Brynn, Family Home Evening, and Seminary Graduation

Sister Wilcox, Brynn, and Elder Wilcox

Monday was Steve's birthday. It was a pretty low key day. We had such a busy week before that all we wanted to do was stay home and do nothing.  We took care of a few minor things like taking the car in to get the back hatch repaired. We are not sure when it got dented, but the vehicle coordinator noticed it at our last Zone Conference and told us to get it fixed. They gave us the tiniest loaner car. There was no room for anything. 

From our trip to the Temple and the Senior Thanksgiving Dinner in Auckland last weekend, we brought back a bunch of stuff from the Mission Office that we needed to get distributed up north. Because the loaner car was so small, we contacted the Bennions to see if they could pick up the stuff for Kaikohe. Thankfully, they came down on Monday and picked up most of the stuff we brought back. The Zone Leaders came by on Tuesday to pick up the rest of the stuff for the flats in our area.

Tuesday was our last Pathway with the missionaries...at least for a while. Sister Ali already transferred to Auckland and Sister Szott was transferring on Thursday. We very much enjoyed having them come over each week. I worked on the New Convert Initiative program for part of the day. I was able to try out my comparison worksheet. It worked really well. It didn't take me nearly as long as it has in the past to get it all entered. I was even able to send out reminders to all the Bishops and Stake Presidents to remind them to update their spreadsheets. I received several emails back either reporting they just completed it, or they were going to work on it right away. 

We also worked on our Family Home Evening lesson for Wednesday evening. Brynn showed up early evening. She had dropped Warren off at the airport and was spending her last full day with us and leaving Thursday morning to head home to Oregon. We had a nice visit before having some ice cream and then headed to bed.

Brynn went with us to DCM on Wednesday morning. I think she enjoyed meeting everyone and participating in a missionary activity again. We found out Tuesday evening who was transferring out of our Zone. We lost 8 missionaries. 😥 Most of them we expected. We thought we were going to lose Elder Moyes because he has been in our area a very long time. This is his last transfer before he goes home. But it appears the Lord knows he is still needed here. He is the new DL, and he is training a newbie. The actual transfers took place on Thursday.

We had a really good meeting. Elder Shupe did our training and did an excellent job. He is also staying and will be a trainer. He is fairly new himself so that says something about the caliber of missionaries they send up North. We have the cream of the crop!

After DCM, Brynn wanted to do some shopping for souvenirs. We went to a shop in Whangarei we have not been to before but was recommended to us. We will probably go back again in the future. It had a lot of cool things. Then we went home for lunch. Actually, we were late enough we had an early dinner instead. Brynn then washed her rental car in preparation to turn it in on Thursday.

After that it was time to go to the Snows for Family Home Evening. They have 4 little kids who fell all over Brynn. They all clung to her and wanted her attention. We gave our lesson on the brother of Jared and the barges. I made little barges they could play with during the story. After the lesson we played a "listening" gave to teach them how they have to listen hard to hear the Holy Ghost. After some songs and ice cream cones, it was time to go home. It was a very fun time.

We said goodbye to Brynn first thing in the morning. It was hard to say goodbye, but we were happy to have a little taste of home while she was with us. I worked on reconciling all the reimbursements we get with all the receipts we have submitted. Because of the work we do with fixing things for the flats, we submit a lot of receipts for reimbursement. It is hard to know what receipts the reimbursements are for because the receipts are in New Zealand dollars and the reimbursements are in US dollars. The exchange rate changes daily. I need to stay on top of it better moving forward. We also ran some errands. We needed to pick up a prescription for Steve and buy some table runners for our upcoming Zone Conferences. 

Much of Friday was spent in our Thanksgiving Dinner preparations for next Thursday. Since New Zealand doesn't really celebrate Thanksgiving, I ask President Allen if we could host a Thanksgiving Dinner for the missionaries up North and he said "Yes". We get them for two hours. I coordinated with all the Senior Couples to spread out the food. We are also inviting all the missionaries in the Kaikohe Zone. We are having a little problem getting turkeys. They have some frozen ones, but they are very small and VERY expensive. I think we are just going to do chicken and ham and maybe a small turkey for taste. We will have about 45 missionaries coming from both the Whangarei and the Kaikohe Zones. I also worked on the New Convert Initiative. Elder Moyes brought over his new companion for us to meet. Elder Erickson is from Utah. This is actually his second transfer, so he is only a little green still. Lol.  I think he will fit in just fine. We will meet everyone else on Wednesday. Well, we met the new Zone Leader with Elder Christensen on Tuesday when they picked up all the stuff for the flats in our area. He got his companion early because Elder Fernandez finished his mission and went home on Monday. 

In the evening, we headed to the Stake Center for the Seminary Graduation Dinner. The food was delicious, and the games were fun. The adults beat the graduates two out of three games. Lol.

Saturday was a "Catch Up" day. We took care of things around the house, laundry, shopping, etc. I also prepared a package to be sent to Australia to a member of our ward who recently moved there. The Bishop needed to sign a document and then put it in the mail. 

We spent some time working on preparations for our P-Day on Monday. Since we just had transfers and we are now in a new district, we wanted to get to know everyone. We got a few more missionaries in our Zone, so they have created three districts. The South District will have the Bream Bay Sisters, the Wellsford Sisters, and the Dargaville Elders. They will have two Senior Couples in their District. Elder and Sister Buchanan and Elder and Sister Ward. They will meet in the Bream Bay Chapel. The North District will consist of the Hikurangi Elders, the Punaruku Elders, and the Te Horo (Pipiwai) Elders. Their Senior Couple is Elder and Sister Carlisle. The new Central District will have the Denby Sisters, the Ngahere Sisters, and the Riverside Elders. We will be the Senior Couple for that district. The Central District and the North District will probably both meet at the Stake Center.

Anyway, we wanted to get to know everyone before our DCM on Wednesday. So, we are having a Central District P-Day at our house. We will provide Pizza and Salad, and they will supply anything else they want to have. We have a few getting to know you games we will play too. It should be a lot of fun. 

I also spent some time working on HawkSoft. I had fallen a bit behind, so it was nice to catch up on that too. 

I spoke in Church Sunday morning. I was asked to speak on the talk called Live Up to Your Privileges by President Emily Belle Freeman (YW General President) that was given in the Saturday morning session of General Conference. I prepared it all week and wrote it out. Then I just spoke from the heart. I'm not sure how much of the talk I actually covered, but I did read a few quotes. I think it went pretty well. The first speaker was the Bishop's granddaughter. She spoke on the Youth Temple Trip they had on 16 November. She did a FANTASTIC job. I was very impressed. I was in the middle and our concluding speakers were none other than Aunty Sandra. She is in the Stake Relief Society Presidency. She bailed me out at last week's devotional. She also does a huge breakfast for all the missionaries in our Zone sometime during every transfer. She is AWESOME. In addition to her great talk, she also taught our Relief Society Lesson. For her handout, she gave everyone a FULL-SIZED Cadbury bar with a quote from the talk by President Dallin H. Oaks called Following Christ. Her lesson was AWESOME too.

Later in the evening, we attended the Seminary Graduation. Each of the seven graduates gave a talk. They received their certificate. After graduation was over, the graduates were led into the foyer where they were given multiple candy leis and other treats as their rewards. Sister Paratene makes a Suit of Armor out of chocolates for her students. 

After we went home, Elder and Sister Healey came over to pick up the extra modem we had. They work with Seminaries and Institutes down in Auckland. They came up for our graduation. We had a very nice visit with them.

All Our Love,
Elder and Sister Wilcox

Tawhai and Mate-kino

Glow-worm Caves, Family History Help, Stripling Warrior, B&B, Museum, Visitors, and Early Thanksgiving Dinner

Our Zone

From the title you can see it has been a VERY busy week. On Monday, we had a wonderful day. We started the morning at Aunty Sandra's house for her "transfer" breakfast for all the missionaries in our Zone. We have always had something going on the day she has scheduled it so we have never made it. This time, we thought we were going to miss it again, when Sister Carlisle suggested we skip leaving early for our Senior Activity day and instead go to the breakfast first. I'm so glad we did. She puts on a feast. It was so fun too, after all the missionaries showed up. Aunty Sandra is this incredible Sister who does so much. She is the principal of the elementary school in Pipiwai. We have met her several times, and she always remembers us. We stayed about an hour and then headed out to our Senior Activity day. 

One of our Senior Couples goes home in a week or so and we wanted to have our activity before they left. We made reservations at a Glow-worm Cave near Bream Bay and then at a restaurant for lunch. We had a wonderful time on the tour and learned so many fascinating things about how the caves were formed and the glow-worms. I think my favorite moment was when we were heading back out of the caves. We had all turned our little lights off, so it was dark. We looked up at the ceiling of the cave and saw hundreds, if not thousands of tiny glow-worms. I looked like the Milky Way. I suppose that is why they are called the Milky Way caves. 😇 I think everyone really enjoyed it. We had a great lunch too and stayed a very long time just visiting with each other. I love all our Senior Missionaries. I love all our young missionaries too.

Once we got home, we finished our day with a video call with Season. Madison poked in for a bit to let us know that she got accepted into a graduate program for optometry in Provo. She will start in May. We are very excited for her. We had a great visit with Season and talked about so many things. It was wonderful to catch up.

After that, Sister Paratene stopped by to talk about Seminary. The class was doing the Sacrament program the following Sunday and she wanted to give me all the details so I could create the Sacrament program. 

Tuesday was pretty normal. I worked on the New Convert Initiative for much of the day. We had our Pathway missionaries over. The Bishop stopped by for a quick visit. He needed some computer help with an email he received. Later, Charlotta came over so we could help her print out her family names so she could take them to the Temple and do the baptisms. It was the first time she did Temple work, and she was very excited. We had a lovely time catching up and printing out her mother's and grandmother's cards.

Wednesday was DCM in Bream Bay again. I think we will be meeting there one more week, before we go back to either Hikurangi or Whangarei. We take half the Elders with us and the other half go with the Carlisles. That way they don't use up their very limited number of miles for the month. I love just listening to the Elders chat with each other in the car. After we dropped the Elders off at the Carlisle's house to pick up their cars, we ran some errands before heading home. Steve worked on his talk for Sacrament meeting, and I finished up the New Convert Initiative comparison spreadsheet. I then did some HawkSoft work. At the end of the day, I found out I will be the concluding speaker for Sacrament. Lol

Thursday was very busy getting lots of things done before our trip to Hamilton and Auckland. I did the Seminary Sacrament Program. (I think it turned out pretty good.) We worked on Ward Council stuff. I prepared my training for Ward Council and wrote the talk for the Sacrament meeting. I also organized getting some food for the Devotional on Sunday. I sewed up a couple of slits on a dress for one of the Bream Bay Sisters. She felt the slits were too high, so I dropped them about two inches. She is headed to the Cook Islands this week. 

We left around 9:30 Friday morning to head to Hamilton for the Temple. We endured heavy rain and wind all day. I felt bad for Steve driving in it. We picked up the Carlisles, so we had nice conversation all the way. Sister Carlisle made a nice chicken salad for lunch. She had some rolls, so we made sandwiches. We furnished some chips, fruit, and cookies to round out the meal. We stopped for lunch once we got through the Auckland traffic. 

Dinner with Carters, Carlisles, and Wilcoxes

We arrived in Hamilton a full hour before we needed to be at the Temple, so we dropped the Carlisles off at the distribution center. They wanted to buy some things and then met up with the Carters, who they were staying with. We headed over to the Bed and Breakfast spot we were staying at. It was very close to the Temple and in such a beautiful spot. Our only concern was the one bathroom shared by the floor. There were only four rooms on the floor so we were hoping it wouldn't be too bad.

Our B&B

We met the Carlisles and Carters at the Temple for our session. They were both encouraged to sit at the front of the room, and I ended up near the back. That was OK with me as the back of the room is actually better seating. The Carters left after the Endowment Session, and we stayed for an Initiatory session with the Carlisles. After that we met up with the Carters at a restaurant for dinner. We had a very nice visit, but it was really noisy in the restaurant. On our way back to the B&B we had to reroute several times because of road closures. We eventually made it back. There was no one in the huge bathroom so we took our showers. They have a separate toilet room so that makes it easier. Lol We honestly didn't see anyone that day, even though they were full up.

Our Hosts, Clive and Coleen

Saturday morning was amazing. We went down for breakfast just as everyone else was finishing. They had a table all set for the two of us. There were a variety of things for breakfast to match any appetite. Elder Wilcox had pancakes, I had granola and yogurt. They brought a small tray of bacon that was so good. We each ate that. She also brought us some Māori toast that was so crispy and good. We put butter and local honey on it. YUM! Since everyone else left, we had a nice visit with the owners. Come to find out, the husband (Clive) served a mission to Australia right after Elder Wilcox served. They shared the same Mission President and even served in several of the same areas. They had fun talking about that. Coleen shared about her family and the role they played in the Hamilton Temple. By the time we left, we exchanged contact information, and she told us to call her directly if we ever wanted to come back. She would give us a better price than we paid before. Needless to say, we are going back next month.

From there, we went to the Church Museum to meet up with the Carlisles. The Carters work there for their mission. They gave us a nice tour of the museum and showed us where they work and what they do. It is pretty fascinating. They told us about a nice souvenir shop that was not too far and very reasonably priced. We decided to stop since we still had plenty of time before we needed to be in Auckland. We stayed at the souvenir shop way too long and bought a lot of stuff. I think we have all the souvenirs we need now. 

We hit the road again and changed the plans we had. We dropped stopping at the ice cream place. We will save that for the next Temple trip. Lol.  We also dropped stopping at a party supply store so I could pick up some table runners for our future Zone Conferences. I wanted to hit a different store instead of Costco, but it was decided Costco was the place to go. So, we dropped the Carlisles off at the front entrance to Costco to pick up the food items we both needed for the Senior Thanksgiving Dinner we were going too, and we went to get gas. For some reason, Costco gas wouldn't take Elder Wilcox's Costco card, so we ended up getting gas later on our way home. Of course, Costco took longer than expected because of lines, so we were later than we wanted to be. 

The Dinner started at 4 and we got there by 4:30. It turns out it wasn't too late after all. They had finished the welcome and stuff and were just getting in lines to get food. I took care of a little business before getting in line to eat. When we sat at our table, we were right next to two missionaries who were serving in the Hamilton Temple Initiatory when we were there on Friday. Sister Carlisle and I were in the Sister's booth, and Elder Wilcox was in the husband's booth. I was sitting next to the husband, and he said he met my husband in the Temple the day before. I looked at his wife and said that I met his wife in the Temple. From there we had a great conversation. They actually serve in the Area Office, so we had never seen them before. Their particular job takes them all over the Pacific Islands. It sounded pretty cool.

Matthew Cowley's Coat

After dinner and group pictures, and pictures with a few of our missionaries that are now in Auckland, we loaded up our car with a bunch of stuff for the different flats up north. The Seniors did inventories of what the Missionaries should have and if they were missing anything. The Auckland Senior Couple in charge put together bags of stuff for them. We didn’t have a lot of room in our car because of our luggage and the Carlisle’s luggage, so we put the overflow in the Ward’s car. The plan was to get the stuff from the Ward's car at our DCM meeting the following Wednesday.

We stopped at the Bream Bay Sisters’ flat to drop off their bag of stuff and a new (used) phone for one of the sisters we had to trade out.  Next, we headed to the Carlisles to drop them off and meet the Denby Sisters so we could give Sister Griffin the music I printed for them last week for the Devotional Sunday night. She accidentally left it with Sister Ali when she dropped her off in Auckland. We met up with Sister Ali at the dinner and picked up the music. CRAZY!

Lastly, we headed home. We got there at 9:00pm and put things away before Brynn and Warren arrived. They were visiting us overnight. Brynn will be back on Tuesday and stay to Thursday before heading back to Oregon. 

Sunday was another very busy day. After staying up too late visiting with Brynn and Warren, we had to get up very early for Church. We had Ward Council and had to arrive early to have everything set up for that. I think my training went pretty well. Brynn and Warren came to our Sacrament meeting then they left to head back to Hamilton. The Stake released our Elders Quorum President and sustained him to the High Council. They also release the counselors in the Elders Quorum and call the previous first counselor as the new Elders Quorum President. Then the Seminary class did their presentation. Since we were studying the Book of Mormon this year, the Class made a big "Stripling Warrior" out of shopping bags. Throughout the year they would post things on him like things about his armor. Each of the kids spoke about some aspects of what they learned. The teacher had 6 speakers before a group song and then 4 more speakers lined up. Needless to say, we went overtime. I was supposed to be the concluding speaker, but I shook my head and didn't speak. I just got up and we sang the closing song. We finished almost 10 minutes late.

After Church, we took care of several Ward Clerk things for the Bishop. We were able to do them at home so that was nice since both counselors were on the computer in the Clerk's office. We had a Zoom meeting with the mission. While that was going on, we made our refreshments for the Devotional that night. Luckily, we could listen to the Zoom meeting while we worked. Lol. Not long after that ended it was time to leave for the Devotional. They wanted people to be early so they could run through the program. I got some tables set up for the refreshments. Just before the Devotional started, I realized that no one was in charge of the food. There were no tablecloths, plates, serving utensils, etc. I went to the kitchen to see if I could find anything that could help. The kitchen isn't well stocked yet; however, I found a bunch of glass saucers in the cupboard, so I pulled those out and put them on the table. I was not looking forward to washing dishes. I found a few tongs to help with serving, but not nearly enough. Luckily, we were having finger food. 

Aunty Sandra Saves the Day!

I went back to watch the Devotional. I left about 15 minutes before the Devotional ended so I could put the food out. Our SWEET Aunty Sandra arrived and had some tablecloths, paper plates, and more utensils, not to mention 100 chocolate eclairs she had just made. She wasn't in charge, but somehow, she heard about the mix up and thought maybe she could help. She SAVED the day. The Devotional turned out great and there was hardly any food left. It couldn't have been better. We had a few dishes to wash, but overall, it wasn't bad. I was so tired by the end of the day.  

All our Love,
Elder and Sister Wilcox

Tangi, Pathway Celebrations, Bream Bay, and Punaruku Flat

Our Bonfire

Monday morning, we headed to the Marae in Punaruku to attend the Tangi (funeral) for a beloved brother in our ward. He was a wonderful man who was loved by all. There was standing room only. Many people were standing outside the doors listening because there was no room inside. 

The service was beautiful. Thankfully, most of it was in English. Our Bishop conducted the service. We got there very early, and Bishop grabbed Elder Wilcox to sit by him. When people arrive, they must be invited into the Marae by the greeters who sing a welcoming chant in Māori. A member of the guests sings a reply. Then each person is led up the middle of the room to pay their respects to the deceased and then greets each of the family members and other invited guests with a hug and a kiss, or nose to nose if they are both male. Then they are led to seats. Elder Wilcox was included in the greeting party, partly because he was with the Bishop and partly because he was family. He is the 10th cousin to Hepi. 

The Walk to the Gravesite after the Tangi

After the tangi, I spent the afternoon organizing a Senior Activity for next Monday. We wanted to have one more activity before Elder and Sister Oster leave their mission. We are going to the glowworm caves near Bream Bay and then out to lunch. I also organized a Thanksgiving dinner for our young Missionaries. We got permission from President Allen to have all the missionaries in the Northland for a couple of hours on Thanksgiving Day. All the Seniors will provide a Thanksgiving feast for them. The missionaries are so excited.

On Tuesday, we had our normal Pathway. This time we only had the Sisters since Elder Moyes graduated. The Sisters completed their first term, so we prepared a little celebration for them. We made big posters for each one with hearts, balloons, and a couple bags of candy for them. They loved it.

What we did for each Sister

We also had our normal Monday video call with Douhet on Tuesday this time. We couldn't coordinate our schedules for our Monday and his Sunday. We got to talk briefly with Kinzley and Griffyn too. After the call, Steve met a repair man at the Murdoch Crescent flat to get the bathroom heat lamp replaced. I worked on the New Convert Initiative.

When Steve got home, we headed to the Horsford's property for a Ward Bonfire activity. It was in celebration of Guy Fawkes (Faux) day.  It is the closest thing to the 4th of July celebration they have. It is sometimes called the Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night. It commemorates a failed assassination attempt from more than 400 years ago. 

We had a wonderful Ward turnout. Several kids went swimming in the swimming hole. Others played rugby. Many just ran around chasing one another. Everyone had a good time. The Bishop BBQed sausages and grilled some onions. Others brought salads, cake, and of course s’mores fixings. Unfortunately, they don’t have graham crackers, but we used a shortbread cracker, and it was pretty good. One thing I did not expect was how big the bonfire was. It was HUGE. We had a lot of fun.

Our DCM meeting on Wednesday was a treat. We held it at the Bream Bay Chapel. I have always wanted to go inside that Chapel, so I was very happy to meet there. We will be meeting there until the next transfer. We met at the Carlisle's flat so we could split our 6 Elders into both our cars so they could save miles on their cars. It was a little crowded, but it worked out. 

Stoking the Bonfire

I spent the rest of the day working on the New Convert Initiative program. I am creating a comparison spreadsheet so I can quickly compare from one week's report to the next one and see everything that is either new or changed. Hopefully I will have it finished sometime next week.

By Thursday we were both not feeling well. Our colds had caught up with us. We were hoping to stay home, but that didn't quite work out. After our weekly SPF meeting, we headed out to pick up a package for Sister Allen. She needs it for a Mission Leader Seminary next week. We thought it was in Whangarei, but it turned out to be in a outlet shop in the garage of a home just two blocks from where we live. We then dropped the package off at the Carlisle’s house so they can give it to Elder and Sister Ward. Sister Ward is President Allen’s sister. Anyway, they were staying at the Carlisles Friday night and would go back to Wellsford on Saturday. President and Sister Allen were going to their house on Saturday to pick something else up, so they picked up the package at the same time. We originally thought we were going to be driving to Auckland to deliver the package. 

The Bishop Cooking

On the way home from that, we got a text message from a lady who has a house for rent in the Punaruku area. Punaruku is about an hour away from Hikurangi, and we have two Elders who server there but live in Hikurangi. They have been looking for a flat in that area to save them 2 hours of travel time a day. The Garners asked us to take a look at the flat and report back. It looks like a really nice place. It is nice and big with three bedrooms. We took a bunch of pictures and sent a report to the Garners. They made the final decision to go for it. They will be able to take possession on 20 December 2024.

We were able to stay home on Friday, although I worked on the computer all day. I guess that isn't really resting, is it? Still, it helped not having to go out. I formatted a baptismal program for the Denby Sisters and printed several copies for them. We were planning on going to the baptism but were just not feeling well at all. We felt it best to stay home. I had a video call with Sean and MyLiege so MyLiege could train me on what she was doing for HawkSoft. She has been so busy with her photography business that she hasn’t had time to do her HawkSoft work anymore. It is only a couple hours a month, so I agreed to help out. I used to do it years ago. The process is much easier now. We have fun visiting as well as getting some training done. The Sisters showed up to pick up their baptism programs while we were on the video call, so they got to meet MyLiege and Sean. I also spent plenty of time on the New Convert Initiative program. It was good to finally be a couch potato in the evening.

Sister Szott and Sister Ali

I'm not sure where the time went on Saturday. We stayed home all day again; however, we were busy. We prepared for Elder Moyes's Pathway graduation. We blew up balloons, cut out hearts, and bought cake and ice cream to celebrate with him. 

We called Sierra for her birthday (it was still Friday for her). We left a message because she was mountain climbing. When she had a break, she called us back so we could sing to her. It was nice to have a little visit with her.

Elder Moyes and Elder Derrick showed up for the graduation. A few minutes later, Elder and Sister Carlisle showed up as well. I'm so glad they came to support him. 

Bream Bay Chapel

The Pathway program is the pet project of Sister Allen. She talked to the Area Presidency a year ago and got permission to start a pilot program to help missionaries after their mission. They partnered with Pathway and BYU Idaho to develop this program. It consists of three classes that are kind of a transitional program to help them get back into school when they finish their mission. They are able to get some credits done while on their mission. It is only one class per term. The class meets once a week on a Zoom meeting for an hour and a half. Then they are allowed ½ hour a day for their classwork. They can’t start the program until they are towards the end of their mission. 

This was the first class to graduate. As such nearly have of the missionaries had already gone home and finished their class at home. The graduation was on Zoom with a fair number of missionaries in Auckland. There were several talks, some musical numbers, and then the presentation of the certificates (virtually for most). Each graduate got to say a few things. They finished with a beautiful slideshow of all the graduates and the Senior Missionaries who taught the classes. We didn’t teach. We just allowed them to use our Wi-Fi to watch their class. Technology wasn’t kind to our musical groups. I think the mono-directional microphones didn’t work very well for groups so we couldn’t hear their songs. Once Sister recorded her song and they played it. That one worked beautifully. I’m sure the next graduation will have some of these bugs worked out.

Our North District

After graduation, we served cake and ice cream. However, Elder Moyes and Elder Derrick are on a sugar fast to show support for one of their friends who is trying to quit an addictive substance. Luckily, I had some fruit they could have. 

And of course, I worked for the rest of the day on the New Convert Initiative and finally finished entering all the data I need. Now I just needed to make the comparison sheet. Lots of formulas. I also spent some time working on HawkSoft. Later all 4 Sisters came over to print some music for a Musical Devotional they are putting together for 17 December 2024.

Elder Moyes

I think half the Ward was in Auckland for the weekend. Our numbers on Sunday were very small today. It was the fewest we’ve had since we have been here. Since we had our Stake Conference last week, we had our Fast and Testimony meeting today. I was afraid there wouldn’t be enough people for testimonies, but we had a GREAT meeting. We even went a little overtime. Our Relief Society lesson was good too. 

After Church, we headed to the hospital to visit a member and give him the Sacrament. He is an older man who lost his wife a month or so ago. He lives on the same property as his daughter and son-in-law. They came home from the bonfire on Tuesday and found Eric having some problems. They took him to the emergency room, and he was admitted. They ran a bunch of tests, but never figured out what the problem was. The problem he had when they admitted him had not recurred. He has high blood pressure, so they were addressing that with some new medication. He was supposed to go home on Monday. 

Sierra on a mountain

Anyway, his daughter and son-in-law were out of town for the next two weeks, so the Ward was stepping up to look after him. We were happy to take the Sacrament to him and had a nice visit. Brother and Sister Hester were to pick him up from the hospital and take him home on Monday. 

We have a very busy week scheduled for next week!

All our Love,
Elder and Sister Wilcox

Trunk or Treat, New Senior Couple, Stake Conference, and Marae

Monday was supposed to be a P-Day; however, we ended up fixing a clogged toilet and a clogged shower. The Sisters called us the night before about the toilet. It was very slow moving, so we asked if it could wait until morning. They said yes. When we walked in the door Monday morning, they told us about the shower being clogged too. We decided to tackle that one first. They had tried to fix that themselves and managed to pull out the drain so they could clean it. They could not figure out how to open up an enclosed case which was where all the hair was. Elder Wilcox took care of that, but when he tried to put the drain back in the hole he ran into a big problem. There was a plastic ring that screwed into the drainpipe under the floor and would not line up. The Sisters said they never took that out, so we figure it has been that way for who knows how long. We gave up after an hour of trying to line it up. And since “normal” plungers don’t work on the toilets here, we decided to turn the toilet and the shower over to the property manager. 

I sent off the request and asked if it could be fixed that day as 4 girls in a flat with no toilet and no shower was simply not going to work. Shortly after I sent the request, Sister Garner reminded me that it was a holiday, and the property manager probably wouldn’t see it until the next day. So, we asked if we could buy a drain snake and fix the toilet ourselves. They agreed and we were off. 

The drain snake worked great, and the toilet was fixed in now time. Then Elder Wilcox had a different idea about the drainpipe in the shower. We tried it and within a minute or two I was able to screw the ring on the drainpipe. Just like that, everything was fixed!

In between working on the toilet and the shower and Elder Wilcox shopping for the drain snake, I had an Area call for the New Convert Initiative. After that we had a nice video call with Sierra and Shonee. I love talking with our kids every week.

Tuesday was a little low key. We took a nice walk in the neighborhood. We decided to check out the Senior Living Center around the corner from us. They have a pathway that leads to the little lake that we like to walk around. The retirement community is very nice. It is made up of nice duplexes that have two garages between the two homes. They have a small front and back yard that are professionally maintained and look beautiful. It is the perfect size for a retired couple or single resident. 

We found the pathway that leads to the lake, however it was locked and required a combination to the keypad. Needless to say, we didn’t know the code. We ended up going back the way we came and didn’t go to the lake that day.

Not long after we were home, the missionaries showed up for Pathway. This finishes up Elder Moyes. He completed his third course. The two Sisters still have two more courses to do, we will get to keep seeing them until they get transferred. Elder Sanders came with Elder Moyes, so we had a nice “comp study” with him since it has been very hard to coordinate with him the last several weeks. When Pathway was over, the Elders and Elder Wilcox gave a blessing to one of the Sisters who has been having some difficulties recently. Elder Sanders offered a very sweet prayer. 

Wednesday was DCM. We met at the Whangarei Stake Center instead of the Hikurangi Chapel. We also mixed up the two districts. They swapped the Sisters and also gave us Elder and Sister Ward. It was fun, but a little confusing. It was fun to be in the Stake Center. After DCM, I worked with Elder Sorensen to see if he could help me resolve the problem I had been having getting my New Convert Initiative report. For some reason, the Brother who runs it for me was unable to produce the report. Elder Sorensen sent me some information, which I then forwarded to the Brother I’m working with. By Friday, I had the report again.

Later that afternoon, we headed to the Chapel to clean it. Since it is not a very big Chapel, we plus two other sisters were able to have it all cleaned in about an hour.  

Thursday started with our Mission Zoom SPF meeting. I spent much of the afternoon working on the New Convert Initiative PowerPoint presentation we were going to give at Stake Conference at the Saturday Leadership Session. I even managed to spend some time working on HawkSoft before it was time to head to our Trunk or Treat activity at the Chapel. We dressed up and “Mormon Missionaries.” Hahaha We had a wonderful turn out from the community as well as members from several Wards and Branches. I think everyone had a GREAT time.

On Wednesday, a brand-new Senior Missionary couple arrived in Auckland. After spending the night in Auckland, they headed to their area of assignment in Kaitaia, the northern most area in the mission. We were asked to help get them set up in the Shared Drive and show them how to do inspections and the flat inventory. So, we asked if they would like us to come visit them on Friday. 

What started out as a short visit to train them on the shared Google drive and the documents they will need to access to do flat inspections, turned into several hours of a wonderful visit of getting to know them.

They didn’t have access to the shared drive, so I requested access from Elder Erickson. He granted that after we left, so hopefully they are able to get in now. We also checked out their Internet access. It still needs some work. 

We had planned on checking out a place for our next Senior P-Day activity, but it got too late. We will have to make another trip up North next week. Lol

I spent part of Saturday morning working on my new report for the New Convert Initiative program. The new report shows a PENDING status. This means the convert was baptized and confirmed; however, the membership record has not been created yet. I will be able to track down the missionaries who taught them and have them bug the ward or branch clerk and get the membership record created.

We made a few minor tweaks to the notes for the PowerPoint presentation for the Stake Leadership session of Conference. We felt we were about as prepared as we could be.

We were presenting in the Stake Leadership session of Conference. We were the last speakers before the rest hymn. I sent the link to the PowerPoint presentation to the Stake Clerk the night before, so I didn’t take my laptop. I showed Elder Wilcox how we would be able to see the notes on the laptop, while the audience saw the presentation on the big screen. It would all be just fine.

Well, unfortunately for us, they did not have the laptop set up with dual monitors. They had the big screen, as well as the monitor on the floor for those sitting on the stand duplicating the laptop. What that meant for us was NO NOTES! Elder Wilcox was going to have to wing it. He started the presentation and explained that I was the one doing the project and he was just “arm candy”.  He was able to say a few words for each of the slides he was going to present, and I filled in the rest of the information. It turned out well, and the Stake President was happy with the presentation.

I was impressed with how much the other speakers touched on aspects of the New Convert Initiative. It made it nice so I could tell them we were not asking them to do MORE stuff since they are already so busy. We are just encouraging them to do what they are supposed to do and then have their clerk record the dates and information that we need to track. 

After the leadership session, we were invited to the High Council room where they had a very nice dinner between sessions. That sure beat the protein bar we brought. Lol

The evening session of Conference was also very good. In both sessions, the Stake Presidency sang a song acapella. They were both very beautiful. The Māori can really sing.

Our Sunday morning session of Stake Conference was wonderful. Three of the speakers were from our ward. We had a recently returned missionary, a sister who recently took out her Endowment at the Hamilton Temple, and our Stake Patriarch. The other speaker was from Pipiwai. She shared a very touching testimony of when her son passed away 21 years ago. The organist was also from our ward, so we were well represented. Near the end of Conference, a young girl of 8 sang the most beautiful solo of Gethsemane. It brough tears to my eyes and I’m sure many others as well. We also heard from our Mission President and his wife again. They both gave great talks. President Reti was our concluding speaker. He also gave a very special talk.  

Right after Conference, we gathered together with some of our missionaries to determine where we were having our picnic. The Wellsford Branch is over 1 ½ hours away. They chartered a bus to attend Stake Conference. They also decided to have a picnic lunch before heading back home. Elder and Sister Ward are assigned to that branch and organized everything. They invited all the missionaries to come and any members from their wards or branches. Several people from the Te Horo Branch (Pipiwai area) as well as all the missionaries from Whangarei. We each brought something to go with the pulled pork sandwiches the Ward’s provided. We took a fruit platter. The wind was blowing a bit, and it was a little chilly, but that didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. President and Sister Allen showed up too. The wind died down and the sun came out just as we were ready to leave. Lol

From there, we met members of our Ward at our Chapel so we could carpool to the Marae to show our respects for a Ward member who passed away yesterday. The Tangi (funeral) will be tomorrow so we will head back out to the Marae. This was the brother we visited in the Hospital last week. I’m so glad we were able to see him before he passed. He was a stalwart in the community as well as in the whole Whangarei Stake. He knew EVERYONE and everyone loved him. There weren’t that many people when we got there. I think a large group of people left to go to the dining hall as we arrived. We had a more intimate time with the family. We only had a few speakers and of course the songs after every speaker were beautiful. Most of the speakers spoke in Māori and then in English so that was nice. I think they did that for our benefit. We got home a little before 6.

It has been a wonderful and busy week. Next week is looking about the same. Lol

All our Love,
Elder and Sister Wilcox