Senior Activity, Early Morning Seminary, Doctor's Visit, and Zone Conference

I taught early morning Seminary twice this week. Leona had to work the night shift last Sunday night, so I taught her Seminary class Monday morning. We talked about different opportunities to continue our spiritual education after Seminary is over. 

After we got home, we prepared for our Senior Activity. I also made Pavlova for Elder Olson's birthday and our Family Home Evening for that night. The Carlisles planned the activity. We held it at our flat because we had more room for everyone. They invited their good friends, Elder and Sister Carter from the Hamilton Mission Church History Library and Museum to come and do a couple of presentations for us. They used to work for the Church History Library in Salt Lake City when we served in the Headquarters mission, so we actually ran into them before. It was fun making that connection when we first got here. One presentation was on the nine different accounts of the First Vision Joseph Smith had. After a delicious potluck lunch, we had the second presentation about the translation of the Book of Mormon. We even had a demonstration of how it happened. Elder Wilcox got to be Joseph Smith doing the translation and another Senior Missionary acted as the scribe. They said the hardest part was having to stop and dip the pen in the ink before they could write again.  

We enjoyed out time with the Senior Missionaries. After they left and we cleaned up, it was time for Family Home Evening. Unfortunately, Ben was not able to make it. We still have a FHE with the Elders. They made a fun "home safe" video to post to the Zone Chat for the Zone Challenge. It turned out pretty funny, mainly because Elder Na Nongkai who is from Thailand started off speaking Thai and Elder Olson interpreted it into English. Then Elder Na Nongkai switched to English and Elder Olson "pretended" to speak Thai. Anyway, they had fun putting it together. We also sang Happy Birthday to Elder Olson. 

Tuesday morning, we were back at early morning Seminary. This time the Elders were teaching about building a Zion society in the early days of the Church, and how we can build a Zion society today. I spent much of the day on the New Convert Initiative report. We also had a nice video call with Sierra, since we missed it on Monday because of the Senior Activity. After lunch, I worked on my Seminary lesson for Thursday. 

No 5:00am Alarm for Wednesday!!!! After my scripture study we got ready for DCM. I had left over Pavlova for refreshments. DCM was great. We played a fun little game at the beginning of DCM called In the Hot Seat. Everyone takes a turn in the hot seat for 1 minute while everyone peppers them with questions. After the minute, they answer 1 final “golden” question that is the same for everyone. 

Elder Wilcox was the star. The first question he was asked was to rate me from one to ten. He said eleven. I said he was a keeper. When it was my turn, I was asked what the sweetest thing that Elder Wilcox ever did. I said he used to call me at work and if I wasn't able to answer he would sing to me "You are so Beautiful to me" as my voice mail message. You should have heard all the "ahhhs" he got. It was a lot of fun, and we got to learn a few fun facts about each other. We also did a fun role play for our training.  

Elder Hague 

After a quick lunch at home, we went to the Doctors for an annual visit. They wouldn't renew our prescriptions until we saw them again. They said it was unusual for people our age not to go to the doctors a lot. The doctor asked if anything was bothering us, so I mentioned that I have been having some lower back pain for several weeks. He decided to send me to get an x-ray. Then he said we needed to get some lab work done since we were both over 70. We could get right into the imaging center for a private company or wait 4 weeks to get in at the hospital. The doctor suggested I check with my insurance to make sure they would pay. So, I called our Medical Missionary, and she took care of everything for me. We went for the lab work, and by the time we were done she had the authorization for the x-ray, and had the insurance company call the imaging place to guarantee payment so I didn’t have to pay out of pocket and hope to get reimbursed. Other than adding an extra hour to our visit, it all went very smoothly. 

Sister Walker and Sister Fale

Thursday morning was my early morning Seminary lesson. We arrived at the Stake Center, unlocked the gate and tried to unlock the door. It wouldn't unlock. We wiggled and jiggled and tried everything we could think of, but it wouldn’t turn. Finally, I called the Zone Leaders since they have a key. I waited until it was 6:30 since that is when they are supposed to get up. I told them what happened, and they said they would be over in about 10 minutes. After about fifteen minutes went by, they called back to say they locked their key in their flat along with their flat key, so they had to go to the Carlisle’s flat to get the extra key. 

By then I knew we would not be able to get into the Chapel before Seminary started. I started calling anyone else I could think of that might be up that early and that had a key to the Stake Center. No one answered until I called President Reti. We explained the situation and he said he would see what he could do. In the meantime, students started showing up. So, we hung around the door, and I started Seminary. Lucky for us, it wasn’t raining at the time, however, it was cold. We eventually moved to the other door where there was a nice brick wall that offered some shelter from the wind.   

Just about that time, the ZLs showed up and unlocked the door. It all worked out just fine. We had a little discussion in the beginning and then by the time we got to our room we were ready for the PowerPoint portion of the lesson and the video. President Reti showed up around the same time and Elder Wilcox worked with him for a bit.  

We had SPF after Seminary, and I spent the rest of the day working on my Sunday School lesson. The Riverside Elders stopped by to use our computer so they could post a service opportunity on the Sake and community Facebook pages. 

After a quick lunch, we picked up the Carlisles so we could shop for Zone Conference. We divided up the food between us and dropped them off at their flat. When we got back, I finished the lesson prep, sent out reminders for our Zone Conference meal and started some of the food preparation that can be done ahead of time.

Friday was Zone Conference. I love Zone Conference. Yes, it is a lot of work, but the Spirit is always so strong. I love mingling with all the missionaries. I love getting to see our other Senior Missionaries from Kaikohe and Auckland. I love the music from both zones. I love the testimonies that are shared. I love singing the Māori songs to our departing missionaries. And I love that we get to provide lunch for everyone, and they are so appreciative of our efforts. 

We made Taco Salad for lunch. Sister Carlisle and I decided we would serve the meat, since we ran out when we did Hawaiian Haystacks a few months ago. It is a good thing we did. We ended up with an additional 15 people. We planned for 60 and had 75 show up. We got several more couples from Auckland than we knew about. It all turned out perfectly. There was enough meat for everyone. About the only thing we had left over was a little rice, lettuce, and fruit from our fruit platters. A few were even able to go back for seconds on some things. Everybody loved it. The sessions of conference were great, and the music from the young missionaries was so beautiful. I loved everything.

On the way home I read the text I got from the doctor about my back. It appears I have a lumbar spine degeneration which is common as we age. There are several treatments that I read about. I'm hoping to get in quickly so I can get a plan to start on. It started with a little back pain once in a while. Then it became more constant. Occasionally it would be a shooting pain that was quite bad. Mostly it is just a constant dull pain in my lower back. The Tender Mercy is I don't feel it when I am serving. I have no pain when I'm teaching a class or even while we served for so long at Zone Conference. When the class or conference is over, I feel the pain again. Maybe that is why I haven't noticed that much before because we are usually very busy. I don't give my brain time to register the pain. Hahaha

The day after Zone Conference was pretty low key. I worked a couple of hours on HawkSoft. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish the project because of some questions for Sean. Hopefully I can touch base with him soon. I also worked on the Ward Council Agenda and the Sacrament Program. The Elders came over to talk about a teaching appointment they had that night. We came up with some things that I think helped. Then it was time for the four of us to head to Leona's house for dinner. Since she is a single sister, she has to have another adult present. We get to be the benefactors of that rule. LOL We had a delicious dinner and good conversation before it was time to head home again.

I love the Sabbath day. I love Church. It just felt good to see everyone at Church. I felt the Savior’s love for each of His children. It was almost an overwhelming feeling of love for everyone. 

I had a nice visit with Tracey before Ward Council. She had missed a few weeks because she was taking care of her husband after he had surgery. It was so good to see them both back at Church. We had a wonderful Ward Council meeting. We have a new High Councilor representative. Our previous High Councilor was released so he could serve as a sealer in the Temple. 

Our Fast and Testimony meeting was good. I loved all the testimonies born today. Sunday School went well. We had a good discussion. This is the last Sunday School lesson for me, unless I have to substitute again. Hahaha. They have called a new Gospel Doctrine Teacher who will start on the 15th. She will be AWESOME!

One of our Auckland Senior couples hung out up north since Zone Conference and decided to drop in to our Ward on Sunday morning. We visited with them after Church for a while. I think they work part of the time in the area office and the rest of the time with the mission. I’m not exactly sure. They have been here about 10 weeks. Once home, I took care of some business before I started on the weekly recap. 

I hope you have a Wonderful Week!

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox