The Sky City Convention Center Ablaze
Major news at the beginning of the week:
A massive fire continues to burn at the SkyCity convention centre in Auckland's central business district. Newshub understands the fire was started by an unattended blow torch. Fletcher Building boss Ross Taylor confirmed blow torches were used near where the fire began. Fierce winds of up to 130km/h are battering the convention centre and the crew battling the blaze. Road closures around the centre caused significant delays for early morning commuters. Mayor Phil Goff confirmed to The AM Show the APEC meeting scheduled to take place at the convention centre in 2021 is unlikely to go ahead as planned.
It will still happen in Auckland.
It will still happen in Auckland.
We tramped (hiked) the Dome valley summit walkway (trail) with 4 Elders on P-day.
The track (path) was muddy, steep and full of roots and went deep into the bush (forest)
The beautiful views from the summit were hindered due to clouds and rain.
Elders Hunter, Tenny, McCallister, and Pilkington and Lisa.
We stopped at this GPS marker to eat lunch. We originally had invited our Wellsford Elders to join us on the hike, so we brought Subway sandwiches, a few cookies and apples for the 4 of us. On the way to the hike, Elder Tenney says" I hope it's OK with yous (meaning you all)....I invited the zone leaders to come along too." We told him that was great! Somehow we performed a miracle similar to "the loaves and fishes" (maybe not that big of a miracle) as we cut up the sandwiches and apples and enjoyed our meager meal together!
Later that evening we had dinner at Robin and Fred's home. Robin is a friend of Lisa's from her knitting group. We had a wonderful meal and conversation together, and then played a few games of "Speed Scrabble". We thanked them for their hospitality, then Robin explained to us that she and her first husband along with their children served a mission for their church in New Guinea for 5 years, many years earlier. So...she could relate to what we were doing and the difficulty of being away from home. Robin married Fred a few years ago, because he was a good Christian man. They are both in their 80's and love to garden, and are refinishing their basement for Robin's daughter to live in when...as Robin put it "The wheels fall off the cart." Fred was having difficulty painting the ceilings, so we arranged to come back next week and do the painting for them.
We finally took a short trip to see some other areas of New Zealand! We typically only stop to see the sights if they are on the way to or from the areas we are working in. We took 2 days and went to Thames and Coromandel. We traveled on some very steep and narrow gravel roads where we found a man who had heaps (lots) of pigs that were wandering across the road and through the hills.
We then hiked to a small waterfall...
and we hiked a few trails to see several more large Kauri trees.
The following is a verse of one of the songs we sing in the Community Choir in Wellsford that reminded us of the next picture.
The trees grow ancient green and tall
as they have always done there
And press together over all
to shield the earth from sun there.
Seedlings spread young trees grow old, old ones fall and turn to mould
Till bush returns to hills once clear
and man it seems, was never there
And the apple trees still bloom each year
on the hills . . . of Coromandel
A typical sign seen on the unpaved roads!
A home with some carvings in their yard in Coromandel
We attended another Northland Zone Conference
Elder and Sister Wright teaching the missionaries to clean up after themselves and not leave things behind in their flats when there are transferred. They each had multiple layers of clothing on, as well as ties, hats etc. and dragging bags full of items that missionaries had left behind in the flats. Elder Wright was "Left Behind, and Sister Wright was "Right Behind"!
The Bay of Islands is a natural harbour about 16 kilometres wide on the north-eastern coast of New Zealand’s North Island. At its northern end are the Kerikeri and Te Puna (Mangonui) inlets and to the south is the Waikare inlet.
The Bay is home to 144 islands, ranging from rocky outcrops to large inhabited islands with private farms. Being situated in the ‘winterless north’ of New Zealand, the Bay of Islands enjoys mild winters and hot summers. Summer temperatures can pass 30°C (around 90° F), with January and February the warmest months. The Bay of Islands’ calm, sandy beaches, abundant marine life and lush native forest make it a popular holiday destination for New Zealanders and visitors.
The New Zealand All Blacks were the favored team to win the Rugby World Cup in Japan this year. The All Blacks performed the Haka, attempting to intimidate the team from England...but the intimidation did not work. England scored on their first try, within the first 2 minutes, and then went on to win 19-7. England then played South Africa in the Championship, and lost.
New Zealand is an isolated country whose wildlife developed over millions of years, and fortunately, it did not develop any plants or animals that are dangerous to humans. This means there are no poisonous snakes, scorpions, or spiders—or any other dangerous animals or plants on the island.
No fish this time!
Elder Tenny and Elder Hunter stopped by our flat to use the restroom. We visited for a while, and then they headed back to their car to leave, when we realized it was 6:00 pm, we sent them a quick text to see if they had dinner plans.
They did not. So, we invited them to dinner, they came back, jumped in our car and we headed to Port Albert for fish and chips
We have enjoyed working with the Food Bank, assembling food parcels and delivering them to the Citizen's Bureau when they call us, and receiving deliveries on Mondays.
We went back to Fred and Robin's and did some painting for them. Lisa gave Robin a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it.
We met up with Elder Evans and Elder Smith in Dargaville and took them out to lunch and brainstormed on ways we could support each other and the members more in Dargaville.
Wellsford Branch Primary Sacrament Presentation is coming soon, so we delivered some children's parts, along with invitations and cookies to some of the families.
Halloween is not really a big holiday here, but we did have a few trick or treaters and we delivered some cupcakes to a few of our families.
We were asked by the mission office to meet with a property manager and look at some flats for new Elders coming up north soon and to replace a flat that is not so good. We spent an afternoon looking at 5 flats, kind of fun!
Ed conducted the Sacrament meeting in Wellsford and also gave a talk.
We also attended church in Dargaville, not our normal week to be there, we were surprised to see there were only 13 of us! So glad we were there to worship with them!
It's amazing that November has come already! We are happy to have some sunshine, but summer in December will be different!
“As our great Exemplar, Jesus taught us how to live, to love, and to learn.
He taught us how to pray, to forgive, and to endure to the end.
He taught us how to care about others more than we care about ourselves.
He taught us about mercy and kindness
—making real changes in our lives through His power.
He taught us how to find peace of heart and mind.”
― Russell M. Nelson, Accomplishing the Impossible
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matt. 5:16
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