July 22-28, 2019

Our first full week in the mission field…

More setup time (Apartment stuff, Internet, kitchen, garden, car – Computer Spreadsheets, “Android” Phones!).

In our yard, we have a Green House, raised garden beds, a grapefruit tree, orange tree and lemon tree – We picked up some seeds and plan on testing what we’ve been told “plant anything, it grows like crazy.” So, we have tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, lettuce, onions, mint, chives & strawberries…

We were provided a car – A Toyota Corolla, with the steering wheel on the right side – we have to retrain on which side of the car we try to get in! Driving on the right side is very interesting – so far, no issues!

Our apartment is actually a house in Chartwell – We started exploring the area and have found several different grocery stores, a mall, a bread store, a dairy store – all within walking distance of our apartment. This gets us out walking!

We made our own Real Fruit Ice Cream this week – very tasty!

We got a call late Monday night from the Elders that live here in Chartwell, asking for a ride to District Council meeting Tuesday morning – so we decided to stay and sit in the District Council meeting – The District Leader was very well prepared (baked and brought cookies!) – he involved everyone in a part of the meeting (music, prayers, handbook training, flat training, etc.) – it was a very engaged district – very impressive!

The Chartwell Ward had a ward activity Saturday night. So after we visited some sisters and went to the mission office, and walked part of Hamilton Gardens, we went to a potluck “Hoedown” (Linda’s Potatoes – bacon, potatoes, onions & cheese [usually in a dutch-oven] – were a hit, one of the first dishes gone!).  This Hoedown included a professional line dance caller and a Mechanical Riding Bull! Yes, a full-sized mechanical bull that spins and bucks people off – the youth loved it and rode it over and over!

Hamilton Gardens –

  

We drove 2 hours and attended church in a small branch called Taumarunui. About 30 people in attendance.  Every fourth Sunday is Soup Sunday, so we stayed and mingled with the branch members over soup.  We drove back and stopped by Huka Falls (look how deep blue the water is!).

We’re grateful to be here to share our love of God and help others Come Unto Christ.  

July 13-20, 2019

We had our first 6 day week and lost an entire day by flying across the International Dateline!

We drove to Los Angeles where we spent 3 days with our daughter Kayla.  She chauffeured us to the LA Temple, the beach, shopping, a Single Adult Church Ward and Picnic & Shakespeare in Griffith Park in Hollywood Hills.  She’s a great guide and even attempted to get us to go to a game show “California Style”.   We left her our car to babysit, and flew to New Zealand.  13 Hours later we cleared customs and were greeted by 2 enthusiastic missionaries who asked us what was in all that luggage we brought!   I smiled and said, don’t ask!   True Despain style we came prepared.

The Taylors made one quick stop at 9am New Zealand time to initiate us to fruit ice cream!   Absolutely worth it!   We then had 30 minutes to “freshen up” and were shuttled to a zone conference with President Erekson and his wife who have been here for 2 weeks.  The missionaries led the discussion and taught great concepts, followed by President led discussion and challenges for the mission.   Such an inspirational way to start our service in Hamilton New Zealand.

We’re located now in Chartwell and attending the Chartwell ward.  We were taken to a grocery store and told the prices would shock us, but to just fill our carts up with everything we needed to start our apartment.   Thankfully, Elder Taylor had already done a good job cleaning and furnishing our flat.   We did pretty well shopping, even though we returned the following 3 consecutive days for miscellaneous forgotten items.

Day 2 in NZ we met with  Elder Brent Saunders, the Area Mission Advisor (AMA) and his wife, who oriented us into the Area medical needs and contacts.  They are our next line contact with questions and assistance.

Bridal Veil Falls, Waikato NZ

Day 3 we finally had time to settle in and try to sort through folders and unfinished medical business, while answering phone calls and immersing ourselves in missionary medical phone calls and concerns.  We walked the neighborhood and the mall and visited with youth who taught us their education system.  They’ve just finished 2 weeks break and return to school on Monday.  Their only “holiday” or summer vacation is 5 weeks at Christmas and into January.  Then they have 3 other 2 week breaks throughout the year. 

Our first Weekend we ventured to the stunning Bridal Veil Falls in Waikato which is strong and beautiful with all the rain and water during this season.  Pictures don’t accurately portray how gorgeous it is with thundering water crashing over the rocks to the bottom.  

We continued to Raglan and watched surfers in the cold ocean and enjoyed another fruit ice cream before returning home.   Again, a stunning coastline and awe at the scenery and grasslands in this area.  We feel blessed to be here. 

We spoke with bankers, waiters, clerks and our landlord and introduced ourselves as missionaries with our ever present and obvious name badges.  Then we found a clerk with her own badge labeled “Nauvoo”  she’s a Maori member of the church and that’s the name her parents gave her.   She’s asked about it often and gets to have her own missionary discussions. We met a woman who is the sister of a friend of my parents from 35 years ago when they lived here and are anxious to meet more of their past friends.  We attended church in a delightful congregation full of people who love the gospel of Jesus Christ.    We’re grateful to be here to share our love of God and help others Come Unto Christ.  

July 7-12, 2019

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." (Psalm 23) I love this scripture that is also set to music.   It reminds me to have less wants and less worries, that I still express periodically.

Our house closed!  We are officially homeless.   It's such a relief that our full focus can be on our mission service and the missionaries serving in NZ.   I'm grateful that we safely transferred our belongings to our daughters basement.  Oh that we could have used a smaller moving van!   However, a 20' van is a vast improvement from the full semi load that we arrived with in Colorado!  BIG thanks and blessings to the people who jumped in at the end to assist!

This week was full of medical training.  MANY talented and professional doctors shared their area of expertise and helped us understand what can and can't be dealt with in the mission field.  These individuals shared and led us through the struggle of adjusting, adapting, homesick, perfection driven, companion laden, schedule adapting, skill acquiring challenges of 18 year olds' whom they lovingly refer to as "6 years out of primary"!

My appreciation for the staffing and availability of support and professionals increased.  There are so many people supporting, loving, encouraging and cheering on this army.   I on the sideline am repeating endlessly, "Wash your hands, drink more water, eat some fiber"  AND "breathe, relax, stay calm, we love you", while additionally handing out bandaids, evaluations and necessary referrals.

TEMPLES:  We attended the Payson temple and the Provo City Center Temple.  Both beautiful edifices, but filled with the same beautiful spirit in any temple.  Both also bursting at the seams with people.  Full parking garage, waiting in the overflow area and a busy, happy environment.

Daily Miracles!   After mailing a key through USPS in a plain envelope, only the envelope arrived at the destination.   My plea at the Postal processing center was met with a blank look and expression of the amount of keys they had pop out of envelopes as they were scanned through a slot too small for the contents.  I had someone text me a picture of a duplicate key with the # inscription on the key and I invited the worker to look in the cage of lost items for the missing key.  In less than 5 minutes it was retrieved and I was able to resend it in a more secure and postal friendly package. 

We chose to drive to Los Angeles and spend a couple days with a daughter who will babysit our one remaining vehicle.  We fly to New Zealand on Monday night. We made some unexpected adjustments to our suitcase weight limit and are prepping for the temperature extreme adjustment from 95 degrees to 45, as it is Winter in NZ.

We're so grateful for the sweet family pictures we had taken before we left.   Lia Flynn did an amazing job in a short amount of time and took them at the Arvada Skate Park as our memorial to Nate who spent so much time there flipping his scooter.  We highly recommend her:  http://stillmemories.photography/?fbclid=IwAR3tNBvQHIqTCR9njLEIHgaEBTJ_okKZwWEK5Ka52rZjXIN4GhcTeksG4NA#/
We're going to miss these humans who are so integrated into our lives.   We love them!  Thanks for supporting us.

July 1-6

The pictures throughout the missionary training center are inspiring.   They are full of light and aim to lift our spirits as we reach to lift others. 
(Matthew 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven)

Our family were all asked to give us advice before we left.
These are some suggestions:

Brush your teeth everyday
Say your prayers everyday
Video/skype/facetime with us
Boom!
Talk and show interest and ask questions about others lives and show pictures of your family.
Don't worry about your kids, they'll be okay.
Don't have hard discussions/evaluations right before planning, and always have ice cream!
Be obedient.
Just do it!  Don't think too hard , just go forth
Write down and focus on happy thoughts.
Acknowledge blessings from missionary service.

We spent a week practicing "Preach my Gospel Training":  Invite, Help, Come, Receive.

 I had no idea that Preach my Gospel was directed to us so specifically.   We need to be taught how to invite others every time we do ministering.   It would make us go more regularly.   I'm so grateful for renewal of faith and love and service.  We were inviting people regularly everyday.   Sometimes another companionship we were paired with and sometimes a member volunteer and sometimes our instructors.   We also were challenged/invited.   As we continue to "invite" we commit to improve ourselves and match the invite we have extended.   Such beauty in this gospel.   

Reread "The Doctrine of Christ" With new understanding:   https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2016/10/the-doctrine-of-christ?lang=eng

Be like the stars and planets, steadfast and immovable.  Be consistently true to what you know. 
Turn outward in love, compassion and service. 
Avoid the cookie monster syndrome ....   "I want cookies NOW".   It's not about YOU!   We were blessed to watch a great MTC devotional from Elder Bednar and have Elder Kim Clark come teach, lift and inspire us this week.

There are beautiful, dedicated and inspiring people here.   We aim to emulate the Savior as he calls, "Come Follow Me".