Central and North District Breakfast, Birthday, FHE, Baptism, and Whanau at the Falls

I think every day this week was more impromptu than planned. It started on Monday morning. Since this was the first week with our "new" district and 4 out of our 6 missionaries were brand new, Elder Maraetefau asked if there was something we could do on P-Day to help bring the Central District together. We decided perhaps a district breakfast would do the trick. Well, no sooner had they posted the invitation Sunday evening than Elder Dixon, who is now one of our Zone Leaders and has access to the Central District chat, saw the post and asked if the North District could join us. They also had a few newbies, but only two who were brand new. Of course, we said yes.

We got up early to grocery shop and then went home to fix breakfast for 14 people. We invited the Carlisles too, but they had appointments with the dentist. 😥 We made them fresh scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes. We also had some fresh fruit. After we ate, several Elders jumped in and did the dishes. Then we played some getting to know you games and had a grand ‘ole  time. When it was time to leave, everyone was friends. It went a long way to cementing our relationships with each other. 

Sister Brough and Sister Jones

After everyone left, we straightened a few things and collapsed on the couch. We watched the first half of Follow Him. I think we both fell asleep. 😴 Hahaha.  I also did some work on the New Convert Initiative. 

Tuesday was Sister Carlisle’s birthday. We thought about having them over for dinner but figured they would be in Pipiwai at that time. So, we decided to take them out to lunch. We went to a place called The Butter Factory. Their burgers were delicious. 🍔

I spent most of the day finishing the New Convert Initiative report. I am ready to send an email to all the Stake Clerks and solicit their help. The area has talked about it for months, but they haven't put their letter together yet.  I'm ready to ask for their help now!

Elder Maraetefau, Elder
Davis (in back),
Elder Olson, Sister Douglas,
and Sister Smetaniuk

On Wednesday, we held our first DCM as a new District. The Monday breakfast really helped with everyone jumping right in as if they'd known each other forever.  We made apple crisp 🍎 the night before, so we had some fun treats.  We played a fun 'getting to know you' game called Hotseat.  Elder Davis is our new District Leader.  He did a great job.

After DCM, Sister Douglas and Sister Smetaniuk came over for a mentoring section. Steve made grilled cheese sandwiches 🥪 for all of us.  They had an appointment scheduled for after, so we didn't do a comp study.  We will schedule for next week. 

After they left, I worked on several things while Steve met the Elders for a teaching appointment. Later, we went to the family we do Family Home Evening with every other week. We talked about the armor of God and let them help put the armor on a paper man. After singing all 9 verses to Follow the Prophet and having some ice cream 🍧, we headed home. Busy day! 

Thursday morning started with my Zoom Seminary class.  I had seven students. We talked about putting Jesus Christ at the center of all our service, especial our Temple Service. 

The North and Central Districts

We had the Hika Elders over for breakfast before SPF and Comp Study. This time we made homemade hashbrowns, omelet and/or scrambled eggs, and bacon 🥓. It turned out pretty good. 

Just about the time we were finishing our Comp Study with the Elders, the Denby e-Bike 🚲 Sisters showed up. They had a mentoring session and then our Comp Study.  We had an enjoyable time with them. We studied the Plan of Salvation. After Comp Study, we made them lunch and enjoyed that time together. 

As the Sisters were leaving the Riverside Elders showed up for their Comp Study. Normally they do this on different days, but somehow it all happened on Thursday. They wanted to study our Come Follow Me weekly study in Doctrine and Covenants 27 and 28. We had a great discussion with them. When we finished, we enjoyed visiting a little more and getting to know them better. Elder Wilcox brought out his stash of A&W Root Beer for a treat for them. 

About the time things started winding down, the Hika Elders were back. The Riverside Elders went out and talked to them at their car. That gave us time to finish the lunch dishes. LOL The Hika Elders were back to help us clean 🧹 the Chapel. They had been at a service project in the area and were given some dinner, which they put in our fridge. They piled in our car, and we headed to the Chapel. It took less than an hour for the four of us to clean the whole Chapel. We got back, they changed their clothes back into their normal missionary attire, picked up their dinner and headed out. We settled down to finally watch the second half of Follow Him. 

I started Friday morning trying to resolve a payment issue with one of the businesses we sent money 💰 to. They kept insisting they didn't receive the money. The records we had showed the payment had cleared their bank. In talking with their representative, I suggested they look for the amount rather than a name or reference number. As it turned out they weren't even looking for a name or reference number. They found the amount. As it turned out, they saw money had come from the Church and applied it to a previous account that the Church had paid. It was NOT the account we were paying. It all got straightened out.

Elder Maraetefau and Elder Olson

Right after that, we headed out to help a member move a short distance away from where they used to live. I think the previous owner of the house they were living in decided to sell it, so they had to leave. Anyway. We were grateful that they had a couple of large cousins with a pickup truck 🛻 and a trailer who could load the heavy furniture. All we did was load boxes into the member's car and our car. We were able to help with a couple of loads before we had to head home. We had a teaching appointment with the Elders that we needed to get cleaned up for. Just as we were about to leave, the Elders texted us to say their teaching appointment cancelled because the person they were teaching was sick. They rescheduled for the same time next week. We took advantage of the time regained to take care of a few more things on the back burners. 

Elder Bradford, Shadé, and Elder Perry

The only thing we had scheduled for Saturday was to pick up the Punaruku Elders from the Zone Leaders' flat and take them to Punaruku for a baptism. Since we were planning to go to the baptism anyway, it was no big deal. They were at the Zone Leaders' flat because they took their car into a repair shop to fix a dent. They will get it back next week. 

On the way to the baptism, we got a call from the Carlisles asking us if we could help out with the Whanau at the Falls event later in the afternoon. We attended the event last year with the Kreutzkamps. It was where a bunch of the elementary schools performed dances and Hakas as part of them getting back to their Māori heritage. I had wanted to go this year, but didn't know when it was. Auntie Sandra asked the Carlisles to ask us if we could help. Auntie Sandra is the Sister who puts on a big breakfast once a transfer for all the missionaries in the Whangarei Zone. Everyone LOVES Auntie Sandra! So all of a sudden our not much to do on Saturday turned into another very busy day! 🤣

The baptism turned out great with a wonderful turnout. The afternoon event was also very fun. We had both sets of Sister Missionaries, and two sets of Elders were there to help. The Sisters were involved with face painting and two of the Elders were selling candy leis. The Carlisles were also there for a while. They passed out candy leis to all the performers from the Te Horo school after they performed their dances. Then they had to leave to go to another event very far away. They drove a LOT on Saturday, because they were also at the baptism in Punaruku. Our group of Hikurangi dancers didn't perform until about an hour after the Te Horo group. We actually had three groups dancing for a total of about 90 youth. Not everyone showed up, but we still had a great turnout. They all did a FANTASTIC job. We passed out candy leis to all the Hikurangi performers. I think Auntie Sandra made ALL the candy leis!!! 🍬

We headed home so I could work on some HawkSoft and Steve could go on another teaching appointment with the Elders. He wasn't gone very long. As it turned out the person was a no show. However, she and her kids came to Church on Sunday. She is keen to learn about the Gospel.

Sunday started bright and early with Ward Council. Steve did our training and showed an awesome video about how the Ward Council can use the My Covenant Path program in the Gospel Library app to help new members as well as returning members be strengthened in the Gospel. We then talked about several ways we could help people and even created some action items for specific people. 

We had a pretty good turnout for Sacrament meeting. We found out the night before that one of our speakers couldn't make it. I volunteered to be the backup speaker. I had been preparing for my Sunday School lesson ALL week. I had several very profound insights while doing my studies that I wanted to share with my class. Well, we had 5th Sunday Forum on Sunday, so NO Sunday School lesson. So, I volunteered to share some of the things I wanted to share with my class. In particular, I shared what the Spirit taught me about the Sacrament and how we can partake of it with an "Eye single to the glory of God." The other two talks were about experiences each of the speakers had in the Temple recently. They were very good. It was a fairly spiritual meeting. 

Our 5th Sunday Forum continued in the same vein. Per the Stake Presidency, we were to focus on the Plan of Salvation and how it applies in our lives. Brother Walker led the discussion. He had the Missionaries give a brief lesson about the Plan of Salvation, so we were all on the same page. Then, he went around the room and each of us shared what impact the Plan of Salvation has on us. How does this knowledge help us in our life? It was really good to hear the answers from everyone in the room. 

After Church, we took care of a few things for the Bishop before heading back to Punaruku to pick up the Elders and take them back to the Zone Leaders' flat. They will stay with them until they pick up their car this week. 

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Seminary, Transfers, and New Baptism

After the very busy week we had before, we were hoping to have a little more down time. I guess "little" is the optimum word. 🤣

I played catchup on Monday. I got the Ward Council Minutes sent out. I also helped Sister Paratene with something else she needed to finish up the paperwork for her renting her old house to the Mission for our Hikurangi Elders. I thought we had finally finished everything we needed. Sister Carlisle came by to drop some keys to two flats we needed and to pick some avocados from our tree. 

We had a wonderful video call with MyLiege’s family. Anna was visiting, so it was good to see her. Both Alyx and Elle had birthdays this week. Alyx turned 15 and Elle turned 11. I can’t believe they are getting so big. 

I spent the afternoon working on the recap blog, because I never had a moment to do it on Sunday. I took care of a few other things as well, such as the New Convert Initiative. Elder Wilcox borrowed the Bishop's trailer again so he could pick up a couple of mattresses at the Hika flat that Elder Garner left for the Zone Leaders' flat and dropped them off. He took care of a few things at the Chapel and finished by doing our grocery shopping. We also did laundry because we never had time on Saturday to do it.

I thought I would get caught up on Tuesday, but that was not meant to be. I was very busy, and got a lot of things done, but none of them were on my ToDo list. 😞I had to help Sister Paratene with one more thing she needed to send to the Mission Office. We forgot to attach the document when we sent everything the day before. Just as she was leaving, the Sisters showed up for our Comp Study. We visited for a while and speculated on who we thought was going to get transferred. We also talked about the meeting we had the week before with Elder Soares, before we started our Scripture Study. 

In the middle of our study, I got a few calls for things I needed to take care of for the Bishop. I was able to wait until after our Comp Study to do them. During lunch, the Elders called for some help with the Baptism Program for Joe the next Saturday. All of our Missionaries have been working with Joe for about a year. We have even worked with him. He finally decided he was ready. We are all so very happy for him. I spent the rest of the day working on the New Convert Initiative report. There was a lot to do, but I finished it for the week. 

Tuesday night at 9:00 pm we had a Whangarei Zone video call where we received the transfer information. For the most part we predicted who was leaving. The only exception was our Sisters. We predicted Sister Koi would be transferred, and she was. We thought Sister Fale would stay since she was only here for one transfer. They called her name to be transferred. 😭I did not expect that one. 

We had our DCM meeting at the Whangarei Stake Center. The Riverside Elders were sick, so they didn't come. That meant we would not be able to say goodbye to Elder Sanders, who was getting transferred. 😢We had a good meeting, and everyone hung around for a long time to say our goodbyes. We signed bye-bye books and signed flags. We had a total of five missionaries leaving from our North District, plus several more in the South District. Elder Dixon was transferred from Dargaville in the South to Te Horo/Denby/Zone Leader in the North District. I think he will finish out his mission in our Zone. 

After DCM, Elder Wilcox picked up a few parts before heading home for lunch. After lunch, he went to the Hika flat to do some minor repairs. I spent the afternoon preparing for my Thursday Seminary Lesson. We didn't have to do early morning Seminary on Wednesday because the Elders are living in Hikurangi again, so they covered the lesson. I'm back to just one lesson a week. 

Thursday started with our Early Morning Zoom Seminary Lesson. I had about eight students. I managed to get a few to turn their cameras on. A few even volunteered answers without being called on. We talked about different ways to annotate and mark their scriptures. I really wanted their cameras on so I could tell if they were actually doing the exercises. Since I didn’t get very many responses when I asked them to tell me what they marked and why, I’m not sure many of them actually did it. 

After my personal scripture study, the Elders came over for Comp Study. It was actually one Elder from two different areas. Because of transfers, each companionship had one Elder that went to Auckland and the two remaining Elders were companions for most of the day. We had a nice companion study with them. I enjoyed it very much.  We studied our Come Follow Me sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. We had a nice discussion about them.

After they left, we headed to Auckland to pick up two new Sisters that will be serving in the Denby Ward. They are going to be on e-bikes instead of having a car. We got there a little early so we could take care of a little business as well as pick the Sisters up. After they got out of their meeting, Elder Warwood showed the Sisters everything they needed to know about their e-bikes, including how to change the tire. It took over an hour to cover all that. When we finally left it was almost 4:00 pm. By the time we got to Whangarei, it was after 6 so we took them to dinner at Burger King. We had a wonderful visit with them on the way to Whangarei. Both Sisters are from Utah. Sister Jones has been out for about 11 months. She is training Sister Brough, who happens to be Steve’s cousin. Not sure how close, but it is probably a 2nd or 3rd cousin twice removed or something like that. Steve’s mom is a Brough. 

We dropped the Sisters off at their flat and met the other new Sisters that are replacing Sister Koi and Sister Fale. Sister Douglas (also from Utah) has been out a while and is training Sister Smetaniuk from Alberta, Canada. As soon as we got home, Steve left to go to the Stake Center for a Bishopric meeting with the Stake Presidency. It is our Ward Conference on Sunday.

We sort of had an easier day on Friday. We met with Sister Paratene, Ripi, and Marcus at the Bishop's house so we could pick up his trailer again. Then we went to Whangarei to pick up a BEAUTIFUL dining room table and chairs made out of Cody Wood. Cody Wood is native to New Zealand and is very beautiful. It was very heavy, which is why Sister Paratene recruited Ripi, and Marcus to help. 🙏Tender Mercies.

I spent most of the day working on the HawkSoft jobs that Darrin sent me the week before. I finished just as the Elders showed up to finish up the Baptism Program and to stay for dinner. Elder Wilcox made a delicious dinner while I was working on HawkSoft. 

Saturday started early as we met at the Chapel for a Worker Bee Activity. We wanted to spruce the Chapel all up for our Ward Conference. Our turnout wasn’t as big as we had hoped, but everyone that came dug in and cleaned inside and out. We not only did the regular cleaning, but we went around the outside to take care of cobwebs wherever we could reach them. We also got rid of all the stuff left over from the garage sale as well as other things that were left on the stage and even under the stage that didn’t belong there. 

We rested up a bit and then got ready for Joe’s baptism. He had a great turn out with family and friends. He was so excited, and we are excited for him. Those that helped clean the Chapel also attended Joe’s baptism.  After the Baptism we had a wonderful BBQ. Everyone got to visit and enjoy good food. 

We had to do a little more vacuuming and cleaning the kitchen after everyone left, but several stayed behind to help. Many hands make light work. It has been a good day, but I’m tired. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for Sunday with the Sacrament Program and the Ward Council Agenda. I even got a head start on my weekly blog recap!

Sunday started with Ward Council. Actually, I started by printing a bunch of stuff for our Ward Conference that the Stake Clerk requested around 8:00 before our Ward Council at 9:15.

Ward Conference was great. Joe was confirmed. It was a pretty emotional experience for him and several of us. We heard great talks from Bishop Henare, President Sadler, and President Reti. Then I set up Steve’s laptop with the big screen TV so he could give the second half of his Elders Quorum lesson from two weeks ago. He said he still didn’t finish it, but they had a GREAT discussion. President Reti even complimenting him on facilitating the discussion. 😊

In Relief Society, we had Ben’s mother. She just got out of the hospital two days before. Her son got baptized a week ago. He has been hoping she would get interested in the Gospel. She has seen the wonderful changes in her son and wants to know more. Anyway, our lesson was about the Temple. We shared feelings and experiences we have had and what matters most to us. After one sister shared about family history work so we could be baptized for our deceased ancestors, I thought it was a good time to explain to Ben’s mom what all of that meant. I explained that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone who has ever lived on the earth. One of the requirements for us to return to our Father in Heaven is to be baptized. Those who have died without ever even hearing about Jesus Christ were not able to receive baptism. So, we seek out our kindred dead and perform baptisms for them in the Temple. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:29 “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?”

I told her we do not force anyone to accept it, but the work is performed for them if they choose to accept it. She then said something like that sounds like it is universal for everyone. I said that is right. Everyone has the opportunity because we perform that particular ordinance for them. Later in the day she met with the Elders and asked more questions about the Temple and sealings. She is ready to be taught!

At home we had our monthly video call with Sierra. Later, we attended the Worldwide Women’s Devotional Broadcast. It was actually live last Sunday night, but of course due to the time difference it was Monday afternoon for us. So, our Stake Relief Society scheduled it for this Sunday evening. It was a very nice broadcast. We had a brief testimony meeting after the broadcast. It was a very good evening, and the Spirit was very strong. 

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Elder Soares and Auckland Temple Open House

On Monday we were able to catch up on the things we normally do on Saturday, like laundry. 😂 I also took care of some lesson preparation for the coming week. I only had three days to prepare for 4 lessons, three of which were pretty intense. We had a nice video call with Season. Daylight savings kicked in for the USA so that meant we are now 1 day and 4 hours different. In another month our Daylight savings will end, and we will be 5 hours different. That is a little harder to coordinate than 3 hours 😥

We also had to deal with ONE MORE THING at the old Hikurangi flat. Someone had shot a couple of holes in the kitchen window with a BB gun. The landlord wanted us to pay for it. Elder Garner refused since we weren't even in the flat anymore. The landlord said the only way we wouldn't have to pay is if we filed a police report. So, Elder Garner asked us to do that. That evening, we got a call from the police about the report we filed. they wanted a little more information. We told them we didn't really know anything because no one was in the flat and we were not the owners. The officer got the contact information for the property manager and said we shouldn't even be involved with filing the report. We agreed. She said she would call the property manager and tell her it was her responsibility not ours. YAY!!!

On Tuesday, we had our Sister Comp Study. I worked some more on my various lesson preparations and even tried to work on some New Convert Initiative stuff. The Carlisles invited us to a double baptism for a couple of young sisters in their branch. The baptism was going to take place at a pool near a waterfall. They like to call it the "Waters of Mormon" because it is very secluded and very beautiful.  The road to the waterfalls was a bit treacherous and we worried our car wouldn’t make it. After a while, we came to a gate where we parked our cars. Then we took about a 10- or 15-minute walk to the waterfalls. It was beautiful. Getting to the bottom pool was an adventure. We waded through a couple of spots in the creek. It wasn’t very deep and the Carlisles told us to take shoes that could get wet. It was a little slippery on the rocks, but we didn’t slip or fall.  It was a little tight in a couple of other spots, but we made it safe and sound. Elder Carlisle brought a couple of camp chairs for us to sit in. There were two benches and everyone else sat on the ground. It was a wonderful experience. Lots of people showed up. they served a light dinner after the baptism at the Church.

Wednesday morning started with early morning Seminary. We had all four students there. We discussed Section 21 of the Doctrine and Covenants. 

Right after Seminary, we did the first stage of moving the Hikurangi Elders to their new flat. We borrowed the Bishop's trailer and went to the Punaruku Elders' flat where the Hika Elders were staying so we could load up some of the furniture they had there. We had hoped to meet up with Elder Garner later that day with the rest of the furniture from Auckland, however he couldn't come until Thursday. The Elders had enough stuff to still "move in". They had beds, tables and chairs, and a refrigerator. 

We also had DCM on Wednesday. Most of our discussion centered around the Temple Open House and the baptisms we attended at "the waters of Mormon." We did a couple of fun roleplays in our training. Elder Erickson wanted to emphasize how to keep our messages simple. He had the “teaching” Elders only use single syllables in their “teaching”. They did a great job. It was difficult to come up with single syllable words for common multiple syllable words they normally use. For example, when they wanted to refer to the Book of Mormon, they changed it to the Book of God. For Jesus Christ, they use Christ, or Lord, or God. The purpose was to teach them to slow down and simplify their thoughts. Sometimes we use some large and even complicated words that many people don’t know what they mean. We just need to slow down and think about how to make things clearer and more understandable. It was a good lesson.

I spent the afternoon working on my lesson prep for Thursday Seminary and our FHE lesson for Wednesday night. Then it was time for dinner and our Family Home Evening lesson. They had a couple extra kids that night. It actually worked out well. We had a good lesson with a short video and a picture game. They all seemed to get into it. After our lesson they all played Sardines. It was a fun evening.

Our Thursday was a VERY long day. Again, we started with early morning Seminary. It was our Zoom class, so we didn't have to go anywhere. I only had seven students, and no one wanted to talk. That made it a little hard. However, it left me a little depressed. I wondered if I was doing any good at all. My scriptures study that morning led me to a talk by Elder Soares called "Covenant Confidence through Jesus Christ." It really helped me with my depression.

After that, I helped Sister Paratene fill out the contract so she could rent her house to the Church for the Hikurangi Elders. It was all done on handshake until we could get all the paperwork completed. The Elders had already "moved" in. From there, we met Elder Garner and a bunch of Missionaries at the new Hika flat to finish moving them in. We were a bit late because of helping Sister Paratene. Almost everything was done by the time we got there. We checked things out, noted a few things that Elder Wilcox will need to fix, exchanged information with Elder Garner, and then headed back home for our Mission SPF Zoom meeting. That stands for Short, Powerful, and Frequent in case you are wondering.

When that was over, we headed to the Carlisle's flat to pick up three Elders. The other three got into the Carlisle's car and we all headed to Auckland for an AWESOME meeting with Elder Soares!!! All 200 PLUS missionaries gathered for a picture with Elder Soares and the other leaders who were with him. That took a while. LOL Just when we thought we had everyone, more missionaries would show up and we had to squeeze them in someplace. While we waited for Elder Soares to show up, we sang songs. That was the coolest experience. When he finally walked into the Cultural Hall we sang a beautiful song in Māori. I had tears and Elder Soares said he had tears when he thanked us for the beautiful song. It was such a special experience. Then we went to the overflow area where he greeted each missionary one by one with a handshake and short personal moment. When it was our turn, we told him we were from Oregon. I then told him we shared a mutual friend, Sabrina Batista. Sabrina is one of the Portuguese Interpreters we worked with when we were in Salt Lake City. She has been suffering from cancer since before we left. She knows all the general authorities because of the work she does in interpretation. She is always a favorite to be requested. Elder Soares said he has given her several blessings. I think we both had tears in our eyes as we talked briefly about this cherished mutual friend. 

The meeting was so good. Elder Soares' talk seemed to be the frosting on the cake from my morning scripture study. He talked about the Joy of the Gospel. He then talked about how we don't always see the result of the work we do. Sometimes we may never know the lives we touch. He shared an experience he had when he was serving as a young missionary. He left thinking he was a failure. Fifteen years later he met a man who had been a young boy when her served there. The man told him of all the wonderful things that had transpired since Elder Soares served, and much of it was because of the seeds he planted and the work he did. That made me feel better too.  We don't always see the big picture.  We just need to do our best and leave the rest in the hands of the Lord. I will continue to strive to do my best.

After the meeting, we had dinner with some neighbors of one of the Elders in our car. They were in New Zealand because their son had served there several years ago, and they wanted to go to the Temple Open House. That was so fun for Elder Erickson to connect with someone from back home. We had a great time. We finally arrived home about 10 pm. Luckily, President was aware we were going to be late, so the Elders did not get in trouble. 

Friday morning, we were back in the car heading south again. This time we went to Hamilton to go to the Temple. It may be the last time we go there since the Auckland Temple will be open in April. We had a very nice Temple session and a nice relaxing evening at our B&B. After the busy week we had thus far it was nice to relax for a while.

Saturday morning, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and visited Clive and Colleen. They own the B&B. We are usually in a hurry to leave, so we don't have time to visit with them, but Saturday we were able to stay a while longer. 

We got to the Auckland Temple at noon and went into our training for the Open House. There was some general training first, and then we were pulled away for our specific training for the role we were doing. We were floor supervisors in charge of several ushers and several "talking points" people on the first floor of the Temple. There was another supervisor on the second floor. We received instructions on what to do if the fire alarm went off as well as what our normal responsibilities would be. We had about 3000 visitors come through on our three-hour shift. Elder Wilcox was station near the front door with a walkie talky. He greeted people and dispersed messages to various people if he received them. I helped out as an usher as we were shorthanded. I also checked on all the ushers and talking point people to see if they needed anything as we didn't have people to rotate in if they needed a break. We had two ushers who were the counters. One stood at the entrance door and the other at the exit door. They each had a clicker to count the people. After the first 1/2 hour, I rotated the floater in to replace the sister at the entrance door. I took the other sister to the break room and said I would be back in about 20 or 30 minutes. When I went back, she was gone, and I didn't see her again until the end of the shift. I let my other two people know they might not get a break. Both were very good about it. Then another usher came looking for something to do, so I had her break the brother at the exit door. When I went to return him to his spot he was gone, but he had already gone back to his spot. However, the sister he replaced vanished. Thankfully, both of the clickers that served for most of the time were awesome about it and never once complained. 

We got so busy for about an hour that the people in charge cancelled our talking points for a time so we could just usher the visitors through as quickly as we could. Thankfully that was only about an hour before we could go back to full tour mode. It was a wonderful experience. I loved greeting all the people who came through the Temple. It was fun to see some people we know. It was especially fun to see workers from our Stake in various positions. It was a very good day. Although, I can't remember the last time my feet and my back hurt so bad! We got home early enough to shower and relax a bit before going to bed. 

I thought Sunday would be a restful day. I didn't have anything, other than my recap to do after Church. Heavenly Father had other plans. LOL We started with Ward Council. We had a good discussion. I think they are getting better every week. Our Sacrament meeting was great. We heard from Elder Erickson since he may be getting transferred this week and Brother Horsford wanted to give him an opportunity to say goodbye to the Ward. He shared some of Elder Soares' talk that we heard on Thursday. Then we heard from Brother and Sister Ashcroft. He was our High Councilor speaker. They were both in charge of organizing our Stake's participation in serving at the Open House on Saturday. Sister Ashcroft gave a brief summary of what that day was like and some of the numbers of how many workers, and visitors, and roles and who knows what else. It was very interesting. She then gave a great talk. Elder Ashcroft also gave a wonderful talk.

Sunday School turned out better than I expected. We had more in class than we had for a while, and participation in our discussion was really good. I worried about the lesson, because I didn’t have time to review my notes. I prepared the lesson early last week and hoped for the best. I guess it helps that I have been a member of the Church for over fifty years and taught hundreds of lessons, and that Doctrine and Covenants and Church History are one of my FAVORITE subjects to teach. I only glanced at my notes a few times and pretty much everything was off the cuff. We had good energy and participation. 

After Church, we stopped by the new Hika flat to pick up some boxes of Chairs that Elder Garner brought for Elder and Sister Buchanan in Dargaville. They said they could pick them up Sunday afternoon, so we picked them up. After we got home, I worked on a few things for the Bishop before Sister Paratene showed up so we could finish her rental contract for the Missionaries flat and her vendor form so she can get paid. It took about an hour or so to get that all done. 

Then I went back to finish up the things for the Bishop. I sent out an email to the Self Reliance class members telling them that the Emotional Resilience Class will be starting at the end of March. And the Personal Finance Class will start at the end of June. By then, it was getting late, and I hadn’t even started the weekly recap for my blog. I was DONE for the day.

I hope you have a Wonderful Week.

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Hikurangi Flat and Temple Open House!

Monday morning started way too early for a day off. The Bishop asked if we could help move a large container from a member’s house since she is moving to Australia. They moved most of everything over the Friday and Saturday before but couldn’t get to the box. It needed to be moved to the Chapel. He also said we would need the help of some Elders. So, he called the Elders to see what time they could do it. We were hoping about 10 or 10:30, since that would be after Auntie Sandra’s Missionary Breakfast. They decided they wanted to do it at 7:00am, which meant a 5:30 alarm! UUUggggghhhh  

After we got that moved to the Chapel, we headed to the Hika flat to await an inspector, while the Elders went to breakfast at Auntie Sandra's house. We were sorry we had to miss it because of the inspector. After waiting an hour, I contacted the property manager to let them know the inspector hadn't arrived yet. She informed me that they had a phone call on Friday, in which the inspector changed the day of their inspection. Unfortunately for us, no one bothered to tell us. We could have gone to the breakfast. 😪

Birds waiting for a snack at the dump

We waited for another 1/2 hour for the cleaners to show up to do the windows and the carpet. Then we headed home to pick up all the weeds from our Saturday weeding project and took them to the refuse center. We picked up a few things from the store and debated if we should go home or go back to the flat as the cleaners should have been almost done. We opted for some ice cream before heading to the flat. Yummy lunch! 🍦

Since the cleaners finished a bit early, I texted the property manager again to say we were ready to hand over the keys. She said she couldn't meet us at that time. I asked if I could just leave the keys in a drawer in the kitchen and she agreed. YAY!!! 🎉We are finally DONE with the Hikurangi Flat!!!!

Tuesday was pretty laid back. I worked on the computer most of the day. We had our weakly Comp Study with the Sisters. I had an impromptu video call with Elder Sorensen from the Area about the New Convert Initiative. I prepare my Seminary Lesson for Wednesday and also helped Elder Wilcox with a few things on the computer.

Our early morning Seminary class on Wednesday  went well. We had 4 students and fairly good participation. The kids gave great answers. We stopped by the new flat for the Elders on our way home. Leona said they were almost done. The wood floor still needed to be buffed after the sanding, and they needed to hang the drapes. Our tentative move in date for the Elders is Wednesday, 12 March. I think we have enough missionaries to help move all the furniture into the flat. Sister Carlisle and I will probably set up the kitchen supplies. 

DCM went well. We met at the Stake Center again, so that was nice. We needed to take our car into a windshield shop to fix a chip we received on Monday on our way to the Hika flat. While we waited, we walked over to the Chemist Warehouse and picked up some prescriptions. By the time we got back, the car was ready to go. I worked on my Thursday Seminary lesson and helped Elder Wilcox with his Elders Quorum lesson for Sunday. I also had time to do some work for HawkSoft.

Our Thursday early morning Seminary Zoom class went very well. I had 9 kids, and we had good participation. I even had a couple who volunteered answers without me having to call on them first. Lol After Seminary, we had our Mission SPF Zoom meeting. Sister Allen gave us our training today about the Temple and Temple Garments. We are all so very excited about the Temple Open house on Saturday for us. Many others in the mission have already gone and loved it. The Carlisles had friends visit so they already went and are going back on Saturday too. 

We managed to get a walk in before we got back to Steve's lesson prep and finished up some HawkSoft. Later in the day, we visited one of our new members in the Ward. We tried to catch another one, but no one was home. We had a nice visit. 

I spent all day Friday on the computer making sure I was caught up on everything. I worked on the New Convert Initiative, finished Steve's PowerPoint presentation, and finished my HawkSoft project. Steve managed to take a walk, but I never got the chance. 

Saturday was our long-awaited day to visit the Auckland New Zealand Open House. We had the pleasure of Elder Erickson and Elder Barthlomew as our traveling companions. The Carlisles took Elder Maraetefau and Elder Hassell. 

It was exciting to see so many people from all over New Zealand and even around the world to see our beautiful Temple. The Temple is beautiful! So much Māori artwork reflected in the interior of the Temple. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but I found some pictures from Church News.  We connected with Ward members and missionaries before and after the tour. We saw the Kreutzkamps before our tour started. They came back to New Zealand just to see the Temple and to visit all their friends from Pipiwai. After our tour we ran into Sister Szott as well as several other missionaries and the Carlisles. Such fun.

The Temple is the House of the Lord. We perform sacred ordinances within the walls of the Temple. It is within those walls where families can sealed together for Time and All Eternity. We not only perform ordinances for ourselves, but we can go back again and again and perform these sacred ordinances for our kindred dead. We don't force anyone to accept the ordinances, we just perform them so if they choose to accept them, the ordinances are done for them...since they cannot do it for themselves after they are dead. We believe our Spirits live on after we die. And, one day, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we will all be resurrected and receive our bodies back, never to be separated again. At that point, if they want to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, they will need to have those sacred ordinances. It is always their choice. 

After the Temple we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at a cute little Chicken shop. Elder Erickson’s next-door neighbors from Utah were visiting. Their son served in New Zealand a few years ago, so the parents and the son and his wife are vacationing. We had a delightful meal with them and enjoyed getting to know them. 

Sunday morning started with Ward Council. I think our discussion went very well. Our Sacrament meeting changed a bit from what was originally planned. A few people were unable to be there, so we had a few people step up and cover for them on the spot. It turned out to be a very good meeting and the Spirit was very strong. 

After Sacrament meeting, I helped get Elder Wilcox set up for his Elders Quorum lesson before I headed to Relief Society. I heard he did a great job and had a good discussion. We too had a good discussion in our class as well. Both lessons centered on the General Conference talk by President Dallin H. Oaks entitled Following Christ. It was a perfect lesson for helping us to focus our lives on the Savior. After all, He is our perfect example.

Sister Szott!

It was nice to have the afternoon to relax and watch the first half of Follow Him with John Bytheway and Hank Smith. It helps me so much in my lesson preparation. 

I hope you have a Wonderful Week!

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Hika, Hika, and MORE Hika

Cousins: Brother Ah Mu,
Elder Wilcox, and Bishop Henare

I think we spent most of this week at the Hikurangi flat doing more and more things the property manager wanted us to do before we could close it. On Monday, we took all the window coverings to the cleaners. We had to take off all the little hooks on about 22 different drape panels. It took us about an hour before we headed to the cleaners. They gave us all the warnings about washing the drapes because of the condition they were in. For one thing, the backing would likely turn into a powdery substance that would then stick together and potentially produce holes. There were other scary things too. We took the drapes back and I called the property manager. I told her what the cleaners said, and she said, “OK, just hang them back up.” 

The property manager also told us she was coming over for our exit interview. I reminded her that our contract gave us until 5 March, and we weren't going to be ready much before that. We scheduled professional cleaners to be there on 3 March to wash all the windows and shampoo the carpets. She claimed that she had talked to someone, and they told her we were all done. I don't her that I didn't know who she talked to, but there was no way we would be done with what she wanted us to get done before the 3rd. She backed down. I talked to the Garners, and they knew NOTHING about supposedly being done on the 24th. She had already rented the flat and had people moving in on 3 March!!! She could have had the keys weeks ago when we finished doing what we normally do to close out a flat, but she insisted that we had a LOT more to do.

We took care of several other things on Monday, including helping a Sister in our Ward get set up so she can pay her tithing online and preparing a Seminary Lesson and a Family Home Evening Lesson for Wednesday. 

I spent most of Tuesday on the computer. I entered a two-page handwritten "reflections" from Brother Ah Mu about his 12 years of living in the Hikurangi Ward. He is currently our Stake Patriarch; however, he and his wife are moving to Auckland to be closer to the Auckland Temple. They will be GREATLY missed. We connected with them right after we started our mission here. They helped us learn about the Ward member as we went through the Ward directory. Sister Ah Mu asked me the very first Sunday we came for Sacrament meeting if I could conduct the music. I said "Yes" and I've been doing it ever since.  Lol

The Sisters arrived after that for our weekly Comp Study. We always enjoy that so much. After that, we had our weekly call with Sierra and Shonee. We missed it on Monday, and Tuesday just worked better for both of us. Shonee was in a skiing accident last Friday. He is doing better now. He was very lucky there were no broken bones. He said that there was a bump of about a foot or so across the area he was skiing down on what he said looked like a flat spot before another down stretch. Between the sun and the clouds and the shadows from the trees and his sunglasses, he said it just looked flat. So, when he got to the bump he wasn’t prepared to make the jump it forced him into and ended up crash landing. We’re just glad it wasn’t any worse. 

Elder Garner Painting

I finished my New Convert Initiative report and my Thursday Seminary lesson. Steve met the Elders for a teaching appointment. Lastly, we made some yummy Apple Crisp for our DCM on Wednesday.

Wednesday started with our Early Morning Seminary lesson at the Hikurangi Chapel. We only had two students for Seminary. It still went very well. We talked about the second half of D&C 18 where the Lord commands Oliver Cowdrey and David Whitmer to search out the Twelve. Instructions are given as to what they are looking for in the Brethren as well as what the Twelve will do. We compared it with how the Apostles are called today. We also talked about how they help us in so many ways. 

Elder Wilcox Painting

After taking care of a few items of business at home, we headed back to the Hikurangi Chapel for DCM. My apple crisp was a hit and there wasn’t any leftover to take home. 😢I’m actually very happy they ate it all. Sister Carlisle brought banana bread and some watermelon and grapes.

After dinner, we headed to our FHE lesson. It really turned out well. The kids were really fun to be around. They were still very busy, and it is hard to get them to sit still. They climbed all over us while we gave a short lesson about how we feel God’s love for us, and how we can show love for others. We played Simon Says, colored a picture, and had ice cream cones. The kids wanted to show us a short video about two monster sea creatures having a fight. It is fun to be “grandma and grandpa” for a little while.

Thursday morning started with our Early Morning ZOOM Seminary lesson. It went fairly well. We had 9 students. We learned about ASK (Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge) by Asking in Faith, Keeping an Eternal Perspective, and using Divinely Appointed Sources. 

Next, we had our SPF Zoom meeting. SPF. Elder and Sister Geisler talked to us about repentance. They are getting ready to go home, so this was a good time for them to present.

After that, I worked on my Sunday School lesson until it was time to meet Elder Garner at the Hikurangi flat. We spent the afternoon painting. We matched the current paint on the wall and only painted the patches and marks. It appeared to dry really good. We started in a back bedroom that required almost the entire bedroom to be painted because the walls were very dirty in addition to some patches and marks. The other bedrooms only required some spot painting. 

The Lawrence and the Ah Mu Families

We left around 5 so we could shower and go to the Ward potluck dinner for the Ah Mu and Lawrence families because they are moving. Sister Lawrence is a daughter to Brother and Sister Ah Mu. Both families have been in the Ward for many years and have been a tremendous asset to the Ward. It will really hurt to lose them. Brother and Sister Ah Mu are moving to Auckland to be closer to the new Auckland Temple. They work there at least two days a week. Brother and Sister Lawrence are moving to a different Ward in the Stake so we will still see them around. Brother Lawrence is on the High Council so we may see him more often. Lol

We were headed back to the Hika flat to take Elder Garner some desert (we took him dinner earlier), when he showed up at the Chapel. He spent that night at our flat so we could finish painting Friday morning. 

Elder Garner was up early Friday morning and headed to Bunnings to pick up a few more painting supplies. We got to Hika not long after it made it back from Bunnings. Elder Garner worked in the living room. Elder Wilcox worked on the ceilings and any other spots he could find. I worked on either washing or painting, if necessary, all the door frames and some of the doors. They have some great wall cleaner here that works wonders.  I also painted some nasty-looking shelves in the kitchen. They still need another coat, but they look so much better. 

After Elder Garner finished the living room and kitchen, we decided to stop painting for the day and hang the drapes. Elder Wilcox and I had to go back on Saturday, so we would finish our part then. It took some doing to sort out the drapes and the liners, but we finally got them all hung. By the time we got home we were so tired we had to talk ourselves into getting out of the car. LOL Before we could have showers, we gave each other a haircut. Then it was time for showers and a rest.

We thought Saturday would be a bit easier, but it ended up being a very long day as well. We started at 8:00am at the Hikurangi chapel to meet up with 8 junior missionaries. They were there to do all the weeding around the house. They managed to get 3 or 4 large bags full of weeds. It had rained earlier in the morning, so it made the ground nice and soft to pull the weeds. They did a great job.

Elder Wilcox finished painting the spots on the ceiling and then focused on the laundry room. It required washing the wall so see if the spots would come off. Most didn’t so he ended up painting them. I painted the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet I started the day before, as well as touching up the other two shelves. I then mopped the kitchen and bathroom floors again. Lastly, I vacuumed the whole house one last time. 

The missionaries left about 9:30. We didn’t leave until 10:30. We changed our linen and started the laundry. I made a double batch of brownies for the Baptism. We cleaned up as best we good, made some lunch, and headed to the baptism for the Hikurangi Ward. It was the first one in over a year, so we are all pretty happy. 

Elder Erickson, Ben, 
Elder Maraetefau, and Owen

We got home about 3:00. We rotated laundry and made the bed. I showered and got on the computer to finalize things like the Ward Council agenda and the Sacrament program. I also started on the Recap I usually do on Sunday afternoon. 

As tired as we both were, we wanted to just stay home and settle in for the night. However, Saturday night was a fulfillment of a Christmas present that Season got us. He sent us tickets to a concert by the family band called Peterson. They sing Bluegrass. So, we got ready and headed to the concert. Two rows in front of us were the Thomassons from our Ward. Sister Thomasson is our new Relief Society President. The concert was FANTASTIC!!! We both loved it so much. It was just what we needed to get some energy again. Thank you Season, We really needed that!!!

We were up early Sunday morning for Ward Council and Church. While the Bishopric was having a quick meeting before Ward Council, a lovely couple entered the Church building. They are visiting from South Africa. They were visiting their daughter who has terminal brain cancer. They are hopeful because of some new medication that has great results on her type of cancer. If it can work for her, she can have many more years to live. We will keep her in our prayers. 

Ward Council went very well. I think we are getting better with each council meeting we have. Our Fast and Testimony meeting was beautiful. We got to witness the Confirmation of our new member, Ben. The testimonies born were so spiritual. I really felt the Spirit. There are several in the Ward that seem to have blossomed over the last few months. They seem to be a glow about them. Their testimonies are strong. Their countenance is brighter. It is something that is visible in their countenances. I love it!

My Sunday School lesson went pretty good too. I love hearing the answers as it strengthens and edifies me. I hope they are getting something too. I was able to tie all the different sections together when we concluded our lesson with why we do all of this work. It is because “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.” 

After Church, we took a ride out to Punaruku to checkout a broken window in the Elders’ flat. It is the sliding glass door. OUCH! We will call to get an estimate of replacing it and hopefully get it fixed soon.

I hope you have a GREAT week. We are hopeful that ours will be a little lighter than the last couple of weeks we've had. LOL

All Our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox