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