WILD MAN OF MATAURI BAY

This has been a very positive week.  We had to ford a small stream to reach the home of an older sister who had moved into the Matauri Bay branch.  After spending an hour with her we were intrigued with a little old white wood frame Church of England and cemetery on the grounds surrounding it.  With nowhere to turn around we entered into the a long grassy drive leading to the last house (or hut) on the lane.  Just after getting through the gate we mired down and couldn't move forward or backwards.  Dogs began barking as Elder Olsen got out to push while Sister Olsen got behind the wheel.  Back and forth several times we went till we finally got the car onto the grass.  I was just getting back into the drivers side when the resident came swiftly towards the car hollering at us for digging up some of his grass.  This guy was scary.  He was 6' 6" and his hair was long curly dreadlocks sticking out from his head in all directions, like the wild man from Borneo.  He had a rough beard and weathered leathery looking skin (I wanted to but didn't dare take a picture of him). Sister Olsen strained to see if he was carrying a gun or a club.  "How would you like me doing wheelies on your lawn, he yelled?"  He carried on for a while, with us trying to apologize. He eventually settled down, saying, "It's a good thing I'm a nice man."  During this time his dogs were jumping against the car and leaving their paw marks which turned out to be minor compared to the globs of mud all over the hood and side of the car from me spinning the tires so much.  Our mission moto is to talk with everyone about the gospel but we failed with this man.

We took part of our p-day on Monday to teach a lesson to the Himiona children.  We have taught them 3 lessons this week and invited them to church today.  All six of the children, ages 4-13,  but neither of their parents came to the Branch Conference. We didn't know they were going to send all of the kids with us and we were a little worried because they can be a handful (including their big dog, Popeye) when we are teaching them. They were amazingly reverent.  They thought it was quite long, but they loved Primary and the potluck lunch (or feed) we had afterwards.  We were also surprised to see Brother Tua and his family out.  We have been visiting with them about 4 times in the past 2 months.  They are the grandparents who are raising 8 of their grandchildren, due to the deaths of 2 of their 3 daughters (car accident and cancer).

Himiona's little black pig which often ends up being in the house

several of the Himiona cousins

the branch luncheon

In the middle of the week we visited Brother Rouse and found his two children with him.  He is a member and we invited him to join with us again.  He would be alright if we taught his son and daughter, but we would have to deal with their mother who no longer lived with him.  He is the caretaker for a retreat in a wooded area.  In his extra time he does trapping for opossums, stouts, weasels, stray dogs, since these animals kill the endangered kiwi bird and their young.  He also loves to hunt wild pigs, and before we left he gave us a roast and a couple of chops to try.  We'll let you know later if they have a wild taste or not.

We kept seeing signs for a nature preserve right in our area so we took an hour the other day to see what was so special.  Early English settlers logged out and killed by gum bleeding 97% of the natural native Kauri tree forests in all of New Zealand.  These are girthy behemoths of rock hard wood.

Sister Olsen, the tree hugger

scaly bark on some of the Kauri trees

At a nearby inlet and marsh area we took the following pictures:

Low hanging tree and Whangaroa Bay harbor

Hillside cottage at the end of the bay

Sister Olsen's favorite bird, the Pukeko

Hopefully our patience has paid off.  Amelia has requested to be baptized on the 17th of August.  She is excited about inviting her family to her baptism, many of whom thought she would be one to get religion in her life.