TREES IN THE SUNSET OF OUR LIVES

The tree planting at the camp is in full swing now.  A week ago Saturday we planted over 1000 trees which were in 5 gal. containers using over 130 volunteers.  Yesterday we had some smaller trees and again with a volunteer crew of over 100  we planted another 1500 trees.  These are all native species and are very hardy.  Normally at this time of year there would be lots of  rain but locals report we are in on of the worst droughts they've seen.  You can see that puts us in a bind and requires us to transport water to each of the trees we have planted and water the other 2500 sitting at the camp to say nothing of the 7000 trees scheduled to be delivered to the site next week.  They are in much smaller containers and can be watered with a rainbirds.  That wouldn't be so bad except that the old well used at the camp is over taxed and can run only half the time producing only small amounts of water.  The new well on the site does not have a pump in it yet and will require the electrical connections to that area first.  In the meantime we will continue to haul water from the neighboring farms.  We came on our mission with suits, white shirts, ties, dresses to last the 18 months, but with only one pair of jeans and a few "T" shirts.  Now we wear our dress clothes on Sunday and grubbies the rest of the week.  There are several second hand clothing stores around which helped us to stay in budget.

We are grateful to the missionaries in our zone who helped unload the semi-trucks of trees, manned the augers boring holes, planting and watering trees.

The Area 70, Elder Thomsen, called a meeting two weeks ago with the local stake presidents, the project manager, Adam O Gram from the area office in Auckland, and ourselves.  They confirmed that we would be moving to the house at the camp as soon as possible to allay security concerns. They also directed our use of the Toyota pickup truck left over from the Church College for us to use the remainder of the year, this meant that we would turn in the Ford station wagon we have enjoyed using the past 6 months. I had washed and vacuumed the Ford and it looked very good except for a little dent in the fender and some skuffed up bumpers from our driving around the camp during construction. However, the truck we received hadn't been cleaned for a long time, so we added that to our "cleanup task list" - truck, apartment we're moving from, house we're moving to and the unkept yard, plus watering lots and lots of trees (we do have others helping with that, thank Heavens.)  Sounds like a good week or two to have behind us.

Toyota Hilux diesel 

 The following Monday the project manager took us shopping for furniture for the house.  Sister Olsen  thought it was pretty fun to shop without having to foot the bill. They are planning to deliver the appliances and furniture tomorrow.  Thankfully, we were able to find a painter and over the last few days he has got the majority of it painted; enough that we can get moved in..

Our friends, Elder and Sister Monson, from Orem who serve in the visitor center came up to the camp on their P day and worked the morning with us around the farm house. We took them to the modular building contractor's yard to see several of the cabins being constructed and will be moved to the site over the next few weeks.  We had lunch together at a Vietnamese restaurant and then visited a local arboretum that had been recommended.

Sister Olsen and Sister Monson at Taitua Arboretum

Elder and Sister Monson

Elder and Sister Olsen

colorful rooster and a peahen

 Later that evening we returned to the campsite and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.  I got carried away with the camera, which ones do you think are the most appealing?

farm house on left

to the right of the previous picture

the camp lakes as the light fades

same view from a greater distance

silver lining on the clouds

do you have a favorite yet?

it seems unreal

changing views

divine colors

the sun is down but the colors continue

With the camp demanding more and more of our time, we have less time to help the branch at Raglan where we have been attending.  With that being the case we felt our time on Sunday's should be in the local wards encouraging them to organize service projects for their members especially the YW/YM and YSA.   So we each talked along with the two sisters assigned and the branch mission leader.  The members all brought dishes and we had a wonderful luncheon following church.   Even though we arrived in time for church, the sister missionaries asked Sister Olsen to drive them to pick up 3 children of a family they are teaching. The father favors the Jehovah Witnesses and mother favors the LDS Church.  However, neither one of them wants to attend, but they are glad to have the children go and take a break from them.  When Sister Olsen got there to pickup the kids the mom said the JW's had beat them there and the kids had gone with them.