AND GREAT SHALL BE THEIR JOY

Yesterday was a wonderful day for us and especially two of our investigators; Amelia Rogers, who we have been teaching for over three months, and Denise Peacock, the English lady who we've worked with just four weeks were baptized at the Waihau Branch in Okaihau on Saturday.  Sister Olsen had made up a program for the service during the week and had assigned all the participants so everything went smoothly at the baptism. Everyone brought a plate of refreshments, so there was a very nice luncheon afterwards.  Each of these sisters has a humorous side so that when they get with the other sisters in the branch there is lots of laughter.  We invited Amelia's father-in-law to confirm her and her mother-in-law to speak.

Amelia with her in-laws, sister, daughter, and granddaughter

Sister Olsen, Amelia, Denise, and Elder Olsen

Today in sacrament meeting both were confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Sister Olsen and I were also the main speakers in sacrament meeting.  Amelia's family were here to support and be with her so Saturday evening we invited Denise out for dinner to celebrate the occasion.  We finally got to eat some New Zealand lamb, as we ordered a rack of lamb.  It was tasty but a little under done for our liking.  Denise is frequently inviting us to come to dinner so we took her up on it last week and she served us salmon steak, broiled with a light herbal seasoning and it was just delicious.  It was fresh salmon and had no hint of fishy taste as we sometimes get at home. Two weeks ago Denise called us very worried about a positive breast exam and that the doctors wanted her to report to the hospital in Whangarei for further tests.  Brother Van Den Berg and Elder Olsen gave her a blessing the night before and Elder and Sister Olsen got permission from the mission president to leave the zone area to take her to the hospital and accompany her when receiving the news of what the doctors might find.  We were all relieved a couple hours after the final tests when the doctors told her they could find nothing.  Again we feel the Lord had a hand in the outcome.

The last month for Amelia was very busy as she was planning and hosting what is called the "unveiling" which takes place on the one year anniversary following the death of her husband.  This is a Mauri tradition that is not uncommon in other societies.  The surviving spouse walks with her mate emotionally and spiritually till the year is up and then they are free to go forward with life.  So with some concerted teaching, fasting and prayer she finally felt she could move forward and be baptized.  Denise's divorce was final on the day she was tracted out by Elder Olsen  when we were doing splits.  So both Amelia and Denise are, in a sense, starting a new life, blessed with the gospel.

The skies are another testament of God's handiwork

We've mentioned earlier that in August and now it looks to be September that we may be transferred to Hamilton to do some special work with the development of the property made available after the closing of the church college. Don White (wife-Rosemary), friends we've known since junior high and college, who works for the church in Hamilton has been instrumental in developing plans for that area.  They have been going to all the stakes in New Zealand and presenting the development plans.  They were here last Saturday night and shared those plans with our area. The Church has prepared development plans for all the property with features that will maintain and enhance the area around the temple. Part of the Church's plans include a 40 acre wooded area that a good brother over the past several decades has planted thousands of trees around a couple of small lakes.  The plans are to proceed immediately to develop a youth camp like the one above Heber City for youth groups, and families to use.  New Zealand presently has no such place set aside for the church youth programs.  Because of Elder Olsen's background in Landscape Architecture they have asked Sister Olsen and me to move to Hamilton and prepare to work with volunteer groups one or two days a week now and up to 50% of our time when the schools are out in Dec-Feb to plant an additional 8,000 trees they have on hand.  This is so they can be growing while it will take a couple years for the structures and roads to be built.  The good thing is that we will be able to continue proselyting but it will be in a more built up area and I am sure we'll be assigned to a ward or stake. Another plus is that we won't spend nearly as much money on gas, but best of all, we will be close to the temple.  We will truly miss this area, however, and the awesome people we have met here in both the Waihou and Matauri Bay branches.  Last week we attended the smallest church meeting we've had; only 9 people were present in Matauri Bay, and that included a high councilman who spoke and us.  (If a couple of bigger families are not there due to illness or out of town, it makes a huge difference). But despite the small numbers, the spirit was there!

Proposed camp area where we'll be working with youth groups to plant thousands of trees.

The English Lady

It was such an exciting and rewarding Sabbath Day. Sister Peacock, the English lady, came to church with us and loved it.  More about her a little later.  Tina Crouch, the young mom of 5 young children who moved into our branch a couple of months ago also came for the first time, along with her family from another branch to bless her new baby.  Her husband, who is inactive, was not there; so she asked Elder Olsen on the spur of the moment to bless little Kerri. We had been out to visit her 2 or 3 times and taken some scripture dvd's for her children (they don't have the internet). She lives a long way from the church and with 5 little kids to bring by herself, it is not going to be easy, but she said she is going to keep coming.  Also, Sister Sadler and her son, Caleb (9) came; we had just met them a couple of days earlier.  The grandma, who lives in the stake, had asked us to look up her inactive daughter who has lived in our branch for 3 years and see if she would be willing to let us teach and baptize her grandson.  When she opened the door and we introduced ourselves, she had that look that said "Oh no, we have been found."  But right away, she asked what her son needed to do to get baptized.  We said that he needed to come to church and be taught.  She replied, "We'll be there on Sunday; it's time we started going to church again."  She was good on her word.  The same day we visited her we ran into Sister Tua, at the store, and she asked us to start teaching her 10 year old grandson.  She and her husband are the couple whose daughter died a few months ago following childbirth, so they are raising her children (from baby to 15 year old) plus 2 or 3 of another daughter who isn't a responsible mother, for a total of 7. The Tua family moved to the Matauri Bay Branch a few years ago and have been inactive since, but Sister Tua started coming out a few months ago, I think feeling the weight of raising these grandchildren.  We started visiting her husband about every week and encouraging him to come back.  The last time we went, I think he said something like, "Oh no, not you two again; I can't say that I'm glad to see you.  But then he laughed and he came to church with his wife and most of the grandkids last week and seemed happy to be there (We could tell by his singing.)  We are teaching a lot of kids (ages 9-13) right now who have not previously been taught and baptized.  The 6 Himiona children that we talked about last week that came to church are on hold for 2 weeks.  We went there Wednesday evening to teach a lesson and the mom came out and said that one of them had contracted scabies at school and they are all under quarantine for 2 weeks.  (Scabies is caused by a little mite that gets under your skin and causes the worse itching possible and you have to undergo treatment to get rid of the little pests.)

Elder Olsen and the English lady

Back to Denise Peacock:  She is the lady that Elder Olsen and a young man tracted out a couple of weeks ago.  They hit it off right away, because of the English connection (Don's first mission)  and we are about the same age.  Don took me back to her home a couple of days later and introduced us and we asked if we could teach her the gospel.  She agreed and the spirit was truly there as we taught her the restoration, plus we became fast friends.  Sunday we had dinner at her home and showed her the video on the restoration.  When we left that evening things were a "10"; she was golden.  The next morning at 8:30 a.m. she called and asked us to come pick up the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets we had left and didn't really want to expand on things on the phone but agreed to let us come be at our appointed time for a few minutes.  The next afternoon we went by and asked if we could talk to her for a few minutes so we could understand what her concerns were.  (We thought for sure someone had warned her about that Mormon Cult or she had read some anti-Mormon junk on the internet.) She is a very Christian person and had felt that as long as she was kind and caring, that is all that is needed, plus she had been sprinkled when she was a baby.  She had just sort of gotten comfortable after going through a divorce 2 or 3 years ago.  An older male friend had died and her husband started looking out for his widow and became more concerned about her than his wife  When she came home from a visit to England, her husband had moved out.  She has forgiven him and the other woman and had decided to get on with her life.  She just wasn't sure she was ready for another big change in her life.  We assured her that this was a change for good and she couldn't deny that she had felt the spirit.  We asked her if we could teach her the plan of salvation and invited her to church before she made up her mind.  She agreed and we taught her this past week, plus got together one morning and just read the Book of Mormon together and she seemed much more at peace. She loved church and the branch members were very friendly to her and others that were new.  When we took her home she said, " I am so happy when you two are with me.  Elder Olsen reminded her that it was not us, but the spirit she was feeling.  She said, "I know that you are the messengers, but I'm so happy you found me.  I not only feel happy when we are together, or at church, but I have a joy all during the day that I never had before.  We warned her that she would still have struggles, but that the Lord would be there to help her and that she would have a good support system.  Don and I both had tears in our eyes as we drove away.  We are taking her to Family Home Evening tomorrow night at a member's home.

Sister Denise Peacock and Sister Olsen

There is an older couple (early 80's) in the Whaihou branch, the Cunniff's,  who are deaf and it's very difficult to communicate with them.  Not long after they moved in some years ago, a bunch of the ward members learned sign language so they could take turns sitting by the couple and translating for them.  The ward had been fasting for Sister Cunniff, who had an accident a few weeks ago, but was at church today in a wheelchair. Borther Cunniff bore his testimony, by word and sign, and though most of us could not understand more than a few words, his testimony spoke to our hearts.  It was so beautiful and sweet.

We have been told that we are going to get transferred to the new mission in Hamilton the end of August or so in order for Elder Olsen to use his landscaping abilities to help the church build a campground to be used for girl's camp, family groups, etc. on the property where the church school used to be close by the Hamilton Temple.  I'm sure they will take advantage of my wonderful gardening skills as well. (ha ha!) We will be working with volunteer groups to plant trees, make paths, etc.  The church does not currently have any recreational property of that sort in New Zealand, so it is much needed.  We will still be proselyting missionaries part time, then full time again after this project is finished.  We were saddened by this news for a few days, as we have come to love this area and its people so much and the missionary work is starting to explode, it seems.  We feel better knowing that they will replace us with a set of young missionaries we can pass unfinished missionary efforts to.  We are going to be extra busy for the next few weeks and hope to see a few baptisms before we leave.  Even though we have been here a short time, we will take lifelong memories with us.

Collection of wild pig jaw bones by one farmer that hunts wild pigs in his spare time

Unoccupied rundown farm house from days gone by

Luxury tour bus for a bargain price

Sister Olsen gives carrots to the work horses where we walk each day

Winter beauty