Marai, Canoeing, Cyclone, Temple, and Easter!

It has been a crazy week. We actually thought this week was going to be one that was a little more "low key". 🤣 I think that will happen sometime AFTER we are released. 

Monday was filled with the New Convert Initiative project for most of the day. We had our monthly video call with Season later in the day. I'm still adjusting to the 5 hour and 1 day difference instead of only 3 hours. I've got to call earlier in the future. LOL

We received a call from our Elder's Quorum President asking us if we would like to go as a group out to the Punaruku Marai to pay our respects to a relative of several of our members. A marae, malaʻe, meʻae or malae is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. We see a lot of them in the Northland. They are not so prevalent in Auckland. We have been to the Punaruku Marai several times over the last year. We have had several baptisms in Punaruku, so we have come to know many of the members there. We thought we probably knew Uncle Hone, so we wanted to pay our respects too. 

The deceased member typically lies in state for up to three days. The family will lay out mattresses on the floor and stay there with their loved ones. They pick up most of the mattresses during the day so people can come and pay their respects to the family. Typically, this involves each person going up to the deceased and either kissing the forehead or doing a Hongi. A Hongi is a traditional Māori greeting by pressing one's nose and forehead at the same time to another person. 

There is usually a lot of singing and people can get up and talk about the deceased. Many times, this is in Māori. Even though we may not understand what is being said, we can still feel a very strong spirit of love. I particularly love the singing that is done after each person talks. Our Bishop spoke briefly and the Hikurangi group stood and sang Love at Home. After several people spoke and the songs were done, we had a short religious ceremony. The Bishop spoke again, but this time in English. After he spoke, the Punaruku Bishop spoke also in English. We started with an opening song and prayer and ended it with a closing song and prayer. Then it was time to go get Kai (food). They served dinner. It was already after 7:30, so we opted to just go home.

Tuesday was a Senior Activity P-day. We had been planning this for a couple of months. The Michaelsons arranged the activity. We heard we were heading into bad weather and checked to make sure we were still on. We got the go ahead. A sister in their Ward teaches and trains competition teams in canoeing. Her team just took first place in the Nationals competition in January. One of the members of that winning team was our navigator. She is only 10 years old and has been canoeing since she was only 5. Thankfully, we pretty much knew what we were doing because of all our canoeing trips to Sparks Lake. 🛶 We did have to learn how to stay in sync with everyone, but that wasn't too hard. Hahaha We all had fun, and no one fell overboard. LOL After we canoed, we all went to lunch together. I love getting together with our other Senior Missionaries. We always have so much fun.

Wednesday started as a normal Wednesday with DCM and a comp study scheduled with the Elders. The bad weather that was predicted hit in full force on Wednesday. It was actually Cyclone Tam. Wednesday and Thursday were the worst days. We fared fairly well.

We picked up the Carlisles at the tire shop where they had dropped their car for repairs. Because of the big storm we originally thought one of the DLs would not be able to make it to town, so we were going to hold DCM combined with the North District. Needless to say, we had plenty of snacks, AND they all ate almost everything. Hahaha As it turned out the DL and his companion spent the night at the Zone Leader's flat, so he made it to DCM after. We still met together. I'm not sure if ALL the Elders spent that first night at the ZL's flat or if that only occurred Wednesday and Thursday nights. But somehow, because they were all together, we ended up having all the Elders over for comp study right after DCM. We had one set of Sisters scheduled for a mentoring session at the same time, so they took a back bedroom. We promised to kick the Elders out before we had our comp study with them. The other set of Sisters showed up early so they sat in with the Elders. Somehow, we ended up with ALL the missionaries from both the Central and North Districts for lunch and comp study. It was a lot of fun, and we had a great discussion about Easter and how we have seen the love of our Savior in our own lives. I loved hearing a story from each of our missionaries.

After we kicked the Elders out, the Sister pounced on us for help with pranking the Elders who had been pranking them. This had been going on for several weeks, and I was afraid things may start to get out of hand as they tried to outdo each other. We discussed different options; I tried to steer them in a more innocent direction. They decided on a fairly innocent prank. We finally jumped into a brief comp study about Easter. They wanted to study the Wednesday in the Book of Mormon Easter Week Plan. It was all about Teachings about the Higher Law. There were three statements that jumped out at all of us:

The Savior made this clear in His sermons to followers in both hemispheres. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” He said [Matthew 5:9]. …

The Savior’s message is clear: His true disciples build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire—no matter how difficult the situation. True disciples of Jesus Christ are peacemakers. …

… How we treat each other really matters! How we speak to and about others at home, at church, at work, and online really matters. Today, I am asking us to interact with others in a higher, holier way. (“Peacemakers Needed,” Liahona, May 2023, 98–99)

After our comp study, they all agreed to live the higher and holier way and be a peacemaker. Instead of seeking any kind of revenge and one upping the Elder’s prank, they decided to do something nice. They bought some Ice Cream and wrote a nice note. Elder Wilcox and I met them at the Elder’s flat, (thankfully they weren’t home) and let them in. One of the Sisters has a polaroid camera. I took a couple of pictures of them in the flat, holding a guitar that belonged to one of the Elders. They put the picture and the note on the guitar so the Elders would see it. The note said, Blessed are the Peacemakers and then told them to look in the freezer where they put the ice cream. I was very pleased with their change of mind and happy to help them pull off this very NICE prank for the Elders. 

On Thursday, we heard about some difficulties that occurred because of the Cyclone. We have experienced very strong winds and some heavy rains. Power has been out in various places and some damage has been done to some houses. We were lucky enough to NOT lose power. 

About one AM Wednesday (Thursday morning) night, we woke up with a big thump that sounded like something hit the side of the house. The wind was really strong, so that is what we figured happened. When I got up in the morning, I looked out the windows and didn’t see any damage. I didn’t see any leaves on our fig tree, and I wondered if it lost a branch too. As I headed to the closet to get dressed, I found the THUMP. The closet rack that held some of my clothes fell off the wall in the middle of the night. This is the second time this has happened. When it was originally hung, it was not connected to any studs in the wall. Steve thought he fixed it last time, but it still wasn’t connected to the way he wanted it. So, this morning he fixed it really good, so it won’t fall down again.

We had a very nice SPF meeting. Sister Allen gave a beautiful presentation on Easter week. After that, I finished up the last ACORD form for HawkSoft. It wasn’t long before the Denby Sisters showed up for their Mentoring meeting. Since it was nearly noon, Elder Wilcox made them lunch again. LOL 

After they left, we finished getting ready to head to Auckland to go to the Temple. Our appointment wasn’t until 7:30. It was the earliest time I could get for this week. We needed to go to Costco, so we headed out. Why can’t we ever get out of Costco for less than a couple of hundred dollars. Hahaha The weather wasn’t too bad as we drove further south. The storm was much worse in the Northland. It was still very windy and rainy, but we didn’t run into any problems. The Temple was very nice. We arrived home around 11:30 Thursday night.

At our Zone Conference last week, President and Sister Allen gave the missionaries a challenge to memorize a paragraph from Preach My Gospel about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. For every Zone that memorized it, they would hold a Family Home Evening in person. Of course, our AWESOME Whangarei Zone all memorized it. (Thankfully the Seniors were not included in those numbers.) Our FHE was to be Friday afternoon at 1:30. On Wednesday, Sister Allen had asked Sister Carlisle and I if we knew where to get Cheesecake for dessert. Elder Carlisle found a place called The Cheesecake Shop. I also mentioned that Elder Wilcox and I would be going to Costco on Thursday and perhaps we could pick some up there. She opted for Costco. However, Costco only had small, round, mango-topped cheesecake. We chatted with
Sister Allen, and she opted to try The Cheesecake Shop. 

So, Friday morning we headed to The Cheesecake Shop. I was expecting to find a large round plain cheesecake that we could then offer various toppings the missionaries could put on. NOT an option here. The Cheesecake Shop only had small, round cheesecakes too. However, they did have a bigger variety of toppings. No plain ones. So, we opted for a caramel topped one and a strawberry topped one. Everyone loved them. 

We got word that FHE was going to be delayed for an hour because of traffic from Auckland to Whangarei. I felt prompted to check in on Peggy who had skylight blown away by the cyclone so that rain was pouring into her bathroom. Her husband was out of town until either later that night or the next day. She had put a big tarp down and a bunch of bowls on top of the tarp to collect the rainwater. She just monitored that to keep them emptied. She said she thought about rigging the tarp up to drain into the bathtub but then thought better of it. I told her it wasn't such a bad idea and that perhaps Elder Wilcox could rig something up for her. We went over to take a look. 

We all talked about the problem and looked around for possible solutions. Elder Wilcox spotted some scrap wood that was leaning against the side of the house. He asked if he could use it to cover the hole. Peggy said yes, so we cleaned up the ladder and set it up in the bathroom. Elder Wilcox put the boards across the hole and screwed them together after he overlapped them a bit. He then attached a heavy twine to the boards and tied it to a hook next to the shower to hopefully keep the boards from blowing off. If we didn’t get heavy winds she would be just fine. Just as he was screwing the last board in place it started raining again. Perfect timing. 

Not long after that we headed back to the Stake Center for a wonderful hour and a half with President and Sister Allen and our entire Zone. We don’t get together with the entire Zone very often. We played Jeopardy, talked a lot, received messages from President and Sister Allen and enjoyed our delicious cheesecakes. Fun was had by all.

On Saturday we headed to the Stake Center for two baptisms. A young brother and sister from Denby were getting baptized. It turns out their Uncle is a member of our Ward, so it was fun to see him when we walked in. We try and support our missionaries when they have baptisms. I ended up leading the music. Several other missionaries took part in the program. 

The Elders had two Temple pictures for them. One was a pink background and the other blue. They let the little sister choose first and she picked the blue picture. Her brother wasn’t particularly happy about that. After we took several pictures, I told the little boy if he really wanted a blue picture, I had one in the car. He was very happy about that and gladly traded me the pink one. 

We framed up a picture of Jesus Christ to give to Ben. We had given one to Joe a couple of weeks ago, but we had to order more pictures before we could give one to Ben. We dropped it off on Sunday and he loved it. I finalized the Easter Sacrament Program. I also checked on Peggy and she said everything was dry. A builder came out to assess the damage. It turns out it was not as bad as she thought. Her husband arrived home so all is good. They dropped off a delicious Pavlova dessert. I love that dessert so much. She is going to teach me how to make it.

When I walked into the Chapel on Sunday morning, I was so blessed to see a BEAUTIFUL display of the Garden Tomb made by our beloved Darlene Wihongi-Henare, the Bishop’s wife. It really set the tone for the day.

Our Easter program was OK. We struggled with a few of the songs as they are from the new hymnbook, and we didn’t get them all practiced before Sunday. Overall, I think it turned out to be pretty good. I recommended to the Bishop that in the future, they start planning the Christmas and Easter programs two months in advance if they want special musical numbers. We planned several small groups, but they fell through at the last minute, so all the songs became congregational hymns. And as a congregation, we didn’t know the songs very well. 

On the way home, we dropped off two Priesthood Ordination certificates. The first one went to Joe. He left right after Church, so we missed giving it to him. We didn’t see Ben, so we dropped his Ordination certificate and the picture of Jesus Christ at his house. He was happy to get them both. We are planning on a Family Home Evening at our house with Joe, Ben, and the Missionaries tomorrow night. I hope the Missionaries can extend the invitations on Sunday.

Elder Wilcox met up with Missionaries in the afternoon to teach a referral lesson. I hope it went well.

I hope everyone enjoys this most special day. Without Easter, there would be no Christmas. This is the GREATEST day in the history of the world. It gives meaning to life. Without it, we are lost forever. Because of Easter, we can have Eternal Life!!!

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox