Button up your overcoat!

I posted a few weeks ago about horses and blankets.  My question had been why did these horses have blankets on all the time.  I understood why when it was cold but it isn't cold.  I asked Sister Bleak from the MTC what she knew about it and she said that she thought it was because they were show horses.  That part is correct.  What I learned today from my hairdresser is:  the show horses are covered up by blankets all year around because the sun bleaches their hair and they are not pretty!  I would never have thought about that one!

Oh Where Has The Time Gone?

I am always surprised when I notice how long it has been since a post.  I think I have been waiting for pictures but since I do not have any I will just write.

You can tell it is springtime in New Zealand because there is a community-wide clean up.  The neighborhoods rotate.  We were driving to church last week and in front of every house was a big pile of what I would call JUNK.  They all clean their houses and put the junk on the front lawn/easement and then the government has the recycle trucks drive through the neighborhood and collect it all.  I was asking a friend why it was such a mess and she explained it to me.  Her son, who served a mission in Singapore but worked mainly in Malaysia said that when they do it he thinks he is back in Malaysia.  I think he was correct.  When we drove to church it was raining and the piles were just sitting. When we left it was dry and sunny, and there were cars parked all the way along the street, with people going through to see what they wanted.  I guess it is true:  One man's trash in another man's treasure!

Summertime and the living is easy.....

One more post.  Because New Zealand is a pretty laid-back and easy country summer time vacations always include doing something outdoors (unless you leave the country).  The biggest joy for them is to rent (if they do not own) a caravan.  This is what we would call a motor home, a fifth wheel, a trailer, anything like that.  Then they will drive it from place to place and see and visit what they want to.  I am told that when it is really summer you will see them everywhere and they will line the highways.

Today is the first day back to school after a two-week break.  During that time people have taken mini-vacations and we have seen it.  Attached below are photos of caravans that were down by Takapuna Beach.  This is right next to the park that I showed you before....less than a 2 minute walk to the water.

 Many of them are towed but some of them are actually like a motor home that you drive everywhere.  I guess it depends on if you are going to do other things than the beach or wherever it is that you are parked because if you move it to go to the store or something then you will no longer have your place reserved and you will have to find another plug for your house.

I don't know but assume you can make reservations and that there is a charge for the spot.  I have had no interest in using a spot so have not investigated!

And as you can see some people have their very own movable houses.  I can just imagine the remarks I would have gotten from my beloved children if they knew we were going to drive anywhere in this!  Reminds me of something from the Lorax!

Ice Cream in the Country

After our assignment at the MTC,  President and Sister Bleak (pronounced Blake) invited us to go for a ride with them and to have an ice cream cone.  So we left and rode for 10-15 minutes into the countryside.  We found a strawberry farm.

The white is plastic covering the plants.  This farmer has the distinct honor of being the first each year to pick berries as he keeps them under white plastic.  They start ripening in early September which would  be early March for the US.

It is really out in the country.  On the hillside beyond the fields you can see little white balls that are running around.  I will add an additional picture here to illustrate.

These little white balls come in three sizes.  There are the parent-size sheep which are still fat with wool as it is too early and cool to shear them still. The next ones are the yearlings  and then there are the new lambs.  We passed field after field of sheep and then we also saw cows and horses.  The horses are still under blanket.  President Bleak thought that those horses would be ones that were used in racing or jumping competitions.



The strawberry farmer has an interesting business.  He sells strawberries that are picked and ready to eat.  They come in a pint-size plastic container and are like what you would buy in the US.  Then they have another container which would be quart-size and the berries are bigger and have long stems on them for dipping.  Of course they have the dip for it as well.  These are four times the cost of the pint.  They have a small assortment of vegetables to sell also.

Their biggest business I think is their ice cream one.  They have a chest freezer that has scoops of ice cream that are frozen separately.  They also have a bin of frozen berries.  Into an auger-type machine they put a ball of the ice cream and then a scoop of the frozen berries and then another ball of ice cream.  They they put in the cone shaped pusher and turn on the machine.  Out comes just a little bit of white ice cream and it is followed by dark pink stranberry ice cream which is then piped into a supar cone.  It is pretty tasty ice cream.  Certainly fresh!

These are photos of President Bleak and then Michael and Sister Bleak enjoying their sweet treats.  If you will note Michael has two cones....one in each hand.  He is just holding mine and is not being a real pig here!  I was taking the pictures.

MTC New Zealand

On Friday we went out to the MTC to speak.  What a nice day and a lovely location.  We actually found a much better way to go to the airport as well.  We have always gone where you drive on the motorway for a bit and then you are on surface streets for awhile and then onto a different state highway.  This is straight freeway until you get there.  Anyway,  the MTC.

Like the MTC in Provo and also in Brazil, and maybe in all the others although we have not been there, there are flags in front.  They represent the countries that the MTC serves.  You can tell how windy it is since all the flags are straight out....not they are not plastic like the one on the moon.  

This is a hillside that is between the  front of the MTC and a big chapel.  It is rumored that this piece of propery is for a temple although it seems to be rather small to me.  There is not much room for parking if there is a temple here.  There are rumors that the temple in Hamilton is going to be closed soon because it is not up to code for earthquakes.  After the big one that they had in Christchurch all of the buidlings are being updated.  In fact, most of the buildings which used to be used as the church school (K-12) in Hamilton are going to be torn down as it is more cost effective than updating them.  Anyway, the rumor and hope is that there will be a temple announced to be built here prior to that temple closing for the work.  Many years ago that might be what would happen since this temple was here for along time before there were temples in Australia and all of the islands.  Now they all have there own temples and so it is not as necessary.  This temple was built about the same time that the London temple was built and is similar in size and layout.  The endowment room holds 100's of patrons and have two stories.  

Anyway, this is what we discoverd at the MTC.

Another Beach Post

We went on the beach one day this week.  It is very different now that winter is over.  There were lots of people just walking.  We saw an old man and a younger woman walking.  He was blind.  We saw a young mum with a baby in a three-wheel stroller pushing her baby....deep sand too!  We saw young families all holding hands as they strolled.  We say young couples and others about our age.  Everyone was having a good time.  The beach has more gravel-like stuff on it than just sand.  Lots of different shells as well.  I have found that there is a shell that is rounded and an almost identical one that is flat.

My assumption is that the round ones had some sea creature living in it until very recently while the ones that are flat was left empty a long time ago and that it just flattened while it was empty waiting to be washed ashore.  That is my totally unscientific conclusion.  I am trying to get the pictures to upload but they are not cooperating very well.  Maybe on a different post.

A Busy Bee

Sorry for the laps in posts.  I determined a week or so ago that I was going to be busy at the office from now on.  That involved a letter to the area presidency with a request for more to do or permission to spend my time in an alternate department.  Elder Watson was quick to tell me that if I had extra time they preferred that I spend it working for them and not somone else.  So I have been inputting information on missionary recommendations.  It is not a hard process but it is involved is a good word to describe it.  The recommendation comes in and it needs for to be scanned.  While doing that all papers that a not normal size are taped onto normal sized paper.  These are usually medical results from Samoa.  You verify that the name on the recommendation matches the name on the passport and if possible that it all matches the membership record.  Those are also included with the calls from Samoa.   The photo of the missionary needs to be in missionary clothing.  If there are any tattoos there needs to be a photo of them included.  After all that is checked then it is scanned.  After it is scanned it appears on my computer.  And it doesn't matter if I scan them or not.  They appear on my computer.  Then the main information is input into the computer on this secure website.  The first thing done is to input the  membership number and the date.  If they match and all is well then you can proceed.  If not, then membership has to be involved and they sort it out.  They are very good and it usually only holds up the input by 10-15 minutes.  Then all the information is put in. Usually all is well when it comes time to pur in the recommendations by the bishop and stake president but sometimes they are in another language.  If the service center was on the ball then it has been translated and it is there waiting for you but if not then it needs to be sent to translation and you have to wait for that.  The jpeg of the missionary is uploaded and then the entire scanned file is uploaded.  Then it is put in a file that needs to be reveiwed by the area doctor before it is uploaded and sent to Elder Watson.  I have done I think 18 in the last week and there were 38 waiting for the doctor as of Thursday.  They are also uploaded from Australia service center.  It is a great experience to see what these young men and women have done to prepare for their missions and to read the letters they have written in English.  Some have great language skills while others really struggle to fulfill the assignment.  I am happy to be busy!