June 23-28

Takapuna below our balcony.

We flew out of SLC at 3pm on Saturday and arrived in Auckland, NZ at 5:00am on Monday.  Sad to miss out on Sunday, but the long leg of the flight from LA to Auckland was very nice.  We flew New Zealand Air, or is it Air New Zealand?  They are a wonderful airline.  New planes.  Accommodating.  Delta should take notes.

More Takapuna below our balcony.

Brother Ngatai Smith picked us up.  He is over all seminaries and institutes (S&I) in the Pacific Area.  He let us shower, change, eat breakfast and then we went to work learning what our calling would be.  No rest for the weary or the jet lagged.  It is interesting that everyone but us, including the Bells in Layton, knew what we would be doing.  In Suva, there is a lovely institute building that has been empty for three years.  Our job is to fill it with Young Adults (YA), both active and less active; however, there will not be institute classes taught there.  Just like stakes at home where no YA Stake exists the stakes teach institute to their own youth. This building will be a LDS Youth Center just like they have in Europe.  The only problem is that the Suva North Stake is using the institute for an office.  Hmmmmm!

New Zealand is cold!  It is their winter and the daily temperatures were in the 50s.  Now I packed for 80 and above.  At the last minute I threw in a light rain jacket while thinking I was stupid to take up some of my precious weight allowance.  That jacket saved me. We are staying at the Spencer on Byron which is a 4 1/2 star hotel.  Our room is on the 15th floor over looking the bay that separates Takapuna (where the church office building is) and Auckland.  The view is spectacular.  We leave the curtains open 24-7 because we don't want to miss a minute of that view.  It has rained every day--mostly short bursts of heavy rain.  The wind around the hotel is very stiff.  We are always glad to get in the door of the hotel.  We train each day with Bro. Smith (of Maori descent), Bro. Mauerer, (CES and an Aussie), Sister Waka (PEF and from the Cook Islands), and Bro Coy (education manager, and a Kiwi).

We are spending the evenings with the Beans, PEF missionaries going to Tonga.  When we go out I wear two shirts under my jacket and a coat Sister Waka loaned me.

Things in NZ are expensive.  Breakfast at the hotel is $36 for a hot buffet, $24 for a cold buffet, $8 for a bowl of Mueseli and yogurt.  Dinner ranges from $24 to $$$$$  The one good thing is there is no tipping in NZ.  We found a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that had a sign outside that said "Country Fried Chicken"  It is really an Indianish restaurant with hamburgers, etc. It is really good and not too expensive.  The owner said he had been open two weeks.  I pray for his success.  We have no internet because the hotel wants $35 a day for it.  We'll pass.

The first day we were in NZ we called down to get more luggage holders.  The maid brought up one.  We needed two more.  When she came back with the other two, Scott handed her some US dollars for the tip with an apology for not having NZ $.  She stepped back and said, "No sir.  I am just doing my job!"  She paused for a minute, looked at the money, and said, "Well it is Monday, Sir, and took the tip."  Ahhh the call of cold hard cash.

This is the view of Auckland from our hotel balcony.  It isn't smoggy, just a combination of early
morning mist, and the beginnings of another rainy day.

Auckland at night (blurry but the best one we got)