Christmas at the "Bay of Islands"

Dad here working on the Blog. That was a very different Christmas. But we enjoyed being with each other. We really missed our children and grandchildren, family and friends but we kept busy and had a good time. We drove about 4 hours to the North to a town called Paihia. We went to church in their little branch on Sunday, went kayaking, driving, hiking, snorkeling, dinner cruise, bus tour and a catamaran day of sailing. It was 5 days & 4 nights of fun in the sun and rain.

We watched on TV "Missing Christmas with the Cranks". In a way it felt like that because we were not in Utah and not with the kids and others. We had no tree or decorations, and for presents we bought a hat pin for our caps... We called the vacation our Christmas. So we were kind of like the Cranks...

We did try to feel the spirit of Christmas. We had a great telephone call with Elder Joey. We had our own little FHE and tried to remember what Christmas was all about. Then we went out and played!

For anyone thinking of coming to New Zealand, just a word of caution. It's expensive. All of these activities are not cheap! Its very easy to spend close to $100 per person per event you do. But it was fun. I heard one lady say she was spending her children's inheritance. Funny.

We saw beautiful views, met very interesting people from all over the world and ate great food. (Mir now loves muscles in the shell). The bus tour was very long but going on 90 mile beach and sand surfing and the forest were all very cool.

People can tell we are American because of our accent. ( I reminded them that we were the only ones without an accent). They ask where we are from and when we say Utah they usually are somewhat curious about us and sometimes ask questions about the Church. It's been fun to answer questions and give out pass a long cards to those we were impressed to.

We are glad to be home! We are starving for communication with our loved ones. Please write or call. We love you all. Enjoy the pics. Sorry for the volume of pics. (We actually deleted 2/3rds of them-yeah for digital) Work your way through them. Hope you had the Merriest of Christmas's.

Mir was in the car, not the pigs...

I was able to go to Tonga with Bob on this trip. I really loved it. It surprised me how much different Tonga is from Samoa. I guess that I thought all the Polynesian islands were just alike. It was really fun for us. We went to the main island of Tongatapu. This island is about as flat as a pancake. But there are 169 islands in Tonga and they are not all flat. Nuku' alofa is the capital. That is where the Mission home is and the some of the King's palaces. The Temple and church campus are south west in another area. Within the week we drove on about every road on the island. We found the beautiful white beaches, The Chief's Whistle (Mapu 'a Vaea) or the blow holes, a fairly good snorkeling beach(saw and eel first thing), the huge flying fox (gigantic bats), an ancient Stone Hedge type thing, Old Tonga and so many really truly sweet villages. Their motto is the friendly islands and they are very friendly. I just love to say hello to everyone and people smile and say hello back. The last walk I went on I came back with 6 children. The first boy (Melchizedeke) had an older boy ride him up to me and drop him off. He said he was chasing me and I was walking too fast. He asked if he could walk and talk with me. We had such a nice time. His friends joined us at the end. I found some food to give to them and a Children's Friend. His mom has died many years ago as many children's parents die young. Most women had families of 11 plus children. I think they just wear themselves out. They work so hard.

We were staying in the same home that they put Elder Nelson in at the re dedication of the Temple just a few weeks ago. They call it the Palace. In the front room there are 5 full size couches alone. We were very comfortable. Quite a contrast to the very humble homes that most everyone lives in. Just across from the Temple their are homes that have no indoor plumbing and have no electricity. I enjoyed attending the temple while Bob was working. Most everything was done in Tongan, unlike Samoa. I did 7 sessions in the 3 days. I enjoyed the sweet workers. I met a newly returned missionary there. We talked for over an hour. His mission will literally change the course of his life. He now speaks very good English and has many opportunities that he didn't have before. He had never left Tonga before his mission. He believes that many of the blessings that are upon the Kingdom now are here because the Temple is now working and has been rededicated. All the unrest in the Kingdom happened when the temple was not being used and under construction. He told me many wonderful stories. He lost both of his parents when he was quite young and has 10 brothers and sisters.

One morning I drove to the other side alone. I was on a small dirt road near the ocean, the bush was growing up close to the road. I always remember that people insist I not go alone so often. I passed a man on the side of the road that was just really watching me for a long time. He had a big rope. It kind of spooked me. As I was leaving I was probably driving faster than I should of. A large pig came out of the bush followed by her 5-6 very small piggies. I hit some of the last ones. As I put on the brakes my camera fell to the floor where I spotted the shells I had just gathered and they were walking around. That was a bit unnerving also. I went to the larger road and stopped, escorting the shells out of the car. I turned the car around to go check on the pigs. I couldn't find them but found a large wild horse that I think the man must have been after. (They eat horses) I am very sorry about the little pigs.

The part that was the hardest must have been the food. I had trouble with it. At a buffet I ate something that really gave me a bad time. I thought I might be allergic to it by the feeling in my throat and mouth but after 15 min it passed. The raw fish was actually the best thing on my plate. We did find some good food at the expensive restaurant that we ate at with the King's brother and guards. Some men brought a pig in and the restaurant did everything to get it ready and then brought it out on a plate with all the garnishing. They eat the WHOLE thing. The Best part of the week were the dear missionaries and employees that we met there. They surely give up a lot and absolutely love it so much even though it is quite hard. A sister told me about one of her days. In the shower she had a poisonous centipede on her brow and she knocked in down on her foot. Then at the employment center that she serves in, she had a large hairy gecko fall off of the door jam, right in front of her. In the afternoon she was pulling wash in and just about stepped on a rat. She was really shook up after that day. They told us some amazing success stories about the programs that are in place down there to help the people. It makes us want to give much more to help out these sweet humble people.

The Kingdom of Tonga

Tonga!! DONT FORGET TO GO TO PICTURES!!!
This is Bobs experience on Tonga. We had a great time. First a little about the job. The Church has what is called a Service Center. In Tonga the Church has a campus where there is a Church school (Liahona High), Mission Presidents home, senior missionaries houses, other buildings and shops for CES, Physical Facilities, Translation, Materiels Management, etc. All the temporal facility and departments for the Church in Tonga. Many of the managers have never had any training along the lines of recruiting, performance management, discipline, etc. So I put together 2 days worth of seminars to teach some basic principles and skills. For some it is a review and for others it is new stuff that they really need. We arrived on Monday and had the seminar on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday I met with managers and dealt with seperate HR issues. Thursday afternoon was the Christmas party for the Center. Friday morning I wrapped up with a HR file audit. Finally, Miriam and I played Friday afternoon and Saturday. We enjoyed Sunday and flew home on Monday. The senior missionaries took us under their wing and included us in all of their activities. We went out to eat with them, had a nice fireside with them, even went snorkeling with them. Yes, senior missionaries can snorkle in Tonga. We met a family of wood carvers. He has 12 children, four of them boys. He has taught all the boys how to carve and all of his son-in-laws how to carve. They all do very cool carvings. Some pictures are on the Tonga album for you to see. Tonga is still a Kingdom with a King. Church members number somewhere between 35-45% of the population. Like Samoa, they place chapels in every village. The chapels are very nice. We had a great time. Miriam was on her own while I worked but she managed to have great experiences. She will add her own Tonga story. The Church has a 99 year lease on all the property they have chapels on. The story goes that just recently the King liked some of the buildings and told the Church he wanted them. The Church initially said no because they were chapels but the King insisted. The Church conceded. Then he did it again and wanted another building. He insisted because he was the King and it was his property. The Church mowed down the chapel and turned over the land to the King. That made the King mad. Then some of the Kings family died in an accident in the USA. The funeral was a huge deal where all the local churches try to do something special. The LDS Church provided all the beef for the events (they last about a week). Then the church did a big presentation where thousands of members sang. The King was so moved that he signed the lease agreement for another 99 years. This just happened a couple of years ago. About a year ago their was a revolution of sorts down here where there were a bunch of riots and 85% of the businesses were burned. Its all settled down now and new businesses are moving in. The King is in power and when he dies his brother will be King.

BULA! BULA! AND VINAKA!

Wow! what a week. I got to Fiji just fine. The challenge is getting out of Fiji. Especially if there is a Cyclone or Hurricane. Which is exactly what happened.
Ok first night in Suva Fiji. I go out at night to get some munchies and before I get back home I have 3 hookers attempt to get some business from me. That made me a bit nervous. They called me sweetie and honey.

I had a great week training. Time to go home. I am informed I need to stay an extra night due to the cyclone. The next day, a 30 minute taxi drive to the Suva airport and then the problems began. The plane never came to pick us up so they stuffed us all in hot taxis and drove us for 3.5 hours to the Nadi airport. Okay, back in line in Nadi, after an hour or so they tell us the flights are full, so they put us up in a nice hotel for the night. I get a call at 3am telling me I am on the morning flight. I get to the airport in the morning to learn I am only on standby. After a crucial conversation I get a ticket to Christchurch (South Island of New Zealand). When I get to Christchurch I wait forever to get through customs and finally make my way to a ticket stand and get a ticket to Auckland. So in summary I had 3 cancellations in 2 days, but I finally got home. I bargained at a flea market and bought some really cool cannibal forks and a wooden mask. I was able to drive to the Temple and walk around it. It was a great trip. Next week is Tonga, and Miriam gets to come along. Thanks to all that took care of Miriam via the internet and phone.

Waterfalls, Fire Dancers and BUGS!

It is my turn now. Please notice that we put up a new album of pictures from Samoa in the N.Z. pictures. I think the best thing about Samoa are the wonderful, humble, generous and kind people. I loved them. Of course we met the expats, missionaries and employees. I wanted to meet some of the local people. Four of the days I was by myself so I took off walking and met some neat people. One woman asked me where I was going and we had a great conversation on the side of the road. Agnes invited me to come to her Fale and she would pick me some Mango's. We had a nice time together. She picked them with the longest wooden pole I have ever seen. Three sections held together with rubber strap & a bucket on the other end she would shove up and the mangoes fell into it. I loved the people in the temple where I did 4 ordinances that week. I loved the temple. WOW. It was so beautiful. Total strangers would come up to me and give me a hug (and sometimes a kiss) and tell me that they love me. Their attitude toward their temple is best put by what one brother told me. "We could hardly believe that our Heavenly Father could love us this much." The children and even teenagers were delightful. It was so fun to drive around in the evening and see everyone out playing in their front yards with each other. Lots of people playing in rivers, oceans, and big puddles after the huge rainstorms. We stood in back of a huge group of people at the stake center where they were holding a youth conference. We were the only palongies (white folk). The teenagers were even so welcoming and kind. People on the street would smile and greet you (even teens and youth). Family is everything here. Even church in may circumstances. We went to the CES graduation. It was for the high school that the church runs. 95 graduates with probably a huge pavilion full of people there supporting them. The kids broke out into there choreographed songs and dance at the conclusion. It was wonderful. Before I leave the people I need to always remember Albert Niuelua (the service center manager) and his fun wife Judith. They didn't need to host us but they absolutely were incredible hosts. Taking us all over and sharing their lives with us.

The thing I didn't care for was the bugs in the house. Bugs are okay outside. That is were they belong. But gecko, huge (did I say huge!) spiders, endless ants and very big cockroaches are not my idea of a indoor living environment. But I survived thanks to Bob's help in this area. We enjoyed the many beautiful fish we saw while snorkeling. Loved all the piggies everywhere. We stopped and feed the very large turtles. If you go you must do that. It is just by the side of the road and they are everywhere. Now they do have a dog problem. I stopped walking in the community because of it. I don't like to be surprised by a dog especially if they are in a pack of 6 or so. We saw several dogs actually get run over by cars. The next day we would see a new barbeque stand go up in that same spot.

Okay, you all know that I love waterfalls. There is a great one which people swim under in Sauniatu. We swam and slide down a smaller one called Pauasaea Sliding Rocks. (300 steps down to that one) The largest and coolest one is called Papapapatai Waterfall. It is 300 feet high. I bet there is a great trail to it but we didn't have time to look. You can see it from the Cross Island Road. As you continue on that road you find some really exclusive resorts. The beaches are white and such gorgeous sand. We ate at one of their buffets and saw the fire dancers there. We really loved that. I must say that I should have been more careful with the food. An expat that took us around claimed some things were safe that were not for my system. I did have to take the medicine that we brought with us for those problems. It worked very well.

When it rains it really floods things out. The last day as we were going to the airport it almost did not stop. They said it would last for a few days. I am sure that is one reason all the fales are up on stilts (also to keep out unwanted animals somewhat). We left for the airport at 10:30 pm. Our plane was to leave at 2 am. It did not leave until 4 am. We arrived in Auckland at 8 am. We hadn't slept hardly at all. It was 30 hours before we got some sleep. What a wonderful adventure.

Same Time, Different Day??

This blog will cover about a week of activities on the beautiful island of Samoa. I will do some and turn the controls over to Mir for her contribution. We had never driven to the airport and driving on the left side of the road is still a little weird. (In Samoa we were back driving like Utahan's). Well as we approached Auckland we ended up taking an exit that we did not want. That's a big no-no in New Zealand, because you don't just cross the street and get back on. We were really stressed because we didn't want to miss our plane. It was 5-am and we offered a prayer for help. As we were parked looking at a map a sweet lady out exercising walked right toward us. We asked her if she could help us and she gave us the directions to get back on the motorway. We made it and were grateful for the angel lady that got us back on the motorway.

We had the opportunity to drive around part of the island. It was amazing to drive through small villages, seeing small homes and fale's (places where family's meet together). Then all of a sudden you come across an LDS chapel. Because many of the people don't drive they build chapels in every village so people can get to them. In some places the saints were meeting in a wood and thatch fale and then the church would come in and build a beautiful building for them.

We visited Sauniatu. It is a village up in the mountains that is the crater of a volcano. The saints were sent there in the early 1900's to gather and avoid some persecution they were having. David O. McKay visited the place twice, once as an apostle and once as President of The Church. Many miracles took place here including President McKay raising a child from the dead. There were also many trials. At one point disease came through the whole island, including Sauniatu and every one got sick but two individuals one of which was a 12 year old boy. He ended up having to bury the dead including members of his own family. The Church currently has a school there and they also take 20 boys each year, they live there, work and prepare to serve missions. There is a grave yard there of all the early saints and missionaries also. It is a very cool place.

We went to church on Sunday to the English speaking ward. There were 25 of us in High Priests and 20 of them were wearing dresses (lava lava). I own one now. Yes I wear a dress around the house. Very comfortable.

One of our adventures included going on a tour of the Robert Louis Stevenson home. He lived his last 4 years in Samoa. He thought it was a good place for his disease TB, but it actually was bad for it because of the humidity. But in that 4 years he became loved by the people. He built a huge home and eventually he and most of his staff died of TB because it was infectious. When he died the people of Samoa cut a trail in the forest up to the top of a mountain and passed his coffin from person to person all the way to the top of the mountain where he was buried.

Miriam and I hiked up to the top to see his grave site. It was a tropical forest hike with a lizard every 5 feet (honest). It took about one hour to get up to the top. When we were almost to the top Miriam slipped on a narrow part of the trail and fell off of the trail down the mountain. Luckily she got tangled up in some vines and that is what stopped her from going too far. Scary but funny. She got a little bruised but mostly her pride was hurt.

Its a beautiful island. I conducted training for two days in the Service Center and it seemed to go well. Employees attended from American Samoa and CES. They look forward to any training they can get.

Muriwai Beach and a haircut

Saturday and great weather sent us to the west coast. The sea on that side of New Zealand is called the Tasman Sea. All the sand is black. Very soft and very cool. We went with the Duvalls, who are senior missionaries in the Aukland Mission. When you go to the web album you will see alot of birds. They are called Gannets. This is a Gannet colony. They are all nesting on this big rock and cliff. They lay one egg. If you look closely you will see some baby birds underneath their mummy. The birds learn to fly then take off to Australia. Eventually they return to the same nest they were hatched in to lay their own egg.

The ocean is very cool here. Lots of people fishing and having a great time. There was a group of guys waiting for huge waves to come in and they would jump into them. Check out the movie clip. It looked like a blast. There were a lot of surfers catching the waves. The drive out to the coast was very nice. Lots of vineyards and sheep. So we learned about birds, saw some very cool coastline, and had a nice time.

Well it was time for my first New Zealand haircut. You all know how I procrastinate getting the haircut. Most places are about $20. Well, Miriam and I saw a place down a little alley with a sign that said. "Tattoos, body piercing, and haircuts" and the haircut was only $10!. So we decided to give it a try. After work on Monday I went to the little shop in my suit and white shirt. I said, can I get a hair cut? They said sure and a nice Maori girl showed me to a chair. They asked me where I was from and I told them Utah. Then the owner came over and asked...Are you an Elder? I said no but I work for the Church. Do you know the missionaries? Yes! she said, we cut their hair! I told them my wife told me to come and get a haircut and make sure I don't come home with a tattoo or any body piercing. They thought that was funny. The Maoris have very coarse hair and while she was cutting my hair she started to pet it and say your hair is sooooo soft!

They were very nice people and they did a great job. On the way out I ran into another expat and he asked me where I had been. I told him the tattoo shop getting a hair cut. He was shocked but now he is going next week!

Long Bay, New Zealand

It has been an eventful week. It was full time missionary transfer week and now that Miriam works in the mission office she was very busy. New Elders coming in and missionaries moving around. Miriam attended the transfer meeting and helped out in general. At the same time the Church was running a "Joy to the World" campaign on TV, so the office got almost 200 requests for a DVD just in the first day alone. That was exciting but it made for a busy but fun week for Miriam.
Miriam and I went and visited the little old lady that she met in the grocery store. Her name is Dorace. We went at night because her home is on the bay and she wanted us to see the beautiful view from her windows. I took a night picture with my cool camera that our kids gave us, so you can all enjoy it also. Dorace also has two borders at her home. Two young ladies, one from Taiwan and one from Korea. Well they weren't so young, one was 26 and the other was 39. It was fun to meet them and visit with them.
Saturday we drove up the coast a bit to a place called Long Bay. Its a huge park with lots of beach. It was a sunny day so a lot of people were out doing their beach thing. We saw some dolphins out in the ocean (we could see them jump). We took a trail that took us up to the top of some cliffs overlooking the ocean. There were two men up there para-sailing. They landed up where we were. We had a nice visit with them and they explained their sport to us a bit. So when you see a para-sailor in the pictures it is NOT me. But it sure looked peaceful and relaxing, and exciting.
We had a nice day walking the beach and enjoying being together. Sunday was a very nice day. We were invited to some other ex-pats home for a nice dinner. They work for the CES department. With a lot of schools in the islands they do a lot of work on the islands with teachers, seminary, institute etc. Enjoy the pics, we enjoyed being there.

Another Weekend Excursion..another museum

Ok one last attempt. We went to another museum. I know that's not like me but new stuff is good. We went with the Mackeys who are missionaries in the mission office. Enjoy the pics... Oh someone called Miriam a smiley face today! (surprise, surprise)

A Common Question, "What does Miriam do while Bob is at work?"

Okay, I will confess that I have loved the last 2 & 1/2 weeks where I didn't have any obligations except the ones that I put on myself. ie: P. S. E. J. St. R. S. C--Close family know what they are. I have loved keeping up with family & friends on the computer, my 2 hour walks, reading at the library, wondering on the beach and even wandering the store streets. I do get up with Bob at 6 am and accomplish those things. But I have felt like I have a bit more to offer than that so I will tell you what took my time this last week. Monday I walked into the Auckland Mission Office and asked if I could help out . These people could not have been anymore excited. They all indicated that the woman who was their receptionist and help, left 2 weeks ago. They just knew that if they were patient and had faith the Lord would provide. Pres. Cook said he prayed me there. I will be called as a Church Service Missionary. I am a bit nervous about it but I will try to relax. I didn't sleep very well that night but when I went in the next morning it was Grand. (As Joey would say..oh, by the way, you need to look at his blog this week, he had a great letter.) That afternoon I was able to go on a split with the full time senior sister missionaries. Wow, that was awesome. I wish I could do that everyday. But I am pretty sure they will try to use me once a week. I worked with a Sister Jackson from Syracuse Utah. Her youngest son is on a mission in Mexico and her husband has passed away. She is so awesome and we had a terrific appointment with an investigator.

On Wednesday a few ladies from the ward drove me down to the Hamilton Temple. It was Stake temple week. People take days off of work and even find places to stay down there to do it. We drove 2 & 1/2 hours to get there. Served all day and then drove home. Elder Nelson and his wife were in the last session with us. We shook his hand a few times that day and had a little chat. It was so sweet. It was such a beautiful drive and I enjoyed getting to know these good ladies and NZ from real NewZealanders. Although the one is from South Africa and the other from the UK. It is fun, the aussies, kiwis, english, south africans, etc. They all can tell where the other ones are from because of their speech. There is a cute, fun bantering back and forth between them. ("Kiwis are this..", "Aussies are that..") It is all in good fun. (Our Sunday School teacher counted 17 different nationalities in our class)

Thursday I walked to visit a 80 year old woman that I met in the grocery store 3 weeks ago. I ended up staying the day with her learning and enjoying her life with her. What a truly wonderful woman she is. She has never married and lives in the same house she was born in just 50 min south of me. (by foot, I haven't needed to drive yet, I still need the exercise.) I was sent home with fresh things from her garden. I hope to visit Dorace often. It was such a lovely day. I will get some pictures of her on the blog in the future. Friday I worked 5 plus hours at the mission office. I answered phones. Spend 1.5 doing the mail and several hours filing. Visited with quite a few Elders and had a really nice day there. So there you have it. It was a wonderful week and one I would love to do time and time again. I will go into the mission office three to 5 days a week, just depending on their needs. A bit more than my last calling as a Church Service Missionary for the YW in SLC.