Tuff Crater Path

(Image from walksinaukland.com )

We got all our chores done yesterday evening so we would have some free time to go exploring this afternoon.   We took a walk along the Tuff Crater trail.  What a great spot to find so close to home! 

This is an old volcanic crater that was at one time just an overgrown mess with marginal habitat for wildlife.  In recent years there has been a major restoration project going on to improve area around the estuary.  Today there is a lovely trail with lots of bird life.

About the restoration:   Last May there were "1700 plants moved from Kaipatiki Project and placed out by 20 people over 8 trailer loads in 2 hours on a Friday afternoon in the rain. These plants were planted by 80 people in 2 hours followed by a volunteer run BBQ" (2015. ForestandBird.org.NZ)

Here is a quick 3 minute video about the project:

This is something we very much would like to get involved in, so I will be contacting the folks who are managing the ongoing efforts.

This is how the how the wetland were looking today:

Here is the site description from the 2009 Restoration Plan:
"Tuff Crater is located on Auckland's North Shore, and is a total area of 30.7ha ranging from 0 –20m elevation above sea level. It is often referred to as Tank Farm due to the historical fuel oil storage tanks semi-constructed by the United States Navy (c.1942-43) as part of the war in the Pacific (Birkenhead Historical Society, 2006). The tanks are now decommissioned and have become overgrown habitats with various exotic species and natives including raupo. The tank sites have been numbered 1-9 from the Millennium Forest end. A former freshwater crater lake formed by explosive eruptions and surrounded by steep tuff rings, Tuff Crater has been breached by the sea with rising sea levels, becoming an area of sheltered intertidal mangrove and salt marsh communities, fringed by pockets of freshwater wetland and sparse exotic and indigenous forest and plantings.

The crater is largely round, with reserve situated on the fringes of the crater, except where the Auckland-Waiwera Motorway runs to the southeast of the crater. This is where all the tidal exchange takes place via the tidal creek into Shoal Bay of the Waitemata Harbour. There is minimal freshwater input into the crater".

Because we are now in winter here in the southern hemisphere it was chilly enough to warrant a jacket.  Still, the sun was out, which made it a very pleasant afternoon/evening.   Many of the trees have lost their leaves, but there is still plenty of green around and some flowers blooming - something we don't get much of back home in our North American winters.

I'm very keen to see what this gem of a place will look like come spring and summer.   It's just a 10 minute drive from our flat and a real treasure to the north shore community.

Of course, it doesn't hurt at all that there are several geocache hides scattered along the trail - two of which we found today.

Family Ties

This past week we have been savoring some special family time.  Our older son, Forest, came out from Michigan for a visit with his son, knowing we won't be seeing each other for a long time with the mission coming up.  It was great to watch our two sons interacting - they are so very different from each other.  As kids they used to fight like crazy and I often wondered if they would ever learn to be friends.  Fortunately, as adults, they have built a greater appreciation for one another.

We took all the grandkids and the dogs for a hike out to Jump Creek and had a blast climbing over the rocks and playing in the water there.  There were family dinners,  games, and lots of reminiscing. It was a very special time for all of us.

Leaving family is one of the biggest obstacles for many seniors who consider serving a full time mission. When I worry about leaving my family behind, I remember the words of our church leaders who have given key promises and wise council for mature couples who serve:

In an April 2001 Conference Talk titled "Couple Missionaries, A Time To Serve",  Robert Hale stated "As we serve in the mission field, our children and grandchildren will be blessed in ways that would not have been possible had we stayed at home. Talk to couples who have served missions and they will tell you of blessings poured out: inactive children activated, family members baptized, and testimonies strengthened because of their service."

In his October 2004 General Conference talk "Senior Missionaries and the Gospel",  Elder Russell M. Nelson said:  "No senior missionary finds it convenient to leave. Neither did Joseph or Brigham or John or Wilford. They had children and grandchildren too. They loved their families not one whit less, but they also loved the Lord and wanted to serve Him. Someday we may meet these stalwarts who helped to establish this dispensation. Then will we rejoice that we did not seek the shadows when a call to missionary service came from the prophet, even in the autumn years of our lives."

Then in his October 2011 talk "We are All Enlisted", Elder Jeffrey R. Holland addressed the concerns grandparents felt about leaving family behind by saying "Those little darlings will be just fine, and I promise you will do things for them in the service of the Lord that, worlds without end, you could never do if you stayed home to hover over them. What greater gift could grandparents give their posterity than to say by deed as well as word, “In this family we serve missions!”

I have wept at the thought of all I will miss in these key years of our grandchildrens' lives.  My heart is heavy as I recognize the huge gulf of time when I will not be there to share in family traditions or to build key memories.  

I have a deep and abiding faith that my family WILL be blessed in our absence.  That doesn't make it easier to leave them.  But it it does make it bearable.

Our Papers Are In!

Our missionary applications have now been officially submitted!   All the planning, praying, pondering leading up to this have been a powerful time for us.

I feel like I'm standing on the precipice of a great dividing line in my life.  In John Steinbeck's novel, The Pearl, he tells the story of a poor Mexican-Indian man named Kino who finds a giant pearl.  There is a line in the book about how Kino and his wife, Juana, would forever be changed by that pearl.  They would always think of their life as what happened before the pearl and what came after the pearl.  Sadly, in the book the pearl represents great tragedy.   This mission will be quite opposite from that.  But it will be a marker experience for us without a doubt.

I am reminded of when Larry and I built the pond in our backyard last year.

We started out with just an idea, thinking it would be nice to have a water feature up close to the house so we could hear the flowing water.  (For a long time we had the IDEA that at some point we would go on a mission together).

We happened to pick up a pre-formed liner from our neighbors at a yard sale. They had planned on building one in their yard but never quite got around to it.  (Larry's friend, Bruce Beckstrand, put in HIS papers to go on a mission - making us think more seriously about it ourselves).

The spot we had picked for putting the pond had a tree growing smack in the middle of it, so that had to be removed.   That was REALLY work.  (We had some barriers that needed to be rooted out - my attachment to my job, our fears about leaving our family and worry over the expense)

We found a place in where we could get the kind of rocks we were looking for and got a rock permit.
Then we set about the hard work of hauling a truck load of rocks.

When we got out to the spot where the rocks were my big strong man played billy goat and climbed the side of the hill to haul them over to where I was.  Then I would pick them up and take them the 100 yards or so to where the truck was parked.  Rock by rock by rock we had some great teamwork going on.

(All through the planning and preparations putting our applications together we have worked together as a team.  We have supported each other through each step of the process.  I'm sure we'll have lots more of that in days to come.)

After Larry carefully dug the hole for the pond, poured a layer of sand to support the liner, then leveled it carefully, we worked together to place the rocks .  There was more than a little second guessing as we moved them back and forth, this way and that, until we finally had them arranged in a way that was pleasing to both of us.

As we have explored options for this mission - should we say we needed to stateside or be open to an international assignment -   how long should we serve for?  What type of mission should we request?  All of that we had to carefully communicate with each other and with the Lord until everything settled in just right.   Like the pond you see pictured above, we ended up with something very special.

Now the count down begins, waiting for our official call.