Week 12
2025 Planning in Wellington
November 3, 2024
Kia Ora Everyone,
Our weeks are getting busier!! We love it. We have been out on our mission for almost 3 months and we now have a to-do list at the office. This week we traveled to Wellington to cover a church anniversary fireside and attend an area planning meeting.
Anniversary Fireside:
We have learned that you can only take pictures of general authorities and share them, with permission. We received permission for this picture. Kelly wrote 3 different stories this week about the anniversary of the church in New Zealand.1. 170 Anniversary of the Church in New Zealand
2. Ancient Huia Feather Found and Restored (I think you need to Maori to appreciate this one)
3. 1888 Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon in Maori Found
It was a busy week for Kelly. He worked with the head of the Church Historical Museum on these stories, so there was a lot of back and forth communication. We are happy that the stories are now to their liking. Sometimes we feel like the middle man, if you know what I mean.
Launette: I made travel plans this week. I set up dinner appointment, interview appointments, picture taking of an FSY in Vanuatu, and picture taking in the Cook Islands at a inter-faith pray meeting. More to come on all of that next week or 2. I just set it all up.
Authorities and historical experts involved in the fireside. The reason this picture is cool is because everyone in the choir is a graduate of the Church College in New Zealand that was closed in 2009.
Lovely Tongan choir members. They sing with such enthusiasm. They are beautiful people.
Kelly and I took the Wellington Trolley up to the tippy top of the city. What a great view! Wellington is a beautiful city. Kelly described it as a combination of Portland Oregon and Burley Idaho. Lots of hills, harbor, trees, cold, and windy.
We are sad that we didn't take any pictures of the 2 other people we met with in Wellington for our 2025 planning meeting. We met with Rich Hunter, the Church communication director (our boss) and Tania Torea, the Church inter-faith specialist in Wellington for 2 days. It was interesting getting to know another part of NZ. The farther south you travel, the colder it gets. Wellington is still in the North Island but it's in the south of the North.:) South of South Island is cold with penguins. We did get a chance to drive to the Temple location. The land is just now going through approval process for the city.
This was our view for much of this week. What we did learn is that if you fly domestically inside of New Zealand, there is no security check. You just walk into the airport and right onto your plane. As Launette said, "the worth of souls in New Zealand may be in question."
Yesterday, Kelly and I visited 6 hotels trying to find a venue for our 2025 national communication seminar in March. We found 6 places not to hold a seminar. It was a long day. We are honestly not that picky, they were just very old, very cold feeling, or had really dirty carpet. We will continue our looking next week. This is our big seminar where we invite all of the national communication directors from each island to Auckland for a training and a yearly rah! rah! About 40-50 people. I'm sure there will be more on this later.
This week we learned that inspiration is often scattered among us and when you are involved in quality councils, you can see the spirit at work. We also learned that sometimes you can feel that your small contribution is just that, a small contribution. Then later you find out that that small contribution mattered to someone, somehow. We learned that whenever the Lord opens a Temple in an area, Satan works overtime in that area. Lastly, we learned that there is goodness in all of God's children.
We are happy and healthy. We are loving our mission. We are grateful for you all and your profound influence in our lives. We love you and miss you.
Elder and Sister Shaw
Hi my great brother and sister! Every time I read your bog, I am so inspired! You are making such a difference in the world and in the lives of these sweet New Zealand souls. It's true that there is such goodness in all of God's children's lives. This last month has been crazy for us. We were gone for 3 weeks to a number of places, and then back to DC, and then off to North Carolina. We drove there, and discovered once again how beautiful this part of the world is. The leaves were all turning, and the little town we drove through, were so quaint and charming. Too bad they put Arby's or Mc
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We hope you find just the right place for your conference. Sometimes it may be someone's nice larger home? with church chairs set up for all of the bodies. Just don't serve that tongue I read about. Might not be well accepted. (Just sayin'). Being back here in the US, makes one feel like they didn't get invited to the party. You both look so happy and learning so much!
You are missed and we back there, are so proud of you.....
Love you both!
Donna
P.S. Kelly, did you get a hold of Craig? They were in Florida last week, but home now. Let me know if you need me to help out in any way...
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