Final Farewell

Today was our last day in New Zealand.  We went in to the office for our last Monday morning devotional.  We both shared our testimonies with the group.  Then I asked those who we had helped to find a family name to take to the temple to please stand.  My heart skipped a beat as I saw many of that group rise to their feet.

The beauty, the friendships, the good times and adventures have all been amazing.  But in the end, this is what it has been all about.  We have had the privilege of taking the message of eternal families throughout New Zealand and the Islands of the Sea.  
We have had the opportunity to assist people in learning about their family heritage and giving them the tools to take family names to the temple to perform sacred saving ordinances.

Literally hundreds of souls have been baptized vicariously by their descendants because of our mission.   Testimonies have been strengthened, among them my own.

One of the things we did in this last few weeks was to write our testimony into a whole case of copies of the Book of Mormon.  Those books will be distributed around the Auckland Mission by the young Elders and Sisters in the months to come.   I will probably never know whether any of those books will lead to specific conversions.  I doubt I will ever know in this life if the words we wrote had any impact on someone having a desire to read the book or to pray to know if it is true.

But this I know for sure - the words I wrote in those many copies of that precious book are carved deep into my heart and soul. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. We read the book all the way through five times during the course on our mission.  We finished it again just a few days ago and have already begun reading it again.  Every single time I found new insights, new answers to specific questions that I had, new layers of understanding that have deepened my love for this book.

So many times throughout this mission I saw the hand of God at work in our lives.  There were miracles galore that gave solid evidence to us that He is truly in the details of our lives.  Prayers were answered.  Comfort came when it was sorely needed.  Over and over again we were led in what to do or say far beyond our own abilities.  We cannot take credit for all the successes.  This is truly God's work.

I know that we are led today by prophets called of God.  I know that the work we do in Temples really does bind on earth and in heaven the generations of families into eternal chains.

I think I had a pretty strong testimony of the Gospel before we left on this mission.  But the experiences we have had over the past 22 months of this mission have blazed it into my life for keeps.

I do not know what the future holds for us when we return back to Boise.  We will take off our badges and no longer spend the bulk of each day teaching this work. I will find some sort of job and we will get back into a "civilian" routine.  But I hope I can always live my life in such a ways that it will be very clear that I am a representative of Jesus Christ, even when my mission is done.

I am so deeply grateful for these experiences.

Good bye New Zealand.

It's time to go home.

One Last Time

For the past week I have been sorting and packing, preparing our apartment to leave it for the very last time. We had our last walk on the beach, our last time a Lake Pupuke, many other "one last time" sort of farewells to our favorite places here.  On Friday there was a potluck gathering of Senior Missionaries at Elder and Sister Graham's home to honor those of us who will be leaving soon...us, the Olsens and the Spencers.   There was much laughter and some tender moments.  Some shared special poems, others gave a thought or a song.  Good food and dear friends made it an evening to remember.  I will always treasure these dear people we have served with here.  They have blessed my life in so many ways.

Today we attended Auckland Ward for the last time. We bore our testimonies and expressed our love the best way we knew how. I shed many tears as we drove away.

Oh how I have loved my mission life, even though at times it was difficult.   Leaving is hard. Tomorrow is the big day we get on the plan and head back to America.

Farewell Aotearoa.   Thank you for all of it.

Dinner at Bishop Kau's house

The last couple weeks have been an emotional roller coaster as we have said farewells to so many people who have been dear to us in preparation for our departure and return home to the USA.

Tonight we had dinner at our Bishop's house  The Kau family are such good people!  Oh how I will miss associating with our brothers and sisters from the islands.

We have felt so truly loved during our time here in New Zealand.  We are eager to go home to return to our home, our family and our friends.  Still, there is much about our mission life we know we will miss.  This time of getting ready to leave is bittersweet indeed.

I've been thinking a lot about what our church teaches regarding the plan of salvation.  Our doctrine says that we all lived as spirit beings in the presence of God before we were born into this earth life.  In the pre-existence we were taught many things about how to become more like our Heavenly Parents and follow their plan.  Then we had a choice to come to this mortal existence where we would gain a physical body and have experiences that would instruct and test us.  How we lived our lives here would determine our progression after we died.   Part of that plan included a veil of forgetting that would be placed on our minds when we came into mortality.  We would have no memory of our time with God or of the promises we made there.

In the past I have at times resented the veil, wishing with all my heart that I could recall even a small fraction of what it had been like in our pre-existent home.  It felt deeply unfair to me that I would be held accountable to covenants I made that I now have no memory of.

But I feel very different about all that now.  My heart is so heavy as I prepare to say goodbye to all my New Zealand friends.   I know I will miss this season of my life for many years to come.   I now recognize that the veil of forgetting over our Pre-Existence life was a loving gift from our Father in Heaven.   He knew that if we could remember the tremendous beauty and love we experienced there it would be nearly impossible for us to deal with the empty feeling of being cut off from our Heavenly home. We would be so homesick for Heaven that facing the hardships and adversity of this life would break our hearts.

So instead, we came down to this world not remembering.  Sometimes we may get a fleeting sense of deja vu when we meet someone that we are just sure we knew before.  Or, at times we get deep comfort from the Holy Ghost reminding us we are beloved children of our Heavenly Father.   But for the most part, in this life we journey through it on our own, walking by faith rather than recall.

When this life is over and I return to that place I do not now remember I suspect I will feel a lot like I do today...so excited and grateful to return to the place I truly call home, but heavy hearted for all leave behind.

I have so loved this mission experience.  I hope I will be able to hold on to the feelings and lessons forever.

A New Kind of Music

 We made our way back from the South Island and now we are winding up our final days of this experience.  We are scheduled to leave on October 3.

As we began to pack up to return to the states, we were sad we could not take Larry's guitar back with us.   I have enjoyed many a lovely evening listening to him play and he has learned quite a few new songs in the time we have been here. Alas, the guitar was 2 centimeters too long for us to take back with us without paying a fortune in oversize baggage fees. Then we got a great idea. We took the guitar down to Music Planet and traded it in on a Ukulele. THIS will fit in our suitcase. HOORAY! 

Now he needs to learn how to play some of our favorite island songs like Savalivali!