Peanut Butter Creamy Style

Week 4

Some of you may be saying, "Look, they match."  That was a total accident, but at least it was a good looking accident. Scary thing is, it happens a lot! I dress first, it's his issue.:) (It looks like we are going to prom together.)

Some of you have asked what we do, so here is a list of a few things we did this week. We wrote articles for the Church Newsroom on a humanitarian project in Tonga that provided nursery's for two cities.   An article on Tonga missionaries driving world dignitaries to a special inter-island conference.  An article on a youth concert.  We wrote a press release for the 170th year anniversary of the Church in New Zealand to distribute to media outlets in NZ.  We provided talking points to the Area Presidency for a church book release on New Zealand Church History and will drive 3 hours North and cover that event that Elder Jaggi of the Area Presidency will commemorate.  We made arrangements for a letter from the Area Presidency to be delivered to the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands.  We taught English Connect for about 20 people.  Sang in a talent show. More later.  Lastly, we have the Directors of Communication for the Church coming from SLC next week so we are making arrangements for that event.  FYI, the Church has reorganized and combined some departments so now Communication, Public Affairs, Publishing, Production, Translation, VIP Hosting, Social Media are in one department.   We serve in the Communication and Public Affairs division. Oh, yea, one last thing, spent an hour in very tight quarters fixing our washing machine so that we could get some laundry done. Kelly is being modest. We have listened to our dryer bounce around for 2 weeks and he finally figured out that the bolts holding the drum in place during transportation were not removed. I'm so thankful for his handy-man skills!

This is what happens when you let senior missionaries sign up for Takapuna's Got Talent.

And this.

And this. KC got Kelly to perform at the talent show. Only older brothers can do that. We sang a Garrison Keeler song called "Peanut Butter Creamy Style." So proud of Elder Shaw trying new things on his mission!

We have enjoyed getting to know such wonderful senior missionaries. These are the Tanners from Bountiful. I added this picture because it was the most interesting meal we have had here. It was a whole in the wall but the food was amazing and interesting. Look at the burners in the table. They brought us a pot and broth of our choice and then we picked out all of the meat, veggies, and noodles to cook ourselves. It was like a do-it-yourself Mongolian BBQ. Weird and strange choices of meats, seafood, mushrooms, and dumplings. Very fun meal. 

Kelly is getting better and better at driving. We put music on this week which is a huge step. Usually it takes joint concentration to figure out our course of action. I had to take a picture of this intersection for you to see what the roads are like. You really can't see what is going on but there are 8 different light and arrows directing you to go 6 different directions. Watching the dotted lines in the intersections is a must. The roads go every which way with no rhyme or reason. No grid.  You can be driving down the road and the name will change right in the middle of road.  Google maps is fun to listen to as it tries to pronounce all the Māori names. Launette tried her hand at driving this week. Kelly was white knuckled.

This is our distance from Takapuna to Auckland. We haven't ventured over to the big city yet but hope to next week or two.

I bought a grand"plant" to care for. :) It makes our home feel homey. We have started a sea shell collections on our walks.

We usually start our day at 5:30. Not a required time but it's hard to fit scriptures study and exercise in if we don't rise and shine bright and early. We bought some free weights and yoga pads and find HIIT routines on Youtube. I actually love exercising right now because we do SO much sitting. It is a must! There seems to be enough room in our small living room with just minor pushing and knocking over.

 

There is beauty everywhere!!! I am in love with the vegetation in New Zealand. Kelly had to go to Bunnings (a Home Depot) so I left him and went to the garden center to look at all the tropical plants and flowers. It is going to be hard of me not to buy something and plant it in our small yard.

On our p-day, (Saturday) we drove North about 45 minutes to a wonderful outdoor market and tasted a number of foods.   Then we went to Warkworth and the Parry Kauri Park.  Absolutley beautiful with 800 year old trees and a serene walking path through the park. It was very peaceful and almost reverent. I felt like whispering. We really enjoyed the morning with KC and Judy. They are such great people.

I saw this quote on Instagram this week and it resonated with me. We are learning to develope more faith with all of the unknowns and challenges we are handed daily. "Even if" we are still learning, "even if" we are not perfect, "even if" we are doing things we didn't think we would be doing, the Lord's hand is in this work. We are often saying to each other, "let's see where this takes us." We are so grateful for our mission and all that we are learning. This Church is more than an intricate running machine with many amazing people doing their part. This Church is true!