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.