Dec. 16th - 22nd
We went to church with Tiffany and her family on Sunday morning so we could get on our way to Bryan’s house early. It was a teary good-bye at the church for all of us and then another good-by with Alisha and Parx after lunch. I was glad when that part was over. That has been the hardest part so far for me. Saying good-bye and waiting to leave. David drove down to Bryan’s house with us so he could bring the car back and so he could be there for Zach’s ordination to the Priesthood. We were so grateful that we were able to be here for this special occasion. Greg came to Bryan’s and Lisa’s sister Brittney was there also. The 1st councilor in Bryan’s bishopric and his son, who is the Deacon’s Quorum President came and they did the ordination in Bryan’s front room. Bryan, Alan, Greg, David and the councilor stood in the circle. Bryan gave the most beautiful blessing I have ever heard at an ordination. It was powerful and full of council and promised blessings. Now Zach needs to live worthy for all of the promises to be fulfilled. It was a wonderful experience followed by a steak dinner prepared by Lisa and Bryan. YUMMY!! It was a great last meal for us in the states. We spent some very special time alone with Greg and I will cherish those memories for the next year and a half.
On Monday Kris, Alan’s sister, came to pick us up at Bryan’s and drive us to the airport. She took us to the airport and it was sweet to have her with us again. It was another hard good-bye for us as we left Bryan’s family, but not as hard as the last time. We all know that the time will go by quickly and there will be many blessing come into all of our lives in the next 18 months. We got to the airport in plenty of time, went through a LONG line to check in and our bags were perfect!! Two at 49 lbs and two at 50. We can only take 15 lbs in our carry on luggage when we fly Air New Zealand, so our carry on bags are almost empty and my purse weighs 25 lbs!! My neck and back will be in bad shape by the time we get to Tonga.
We flew to L.A. and met a missionary from Boise, Idaho that was coming home from Tonga. He begged us to trade places with him but when we wouldn’t he gave us some Tongan money that he had not spent. I know that will be helpful to us when we arrive.
The trip from L.A. was a killer. The plane was a little better as far as leg room was concerned, but it was PACKED!! We sat in the middle section. We each had our own TV screen and that helped, but 14 hours plus time changes is hard on everyone. Alan slept quite a bit but I just dozed off and on. The man next to me was watching something funny and every time I would fall asleep he would laugh really loud and wake we up. With those head phones on you can’t really tell how loud you are, plus he had quite a bit of wine. He was however a very nice man and we had a good visit when we were both awake.We left L.A. on Monday night and arrived in New Zealand on Wednesday morning. The Halverson’s, the Area Welfare couple picked us up at the airport and took us to their office. They gave us a small room where we could repack our carry on luggage for the trip to Hamilton, New Zealand that afternoon. It about killed us to open up every one of those suitcases and pull stuff out, knowing we would have to pack them again and weigh them all again. Then we went to the Halverson’s apartment and took a shower and got cleaned up. It felt sooooo good to freshen up. Alan took a quick nap but I stayed awake because I wanted to be able to sleep well that night. The Halverson’s apartment is very upscale and lovely, but also very expensive. Even with the church paying what is left of the rent after $1,400, New Zealand is a very expensive mission.
We left that afternoon to drive down to Hamilton, where the temple is located. We stopped for dinner on the way. Alan had a steak sandwich but I had bangers and mash. I haven’t had that since I was in Europe years ago. It is sausage, like Polish sausage, and mashed potatoes. It was actually very good. When we got to Hamilton we checked into a nice motel. It had a jetted tub and a very comfortable bed. I was sad that we didn’t have much time there so we didn’t get to try out the tub, but I took pictures. That night we drove out to see the Christmas lights at the temple. It was beautiful. This temple is about 50 years old and is scheduled to be closed for a couple of years for a complete remodel.
After a good nights rest we both felt much better. A little jet lag but nothing like Ukraine. I guess if you skip a whole day you don’t notice it as much. We spent the morning at a Zone Conference for the mission here. It really made us miss the young missionaries that we worked with. There were more missionaries at this one conference than there were in our whole mission. The work is going well here and the goal for 1013 is 2,000 baptisms. It’s had for us to imagine with our goal being 60. After the meeting the Relief Society served us an amazing lunch. They had it all decorated for Christmas and the food was fabulous. It was a good experience.We left the church and drove to the temple to do a session. It was fun to see the inside of the temple. Even though it is old, it is beautiful and so peaceful. We were asked to be the witness couple, so that made the experience even sweeter. After that we walked around the temple grounds, which were just beautiful. New Zealand is a very beautiful country. The weather was perfect, about 75 degrees the whole time we were there and the sky was blue at least part of every day. On the way home we stopped in a small town called Pocono to buy an ice cream cone. It’s like driving to Bear Lake for a shake. The Ice Cream is amazing and people come from all over to buy it.
That night we stayed in a lovely hotel in downtown Auckland. We were on the 19th floor and they treated us like we were important. It was fun. I took some pictures from our balcony. When we got up the next day we went into the Area Office for training. We spent the whole day there in meetings with Steve Stebbings, the Area Welfare Director, and then getting our financial account set up and registered on all of the church sites. It’s a huge responsibility to spend the Lord’s money and we are a little overwhelmed by it all. We met Elder Oaks, the Area President here. He will be coming to Tonga next year and said that he will be sure to pay us a visit. Everyone has been so kind to us and so encouraging. They all have great faith that we have been sent to do something important for the people of Tonga and we know they are right. We just pray the Lord will guide us every step of the way.
We had to be up by 4:45 on Saturday to be ready to head to the airport. A shuttle picked us up and we thought that we would have tons of time. Just as we were leaving the hotel the man behind the desk came out and asked Alan if he had any New Zealand money. Of course we didn’t. It was then that we found out that we needed to pay the shuttle driver $50.00 for the trip in. The Hotel was supposed to add that on to our bill and give us the cash, but nobody told us. It was a tender mercy that he stopped us or we would have been in a huge mess when we couldn’t pay him. When we got to the airport there were people everywhere! It was the weekend before Christmas travel jam. We stood in line for over an hour to check our bags in. When we got to the front of the line a lady from a different section of the check in area came and got us and she checked us in. We don’t know if she saw our badges or not, but she was so nice to us and she didn’t charge us one cent to send our bags on to Tonga. We were expecting to pay $200.00! That was another tender mercy.
When we got through customs and up to the gate area, we ran into the Pacific Area Medical Advisor and his wife. They were flying to Australia. He is from Murray and he knows my sister and her husband very well. He and Gerry had their offices in the same building for years. It’s a small world! We visited with them and then headed to the loading gate. While we were sitting there President Groberg, his wife and daughter and her family walked in. President Groberg walked right over to us and he remembered Alan instantly. We were able to visit with him for awhile before we needed to load the plane.
It is about a 3 hour flight to Tonga and when we got there we had to walk down the stairs outside onto the tarmac and then walk to the terminal. When President Groberg and his family came in they whisked him away into the VIP lounge. In a couple of minutes they came and got us and we went in there too. A Tongan lady took our passports and the next thing we knew they brought us our luggage and we didn’t have to do anything. That was fun!!
All of the senior couples and the Mission President and AP’s were there to greet us. They gave us leis and hugs and kisses all around. Of course the spot light was on President Groberg, but we were happy to be in the background and be a part of it all. When we went outside to meet the senior couples, there was a distinguished Tongan man standing with them. As soon as we went through the door he walked over to us, looked at Alan’s name tag and then started to cry. He had been one of Alan’s companions all those years ago. It was such a sweet reunion. I cried and the senior couples got misty too when I explained what was happening. They all know President Nau. He has been a Stake President here and he came to meet President Groberg. He had no idea that we were even coming. That was the third tender mercy in one day! There is no doubt that the Lord is with us on this mission. I can‘t begin to express my gratitude.
On the drive to our new home I was humbled by the circumstances that the majority of the people live in here. Their homes are much more humble than what we saw in Ukraine. Yes, there are some that live in brick or cinder block houses, but most of the ones that we saw on the way from the airport were just tin huts or dwellings made out of whatever they could find. They have fields of coconut trees and banana trees and there are pineapple and watermelon stands all along the road. The fruit will be wonderful here.
We will be living in a duplex and our number is 23. It is missionary housing on the Liahona Campus, the church owned high school here. Right now there are 7 or 8 couples serving in Tonga. That is more than they have had in a long time but we don’t know if the ones who will go home in the spring will all be replaced. One of those couples is serving on another island and he is Mini Hall’s brother, Eric Hall’s uncle. Once again, a small world!
Our apartment is going to be fine. It has been the apartment where other couples have stayed until something else opened up but now they are all full. It is bigger and nicer than anything we had in Ukraine so we are fine with it. There are a few things we will have to fix and a lot of things we will need to buy, LIKE A FAN! But the bed is quite comfortable and that is important to us. The furniture is a little saggy but nothing like Kherson, so we will do just fine here. It is just so blessed hot and humid. Our blood just needs to thin out a little and hopefully we will be able to handle it. There are times when I feel like I can’t breath it is so hot.
The senior couples had their Christmas party the night we arrived. They had a full Christmas dinner, turkey, ham, (not roasted pig) potatoes, rolls and all kinds of salads and veggies. It was really nice and it gave us an opportunity to introduce ourselves to everyone and to get to know them too. By the time we got home we were exhausted so we went right to bed.
