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