What a beautiful place! By the time we left Perth, we were so tired and ready for a little respite before taking the long trip home. We felt so happy about our mission and felt like we gave it our all!
We grabbed this nice rental car and began our adventure into the most beautiful country I think we have ever seen!
It was winter, so it was brisk, but not too bad. Beautiful green rolling hills and mountains on one side of us. Beautiful ocean on the other.
Miles and miles of splendor
Ahhhhhh! Made my day!
This kind of reminded me of Gilligan's Island.
What a wonderful time to rest from our labors and enjoy the beauties of the world together!
We drove 3 hours to Picton to get ready to take a 3 hours ferry ride to transport us and our car to the North Island in the morning. Highlight tonight: We ate steak. Ribeye. Fabulous Dinner. We had to check out the beef here as we saw so many cows. Something really cool we saw was cows that had a white band on them (The belted Galloway) (The Oreo Cow) Friendly nature and are renowned for their mothering skills.
There was a whole bunch of them.
I've never tasted better milk or better ice cream than in New Zealand.
We stayed in this lovely motel by the beach and ocean front.
We stayed in a new place each night for the first part. It was fun to see the creativity and how each place was so unique and inviting. I've never experienced such luxury.
We saw some fabulous rainbows
Taking a ferry to the North Island
There were like 60 cars and 10 huge trucks like this one loaded on this Ferry.
Coming into Wellington on the South Island.
Oh, my goodness, it was FUN. There was a movie theatre, a quiet room, a play room for kiddos, cafes, comfortable chairs and tables. But the best part was the cool people we chose to sit across from in our little section of chairs. John, Sue and Dot. They were traveling back to Wellington from the South Island after their 10 day holiday, 1st one in 6 years. John is farmer and Sue is his second wife who he married when she was 38. This was Sue's first marriage. John's sister, Dot (Dorothy) came along with them. She never married. She is probably in her 60’s or 70’s. In my personal prayer today, I asked that we could bless someone’s life today. We got talking to them and it became a natural and normal conversation to teach them about the plan of salvation and the story of Joseph Smith. It was delightful. Dot and Sue said, “Why hasn’t everyone heard about this ancient record that Joseph Smith found." John and Dot grew up catholic and went to church every Sunday, but didn’t keep that up after they left home. By the time we got across to the North Island, we had become best of friends. WHAT A HIGHLIGHT!!! On the ferry, I ate a delicious meat pie and Tony had chicken tacos. Tony and I then had to take the 5.5 hour car trip to Regal Palms resort for our next 3 nights stay. I drove for the first time today in NZ. We stopped and got Subway. We drove in pouring rain and in the dark. There were some scary parts of the driving. Things keep getting better. This resort is 5 STAR. When we drove in and I saw the tennis courts, I was soooooo happy. Then I find out it has a heated outdoor pool, a little golf course, and a hot tub in the room. Oh, my goodness, it is so beautiful. Tony is the best travel agent, spoiler of Janet. Oh, and a king bed. I am so full of gratitude. We popped some popcorn. What a treat, after living without a bathtub for a couple of years.
I
6/28/2024: Today was a dream. We had a nice long scripture study. I ate a delicious breakfast of oatmeal. Tony had his granola and egg. We played a set of tennis at 11:00 am. We had a swim afterwards. The huge jet tub was top notch, high class. I don’t think it could get much better than this. Then we went to the 4 hour Maori experience. Hiked to the geysers, ate a magnificent feast – a buffet with more food than you can imagine. Everything was so delicious. Then we went to their “house” on the property for a big program. We then hiked back up to the geysers in the dark, and got to see the big geyser erupt.
Our fun guide
After our hike, we had the most wonderful banquet and Maori program. As I was dishing up my food, I met a lady from Perry Utah that happened to be in my brother Paul's ward. He was their bishop. They said he was a fabulous Bishop along with his wonderful wife, Karen. What a small world.
Some top notch Mouri tradition and culture. Very similar to the NZ/Maori venue at the PCC in Hawaii.
6/29/2024: Today we drove to Hamilton and went to the temple
We ate our P&J’s and apples at the visitor’s center, and took a short nap. A fun temple ordinance worker started talking to us. He is from Fiji. He told us his conversion story. I met his wife, who invited us to Sunday dinner tomorrow.
Our Air BnB is adorable.
We ate an absolute fabulous dinner at Camarosa. We sat by a cozy fireplace. What a romantic place. A shoulder of lamb for 2 with salad and mashed potatoes and gluten free artisan bread with miso. The meat was so tender. It just fell off the bone.
June 30, 2024:
Today we went to 2 different wards. The first one was close. I had contacted several bishops to accomplish a mission we'd agreed to do. Finally, we found Bishop Wotherspoon in order to identify and locate an ex-husband of KJ Gasper, who we were friends with in our Duncraig ward in Perth. She has been needing to get to New Zealand and knock on his door to have him sign over their house located in Perth, that is in his name only. We told her if she could get us the documents, address, phone number, etc. that we could possibly take it to him. It turns out that Bishop Wotherspoon was the father of one of the sisters in our mission. This is her with us. That was such a tender mercy.
We also saw Adama in the ward (he is a also a Regional WSR Manager, like Riki Tukukino, who we reported to):
We went to get the document signed at his home which was 11 minutes away from the church. He was there. He was nice. And he signed the document just like that! Easy. We were astounded. We had prayed for a miracle and we got a miracle.
An email from Bishop Wotherspoon. His wife and daughter were worried that we were going to get shot or something. His wife said her husband, the Bishop, is a Doctor so he can help us if we do. We had some good laughs, but it did make me scared.
| Jul 1, 2024, 2:16 AM | |||
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"Hey You two Sleuths,
Well done finding Les and a willing soul to do the paper work. Amazing !!!!Leanne and Ally had a good laugh. That address is in Te Awamutu Ward. Temple view Stake. Great to meet you both. Sorry couldn’t spend much time with you on Sunday. Safe travels on your way home. Call in anytime. Bishop."
Then we went to the Hamilton stake center to another meeting. We got there with a few minutes to spare. Brother Nimiau ? met us at the door. His grandson was speaking in the meeting and being set apart after church to leave for his mission. They invited us to eat with their family after church. This was AFTER a linger longer feast that we had just had that the ward was doing since is was the 5th Sunday. We met many missionaries in these wards, young sisters and elders and senior couples. Much good work is being done.
They also had a linger longer in the cultural hall. What a spread on both meals. Oh, my goodness. Everyone was so nice and friendly.
This beautiful couple have 11 children. 6 biological and 5 adopted.
Absolute fabulous meal. The mother of this wonderful big family from Fiji kept hugging us and kissing me and making us feel like we were royalty.
We had another miracle this day. When we got home that night after a long day, I realized the important document that we had got signed was not with us. I realized that I may have left it in the church. The kind stake president contacted the missionaries who opened the church for us and I had left it in the chapel in the music thing on the bench. I was soooo grateful.
Ok, here is one magical place! We took over 200 pictures. We'll just post a few. You just have to see it.
There were about 43 hobbit hole dwellings, but they were only facades. In December of 2023, they completed a fully furnished hobbit hole in the mountain with all the halls and rooms. This was just spectacular.
The attention to every detail and the creativity was phenomenal. The ultimate little cottage.
It made me want to buy a mountain and build our own hobbit dwelling.
Imagine yourself as a little hobbit in this fun place. There's so much to see.
July 2, 2024:
Today we went to the Waitomo Caves (2 of them) The Glow worm and Aranui
I was so overcome with God’s beautiful creations today. The glow worm cave was huge. At one point the guide told us the acoustics were the best. There was no echo. He asked if anyone wanted to sing a song. I so wanted to, but I asked if we could all sing together. He ended up singing a solo himself in Maori. It was beautiful. I wished I would have been ready to sing a song. I thought of singing “I am a child of God” The glow worms had long strings of saliva in which to catch their food. It was soo cool. I wish we could have taken pictures in that cave.
The wonderful pathway was built 7 years ago. It took them 6 months to build it. Originally, the tours took 3.5 hours to get to where we got on the steps and path about 10 or 15 minutes. So amazing.
The beautiful place we stayed in Hamilton (July 3)
Today we drove by the new Aukland Temple being built
The places we stayed were all so wonderful. This final one was my favorite however!
The couple here was so nice.
I love the sheep so much
This was just so beautiful. I wanted to stay here forever, but have my family live here too. I savored the fresh air and tried to soak it all up and hold it in my memory forever.
We all have a tree to grow. A tree of life! If we nourish it with great care, it will get root and grow up, and bring forth fruit. Ultimately, what we do to nourish and care for our tree will determine what kind of fruit we will eat. And that SEED that we choose to plant and nourish with faith, diligence and patience will Swell within our breast, Enlarge our soul, Enlighten our understanding, and taste Delicious to us.
May we all choose to stay on the path and partake of the delicious fruit from our special Tree of Life.
I love it! And I'm so grateful you could share it with us at our house too. Thank you for coming!!!