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