspected the next two flats and dropped the Carlisles off at their flat before heading home. Once home, I wrote up the issues that we found that day in hopes the property managers will take care of them.

Friday was more flat inspections and a play day. We headed out very early to get to Kaitaia by 9:00 or so. It is about 2 hours and 15 minutes away from us. There was some construction on the way, so we didn't get there until almost 9:30. We did two inspections. We could have done it via a video call, but we wanted to go up to the top of the Island and Kaitaia is about as far from our Mission office as we go. The Elders we visited were awesome. Even though they come to our Zone Conferences, we don't get to know the Elders in the Kaikohe Stake very well, so it was nice to get to meet them. 

A few "friends" we waited for to cross
the road on our way home.

I’m really glad we did in-person inspections, as we needed to do some training on a few things they were unaware of. For example, their washing machine has a filter in the drum that they didn’t know anything about. It was VERY full of lint. We showed them where it was and how to clean it. We also showed them the filter over the stove and told them how to clean that. It will take several soakings in hot water with a degreaser in the water to get it clean. There were a few other things we showed them.  Overall, both flats were pretty good, and they both got full points. We didn’t deduct for the filters they didn’t know about and the couple of deductions we did make, we found some things we were able to give bonus points for. When they are just a point or two below full points, I always try and find bonus points for them.

The Pacific Ocean in the background.

We spent the rest of the day driving mostly. We did stop at the tip top of the island in a place called Cape Reinga. They have a lighthouse there, so we hiked in to see it. Cape Reinga is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. “The tides race each other in a display of awesome ocean strength as you stand on the bluff, buffeted by the inevitable breeze and wowed by the beauty of this spot. A sweep to the left takes in Cape Maria van Diemen, the name a legacy of the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who literally put this country on the map, and to the right, the beautiful arc of Spirits Bay, its name underpinning the sacred cultural aspect of this amazing place.” (https://www.aa.co.nz/.../cape-reinga-where-two-oceans-meet/) The scenery was breathtaking and well worth the extra time in the car. 

On Saturday, we watched all three Saturday sessions of General Conference today. The talks were so good. The Music was awesome. I loved the children’s choir in the afternoon session. I also loved the missionary choir in the evening session. There were about a dozen or so Senior missionaries from our previous mission. We recognized a few faces. It was fun to see Ken and Leanne Jenson in the choir. They are currently living in our old apartment in Salt Lake City. And of course, the Tabernacle Choir was awesome as well.

I was able to work on HawkSoft as well. I tried to get to it all week, and just never found the time. I also spent time on the New Convert Initiative. I sent emails to all the bishops who have current new converts but have not filled in their spreadsheets. I actually got two bishops respond back to me that they went and filled in their sheets. YAY!!! I think they are beginning to recognize my name and that I’m not going away. Hahaha

We also took a walk between two of the sessions. It was so windy, I thought we would blow away. We saw two ducks just sitting on the lawn in front of a house. We crossed to the other side of the street so we wouldn’t scare them away. They never budged. Well, they moved enough to know they weren’t phony ducks. Hahaha 

On Sunday, we watched both Sunday sessions of General Conference. I worked on my Blog Recap and spent time preparing for Seminary this coming week. We only have two weeks left of Seminary before the end of school.

The talks were all good. They kind of run all together, so it is hard to pick the one I like the most. I’m looking forward to doing a greater in-depth study of each talk in the coming weeks of my scripture study. I may have to wait until Seminary is over so I will have more time to study. I am also looking forward to going to the Family History Library at the Stake Center a couple times a month. I’m really hoping I can get past the couple of roadblocks that have plagued me for the last 50 years. 

It is always exciting to hear about the new temples that were announced. President Nelson talked a lot about preparing for the Second Coming Jesus Christ. He said, "Now is the time for us to make our discipleship our highest priority." He said one way we can do this is to increase our attendance at the Temple. He then gave us a promise.

"Here is my promise to you: Every sincere seeker of Jesus Christ will find Him in the temple. You will feel His mercy. You will find answers to your most vexing questions. You will better comprehend the joy of His gospel."

I Love General Conference!

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Senior P-Day, DCM, Dinner with Friends, Temple, and Baptisms

We had a very fun Senior P-Day on Monday. We picked up Elder and Sister Carlisle so we could ride together. It was fun getting to know them better while we talked all the way there and back again. We met everyone at the Waitangi Treaty Museum. We took the guided tour at 10:00 AM and learned more about the Māori Culture. Then saw a wonderful Cultural Performance at 11:00.  After the performance we went to the Museum and walk around for a little while. Most of it was about the Māori veterans of the wars. It was very sobering.  

From there we went to Paihia to Pier 7 and caught the ferry to Russell. There we had a delicious lunch. I had Korean Chicken and Steve had Fish and Chips. After lunch it was after 3:00 so we decided to head home. We took the ferry back to Waitangi and headed home. 

Tuesday was filled with catching up from Monday, working on some shared calendars for the Ward, having the missionaries over for Pathway, and doing some mending for the Sisters. Part of that catch up involved working a complicated financial problem we were having in the Ward. We also worked on setting up the Ward Council agenda. The shared calendars ended up being not needed so that was just a learning experience for me. Lol. 

We had our missionaries over in the afternoon for Pathway. Sister Szott was not with us because she had to take Sister Ngawaka to Auckland since she is going home…probably today. Sister Szott stayed in Auckland in a threesome until Thursday, when they had transfers. Then she picked up her new companion and came back up north.

Both Sister Chapman and Sister Ali brought things for me to fix. Sister Chapman needed so work on a strap on her shoulder bag, and Sister Ali wanted the slits in her dress sewed so they don’t go up so high. By the time I finished that it was almost 6:00.

Tuesday evening, we got a call from the Bream Bay Sisters. They were unable to get into their flat. Their door code was not working, nor was their key to the back door. We headed down there to see if we could help. To our disappointment we could do nothing. We sent them to the Sisters’ flat on Clark Road for the night.

First thing Wednesday morning, I called the real estate agent that has their property to see what could be done so they could get back into their flat. Sister Enosa was being transferred the next day and still needed to pack. They told us there should have been a remote for the garage door. The Sisters did not have a remote. So, we headed to the real estate office to pick up a remote that we could give the Sisters. They were also going to schedule someone to service the two doors. Then we headed to our DCM meeting. We were 20 minutes late. Luckily the South District was meeting in Hikurangi today, so Sister Enosa was there today. 

We were going to give the remote to the Sisters, but they were working during the day and we needed to make a copy of the remote. So, we headed back to Whangarei to a couple of locksmiths to get a remote programed for them. The first place we went to wanted $200 for the remote and they would have to order it. They sent us to some other place that they thought would have it in stock and would cost less.

While we headed over there, I called Elder Garner to let him know what was going on. He wanted the address to see if someone had turned in the original remote when they were going home. At the next place they had the remote in stock and it was only $120. Elder Garner called back and had the remote, so we didn’t need to buy one. Since the Sisters were headed to Auckland in the morning, they picked up the remote from Elder Garner and we arranged to pick up the one we gave them on Monday so we can turn it into the real estate office.

What is really weird, is we went back to Bream Bay so we could check out the remote to make sure the Sister could get in. We also wanted to see if someone had accidently moved a little switch on the front door from the inside that actually is another lock. That would have prevented the code from working. Well, the inside lock was locked, but when we unlocked it, the code STILL did not open the door. It turns green and sounds like it unlocks the door, but they door won’t open. It is weird. And the back door key that has always worked before, now feels like it is the wrong key. We can’t turn it at all. It is just weird.

We had a little pizza party after DCM to say goodbye to Sister Chapman. The Carlisles bought pizza, and we furnished brownies. We tried to pay for half the pizzas, but they wouldn't take any money. Sister Chapman was the only missionary in our district that was transferred. And of course, Sister Ngawaka went home so we got two new Sister in this transfer. 

Not long after we got home, the Elders showed up for a Comp Study. We had an nice visit with them. Later I had an hour-long call with Elder Sorensen about the New Convert Initiative spreadsheet. He had accidently created a copy of the spreadsheet so none of his changes were getting saved tot he SHARED spreadsheet. I think we got it all straightened out.

On Thursday, we picked up the Carlisles again. We headed to Costco first and then to the Mission Office. We picked up a few things for us, and then a second stash of stuff for our upcoming Zone Conferences. The Carlisles picked up stuff they wanted too. We had fun stuffing everything into the back of the car. We not only had all our luggage for overnight, but the Carlisles were returning a bunch of stuff to the Mission Office that they didn't need. 

After a quick lunch at Burger King, we headed to the Mission Office. We were hoping to be in and out in record time. That DIDN'T happen. 😂 It is just too fun to see everyone. We dropped off stuff and picked up a few items. We ran into Elder Dixon and then Sister Ali. Sister Garner forwarded a bad inspection report for one of the flats we inspect. This particular property manager is very picky. She has three of our flats. We have dealt with all the issues in the other two flats. This is the first time we got anything for this third flat. We will tackle that on Monday.

We finally got out of there about 3:15. It was at least 15 minutes later than we wanted. We were meeting friends of the Carlisles for dinner in Hamilton. The GPS said we would be there about 3 minutes before we were to meet them. We were about 5 minutes late. 😢 When we walked in, the couple looked familiar to us. Come to find out, they served at the Headquarters Mission in Salt Lake City the same time we did. We overlapped about a year. They left just as President Holmes came in. We didn't really know them other than by sight. We all had a great visit and enjoyed some delicious Italian food at a very authentic Italian restaurant. The Carlisles went home with their friends, and we went to our motel. 

Friday morning dawned bright and early. We picked up the Carlisles on our way to the Temple. We did a sealing session at 8:00. It was a large group, so they split us into two groups. We were able to do a lot of names. The Carlisles got all of their names done. We still have some children to do. After sealings, we did an endowment at 9:15. It was the fullest session we have ever been on. Schools are closed for two weeks so there are a lot of people on holiday. It is a good time to go to the Temple for them. We enjoyed our session. We stopped at the distribution center after the session so the Carlisles could pick up a few things. They we head back home.

It is a very long drive home when you don't break it up with stopping at Costco. Sister Carlisle was hoping to do her piano lessons that she teaches on Friday afternoons. 

On the way home, I got a couple of calls about a few issues that needed to be resolved. So, after we dropped the Carlisles off, we started on the issues. Some we were able to resolve. Others we addressed on Saturday. And still another one we are hoping to resolve soon. We have to get Global Services involved. 

Saturday morning, we woke up and realized we had forgot about the baptisms Elder Sanders had invited us to attend. We checked the time and realized we could make it if we hurried. It was about an hour, drive so we needed to hustle out the door. We arrived just as they were starting the service. We try to support all the missionaries in our district when they have baptisms. 

Sister Chapman

It was an awesome baptism. There were four brothers ranging in age from about 8 or 9 to 13 (I think). They all stood up there after the baptism and bore their testimonies. It reminded me of the stripling warriors of the armies of Helaman. Their parents are not active in Church, but their grandfather has done wonders with them. They are all excited and anxious be serve others. I think they will all make great missionaries one day. You can see how much the love the Lord in their countenances. I’m so grateful we went.

We had the most beautiful musical number by two brethren on clarinets and a sister on the guitar. It was so lovely. They did a medley of a couple of hymns. After the baptism, while the people were setting up for the meal that followed, the three of them continued to play hymns. We snapped a couple of pictures. They don’t ever just do a few refreshments after an event. It is always a FULL meal and lots of desserts. 

Sister Enosa

We had tons of work to do when we got home. We still didn't finish everything. We are hoping to finish it up on Monday, but I'm not holding my breath. 

I love Sundays. I love almost everything about Sundays. We started early so we could get setup before we had Ward Council. We were missing a few people, but we still had a good meeting. We discussed everything on the agenda. YAY. 

Our numbers were a little low, but not too bad. Several people our regulars were on holiday, but we had out of town visitors that almost made up the difference. Out testimony meeting was very good. I even got up and talked about my testimony of General Conference. 

Wilcoxes and Carlisles

After Church, we headed to the Ngahere Ward to attend their Sacrament meeting and visited Bishop Holtz after the meeting. We trained him in the New Convert Initiative process. He is excited to work with it. Things are beginning to pick up.

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

The Carters in the back, the Carlisles in the middle,
and the Wilcoxes in the front.