E hiahia ana ahau ki te ako ki te korero i te reo Maori na ka mau ahau ki te akomanga.

E hiahia ana ahau ki te ako ki te korero i te reo Maori na ka mau ahau ki te akomanga.

(Translation:  I want to learn to speak Maori so I took a class.)

This has been a great week!  We still have a few colds cropping up but I think that is common for the winter months.  We had a wasp sting and a bee sting so the insects are still out and about.  We had also a toothache, stomach ache, back ache and a few other misc ailments but for the most part, the mission is pretty healthy.

Tuesday I rode to Northland (that is what the northern most part of New Zealand is called) with Elder and Sister Packard on our way to a zone conference to be held in Kaikohe (translation: fat).  They left me in Kiawaka (translation: food canoe) with Sister and Elder De Lora.  I was in the MTC with De Lora’s and we became close friends.  It was wonderful to spend the evening with them and to drive the next morning for 2 hours to our zone conference.

The De Lora’s are serving as MLS missionaries (Member Leadership Support) and they are working hard to become active members of the community.  They sing in a community choir, Sister De Lora goes to a quilting group and they attend Maori classes every Tuesday evening.  I was lucky enough to attend a class with them.  I learned a few Maori words and simple sentence structure.  Just so you don’t think I’m boasting, I had to go to a dictionary/translator to be able to put the title on this blog so I’m not fluent yet...LOL!

Notes from Maori language class

At the end of the class, the students sing a song in Maori

I thought this information was interesting so I want to share:

“The Māori alphabet or Te Pū Taka Māori consists of 10 consonents and 5 vowels.

In alphabetical order they are: a, e, h, i, k, m, n, ng, o, p, r, t, u, w, wh

There are five vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Ten consonants: h, k, m, n, ng, p, r, t, w, wh

Two of the consonents are digraphs (two letters that combine to form one sound): wh, ng”

The wh makes something close to the sound of “f” so Whangerei, a city in Northland, sounds like Fongaray.  I don’t know what sound the ng makes.  I’ll have to ask someone.

Northland is spectacular!!  Wednesday there was frost on the meadows.  I was told that this was the first frost of the year.  The roads are winding and narrow, there are huge logging trucks, and sometimes it is a little unnerving to see a huge vehicle coming at you on the “wrong” side of the road.  It takes a second to remember that vehicles travel on the left side of the road.  I am becoming accustomed though.  When I get home, I will have to unlearn what I have learned here.

Frost on the meadows

You can see islands in the sea

The trees in Northland still have colorful leaves.   

A misty morning

You can see hill sides where the logging industry has been at work.
Forestry is New Zealand's third biggest export industry, after dairy and meat.

From The NZ Herald:  Many weeds attack our ecosystems but one which
closely resembles the native toetoe is among the most insidious.

Pampas, the prolific-seeding native of the South America, invades disturbed areas, such as cleared bush margins, burned areas and firebreaks.

It competes with and smothers other vegetation, and provides habitat for rats and mice.
Heavy infestations are radiating wind-blown seeds across Northland, Taranaki, Whanganui, Bay of Plenty and elsewhere.

Pampas threatens plantation forests and land of high conservation value, says Abigail Monteith, partnerships ranger for DoC's Northland District.)

It was a most pleasant day being with the missionaries and meeting many that I hadn’t met before.  I rode back home with the Packard’s who dropped me off at my flat about 7:30 Wednesday night.

Thursday I had the opportunity to have lunch with the sister training leaders in my area.  What delightful young women!

Sisters Kehoe (in the front) and Crooks

We had another zone conference on Friday but it was held here in Takapuna.  If it hadn’t been raining, I would have walked to this conference.

I have the opportunity to teach the missionaries some aspect of healthy living at each conference.  This month I taught the importance and benefits of exercise. I got their attention by jogging into the gym where they were eating lunch. I yelled and raved about a new program I had found that was just too good to keep to myself.  I told them that for just a mere 30 minutes a day they could win prizes and special benefits!  Everyone wanted to hear about this program.  I explained that all they had to do was exercise;  run, jog, jump rope, do squats, whatever it took to increase their heartrate.  I went on to show them what they could win. With exercise they could increase their energy, maintain or lose weight, build stronger bones and muscles, get better relaxation and sleep, reduce pain, help skin to be healthy, get better brain health and memory, and just plain be happier!!  They were receptive.  I hope that they will be more diligent about exercising.

Saturday morning I went to the doctor with a missionary.  Afterward we stopped in the pharmacy to fill the prescription she was given.  After the sisters left, I was talking to the pharmacist and asking some questions about a medication.  Before I left, the pharmacist asked me “What do you do?  What does that (pointing to my name tag) mean? I explained that I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I am the nurse for our mission and I help the missionaries with health and wellness.  I explained that the younger missionaries talk to people who want to learn more about Jesus Christ.  I asked if she would like to know more and she said yes.  I didn’t have any pass-a-long cards so I told her she could learn about the church at churchofjesuschrist.org.  She told me she was going to go home and look it up.

I got some pass-a-long cards today at the office.  I will go back to the pharmacy and give her a card this week.  It made my day to be able to plant a seed and to tell a person about our Savior.  I don’t have this opportunity often.

Pass along cards

It was our Stake Conference this week end.  I attended the Saturday evening session with Sister Bunker.  At the beginning of the meeting after the opening prayer, a sextet of women from the Young Single Adult Ward sang an arrangement of the hymn “Dearest Children God Is Near You.”  I have never hear more angelic voices.  Moved me to tears.  They blended exquisitely!

Elder Daniel G. Hamilton of the Seventy was the visiting authority. He was impressed too as he asked them to sing the hymn again before he began his talk.  They moved him to tears too.

Sunday after conference, I drove Sister Bunker to the MTC again.  I went into the teaching session with her this time so that the elder could practice his English with someone new.  He is trying so hard!  I could understand much of what he was trying to say.

He told us about his conversion and that he and a brother are the only members of the Church in his family and his brother has fallen away from activity.  He is finding joy in learning a new language and looking forward to serving his mission.

In our conference session Sunday, one of the topics Elder Hamilton talked about was sacrifice.  Listening to this elder reminded me that he has made and is making sacrifices.

I remember a talk from April Conference 2018 given by Elder Taylor G. Godoy, One More Day. In this talk Elder Godoy begins with the story of a young boy who lived only a short time due to a syndrome/condition that he had a birth.  The day before he died, this boy said “one more day” and the next day he died.

Elder Godoy ponders: “If we were told we had a short time to live, we too might plead for more days of life in the name of things we should have done or done differently.  Regardless of the time the Lord, in His wisdom, determines to grant each of us, of one thing we can be sure: we all have a “today” to live, and the key to making our day successful is to be willing to sacrifice.”

Elder Godoy defines sacrifice:  “The word sacrifice comes from the Latin words sacer, which means “sacred,” and facere, which means “to make”—in other words, to make things sacred, to bring honor to them.”

He goes on to describe the ways that sacrifice will make our days meaningful and blessed:
1. personal sacrifice strengthens us and gives value to the things we sacrifice for,
2. sacrifices we make for others, and that others make for us, result in blessings for all,
3. any sacrifice we make is small compared to the sacrifice of the Son of God.

This is a meaningful talk.  I encourage you to read it in full as the examples and stories that Elder Godoy share add emphasis to the meaning and sacredness of sacrifice.

I know that the Lord loves us and has given his all for us. I am blessed to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ restored to its fullness in these latter days by the Prophet, Seer and Revelator Joseph Smith.  The Book of Mormon and the Bible testify of Jesus Christ. 

Te here nei au i to'u Faaora e te here nei au ia oe i to'u utuafare e to'u mau hoa.
(translation:  I love my Savior and I love you my family and friends.)

Reminder of NYC days.  I went to “Pen Station”

New Zealand money especially the bills are colorful and attractive.