More adventures in 2008

On our travels in January 08 we stayed in a small town called Oamaru at a bed and breakfast. We were on our way home from visiting a young couple and their family when for the first time in two years we caught in our headlights a live possom. At first we thought is was a cat (they look similar, soft and furry) but to our delight it was a possom. They are an interesting animal in that they were introduced to NZ many years ago to combat a 'pest' and became a 'pest' themselves because they eat the bark of trees and kill them as well as eat the eggs of the bird. They are cute to look at (not bare and ugly like ours in North America). Although they are pests the Kiwis use their fur and combine it with Merino wool (the softest of wools) and make sweaters and other winter garments. These products are very warn, light and very, very soft. They are wonderful and I will be bringing home several purchases. :)


This group of missionaries is our most recent intake as of last week. They are eager and ready to begin their work. For the first six weeks (shift period) they will be learning the day to day schedule of a missionary. We love this week in our shift period where we get to meet them and give them a little bit of training as they begin their grand adventure of the next 24 months for the young men and 18 months for the young women.
The past three days we have been with all of our seniour couples and seniour single sisters that are serving with us. We had a grand time sharing our experiences and getting more direction from President Finnigan (Mike). The weather continued to be outstanding with 75-80 degrees, sunny and slightly breezy. It was a great memory and gathered by all.

Most recent pictures Feb 2008

Here we are with our good friends Patty and Mike Partridge. They visited with us for two days as they were touring Australia and New Zealand. We visited the Parliament buildings in Wellington and went on a tour of them which was very interesting and informative.















We then took the tram up to the Botanical Gardens. The weather was a little breezy but warm as it has been this summer. It has been the warmest and driest summer in 89 years or so I am told. We are just loving it and hope it continues through until June. :)











Here are some of our missionaries, our newest group of zone leaders. They are terrific and are the ones that make our mission successful as they lead the missionaries in each of their zones.

Hakas at the Christmas ZC-Dec 2007

At our Christmas zone conferences, each of our zones planned and performed a Haka, the traditional Maori war dance. They all did a wonderful job and were terrific, even our American and Canadian missionaries loved to do the Haka. It was wonderful!!

Christmas Zone Conf Dec 2007

Here we are beginning our Christmas Zone Conf. We had a gift exchange in each one and had a great time.
Here I am with two of our sisters. Then we also played a game where there were teams of six and each was assigned two letters. Then they were to spell a four letter word by four standing in the correct position with the correct letter and two sitting down at either end of the team. The fastest to get there was the winner. Fun was had by all. Lastly, Elder Stanton, one of our missionaries who tore the ligaments in his foot, (which then became infected because he developed blisters) sitting down to watch and enjoy the festivities.

Time Spent with Mahana, Ken and Friends

Here we are during our travels with Mahana, Ken, Geri, Emily and Robert. We are in Akaroa enjoying the sunshine and shops.

Here is Mike relaxing in the Christchurch Cathedral square. Mike and I are relaxing together. We couldn't have asked for better weather for traveling during October. Lastly, we are enjoying freshly caught crayfish (the size of our rock lobster) cooked and deliciously sweet.

More seals.

This wasa fun sign that we saw. It is posted right before a hairpin turn. We had a good laugh for the day as there isn't any way that someone could go around this corner at 100k/hr. We have seen this before at various places on our travels and always wonder if the workmen installing the signs chuckle at the thought of someone trying to go that speed.

Our day at the seal colony.

Tuesay, our time :), we took a preparatin day and went to see the seal colony. It was a two and a half hour drive from our home over the Remutaka Mountain range. It was a beautiful day about 65 degrees and sunny. The scenery was fantastic.Once we arrived there we saw this lighthouse up on a promontory. To get to it we needed to walk up 250 stairs. We did our stair[Photo]master and exercise for the day. My legs were definitely burning. As you can see from the pictures there was hardly a cloud in the sky. It is hard to believe that we are in the season of winter.