It's GREEN again!

The drought has passed!  All it took was for Don and me to drive to Auckland and rent a water tank and pump to water the hundreds of thirsty little trees about 10 days ago and the rains started the next day.  It rained good and we then had sunshine for a few days.  It started again the beginning of this past week and has rained most every day. It's amazing how fast things turned green again and the newly planted grass at the camp germinated and you can see green coming up through the straw mulch.  GREEN is such a nice color! Tomorrow we need to return the water tank to Auckland. The watering stops and the mowing begins.

the rain is turning everything green

Bunkhouses being placed on piles--the crane got stuck in the mud

We just got home from the Sunday morning session of General Conference broadcast at the church a week behind the actual conference.  It was worth the wait; there were so many good talks.  Dad went to the Priesthood session last night (minus family and pizza), but enjoyed it none the less.  Yesterday morning at 9:00 a.m. we had a Neighbor Camp Tour with President Sutcliffe (the agent stake president over the camp) and about a dozen or more neighbors who are not members that had been invited to come see how things are progressing; they had previously given their permission for the camp to be built.  Afterwards we drove to Raglan for a baptism the Sisters had for Henry, an older and very colorful Maori. He is hard of hearing and must have emphysema, as he sort of whistles when he talks.  Henry had been a preacher for many years in another church, but had a disagreement about baptism, feeling that it should be by immersion and that babies did not need to be baptized.  There was a chapel full of people there, most of them non-members; so hopefully the Sisters will be able to get some good referrals. The mission president gave a wonderful talk on the Plan of Salvation.  A beautiful Maori song was sung, accompanied by guitar, which they all seemed to know. It was beautiful, even though we could only understand a word or two here and there. (Our plan to learn Maori isn't going that well).  Henry loves to say "Amen" anytime he is excited about something he hears and a few others joined in with him at the baptism.  Everyone brings a "plate" to a baptism and there is a yummy "feed" afterwards.

Henry Gray after baptism, and Brother Ekatone who fellowshipped him 

Monday evening was our Family Home Evening at President and Sister Rudd's home.  After dinner President Rudd shared the story of the "Mormon Missionary Prophesy," and showed us a copy that Matthew Cowley had given to President Rudd's father, Glen Rudd.   There were a variety of Christian churches that sent missionaries to New Zealand in the early and mid 1800's.  There was a lot of disagreement among the different tribes as to what church they should follow.  In 1881 various Maori leaders met together and decided to ask Potangaroa, a chief who was revered as a prophet and holy man, which church the Maori race should join.  After 3 days of prayer and meditation, he came back to them and told them the church for the Maori had not come yet, but that when it did they would recognize it because it would come from the east, brought by missionaries who would travel in twos, live in their homes and teach them in their own language.  The prophecy was written down by a scribe, signed by the chief and photographed.  Several other Maori leaders had similar promptings, so when the missionaries came as was prophesied a few years later they had great success, much of it because the people remembered and were prepared.  President Rudd is planning on teaching this story to the young missionaries at the next conference, so that they in turn may share it with the Maori investigators of today.

lots of trees yet to be planted before 7000 more are delivered in May

Friday we planned to meet our zone of missionaries at the temple for the 11:00 session and then attend a meeting and luncheon afterwards.  Elder Olsen was late getting home from an errand and we didn't make it to the temple, but did join them for the meeting and lunch.  It is always so enjoyable to meet with the young missionaries and they are always very kind and friendly with us and fun; which reminds me of a fun story from one of the district meetings we had a month or so ago.  They were doing a role play demonstrating how to get to the gospel point when doing street contacting or TWE's (talk with everyone).  A fairly new Tongan Elder was portraying a young man reading a book as he sat waiting for the bus.  The Elders came up to him and trying to engage him in conversation, asked what he was reading.  He replied, "The Three Little Pigs."
The Elders asked him if he was enjoying it and why.  The young Tongan man answered, "Yes, because I love to eat pigs."  One of the missionaries came back with a good analogy of the gospel and the third little pig who built a strong house that the wolf could not blow in.  It was hilarious, but you probably had to be there.

We moved into the Farm House, now the Camp House, a week ago and am still cleaning and trying to put up drapes.  It's much easier to have someone come and measure and bring back the finished drapes and hang them up.  Since our budget doesn't cover that, I've been trying to make some ready-made drapes work, but I need my sewing machine because they are too long; so I now have to hem 5 sets of drapes or pay someone to. (I just thought about asking for a volunteer in Relief Society next week.)  The other thing that is really bugging me is the "flies."  I don't ever remember being so annoyed by flies, with the exception of Lily's birthday BBQ and the hordes of flies that came in the house, resulting in me breaking the Sabbath day by going to the store to buy fly strips. Anyway, Elder Olsen (Don) said he is going to call the Humane Society because I am relentless with the fly swatter or whack them with a vengeance. There were no screens on the sliding doors nor the windows when we moved in and I will be so glad when they come to install some! I just got double with one whack!

I will finish off telling you about what is happening with Daizhon, the 9 year old daughter of Roger and Karen Hamon.  (Roger is the older man who took care of the bush for years on his own accord before being paid the last few years by the church.)  Roger is still receiving treatment for cancer, which has spread to his bone, but the treatment has slowed it down and given him more time with his family. We have come to love him and his family and are in the same ward now that we do not go out to Raglan every Sunday. Daizhon has been so excited the past few weeks because she was invited to attend a reception/party hosted by Princess Kate for children who are victims of cancer or who have a parent with cancer, while the Royalty (Prince William and baby Prince George along with Kate) were on a visit to New Zealand.  She then was asked to be one of  children who would greet and personally visit with Princess Kate when she arrived.  Yesterday was the day!  I called her this afternoon and she told me all about it.  She got to sit right next to Princess Kate and was in photos shown around the world on various TV stations.  Sounds like it was quite a party - the had edible gardens, the wardrobe from the Narnia movie that you could walk through where it was snowing and you could get a photo with the Ice Princess, etc.  What a great thing to do for these kids.

Daizhon closest to Princess Kate

Roger and Karen's family members have pitched in (as Roger isn't strong enough to do it himself nor can they afford it on their own) to build a bedroom onto their small house for Daizhon,  There is only 1 bedroom and with Roger being sick and Daizhon getting older they felt like it was important for her to have her own room.  We are going to ask other senior missionary couples and friends of the Hamon's to go together to get her a new bed and bedspread for her new room, as she has just been sleeping on a little sofa.

One more fun story - The Monson's, a new senior couple who work at the Visitor's Center, came by our house the other night and Elder Monson helped Elder Olsen put the dining table together and then we had some ice cream and visited.  (They like ice cream as well as we do - well, maybe not as much as Elder Olsen).  They have told us that quite often couples will drop their children off at the Visitor's Center while they go to the temple and sometimes they aren't old enough to be responsible and the missionaries become 'babysitters."  They said that recently they looked into the back room where they have the small size little home and saw a little boy crawling on the roof; thankfully someone nabbed him before he fell through.  The cutest story is of a little girl whom they had given a picture to color and some colored pencils to keep her busy.  A few minutes later they looked and she was sitting at the base of the Christus and was coloring the Savior's toenails pink.  I think He was looking down with a smile!

one of two large pavilions being constructed at the camp