After my bishop told me long ago that a mission was not for me at the time, I pretty much decided that I would never have the experiences I hear RMs talk about. Turns out my bishop was right because I ended up marrying one of those returned missionaries who told me of even more of those amazing experiences. I loved to hear the stories but was pretty well resigned to the fact that I would never have those experiences even after we put our mission papers in. I was so wrong.
Today I had another one of those "I don't understand because I have never had them" experiences. The difference is that now I do understand because I have had more than one. It seems though that each one eclipses the previous one and so you forget for a while but as Ken says, "It gets in your blood!" He's right! Each one becomes even more precious than the one before. Our first one was great! The second one was awesome! This one was amazing! I have run short of words to really describe the feeling. Ken says too that it is hard to find words to explain a spiritual experience and he is right but I am going to try.
We met a lovely couple right after we arrived here. There is no way you could call it a chance meeting as we have discussed with them many times. We were headed home from a walk, were at our front door and Ken said, "Let's walk down to the nursery." The nursery was just down the street. We had no reason to go there in the middle of winter and with no garden to plant but we went. As we were talking to the nursery man, a car pulled in, a man got out and made a b-line straight to us. He looked right at our name tags, asked us who we were, made some small talk and invited us to his house. We went. This began a really nice friendship.
We were together often and talked of many things including families and politics and religion but we did not feel it was the right thing at the time to become too serious about gospel talks. We got to know them really well. We would call each other occasionally and get together at one another's homes. We found we had a great deal in common. She wrote in our journal that we were of different religions but we believed the same things. That was several months ago when we had them to dinner one night. We invited them to the branch Christmas party and that sparked more curiousity. They felt a closeness to the members and noticed that "no one seemed to have an agenda". In this time, we had numerous experiences that prepared us all for today.
Three weeks ago, on the verge of forgetting about teaching the gospel and possibly the friendship, we took a chance because it seemed we were making no progress in our friendship or the gospel. Ken said, "Will you let us come and 'do what we do'." The husband answered that he thought we had been doing what we do. We told him we wanted to give them formal lessons and they agreed. We started teaching them and giving them more and more church materials. We invited them to church and they came. We kept teaching, they kept coming.
The first week they came to church we were not there and they stayed only for sacrament which was fast meeting. The second week they stayed the whole time. Last Tuesday we asked him to pray (because he hadn't been when we asked before). Last Thursday she told us she was not going to join the church just because someone said she should. Since she was alone that night, we invited her to read and pray about it. Saturday, when Elder Jarvis and a stake visitor went to their home, he prayed aloud in the actual order of prayer. He prayed again Sat. night when we gave another lesson. Sunday they stayed at church and met with the branch president and were the last to leave. Tuesday, we gave them the thought of a target date of either April 5 or 6 as a baptism date. They grabbed me in the hall later and told me when they thought they might be ready. He had counted the days 'til that date. She came to Institute and Tai Chi that night.
Today, we taught them about the role of women in the church, faith and the Godhead in the morning and were invited back to teach them about tithing this afternoon. This afternoon, after the lesson, they informed Ken (Elder Jarvis) that they were going to be baptized on April 5th. We cried! We have worked hard for this day. We have loved and given up and gone again and gotten totally discouraged. We have decided not to try numerous times but then I would get the prompting that we were not to give up. I don't know why, but most of the time it was me saying that we could not quit. I would hear a song and say, "This is for ______." I heard a talk and we took it to them. They listened to it 4 or 5 times. They saw 'Les Miserables' and loved it. Shortly after that, I was looking thru Motab music and found 'Bring Him Home' with Alfie Bowe. They loved it.
We thought we would ask them about April 5 or 6 because of the anniversary of the Savior's birth, the birth of the church and all of that. We threw in the 5th because it was our daughter's birthday and the true Christmas Eve. Turns out, April 5th was the anniversary of her first marriage. They both had previous spouses who died and whom they love. I can't put every sacred thing or every non-coincidental experience down here. Suffice it to say, that for all of us, this was meant to be. We are so glad our assignment was changed. We will soon have 8 converts to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am absolutely sure that He cares deeply for every single one of them and for us. There are no accidents. His plan has purpose if we are willing to follow. Because we followed, our hearts are full to overflowing tonight and for many nights to come.
2 months to go!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Invercargil to Queenstown
Well I thought maybe I would catch up on the rest of our trip. After we left Invercargil, we headed up to Te Anau. On the way there, we stopped at Gemstone Beach where I was seriously attacked by sand flies. I really hate the little things and I am still itching. Seems like it lasts forever! It was a lovely beach though and we got to watch someone riding their horse on the beach which was fun. It made me remember riding a horse on the beach in Venezuela. There were about a zillion of those gorgeous shells with the pink inside on that beach and I didn't even think to get off and pick one up! We picked up a few interesting rocks on this beach in NZ but there were very few shells.
We stopped at a little op-shop on the way. There was a cute little lady there named Glennis. She showed me a book on Christ and meditation that she was reading. In return, I gave her a Book of Mormon and a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. She was excited about that. She said she was going to leave them out and maybe her children would see them and get some ideas. She was a shiny person and I will never forget her little cute face. There was not a lot more to see on the way to Te Anau except for the Southern Alps becoming closer and bigger. They are really amazing. A lot of the inland country here reminded me of home.
In Te Anau, we stayed at a nice little B&B called the Shakespeare Inn. It was really nice and the host was so helpful. He told us what we needed to go and see on our way to Milford Sound. We wandered around town and watched an awesome video about Fjordland which Milford Sound is part of. The photography was breathtaking and the music was great. There was no naration and that was perfect. We bought a copy of the video so we can see it again and again. It is kind of strange here. We had hoped to get a few things for kids and grandkids as rememberances but there is not all that much commercialization here. Ken couldn't even find anything that said Milford Sound on it. I think he was a little disappointed.
On the way to the sound on Saturday, we stopped in a place that has an interesting podocarp forest. It was easy for me to see why the Lord of the Rings movies were shot here. The trees are covered with all kinds of moss. There are big burls on the trees that give you the feeling that there are trolls and hobbits and strange creatures at every turn. There are lots of holes in the trees that look like something might pop into or out of them at any time. Ken stood under a big burl that looked like a sort of deformed buffalo. The kids would love it there. Your imagination kind of runs wild. We also stopped at Mirror Lakes and that is really beautiful. The water is perfectly calm and them mountains are reflected there. The lake looks like it has the real mountain and the mountains look misty and distant.
Milford Sound was an amazing place. We had sunshine almost the whole trip and so we didn't have to contend with rain. The scenery leaves you at a loss for words. Our sound cruise was on a big sailing ship called the Milford Mariner. They also use it for overnight cruises but they are even more pricey than the day cruises. The ship went right up under one waterfall and Ken and I were at the front so we got that experience close up and personal and a little wet! We saw lots of seals but mostly we were inpressed by the mountains that rise straight out of the ocean. There are tons of waterfalls and this was a dry day. The colors of blue you see are incomparable. It was a great trip.
We stopped at a place called The Chasm on the way back. It is an unbelievable waterfall. You can hear it and feel it before you see it. It roars so loud! It was my favorite shade of aqua and it rushed through these cut rocks in a way that I can't even explain. I could have stayed there for hours. The colors were amazing, the rock formations cut by the water were incredible and the sound was something else. All in all, the Milford Sound area was an unforgetable experience. On the way out to Queenstown, we left the manager of the Inn a Book of Mormon and said good bye to a lovely experience.
On to Queenstown. It is the Park City of New Zealand only it sits on a huge lake. We got an amazing deal at the Queenstown Hilton. It was easily the nicest place we have stayed in years. It is across the lake on a peninsula away from the main town so it is quiet and relaxed. We really enjoyed our time there just relaxing with our fireplace and the patio doors open to enjoy the rain which came while we were there. We went on the gondola to the top of a peak above the lake and watched people going on the luge and bungy jumping as well as mountain biking. Being the adventurer, risk takers that we are, we decided against bungy jumping! Sorry Jase, we are not up to your daring level.
We said good bye to Queenstown and headed home having had a wonderful time and having done a little missionary work as well. We seem to be able to make a lot of contacts while we are out and about on our little wanders. We are still looking at each other and saying, "Is this really happening!" To top it off, we got lots of texts on the way home telling us our investigators had come to church and that there were close to 90 there. What better way to top off a wonderful trip.
We stopped at a little op-shop on the way. There was a cute little lady there named Glennis. She showed me a book on Christ and meditation that she was reading. In return, I gave her a Book of Mormon and a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. She was excited about that. She said she was going to leave them out and maybe her children would see them and get some ideas. She was a shiny person and I will never forget her little cute face. There was not a lot more to see on the way to Te Anau except for the Southern Alps becoming closer and bigger. They are really amazing. A lot of the inland country here reminded me of home.
In Te Anau, we stayed at a nice little B&B called the Shakespeare Inn. It was really nice and the host was so helpful. He told us what we needed to go and see on our way to Milford Sound. We wandered around town and watched an awesome video about Fjordland which Milford Sound is part of. The photography was breathtaking and the music was great. There was no naration and that was perfect. We bought a copy of the video so we can see it again and again. It is kind of strange here. We had hoped to get a few things for kids and grandkids as rememberances but there is not all that much commercialization here. Ken couldn't even find anything that said Milford Sound on it. I think he was a little disappointed.
On the way to the sound on Saturday, we stopped in a place that has an interesting podocarp forest. It was easy for me to see why the Lord of the Rings movies were shot here. The trees are covered with all kinds of moss. There are big burls on the trees that give you the feeling that there are trolls and hobbits and strange creatures at every turn. There are lots of holes in the trees that look like something might pop into or out of them at any time. Ken stood under a big burl that looked like a sort of deformed buffalo. The kids would love it there. Your imagination kind of runs wild. We also stopped at Mirror Lakes and that is really beautiful. The water is perfectly calm and them mountains are reflected there. The lake looks like it has the real mountain and the mountains look misty and distant.
Milford Sound was an amazing place. We had sunshine almost the whole trip and so we didn't have to contend with rain. The scenery leaves you at a loss for words. Our sound cruise was on a big sailing ship called the Milford Mariner. They also use it for overnight cruises but they are even more pricey than the day cruises. The ship went right up under one waterfall and Ken and I were at the front so we got that experience close up and personal and a little wet! We saw lots of seals but mostly we were inpressed by the mountains that rise straight out of the ocean. There are tons of waterfalls and this was a dry day. The colors of blue you see are incomparable. It was a great trip.
We stopped at a place called The Chasm on the way back. It is an unbelievable waterfall. You can hear it and feel it before you see it. It roars so loud! It was my favorite shade of aqua and it rushed through these cut rocks in a way that I can't even explain. I could have stayed there for hours. The colors were amazing, the rock formations cut by the water were incredible and the sound was something else. All in all, the Milford Sound area was an unforgetable experience. On the way out to Queenstown, we left the manager of the Inn a Book of Mormon and said good bye to a lovely experience.
On to Queenstown. It is the Park City of New Zealand only it sits on a huge lake. We got an amazing deal at the Queenstown Hilton. It was easily the nicest place we have stayed in years. It is across the lake on a peninsula away from the main town so it is quiet and relaxed. We really enjoyed our time there just relaxing with our fireplace and the patio doors open to enjoy the rain which came while we were there. We went on the gondola to the top of a peak above the lake and watched people going on the luge and bungy jumping as well as mountain biking. Being the adventurer, risk takers that we are, we decided against bungy jumping! Sorry Jase, we are not up to your daring level.
We said good bye to Queenstown and headed home having had a wonderful time and having done a little missionary work as well. We seem to be able to make a lot of contacts while we are out and about on our little wanders. We are still looking at each other and saying, "Is this really happening!" To top it off, we got lots of texts on the way home telling us our investigators had come to church and that there were close to 90 there. What better way to top off a wonderful trip.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Strange Happenings at the End of the World
Yesterday we had a really great time. We drove to Dunedin on Wednesday afternoon and then to Invercargill yesterday. President Kezerian has given seniors the opportunity to take some side trips as long as we behave ourselves and try some missionary work as well. The road from Denediin to Invercargill is really beautiful and interesting. The route lies along an area named the Catlins. It is extremely beautiful and has some amazing features.
We first stopped at Balclutha to see the Clutha (Clyde) River. It is a beautiful shade of turquoise. I don't think I have ever seen a river that color before. It is also large, supposedly the largest in New Zealand and has lovely arched bridge. It reminded me of London Bridge in Lake Havasu Az. We then went to what is supposed to be the most photographed waterfall in New Zealand. It was only a short walk, not very hard, through podocarp forest that is gorgeous. There are ferns there that are 15 feet high and look more like trees. The fall sits in the middle of this and it was easy to see why it is so photographed. I would have taken more pictures if my battery hadn't died! Lol.
We stopped at a little roadside truck to have fish and chips (Blue Cod and it was yummy) and talked with a lady there. She looked like she had been badly burned on her face and all of her limbs were covered in tatoos. Ken talked with her for a bit like he does and she seemed very happy when we left her. I think he made her day. On the way there we had gone down to another area of beach to sea a lighthouse. We stopped to walk on the beach and talked with a man from Switzerland. He was mostly complaining about how there is "no history" in New Zealand. Well, isn't that the point! It is a pretty new country compared to Europe and it's "history" is quite different. Some people don't get it.
We next stopped at an amaziing place called Curio Bay. You have to go there at low tide to see things and we got there just right. We spent a long time there. The bottom of the bay there is covered with petrified wood. You would not believe the huge logs that are there and the stumps just sticking up out of the ground. It was so fascinating to look at all that and wonder what happened probably millions of years ago. Some of the logs looked like they had been burned first. There were so many things to see and the ocean there was so gorgeous that it was hard to leave. There are also penguins there late in the day but we couldn't wait because we had places to go and things to do.
Next stop, Slope Point, the southernmost point on the South Island. It said it was a 20 min. walk and we had spent a lot of time at Curio Bay but after a short debate, we decided we "would never get here again" so we went. I think the 20 min. walk turned out to be round trip becaue it didn't seems to take too long. I'm really glad we went because it not only was beautiful but we met to lovely ladies from Germany. They were sisters named Heidi and Monica. They said they were 42 and 46 but they looked 20 something. We had a really good gospel conversation with them and they said they would watch for the missionaries in Germany. They took our picture at the sign post to prove we did it! We were going to get them a B of M and a video but they beat us old folks back and left too fast. Turns out I gave that stuff to a lady named Glennis in an op shop today. What a sweetie! We had a nice talk as well. She said it would be good to have that around so that her children might see and become interested too.
After we got to our motel in Invercargill and had some dinner, we drove down to a place named Bluff where you can drive up on top of a hill and see Stewart Island. I got some great photos and there is a really nice lookout tower with lots of history and stuff. We had ice cream at a little dairy there then drove to a really unique new Marae there. It is very different from the others we have seen. It was a very long day but we saw some lovely things and met some great people. It's quite amazing who you can meet at the End of the World!
We first stopped at Balclutha to see the Clutha (Clyde) River. It is a beautiful shade of turquoise. I don't think I have ever seen a river that color before. It is also large, supposedly the largest in New Zealand and has lovely arched bridge. It reminded me of London Bridge in Lake Havasu Az. We then went to what is supposed to be the most photographed waterfall in New Zealand. It was only a short walk, not very hard, through podocarp forest that is gorgeous. There are ferns there that are 15 feet high and look more like trees. The fall sits in the middle of this and it was easy to see why it is so photographed. I would have taken more pictures if my battery hadn't died! Lol.
We stopped at a little roadside truck to have fish and chips (Blue Cod and it was yummy) and talked with a lady there. She looked like she had been badly burned on her face and all of her limbs were covered in tatoos. Ken talked with her for a bit like he does and she seemed very happy when we left her. I think he made her day. On the way there we had gone down to another area of beach to sea a lighthouse. We stopped to walk on the beach and talked with a man from Switzerland. He was mostly complaining about how there is "no history" in New Zealand. Well, isn't that the point! It is a pretty new country compared to Europe and it's "history" is quite different. Some people don't get it.
We next stopped at an amaziing place called Curio Bay. You have to go there at low tide to see things and we got there just right. We spent a long time there. The bottom of the bay there is covered with petrified wood. You would not believe the huge logs that are there and the stumps just sticking up out of the ground. It was so fascinating to look at all that and wonder what happened probably millions of years ago. Some of the logs looked like they had been burned first. There were so many things to see and the ocean there was so gorgeous that it was hard to leave. There are also penguins there late in the day but we couldn't wait because we had places to go and things to do.
Next stop, Slope Point, the southernmost point on the South Island. It said it was a 20 min. walk and we had spent a lot of time at Curio Bay but after a short debate, we decided we "would never get here again" so we went. I think the 20 min. walk turned out to be round trip becaue it didn't seems to take too long. I'm really glad we went because it not only was beautiful but we met to lovely ladies from Germany. They were sisters named Heidi and Monica. They said they were 42 and 46 but they looked 20 something. We had a really good gospel conversation with them and they said they would watch for the missionaries in Germany. They took our picture at the sign post to prove we did it! We were going to get them a B of M and a video but they beat us old folks back and left too fast. Turns out I gave that stuff to a lady named Glennis in an op shop today. What a sweetie! We had a nice talk as well. She said it would be good to have that around so that her children might see and become interested too.
After we got to our motel in Invercargill and had some dinner, we drove down to a place named Bluff where you can drive up on top of a hill and see Stewart Island. I got some great photos and there is a really nice lookout tower with lots of history and stuff. We had ice cream at a little dairy there then drove to a really unique new Marae there. It is very different from the others we have seen. It was a very long day but we saw some lovely things and met some great people. It's quite amazing who you can meet at the End of the World!
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