A stormy day on the Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about 2,000 km across and about 2,800 km from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who was the first recorded European to encounter New Zealand and Tasmania. 

We had another wonderful visit with the Buxton family.  We taught them about faith, and Lisa did an object lesson with each of the children helping them plant flower seeds in plastic cups. We invited them to take care of the cups and to water and nourish the seeds. We also invited them to read Alma 32 in the Book of Mormon. After the lesson we asked for a volunteer to say the closing prayer, and Molly, the youngest volunteered and gave a very sweet and sincere prayer.

We have now officially started helping with the local food bank "Fishes and Loaves." It is housed in the local Methodist / Presbyterian Co-op church. We helped unload boxes, then unpacked and sorted and shelved the products.  We then receive random phone calls from the CAB, "The Citizens Advisory Board" giving us basic information on those in need. We fill the orders with enough food to last the families approximately 48 hours, and then deliver them to the CAB to be picked up by those in need. This is a great opportunity for us to do service in the community, and help the four ladies (all in their 80's) that have been doing all of the work themselves for a number of years.

We attended a Stake training meeting in Whangarai on Tuesday where the new youth programs of the Church were discussed. Once again the emphasis was on  the learning  and teaching taking place in the home with families, and the leadership taking a supporting and encouraging role. We will be receiving additional training on the 5th Sunday in September.

Traveling through the small town of Kaeo  we came upon the Jandal fence!  In New Zealand, they are not flip flops, or sandals, or thongs...they are Jandals!

The Church sponsored a wonderful day of learning for the communities in the far north. We spent the night with the Sr. Missionary couple, the Crossleys in Kerikeri. The next day we traveled to Kaitaia, where we listened to renowned speaker Herewini Jones. He spoke on the meaning of the symbols on the Maori Maraes ( community meeting houses)  and  also of the meanings of the Moko's, or tattoos on the faces of the ancient Maori. Everything had a meaning and so much of what he taught about the Maori people correlated perfectly with the teachings of the Gospel.
During a break I visited with the Kaikohe Stake President, whose Stake was hosting the event. His name was Trevor Beatson. His father,  was Trevor Beatson Sr, who was the Mission President of the Fresno California Mission around 20 years ago. We reminisced about his father, who  passed away shortly after finishing his mission in Fresno, and about the influence he had on the people of California, as well as the people of New Zealand.

The male facial moko or tattoo is generally divided into eight sections of the face:

• The centre of the forehead called the ngakaipikirau, designated a person’s general rank
• The area under the brows, called ngunga, designated his position
• The area around his eyes and nose, uirere, designated his hapu, or sub-tribe rank
• The area around the temples, uma, served to detail his marital status, like the number of marriages he had
• The area under the nose, raurau, displayed the man’s signature that was once memorised by tribal chiefs who used it when buying property, signing deeds and officiating orders
• The cheek area, or taiohou, showed the nature of the person’s work
• The chin area, wairua, showed the person’s mana or prestige
• Lastly, the jaw area or taitoto designated a person’s birth status

It can also be noted that a person’s ancestry is indicated on each side of the face. The left side is generally the father’s side and the right side the mother’s. Noble or note-worthy descent was a primary requirement before a moko was undertaken.
If one side of a person’s ancestry was not of rank, the corresponding side of the face would not have any design tattooed on it. And if the person undertaking the moko has no rank, or is not heir to anything of note then the centre of the forehead would be left without design.

This piece of equipment has been sitting broken down in the same spot for weeks. This week, workers came in and cleared and leveled the land, set up forms and even laid the mesh in preparation for pouring cement. Hopefully they will move the piece of equipment before they start pouring the concrete!

We spent a day with Joseph Douglass from Dargaville traveling through the Waima forest, and taking a tour of the North Land. We were able to see more huge ancient Kauri trees and tree ferns. We stopped at Hokianga bay for lunch and then took a trip to the Ngawha Hot Springs near Kaikohe to soak in the mineral baths. 

On Sunday we were back in Dargaville for church services. I spoke in Sacrament meeting and Lisa taught and helped in  Primary. The following quote was one President Nelson posted on "Instagram" recently, which I  shared in my talk.

Russellmnelson

The Book of Mormon is filled with truth. If you read it daily, 

you will have more truth and power in your life.
 It teaches us about the premortal world and the purpose of life.

 It gives more understanding about the Atonement of Jesus Christ 

than any other book of scripture and teaches us about the reality of 

God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the holy priesthood. 

Studying daily from its pages will affect your life in a way no other book can.

If you will feast on the words of Christ found throughout the Book of Mormon, 

I promise that you will have greater power to resist temptation, 

increased ability to receive revelation, and greater capacity to 

deal with the challenges of life.

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We finally received a set of Elders in Wellsford this week. We had them over Sunday evening for ice-cream and cookies and to get to know them. Elder Evans was serving in Kansas for 6 weeks waiting for his visa....then finally arrived in New Zealand on Wednesday. Elder Tenny has been serving in Auckland and is now in the Northland for the first time.

Elder Tenny and Elder Evans