Visitors from home

Toni Erling

Sheryl Harris

We have some very special guests from the USA staying with us this week.  Larry's younger sister, Toni Erling, and her good friend Sheryl Harris, have come for a visit.  We have had a delightful time showing them the sites of where we live.
While they are both genuinely fun to be with, one of the best parts of having them here is to get to look at the beauty of New Zealand through fresh eyes.


When we first came here we were in awe with the wonder of the landscape.  The many shades of green, the textures of the land, and all the year round flowers captivated us.  We felt like we were in a land of magic and stunning beauty.  

Over time, however, we've gotten so used to our new surroundings that it has sort of become our new normal.  I wouldn't say we entirely take it for granted now.  But we have lost some of the initial sense of wonder.

Watching Toni and Sheryl's reaction to the things we show them and all the places we go remind of just how very special this place truly is.

Auckland Skyline

Dock at Lake Pupuke

Lynda in front of mammoth hydrangeas in Cornwall Park

Larry and Lynda at One Tree Hill Monument

 Today we did simple things.   We took a picnic lunch to Lake Pupuke and enjoyed watching the scenery and the birds (even if at one point we could relate a bit too much to Tippy Hedron in the Alfred Hitchock movie "The Birds" when the seagulls, pigeons and sparrows all decided they wanted a share of our sandwiches.)

Swamp Hen , also known as "Pukeko"

Black Swans

The pigeon that mugged Sheryl

After lunch we headed over to Cornwall Park to show them the amazing 380 degree view from the One Tree Hill monument and explore around the park a bit.

One Tree Hill Monument

Maori figure on One Tree Hill Monument

Cornwall Park in Auckland

Later we did the very normal and mundane chore of doing a bit of grocery shopping.  But somehow even that became an adventure when we watched our guests examining strange produce, unrefrigerated eggs, unfamiliar brands of cereal and a meat counter filled with all sorts of different selections of lamb.  Things here are so very different from the USA.  Watching their reactions took me back to how strange and unsettling it all seemed for me when we first arrived here.   It made me recognize how much we truly have adapted to our temporary home here in New Zealand.

A lot of the little things that used to be a big deal to me  are now simply taken for granted as the way things are here.  Today I accept them as part of my Kiwi life.  This applies both to things I used to find intensely positive and those I considered unbearably negative.  

I remember my white knuckle fear of riding in a car on the left side of the road in what seemed early on to be horrible, extreme traffic.  For the first couple months we were in country I was truly afraid every time we got in the car to go anywhere.  The roads were too narrow, the oncoming traffic, far too close.  The round abouts were too confusing.  The signs were unfamiliar.  It all added up to emotional gridlock for me for a lot longer than I ever would have dreamed it would before I came.   I can't really say when I got over being so nervous about the traffic.  But eventually, I did.  I no longer close my eyes when we cross the harbor bridge.  I no longer grit my teeth when we change lanes in downtown Auckland.  These days, I take it in stride.  That's a good thing.

However, I've also lost some of the intense feelings I once had on the positive end.  I remember how enchanted I was by all the many flowers that bloom year round here and by the amazing dimensions of multi-hued green mountains and valleys.  Coming from the perspective of one raised in the North American west I have seen a lot of brown in my time.  Here, the land is lush with grass, trees, bush, flowers beyond anything I could have ever imagined.  My eyes would pop as I took in the cabbage trees looking like something created by Dr. Seuss, the Silver Fern trees, the majestic Norfolk Island pines and all the rest of the landscape.  I still think it is pretty.  But the wonder of it has faded considerably from the way I felt when we first arrived.  

As I reflected over this,  I was reminded of a certain passage in the scriptures in Chapter 5 of the book of Alma.  It comes from the words which Alma, the High Priest, delivered to the people in their cities and villages throughout the land.  Starting in verse 26 he says:

"And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"  (emphasis added).

Alma goes on to ask the people who would have been the members of the church at that time whether they were keeping the commandments, and whether their attitude toward the gospel was as strong and as committed as it had been when they first became converted.

Sadly, we forget.  Just like we tune out the constant hum our refrigerator makes, in the same way we can stop hearing train whistles in the night or the sound of Tue birds in the early morning, we can stop noticing even very important things that are around us all the time. If we are not careful, we can stop feeling how special the gospel truly is.

There are so many things I do NOT want to forget - which is one of the main reasons I write this silly little blog of mine.  I want to have it to refer back to long after this mission is over so that I can remember the special experiences and feelings I had here.

The word "Remember" occurs 497 times in the scriptures.  I think that makes it pretty clear that Heavenly Father does not want us to ever forget the things that are truly important - the sacred teachings of eternity.

I want to always remember this time, this place, the people I've come to love here.

Even more important than all of that, I want to always remember the feelings of KNOWING that Heavenly Father is real and is aware of me on a very personal basis.  I want to remember the times when we have seen very specific and personal answers to prayers.  I want to remember the sense of peace that came to us in times of struggle.  I want to remember the times we were given to know what to say when we absolutely had no idea what we were talking about.

So I'm deeply grateful to my dear Sister-in-Law and her friend for coming to pay us a visit here on our mission - not just because I genuinely like them both.  I am grateful that they have helped me remember the wonder of what it is to be here in this amazing land.

And I am grateful to them for helping me to ponder deeper what other things I may be taking for granted so I can open my eyes to them again.

Auckland Lantern Festival

This weekend we attended the Auckland Lantern Festival.  The Festival is one of the biggest and most popular cultural events in Auckland and celebrates the region’s vibrant ethnic diversity with thousands of people attending the event daily.

It is said that the holiday evolved from an ancient Chinese belief that celestial spirits could be seen flying about in the light of the first full moon of the lunar calendar.

People used torches and eventually lanterns of every shape, size and color to aid them in spotting the spirits.

The lanterns come in all shapes and sizes. Some are created in the form of animals, insects, flowers, people or even machines and buildings. Others depict scenes from popular stories teaching filial piety and traditional values. A favorite subject is the zodiac animal of the year, which in 2016 will be the monkey.

​Lanterns

Lantern Festivals have been part of Chinese New Year celebrations since the Han Dynasty (206 BC-221 AD) and are usually held on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar which marks the end of New Year festivities.

The Lantern Festival is also popularly referred to as the Chinese Valentine’s Day because in days of old it gave girls and boys a rare chance to go out in the evening without chaperons. Today Lantern Festivals are held each year in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan to mark the end of Chinese New Year celebrations.

Part of the lantern festival tradition involves a game to guess riddles attached to the lanterns. In the old days the riddles were drawn from the Chinese classics and so were mainly the preserve of the educated classes.

"Over time, the Foundation has built up a large collection of lanterns. The lanterns that appear at both festivals (here in Auckland and a similar one in Christchurch) now fill more than 20 shipping containers. Visitors to this year’s Auckland festival would be unlikely to recognize it as the same festival that was held in 2000, which was pieced together from secondhand lanterns from the Jurong Gardens in Singapore" (Asia New Zealand Foundation).

Chinese culture is full of ancient traditions, which have been used to shape the Auckland Lantern Festival over the years.

"Like most Chinese festivals, the Lantern Festival has its own special foods. including tang yuan (or yuan xiao in Northern China)— round glutinous rice dumplings with sweet or salty fillings. The shape of the dumplings symbolize both the first full moon and family unity"  (AucklandNZ.com).

This was just one of the many offering available from the LONG row of food stalls.  We sampled a few things, of course.

There were also many different performances throughout the festival, both music and dance.  I loved watching some of the traditional dances and chatting with some of the dancers as they waited for their turn to go on stage.

The whole event was fascinating for me as a once-upon-a-time Sociologist.   I enjoyed watching the people attending as much as I liked watching the performances.

However, as much as I like people watching, we left fairly early as the crowd continued to grow more and more dense as the evening wore on.  People were pouring in by the hundreds.  By the time we left around 6:00 PM we felt like salmon swimming upstream as we slowly made our way up the path to the exit against the flow of far more still entering the domain.  We were happy to get back on the bus to head home.  We were glad to have had the chance to see it all and just as glad to call it a night.

One of the things I appreciate best about living in New Zealand has been the opportunity to be in such a culturally diverse population and witness how the various groups here truly seem to appreciate each other.  I love the feeling of synergy that comes when people of many different backgrounds with different ideas, customs, beliefs and ways of living come together with mutual respect.

It isn't quite like the Zion people described in 4 Nephi:

They lived as one people and were all known as the “people of Nephi” (4 Ne. 1:10); and they ceased to recognize any distinctions among themselves, so that not only were there no Lamanites, there were no “-ites” of any kind, “but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God” (4 Ne. 1:17). 

Here, the distinctions between groups are very evident, and there are a substantial number of people who do not base their lives on the teaching of Christ.  Still, for the most part we have found there be almost no racial tension or sense of disharmony between classes.  In that way it is very different from the United States.  Living here has shown us how people of different faiths, different ethnicity, different values really can peacefully co-exist and build strong communities together.

As this last 8 months of our mission winds down we continue to savor every opportunity to participate in the cultural aspects of living in New Zealand, weaving these experiences together with the spiritual highlights we get from our Family History trainings.   Both sorts of opportunities are melding together to make this whole Mission experience something that will shape our views and values for all the rest of our days.

(The photos here are all mine.  Info about the festival from
http://asianz.org.nz/content/auckland-and-christchurch-lantern-festivals-february-2016  and http://www.aucklandnz.com/lantern/lantern-festival-chinese-new-year-traditions  ).

Family History in Bream Bay

We were invited to come up to Bream Bay Branch (in Whangarei Stake) to help with a scheduled Family History event.  They host a family history night on the third Friday of every month, which is fantastic, especially for a small branch.  (Their average church attendance fluctuates between 30-50 people).  While we have done stake trainings in Whangarei, this was our first time in Bream Bay. We were very impressed by the eagerness of the members to engage in Family History work.  

This is what Wikipedia had to say about the Bream Bay area:

'Bream Bay' is loosely used as a collaboration of the three major towns that satellite the metropolitan area which are Ruakaka, One Tree Point and Waipu. The physical bay itself geographically spreads from the mouth of Whangarei Harbour (Bream Head), 22 kilometers south, to the southernmost point of Waipu Cove (Bream Tail). The area also inhabits 3 native reserve islands, located just off the coast of Bream Bay: the Hen and Chickens Islands and Sail Rock Island.

The general area is made up of Ruakaka Beach, Ruakaka Township and Marsden Point. Other Bream Bay localities such as One Tree Point, Takahiwai and even Waipu are often included in general conversation regarding the area. (Latitude -35.8833, Longitude 174.4000)

Ruakaka Beach, October 2005.

Ruakaka Beach lies near the mouth of the Ruakaka River which boasts a rare bird reserve and popular summer camp ground.  It is primarily a residential area made up of a mixture of permanent homes and beach shacks.

The Ruakaka Township was developed off the back of the Marsden Point Oil Refinery expansion in the 1980s where services were required to support the large influx of workers from all over the world involved in the project. A government requirement for a percentage of revenue invested in the project to be spent on the local community allowed for provision of services not common in communities this size (e.g. squash courts, sports grounds).

The Marsden Power Station Village was built to support the Marsden Power Stations (A & B) which have since been decommissioned. The area is now promoted as beachside living.

The Whangarei Stake is very dear to us.  Of course, we love working with the leaders and members where ever we go.  Still, we have had some particularly special times in the Northlands.  So we were excited to head back up that way again.

 The meeting we helped with went very well.  Everyone had a really good time.  President Ashcroft is a wonderful leader who most definitely understands the vision of this work.  His wife and daughter both serve as family history consultants.

The congregation rents a large home on One Tree Point Road.  They have converted the garage into their chapel and various rooms of the house serve for Primary, Relief Society, Youth, Sunday School and other needs.  They have done a wonderful job adapting the place to meet their purposes. Apparently the old meeting house they had was very close to the ocean, so much so that at high tide the car park would get flooded and small land crabs would scrabble across the floor of the church.  This place is much nicer, and was a comfortable gathering spot for all.

In a rural branch where many of the members live quite a distance from where they meet for church, it is often quite a challenge to get people to come out for evening meetings during the week.  Robert Phillips, who serves as Branch President from neighboring Wellsford Branch, and his wife came to help as they are both very active genealogists but have not yet been able to generate much interest among members in their area.

The Ashcrofts can certainly understand the struggle it is for many people to come out after a long day.   Sister Ashcroft teaches Early Morning Seminary and then works during the day teaching High School French.  So by the time 7:00 PM rolls around she is often feeling fairly spent.  But you could never tell that by her demeanor.  She was so kind and friendly, as if there was no place on earth she would rather be at that time than in this meeting.  Her enthusiasm for helping other find their ancestors was infectious.

We loved the buzz of engaged conversations as members shared stories with each other about their families.

      

Best of all was the joy expressed when members found particular ancestors in their family lines that they could submit to do proxy ordinances for in the temple.  

Our hearts were full throughout the evening as we felt the blessings flowing. Family History is so much more than just names and dates.  The love and joy that filled those rooms was tangible.   When we finally got back to the little bed and breakfast where we were staying we were tired, but so happy.  It truly is a privilege to be part of events like this. 

The beauty of the Northlands is undeniable.  Nevertheless, it is the spirit of the people that keeps up going back again and again.  

Switching Gears

Right after we returned to New Zealand from Tonga we did a FamilySearch presentation for the North Shore Genealogy Branch.  We had a great time and it went very well.   The people were very kind and our presentation was well received.

 However, it is very different teaching non-member community groups about FamilySearch than the work we are used to doing with stake and ward leaders.  We enjoy both.  They simply require a completely different sort of approach.

When we are working with members our work is primarily spiritual.  We talk about why we as a people engage in family history and how it can bless our lives.   When we work with non-member community groups we focus on how the web-based program functions and answer questions about access and process.

There is an exercise we do at nearly all of our trainings.  We get the people in the room matched into pairs and have them tell each other a family story.  After four or five minutes we bring them back together as a group and ask them to identify what they were feeling during the story telling.   When we are working with members, we help people learn to recognize the Spirit of Elijah, and how that is a manifestation of the Holy Ghost teaching us about the eternal nature of families.  That is often one of the most powerful parts of our trainings.  Even though we do the same exercise with the community groups, it does not carry the same punch without the gospel perspective of what it means.

I am convinced that ANYONE who spends time learning about their family history for any reason can get benefit from this.  But those who do it with the intent of binding the generations together through sacred temple ordinances have a very different level of connection with the names that they find and the stories they hear.

So thankful that we have the opportunity for both kinds of trainings.  We meet so many great people in this mission.  I will long remember the stories I heard and the warm camaraderie among this group.