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