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.