No White Christmas but Wondrous still!.

Well, Christmas Day has come and gone, the kids here are out of school for six weeks and lots of businesses close for 2-3 weeks.  But missionary work doesn't take a holiday.  On the Dec. 19th Elder Olsen drove to Raglan to pick up an investigator and a recent convert while Sister Olsen fixed dinner. We had planned  for a couple of weeks to take them to the visitor center, have dinner,  and after getting dark enough we would see the Christmas lights at the Temple. I could tell Barry had been drinking when I picked him up, but proceeded and picked up Gary as well.  Within the hour we arrived at the visitor center and were met by two young sisters to guide us on a tour.  It was then we realized it would have been better to leave Barry at home.  The soft spoken, sweet sisters trying to impart a Christmas message ended up listening to Barry's troubles.  The incident wasn't without some humor. When we arrived at the temple, Barry, who had never seen the temple before, was in awe.  However, when leaving the visitor center, Barry looked up at the temple all lit up and exclaimed, "What's that, the courthouse?"  In fairness to Barry, though an alcoholic, he has come to church the last five weeks, and he enjoys the spirit there.

Gary, Barry, Sister and Elder Olsen

On our p-day, the 16th, we drove to Tauranga, a seaside town on the east coast.  This is New Zealands major seaport as well as a resort area.  You might not know this, but senior missionaries can swim in the ocean.  Sister Olsen just put her toes in the water and enjoyed laying in the warm sun but I went in and dove under a few breakers.  Sister Olsen wouldn't let me include a photo of her in her swimsuit..

Tauranga beach

Hobbit movie set along the road home

On Saturday the 21st we had a birthday celebration for Roger Hamon at the Bush.  Concerned that he might not live to long, his wife Karyn organized the party and we had the unveiling of his plaque mounted on a rock set in the center of the bush.

Final place for Roger's plaque

Roger and wife, Karyn

Rogers daughter Daishon and great granddaughter 

Later that day we traveled to Auckland to link up with Denise Peacock at her son's home.  She was so happy to have us meet his family.  Before joining the church, she had unexpectedly offended her daughter-in-law and been told not to come back.  The gospel has given her the courage to call and apologize and they have seen how happy she has become.  They expressed to us how grateful they were that Denise had found something to give her purpose and meaning in life.  We took her out for dinner at an Italian restaurant.  She flew from Auckland to Wellington to be with her second son's family and returned home after Christmas. She called us and let us know how thankful she is to reconnect with her family.  She was so excited to get the new lesson manual for Relief Society since she has been called to be a teacher.  Funny thing, Sister Olsen went the entire day with one of  Elder Olsen's name tags, even in front of the mission president not realizing it till we were at the restaurant.  No one mentioned it. Goes to show how much we pay attention to name tags.

Sunday the 22nd we attended Sacrament in Raglan, then our branch visited a couple of care centers in town and did some Christmas caroling.  I think we sounded pretty good and helped bring some smiles and Christmas cheer. That evening we went to the Walmsley's for dinner and a family nativity presentation.  They are a very musical family and  have a wonderful spirit.  The children and grandchildren all participated.  Brother Walmsley is a professor at Hamilton University; every few years he takes a sabbatical and has traveled with his family to the Ukraine, France, England, Canada, the USA and many other places. His wife home schools their children during that year away and they learn a lot about the places they visit.

daughter and grandkids performing

Brother Walmsley and more family

r-l  Don White, Mary Ann, son and daughter-in-law

l-r Rose Mary White, Sandra Taylor and friends of the Whites

On Monday the 23rd, we had our first group of volunteers, a YM's group from our neighborhood, to come to the camp to work.  We are anticipating hundreds of these groups over this next year to help get the camp ready for use.  We have 10,000 trees to plant this year alone.

anyone want a break

that's more like it

On Christmas Eve we gathered with four other couples and President Rudd and his wife at the Labrums for a wonderful dinner and to watch a short New Zealand nativity and the rest of the time we just told Christmas stories centered around our childhoods.

ready for the guests, all the men received musical ties

President and Sister Rudd and their visiting son

Elder and Sister Goodman

Elder and Sister Marsden

Sister Olsen's Christmas Trifle

Someone said there are no coincidences

On Christmas day, after a nice breakfast we opened a few gifts and especially loved the scrapbook of photos and messages from our family.

Christmas morning around the tree

 We then drove to Raglan and spent some time with Barry, who has no family in the area.  Christmas is a difficult time for him and he is pretty lonely. To encourage him to come to know and hopefully gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, we gave him a set of cd's to listen to and read along with, some food items and a puzzle to help fill his time.  He's never done a puzzle and was a little dubious, but hopefully he will give it a try.  Better still, we are hoping to find a way for him to come work at the camp a couple of days a week.

Barry at his home in Raglan

We have had an unforgettable Christmas season.  Thank goodness for Skype, we were able to see all of the family, especially each of the grandchildren in their own homes on Christmas Day.

Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, we borrowed a couple of grandchildren and took them to see the movie, Frozen, which most of our own grandchildren had seen and loved.  We took Daishon Hamon, pictured above and her friend, Elizabeth, whose parents we also know well.  With Roger's cancer progressing, he and his wife, Karyn, look for opportunities for their daughter to have some enjoyable times away to relieve her worries about her much loved daddy.  They, and us as well, loved the movie and treats and it was fun for us to be with them.