THE GIRL HAS GONE HOME

How fun it has been to have our grand daughter stay with us for 3 weeks.  We wanted her to see the northern part of the North Island where we worked our first 5 months and made so many friends, but we also wanted her to see how beautiful the landscape and the beaches are.  We left the afternoon of the 4th of July, missing the party that evening put on by the senior missionaries here in Hamilton.  We got bogged down in the heavy Auckland traffic for 2-3 hours so found a motel just the other side of Auckland for the night. We got an early start on Saturday arriving in Kerikeri just after noon.  We drove straight to Denise's and took her with us to Matauri Bay and Wainui Bay.  We stopped in to visit the Tua family who we worked with to activate and to teach and baptize one of their grandsons. They are raising 7 grandchildren since 2 of their adult daughters passed away, one in an auto accident some years ago and the other just 2 years ago following the birth of her youngest.  TheTua's were so excited and surprised to see us and after being there a few minutes we found out why. They all gave us hugs and SisterTua shed a few tears as she said that 2 months earlier the branch president had announced that Elder Olsen had passed away. They said many tears were shed, which should make Elder Olsen feel good to know he was lovd.  They took pictures of us and promised to show the branch on Sunday  that he still lives. We returned to Denise's for dinner and watched Mary Poppins on her big screen TV.  

Lydia and Denise at Wainui Bay

The Tua grand parents raising 7 grand children

Sunday was special because we visited the Waihau Branch and were able to see so many of our friends. We were so surprised to see John Koppa (Cooper).  He was a less active member that we visited several times but were not able to make any headway with.  He always said he knew the Book of Mormon was true and he prayed, but didn't feel he had to come to church.  Dian's grandmother McBride was a Cooper so she went to Family Tree and looked up some Coopers who could be his ancestors and she gave that to him.  He was mostly Mauri, but he explained that the Cooper sir name came from his great great grandfather who was a Scottish whaler. While his ship was docked in New Zealand,  he met a sweet Mauri girl  who became pregnant before he left thereby leaving the Cooper name for his male descendants.

We were also surprised to see Hema Richards, a widow who's husbands funeral we attended a year ago.  She had been a recent convert when we arrived but her husband had cancer and needed care all the time so she rarely came to church and always promised us she would come after her husband passed away.  Well, after the funeral we invited her several times to come to church.  Finally she informed us that it was Mauri custom to journey in thought and devotion to the deceased husband for one year before getting back in life.  It was the first Sunday that she had come to church and she was beaming from ear to ear and was so excited to have us there to see that she had kept her word about coming back.

On Monday we stopped in Pihia, a resort town on the Bay of Islands where Lydia bought souvenirs to take home, then we were off to Auckland for lunch and to link up with the Clayton's for her return trip.  She saw a"Nandos" restaurant and insisted that we have lunch there because it is the favorite place for some cute guy in some singing group she likes. They only serve chicken, so I was surprised to see barbecued ribs on the menu.  When I asked if they were were pork or beef the host said they were chicken ribs, can you believe that!  We left Lydia with the Clayton's to fly to Sydney Tuesday morning where they would stay for a week and headed back to Hamilton.

For two or three days following Lydia's departure we felt rather blue and the rain everyday didn't help.  We dug back into the work.  On the 10th we started live training with church headquaters in SLC on how to set up the reservation system for the camp.  Later that day I went with Joe Hay, our nurseryman, to Lake Taupo to pick up plants and pots at a big wholesale nursery there.

On Saturday the 12th, we had over 50 YSA Institute students come out to the camp and worked all morning in the rain planting trees.  Many were in "T" shirts, shorts and flipflops and they got pretty cold.  They were the faithful ones who accepted the challenge to do service among the 500 who were meeting in Hamilton for a special Institute gathering.  That night we invited the Goodman's and Labrum's for dinner and games.  We played the card game of golf since it was raining and neither of them got to golf for real that day.

the Labrum's, Goodman's and Olsen's

On Sunday we fixed dinner and took it to the Hamon's for a very special time with them.  The doctors have told him they can't do anything more for him but treat his pain and replenish his fluids by I.V.

Roger in his famous stripped PJ's and his cute wife Karyn

Deizharn, their daughter, in her new bedroom

We are finally getting more sunny days.  It has only rained two or three times this week. For FHE on the 14th the Elder's quorum in our ward prepared a "hangi" a Mauri feed for all the Temple Missionaries that go to our ward.  We welcomed their invite and had a wonderful time having traditional Mauri food and some fun singing.

The kids have been out of school the past two weeks so twice last week we had 20 or more kids come to serve at the camp.  We had them repot plants for next year.  We still have a 3000 more to repot in the next few weeks.

youth working around potting table

Finished the work -  now its time to eat!

Its wonderful to see the camp progressing towards completion.  We have been corresponding with the senior couple who will be replacing us.  They are a British couple who are the inlaws of our project manager, Adam O'Gram in the area office in Auckland.  They report in the MTC in Auckland on the 25th of September and we fly to the south island on the 1st of October. Elder Thomson, the area seventy is trying   to make special arrangements to get them here earlier if all goes well with their visas.

A Bit of Home!

What fun to have our grand-daughter Lydia, here for a visit.  Our friends and past neighbors, the Clayton family, came to NZ on vacation and brought her with them.  We met them at the Auckland Airport the evening of June 17th  and had dinner all together that evening. (Amy Kimball came over on an earlier flight, and her neice, Claire, came with the Claytons to help with the children. This is the first visitors we have had from home!  I'm turning this blog over to Lydia for a paragraph or two about her adventures here.

Lydia arriving in Auckland

Having dinner in Auckland

Yesterday we went to Hobbiton!! It was so fun! We got to see all the places that are in the movie.  It was amazing! By far one of my favorite things we have done so far over here. The accents are the most incredible. I want one! Maybe by the time I come home I'll have kindof picked it up. 

the Green Dragon in Hobbiton

one of many earth homes

window in Hobbiton

plenty to eat in Hobbiton

one more of those earth homes

On the 30th we went with the Clayton's (and Claire:) to the Waitoma "glow-worm" caves. That was sweet as. It was like looking up and seeing the milky-way. I tried ginger beer, which is just weird.

 All and all though the food is pretty good over here. I don't like the meat at all and I've never been into fruits so... but other than that I've been trying as many new things as I can. They say 'Sweet As' and 'No Worries' here a ton. I'm going to come back and be saying that like constantly just cuz. I miss my family and friends, but I think I miss my room the most; I've gotten some good ideas for movies (I write scripts) and stuff here though. There are NO CUTE/HOT/ATTRACTIVE GUYS HERE AT ALL!! That was one of the things I was most excited for, besides seeing Grandma and Grandpa of course. I thought that there would be a bunch cause you know, in NZ but I guess its the wrong season for that. There is the sound of birds every where here. Its amazing! Sheep are here and birds. I got Andrea a stuffed lamb and my dad gets a hat and my mom is getting a pair of gloves and my friends and I are going to get necklaces. Ali's will be the most special one though, cause I missed her birthday. I got 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire' here!! It is the best book ever!!Grandma and Grandpa have gotten into some pretty interesting car experiences and things while I've been here. One day Grandma did not have a very good day. When we were going to go to the store, when we were pulling out of the garage, she thought the car was in neutral and ran into the wall. Grandpa noticed that one. The same day, she was trying to find a parking spot, and she was parallel parking, and ran into the car in front of us. It didn't do anything to the other car so we just drove away. Grandpa figured that out later. And the last one... so far... is from Grandpa. We were driving home from Hobbiton, and he was going 93 km in a 80 km zone. We got pulled over but when the officer found out that they were missionaries and found out how much they had already had to pay to the force, let us off the hook and gave him a warning. These were my experiences with Grandma and Grandpa driving.  I'm excited to get home but I'll be completely honest I'll miss it here alot. Hopefully I'll get to come back here with work and that stuff. (When I get a job. And If I get my dream job... of course) It's been so much fun!


I could dispute a few things Lydia wrote, like no cute guys here; she thought a boy at church was pretty cute. I'm not even going to defend our driving record.  It did make us feel better when the area seventy, Elder Thomson told us he had gotten so many infringements, they sent him a letter saying they were going to suspend his license if he got one more.  We haven't gotten one of those yet.  The only ticket I have gotten was just before Lydia came.  I had gotten on a round-a-bout and realized I needed to get to the inside lane.  I quickly signaled & pulled over and guess who I cut off - a policeman.  Wow, those lights and sirens came on right behind me leaving no doubt I was in trouble.  He wasn't as nice as the policeman who stopped Don.

It has been a month this Saturday since Elder T from Samoa and Elder M from Utah and now Texas started serving at the camp.  They come everyday except for Sundays and Mondays.  We pick them up at 10 a.m. after their study time and take them home at 5 p.m.  They are good guys and seem to love working and eating lunch here.  (I do need to go to the grocery store more often.)  It has been a great blessing to Elder Olsen to have a couple of strong young men to help him out with many tasks that are too difficult for him to do on his own.  I think working here is suppose to be sort of a consequence for them and that at the end of 6 weeks they will be ready to go back to proselyting; we hope it works that way and that Pres. Rudd will send a couple more out who need a change of pace.  It's a better alternative than sending them home.

Elder T and Elder M taking a lunch break

When we were recently complaining about the rain, a native Kiwi reminded us that there is a price to pay for "Green!" The problem, however, is that at the camp it turns everything to mud and is slowing down construction.  The camp is scheduled to open the end of October, but that seems pretty optimistic.  We are trying to get a reservation system in place and a procedure's  manual done up.  The couple from England who applied to take our place did receive their call, but are not scheduled to arrive until a week before we leave; we were hoping they would be here at least a month before to learn and to help with all that will need to be done to get the camp ready for the Grand Opening.  But we're just grateful they have someone to replace us so that I don't have to say "no, I'm going home to hold that new baby and hug all my cute grandkids," when they ask us to extend.

The first of the month the church here received the news that the few people who were still opposing the old Church College being torn down (with the exception of a few buildings) have withdrawn their appeal and progress can finally be made.  It has been held up in court for several years but now they can build the needed new stake house and let people begin building on the old building lots.  It would be cool to come back for a visit in 5 years and see all the changes to Temple View and Camp Tuhikaramea.

We really have had a fun time with Lydia while she has been here.  We  went out to dinner with the Claytons after they arrived on the 17th and stayed overnight in Auckland.  Amy Kimball, a friend of the Claytons, met them in Auckland and traveled with them to the South Island.  Her niece, Claire (16) also came to help with the kids.  The next day we went up to the sky tower which has an awesome view of the city in every direction.

Lydia in the Skytower

Looking back at Auckland from Devonport

We took a ferry to Devonport and had lunch there and then headed home, with a stop in Pokeno for a great selection in ice cream.  The following day we showed Lydia around and then went to a baby shower for a newly baptized member; a young woman from Samoa who was expecting twin boys, and has since had them.  The babies' father didn't stick around one she told him she was pregnant, but her Aunt and Uncle who live here in Temple View took her in and through them and visiting the missionaries at the Visitor's Center, she has found great peace and joy in the gospel.

Lydia's peanut butter cookies have been a great success here with the missionaries and we also took some out to the Hamon's.  While we were there Lydia sang "Colors of the Wind" from the movie, Pocohontos and they loved it, as they could relate as Mauri to the American Indian.

Elder Olsen and I had gotten tickets to an All Black's Rugby game that next evening, but Don ended up taking our friend, Don White, and Lydia, I and Rosemary White had a Pajama/DVD party at her house.  We had thought we should at least go to one Rugby game while here, but I was content to spend a night with the girls.  Don actually enjoyed the game much more than he thought he would; it helped that NZ beat England by a good margin.  Rugby is the major sport here!

Huka Falls near Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo, Motutaiko Island, volcanic Mt. Ruapehu in background

We have also traveled down to Lake Taupo to Huku falls and saw the thermal pools. There is a big area south of us that has a lot of thermal activity and reminds us of Yellowstone's thermal areas, except this has more greenery around it.  One day Lydia and I walked around beautiful Hamilton Lake (an hour or so). Another time we all went on a River walk along the Waikato, which runs through Hamilton, eating donuts before and pizza on our way home.  One evening Elder Olsen and I went to the temple and Lydia spent the evening at the Visitor's Center with the young Sister Missionaries.  A couple of days later she and I went and participated in baptisms for the dead and confirmations at the Hamilton NZ Temple.  (I was by far the oldest sister  that got dunked that day).

When the Claytons returned from the South Island, they presented a Sunday Evening Fireside at the Visitor's Center.  Paul played the piano, of course, but also sang a couple of songs, including , Amazing Grace (beautiful). Esther played the violin , Yan played the cello and Lydia sang No Ordinary Man and  Far From the Home I Love, from Fiddler on the Roof, and it sounded awesome despite her cold.The Clayton's also shared some wonderful stories and bore their testimonies.  There was such a good spirit there and the audience loved it.    

This past week has been so rainy, but since there was no sun in the forecast Monday we all went to the Waitoma Glow worm caves, which is one of the big tourist attractions in the area, but was actually very cool.

the Clayton's with us at Wiatoma Cave

exiting Waitoma Cave in a boat

The Clayton kids were also dealing with colds and Rachel, their youngest, ended up with pneumonia so they stayed a couple of extra days in Hamilton until she could get one the mend.  We ended up going to Hobbiton on our own Tuesday, but got together for dinner at our home last night before they left for the North.  We will meet them in Auckland Monday night as they fly to Sydney Tuesday morning early.  It has been so fun
to have all of them here, but especially Lydia. The three of us will always remember this time together - Lydia's Big Adventure!. Just three more months and we'll be able to enjoy all our family once more.  But in the meantime, we best get our minds back on Camp Tuhikaramea!