Week 3 in New Zealand
We can't believe another week as passed. I guess since it is constantly busy with not enough hours in the day, the time passes quickly. This past week was the last with President and Sister Cummings. They left yesterday to head back to Australia and our new president and companion, the Ereksons arrived. It is intersting, when there is a change of presidents, they only have about 30 minutes together. The new president comes in with no bias and very little foreknowledge of the mission and it's missionaries. It's like the mission has a clean slate to start with as do the missionaries. In a way it gives them a chance to start new and make changes in their behavior. We were sad to see the Cummings leave as we were just starting to get to know them but are excited to learn from our new president and wife. We will have a chance to train them a little about how the mission office runs, too.
The new experiences of this past week include the beginnings of the transfer process. We have the first transfer since we arrived next week and so the president and assistants started a week early to have something for the new president to work with. At this time we have 3 sisters coming into the mission. That is in a constant state of flux because of the issue of getting visas in a timely manor. We may have as many as 2 more sisters come if their visas arrive in time. We also have about 10 elders leaving. It is a little more complicated than usual because 8 of the elders will be leaving the week after transfers. Elder Folland got his first damaged cars into the shop for repair. In the first round of vehicle inspections done at zone conference he found several with damage needing repair. There is a lot of logistics involved in getting cars into the shop. He also had to deal with phones- dropped in toilets, lost, locked out,etc. Sister Folland went through the process of getting a missionary a New Zealand drivers licence. It is quite a complicated process because there are so many variables such as licence of origin, driving experience, previous accidents and driving violations, etc.
We were able to get away for some diversion on our p-day yesterday. We traveled to a coastal town, Raglan and found a great hike. It is an ancient volcano called Karioi. The west face of the mounatain boarders the Tasmanian sea and is reminicant of the Napali coast in Hawaii with steep tropically vegatated slopes heading right to the ocean. The trail is very steep with alternating areas of grass land and thick tropical forest with palms and ferns. There are very steep areas where chains have placed to aid passage, a little like Angels Landing. Sister Folland wasn't thrilled with that but loved it. The views of the ocean and surrounding landscape is stunning. After the hike, we went to a beautiful waterfall, Waireinga or Bridal Veil Falls. It is about 180 ft high.
We enjoying everything about our mission. The land is beautiful, the people are warm and friendly and we love being in the Lord's service. It is fun being with the young missionaries and feeding off their energy. We also love and miss all off you back home. We know we are in the service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His message is one of hope and peace.
Elder and Sister Folland
We can't believe another week as passed. I guess since it is constantly busy with not enough hours in the day, the time passes quickly. This past week was the last with President and Sister Cummings. They left yesterday to head back to Australia and our new president and companion, the Ereksons arrived. It is intersting, when there is a change of presidents, they only have about 30 minutes together. The new president comes in with no bias and very little foreknowledge of the mission and it's missionaries. It's like the mission has a clean slate to start with as do the missionaries. In a way it gives them a chance to start new and make changes in their behavior. We were sad to see the Cummings leave as we were just starting to get to know them but are excited to learn from our new president and wife. We will have a chance to train them a little about how the mission office runs, too.
The new experiences of this past week include the beginnings of the transfer process. We have the first transfer since we arrived next week and so the president and assistants started a week early to have something for the new president to work with. At this time we have 3 sisters coming into the mission. That is in a constant state of flux because of the issue of getting visas in a timely manor. We may have as many as 2 more sisters come if their visas arrive in time. We also have about 10 elders leaving. It is a little more complicated than usual because 8 of the elders will be leaving the week after transfers. Elder Folland got his first damaged cars into the shop for repair. In the first round of vehicle inspections done at zone conference he found several with damage needing repair. There is a lot of logistics involved in getting cars into the shop. He also had to deal with phones- dropped in toilets, lost, locked out,etc. Sister Folland went through the process of getting a missionary a New Zealand drivers licence. It is quite a complicated process because there are so many variables such as licence of origin, driving experience, previous accidents and driving violations, etc.
We were able to get away for some diversion on our p-day yesterday. We traveled to a coastal town, Raglan and found a great hike. It is an ancient volcano called Karioi. The west face of the mounatain boarders the Tasmanian sea and is reminicant of the Napali coast in Hawaii with steep tropically vegatated slopes heading right to the ocean. The trail is very steep with alternating areas of grass land and thick tropical forest with palms and ferns. There are very steep areas where chains have placed to aid passage, a little like Angels Landing. Sister Folland wasn't thrilled with that but loved it. The views of the ocean and surrounding landscape is stunning. After the hike, we went to a beautiful waterfall, Waireinga or Bridal Veil Falls. It is about 180 ft high.
We enjoying everything about our mission. The land is beautiful, the people are warm and friendly and we love being in the Lord's service. It is fun being with the young missionaries and feeding off their energy. We also love and miss all off you back home. We know we are in the service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His message is one of hope and peace.
Elder and Sister Folland
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