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