Puppy Days of Summer
Hello to all of our friends and family,
The locals are complaining about how "hot" it is. Today is going to reach 28 C(about 86 F). We find it quite comfortable compared to a typical mid-summer day back home. I guess it is all what you are used to. Although the air temperature is quite comfortable, the direct sunshine is quite intense. The locals say it is because there is a hole in the ozone centered over New Zealand. It is amazing though how the beautiful green pastures of just a few months ago are quickly turning to brown. That is very typical for the summer months here. The rain we were getting multiple times per week in the winter and spring is now only every couple of weeks. There is no irrigation, hence the brown fields.
Since we missed doing a post last week, I will be covering multiple weeks of activities. The big event 2 weeks ago was our zone conferences presided over by a member of the area presidency, Elder Yamashita and his wife. It was great to have them here. Other than about 20 minutes presented by our mission president and wife, President and Sister Erikson, the entire conference was taught by the Yamashitas. They are from Japan and are filled with energy and the Spirit. They gave wonderful instruction on how to be more effective missionaries. One cool thing that happened was, Elder Yamshita made an effort in his busy schedule to come to the office to meet with the office staff. He reminded us that our assignments in the office are very important and essential to the functioning of the mission. He thanked each of us for our service. We really do most of our work in the background that no one realizes( unless we mess up- then they know😃 ). It made us feel good that he was aware of our efforts.
The zone conference on Friday was with the Tauranga and Gisborne zones, held in Tauranga. Since the meeting ended late in the afternoon, we got a motel room and stayed the night, as did our office friends, the Claytons. As it turned out, President and Sister Erekson also stayed the night in Tauranga. He invited us all out to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant on the wharf. It was a really nice and relaxing evening. Afterward we went down for a walk on the Mt Manganui beach- very nice! The next morning we visited a cool garden called Te Puna Quarry. The gardens are built on the site of an old rock quarry, with many interesting things to see.
This past week was interesting. Because of the positioning of the last transfer a week before Christmas and the next one not until the first week of February, we are in a period of lull, without any deadlines or pressing jobs to be done. President Erekson and I were able to get in a couple of nice bike rides early in the morning. The mornings are so cool and peaceful, I really feel rejuvenated afterward. It was kind of funny-on the first ride I was telling President about a missionary companionship that I dealt with over the weekend that had snuck into one of our vacated flats to have a BBQ for New Years. Because the flat was supposed to be empty, the neighbors got concerned and contacted the property manager, who in turn contacted me. Well, as I was telling President the details, he was getting a little perturbed. He hit a bump that sent him flying. Luckily he was good at the "tuck and roll" and ended up with just some minor road rash. I was really good and didn't laugh at the time, but later, we had a good laugh together as I good naturedly teased him about it.
With the information I had given the president, he started to investigate and found out it was actually a big party with several missionaries from all over the mission. And it wasn't just one party but on other occasions, also. It broke several of the mission rules and some of the involved missionaries wouldn't come clean with what had happened. That's what got President's goat the most- the blatant dishonestly. The penalty was some of the missionaries were put on the "chain gang". One day, I had them clean up and organise the warehouse, where I store the furnishings for missionary flats. The next day, we took them out to their flat to do some cleaning. As you can probably imagine, it wasn't the most tidy place. Yesterday, they were out to work at the Church camp. I suggested they should empty the lake at the camp with a teaspoon, which didn't go over so well with them.
Although the overwhelming majority of missionaries are obedient, there are a few that just have not caught the vision and they cause a lot of anxiety for all of us. We keep reminding ourselves that these are young people who are only 6 years from primary. Sometimes the miracle of missionary work is that it continues to move forward in spite of the missionaries. As I said, most of the missionaries are great and do miraculous things. We love all of the experiences we have on our mission. These kind of things add variety to our day(as long as it is only occasionally. The Gospel of Jesus Christ triumphs over all adversity and brings joy to our lives.
We love and miss you all and really enjoy hearing from you.
Elder and Sister Folland
The locals are complaining about how "hot" it is. Today is going to reach 28 C(about 86 F). We find it quite comfortable compared to a typical mid-summer day back home. I guess it is all what you are used to. Although the air temperature is quite comfortable, the direct sunshine is quite intense. The locals say it is because there is a hole in the ozone centered over New Zealand. It is amazing though how the beautiful green pastures of just a few months ago are quickly turning to brown. That is very typical for the summer months here. The rain we were getting multiple times per week in the winter and spring is now only every couple of weeks. There is no irrigation, hence the brown fields.
Since we missed doing a post last week, I will be covering multiple weeks of activities. The big event 2 weeks ago was our zone conferences presided over by a member of the area presidency, Elder Yamashita and his wife. It was great to have them here. Other than about 20 minutes presented by our mission president and wife, President and Sister Erikson, the entire conference was taught by the Yamashitas. They are from Japan and are filled with energy and the Spirit. They gave wonderful instruction on how to be more effective missionaries. One cool thing that happened was, Elder Yamshita made an effort in his busy schedule to come to the office to meet with the office staff. He reminded us that our assignments in the office are very important and essential to the functioning of the mission. He thanked each of us for our service. We really do most of our work in the background that no one realizes( unless we mess up- then they know😃 ). It made us feel good that he was aware of our efforts.
The zone conference on Friday was with the Tauranga and Gisborne zones, held in Tauranga. Since the meeting ended late in the afternoon, we got a motel room and stayed the night, as did our office friends, the Claytons. As it turned out, President and Sister Erekson also stayed the night in Tauranga. He invited us all out to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant on the wharf. It was a really nice and relaxing evening. Afterward we went down for a walk on the Mt Manganui beach- very nice! The next morning we visited a cool garden called Te Puna Quarry. The gardens are built on the site of an old rock quarry, with many interesting things to see.
This past week was interesting. Because of the positioning of the last transfer a week before Christmas and the next one not until the first week of February, we are in a period of lull, without any deadlines or pressing jobs to be done. President Erekson and I were able to get in a couple of nice bike rides early in the morning. The mornings are so cool and peaceful, I really feel rejuvenated afterward. It was kind of funny-on the first ride I was telling President about a missionary companionship that I dealt with over the weekend that had snuck into one of our vacated flats to have a BBQ for New Years. Because the flat was supposed to be empty, the neighbors got concerned and contacted the property manager, who in turn contacted me. Well, as I was telling President the details, he was getting a little perturbed. He hit a bump that sent him flying. Luckily he was good at the "tuck and roll" and ended up with just some minor road rash. I was really good and didn't laugh at the time, but later, we had a good laugh together as I good naturedly teased him about it.
With the information I had given the president, he started to investigate and found out it was actually a big party with several missionaries from all over the mission. And it wasn't just one party but on other occasions, also. It broke several of the mission rules and some of the involved missionaries wouldn't come clean with what had happened. That's what got President's goat the most- the blatant dishonestly. The penalty was some of the missionaries were put on the "chain gang". One day, I had them clean up and organise the warehouse, where I store the furnishings for missionary flats. The next day, we took them out to their flat to do some cleaning. As you can probably imagine, it wasn't the most tidy place. Yesterday, they were out to work at the Church camp. I suggested they should empty the lake at the camp with a teaspoon, which didn't go over so well with them.
Although the overwhelming majority of missionaries are obedient, there are a few that just have not caught the vision and they cause a lot of anxiety for all of us. We keep reminding ourselves that these are young people who are only 6 years from primary. Sometimes the miracle of missionary work is that it continues to move forward in spite of the missionaries. As I said, most of the missionaries are great and do miraculous things. We love all of the experiences we have on our mission. These kind of things add variety to our day(as long as it is only occasionally. The Gospel of Jesus Christ triumphs over all adversity and brings joy to our lives.
We love and miss you all and really enjoy hearing from you.
Elder and Sister Folland
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