Back to some "normalcy"

Ever since the COVID 19 lockdown in March,  all of our mission routines have been so different.  Starting with the mass exodus of foreign missionaries, to being locked out of our office, to home church, to vacant streets in the city, to a sudden influx of native New Zealand missionaries, we have been constantly changing how we do things in the mission.  Well, 2 weeks ago, it started to feel like we were getting back to normal.  That was outtake/intake/ transfer week.  The departing missionaries came into Hamilton in an organized fashion and we sent them on their way home on Tuesday morning just like we used to.  The only exception was we had two sisters who couldn't leave until Friday.  They were on a repatriation flight to Samoa.  Both had served 3 months past their scheduled release date because they were not allowed back into Samoa.   At last, they were allowed to return.   Wednesday, we had 6 New Zealand native missionaries arrive to the mission and after running them through our orientation, they were sent out to their new areas in the afternoon.  It all felt so normal, like before the COVID invasion and it was so good to be back to our routine.  

This past week was also very much a normal routine.  We had 4 zone conferences, one each day from Tuesday to Friday.  Tuesday was in South Auckland, Wednesday and Thursday in Hamilton and Tauranga on Friday.  Sister Folland and I were in charge of the luncheon served at the conferences.  We had several requests for a meal we have done in the past- taco salad.  That seems to be the missionary's favorite meal.  Previously, we made the meat portion using "mince"(ground beef).  This time we tried slow cooking a roast and it really turned out nicely.  At each conference except the last one on Friday, the missionaries finished all of the meat even though each time we cooked a little more to make sure they were getting enough to satisfy.  Finally, the last one we cooked over 10 Kg and they left a little bit over.  Those big Polynesians can really put it away! Everyone seemed to like it.   By the end of the week we were pretty tired.

We were able to get in nice hikes the last two weekends.  Last weekend we hiked in an area called Te Aroha mountan park about 20 miles east of Hamilton.  At the base of mountain is a geothermal area, with hot springs and a small geyser.   The hike took us up  to a lookout over the verdent farmland of the Waikato.  Yesterday we hiked a trail on Mount Pirongia, which is southwest of Hamilton.  The top of the mountain was shrouded in clouds but the track headed through native forest of tree ferns, kahikatea, rimu and other beautiful plants.  

With Sunday being the first Sunday of the month and fast Sunday, we had our traditional "break the fast" pot luck dinner with the other senior couples in the Hamilton area.  Sharon made funeral potatoes and I made some sourdough bread to share.  It was our second meal for the afternoon (We also had our monthly dinner with the Macdonald family, our landlords).  They always put on a massive spread, so we only had little tastes of the potluck.  After the meal, we had a very interesting lecture from Elder and Sister Houghton.

They are owners of Westland Construction, the company doing the remodel of the Hamilton NZ Temple as well as building the new Auckland temple.  They have done renovation or construction of 26 temples, mostly outside the US, although they are based in Utah.  They told of their experiences building the Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo temple.

Two stories I thought were very interesting.   Several years before the temple was announced to be built in Kinshasa, an Air Congo executive and member of the Congolese Parliament named Norman Kamosi, his wife and two children fled Congo with nothing but the clothing they were wearing due to a political coop that put their lives in grave danger.  They settled in Washington DC but had virtually nothing.  He had been a powerful and rich man in the Congo and he was suddenly having trouble feeding his family adequately.  One day he was on his knees praying that he could find a way to help his family.  A knock on the door interupted and there were two missionaries.  He invited them in and soon he and his family joined the Church.  Moving forward about 10 years, Brother Houghton was having lunch with some friends that work in the temple department about the newly announced Kinshasa temple and they mentioned the concern finding someone who would have the necessary connections and capacity to help work through the many obstacles of working  with government and others in order get the temple built.  Br Haughton told them about a man, Br Kamosi, who had been found and taught by his son when he served in Washington, DC.  He told the temple people he would see what he could do pursuing that connection.   Eventually, Westland received the contract to build the temple and Br Kamosi, due to his connections to the country, was instrumental in the negotiations required to allow the construcion to proceed.  The Lord had His hand in laying the necessary ground work to allow the temple to be build years in advance.   Later, Sister Kamosi said when they lived in luxury in the Congo, they never would have listened to the  missionaries, but after the humbling of losing everything, they were prepared to recieve the Gospel.  They then became instruments to allow the work to proceed.

One other thing I thought was very interesting relating to the Kinshasa Temple.  All of the subcontrators were local.  None of them had the skills necessary to do the work on the temple, so they were taught as they went.  Elder Houghton said some days that is all he did was walk around the site and teach the workers how to do the work.  I asked him what effect this had on the workers after the temple was finished.  He said it greatly enhanced their abilities and many of them went on to create their own companies and better lives.

We are grateful to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day  Saints.  This opportunity to serve a mission has been and is a great blessing.  It is challenging a lot of the time but there in lies some of the blessings-being able to feel the Lord's presence helping us along to further His work!