Amazing sights!

I always carry either my camera or a phone with me so I can take a picture when I happen to find something great.  So I am going to put here just a couple of those great things that I have seen and taken photos of in my wonderings.

There were just a very few gannets left on the west side of the island. Here is one of the baby's practicing on very edge of the cliff. The wind was blowing pretty hard but the bird was able to hold it's own. So fun to watch!

This is the rock that all the birds were nesting. The water was very angry. We stood at this point for alomst 15 minutes without going anywhere. It was such a lovely peaceful feeling. Off to the left of this there were two men with remote controlled airplanes that had a wing span of at least 3 feet. They were dancing with each other in the air. It was so cool. Probably should have taken a pic of them!

We were getting ready to leave the beach and this is what we saw. It was just impressive to me.  Hope you like it. 

The last photo is one that I took last week. We were walking in Takapuna and it had been sprinkling off and on during the day but the clouds had cleared up most of the time.  Well about the time we got to the dock the phone rang and since we happened to be right by some benches we sat down. I took photos while he took care of business with a mission president.  This is what I saw. 

The rainbow only goes to the top of the frame and then it stopped. I was able to take three photos and then it was gone. It was an amazing thing to see. Someone asked how I got the bird to be in such a perfect position for the photo and truthfully, I did not even see the bird until the next morning when I was looking at them again.  

Enjoy the beauties of my corner! 

The Sand Dollar

For several weeks we had been trying to find some more sand dollars on the Cheltenham Beach.  Nothing in any of the written things that other senior missionaries had left for those that followed ever said anything about this beach having sand dollars. It seems like such a fluke to have found them. We went to Cheltenham two other times but the tide was too high even at low tide.  But we went again on Saturday and it was so low.  Tides are at their highest and lowest when it is a full moon.  And that is what it is and this is what we found...hundreds and hundreds of sand dollars!  The only problem is they were alive!

So here is a history of the sand dollar. They are part of the sea urchin family. They are covered with kind of velvet and have very short spines around the edge.  They have a mouth on the underside. They live in shallow water in the sand bottom. It was awesome. We could see where they had been moving across the sand. We could dig down only a quarter or a half inch and find them. We both looked and we both found!  The first picture here you can see where they are all just sitting there right under the sand. Every place there is a roundish lump there is a sand dollar!

I have one that shows the swirl paths that they leave when they move but you cannot tell with the ripples of the sand so I will leave that one out.  The next photo is a sand dollar that is still alive.  They are so pretty!

As soon as they die they lose their purple color and begin to turn grey. They are pretty neat looking.  I showed you photos of what they look like when they are dirty and before they are bleached. I just think they are so pretty.

While we were walking we found some other neat things to look at.  

Don't you think this is a pretty blue star fish?

Then we found the neatest....a star fish and a sand dollar together.  I did not do anything or move anything to set this next photo.  So cool!

And the number is 92!

Thursday of each week we receive a list of all the missionary calls that will be sent out from our office on Monday. The official calls arrive on Monday and they are mailed from here to the service centers in the various countries and usually the missionary will pick them up from there. In New Zealand we mail them directly. To this point the largest number of calls we have received on any Thursday/Monday is 56.  This week: 92!  Yup, 92!  That is more than all the other places outside of the US and Canada except for Southwest South America.  I am so stocked about this number that I thought I would tell you a bit about this set of calls!

Out of the 92, 45,  FORTY FIVE, YUP 45 are Sisters!  So that means that 47 of them are Elders. Just about parity!

Now here is a breakdown of where they are from:

Australia:  19
New Zealand:  16
Tonga: 11
Samoa: 30
Fiji: 5
Kiribati: 4
Tahiti: 4
Marshall Island:1
Papua New Guinea: 1
Vanuatu:1

I would bet that some of you have never even heard of some of these places.  I know I did not know where all of them were before we were called to come here.  

Now here is the breakdown of where they are going to go:

Philippines: 31
United States: 18
Australia: 10
Samoa: 6
New Zealand: 4
England: 4
Papua New Guinea: 4
Argentina: 2
Russia: 2
Ghana: 2
Tonga: 2
Tahiti: 1
Brazil: 1
Korea: 1
Singapore: 1
India: 1
Vanuatu:1
Guam: 1

Now the paper recommendations for each of these missionaries will be taken from the one file and I will write on them four things: their six-digit missionary number, the MTC they will attend, the date they enter and the mission they are assigned to and then I put it into a different set of files. I often wonder how these little girls and boys from the huts of PNG or Kiribati are going to do in Preston England or New York City. Then I wonder how these Elders and Sisters who have spent their missions in Washington DC or London or Salt Lake City will ever be able to return to the little houses in Fiji and the Marshall Islands!

Oftentimes a stake president will write that it would be a great blessing if this candidate were to be called to a place where the church is mature and has fully developed programs so they will be able to return to and be leaders in their homeland. I am often so touched by the Spirit as I see where these sweet looking young people are being called.  

Count yourself blessed. You are in the know at least a week before the candidate knows himself!

ANZAC Day

25 April is ANZAC day in New Zealand and Australia. It stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corp.  It began on 25 April 1916. It was to commemorate the fallen soldiers from Australia and NZ who had fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula during WWI. Their plan was to capture Constantinople which was part of the Ottoman Empire. So many soldiers had died. When they honored them a year later they established the Returned Services Association.

It did not become a national holiday until after WWII.  But it was not a day that became very popular.  Some people wanted it to be moved to a Sunday so it did not interfere with the work week. It became a day of protest during the Vietnam war and to protest other civic problems.  In the 1980 there was an insurgent of interest in WWI and the great contribution of the Australian and New Zealand military.

The anzac cookie is believed to have been invented during WWI. Because it had not eggs in it it was able to be sent overseas to the men serving in Europe.  The women would make it and  send it to their husbands or brothers or sons serving so far away. It would be hard as rocks but they would just dunk it in their tea or coffee. We bought some a month ago and they were so hard. But I guess that is part of the history.

The ones we bought came in a tin that is now holding my cross stitch materials.

I made some of them for our meeting with the visitors on Thursday since it is ANZAC Day. They are pretty good. 

ANZAC Biscuits

1 c. flour

1 c. coconut

1 c. sugar 

2 c. oatmeal

Mix all this together. 

In a pan combine 1/4 c butter, 2 Tbsp golden syrup  (I think the closest thing to this would be dark caro syrup.) and 3 Tbsp water.

Bring to a boil.  Stir 1 tsp. baking soda into the butter mixture. Be careful because it will bubble up. I hold it over the dry ingredients when I but in the soda because the one time it did bubble over. Form into small one inch balls. Be sure and smash them just a bit with your hand.  

Bake 10 minutes in a 350 degree over.  

Store in a tight container. They will harden but not spoil.  They are great with mini chocolate chips or even if you dip half in chocolate.  

Pao de Quijio

As I mentioned before I have been asked to provide morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea on Thursday for the visiting authorities from Church Headquarters since it is a holiday and the office will be closed. I had everything all planned and then I was told that one of them has celiac disease and cannot eat anything with gluten in it so I was back to square one on some of it and then I remember:  Pao de quejio!  It is made with tapioca flour so I would not have to do anything to change it. I practiced this week and have come up with a very simple and tasty recipe that I thought I would share.

Pao de Quejio

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

In a bowl mix:

3 1/4 c. tapioca flour
1/2 tsp. salt

In a pan or microwave-safe bowl bring to a boil:

1 c. whole milk
1/2 c. oil

Pour the boiling milk over the flour and mix using the bread mixer blade.  Mix until it is smooth and all together.

Add two eggs, one at a time and mix until thoroughly blended.  It will begin to look kind of like wallpaper glue. (About 3 minutes after eggs are all mixed in)

Add 1 to 1 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese.  Mix well until it is totally blended.

Using an cookie scoop or small spoon scoop out onto a paper-lined baking sheet. It works best if you dip the scoop or spoons into water every so often as it is so sticky! They will double in size while baking so decide who big you want them. I make mine about 1 inch size and they are just about 3 bites then. Nice.

Bake 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. If they are undercooked they will kind of fall when you take them from the oven.

These are perfect!

Mufti Day

On Friday when we went to the office we could see that all of the children across the street at the school were dressed in what we would call normal school clothing. There was not a uniform in sight. We then wondered if they would get this coming Thursday off school since it is ANZAC day: a national holiday. We wondered if they would get Friday as well so they would have a long weekend. 

When we got to the office we asked Sali about it. She said that not only would they get Thursday off but that today was the start of their fall break. I said that must have been why they were all out of uniform. She said, "Oh, it is a mufti day!" She went on to explain that that was a day that no one worn uniforms to school that day. Wanting to know more I looked it up. 

Mufti is of Arabic origin. It is a legal advisor in Islamic law. In the music hall ages, people would dress up as Mufti, in traditional garb, which because of the Ottoman Empire was a fez with a tassel and a dressing gown. This was then picked up as not being in uniform, which is what it now means in English. So mufti day means that the kids don't have to be in uniform.  It does come at a price though.  

On a mufti day the student pays one gold coin ($1) to not wear a uniform to school. It is often used as a fund raiser. Sometimes a class will get permission to have a mufti day to raise money for a particular event or item for the classroom. If they pay a two dollar gold coin then they are allowed to bring a skate board or a bike to school. These pictures show a one dollar coin both sides and a two dollar coin both side.  Imagine paying for the privilege?

My friend Jasmin is a school teacher and she said that they do not tell their students when it is going to be a mufti day until the afternoon before because too many of the girls want to go shopping to buy something new to wear so this way it discourages them from doing that.