Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John….

My brother, John, arrived on Thursday to visit me!!  How fun is that!!!  However, I know that he wasn’t sleeping (or at least not much sleeping) on his long, long flight to get here.  I’m so happy he was able to endure.

Tuesday morning was the only day I managed a walk to the beach.  To borrow from Richard Rodgers:

“Oh, what a beautiful mornin’

Oh, what a beautiful day

I’ve got a beautiful feeling’

Everything’s goin’ my way.”

Tuesday afternoon, Elder and Sister Packard picked me up to head north to Kaikohe for our next zone conference of this transfer period.  The drive was a pleasant 3 hours with a short stop in Wellsford to deliver a bike to a missionary.  Elder Packard is over the bikes in the mission.  Sister Packard is the best “assistant” if I may call her that although it doesn’t adequately let you know how much she does to help me.  She was the interim “medical coordinator” between my arrival and the departure of the previous mission nurse.  Without Sister Packard to teach me how the medical system works here in New Zealand and to help me learn which doctors are the best, I would have been even more lost and confused when I arrived than I was.  Thank goodness for great teachers and friends!!

We stayed in a hotel that had been a bank and now converted to a hotel and restaurant.  The décor was of the period of the bank and was most pleasant.

We ate dinner in the Mint Restaurant.

You can look into the vault.

Wednesday was our zone conference.  It started at 10:00 but we arrived early before 9:00 to set up tables and prepare for lunch.  We traveled farther than usual so our lunch was salad and pizza.

For my lunch time presentation, I taught the benefits of a clean home.

In the rural areas, water for home use comes from tanks.  By each home you will see a large tank with pipes running from the rain gutter to the tank.  Rain water collects in the tank from the roof and is filtered as it enters the home for use.  With the severe drought in the area, almost all home owners are getting by on as little water as necessary.  A sister missionary told me that they were using bottled water and were only flushing the toilet when solids were there.  They were reduced to showering only once or twice a week.  One can order a delivery of water by tanker truck but it costs upwards of $1000.00 to fill a tank and they will only take cash.  The waiting list for a delivery is endless.  (Grateful for the rain we received on Saturday and more is predicted.)

I arrived back in Takapuna near 8:00 P.M.

Thursday morning John arrived.  I picked him up at the airport and then went into Auckland to get tickets for a Hole in the Rock cruise this next week.  He was tired but I kept him up and awake so that he would be able to sleep that night.

We had a steak dinner that evening at Bushman’s Grill.

My plans for showing John around were changed when a missionary had to have an appendectomy so I spent early morning Friday into the evening at the hospital.  John was able to spend a “down” day and re-cooperate although I know he would have been fine to be out and going places.  He is a good sport and is supportive, understanding and kind to me.  He knows I am here to serve and missionary/nursing  takes priority.  Luckily I can work from where ever I am unless of course a hospital is involved.

I arrived home in time to go for a late dinner at Sakebar Nippon where we had sushi, ginger pork, gyoza, and edamame.

Saturday we went to the hospital to check on the missionary and on the way back, dropped off some medication to another missionary.  It was raining (a blessing for the parched, dry land) so opted for an indoor activity.  I enjoyed my visit to Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium so I thought I would share the experience with John.  I told you about it a couple of posts ago so I’ll only post a few pictures.

Saturday evening we went to The Taste for dinner.  When I rode the train from Wellington to Auckland a few weeks ago, I met a woman who told me she owned a Thai restaurant in Devenport.  We decided to give it a try.  The Taste is Thai food but it is a take away place.  There were a couple of tables there but the food was serve in take away (take out) containers.  It was pretty good.  We had spring rolls, pad Thai, and Tom kha soup.

Sunday after church we headed north to Paihia.  We will take the Hole in the Rock cruise on Monday.  I’ll share more next post.

I love my Savior and I love you my family and friends.  Have a terrific week!