We had a meeting today with President Callister to discuss the mayor coming for an Area Office tour. In the middle of the meeting Presid
ent Callister decided to have a book made up for him all about the church.He wanted a brief description of all the programs the church does and a picture to go with them. This was Thursday afternoon and the mayor was coming Tuesday. So Friday morning by ten in the morning we had to have the descriptions written and the photos picked because the printer was coming to see how we wanted it all put together.
This is the book we put together.
You can see that serving a mission can also be so fun.
We didn’t turn our propane heater on when we got home tonight. It’s the first time since we've been here that we didn't need some heat. But it didn't last long, the next days were cold and raining so we had it back on again. Maybe we are getting used to the cold because I don’t mind it as much as when we first got here. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I wear long johns and three layers on top.
When Aaron arrived we had a lot of the pictures picked and some of the descriptions done but everything had to go through Elder Callister. He didn’t like some of the pictures and thought our descriptions were too long. So back to the drawing board for us. I found some pictures on the web site and substituted them so that he liked it and we revamped the descriptions and he approved our draft. We gave it to Aaron and he was going to format it and send it to us to approve and then we had to get Elder Callister to sign off on it for the final approval.
Anthony Wilson, Mayor Brown, President and Sister Callister, Ross 
Cuff and Pat
Cuff and PatThe mayor was coming at 9:30 so we made sure that everyone he was going to be introduced to was prepared for his visit.
I bought muffins and cut up fruit for the meeting in Elder Callister’s office and had it all set up on his desk. I had the bright idea to make hot chocolate in the hot water heater that heats water quickly. Well, it wasn’t a good idea to do that. When it boiled it gushed out the top and flowed all over the desk. This was 15 minutes before he arrive. I was mopping up hot chocolate off the desk and the floor. What a mess!!! But I got it all cleaned up minutes before he arrived. The meeting came off great and the Mayor was very impressed with all the things the Church does. This mayor is running in the election to be the Mayor of the Newly formed Super City that will include Auckland plus several other smaller cities.
I bought muffins and cut up fruit for the meeting in Elder Callister’s office and had it all set up on his desk. I had the bright idea to make hot chocolate in the hot water heater that heats water quickly. Well, it wasn’t a good idea to do that. When it boiled it gushed out the top and flowed all over the desk. This was 15 minutes before he arrive. I was mopping up hot chocolate off the desk and the floor. What a mess!!! But I got it all cleaned up minutes before he arrived. The meeting came off great and the Mayor was very impressed with all the things the Church does. This mayor is running in the election to be the Mayor of the Newly formed Super City that will include Auckland plus several other smaller cities.
Jodi’s 40th birthday. Tricia and Natalie made a video about h
er and her life for a surprise party. We had to reenact the scene where Jodi wreaks the car door or actually the two boys who did it. Tricia really went to a lot of trouble. I was laughing so hard that I don’t know how it turned out but Tricia was hysterical.
I feel so blessed that my girls are so close and that they love each other enough to go to so much work for each other. Jodi is an amazing person and I can see why everyone loves her so much.
I only wish that we could have been there to see the whole thing.
Our good friends the Tolman’s arrived today from Samoa, Deb with only a lava lava wrapped around her shoulders.
Reed had a long sleeve shirt on but neither of them had a coat. They brought a missionary from Samoa that needed to have surgery here on his shoulder.
I knew they were coming so I had brought a jacket for Deb. She was so grateful for it. We just love them and were so excited to have them stay with us. They did say that they were excited to get out of the heat for a while but I don’t think they expected to be so cold.
I gave Deb some long pants, socks, my merino wool thermals and my fleece PJ”s. she was so excited to be warm. As it worked out Rich (our boss) was out of the office Wednesday and Thursday so we took advantage of it and played with them. We did work a
half a day on Wednesday and took them to our favorite Mexican Café. They haven’t had good Mexican food for over a year and they loved it. We then took them to Victoria Park to shop for a while.
Thursday we drove to Rotorua and took them to the luge. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun tearing down the hill. We then went to Hamilton to attend a temple session.
er and her life for a surprise party. We had to reenact the scene where Jodi wreaks the car door or actually the two boys who did it. Tricia really went to a lot of trouble. I was laughing so hard that I don’t know how it turned out but Tricia was hysterical.I feel so blessed that my girls are so close and that they love each other enough to go to so much work for each other. Jodi is an amazing person and I can see why everyone loves her so much.
I only wish that we could have been there to see the whole thing.
Our good friends the Tolman’s arrived today from Samoa, Deb with only a lava lava wrapped around her shoulders.
Reed had a long sleeve shirt on but neither of them had a coat. They brought a missionary from Samoa that needed to have surgery here on his shoulder.I knew they were coming so I had brought a jacket for Deb. She was so grateful for it. We just love them and were so excited to have them stay with us. They did say that they were excited to get out of the heat for a while but I don’t think they expected to be so cold.
I gave Deb some long pants, socks, my merino wool thermals and my fleece PJ”s. she was so excited to be warm. As it worked out Rich (our boss) was out of the office Wednesday and Thursday so we took advantage of it and played with them. We did work a
half a day on Wednesday and took them to our favorite Mexican Café. They haven’t had good Mexican food for over a year and they loved it. We then took them to Victoria Park to shop for a while.Thursday we drove to Rotorua and took them to the luge. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun tearing down the hill. We then went to Hamilton to attend a temple session.
You can see that serving a mission can also be so fun.
We didn’t turn our propane heater on when we got home tonight. It’s the first time since we've been here that we didn't need some heat. But it didn't last long, the next days were cold and raining so we had it back on again. Maybe we are getting used to the cold because I don’t mind it as much as when we first got here. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I wear long johns and three layers on top. This is how we watch TV. Hats and blankets are a must.
I thought I would write about some of the projects we are working on so that everyone will know that we are actually working hard and not just taking pictures of beautiful places.
For Samoa we are still working on the freedom of religion issue. We are trying to get positive stories about Mormons in the media and working on service projects in the 33 villages’ that still won’t allow our missionaries to preach the gospel. We are also hosting the Head of State from Samoa(president) to SLC. He wants to have a speaking engagments at BYU and BYU Hawaii. We thought we had everything arrange and then he found out that the entire First Presidency wouldn’t be there to meet with him in SLC so now he wants to change or cancel the trip. We are in the process of rescheduling everything to make sure that we have at least two members of the First Presidency there to meet him. Fun, Fun, Fun.
In Tonga we are trying to arrange a meeting with the King to hopefully persuade him to let the church digitalize the records of births and deaths so that we can get Family Search started there. We are still trying to come up with the perfect plan on how to do that. Last month a delegation from Tonga visited the church’s vaults in SLC and was really impressed with how the church does things. A great positive step for us and now we think that with the help of that visit, they will be more receptive to the idea of letting us do their records.
In Kiribati we are trying to set up a meeting in September with the Vice President and Elder Hamula from the Area Presidency. And for his trip to the Marshall Islands we are setting up a meeting with the President of that country.
In New Zealand we are hosting the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, at the new MTC in August. With that it requires us to make another book with all information about our church in NZ. We will be having a missionary choir organized and put together a small luncheon for him and our area president.
We are trying to prepare for the visit of Sister Beck and Sister Cook for their trip to the Pacific. They come in October. Our preparation includes getting bio’s on everyone involved so that everyone knows everything about everyone. We also send the countries Church statistics with the bio’s and some talking points (things we think they should talk about) to SLC for the sister’s so that they will have information about the county, know who they are meeting with, and know what to talk about. It takes a bit of time to gather all that data for them. It’s a good thing they give us a few months notice.
We are also in charge of training for the newly organized Multi-Stake committee which is made up of the 12 Stakes around Auckland and the north areas.
Life is great but with being so busy we don’t have any time to get into trouble.
I thought I would write about some of the projects we are working on so that everyone will know that we are actually working hard and not just taking pictures of beautiful places.For Samoa we are still working on the freedom of religion issue. We are trying to get positive stories about Mormons in the media and working on service projects in the 33 villages’ that still won’t allow our missionaries to preach the gospel. We are also hosting the Head of State from Samoa(president) to SLC. He wants to have a speaking engagments at BYU and BYU Hawaii. We thought we had everything arrange and then he found out that the entire First Presidency wouldn’t be there to meet with him in SLC so now he wants to change or cancel the trip. We are in the process of rescheduling everything to make sure that we have at least two members of the First Presidency there to meet him. Fun, Fun, Fun.
In Tonga we are trying to arrange a meeting with the King to hopefully persuade him to let the church digitalize the records of births and deaths so that we can get Family Search started there. We are still trying to come up with the perfect plan on how to do that. Last month a delegation from Tonga visited the church’s vaults in SLC and was really impressed with how the church does things. A great positive step for us and now we think that with the help of that visit, they will be more receptive to the idea of letting us do their records.
In Kiribati we are trying to set up a meeting in September with the Vice President and Elder Hamula from the Area Presidency. And for his trip to the Marshall Islands we are setting up a meeting with the President of that country.
In New Zealand we are hosting the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, at the new MTC in August. With that it requires us to make another book with all information about our church in NZ. We will be having a missionary choir organized and put together a small luncheon for him and our area president.
We are trying to prepare for the visit of Sister Beck and Sister Cook for their trip to the Pacific. They come in October. Our preparation includes getting bio’s on everyone involved so that everyone knows everything about everyone. We also send the countries Church statistics with the bio’s and some talking points (things we think they should talk about) to SLC for the sister’s so that they will have information about the county, know who they are meeting with, and know what to talk about. It takes a bit of time to gather all that data for them. It’s a good thing they give us a few months notice.
We are also in charge of training for the newly organized Multi-Stake committee which is made up of the 12 Stakes around Auckland and the north areas.
Life is great but with being so busy we don’t have any time to get into trouble.
2 comments:
Sounds like you are doing good things!!!
We want to come back! We are so excited to see you in a few short days; it looks like you need a vacation before they work you to death! Deb and Reed
Post a Comment