Just Pictures

WOW! / Look At That!

As part of our assignment we go on the road to visit the Seminarys and Institutes in our area.  On Sunday we traveled two hours south to Timaru to attend church with them.  There is a branch there and they have a chapel.  There is a lovely missionary couple there, Elder and Sister Jarvis, and we are sure the saints are happy to have them.  Monday morning we met with  Sister Ani Haua and her seminary students.  Left to right, Alex, Hailey, Sister Haua, Anahera, Kenya, and Dallin.  This is one of our favorite things to do to visit these faithful teachers and students who get up early every morning to study the gospel together.  What a wonderful way to start the day!

 This was a spectacular sight.  These are Moeraki Boulders that started as small balls  the size of a pebble and after 60 million years are a tall as Sister Blackwell.

Lots of these boulders are on the beach and some are still emerging from the hillside.

We took this picture for Bob Carter in our home town.   This place is Gore,  the Brown Trout capital of the world.  We met with Elder and Sister Chestley who are serving as MLS (member leader support).  They are from California and will be heading home in May.

This is as far south as you can go on the South Island.  Just outside the city of Invercargill and on a clear day you would be able to see the Stewart Island.

Sister Blackwell has been driving in the countryside.  It is so strange driving on the other side of the road and right and left turns have a whole new meaning.

We met with these dear people, Brother and Sister Wilson.  Brother Wilson is a counselor in the branch presidency.  They are from the north island and felt prompted to move there.  They have an on-line seminary here.  We took them to lunch at a Turkish restaurant.  It was very good!

This is a place called Curio Bay.  When you walk down to the beach, you are standing on a petrified forest which is magnificent!  It is also the home of the yellow-eyed penguin, which only come out at dusk.  We weren't willing to wait the three hours.

This is Florence Hill Lookout, so this is for you Grammy!   Beautiful! 

This is the seminary in Dunedin.  They meet in the chapel and are:  (left to right) Jisu, Jesse (he has a twin brother named Christopher), Sister Fortune, Brenna, Savannah, Emily, and Caleb.  They were absolutely delightful!
That night in this same room is where we trained six adults for Institute right after a missionary transfer dinner.  We can't believe we forgot to take a picture.  This was our first institute training and we were really focused.

Lots of cows and millions of sheep.

Larnach Castle in Dunedin.  William Larnach built the castle for his first wife, and married two more times.  He shot himself in the head in a committee room in Parliament.  The castle was sold and now visitors can pay dearly to view inside or even stay in the Larnach Lodge.  We can only imagine what that would cost.

This is the view from the castle down into Otago Harbour. 

Elder and Sister Blackwell standing above Pilots Beach where the Albatross have a colony.

Just wanted to mention that the reason we titled this post, Wow, Look At That!  because that is what we were saying constantly as we went around every turn.  The NZ people make use of every square inch of ground and it is manicured to perfection.  Altogether, we traveled close to 900 miles and were gone five days.  It was so fun that it felt like a vacation and we enjoyed all the wonderful people along the way.  We are to make this trek quarterly, so will look forward to seeing these great folks again.

Amberley & Leithfield Beach

Went to an early morning seminary north of Christchurch, in Amberley, about 45 minutes away.  Had a delightful time with Jenny Wood and her family.  Sister Wood teaches seminary in her home and teaches three of her five children.  While we were having the lesson, President Wood was cooking breakfast.  He is the branch President.  They are living in the home they are building, have a huge yard with a fishpond, orchard, pigeons, chickens, garden, quail, and guinea pigs.  The kids talked our heads off after the lesson and then they sent us out the door with sausage biscuits and fresh peaches. The Wood parents both went on missions and met each other in Australia.  She is from Scotland and he is from North Carolina.  How they ended up in New Zealand is another chapter to be discovered.  Their place is literally the "Garden of Eden".

 On the way back we saw a turnoff for Leithfield Beach and we took a little detour.  Within five minutes we were walking on an empty beach, watching the sun rise and listening to the pounding surf on the beach.  It was one of those glorious moments that you record in your mind and play back a million times.  Elder Blackwell and I both picked up a smooth pebble to remind us of our delightful morning.

Mission Pres/ FHE /Seminary

We went to our first Zone Conference on Sat. March 16th.  The Smith's, a couple from Tremonton, picked us up so we would know the way.  We were so thrilled to meet Pres. Kezerian and his wife.  They are dynamic people and teachers and we learned a lot just being with them for four hours.  They both interacted with the missionaries in a marvelous way.  The Elders put together a healthy lunch for us all and we gobbled it down in 20 minutes so we could get back to business.  The day was delightful!  Then we went furniture shopping with the Smith's for a new couple that are coming in another week.  We found a great couch and two chairs at a second hand store that just need three springs attached in the bottom.  Elder Blackwell volunteered Brother Bell and himself to do the job.  It was originally priced at $1,900 and because of the springs we got all three pieces for $395.

We had our first Family Home Evening last night with the YSA.  Elder Blackwell and I did the lesson, game and refreshments.  It turned out well.  We had ten YSA's and they were a lot of fun.  They love to interact and their level of spirituality and knowledge of the gospel is amazing!  We are so impressed every time we meet with them.  They really keep us on our toes.  The pictures are a game where they have a famous person's name on their forehead and they have to ask questions to figure out who they are, but can only be answered with a yes or no.  It was a hoot watching them.  We made our famous peanut butter rice crispies with chocolate on top.  They were a hit!

Our visits to the early morning seminaries has been so much fun!  It is amazing to Elder Blackwell and myself that these dedicated teachers and students plus the parents are willing to get up that early to be to class five days a week.  So far we have been to Avon River, Riccarton, Merivale, and the other Avon River.  We need to plan a road trip to go to Oamaru, Dunedin, Timaru, and Invercargill.  Invercargill is an eight hour drive one way!  On the way back we will go through Queenstown, which is in the west, to visit and get acquainted with the leadership there.

Flat Tour

Street view. 1/117 Totara Street Christchurch

Living room, space for unlimited YSA's

Dining room, left doorway to kitchen.

4 & 5 Kitchen with brand new dishwasher [didn't have one before], also new sink and stove/oven. Very nice.
6- Another shot of kitchen.
7- The "loo".  Warning do not sit and flush! It must use ahout 5 gallons per flush.
8- Sink and tub separate room from loo. Yes, that's a big mirror on the wall next to the tub.
9- Guest bedroom with floor to ceiling windows looking out on back garden. Be the first to make reservations.  We would love to have you come stay with us!

10- View of garden from guest bedroom.
11- This is the shower in the hall.  This is a strange feature in any home in NZ.  The door slides and has  mirror on both sides. Don't turn on the lights I don't want to see.
12 & 13- Master bedroom. Most of the windows in the flat are floor to ceiling.  Nice now, but we'll let you know how we feel about them this winter.  Also, they are single pane.
14- Long hallway taken from front door.  Sliding door on right is the famous shower.  That's my companion waving at the end of hall.

We are very pleased and comfortable.  Does have a washer and dryer.  The dryer hangs from the ceiling, nice feature.  Forgot to take picture of that. NO laundermats for us!  YEA!!!