Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium

I’m going to start with the end of the week.  Saturday I was invited to go on an outing right here in Auckland.  Sister Lucas’s friends, the Hutchisons,  invited Sister Lucas, Sister Bunker and me to join them on an excursion to Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium.

Sister Lucas drove us to meet the Hutchisons at their home in Browns Bay where we started the day with a bush/beach walk along Browns Bay Beach. The Hutchisons are residents of New Zealand but met Sister Lucas when they served a mission together in Salt Lake City in the Missionary Health Department.

Sisters Lucas, Hutchison, Bunker

The Hutchisons are most knowledgeable about the flora of the area so I always like being with them to learn about the trees and shrubs.

This is a kawakawa tree/bush.  Sister Hutchison told me about it. Here is a Wiki description
for its popularity here in New Zealand: “Kawakawa is a traditional medicinal
plant of the Māori.   An infusion is made from the leaves or roots, and used for bladder problems,
boils, bruises, to relieve pain or toothache, or as a general tonic. The sweet edible yellow berries
(most often found in summer on female trees) of the plant were eaten as a diuretic.
It also is important in cultural contexts: host people of a marae wave leaves of kawakawa
to welcome guests. At a tangi, both hosts and guests may wear wreaths of kawakawa on
the head as a sign of mourning. 

It is commonly grown as an ornamental plant in gardens.”

This is a Nikau palm tree, the only native palm in New Zealand.  Elder Hutchison told us you can
measure its age by the rings around the trunk.  It grows a ring every 3 years.  (I hope I got that right.)

After the bushwalk, we all drove into Auckland to the Aquarium.  It is a unique place created in sewage storage tanks that had been unused since the 1960s.  If you like, you may read about its interesting creation here.

The unique conveyor belt walk way and the acrylic tunnel create a beautiful setting to see the creatures of the sea.

At the entrance to the aquarium is a replica of an Antarctic hut and heritage of life on Antarctica 100 years ago.

After our tour of the aquarium, we returned to the Hutchinsons home for a very refreshing and delicious lunch.  Fun day!

The last few weeks have been very busy and this week was no exception.  I only managed Tuesday  morning to walk on the beach in Takapuna.

Tuesday it was beastly hot here.  At least for me it was hot.  There was no breeze to move the air and I thought I should die.  I know.  Poor me.  Anyway, I talked to Deanne at home and she told me about the snow and the snow day at school.  I was complaining about the heat and she asked me how hot it was. I checked the weather and took a picture to send to her.

(The weather report)
Interestingly, the video at the bottom of the picture was about the schools and road closures in Utah. 

Along with the normal calls, texts, emails, and doctor’s office visits, it has been transfer week.  Transfer day was Wednesday.  The office senior couples:  Elder and Sister Wright, Elder and Sister Lewis, Elder and Sister Packard, and I all help to get the departing missionaries and their luggage to the airport and pick up the incoming missionaries/luggage at the airport and the New Zealand Auckland Missionary Training Center.  Once all of the drop-offs and pick-ups have been made, we meet at one of the chapels near the airport where we have orientation, interviews, lunch, and training with the new missionaries before they meet their assigned trainers and get a start on a new chapter in their lives.  This transfer we had 8 departing and 16 incoming missionaries.   As I said in last week’s blog, change is the constant in the mission field.

I started Wednesday at 5:00 A.M. so that I would have time to go pick up a sister going home and to take her to the airport.  I helped her check in for her flight.   I must admit I shed a few tears.  It is so hard to tell these wonderful missionaries farewell.

We met up with Sisters Packard and Wright to get a farewell picture.

Sisters Packard, Wright, and Manarin

From the airport I went to the chapel where I interviewed each new missionary to make sure that I had accurate health records for them.  I check on allergies, diet, immunizations, medications, health conditions, etc.  Even though they list all of these things on their missionary application, it is surprising how much new info I collect.  This interview gives them and me a time to get acquainted as well.  Sister Packard helps me with this as there really isn’t enough time to interview all before the orientation begins especially with 16 to interview.

While in orientation meeting I had a call from a missionary in pain.  I met them at an urgent care in the late afternoon where we got a diagnosis of kidney stones.  They were small so we were sent home to wait for them to pass.  I was just settling in for the night when I got another call from a missionary in pain.  I met them at the same urgent care.  We were there for a LONG time and didn’t get home until 2:00 A.M.  All is well with this missionary but it was a long, long day.

I truly feel blessed to be able to offer support and care for these missionaries in times of stress like this.

Thursday I had to go pick up a lab request form to take to a missionary to get some blood work done.  It happened to be in an area where I was able to meet up with some sisters for lunch.  That is always fun.

Sisters Ostergar and Paladeni.

We each had a bowl of Tom Kah soup. 

We shared an order of Pad Thai noodles.

Friday I attended a doctor’s appointment with a missionary.  Again, a blessing for me.

Trying to make up for last week’s binge meal at Macca’s, I have been eating much more
appropriately this week.  No hardship here.  I really do love a good salad!

Sunday I taught the 4-5 year old children in Primary.  Cutest littles ever!  We sang songs and talked about being free to make choices and how it makes us feel when we make good choices.  Having a 20 minute class time is a new experience.  I didn’t leave them time to color and they were a little disappointed but I did send the coloring sheet home with them for a Sunday afternoon activity.  It was such a joy to be with them.

The lesson in Relief Society which I didn’t get to hear/participate in was based on the conference address:  Be Faithful, Not Faithless by Stephen W. Owen, Young Men General President.  Sister Lucas taught the lesson, so as we walked home from church we discussed the talk.  I had read it and one of the things that stood out to me was the story that Brother Owen related:

“Years ago, President Boyd K. Packer told of a herd of deer that, because of heavy snowfall, was trapped outside its natural habitat and faced possible starvation. Some well-meaning people, in an effort to save the deer, dumped truckloads of hay around the area—it wasn’t what deer would normally eat, but they hoped it would at least get the deer through the winter. Sadly, most of the deer were later found dead. They had eaten the hay, but it did not nourish them, and they starved to death with their stomachs full.”

Brother Owen goes on to say:

“Many of the messages that bombard us in the information age are the spiritual equivalent of feeding hay to deer—we can eat it all day long, but it will not nourish us.
Where do we find true spiritual nourishment? Most often, it is not trending on social media. We find it when we “press [our] way forward” on the covenant path, “continually holding fast to the rod of iron,” and partake of the fruit of the tree of life. This means that we must deliberately take time each day to disconnect from the world and connect with heaven.”

All of us must nourish and grow our testimonies to make them strong enough to withstand the trials of life.  I appreciate the words of Brother Owen’s talk and recommend reading it through.

I pray that you will all be happy and healthy.
I love my Savior.  I love you my family and friends