From The Long White Cloud: August 2015

Sunday, August 30, 2015

OAMARU

As we were getting ready to go thru security at the SLC airport we looked down and saw Wellington on the mosaic tile. A sign we were going where we were supposed to go.

Landing in Christchurch. First stop in NZ

Cafe inside terminal. We are in the Land of The Long White Cloud

Driving north from Dunedin to Oamaru(Left Side)

First potty stop on the road. No Mavericks here AT ALL. From the report it was really cold to the bottom!

Ocean on the right side heading north, and driving on the left side really does a job on your orientation!!!!

Town marker at the city limits.

View of sea from a lookout point at our home town.

A street corner in Oamaru--quaint!

Our missionary car. Brand new!

A view of the bay at Oamaru and the north side of town.

Our tempory flat. We are in the one to the left, upper level.

Hope you enjoyed a few pictures of our journey. There will be many more to come. Our trip here was wonderful at times like riding first class to Sydney. Then there were "Abbot and Costello" times aplenty.

Taking our 4 huge suitcases,,two caryons, two personal bags, and two huge winter coats on two carts across the circle at LAX was one of those times. We only dumped the carts 4 times in view of ALL LA that was definitely one of those times. Then when we were checking in at the DAL counter we couldn't get our boarding pass because we didn't know and hadn't obtained an Australian tourist visa. It was definitely a tender mercy that a Delta agent knew what and how to do that. He gave us a web site to go to and we had our visas 30 minutes later. Then when we got to Australia after 4 hous waiting at LAX then 14 hours of flight, see the picture above of Alecia all happy in her bed, the Abbott and Costello shoed up again. It took us 4 times to get through customs there becaus Costello, me, couldn't get the paper work filled out properly. But finally,after a 3 hour wait in Australia, and two legs later we arrived in Dunedin. Another Sr. Missionary couple met us there and took us to a "motel" ( don't even think even motel 6)! But we literally collapsed into bed. The next morning we met the Dunedin zone leaders, took them out to lunch, had a 30 minute driving orientation, and took off 115 KM north to Oamaru our field of labor for the next 16 months. We found out right then from the Zone leaders that we had been assigned to Oamaru rather than Dunedin. More about that later.

Wow we realized we have a lot to learn to cha nge over to another country. It feels like we went back in time. Most of the time we really like it except when it comes to the lack of technology. We have to go to the library for a hotspot to do anything on the internet. That will change for the better when we get into our permanent place. Not to mention the self talk of driving on the left side of th road every day. We also have 23 steps to our front door. Are there even stairs in St. George? We have found a completely furnished home to rent, above picture. We found it in one day but it will take till the 4th to get the paper work done before we move in. In the meantime we are in one of the missionary flats and the 4 Elders are crowded into another. See above picture.

It is spring here and nice when the sun shines. On cloudy days it is dreary and colder. Hence the land of the Long White Cloud. The missionaries here are amazing. We have two sisters,and six Elders. Last week on P-day we went on a hike outside of Denidin and in the rain. It is a place where a man who owned a castle and had daughters who wanted to get to th ocean at the bottom of their hill. It is about a mile on a steep slope down hill. There he had a tunnel drilled through the rocks to make the final part of the trip to the beach. No pictures because it was raining so hard. The trip back up was 100 miles but we are alive to tell about it.

We are so happy to be in Oamaru. We know this is where we are supposed to be. Most of the members are Tongan which reminds me of being with the Polynesian saints in Hawaii where i joined the church. The mission wants to turn this District into a Stake with in the next year. We are so excited to be a part of that effort. We have already had some success there. We were with the Elders at a lesson last night with a couple who aren't married and want to join the church. Alecia and I convinced them that they might as well get married right now. The Elders had CTR rings that Mike used as an engagement ring to purpose to Tracy right then and there. They set a date to get married on the 12th of Sep and to get baptized on the 19th of Sep. That is a truely amazing!

New Flat. Move into Wed.

We love this work and feel the Lord's hand in directing us here at this time in our lives as well as the Saints of Oamaru.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

On The Road Again With Visas in hand

Ashley, Brooke, and us on our last Sunday in Montana. It has been such a privilege to share a home with these two celestial sisters and friends for life.

Pulling out of the immaculate grounds of Richard and Deanne's home. There aren't even words to express our gratitude for their friendship and hospitality. Friends forever!

Had to have a farewell breakfast with the Kalispell zone before we departed town. These Elders and Sisters will remain our special friends forever. They taught us so much about dedication, perseverance,character, and going the extra mile. It is hard to look at this picture and not miss being with them and involved in the work with them. We love each of them and feel privileged to have labored in His work with them.

One of our last contacts was with this special man. We found his name on the ward list and had to find him. His name is Jerry Leon Stevenson. After knocking on his front door and talking with him we found out he was born in Santaquin, Utah which is were Gayle Stevenson,DAD, was born and we know they are related. His home was a representation of how hard his life has been. He is not in the best of Heath yet spends his days taking care of his wife who has the final stages of diabetes. The front porch we were standing on was dilapidated and broken free of the house frame. A tree had fallen on his roof 5 years ago and knocked part of the home off the foundation and has had a leak in his roof ever since. The roof was caked with moss and fungus. The ward has tried to help him but he has refused their help for some reason we weren't able to determine. Now they are losing even this home and have no idea where they are going.

This type of living situation is not all that uncommon in the rural parts of the area and has moved us to tears more than once. This earthly experience is so difficult for so many. We thought of a 25 year old ""Jerry" and wondered what hopes, dreams, plans, and desires he had for himself and his family. Now destitute, broken, alone with a terminally ill wife. Our hearts were so full of love for him and all in like situations. We just hope that he could feel that love for the brief moments we were with him. We could tell he was excited to know Alecia was a relative and loved seeing a smile on his face.

We know The Lord cares for and loves EVERY SOUL of his creation whether in a little trailer in the back woods of Montana or in a hut in a jungle of Indonesia. We just feel blessed to be able to be a part of this,HIS, work in even the smallest of ways,

We felt it was serendipitous that the wheat fields had been harvested as we were driving out of town,

Then a pink rainbow as we crossed the border into Utah. WOW.

They still don't have a place, flat, for us in Dunedin so we are going to stay in a flat that has been used by the Sister missionaries in a town called Oamaru which is 1 1/2 hours north of Dunedin. We googled it and it looks like a fun town. Can't wait to get there. Our travell plans may change to a Tuesday departure because of loads to Sydney.

We feel that our time in Kalispell was so special and part of the Lord's plans for us. We are so much more prepared to hit the ground running in NZ.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

WHICH, CHURCH SHALL I JOIN?

Some Pictures first:

These are just a few of the different denominations up here. We felt rather conspicuous driving around taking these pictures. But when I say just a few, I really mean it. Per capita, there are probably more Christians up here than the bible belt of the south and a lot more denominations. It seems as though anyone who has an OPINION about the gospel sets up his own church and gathers others around him or her. There are people standing on street corners with " Jesus Saves " cardboard signs all over the place. It has been so remindful to us of the religious fever Joseph Smith was faced with, when he found out from Heavenly Father not to join any of them and that through him the restoration was ushered in. I can't even begin to write all of my thoughts, impressions, and feelings on that subject. May it suffice for us to bare our testimonies on the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That through the charge of His Father, he established the only true church on the face of this planet. That through the power of direct revelation from God Himself to a chosen, called, and authorized prophet , even Joseph Smith, he has revealed the fullness of the gospel and ALL the saving ordinances therein. It is our profound testimony that dirct revelation exists to this day through the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator Thomas S. Monson. And through him and the quorum of the 12 all the keys of authority are held by mankind on this earth today.

OK, Alecia said I got a "little" preachy on that. You should have seen the next paragraph that she counseled me to drop. Lucky you, the readers, I do listen to her wise council . It was such a great sermon though.

This last week was transfer week. Dang, that was hard on us. We had to say goodbye to some we had grown to love like our own. BUT 4 more came in and we are getting to know them too. Hopefully we won't have to go through that again in this hemisphere! We taught our first lesson this week too. It was on the word of wisdom. They had picked a baptism date for the 8th, but had not been told by the ward missionaries that they had to have lived it for at least a week. It wasn't fun being the bearers of that news. After 2 1/2 hours we had them calmed down, gave them a P.H. blessing and gave it over to the Zone leaders. They had some weird docturnal beliefs we tried to work through, but that is going to take some time. Really anxious to see how that goes.

We also partially taught the plan of salvation to another investigator we are working with. This guy is a real character from NJ, was a truck driver for 30 years, has had three kinds of cancer, his wife of 37 years left him, his son has cancer, and he is trying to live on S.S. He is one of the most interesting men we have ever met, and has a gift of gab that is out of this world. He has been fighting depression really hard--REALLY. Love this man. Haven't told you half of his challenges. It is so amazing to feel Father's love for him.

Here we all are at the Stake President's home for transfers and instruction. The lesson was on service and a really moving church video was shown for reference for the missionaries to show in member homes and then turn into helping the family put together THEIR OWN mission plan. Alecia was so moved that she nudged me in the ribs in the back of the room and said, " Go with me on this." I had no idea were she was going and was suprised to hear her ask each missionary to bring any trousers, shirts, coats, that needed mending, AND all shoes that needed polishing and that we would take care of it at Wed's district training.

12 pairs of shoes