Gardens and Worms

While we were in Hamilton for our recent Temple trip we took the Ormonds to see one of our favorite places, the Hamilton Gardens.  This is a world class botanical gardens that is absolutely gorgeous year round.  There are many different areas each dedicated to a different style of garden.  I've always been a sucker for pretty plants and flower, so it was great to be able to spend time there with good friends.

David & Gayle Ormond at Hamilton Gardens

Gayle loved all the roses!

Another fun thing we did together was visit Waitomo Caves to see the glow worms.

The "worms" aren't really worms at all.  According to eHow:  "Glow worms are the larvae of a beetlelike bug and this insect produces light due to a chemical process ...

Attracting Prey

• Glow worms produce threads that resemble mucous. This mucous like substance is what they use to attract and capture their prey. They place these threads in cracks and crevices within their habitat. After planting the thread, they wait patiently as insects slowly flock to it. Glow worms also use their light to lure their prey to the mucous thread."

These insects are unique to New Zealand and can be found in several different parts of the country.  Seeing the caves all lit up by their bioluminescense was really quite pretty if I didn't think too much about it really being a chemical condition of bug snot!

At any rate, we enjoyed showing our visitors some of the unique and beautiful places this country has to offer.

Another reason we were down that way was so Larry and I could  visit one of the Family History Centers in Hamilton to talk with the director about the ongoing My Family 15 in 15 program.  As the year is winding down we are all pushing extra hard to reach our goal of 10,500 people submitting family names to the temple throughout the Pacific.  
We have recently received approval for our planned trip to the United States to be able to go to the temple with Aaron and Stephanie, as well as to spend a bit of time with our other family so we are feeling extra pressure to reach this goal before we leave.   I hope we make it!  We prayed and fasted to know what we might do to be as effective as possible.  Now all we can do is trust that the program is moving forward as it should and that the Lord will help us to reach the people we are assigned to serve.