Hospital, Member Visits, and Move!

I'm so sorry this recap is so late. It has been a little crazy! Here is the recap of last week.

We spent pretty much ALL day at the hospital on Monday. Thankfully it wasn't very serious, just painful. On the Thursday or Friday before, Steve's toe started hurting. He thought he must have bumped it even though we remember doing anything that might have hurt his toe. The pain kept getting worse, but we didn't see any evidence of a bruise. Then we noticed it was very swollen and red. He thought it might have started to feel a little better, but it still hurt and even woke him up during the night. So, Monday morning we called the medical missionary at the Mission Office to see what it might be and we he should do. Elder Dayton said he thought it was probably gout and said he should go to the emergency room since we don't have a doctor in New Zealand yet. It turned out he was right. Steve got a prescription and is doing much better now.

Brother and Sister Hester

On Tuesday, we spent a delightful afternoon visiting with our Relief Society President and the Ward Mission Leader. They shared a little about themselves and we shared a little about ourselves. We became fast friends. We will be working with them in our work in the Hikurangi Ward. They want to take us out and introduce us to some members of the Ward to get us acquainted with who we will be working with. We learned a lot today.

Hepi and Steve

Wednesday started with our DCM (District Council Meeting). We have a wonderful District. We are the Whangarei North District, and the young missionaries are so awesome. I am very impressed. We also have three senior couples counting us. Everyone had great reports for the week. We didn't report on much except arriving in New Zealand. We hadn't really done much yet.

After a quick lunch at the Kreutzkamp's house, we went to visit a wonderful brother in our ward who had fallen a while before and had missed Church for three weeks. The Bishop asked us if we could check up on him. We had such a wonderful visit with Hepi. We found him sitting outside him home enjoying a beautiful afternoon. It was not too hot nor was it very muggy. We visited for a little while outside, when his wife came out and invited us inside. We visited with her briefly before she headed out to go walking with a friend of hers. 

Whangarei Falls

Hepi is a very interesting man. He has done so many things, some of which are owning several businesses, driving big rigs, managing a dairy and beef cattle farm, coaching rugby for many years (including national championship teams), serving the school board, and on the board of directors for the Maori community center called a Marae. It is a really big deal. It was very fun to hear all about him and his family. He is doing much better after his fall and will be back at Church on Sunday. He had been our working in his garden before we got there.

Thursday morning started with a Zoom Meeting called SPF. That stands for Short, Powerful, and Frequent. The meeting was short, and the missionaries are encouraged to teach that way. Make it short, powerful and frequent, but teaching them often. The Kreutzkamps did the training segment and did a great job.

Baptism of Debate with Elder Bailey,
Sister Liloux, Debate, and Sister Kinikini

After the meeting, some preparation, and lunch, we met with the Hesters again. They are the RS President and the Ward Mission Leader. We may be meeting with them weekly for a while. We split up and the Brothers when and visited some people and Sister Hester and I went and visited some sisters. We didn't see everyone on the list, but we did get to have some great visits with two different sisters. Both had fascinating lives to share. On our way home, we got a text from the Kreutzkamps informing us of a Baptism that evening. 

So, we went back to the house to meet up with the Kreutzkamps and then headed to the Hikurangi Chapel for the baptism of a very special sister. She was taught by the sisters in our district, so we try to support the district in their baptisms. It ended up being very long, because they didn't start filling the font early enough to be ready by 7:00. The Bishop "stretched" the meeting by inviting a few people up to bear testimony and they giving a fabulous impromptu talk. We just happened to be two of the ones he invited to bear testimony. It was amazing how the words just came to us. We both shared personal things about our own baptisms and what that meant to us. The Spirit felt very strong all night. After she was baptized, she got up and bore her own testimony. She shared briefly how she came to know the Church was true. It was very heartfelt and special.

On Friday, we got a call from Elder Jones. He had some good news for us. He secured a house for us!!! The bad news was it wouldn't be ready until April 3rd. The other good news was he had a temporary house for us we could move into the next day. The bad news was it was about 45 minutes further south, away from our assigned area. We figured we could live with the long drive for a few weeks.

After that news, we went with the Kreutzkamps to a school program not too far from where we were living. It was a warm day, but not too muggy. We headed over to the school. The whole thing was outside. There were about ten different schools represented. Each school got up and performed some Mauri songs and haka dancing. It was GREAT. We loved it.

After the Kreutzkamps took us to lunch, we headed out to visit a sister the Bishop asked us to check on. She suffered from a stroke quite a while ago and hasn't been able to go to Church. A couple of Brethren take her the Sacrament each week. He husband takes care of her 100%. He is such a kind and loving man. We had a wonderful visit getting to know them. He did most of the talking. He has worked on many of the chapels in the north region and had some wonderful stories to share. We go home in time say good-bye to the Kreutzkamps before they headed off to the Temple with their Branch. They decided to overnight it instead of driving it all in one day. It was a good decision.

Our New Temporary Home

Saturday was MOVE day. We got up kind of early so we could wash the sheets on the bed and remake it before we were to meet Elder Jones. We met up with him about 12:30. He had already started installing the washer and dryer. Elder Wilcox helped with that a bit and then helped with the fridge and the bed. That was about all Elder Jones had so he left, and we started unpacking. The house already had a sofa and TV. Elder Jones left a few folding tables and some chairs. It is bare bones since this is just a temporary house. However, we will be taking everything with us to the house in Kamo that we get in April. We will get some more furniture and whatever else we may need. This house was stocked with dishes and things from the previous missionaries. We will take them with us. It is an INCREDIBLE house. It has 4 bedrooms (two of which are empty), big living room, big kitchen, two bathrooms, laundry room, dining room, garage. It sits on a golf course and it just a short walk from the beach! WOW! The other house is supposed to be quite nice as well, but it won't be that close to the beach. The only drawback, (besides the distance) was all the spiders that were in the house. It had been vacant for a while, and they sort of moved in. It took us several hours to suck them all up in the vacuum cleaner. Now everything is practically perfect! We ended the day very late and completely exhausted.

Our First Cooked Meal

Sunday, we had to get up an hour earlier to get to Church on time. We barely made it. Just as we walked in about a minute before the meeting started, the sister in charge of the music was waiting for me to see if I was willing to lead the music again. I said yes. After Church, she asked if I would do it every week. It ended up being a very long Sunday. We hung around for a couple of hours after our ward ended so we could attend the Sacrament meeting for the sister who got baptized on Thursday. We wanted to be there for her confirmation. I'm so glad we stayed. We sat next to her and got to support her at this special time. We became good friends. I hope we get to see her again. 

Not far from our new home.

We went to our new home for about 1 1/2 hours so we could have dinner and then headed back to the Hikurangi Chapel for the Relief Society Worldwide Broadcast. It was a great broadcast and testimony meeting afterwards. From there we went home again to finally rest up from the weekend. Hahaha.

All our Love and Prayers,
Elder and Sister Wilcox

Whangarei and Hikurangi 

We had a busy week. Monday we were able to talk to Douhet's family on a monthly call we are doing with each of our kids. He is the oldest, so he gets the first week of the month. It was fun to see them face to face. Their whole family squished on the couch, so they had to move the camera from time to time to see everyone. We enjoyed that very much.

We ran a couple of errands in the afternoon and got caught in a nice rainstorm. I think it rained the hardest when we got to the grocery store, so we waited in the car until it let up enough to run in and not get too wet. By the time we were done it had quit raining for a while. Back at our flat we put things away and just poked around a bit before we heard a knock at the door. Elder and Sister Bailey stopped by to let us know about the Family Home Evening event that night at the Chapel. Just as they were leaving, I got a call from Sean about an SQL question he had, so we jumped on a Teams call. Before the call ended, he went into the living room so the family could say "Hi". Djeryd and Eva stopped by with baby Ruth, so we got to see her, too. She smiles when she hears our voice over the computer. 😁 It makes this great grandma very happy!

Tuesday was spent going to the Hamilton Temple. It pretty much took the whole day. We enjoyed that very much. I loved all the diversity of people in the Temple. It truly is a melting pot here. On our way home from the Temple, we stopped at the Mission Office to check on the progress of our flat up north. President Allen was there. He just got back from the Cook Islands. We were able to meet him and have a nice little visit. He said he was sending us up north to our new area. We don't have housing yet, but we can stay with a wonderful Senior Couple who has an extra bedroom and bath. They host a lot of visitors.

Wednesday marked the official start of our second week in New Zealand. We spent the entire day in our flat. We cleaned it in preparation for our move tomorrow. I worked a few hours on HawkSoft. Steve read the car manual. We have a really good car! He found out several things he wanted to know about. We did laundry. We played some games and just hung out for a very relaxing day.

Elder Bailey, Sister Geisler, and Elder Geisler

Thursday was our travel day. We had to do another load of clothes so we could wash the sheets for the next people to get the flat we were in. It gave us time to do all our packing. We headed out after lunch and stopped at the office to turn in our keys and say goodbye to our new friends. Then we stopped and visited an employee we worked with on our previous mission with Interpreters. He is in the area office but works from home. That was a fun visit that we had been planning on since we received our call. Finally, we were on our journey.

It was long, through lots of curvy roads. At times we were right next to the ocean. Other times we were in thick green foliage. It was a very beautiful trip. When we arrived, we had to wait a while, as Elder and Sister Freutzkamp were much further away in their assigned area. While we were waiting, Season called us over the Wifi, so we had a nice visit with him. We met and visited with our wonderful hosts for a while before we all headed to bed. We slept like logs. 

Steven Stebbings from Area Translation 

On Friday, we got to tag along with the Freutzkamps while they worked in their area. It is a long way away. It was a very long day, but we had so much fun. We did flat inspections of the young missionaries in the Stake. We stopped for lunch before heading to the Freutzkamp’s area. We visited many people. Sister Freutzkamp gave several piano lessons at the chapel. Elder Freutzkamp and Elder Wilcox gave two blessings. Lastly, we went to a brother's house where we had dinner. The Freutzkamps have a standing appointment every Friday. The food was delicious. He sent the left-over desert home with us. Everyone was so nice and friendly. We learned a lot and enjoyed even more. Everyone greets you with a hug and a kiss. It doesn't matter that we are strangers. It was wonderful.

Elders Wilcox and
Kreutzkamp

By the end of Friday, Elder Wilcox knew he needed to get some different shoes. You have to take your shoes off in every home you go to. Elder Wilcox's shoes are TIE shoes and don't slip on or off very easily. There usually isn't a bench to sit on, because everyone wears slip-ons. So, Saturday we headed to a little shopping mall in Whangarei where Elder Wilcox could get some new shoes. We also decided to get haircuts since we were beginning to get a little shaggy. The Kreutzkamps had an activity planned in their area so we had the day to ourselves. It gave me some time to get caught up on some work for HawkSoft. We also made it to bed fairly early since we have early morning Sacrament meetings for the next few months. 

They are remodeling the Stake Center in Whangarei, so now we have 3 more wards that meet in our building. We are the Hikurangi Ward. We start at 8:30 AM. Our Ward is wonderful. The Bishop is so kind and humble. He is so happy we are here. Before the meeting started, I was asked if I played the piano. I shook my head and said, "No." Then I was asked if I could lead music and I admitted that I could do that. The next thing I knew was I was leading the music in Sacrament meeting today. Elder Wilcox was called on to briefly introduce us. We were both invited to the Ward Council that met after Church. At that meeting we were asked to start a Temple Prep class. They are getting us access to the Ward Directory etc., so I think we are ready to jump in with both feet.

Mayree and Sister Kreutzkamp

We are still waiting on permanent housing. I talked to Elder Jones yesterday, and he said he should find out for sure on Monday. If we don't get the house he is trying to get, then he is looking at another one near the Freutzkamps. I wouldn't mind that, as they live in a very nice neighborhood.

Until next week, All our Love and Prayers,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Paradise, or in other words, New Zealand!!!

Ready to leave the MTC

Monday was the LONGEST day ever. We were up while it was still dark so we could check out of our room by 7:00. (It was more like 7:15.) We had to wait in the lobby of the MTC until our shuttle that took us to the SLC airport arrived at 11:15. We waited at the airport until about 4:30 PM when we were finally able to board the plane. That flight took us to the Los Angeles airport where we waited until about 10:45 PM, when we could finally board our plane to New Zealand.

We tried to spend our waiting time wisely. I worked on HawkSoft. We walked around a bit. We ate lunch in SLC and dinner in Los Angeles. And of course, we played some games on our tablet. The plane to New Zealand was an Airbus 350-900. That means it is pretty big. There were 9 seats across. Three on each side and three in the middle. We were in the middle of the back row of the Main 1 section. I actually liked our seats. Even though the flight was very full, we managed to just be the two of us in our row so that was nice. They fed us very well. Those flight attendants worked hard. We tried to sleep, but only managed to doze from time to time. I did most of my "sleeping" while supposedly watching movies. I tend to sleep at home when movies are on too. 

We have Arrived!!!

We arrived in New Zealand at 9:00 AM Wednesday morning. Tuesday disappeared sometime during the last movie. It went from Monday night to Wednesday morning just like magic. It took a little over an hour to go through customs. A friend of mine was here a week or so ago, and she said it took her 3 hours to go through customs. It really went pretty smoothly. The lines were long, but we got right through.

Elder Wilcox on the Left
side of the road.

Elder and Sister Geisler were there to greet us and take us to the Mission Office. I think it was about an hour's drive. We met Sister Jones and Elder Bailey in the office. Their companions were out at the time. We met them later. Next, the Geisler's took us to our temporary apartment so we could unload our luggage. Then we went to the grocery store a block or two away to get some groceries for just a few days. We dropped our groceries and then went back to the Mission Office so we could pick up our brand-new Toyota Corolla car. Pretty cool! Once back at the apartment we intended to shower and take a nap as we were very tired. We managed to shower and then spent time unpacking and getting situated. About the time we finished, The Geislers and the Joneses were knocking at our door to take us to dinner. It was a "short" walk to the restaurant they chose. Talk to Elder Wilcox about how "short" it was. I think his definition and their definition of short are two different things. We had a very nice time with the missionaries. We met Elder Jones; and, Elder and Sister Bailey met us at the restaurant. Needless to say, we slept GREAT that night.

The beach a couple of blocks
from our apartment.

Thursday, we ventured out on our own. Elder Wilcox did pretty good driving on the left side of the road. We only got lost a few times but managed to find our way back OK. We headed to the only Costco in New Zealand. It is about 30 minutes away. We needed to pick up a few things that we couldn't pack from home. For one thing, I wanted a monitor for my laptop. Two years on just the laptop screen was not going to work for me. We bought the display model because the monitor was being discontinued. We got a good price and were happy. After we made it home, I hooked up the monitor only to realize that it had probably been dropped at some time. The laptop recognized it just fine, but the display was a mess. It kept blinking in and out and there was a weird squiggly line and only part of the screen actually showed. Big disappointment.

Friday, we ventured out again. More shopping! I normally hate to shop, and today did not change my mind. We got a text message from one of the missionary couples we met more than a year ago. They were visa waiters heading to New Zealand and were waiting in our apartment complex in Salt Lake on our last mission. We met them and immediately were jealous because they were actually going to go to New Zealand. We exchanged contact information and have kept in touch. We also met a couple at the MTC who

The Bay Bridge

were also going to New Zealand. Both of those couples are assigned to the Hamilton Mission on an S&I Mission. They were coming up north to go to Costco today and wanted to know if we could meet for lunch.

So, we ventured out to Costco again. We had to return the broken monitor and get a new one that worked. We also wanted to pick up a few other things that we will need. At about noon, we went to the Food Court in Costco to save seats. We took two tables, the guys on one and the girls on the other. We had a wonderful time visiting and learning what each other is doing or going to do. Elder and Sister Welsh have been here the longest. Elder and Sister Hansen got here a few days before us. We hope to see them again.

The Norfolk Pine Tree

After lunch we did some more shopping. I got tired of that, but it was necessary. We missed a few turns and ended up going back to the same shopping center we were at earlier because we didn't know a different store we wanted to go to was in the same complex. I guess that is what you might call gaining experience.

After we got home about 5:00, I set up the new monitor and it worked perfectly. I put in a couple of hours on HawkSoft. The funny thing about that was the time difference. Even though it was March 1st where I'm at, the time sheet recorded it as February 29th, so I made it on the end of the pay period. Hahaha.

Suzanne and her family.

Saturday, we spent the afternoon with Suzanne Huffman Bharade and her family. She used to be one of my young women back in Oregon City. When they first moved to Oregon City, they only lived a few blocks from us. Then they moved closer to the Church. Anyway, I haven't seen her in over 12 years. She immigrated to New Zealand even before that.

She has a wonderful husband and delightful little boy. They took us to the Sky Tower in Auckland. It is the tallest building around. It kind of reminds me of the Space Needle in Seattle.

Elder Wilcox on top of the Sky Tower.\

After that we went to Mission Bay. It is a beautiful town on the beach. We walked along the beach for quite a while. Then we went for ice cream. The ice cream in New Zealand is so rich and creamy. We can't eat too much of it or we won't fit into our clothes anymore.

We spent ALL evening doing laundry. Everything in New Zealand is small. The washer and dryer are no exception. I think we could only put about 10 or 12 items of clothing in each machine. The wash cycle is 1.5 hours, and the dry is at least that or closer to 2 hours. I think for the future, we will do laundry multiple times a week, so it doesn't take a full day anymore.

Sunday! We are still in Auckland, so we attended the Takapuna Ward. We LOVED it. The Bishop is from Brazil. He was really quite funny and yet very spiritual. 

Our Temporary Apartment

He bore his testimony about Temples and Missionary work. He shared an experience when he was taking a bus load of members to the Temple in a different country. This was when he lived in Brazil. When they got to the border they were stopped, and everyone had to get out. The guards were very mean looking and carried guns. They pointed them at everyone, including the kids that were going to be sealed to their parents. The Bishop proceeded to talk to the guard. At first the man was very gruff. He asked them where they were going. He didn't know what a Temple was. As the Bishop explained things, including the fact that everyone had a obtain a Temple Recommend to enter the Temple signifying they were keeping the commandments and being honest, the guard became less hostile and even somewhat friendly. Finally, the man told them to not show their passports, but instead to show their Temple Recommends. He looked at all of them, including the youth recommend for the kids, and said, "oh good. You are all honest. You can go to your Temple." He didn't check any luggage or anything.

Everything is smaller in New Zealand

The other testimonies that were born today were equally spiritual. We loved hearing all of them. I loved all the different accents...especially the New Zealand accents. 

Our weather was a little cooler today. We still hit the low 70s and the humidity was above 80%, but there was a nice gentle breeze all day. It was very pleasant. We spent a nice relaxing day in our apartment.

All our Love and Prayers,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

I leave and heave a sigh and say "Goodbye", goodbye...to the MTC!

Elder and Sister Miskin

Another wonderful week at the MTC. This week we had our Member and Leader Support training. It was hard to think they could put anymore into our heads, but they did. On Monday, we started the morning with our MLS training from the mentors we had before our MTC experience. This was their first week teaching at the MTC. We were the only couple they had mentored in our class so they were very happy to see us. They did a GREAT job and expanded on what they had taught us in our pre-MTC training. That class was 3 1/2 hours. We did several activities with 3 other couples to discuss and learn ways to interact with leaders, young missionaries, and of course, investigators. We learned a lot.

After lunch we started our specific MLS training with the young returned missionaries as our teachers. They are so good with the Senior Couples. They told us that teaching the seniors is the covenanted job. We did lots of role playing in their classes. We also had several actual teaching experiences. The first one we could choose to do on either Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening. We chose Monday. Part of our lesson on Monday was to help us prepare the lesson we were going to present that evening. I think it turned out pretty good.

Djeryd and Eva

Tuesday morning we had a different Senior Couple. They taught us about how to encourage young people to enroll in Institute and attend Seminary if they are still in High School. They also taught us ways to interact and relate to young adults better. They gave us some fascinating statistics about Generation Z.

Eva and Baby Ruth

In the afternoon we capitalized on morning training and went into greater detail. We did more role playing. One of the exercises we did was to practice team teaching by going back and forth on a subject. We had to change every 10 seconds. It was a lot of fun and we nailed it. Of course, when teaching we won't change that often. Lol. We were also asked to schedule a "getting to know you/teaching" appointment with a young adult outside of our classes. It needed to be done before Thursday. We did ours Tuesday night after our MTC Devotional. We chose to interview Djeryd and Eva. That way we could see baby Ruth too. Lol. We shared with them things about Institute and asked what they thought about it and if they thought they might like to go again. They indicated they think they may be able to make it work, so they are going to explore going to Institute again.

Our District with Sister Gimenez

The Tuesday MTC Devotional was really good. Elder William K. Jackson of the Seventy and his wife were our speakers. I very much enjoyed their talk. They spoke together in a way similar to our activity this afternoon, only they didn't change every 10 seconds.  

Wednesday morning was another new Senior Couple teaching us. Their topic was how to share the Gospel using the Family History apps. They showed us several different things we could do. People are naturally curious about where they come from and who their ancestors are. There are so many cool ways to share that, and we had a lot of fun learning about them.

Ljiljana with us at Costco

In our afternoon class we again piggy backed on the morning topic. We explored in more detail the Family Search apps. We then did a teaching assignment by going outside and finding some young missionaries to teach. Much of our mission will be working with them. We will get to put on our grandparent hats and be a support for them. I'm really looking forward to that. We met with a trio of young sisters. They were GREAT. Two of them are going to Ecuador and the third is going to Boise. All three are doing Spanish speaking. We spent about 15 minutes getting to know them as we talked about what they expect or hope for on their missions. 

After dinner we had Ljiljana pick us up so we could go to Costco and cash in our Costco Cash Rewards certificate. Even though New Zealand has a Costco, we can't use the certificate there. So, to avoid losing it, we had to cash it in. Since we don't have a car here, we took advantage of Ljiljana asking if she to take us anywhere. We had such a fun evening with her and her husband.

Our District with Sister Zeidner

On Thursday we learned about how to utilize all the wonderful resources for Welfare and Self-Reliance. We won't necessarily be doing anything in those areas, however, we do need to know about them so we can direct leaders as well as individuals to the resources they may need.

Our afternoon class was combined with another class because the other class teacher couldn't make it. We knew most of the people in the other class so that was fun. We got to do our pairing off activities with a different couple. We also did our biggest training activity. We had to choose someone to teach during the day and share with them one of the 4 Divinely Appointed Responsibilities of the Church. We chose to interview MyLiege Hawkins, and Elle joined her. We had a nice time doing our interview and visit a bit. We finished our day with some more Facebook tips and then recapping our experience that we had with our Young Adult interview. Then it was time to take pictures and give hugs to our teachers. We didn't have an afternoon class on Friday.

The Old Team is Together Again

Friday was our last official day of training. We only had the morning class. We had our Mentors back to finish up the MLS training. We focused mostly on how we can support our leaders. We held a mock Ward Council meeting and Elder Wilcox was selected to be the Bishop. He did a great job. After class ended at noon, we said good-bye to all of our district and several other senior couples we have met and fallen in love with. We also hugged our mentors and said good-bye to them too. I think both Sister Miskin and I had tears in our eyes. They have been so great to us. We all vowed to keep in touch so we can share in each other's missions. Facebook will be a big help in that department.

George with us on Zoom

After lunch we had a zoom meeting with one of Steve's high school friends who responded to one of my posts about the Family History apps. He wanted to know more so we connected on Zoom and got him all set up. Hopefully he will have hours of fun exploring his family tree.

We finished the evening with laundry, some HawkSoft work, and visiting the 12 murals we saw last week. They light them up at night. It is breathtaking.

Aaron and Roshelle from our Team

Saturday was a FUN day. Ljiljana arranged for a lunch with most of our team from our Interpretation mission. She picked us up and we met everyone else at Olive Garden. I think we spent close to three hours together. It was so great to see them one last time before we head to New Zealand. After a couple of hours back at the MTC, Ken and Leanne Jenson picked us up and we went to dinner. They are serving a mission at SLC Headquarters and are currently living in our old apartment. How Fun! We had a wonderful time with them. We ended the evening with Ken taking a short video of us talking to our FHE group. They continue to host FHE. We told them it comes with the apartment. Hahaha.

Elder and Sister Jenson

Sacrament meeting and Relief Society were awesome today. After lunch we spent most of the day organizing and packing. We also had to take care of some online documentation before we fly tomorrow. We can't do it more than 24 hours before we fly. After dinner we showered, packed some last minute things in our big suitcases and took them to the front desk so we don't have to wrestle them at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning. We still have our carry-on luggage so we can pack the things we need tonight and in the morning. 

I am reminded of what is says in Matthew 10 when Jesus sent his Apostles out to preach, minister, and heal the sick. In verses 19 & 20 it says, "...take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."

We are going into the world with the power of God. We are ready to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all we meet.  Our mission president called today to give us our assignment. He is not going to be in Auckland when we arrive because he has to organize a new district in the Cook Islands. The District leader moved. He has assigned us to the Whangarei New Zealand Stake which is further north than Auckland. Apparently the Stake President has been asking for a Senior Couple. We are anxious to get started.

The Team with the Rest of Their Families

All our Love and Prayers,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Classes, Devotionals, More Classes, NO Sleep!

The MTC is FABULOUS! I have enjoyed every minute of it. We were originally going to arrive on Monday morning but were told they preferred Seniors to arrive before Monday morning so we flew in on Sunday night. They made our travel arrangements, but the left had didn't know what the right hand was doing. When we arrived late Sunday evening they had no clue we were coming. They were very gracious and scrambled to get our room ready so we could have a place to sleep. We didn't have any keys at that point. The next morning someone had to let us into the main building so we could get officially checked in and get our keys and access badges. 

This is our District with Sister Worthington.
Elder Taylor (Sister Taylor was sick), Ricks,
Sister Worthington, Us, and Stallards

Monday was filled with Check-in and orientation, lunch, welcome to MTC with the Presidency, workshop, divide into districts and meet our teacher. Then we went to a short first lesson on Preach My Gospel. After dinner we had a Meet your Branch Presidency meeting and were assigned our District leader. We were also given our assignments for Sunday meetings. Whew!

Tuesday, we met our morning teacher, Brother Price and had class from 8:00 to 4:00. We covered more Preach My Gospel and some technology. We also met another couple that we were assigned to work with throughout the week. We practiced our lessons on each other. It was fun. After lunch we were with our afternoon teacher again, Sister Worthington. Both of our teachers were wonderful. They made classes fun as well as instructional. We got very close to our teachers as well as our district throughout the week.

This is our District with Brother Price. 
Taylors, Stallards, Bro Price, Ricks, and Us

Tuesday evening was a special treat. We attended the MTC Devotional with Elder Christofferson. We have seen the monthly MTC Devotional with a General Authority for two and a half years as we worked with interpreters. They were all great. However, being there in person was a completely different experience. There were HUNDREDS of missionaries. The choir was fantastic. We couldn't even get through the opening song of "Called to Serve". We were both so choked up. The devotional was wonderful, and the Spirit was strong.

Wednesday started off with a trip to the T4 building where there are 12 beautiful murals that are painted to specifically use light in the pictures. We were to analyze them and see how the light was used and how we could relate it to the Light of Christ. It was a special experience to really ponder each picture. We did some more class work and then went to lunch. After lunch we broke off with our assigned couple to teach a lesson we had prepared and then they taught us their lesson. It was very enlightening. After dinner that night we attended a Workshop called the "Character of Christ." It was an incredible experience. While we were waiting for it to start, I noticed one of our Cantonese interpreters who now works for the MTC. I hadn't seen her in well over a year since she took the job. I went up to her and surprised her. That was a fun connection!

This is Elder and Sister Ashby. They are the 
couple we worked with to do our assignments.

Thursday, we did some technology training using Facebook. We also did a follow-up with our assigned couple to see if they fulfilled the invitation we had given them the day before. Our class time was shortened because we attended a workshop entitled "Adjusting to Missionary Life Senior Style" presented by a delightful missionary couple with Senior Mission experience as well as several master's degrees in counseling. They are currently serving a mission in counseling young missionaries. They gave a very fun and educational presentation. 

After lunch we had our last class with Sister Worthington. She is a wonderful teacher, and it was hard to say good-bye. She will get a new set of missionaries next week and we will get new teachers next week as we start on our Member and Leader Support (MLS) training.

Most of our District at
the Temple.

Thursday night we were able to attend the Provo Temple. I think most of the session was filled with Senior Missionaries. It was nice to be in the House of the Lord and to attend with our new friends. They will be tearing the Temple down after next week and doing a complete rebuild. I'm glad we were able to attend the original. It is iconic.

Friday morning was our last class with Brother Price. It was also hard to say good-bye. We learned so much from both teachers and they also made it so fun. It was very enjoyable to be with them each day. We had an early lunch so we could attend a Senior Missionary Safety and Security Training Workshop. We had two presenters who were GREAT. They kind of played off each other so it made it fun. Again, we learned a LOT. One thing I hadn't really thought about is the fact that Missionaries kind of stand out and that can make them an easy target for bad guys. They gave us tips to avoid getting into trouble. Very, very helpful. Class ended at 3:00

We ran into the Burnetts several times.
They are headed to Japan for their mission.

We had signed up to help some young sister missionaries who will be giving tours in San Diego for the Mormon Battalion exabit. That will be the first part of their mission before they go to there other assignment in various parts of the US. They gave us a tour of the MTC campus and the statues and buildings around the campus. They did a great job.

After that we did laundry!!! While there, Hayran (she was the interpreter we saw on Wednesday evening), called and wanted to visit with us. We told her where we were and she came. We had a wonderful visit catching up on old times. 

Saturday was P-Day. We slept in. YAY!!! We decided to catch up on all the emails we hadn't read yet. We received an email about a training course we are going to have next Thursday. It had seven attachments. It took us several hours to read all that information! Later, after dinner and showers, we watched some Safety Zone videos. There are 12 we are supposed to see. Most are pretty short so we were able to watch 6 on Friday night and the other 6 on Saturday night. I think we are all caught up until next week. hahaha

We met Elder Sitaki and his wife. His brother
used to work with us on our other mission.

Sunday was incredible. We had Sacrament meeting, and a wonderful Relief Society meeting where we shared many experiences we have had. After lunch, we did a "Go and Do" exercise that was designed to bring us closer to Jesus Christ. It also brought Elder Wilcox and I closer together. I loved it. After dinner we had a Mission Devotional that finished up on the theme for the day. Every meeting on Sunday was about Deeping My Conversion to Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The devotional was the culminating event and really made a huge impression. Needless to say it has been a very spiritual and emotional week. We love it!

All our Love and Prayers,

Elder and Sister Wilcox

The Adventure Begins

We are about to embark on a new adventure. We have been home for about three months since we left our last mission last November. However, we have been very busy preparing for our new mission to Auckland, New Zealand. Here is a brief recap of the last three months.

Since we didn’t want to boot out our granddaughter, Laila and her husband, from our home as they are living there while we serve our missions, MyLiege and Sean graciously made us a cozy little home in their very spacious basement. We have been quite comfortable. We had our own space for all our studies and yet we were able to join the family for meals, family home evening, and any other time we just wanted to enjoy their company. We have been very blessed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Shortly after we got home, we headed to Seattle to see a “Panel Doctor” so we could get our VISAs for New Zealand. There are only about a dozen “panel doctors” in the entire country and New Zealand requires that you see one to get your VISA. We had already done this four years ago before our first mission, since we thought we were going to New Zealand then. The visit went well, and we had a nice day traveling. When we got home, we filled out our VISA application, sent it off and waited. New Zealand is VERY strict on their VISAs so we were praying everything would be all right. Near the end of December, we received a request from the NZ VISA office requesting some additional clarification on some medical findings in our application. We contacted our doctor in Utah, and she immediately sent the required information. We went into waiting mode again. We were just a little more apprehensive. A week or two later, we got another request for more detailed information. Again, we contacted our Utah doctor. She added the additional information and sent it off again. Near the end of January, we got another email saying they were still waiting for our additional information! At that point we were beginning to panic. Our doctor reassured us that she did indeed send the information and said she would send it again. She copied us on that email with all the information, so we also sent it to the NZ VISA office. I asked to be notified that they did indeed receive the information. We heard nothing! At this point re recognized that there was a very real possibility that we would not get our VISAS and would be reassigned. We prayed about that and felt peace that it would all work out as it should, even if we were to be reassigned. We knew we would go where we are supposed to go, just as we were supposed to go to the SLC Headquarters mission the first time. On January 30^th, we received the email WITH our VISAs. We are going to New Zealand!!!

We spent much of the time between our missions studying and preparing for our next mission. We did take opportunities to visit family and friends, but we did not travel very far. We have very much enjoyed our time home but are feeling anxious to begin our new adventure.

On February 8^th, our family gathered together at Sean and MyLiege’s house so we could be set apart for our new mission. President Pederson came to take care of that blessing. He talked with our family before the setting apart and shared how originally all missionaries were set apart by the President of the Church. Of course, with a worldwide Church, that is impossible now. President Nelson gives a one-time authorization to the Stake President to pronounce the setting apart. The Stake President can also give a one-time authorization to one of his counselors if needed. So, President Pederson was acting under the authority of President Nelson and President Leptich, which he stated in the blessings. He shared other interesting things that I didn’t not know. Then it was time for our blessings. I wish we could have recorded them, but that is not appropriate. I wrote down as much as I could remember in my journal. He pronounced the blessings and counsel the Lord has for us. It was very personal and very sacred for both of us. We are going out to serve the people of New Zealand, armed with all we will need to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to do His work to build up the Kingdom of God. We are very excited.

Let the Adventure Begin!!!

All our Love and Prayers,
Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
Great Grandma and Great Grandpa
Steve and Leslee
Elder and Sister Wilcox

Final phase of packing.
We leave in 2 days!