Merry Christmas - Have a sausage!

Wow, it is so cold in Utah and so warm here!  I hope the cold temperatures so early means that January and February are going to be mild, but you probably better not count on that.  Although we are missing our family at this Christmas season, we're not missing "winter."  It has amazed us, however, that Christmas is so connected to "snow" to us who have grown up in Utah or other snowy areas.  It just has not felt like the Christmas season, but it is coming.  The extent of our Christmas decorations is a $5 wreath on our door and a small (really small) white Christmas tree on our sofa table; but we can look out and see the lights around the temple.  We've been singing lots of Christmas hymns at church as next week we have Sacrament meeting and then as a branch (approx. 35 members) we will go sing at a couple of care centers in Raglan. We will also be teaching the Christmas message several times this week; so that will also help us in seeing and feeling the "Christ" in Christmas.

lights at the temple

The Temple View Stake, in which we live (but are assigned to Raglan) has a fun Christmas tradition on the evening they turn the Christmas lights on at the Temple.  Everyone meets at the park and there is a program
and then everyone joins in the singing.  The Mauri people seem to be blessed with the gift of music; it seems like most of them have naturally beautiful voices and love to sing and harmonize.  Many of them also play the guitar or other instruments.  Our neighbor, Mark Struthers, is a born entertainer and has a daughter who has a very nice voice who often sings with him.  At the park he invited all the kiddies to come up and join him in the Jingle Bell line dance, promising them lollies (candy).   When someone asked him if he really had any lollies, he told them "no, but the kiddies could get them from their parents on Christmas.  The kids were having so much fun, they didn't seem to mind.  After the singing people either walked or drove around the neighborhood to see the decorated homes, several of which had grills set up and were cooking up sausages (rather than hot chocolate & donuts).  You take a slice of white bread, squirt some ketchup (different than American ketchup) on it and they'll stick a sausage in it.  They're not big into hamburgers here, nor hotdogs, although the sausage is similar.  Then everyone heads up to the temple, rather late in the evening as it is summer and it doesn't get dark until around 9:00. It was a beautiful sight; this year they used mostly gold and white lights. There were hundreds of people there the first night and they mingled for quite some time.  We know the senior and younger sisters who work at the temple and they all put in lots of extra hours during the holidays.

sausage anyone

We're still living in a construction zone, but all they have left to do is spread some top soil and plant some grass.  Maybe that will be our Christmas gift.  A couple of weeks ago they poured our combination side/walk/patio and we were fixing baked beans for a Christmas party at the missions president's home and weren't ready to leave when they poured the cement right in front of our door.  So, we had to crawl through a bedroom window, which is underneath the porch of the apartment upstairs; so we had to crouch down and make our way to the fire escape ladder in order to get out.  We were gone for several hours so were happy that we could go through our door when we returned, although Elder Olsen told me to take my shoes off and go first and I left some faint toe prints.

I made fresh strawberry jam (I should call it syrup as my recipe didn't work with NZ pectin) a couple of days ago, not thinking about how small our freezer is, at the time.  We had to take most of it out to our office at the campground, which has a fridge, but I'll probably give some of it away.  Strawberries are on at a really good price, peaches are coming on and we even tried our first watermelon and corn on the cob and it was pretty good.  M-m-m-m, that just reminded me we still have some watermelon in the fridge.  I love watermelon!

Sister Olsen in our office at the camp

an existing path within the camp

Things are starting to happen out at the camp finally! We hope that the camp will be operational by this time next year, but have our doubts, as there has already been delays due to rain, etc.  We won't be here to see it operating, but it would be nice to see it near completion before we leave.  They have been burying the 8 huge septic tanks and are about finished with drilling the well.  We're excited that our temporary office at the Bush is now equipped with a computer, printer and the internet.  Yeah! Now there are lots of projects we can proceed with.  However, Elder Olsen's favorite assignment is mowing the lawn on that cute little John Deere tractor.  This morning before leaving for Raglan for church, we ran around our 2 stakes here that are closest to the bush and left announcements for all the bishops asking for volunteers at the campground during the kid's summer vacation, which is just starting and goes through January.  We want to keep the existing somewhat developed campground in good shape while they are doing construction.  We won't start with having all the volunteers come to plant the 10,000 trees until March and April, when the weather cools. They will plant 10,000 trees a year for 10 years and the camp will increase from about 4-5 acres to 40 or 50.

four of the eight tanks are in the ground

the crane used to lift the tanks into the hole

Now an update on Barry Vetter.  This was his third Sunday at church and he love being there and has said that he wishes everyday were Sunday because he can feel of the spirit and the love of the members and is not lonely like he is most other days. He cried all the way through church the first time he came and went through a half box of tissues.  He is 55, lives alone in a 1 room apartment, has no family close by and doesn't work (he receives some kind of subsistence) and he is an alcoholic. As a child his father was abusive so his mother ran away and left them with the dad who became more abusive with them.  He was put in an orphanage when he was ten until he was 17.  He and a partner had 2 children and some years later they both died within a short time period; the son (9) had cerebral palsy and his daughter (13) had a brain tumor. Afterwards he and his partner went their separate ways.  To deal with the pain, Barry turned to drinking and has been drinking ever since.  He has gone through several addiction programs, but has never really stuck with it.  He has had a lot of anger, is very lonely, and is tired of is life as it is.  He has a really good heart and is quite funny.  Like today in Gospel Essentials we were talking about the fall of Adam and Eve.  We mentioned that one of the reasons they partook of the forbidden fruit is so that they could have children.  He said, "Well, why didn't they have any kids while they were in the Garden of Eden; were they just too busy picking apples?" One thing he really needs is something to do on a daily basis that is of worthwhile.  We talked to him about working at the campground and he was excited about that, but Raglan is 45 minutes away, so we are trying to find someone that might work over this way that could give him a ride 2 or 3 times a week.  Knowing how difficult it is to break addictions,  sometimes we doubt whether the gospel will be able to make a difference in his life; but we also know that the gospel can give you the extra help you need in doing so and that all things are possible through our Savior.

December evening

Bye for now; we are headed to the Stake Center to see the First Presidency Christmas Message a week later since our Sunday was already over with last week when it was broadcast.  - - - Just got back and that Christmas spirit is growing!

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