Two Months Down

We have now been on our mission for two months.  We have 21 more months to go.

It has been a powerful experience.  We've had our highs and we've had our lows.  There is so much about mission life that we absolutely love and feel privileged to be experiencing.  Yet there are other times when we get hit with great waves of overwhelming longing for home and all that is familiar.  We work hard at staying focused on the present, allowing ourselves to fully immerse ourselves in our current surroundings.  We try to live by the mantra of "Be Here Now".   Still, there are times when our hearts crumble with thoughts of all we have left behind.

There is a lot of sacrifice in taking on a full time mission - particularly a foreign one.  This is very different from simply choosing to go expatriate for a grand adventure.  We have chosen to submit our own preferences and desires to go where ever Heavenly Father wants us to be and do whatever it is He would have us do.  

Our testimonies are growing.  The love we are feeling for the people we are with has been amazing.   The reason I keep writing these blog entries is to help us hold on to these memories.  Already in the short time we have been here some of the details have slipped away in the swirl of new events.  I'm beginning to understand more than ever why it was so important to Lehi's family to go get the Brass Plates that Laban had.  Human memory simply will not hold on to even the most sacred instructions over time.  We need the truly important stuff written down.

That's why we have the scriptures.  That's why we are counseled to keep journals.  That's why we record our family history.   I'm sure there will be gaps from time to time.  But I hope I can keep this record going for the full duration of this mission.  It feels important.  I don't ever want to forget what is happening to us and more importantly IN us during this season of our lives.

Family History Work on the Island of Niue

As I mentioned in my last post, the first LDS missionaries arrived in Niue in 1951.  On 14 Aug 1952 the first baptism were held in a pool at Amanau Cave, bringing 26 new converts into the gospel.  On 28 Aug 1952 12 more people were baptized.  

Elder Pennington and Elder Childs, the two young missionaries currently serving in Niue, took us to the Cave so we could see this historic site.

   

                      

                

                                                                      Elders Pennington & Child at Amanau Cave,        
                                                               Site of first LDS baptisms in Niue   

                                

Rosalina was in the second group of saints to be baptized on the island.  Here she is shown with her daughter who is filling in family information on a pedigree chart for the "My Family 15 in 15" Pacific Area Presidency Goal.

 Currently there are about 200 people on the rolls of the church living on Niue, but many are not active.  The Alofi Branch has about 40 – 50 active members.  We spent most of our time in this area.  

On the northern side of the island is the  Lakepa-Toi Branch which has about 25 active members.  Currently Lakepa-Toi alternates their meetings between two different chapels – one in Lakepa Village and one in Toi.   At one time there were more active members which justified additional meeting houses.  (At its peak the island had 5 meeting houses).  After the major cyclone in 2004 many people left the island.  So now the Lakepa and Toi congregations are combined to one congregation and they take turns meeting at the two different buildings so as to meet needs of folks in both places.       

Alofi Chapel – built 1954-1958                                           

      

Alofi Branch Presidency

There is abundant fresh fruit on the island .  Pictured here is the mission home where the full time missionaries live and a shot from their back yard where they have papaya, coconut and mango trees.  Coconuts are routinely kept in the refrigerator for a cold drink.  We would knock a hole in the top, insert a straw and enjoy the fresh juice

 .

 Elder Pennington and Elder Child were a tremendous help to us, introducing us to families all over the island.  They were also great learners when it came time to train them in how to use FamilySearch, the church's online program for tracking genealogy.

Missionary Activities:

We had four main goals for this trip, all of which were accomplished.

     1)  Set up Family History Center with new computer  

     2)  Train full time missionaries in using FamilySearch 

3)  Educate branch leaders about My 15 in 15 Pacific Area Goal

4)  Meet with someone from government to establish contact for future negotiations regarding publication of microfilm records.

We felt that our trip was very successful and had a positive impact in terms of promoting the Pacific Area Goal of My Family 15 in 15  as well as supporting the full time missionaries and giving them tools to be more effective in their service there.

Elder Child's Pedigree chart was the first to be printed
 in the newly opened Niue FHC

In addition to helping quite a few members learn how to use FamilySearch to track their family history, in just the first two days the newly opened Family History Center was open there were four people who submitted names for ordinances to be completed in the temple.  The people were so grateful for this.

  

We also had opportunities to visit in many members homes and to help teach a gospel lesson to a young girl preparing for baptism.   

We had dinner with the Lavini family one night.
They were wonderful folks and fed us a delicious meal.

We had a great gospel discussion with Avi, the owner of the pizza house and fish stand where we ate a couple times.  He is an immigrant from Israel who is married to a Niuean woman. We gave him a "My Family" booklet and encouraged him to record stories about his family, then teach them to his young daughters.

 We put in long days and worked hard.  It  was hot and I got eaten up by mosquitoes.  Still, we would not have traded this experience for anything in the world.  In addition to meeting all the objectives for this trip, we felt our time in Niue strengthened our own testimonies and provided vital experience for us which will make us more effective on future travels throughout the Pacific.

Elder Bennett getting his Niue driver's license at the Police Station

Sister Bennett with a Coconut Crab

Mission Trip to Niue

We just got back from our first overseas mission trip - to the tiny island nation of Niue.  It was quite an experience.

Here is a bit of background on Niue:

The following information is taken from the book “Niue of Polynesia: Savage Island’s First Latter-day Saint Missionaries”  by Robert Maurice Goodman. We checked this book out from the Takapuna Library (ordered ahead of time through inter-library loan). It is a worthwhile read and helped me appreciate the place and the people a lot more by knowing a bit of the history. Several of the people mentioned in the book were still strong members of the church at the time we were there.

“Where is Niue?
Niue (pronounced “knee-oo-ay”) is a sparkling, beautiful coral atoll island nation in the South Pacific that is seemingly lost among its more well-known neighbours, such as Tahiti (500 miles east), Samoa (300 miles north), (Fiji (350 miles northwest), Tonga (240 miles west), and New Zealand (1500 miles southwest). Niue is located slightly northeast of the invisible intersection of tropic of Capricorn and the International Date Line, at approximately 19 south latitude and 179 west longitude."

Characteristics of the Land and Its People
"Niue is one of the largest coral atolls in the world. Some people refer to the island simply as “the rock” or “the rock of Polynesia.” This island has a total area of 100 square miles-about the size of Washington DC. It is 17 miles long and 10 miles wide at its widest point, and it has approximately 40 miles of rough coral roads.
The island has two terraced levels, one at 90 feet and the other at 200 feet above sea level. Unlike most of the rest of Polynesia, there are no sandy beaches in Niue. Steep, rugged cliffs of well-pounded coral rock form the shore line. There are very few places through these shear, unyielding black and grey cliffs where one can find access to the open sea.

Small boats can dock at the wharf at the capital city of Alofi, and there are a few canoe landing places at such places as Avatele, Tuhia and Uluvehi. But elsewhere, there are only a few deep, natural chasms, such as those at Vailoa and Matapa, through which one may reach sea level. …

The entire island is solid rock, covered by only a thin layer of soil in which to grow crops. In some places, farmers had to create individual seed holes at an angle so there would be enough soil to cover the seed plant. Because there are no lakes or rivers on the island, people would collect the rainwater that fell onto their tin roofs and store it in barrels or tanks (cisterns) for future use"
.
(Note from my experience: A new water system provides plenty of safe drinking water pumped up from underground wells, usually stored in large tanks.)

"During the summer (December through March) the average daytime temperature was about 82 F. During winter (June through September) the average daytime temperature was about 72 F. Although droughts were frequent, and destructive cyclones hit Niue every few years, the trees and foliage of the island were usually lush and plentiful. There were many coconut, banana and papaya trees, along with many exotic hardwoods. Before tractors and defoliants, Niueans cleared the land with bush knives and controlled fires.”

LDS Presence
The first LDS missionaries arrived in Niue in 1951. On 14 Aug 1952 the first baptism were held in a pool at Amanau Cave, bringing 26 new converts into the gospel. On 28 Aug 1952 12 more people were baptized. A few of these original pioneers of the gospel are still living on the island today.

(Goodman, R. 2002. Pg 8 – 9).

OUR EXPERIENCE -

There are somewhere between 1000 and 1200 people who live on the island, mostly native Niuans, along with a small sprinkling of expats from various nations.  Many from Niue have emigrated to New Zealand or Australia, and some to other places after the last big cyclone.  Some of these folks do come back to spend extended visits with family on the island or to maintain interest in land holdings.  But the permanent population is quite small and the degree of established infrastructure is limited.  It's a pretty quiet place with few businesses.

Because of the cost of shipping and the sporadic nature of resupply, anything imported you buy in Niue is relatively expensive.  Niue uses New Zealand dollars. There are no ATM’s on the island and not every place takes credit cards, so it is important to take sufficient cash.  Even if you have plenty of money, however, there  are limited places to eat or shop.  Most tourists who come to Niue come during whale watching season or to enjoy the fishing and scuba diving.   There is no "nightlife" or even much "daylife" for that matter. Particularly when we were there, which was the"off season" as far as tourism goes, it's a pretty relaxed, quiet place.  People were friendly and kind.  The place was quite beautiful.  But anyone looking to be entertained would most likely be disappointed.  This would not be considered a hotspot of the Pacific.  There are no fancy dining places.  Most look something like this:


                                                
But for a relaxed meal at a decent price, we can definitely recommend the following:

Kai Ika (right next to Alofi Chapel) Good pizza! Also good fish.
Crazy Ugas (across from Police Station in Alofi)
Gills Indian Restaurant (in the “mall” in main part of Alofi)

In the central part of Alofi there is a shopping area, sometimes referred to as “the mall”.  However, the stores did not seem to keep any sort of regular hours. This is where the Post Office is and also the one electronics store. Other shops are mainly handicrafts and a hair salon, as well as the Indian Restaurant mentioned above. Our experience was that store hours of operations are somewhat random. We needed to go back three or four times before we found anyone at the electronics store where we needed to purchase a power strip for the Family History Center we were setting up.  We learned that if you need to get something and don’t find them open, don’t give up. Just keep trying!

"The Mall" in Niue

The Niue Information Centre is worth taking a visit to as it as some displays about the history and culture.  I was particularly interested in learning about the changes in Niue since the big cyclone that occurred in 2004.

Elders Pennington and Childs who we worked with during our visit

It is because of events like the devastating loss of records that happened during that storm that the work the family history department of the Church does is so important.   I'll close this post with a video that describes that and tell a little bit more about our activities on this trip in the next entry.

Exploring the Coromandel Peninsula

 

For all of us missionaries assigned to work in the Pacific Area Office, Saturdays are a time for gathering to explore.   One of our recent trips was to the Coromandel Peninsula. We started out in the town of Thames, driving along lovely beach-side roads and then cut across lush rain forest on a VERY twisty road (don't let that map line fool you - it was switchbacks around mountains nearly the whole way) till we got to the west side to visit Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove.

Larry, Me, Sister Winters and Elder & Sister Whidden

Thames Monument

Elder Gary Winters get's a bird's eye view of the surrounding area

from http://www.cycletour.org.nz/coromandel-west-coast.html

Rain Forest Reserve, Interior or Coromandel Peninsula - from Wikipedia

at the start of the trail to Hot Water Beach

Looking down on Cathedral Cove

 The Coromandel Peninsula has much to offer and a person could spend many days fully appreciating the trails, beaches, and little towns along the way.   For a quick day trip, we just got a bit of a taste.  Still, it was a beautiful day spent in the company of good people. 

Meeting the New Zealand AFHA's

This past week we headed back down to Hamilton for a meeting with the Area Family History Advisors from throughout New Zealand.  We needed to stay the night because we had a late conference call with the Advisors from Australia as well.  I was very impressed by the folks we are working with and look forward to getting to know them better.

Bob Munroe

Jill & Dave Hayward

Karen and Garry Howard

Before heading home on Wednesday we took time to take a walk through the Hamilton Rose Gardens and then hike around the lake nearby.  (We found both of these places because we knew there were geocache hides there.  What a delightful way to discover some truly special out of the way spots we otherwise would have missed). I continue to be amazed by the beauty of this place.  I hope I never get so used to it that I cease to be awed by it.

While we were in Hamilton we took the opportunity to go do a session at the temple.  I cornered one of the gardeners there as we were leaving to ask names of several of the trees I did not recognize like the Monkey Puzzle Tree

I am still amazed to see so many different trees, flowers, vines and bushes that are completely strange to me.  There is nothing like this back home.  Oh sure, we have pine trees and palm trees and leaf trees.  But they each grow in their own specific zones.  Here it is all a wild hodge podge growing together.  I've never seen so many shades of green.  The beauty truly is stunning.