Nov 26, 2019 Hamilton Gardens and COME AND SEE

Did you know there are people who NEVER use medicine?   1/3 of our missionaries come from surrounding Islands!
We have so many islander missionaries.   I've been asked to treat them with pressure point massage for headaches, tree leaves for boils, and all kinds of other foreign practices.   But using medication is just as foreign to them.   I have an Elder with a pretty bad infection.   He just can't grasp taking the pill every 8 hours.   If he forgets, then he thinks, I'll just wait and take the next scheduled one.   It will be a miracle to get this infection out of him!

Linda is pretty tired this week.   Being on call 24/7 and never getting it out of my head is a new challenge.  I think I need to trade someone and be on call 1/2 time.   We are short nurses in the mission field, and I see it is more demanding than I anticipated. 

We love these islander missionaries.  They have a love of simple pleasures of life.   Fishing, climbing trees to get coconut and pineapples and fruit, and walking everywhere are their normal daily activities.   One sweet sister here is learning to ride a bike for the first time.  She has so many knee scrapes from tumbling.   She said they had bikes on her island, but she was always scared to use one and now she's a missionary and has to learn!   I love her!   Our daily challenges are all so different.

We visited Hamilton Gardens again on Pday.   It's a beautiful garden full of treasures and changing flora.  75% of the flora on this Island are only found in NZ.   Everyday is a new surprise.  There are trees budding out covered in red that they call Christmas trees, because they bloom this time of year.   How did they know?   They are so profound, I'll never appreciate the poinsettia quite as much now.

I made Elder Despain stand by this Straw man in the "Kitchen garden" which was full of veggies and herbs.   He made me stand by this cute doorway that really is pretty cool.  If you come visit, I'll take you there!







There are so many cute things in this garden in addition to beautiful flora.  Doorways and hidden gems everywhere.   These are some of the ones we found and loved.:

We love the work of the Lord.  We love the inspiring stories from early missionaries here and current missionaries who are striving and struggling to serve him.   That is our desire.  We yearn to be more like him, live as he lived and invite others to Come and See, Come and Help, Come and Stay.

Love this address by Elder Bednar:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBzKAFF4Sdc

Nov 20 2019 Life is full of extremes!

Last Pday Elder Despain finally got to explore a few fishing holes.   I can see more in our future.  NZ is full of good fishing and he is going to keep talking and enjoying the finding.

Medical:   About once a transfer there's a major event/surgery.  This time an overnight stay.  We were on the same floor with the same nurses we had with Elder Rojas.  They asked about him.  He's progressing.  Such a great example to the Hamilton Mission!

Things are good.  Missionaries work a lot, there are going to be more injuries when they're out working, biking, driving, and Plenty of "Sport" on Mondays.
Thank goodness for Ibuprofen and Ice cream!

We really enjoy the wards we attend.  The people here are a lot of fun.  They take good care of each other and are a good example of service and ministering.  There are so many people on the membership rolls who can't attend.

Lemons are still in abundance everywhere and I must say we LOVE the fresh squeezed lemonade and homemade lemon bread. 

This week was full of extremes.
Helping missionaries gain weight/helping missionaries lose weight.
Cleaning and spraying flats for bugs and mold/ rewarding missionaries with Clean Flats!
Giving missionaries rides/ walking to get groceries and supplies.
Coordinating with doctors and sending missionaries to the pharmacist... I have a new love for pharmacists.   When missionaries need suggestions ... I send them there.   One pharmacist called me personally and made a valuable recommendation.

While we are enjoying our work and the people and surroundings here, we miss our friends and family more than expected.   Before we collapse in bed at night usually exhausted, we pour our hearts out in thanks for our children and their families and our parents and extended family.   We are blessed and more grateful each day for your influence and example.  We pray for you and ask protection and strength for individual trials.   We love you and feel we are carried by the Saviors atoning love daily.

November 10, 2019 Niks Pics .... Taranaki

2019 Nov 4 - Nov 10

Here are some Pictures Linda mentioned last week…

Sometimes we hike through farms!

Lots of foliage

Notice the Warning signs!

Stairs!

Remote Waterfalls - We were the only ones there!

More Stairs!

Even MORE Stairs!

More Farmland...

Small Tunnels everywhere...

Mt Taranaki - 2518 M (8261 ft)

Some Tunnels are just plants!

Mt Taranaki Visitor Center (It snows here!)

Goblin Forrest Trail!

Suspension bridges!

Waterfalls!

Us and Waterfalls!

More Waterfalls!

Looks Cold!

If there is a tree in the way - go both ways!

One fun thing we get to do while here in New Zealand is to learn the local traditions and customs…

So, back in 1605, a person named Guy Fawkes (and 11 others) tried to blow up the British Parliament (Also known as the Gunpowder Plot) – Well, they failed and bonfires were lit that night to celebrate the safety of the King.  Since then, the night has become known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks – fireworks can only be bought during a few days prior to the day, but they can be set off whenever (so we have been hearing fire works for the last week!).

Guy Fawkes Night in Auckland

Last week included a few trips up the South Auckland and our favorite stop on the way back – Pokeno’s!  There is a short little street with several “Take-Aways” (These are the local form of a Deli/Fast Food – Although most McDonalds [Maccas] are open 24/7 with constant lines of people!) – Also, there is Pokeno’s Bacon – We found really good seasoned sausages and Brats! So, we picked up some more while there…

Great Brats!

We have been visiting a very small ward called Pukete, here in Hamilton.  While it is one of the smallest wards around, it has some really inspirational speakers and teachers!  A couple of notes I have made from this ward are:

“I have a really simple Testimony – “I know the Church is True, and I am Happy!””

“I wasn’t coming to Church because I was looking around and wondering what others were thinking – Then I realized, instead of looking around, I should be looking Up!”

It is wonderful to see these members express sincere belief and testimonies!

We love what we are doing and are glad to be here!

_________________________________________________________________________ 

Nothing like a Sunday Afternoon burst of nearly horizontal rain!

 

High Winds and Rain - Outside our Kitchen

Heavy Rain!

2019 Oct 28 - Nov 3 Keep Turning Up!

Another Full week of changes.  We entered a mission with a brand new mission president, new office couples and transitioning requests from the area.  All of us are gradually adjusting and adapting, with regular "tweaks" each cycle.  Just as we think we're getting into a pattern, we get a few mid month incoming missionaries and a few mid cycle departing missionaries.  And then President Erekson decides to change things up and not have our regular zone conferences, but to try a new holiday routine.  We can see we're in for a constant movement.  We do enjoy their association and are both grateful when we can sneak away for a quick dinner or hike.

Seeing missionaries leave before the completion of their mission is heart wrenching and has given us new insight.  What great young adults these missionaries are.  They strive to live in an entirely new set of boundaries without many of their familiar gadgets, none of their familiar friends or family and a desire to learn, preach, teach and invite others.  They reach out of their comfort zones to talk to people of all economic and social classes, and many different cultures.  This is a full immersion study that sends many of them into contemplation and reflection of life's questions only answered by pondering and studying the word of God.

The optimist in me wants to believe that we were front loaded with many of the hardest situations.  The realist says, we live in hard times and have to continue to lift others the rest of our lives.  We're so grateful to have Elder Rojas and his mom home safely.  Our goodbyes were temporary and full of hope.  They are amazing people full of faith.

There other missionaries who leave that are great individuals as well, and whom we pray for and look forward to their progress and learning.

We had plenty more doctor visits and challenges with Islander comfort with medical treatment.  Deep infections are treated with IV antibiotics and some of them would rather use their own tree leaves to treat it.  We honor their traditions and have even attempted pressure point massage that pushes away pain at the request of some.  However we're grateful for a good network of healthcare here that treats our missionaries and works with us.  We've seen more scabies, rashes, bug bites, and boils than we could have imagined.  

This week we delivered prescriptions while travelling to Taranaki and then hiked to a few more waterfalls.   Elder Despain is the expert photographer and captures the New Zealand country pretty well.  Mount Taranaki is a dormant volcano on the southwest side of the North Island.  We caught it on a beautiful day without cloud cover.  

The past few weeks at church have been full of Primary Presentations.  The children are adorable to watch.  Most of the NZ wards have choral type outfits with matching ties and bows.  We love seeing their smiles and energy.  I'd love to post so many of their pictures.  You'll have to imagine the adorable looks with many of the Samoans and Tongans wearing their lava-lava skirts and beautiful hair.  

This weeks church meeting was full of inspiration and heartache of loss of family, and full faith.  Many acronyms were suggested for staying diligent in our learning such as CPR ....  church, pray, read.   The bishop ended the meeting suggesting we only needed one acronym ...KTU, keep turning up.

Sometimes it seems like a long time we have left on our mission away from our sweet family and grand kids.  We miss them so much.   This great advice .... "Keep turning up" is what we intend to do.

Linda's reflects and considers far more than we are capable of doing in one day.  Time constraints limit us, but we push forward answering phone calls, delivery shoe insoles for tired feet, giving hope and good advice and often just a voice on the other end of the phone when they want you to know how sick and miserable they feel in the middle of the night.  She'll say, "Take some pain relief medication, drink some ginger ale, and go back to bed."  We love the Lord and are grateful to be serving in New Zealand.