April 28, 2024
In the Beginning. . .
Day one: Paul and Irene Rytting hosted lunch after we
dropped luggage in our apartments, showered, and didn’t sleep.
Logan and Ruby Hugo sit with the
MacLennans. Ruby runs our office. She can do everything!! We can attest to her endless
patience. Her professional calculations predict
we will remember 10% of what we learn in the first two weeks.
A splendid walk on Takapuna Beach
followed our delicious lunch. This
beautiful part of the world will be our home for one year.
Gina Truman from St. George, a dear
friend to Jennifer Stevenson, serves in an office near ours. She lights
up every room she enters. Her youthful
energy ignites a crowd of “older” missionaries.
FHE – These “Seniors” are COMPETITIVE. We divided into three teams for some simple games and the inner athletes emerged. Rick and Elder Bailey raced to place skittles in a bowl using chopsticks.
Sister Baldwin won the race by eating
a fruit roll in less than one minute.
Rick required more than a minute to
consume his fruit roll. Yum! At least he had a few seconds to savor the
experience.
Sister Bailey and I try to beat the other teams at putting a puzzle together.
Sister Sherrie Smith made lemon-raspberry and double chocolate trifle cakes. FABULOUS!! MaryAnne would enjoy sampling both cakes.
Pacific Area President, David F. Meurs, stands with the new seniors invited to his home for lunch. Elder Meurs served in the Area Presidency in
Hong Kong. It was a pleasure to serve
with him there and we know it will be delightful with him here, if we can keep
up with his aggressive agenda.
Most of the Area Presidency
joined the gathering: Sister Wakolo, MacLennans,
President and Maxine Meurs, Amy Jaggi (Elder Jaggi was on assignment) Hafens. Photographer – Elder Wakolo
Elder Wakolo always carries a Book of
Mormon. On our return to the office he
gave the book to this couple, Vikash and Vinita. This proves to be a big step for someone who
forbade his newlywed member wife from reading “that book” in their home. Elder Wakolo is now a favorite speaker for
YSA groups.
Elder and Sister Hillier invited us
to dinner one night. The XO restaurant
featured an Asian Fusion menu. This
sweet Thai waitress made the evening memorable.
Pihu Beach with MacLennans, Ryttings,
Hafens, and Amy Jaggi. A perfect ending to
our first BUSY week. Paul actually
required us to leave the office by 3:00 our first Friday.
The scenery seems too good to be
true.
These unique shells covered the beach
A beautiful family was also enjoying
the beach. Grandma and Grandpa came to New Zealand for a visit.
The twins, Reef and River, smiled as
we talked to them and Mother begged us to take photos of the babies smiling
together for the first time. She now believes
senior missionaries are magical.
Paul is quite the photographer.
We’ve been assigned to the Mt. Albert
Ward in Auckland. It takes 15-20 minutes
by car when all goes well driving on the WRONG side of the road with the
steering wheel on the WRONG side of the car.
We stepped into the small chapel our
first Sunday greeted by piano prelude music played by a young man of about age
14. Then, a young woman replaced him for
the Sacrament meeting hymns. The spirit
felt so tangible before a single prayer was offered. The composition of our ward is mostly
Polynesian. They sing with robust
energy. We feel angels surround us.
Four YSA sisters spoke first. Two had received their temple endowments the
week before. We were in awe of their
ability to express the powerful impact of their experiences. Rick and I were asked to introduce ourselves
and share testimonies. My goal was to
not detract from the spirit in the chapel.
These genuinely friendly members accepted us with open arms. We feel honored to worship with them. We excitedly await our next Sunday.
