Seminary, Comp Studies, Farewell Dinner, Google Drive, and Family Name Assist Training

Grandma and Andrew

On Monday, we actually had a p-day, well at least for part of the day. We didn't go anywhere or actually do anything, but we did relax.

We woke up at 5:00am so we could watch our Stake Conference back home. Our grandson, Karsten was speaking, and we wanted to see him. Halfway through the first speaker, the Internet went out in the Stake Center. We lost sound and picture. Since there were a number of people on Zoom, that connection stayed open and we were able to chat about losing sound and picture. We didn't know what happened. 

After the first speaker, the choir sang a song. The sound came back on at that time. They never did get the Internet back so they connected a cell phone to the Zoom meeting and put it on the podium so we could hear what was going on. It worked pretty well, although we would have liked to see who was speaking.

Comp Study with Elders Phipps and Na Nongkai

Karsten did a great job. I expected him to talk about Youth Conference or Young Men's Camp, since he had some leadership roles in both activities. Instead, he talked about his relationship with his Heavenly Father and the things he learned through scripture study. He is definitely preparing to serve a mission, just as soon as he graduates from High School this coming school year. 

We had a very nice video call with MyLiege's family. We got to see our newest great grandson. He was wide awake. It even looked like he gave us a smile!!! LOL Ruthie was there too. She is talking so good. She said, “I love you, GG.” It made my day. Of course, Alyx had to feed her the words, but I’ll take what I can get. Alyx received her Patriarchal Blessing on Sunday. We had a wonderful talk about how to read and study these blessings throughout our lives. 

Tuesday morning started with Early Morning Seminary. The Elders taught the lesson on the blessings in Section 89, The Word of Wisdom. I couldn't help but share my Word of Wisdom Math.

3 Don’ts (no alcohol, tobacco, or hot drinks)

+ 5 Do’s (herbs, grains, fruits, meat sparingly, with prudence and thanksgiving)

___________________________________________________________________

= 8 Blessings (health in the navel, marrow in the bones, wisdom, great treasures of knowledge, hidden treasures, run and not be weary, walk and not faint, and destroying angel will pass you by)

We had a wonderful Comp Study with the Riverside Elders. After we shared highlights from our personal studies, we talked about sections 89 and 90 in the Doctrine and Covenants. After lunch, I spent the rest of the day working on my Seminary lesson for Thursday.

Wednesday was filled with a wonderful DCM followed by another Comp Study, this time with the Hikurangi Elders. Elder Na Nongkai did a great training on how to be an effective missionary. I love how the missionaries are there to support one another. They always are willing to share different things they have done to help their friends progress. Several of the missionaries had questions on “what to do when….” And the other missionaries had great ideas for them to try. We are working hard as a mission to meet our mission goal of 81 baptisms for this transfer.

Our Comp Study was actually with one Hika Elder and one Riverside Elder. They were on splits. Elder Phipps got a double dose of us. 🤣After we did our study, we talked with Elder Na Nongkai about people they have been visiting. They found at least six families who had moved out of the Ward. I was able to clean up the Ward list after they left.

Thursday morning started with Early Morning Seminary again. I had 9 students, which was awesome. It makes breaking into groups work so much better. They all worked together and gave great answers. I felt energy that morning. It was nice.

After Seminary, I made brownies for the Farewell Dinner we were going to in Auckland that night. For some reason they didn't turn out very well, so we ended up buying something to take. After I took the brownies out of the oven, it was time for SPF. Sister Allen talked about the blessings we find in Section 89, The Word of Wisdom.

Shortly after that, the Zone Leaders showed up for our last Comp Study for the week. They were still on splits, so we actually had our other Hika Elder join us along with Elder O'Riordan. As usual, we had a great discussion. Since we finished at lunch time, Elder Wilcox invited them to stay for lunch. We continued our discussion. We love our missionaries so much.

After they left, I made a goodbye card for the Garners, who will be living in a week or so. Actually, three senior couples are leaving very soon. Because of the Garners, we decided to make the trip to Auckland for the dinner. We had a very fun night. The food was good, the games were fun, and of course, the friendship and fellowship were great. We don't normally get to enjoy the events they do in Auckland because of the distance, but we decided we had to go! I'm so glad we went.

We spent Friday doing some different things. We have a baptism coming up next week in the Te Horo Branch. The Elders and the Carlisles were looking for some baptismal clothing and wondered if Hikurangi had any they could borrow. I knew we had some but know who knew what we actually had. I chatted the Bishop to see if Te Horo could borrow some if we had the right size. He said yes. I then asked if we could organize what we had.

The Bishop had a stash in his cupboard in his office. The Relief Society had another stash in their cupboard. Still, no one knew all of what we had. So, we went to the Chapel to see if we could get it organized and all in one place. The Relief Society suggested we put the clothing in the cupboard in the room opposite the Bishop’s office. We will get a lock for the cupboard as they were removed some time ago when the Stake Center reopened and the other wards all left.

We sorted everything we had and found we actually have quite a bit. I made a chart of what we had, sizes and quantities. Then we put everything neatly in the cupboard and labeled the shelves. Before we finished, we got a chat from the Sisters in the Otaika Ward asking if they could borrow a medium jumpsuit for a baptism they were having that night. Since that was the same as the one we borrowed for the Te Horo Branch, we figured it would work. The Sisters had seen our messages in the Chat group about it, which is why they asked us. We arranged for Sister Carlisle to take the jumpsuit after the baptism and have it ready for their baptism next week. We will get it back after that.

I spent most of the day on Saturday setting up a new shared drive for our Ward. Since our mission will be ending in December, we felt we needed to make the transition for the next Ward Clerk easy. We tried setting that up when we first got here, but because Google sheets don't do all the things that Excel can do, I chose to use Excel for everything I was doing. However, so things can be shared from one leader to another, I felt it was time to move everything over to Google Drive. I created a "user" that is not tied to anyone in the Ward. That makes it easier to make sure it is only Ward data in the drive. I managed to move nearly everything over to the new drive into the various folders. I also made sure that I have security in place that only Bishopric members can see the data in the Bishopric folder, while other folders are accessible to all the leaders. I'm hoping to have it all sorted out by next week so I can share it with the leadership team.

Once I got the documents and spreadsheets moved over, I had to do some tweaking to make them work right. One of the things Google Sheets doesn't do is run macros. That was one of the reasons I used Excel in the first place. I had automated several features in my documents that now have to be done manually. I added a notes page to hopefully make it easier to do what I had previously automated.

I also created an inventory list and checkout sheet for all the baptismal clothing we organized the day before. I then sent Elder Wilcox to tape the sheets up inside the cabinet where the clothing now resides. He then did some grocery shopping on his way home. I sent him out again, after he got home to drop off the Sacrament program and the Ward Council agenda to the Bishop's house since we had to go back to Auckland Sunday morning and were going to miss Church in our Ward.

We were up at 4:00am Sunday morning so we could be at the Henderson Stake Center by 7:30 for a training meeting for the Family Name Assist tool. We got to catch the last part of a Sister Missionary giving the report of her mission to the High Council. From what the Stake President said, she left a very shy girl and came back a strong, and confident young woman. We were very impressed with the portion of the report we heard. 

Our training went well, and we had a nice little discussion after. Then the Stake President followed us out the door. He said that meeting was his High Council and Auxiliary Presidents. He invited us back next month to meet with his Bishops. That meeting will be on a Sunday afternoon. I was sure I mentioned we wanted the Bishops there for the training meeting when we scheduled it, but that’s OK. We will be happy to go back. 

After the meeting, we headed to the Takapuna building for Sacrament Meeting. That is the same building that the Mission Office is in. The Garners attended that Ward, so we got to be with them one last time. Elder Garner was speaking and both of them put on a musical presentation with Sister Garner playing “Master the Tempest is Raging” and Elder Garner reading a beautiful script to the music. He then gave his talk after that. I think that really is the last time we will get to say goodbye to the Garners. 😢

After Sacrament Meeting, we met Elder Farrell in the foyer so he could give us a laptop that needs to go up north. Since we are having a Senior Activity on Monday, we passed it off at that time. We took some pictures, gave some hugs and then headed home. 

We got home in time for lunch, working on my weekly recap, and final preparations for our Personal Finances class before everyone arrived for class. It had been a long day, but a very good day!

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox