Taulanga Ward

Taulanga Ward Relief Society Choir

The church we will attend here is the Taulanga Ward - a Tongan congregation in Takapuna.  I love the Tongan sisters!   They are so friendly and welcoming.  I am very much looking forward to getting to know them better.

It is a challenge in some respects to be part of this ward since we do not speak their language.  We sit through Sacrament meeting reading our scriptures, praying, and trying our best to be in tune with the spirit while talks are being given that we don't understand at all.  Still, the connections we are making feel important.   Worshiping among these people just feels right.

One very special sister is Sulieti.  She joined the church last March and has a strong testimony.  She is a nurse providing elder care and often has to work night shifts.   She was scheduled for the 3-11 shift Saturday, but then ended up doing a double shift when the 11-7 staff person who was to relieve her did not show up.   By the time she got home on Sunday morning, she was very tired.  But it was important for her to attend her meetings, so she was most definitely in church.

Last night was the Stake Christmas program.   Sulieti knew we were new to the area, so she right away invited to take us if we wanted to go.   Having gone all night with no sleep, it would have been very understandable if she had wanted to just go home after church and get some much needed rest.  However, Sulieti saw an opportunity to serve, and so she did.

We had a lovely time at the music program and were very impressed by the talent of people at the stake.  The Taulanga Ward Relief Society choir sang two songs, one in English and one in Tongan.  Both were absolutely beautiful.  They sounded like angels.

I imagine we may still attend the English speaking Takapuna Ward from time to time so we can make some connections with folks we can communicate with better, but our "home ward" will be Taulanga.

Years ago we visited a small ward in Enterprise, Oregon where we met some of the friendliest people we had ever encountered.  There we were greeted and welcomed by nearly everyone and felt very much valued for our presence there.  Ever since, Enterprise Ward has remained in our minds as a sort of measuring mark for how welcoming any group may be.  More than once we have said "well, this group is nice, but they sure are not Enterprise Ward".

The Tongan saints of Taulanga most definitely meet that high bar of welcoming kindness.   They are wonderful people who I look forward to serving with.

Meeting Boletta

We are trying to get a handle on what our duties will be here.  So far, our main assignment is to work as office support in the Pacific Area Office for the family history department.   That means we basically have an 8 to 5 job taking care of administrative duties like shipping out equipment to various family history centers throughout the Pacific,  planning programs, maintaining accurate inventory and staffing lists, supporting family history center directors, answering questions, etc.  

Part of the time we will travel to various areas to train leadership about the importance of having strong family history programs and activities in their stakes, wards or branches.  But we don't generally work directly with individuals doing family research.

However, on Friday a woman and her daughter came to the office hoping to find someone to assist her with a particular task on her own family tree. She had done genealogy on paper for many years, but was not familiar with computers so she was not sure of how to submit names in FamilySearch. She wanted help entering the information for her deceased brother and his wife so she could get their names cleared to take to the temple.  

Bolleta came all the way from a small town near Greymouth, on the West Coast of the South Island, seeking help.  She did not have a functioning family history center close to where she lived, so she was hoping that a trip to Auckland would provide the assistance she needed.  Rather than tell her that the Area Office didn't really do that sort of thing, our manager said I could see what I could do to help her out.

                       
Fortunately I had been well trained during the time we were in Mesa taking classes, so in just a few minutes I was able to get her logged on and the necessary information entered into the FamilySearch trees program. With just a few clicks we were able to print out the ordinance request form for her to take to the temple to get her brother's work completed.  The love this woman felt for her sibling was powerfully evident.  Both she and her daughter were so grateful to get this accomplished. It felt wonderful to help make that possible.  

While I knew all the office support tasks I was being assigned were important, and ultimately contributed to the work of preserving family history and leading people to the temple, having someone right there in front of me with a need I could solve had a very different sort of feel to it.  Seeing her beautiful smile and tears in her eyes as she expressed the love she felt for her brother touched my heart in a way that updating spreadsheets never could. It made me feel like a REAL missionary!

I Believe in Miracles

A 2012 photo of  Los Angeles International Airport 

We are now settled into our new home in Takapuna, New Zealand. Our mission has truly begun. Already we have seen the hand of God guiding us in so many ways.It started even before we left the USA.

On our last day in America we said our final goodbyes and then headed off to the airport in plenty of time. We were ever so grateful to our friends, Robert and Merrylyn Chandler, for hosting us at their home in Salt Lake City during the second part of our training. Being able to stay right downtown during that week afforded us the opportunity to fully focus on all we were learning and experiencing rather than spending hours on trains shuttling back and forth from the MTC.
We left the USA on 15 December, although we didn't arrive in Auckland until the morning of the 17th (a combination of both a 13 hr flight and crossing the international date line).The day we left, we arrived at the airport quite early to be sure we got through security and made it to our gate well ahead of boarding. We needn't have rushed. Our flight was delayed two and a half hours. By the time we touched down at Los Angeles, we were already perilously close to the time our flight for Auckland was scheduled to take off.
We rushed and scrambled through the airport to find where we needed to be. We got utterly lost. LAX is a huge international airport with multiple terminals quite far apart.We needed to take a bus, but did not know where to go to meet that bus and were given conflicting information by different people about where we should get off. It was so confusing! We were tired and disoriented. We were nervous about missing our plane. For a few minutes we got quite flummoxed, feeling like country bumpkins in this big, strange place, not knowing what to do next.

So we prayed. HARD.

Finally we did find the right terminal, and then the real rush began. We had a LONG way to go, then needed to go through security screening again. People were lined up in a que that wound round and round. At first we thought we were supposed to be in that line, but later realized that was for people waiting to get boarding passes. We already had boarding passes. So we found someone else to ask directions. We were told the plane was preparing to leave and we would have to RUN.

So we ran. Man, did we run. On our previous plane I had taken off my shoes and put on light slippers to be more comfortable in flight. I had not had time to switch back to my shoes, so I was trying to run in these silly slippers that kept sliding off.  Finally I just took off the slippers and ran in bare feet which was fine until I tried speeding things up by going on the moving walkway.  That path was not meant for bare feet - like stepping on a bed of nails! But once I was on it there was no way to get off until I got to the end so I just ran anyway.

We scrambled, we rushed, we prayed that we would make that plane.   Over and over I kept saying "If Heavenly Father can part the red sea He can get two bewildered missionaries where they need to be."

Signs were predominately is other languages. There were few Caucasian faces. Although still technically on American soil, we already felt as if we were in a strange country. We took wrong turns a couple of times. But finally we went pounding up to our exit gate just as they were were preparing to close the door.  WAIT! We cried, we're here!  We are HERE!

With calm, gracious patience the attendants smiled at us and directed us to our seats.   We made it.  We actually made it.   For some unexplained reason that plane had been held far past when it was supposed to take off.  There were no technical problems.  There was no bad weather.  It wasn't an issue of other planes ahead of us.  They just somehow took a little longer than usual with each step of their check in and moseyed their way through signing off on paperwork.   Somehow, someway, they just didn't feel ready to leave yet.  Until we arrived.  Then they took off almost immediately.

That was no coincidence.  That was not happenstance.   That was a miracle, as far as I am concerned. One of many.

I won't go into detail here about others -
The Miracle of the phone
The Miracle of the Christmas Tree
The Miracle of Song

Suffice it to say that over and over we have seen things happen that there is absolutely no rational explanation for. In each case, we see our needs being met, our steps being guided, our hearts being comforted, our certainty of this mission being confirmed as being exactly where we need to be no matter what sacrifices we have to make.
I am of two minds about these sort of miracles.  To some extent, I believe we are being truly blessed because off our willingness to serve.   I think there may be some very special protections that come to missionaries as a result of all the many prayers said in our behalf.   At the same time, I also believe that miracles surround all of us each and every day. Most people, however, are so caught up in their own concerns that they simply do not recognize them.

I think one of the things that leads to us seeing so many powerful experiences like this right now is simply that we are making a very deliberate effort to be in tune with spiritual things, and that is allowing us to see things in a different light.

For me, that is a very powerful thing.

TREES

One of the first things we noticed on our arrival to New Zealand is all the many different kinds of trees, shrubs, vines and flowers we encountered. There are so many shades and textures of GREEN beyond anything I've ever experienced. Anyone who knows me all will know I have an absolute passion for trees and flowers. I couldn't even consider buying a new home when we came to Boise four years ago simply because they had no mature trees in the yard. Many times during our search for just the right place, my sweet husband would bring up an image on the Internet of a great house well within our budget, calling me excitedly to show off a perfect kitchen or a wonderful location. Each time I would respond the same: "Does it have trees?" No trees mature was an absolute deal breaker for me.

That's why I held out for the place we have now - a modest late 70's ranch. Our home absolutely meets our needs, but is nothing fancy or special, so far as the house itself is concerned.  But the yard was exactly what I wanted, a true sanctuary of trees, stone walkways, and lush flowerbeds which sooth my soul.

Granted, we have taken out a few trees (several VERY tall pine trees, a locust tree and a couple of fringe trees) to open things up a bit, but we still enjoy lots of shade, privacy, and shifting color with the seasons, which matters to me a lot.

So you can imagine my delight as we have begun to explore our surroundings here.  The abundance of trees and flowers everywhere is truly stunning.  It rains A LOT, which can at times be a bit dreary.  But the payoff of all that precipitation is lush green woodlands and plants that would not grow otherwise.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

In the words of the Grateful Dead, "What a long, strange trip it has been".  We've done a lot of traveling over the past little while. We left our home in Boise on October 19.  First we went to Arizona. The six weeks we spent there were a very special part of this journey.  From Arizona we went on to Utah for our training at the MTC and in Salt Lake.  That was a spiritual fire hose.  And now we have accomplished the last leg of our journey - bringing us half way across the world.  We've lived out of suitcases and feasted on anticipation.  Now the time is here to truly begin.

Elder Bennett on the plan to Auckland

Me on the Front Runner Train
From Orem to SLC