The Twelve Days of Christmas

Each year the Office does some fun things to celebrate the season.  There is always a food collection:  canned goods, cereal and other dry food. They have a toy or game collection.  There is a luncheon and a devotional.  This year they have divided the office into groups and each day one of the groups goes Christmas caroling on the four floors of the office.  We were in the second group.  Monday the group sang at our luncheon.  One time.  Today the group sang at the devotional. One time.  Yesterday was our group.  We went to all the floors and sang 11 times. We sang Stars Were Gleaming from the primary book.  Then we were going to sing the Kiwi 12 Days of Christmas.  I will post about them next.  I have to look up the things that you get before I talk about it.  Anyway, one of the lady's in our group was dead-set against it.  She things 12 Days is really dumb.  Stupid.  (Maybe it was because I told her I did not like Deck the Halls.)

Today, the group that sang included the Area Presidency.  They sang Christmas Bells which was lovely and then the gave us all a candy cane with a piece of paper wrapped around it.  The title on the paper:  The Meaning of  the Twelve Days of Christmas.  (I had to laugh.)

I thought I would share.  The story goes that from 1558 until 1829 people in England were not allowed to practice their faith openly. During this ear, the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written as s subtle way of celebrating Christ's birth in public without rick of prosecution. The song's lyrics had a hidden meaning know only to members of the church, each element of the twelve days offering code meaning for a religion reality.

1. A partridge in a pear tree stood for Jesus Christ.

2. Two turtledoves stood for the Old and New Testaments.

3. Three French hens stood for faith, hope and charity.

4. The four calling birds were the four Gospels.

5. The five gold rings represented the first five books o the Old Testament. ..the  Law.

6. The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of the creation.

7. The seven swans a swimming stood for the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit.

8. The eight maids a-milking represented the beatitudes.

9. The nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Spirit (see Galatians 5)

10. Ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments

11. Eleven pipers piping stood \or the eleven faithful disciples.

12. Twelve drummers drumming symbolized the Twelve points of belief in the Apostles Creed. 

Whether or not the story is based on true  occurrences--each element of the lyrics offers a positive reason to celebrate Christianity. With the deepest meaning to contemplate, the song becomes a lighthearted anthem of praise and a tribute to those who dared celebrate their gratitude for Christ. Aren't we blessed to be able to worship the Savior without fear of harm? Maybe we should stand a little taller and be more open in sharing the gospel with those who don't yet have the truth. Aren't we blessed to have the scriptures to read and ponder? There are only a few days before December 25th. Next time you hear the Twelve Days of Christmas celebrate the blessings of being able to openly and wholeheartedly celebrate.  

The Bus

Each modning in Korea we would leave the hotel by 8:30 and go to the Korean Service Center for the church.  We always road the same bus. It was just the right size to all of us.  I had to take pictures of it.  

Now that is what I call "class".  

A View Out Our WIndow

When we went to Singapore on our way to Korea we chatted with a girl who worked at the hotel and she told us she was Korean. We told her we were going there the next day. She asked where we were staying. She told us that if we were on the correct side of the hotal we would have a beautiful view out our window.  I guess we were on the correct side as this is what we saw.

Whales and Dolphins and Birds! On My!

We went one a whale and dolphin cruise a few weeks ago.  Those of you that know me pretty well are aware that being on a boat that is moving fast through the water is not usually my cup of tea.  I made sure I had taken a sea sick pill before we started. I admit, it was an amazing afternoon.  I have learned that being in the front of the boat in the breeze is the best way for me to enjoy such an activity so we went right to the front and sat on a step and watched the land go by as we left the harbor.

We were told that we needed to look for large flocks of circling birds.  Finally we saw some.  Many of the birds were gannets.  You can read about them back many months on this blog.  They fly here to NZ to mate and lay their eggs and then when the chicks are big enough they fly back to Australia...just 1400 km.  On this excursion I figured out how they would do that.  They are like ducks in that they can float on the water and they drive into the waters to spear fish with their beaks.

Here is the first flock of birds that we found.  They were so awesome to watch.

This photo is of a gannet dive-bombing into the ocean.  They hit the water going up to 100 km per hour. I guess it is a good thing that they do not have nostrils on the outside of their beaks or they would drowned from the impact. 

Not too long after we saw these birds doing their tricks than the captain came on the air and said that he had been told there were dolphins about 10 minutes away from us. We took off like lightening.  Then he came on again and told us that we were in store for a real treat as we were approaching a super-pod of dolphins!  That meant between 1000 and 2000 of them.

Can you see them jumping?

Here two, up close and personal, are right under the front of the boat.  The captain said that they like to swim by or near or under the boat...it is like a racer drafting behind the others. 

Here is another one.  I probably took 200 photos of them and these are the best I got.  They gave us a CD with all sorts of photos that they had taken but I wanted to use only mine. 

This last one is of more fish but if you look to the left side of the photo you and see the water spout of a whale. 

These next two photos are ones that they gave us. My camera, as good as it is, could not capture them.  They knew what they were looking for and what was happening so they got really good shots.

These were not even taken when we were there but they are from the waters here about!  Top one is an orca and the bottom a humpback.

Good Morning Sunshine!

We sleep with our window open and the shades up about 6 inches so the air can get in.  The other morning, as I awoke, I saw the most beautiful sky.  It was so pretty, in fact, that although it was only 5:05 am I had to get up and take a photo.  I hope you enjoy the beauty of it.

Now that is a sand bag!

Waihi Beach is a little different than the ones that we usually one on in our neck of the woods. Our beaches just kind of begin at the end of the land.  Just a gentle slope and you are there. Waihi probably was that way also with homes built on the bluffs above the beach. Then slowly the beach began to be washed away during big storms. To prevent damage to the homes etc and further erosion of the beach the city brought in sand bags.  I thought these were pretty fun but I really wanted to show how big they are.

So I asked Michael to stand next to them. 

These areas where the sand is a bit unstable they post these signs so everyone knows what is up. Looks to me that they need some more vegetation here.

After get do all that they can with the sandbags then they bring in large boulders.

According to the local folks this house has been moved back on the bluff twice!  Now it just kind of sits right on the edge of these big boulders!  It looks like a nice home and certainly would be a sweet place to live!

How Old Are They?

The morning we were at Waihi it was cool and wet. It had rained for three days. In our walk we came upon two men and their children. They were brothers so the kids were cousins. They were the second people that we had stopped to chat with and both of the people were from Hamilton. It is about 90 minutes from Hamilton but they always come over to Waihi Beach on the weekends. Obviously they were not members of the church with Sunday responsibilities. We stopped to chat with them just as their three kids ran out into the surf with their boards. They all had on wetsuits.

It looks to me though that the water is chilly and they are not sure if they really want to be there. The little gal on the left in pink is six, the boy in the middle is eight and the girl in purple is seven. They were having so much fun.  Notice that the water is not very deep here and that is the way the beach is for a long ways out.

He rode this wave in for a long time. This is the only picture where you can see his face and it was too good to pass on.

This is a pretty nice ride by the six-year old. We were amazed and wondered if our Grands would want to even try this is they were here. We decided that they would.  It is nothing like that amazing 100-foot wave that that man rode earlier this week but we thought this was AWESOME!

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

When we went to Waihi Beach a few weeks ago it was all because of a painting we had purchased from a gallery for local artists. We took it home and saw on the back the notation that it was Waihi Beach. We decided that it was only appropriate to go and check it out and take a photo from the same vantage point. And that is what we did.

This is the photo that I took.

And this is the painting.  She took a little artistic license and added a closer pathway and the over-head tree.  They were there but just not in the location on the painting. The island out in the water was there. The day we were there the sky was not as blue but that could be because when we were there all it did was rain!  The birds were there as well but I could not get them to cooperate and sit on the posts like that.

Maybe I need a different lens for the camera or something.  

Sister Suzie sells sea shell on the sea shore.....

One of my favorite things to do is to pick up sea shells on the sea shore. When we were in Waihi the weather was not very friendly. It had not been nice for a couple of days which always brings up a wide variety of shells on the sand.  I had so much fun picking them up. Here is a sampling.

I have looked for this type of shell the entire time that I have been walking the sands.

This is the biggest one that I found. I know that you can find this kind in all sizes as the motel had a display of them but this was the only one like this that I found. 

I really like these.  They remind me a chocolates. Each one is very unique.

The big one here is about 3.5 inches long and the other about three-quarters of an inch long. 

This is an assortment of the kind that I found. I have never seen the brown ones or the blue ones or the almost black ones. I was really excited when I found all of these.  I have decided that I am going to get a big glass jar and display all of my shells that way. What memories!

Cast in Bronze

When we went to Waihi over the weekend we took a stroll around the town. What a quaint little place it is. We saw several statues cast in Bronze. I was fascinated by them and could not help but take photos of them which means I get to share them.

This was out front of the library.  I loved the detail in the clothing and faces.  

Saturday night bath in the big galvanized tub!  

Look at the face on this little boy?

What would be more fitting for a mining town than for there to be a miner?

Certainly my favorite (I think...that little boy in the tub is pretty cute) is this one.  I especially loved the inscription at the base of the statue.

A Fish To Fry

Certainly Kiwi's love the water and one of the main reasons they love it is for the joy of fishing. Owning a boat or having a good mate that owns one is almost a requirement for being a native here. Some love the thrill of the troll while others just love all the new innovative ways to go about the sport. We saw three examples of how to pursue the hobby.

The first, and certainly the simplest fishing right off the dock or rocks. Nothing too interesting that it would warrant a photo.

The second is fishing from a boat. This man drove his truck and boat right down to the water's edge to launch his boat and now he is trying to get the boat out of the water and back on the trailer. We saw this action repeated several times.

This is a rather humble boat but they all seemed to enjoy the activity. We saw much fancier outfits but they were all happy with the results.

The third way was fishing from the beach.  And we saw two examples of it.  The first is for an individual who likes to say he caught the fish and eat the fish but maybe does not have the time or means to be on the water.  This is like a very large reel. I have not figured out how it is cast but he connected about 20 hooks to this reel and cast it into the ocean.  He let it run out for about 20 minutes and then stopped it.  It sat there until he was ready to reel it in and the hope was all of those hooks would have something attached to them. I saw him setting this up and then fifteen minutes later I saw him come back but never saw him bring it in.

The next photo is a more sophisticated version of the above one. 

It is kind of like a big shotgun. The white cylinder on the front has a propeller with a battery and a timer. They get the reel all set with all the 20 hooks and then they would shoot it, like a gun. The battery was on a timer so you could set it to just keep going on this battery power for up to 45 minutes. So you shoot it in the ocean and it runs out for 20 minutes and then it turns off. They you reel it in, just like the other one and hope for a good catch.  

We came across this man and his two sons. They are reeling it in. You can see the reel and the man is holding on to it with a cloth so it does not get tangled. It takes as long to reel it in as to the time the battery was running.  They usually do it at low tide.  This time they only caught three fish. One was a snapper which is my favorite to eat as fish and chips. This is the other one that they caught. It is called a grunard. They have wings on both sides of their body. The young boy wanted to be sure I saw how pretty and unique they were.  They don't fly but I think they use it to stir up the bottom of the sea since that is where they usually reside. 

Miss Bossy

I grew up with advertisements for milk and milk products that featured Bossy.  This weekend we really saw the Bossys of New Zealand. Unlike other places that we have visited that have been sheep country this part of New Zealand has to be a favorite of the dairyman.  Cows, cows everywhere!  We saw them of every kind and color. We passed one big field. On the right side of the road was a field that was full of cows and calves. Across the road on the left hand side was a big bull.  He was standing at the fence, staring, maybe too intently, at all those cows on the other side.

A bit further down the road we saw a long, long line of cows, three and four deep, following one another to a distant milking barn. They walked towards the right, on the left hand side of the road, under the road and then continued on to the barn. There had to have been 300-400 cows, all ready to be milked. Later we were told that there are no humans involved in bringing these cows to the milk barn. They just know when they were full and it was time to head for the barn.

It was kind of a cool, rainy day when we were driving from Hamilton to Waihi Beach. Maybe you remember in a different blog I mentioned how they keep blankets on their horses? I speculated as to the reason why one of which was to keep them warm.  Well, in one field, a bit in the distance, I saw a herd of cows, each with its own blanket. Or so I thought.  This is what I saw:

It took me a few moments before I realized that it was not a blanket at all but the actual cow. It is called a belted galloway cow.  They originate in Scotland and it is some sort of cross breding. We saw many herds with all sorts of different cows. There were brown ones and other black and white cows, like the Chick-fil-a cow but never was this belted galloway cow mixed in with the other breeds. 

Waihi--Heart of Gold of New Zealand

Waihi is a little town about two hours south of Auckland. It is in the Bay of Plenty region. Waihi was settled early in the 1850 and became a place of interest in 1886 when gold was discovered. Soon after it was found there were lots of miners who had staked a claim and had started to dig tunnels deep into the earth. Many miners did alright with their claims while others decided not to continue to mine but they became what were called tunnelmakers. They gave up their claims to gold and silver and began working for the railroad digging tunnels for the trains. There is a tunnel that is more than a kg long that they dug about 1910.

Side note here: These tunnerlmakers were the first Kiwis drafted into WWI. They were so good at what they did that they were sent to Germany and they dug tunnels to help defeat the Germans since they had tunnels all over the land.

Anyway, some of these mines joined forces and created the Martha Gold Company. They were a big business and had lots of men working for them. They used horses to help bring the gold and silver out of the mine. The horses would be taken down into the mine and they would life there, usually only coming out on Christmas and Easter. They had to blindfold them when they came out to protect their eyes.  They slowly became more modern in their production but they were still pretty primitive when these mines closed in the mid 1950s.

The mine opened again in the mid 1980s as Martha's Mine and it was then an open-pit mine. As they worked it they found many of the old tunnels that had been worked for years.  This is what it looks like now.

I could not even get a photo of the bottom of it since it is now so deep.

It is an active, working mine even today. And it has a huge economical impact of this part of New Zealand.

This is one of the dump trucks that works the mine. Tires are 7 feet tall and cost $9000 each.

When the mine has been worked out and there is no more gold and silver that they are bringing out then they will close down operations and it will be made into a man-made lake. If you look at the local maps it is labeled:  Martha's Mine/Lake.

Papua New Guinea

We had the chance to speak at the MTC on Tuesday so we were able to visit with President and Sister Tarawhiti who is the president there. They have been in full-time service to the church for a long time. He served as mission president in PNG and then they served a mission there as well. He had some great stories that I thought I would share.  

President T said that when they would baptize they would baptize entire villages. There is nothing to do in a village so when the missionaries would came everyone would stop and listen to what they were teaching. And so when they would have a baptism they would baptize almost the entire village.  It was not unusual to have 40-50 people baptized at the same day. I think I told you about baptisms  among the crocodiles not too long after we got here. I will check and if it is not posted here I will post it. It would have been early in our mission.  Anyway, because almost everyone in a village were members they would all rejoice and celebrate when they had a visitor from the church.

Elder Collister who is a member of the presidency of the Seventy  and who was Andrew's mission president was the area president here and went on a mission tour in PNG.  They were visiting several of the small villages. In one village the entire population turned out to welcome him and to honor him as best they could. They all dressed in their best costumes to show their respect. When the ceremony to welcome began, all the women, from young girls to the very oldest grandmas greeted him...all topless.  President T said:  Elder Collister did not even blink an eye but leaned over to me and said "We have some teaching to do here."

He said that another time they were in some training meetings and a member of the area presidency was there as well as an area seventy. The man who said the opening prayer said: we are grateful for our visitors and pray that thou will bless the Seventies, and the Eighties and the Nineties.

Elder and Sister Anderson did a tour there for the area presidency. They said the hardest think to get used to was the body odor of the people. They seem to never shower. Sister A said that when the girl came in to turn down the bed they had to leave the room because it was so awful.  I know when President Bleake was at the MTC he made the missionaries from PNG shower twice a day for the first week they were there.  

President T said that there would still maybe be some cannibalism in the most remote villages but it did not happen much any more.  Comforting thought huh? He did say that all the missionaries do have what they call a cane knife in their flats. We wouid call them machetes. They use them for service when they help clear land.  Or maybe it is to kill the rats!

A Bounty on a Butterfly

Dr Nick Smith, chairman of the department of Conservation has announced that there is a $10 bounty on great white butterflies!

Do not be taken in by the beauty of this beast!  They eat and eat and eat their way through the short life that they have and cause so much damage to the crops. They have one back spot on the bottom of each wing which helps to identify them from other white butterflies.

They have only been found in one location in New Zealand which eliminates us from being bounty hunters.  We are A on the map and the butterflies are in Nelson on the south island on the Tasman Sea at B. 

The life-cycle of the butterfly coincides perfectly with spring break at school. So this is the deal. For every dead butterfly that is brought into the office in Nelson they will pay $10. There is no limit since one female can lay 750 eggs in her lifetime. They can bring them in between 30 September and 11 October.  

There is some concern that these great whites look a lot like the small white butterfly that are around all the time. If they bring those in dead they will not be paid the $10 but they will have their names in a draw to win spot prizes.  

Not only has New Zealand figured out an economical way to rid the land of invaders but to help everyone to be gainfully employed for at least two weeks in the year!  Can we learn from them?

Angry Birds

We heard on the news the other day that New Zealand has been invaded by angry birds!  Certainly that caught our attention. It appears that the island has been invaded by a bird called a red-vented bulbul. It is considered an aggressive, invasive bird that will damage the native vegetation, birdlife and private gardens.  It has a red patch under its tail and a white breast with a cap on its head like a blue jay.

The minister of whatever group it is that takes care of the environment said that if we see them we are supposed to call this certain number and someone will immediately come. They will try to catch it but if they do not then they will shoot it!  

There is a website you can go to that will let you hear it call so you will be on the lookout.  They think they came in as stow-aways on commercial ships or private boats.  New Zealand has been invaded twice but this little critter but have managed to do away with all of them.  We will keep you posted on the progress of defending against the invasion.  

Eden Park and the All-Blacks

Just wanted to share a few photos from our evening at the rugby game.  Most of them were taken by Sister Jacobsen.

Here are seven of the nine couples that went to the game.  From left to right:  Elder and Sister Huntzinger. She is the one who took me to the hospital in Pittsburgh when Steve was born. They work in the mission office.  Elder and Sister Long work with YSA.  Elder and Sister Anderson. He is the area medical advisor.  Us.  Elder and Sister Passehl. They are Australian and work in the mission office. Elder and Sister Jacobsen work in ITEP which are all the schools on the islands that the church owns. Elder and Sister Reynolds. They are in welfare and he is part time area executive secretary.

The park is in the back. There is not a single parking place for any car at the park.

As you can see we were pretty early for the game. This is taken from where our seats are. This was one of the times when there is no liquid sunshine falling.  

Here is my fearless companion reading his program. If you have ever gone to a sports event with him you already know that he ALWAYS buys a program and ALWAYS reads it too. 

You can see that we are all set for the storm clouds that were rolling through. These are the Reynolds. She is eating a lamb burger. She said she will not repeat that experience. Before too long everyone in the stands had on hats and ponchos just like ours. The true blue fans had one black ones!

A Few Catch Phrases

I have been hearing all sorts of different phrases in the past few weeks and decided to share them. Maybe you want to add some to your personal ever-expanding vocabulary.

Gutted:  I was just gutted at the results of my test. We would use devastated.

Dune and Dusted:  Soon the regatta will be done and dusted.  The races is over and there is nothing else to say about it.

Too big for our boots:  The office is just too big for its boots.  We need to find more office space to accommodate all the people that work here.

Honesty call:  She came in with an honesty call.  She told the truth about it situation.

Hell yes or Damn sure:  Are you going home?  Hell yes or Damn sure.  Damn and hell are not considered swear words here but you would NEVER hear anyone use the word crap!

Sorted: We will sort it out shortly.  We will figure it out.

Guess that is all for today. I keep a running list so I can share.

Sticker Shock!

I saw two things today that I thought I would share with you just so you can get an idea of this great land that we are currently calling home.

It really does not matter if you get the truss tomatoes or the loose ones since they are the same price. Makes you think once or twice before you decide to have a BLT for lunch!

This notice was in our mailbox the other day. We only check it once or twice a week since all of our mail goes directly to the area office. When I saw this I could not believe my eyes!  Now admittedly I have not been in the market for a babysitter for a good long time other than when someone is visiting and we get Mallory from across the street to come by. Maybe I have been cheating her out of what I owe her. I will have to remember this come next summer!