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.