Several Early Morning Seminary Days, Windshield Replacement, Two FHEs, Dentist, Māori Choir, and Charlotta's Temple Experience

Sister Hester, Charlotta, and Sister Wilcox

We did Early Morning Seminary for three days this week.  I taught on Monday and Thursday, and we were the seconds on Tuesday when the Elders taught. We also had two Family Home Evenings. The first one on Monday evening, and the second one was on Wednesday evening.

We talked about section 49 in the Doctrine and Covenants in Monday's Seminary lesson. It is about how marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God. The family is the most important unit in society. And we can have eternal families through the sealing power of the Priesthood. We had a good discussion and even had some fun.

After we got home, we had our video call with Sean and MyLiege's family. They were heading to a Fireside, so we got to participate in “Family Prayer” before they left and to enjoy the ride to the Chapel while we had our video call. It is always wonderful to talk to our family each week. I worked on the New Convert Initiative report in the afternoon. The Bream Bay Sisters came over to use the Wi-Fi to call home. Since their branch is combined with one of our wards, they no longer have access to a Chapel. The Zone Leaders don't open the Stake Center up until later in the day and by then their families are getting ready for bed because of the time difference. 

We made brownies for our FHE refreshments and fine-tuned our FHE lesson We talked about Spiritual Gifts that are found in Section 46 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Ben's mom was a bit under the weather, so Ben came on his own. Of course, the Elders were there too, so we had a good discussion. 

The Elders taught the lesson on Tuesday about avoiding Satan’s deceptions found in Section 50 of the Doctrine and Covenants. We had a good discussion. At home I dove into that section ever further for my own personal study. I found it to be very cathartic as I examined my life in a different light. I spent the rest of the day preparing my Thursday Seminary Lesson. 

Wednesday was DCM. We took our leftover brownies and ice cream for dessert. They were all very excited about that. On the way to DCM, we stopped by the Murdoch Crescent flat so we could take some pictures of the broken light covering that is in their kitchen. They were attempting to complete a "challenge" given by the Zone for one of their transfer goals. They work on a specific goal like "finding new friends," and they post a fun little challenge like "best trick shot." The Zone judges both things and the losing companionship has a penalty such as eating a dry weetbix. Anyway, they were attempting a fancy "trick shot" and accidentally broke the light covering hanging over their kitchen island. 😢

After DCM, we took our car in to access what needed to be done with the crack that spread through the ding we got last month and supposedly got fixed. The decision was that the windshield needed to be replaced. We scheduled it for Friday. Before we left, the Hika Elders showed up as they recently got a ding in their windshield. There are a lot of dings in windshields in New Zealand.

Once home the Riverside Elders stopped by to get something printed. I finished preparing for our Family Home Evening at the Snows. Then the Hika Elders showed up for dinner and comp study. After comp study, they headed to Young Men's, and we headed to our FHE. We had a wonderful evening with the Snows. Brother Snow's sister and her husband were visiting so that made it extra fun. We combined our lesson about spiritual gifts with a game of hunting for the blessings Elder Wilcox hid around the room. The kids liked that, and everyone had a good time. 

Thursday turned out to be busier than we expected. I taught my Seminary lesson about the landmarks in our lives that help us navigate to where we want to go, which is the Celestial Kingdom. They started by drawing a simple map from the Stake Center to some place nearby. Then instead of street names, they put landmarks to help direct where they needed to go to get to the destination. Finally, they passed their map to the person next to them to see if they could figure out where they were going based on the landmarks. It was a lot of fun. Then we identified the destination to our end goal in life and the landmarks to different things we need to accomplish or do to get there. Some examples were to finish seminary, graduate school, go to the Temple, serve a mission, marry in the Temple, serve their fellowman, etc. We finished the lesson by reviewing past seminary lessons to see how they related to some of the landmarks we just talked about.

After Seminary, we had our mission SPF meeting. Elder and Sister Garner did the presentation. Their theme was how to finish strong on their mission. Elder Garner shared an awesome story he experienced shortly after they started their mission. Right after SPF, the Sisters arrived for mentoring. One companionship had to leave right after that as they had a teaching appointment. The other companionship stayed for our traditional lunch and comp study. We discussed section 50 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Elder Na Nongkai
and Elder Olson

We headed out to meet the Hika Elders at the Dentist. Elder Na Nongkai had his last wisdom tooth extracted. The dentist wouldn't take the Auckland credit card over the phone, so we had to go in and use our credit card. On our way home, we stopped by to give Charlotta a blessing. She has been sick for two days. We wanted her well so she could go to the Temple on Saturday. Elder Wilcox blessed her with a complete and speedy recovery. By the next day she was feeling nearly 100% and on Saturday you wouldn't have known she had been so sick. 

That evening, we headed to the local high school for Māori Choir. It was very beautiful listening to them sing. They had several songs written on huge cardboard hanging on the wall; however, none of the songs they were singing were on the walls. We learned some hand movements to a few songs too. It was fun, but I don’t think we will make the cut. LOL  

On Friday, Steve ran and did several errands. He got the windshield replaced. While he was waiting, he walked across the street to the mall to see if he could find some light covers for the Murdoch Crescent flat. Since we couldn't match the one that broke, he had to replace all three coverings. He got a great deal, so he bought them. Later, he went over to the flat and replaced them.

I spent the day working on HawkSoft, the Ward Council Agenda, the Sacrament program, and a Prospective Elders report for our Elders Quorum President. I also took care of the bills and laundry since we were going to be gone all Saturday. 

We had been looking forward to Saturday for a very long time. Everything fell into place, including several little miracles. Saturday was the day Charlotta received her Endowment in the Auckland Temple. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The weather was perfect, all the people she wanted to come were able to miraculously make appointments after being told there was no room, the Spirit was so strong, and Charlotta just glowed. It really was a perfect day.

I felt the Spirit all day long on Sunday. Even before we had Ward Council, I was feeling blessed. I had a good discussion with Sam before the council started. We had a good discussion in our council meeting. Bishop managed to snag Elder Na Nongkai's hat in Ward Council. Doesn't he look great?

The Spirit was strong in our Sacrament meeting. Our opening speaker was an 8-year-old who was asked to share her favorite scripture. She said she didn’t have a favorite scripture yet, but she did have a favorite song. She then talked about going to see the Hamilton Temple and the then Auckland Temple Open House. She loves the Temple. She is looking forward to when her family will be sealed together. She then sang her favorite song acapella. “I Love to See the Temple.” I was very moved. The rest of the talks were all so good, but no one could come close to her talk. We had a great turnout for Church. Everyone sang really good, which was very nice. They haven’t been singing as much lately so I was really glad I wasn’t singing alone. LOL

Bishop Henare

I helped set up a video for the Elders Quorum meeting before heading to Relief Society. We had a wonderful discussion about being made whole spiritually even without being healed physically. After Church, we had a lovely Linger Longer with some yummy soup and other treats. 

I had opportunities to help a few others along the way with various things. I love giving service. It was a beautiful day. 

Have a Wonderful Week!

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox