John Here…

We are reaching a time when some of our courses and programs are winding down. The seminary classes have only two weeks, then two weeks off for holidays (this year, the holidays were scheduled to coincide with the finals of the Rugby World Cup), one more week of class, and then Seminary is over and they are out for the summer break until February. Wow, it went really fast when you look at it from this end. One of the Institute classes we teach, Presidents of the Church is winding up also. We just finished the second week of Gordon B. Hinckley. There is nothing in the manual for Thomas S. Monson, so we will have to come up with something for that one. After that, we are out of lessons. We will do a couple of make-up sessions, but the course is essentially at an end. We have another class we teach, “The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles” which has several more lessons to teach since we started that class a bit later.

The YSA choir performs occasionally. They have one more event and then it too will be taking a break for the summer. This event is a Musical Fireside, and the choir has been working on several numbers. We have been told that the choir is one of the best they have heard for a long time. This is due to our Choir Director and Sister Stauffer. The choir director is Ellen Chan, a Young Single Adult who is a Music Major here at the University of Canterbury. She is fantastic and does such a great job with these young people. Brother Bell and I add our voices to the choir as well, and enjoy singing with them.

We might have mentioned the Online Seminary program before. It is a program the church is trying out, and is being used to reach seminary students who live in remote places where there are no released time seminary opportunities. Sister Stauffer has been the teacher for this program here in New Zealand. I have served as technical support for her. I create Powerpoint presentations, connect and set up Meetingplace for our Friday meetings with all the students, and contact students, parents, and priesthood leaders over the phone. Here is how it works. Each student must have access to a Broadband connection, (high speed internet) to do this class. Once we get them registered through their LDS.org account, they can log on each day and start doing daily seminary lessons. These lessons are challenging and can take any where from forty-five minutes to an hour. They do four lessons per week, then, each Friday we have the online meeting with the whole class and teach them a lesson together so they can interact with us and other members of the class from all over New Zealand. In this instance we teach students from both the north and south island. Meetingplace is a program that allows individuals from anywhere to have a virtual meeting with each other online. They can connect with each other via their phone and computer. The organizer of the meeting can show Powerpoint presentations, or use a whiteboard interaction, or show illustrations or photographs. The guests at the meeting can use text, voice, or interact with the whiteboard to communicate with each other or the organizer. This gives them an experience that is closer to what a regular Seminary class experience is like. At least that is the idea. Sometimes it gets a bit difficult to get them to interact with each other. They do like to doodle and draw on the whiteboard when given the opportunity. We have students from the south end of the south island and students from the north island in the same class. Even though the students are possibly 1600 kilometers (about 1000 miles) away from each other they can participate together as a class. It is pretty cool technology and we have found it to be a great blessing in the lives of the students who are participating. They have an opportunity to be taught the same information that regular seminary students get. In fact we have felt that these students might even have a greater challenge than most students in regular seminary, just for the fact that they cannot just come to a classroom and sit without really listening or participating and still get the same credit as those who do. These students have to respond to the questions, write essays, and show that they have learned what is being taught them. The program is designed so that each teacher has from seven to ten students. Sister Stauffer has done a fantastic job, with more students than is recommended. She has had up to 20 students and is only supposed to have around seven.

When all of these programs finish for the year, we will begin training and preparing teachers and students for next year. We will be turning the Online Seminary program that we have been doing, over to three new teachers. It will be more manageable for them to do because they will have far fewer students than Sister Stauffer has been dealing with. We will also be traveling around the South Island visiting with next years early morning teachers and giving them training and distributing manuals and other materials for their students. This should keep us busy, but not quite as busy as we have been up to now.

The Ruby World Cup is on full steam right now. The “All Blacks” is the name for the New Zealand National Rugby Team, and are legendary as far as rugby teams go. Rugby is “THE” sport in New Zealand. These people are crazy rugby fans. The All Blacks are un-defeated, with a big win over France last Friday 37 to 17. The USA, however, not so good, with a loss to Australia 67 to 16.

My favorite player is Israel Dagg, (Full name Israel Jamahl Akuhata Dagg)

not because he is the best player, I just like his name. Other names that are great are: Sonny Bill Williams, Piri Weepu, and Richard Kahui. The player I like best for how he plays is Ma’a Nonu. Kind of the “Manny” of Rugby.

The Rugby World Cup, or RWC goes on until toward the end of October. I think it ends on the 21^st. Go NZ!

[I (Janice) just have to add my two cents.  We love the names of these rugby players.  They all sound tough and hard as nails.  We decided that John Francis Stauffer could never be a rugby player—the name is altogether too soft and mushy.  If anyone is thinking of raising a rugby player, please consider a manly name.  How about Craggy Bob McKai?] 

A Bit of This and That

On birthdays and ingenuity/cheapness:  Hayley Lee turned 21 last week.  Twenty-first birthdays are huge in New Zealand and call for a grand celebration.  Hayley chose a masquerade ball.  She ordered a special, one-of-a-kind mask from a woman in Auckland.  It was beautiful.

The rest of us found less expensive masks in the shops around town.  Here’s a sampling.

Tui and Trevor

Martin

Olive and Wiki

Karla and Sarah.  John, however, decided to make his own and his mask was the hit of the party.  Is it any wonder?

The eye holes were just a wee bit off.  That’s right, it’s a rag from the institute building.

On driving and traveling in New Zealand:  We did another trip down south this week.  As we drove we decided that we had both been through the same process while learning to drive on the left side of the road; first it felt so very wrong, then it was difficult to remember which side we should drive on, and finally, the left feels right.  After seven more months, we’ll have to reprogram our old brains back the other way.

On spring in New Zealand:  August and September are lambing months here—another sign of spring.  Lush, green paddocks are filled with these wonderful little things.

So many of them come in twos. In fact there are so many twins, I have started wondering if they are “Thatcher” lambs.  (Congratulations Alison and Greg!)

The hills are alive with the sound of baaaaaing.

On sites to see around Dunedin:  We attended seminary in Dunedin on Tuesday morning, and institute that night.  We used the hours between to drive out to the tip of the Otago Peninsula.  It was a beautiful drive on a very narrow road right on the edge of the ocean.  Every where we looked, there was beauty.

Spotted Shags nest on the cliffs.

Larnach Castle is perfectly situated on this peninsula.  We walked around the gardens and enjoyed the stunning views.

On photography:  Whenever we see couples taking pictures of each other, I feel very confident offering John’s services.  I always ask if they would like us—meaning John—to take a picture of them together.  I know that he will do a good job and that he will be able to handle any camera.  For the first time, a couple offered to return the favor.  I’m not sure this husband was as competent as John.  What do you think?

On Masterchef and quaint dining:  In the evening, while eating dinner, John and I like to watch Masterchef Australia. (Yes, senior couples can watch TV—there’s not much time for it though.)  This past week, they had a segment on New Zealand and some of this country’s finest chefs.  We watched as Fleur Simons demonstrated how to make her tomato based fish chowder, and told of her restaurant in Moeraki.  Moeraki is right on the coast and is home to 69 people—mostly fishermen.  Even in this tiny town, she manages to serve around 300 people a day.  As we drove home this morning, we just had to stop and see if we could find Fleur’s Place.  What we found was a treasure trove of atmosphere, personality, hospitality, and great food fresh from the sea.  Although we arrived an hour and a half before opening, Fleur invited us in, told us her story, and served us a bowl of her fish chowder.

Fleur Simons in Fleur’s Place.

I could have sat here for hours with a good book and a bowl of chowder.  YUM!!!

She had me at hello.  She wrote her personal phone number on a napkin, told us to keep it in our car, and to call her whenever we were coming again.  We WILL be back.  Anybody want to go with us?

On quirky Kiwis:  Along the side of the road, we see fences covered with shoes like these.  We see no purpose, but we like it.  Maybe we’re quirky.

On fact or fiction:  In District Conference this week, we heard that studies show when a wife is thinner than her husband, the marriage has a better chance of survival.  (The talk was on silly philosophies of men.)  Because John has steadily lost weight on this mission while I have been going in the opposite direction, if there is any truth to this study, we are doomed.  I’m hoping it’s not all about weight, that there are other factors of importance like loving and caring for each other.  I cannot imagine a better companion for missions or life.  No matter how thin or heavy, he is perfect for me. 

Never A Dull Moment

What a week!  Jill called on Tuesday.  Her news was frightening.  Mary Kate, who had been complaining for a few weeks about pains in her legs, was now having difficulty walking and was falling down. The next day, after a battery of tests, she was diagnosed with Guillian Barre Syndrome and spent the rest of the week in Primary Children’s Medical Center.  The doctors were surprised that it had progressed so slowly.  Patients are often paralyzed after 36 hours. There were some sleepless hours, lots of prayers, and many phone calls back and forth.  Once again we are so grateful for Skype.  We were able to ask our questions directly to the doctors.

That cute little head of hair that Jill is holding is Catherine.  Thanks Aunt Laurie for being my personal shopper.  It’s hard to be so far away, unable to help, and incapable of spoiling my sick granddaughter.

Mary Kate is home and doing well.  She is expected to recover completely after some intense physical therapy. We cannot adequately express our gratitude for good doctors, a good hospital, and the healing power of the priesthood.

Rugby World Cup began on Friday night.  This is the biggest thing to ever happen in New Zealand.  They have been counting down the days since we got here last November.  The opening ceremony was full of interesting things—mainly Hakas.  (John and I are practicing our own Haka for when we report our mission in church.  Very kiwi.)  The All Blacks trounced the Tongans in their first game.  I think Rugby will be the topic of conversation and the sum total of programming on television for the next month. The missionaries were instructed to go to their flats when rugby matches are on and they are not allowed to watch any of them. The mission president told Elder Neider that those rules are for the young missionaries and do not apply to the senior couples.  This is one time I wouldn’t mind following their rules.  John’s interested.  I’m not.

Our institute choir is practicing for a musical fireside in October. We’ve started having two practices a week.  Ellen Chen, who directs our choir, is only 19 years old and does a fantastic job.  She is confident, calm, and qualified.  Our one weakness is the men—too few.  Hopefully we can round up a few more in the next couple of weeks. 

Susan, Eva, Elena, Lorita, Tui, Wiki, Alyse, Hayley, and Moana—the sopranos.

Olive, Maverik, John, Justin, Trevor, and David.  We really need a few more bass voices.

Michael Lafaele left for BYU Hawaii.

Michael is such a great kid and I will miss our talks about all things “deep”.  I hate it when these kids leave, and they move on with their lives with some regularity.  They go on missions, they go away to college, or they move to Australia.  I don’t approve of any of it.

I recorded some of the Ashburton piano students.  As you listen to them, remember that these kids could not read one note of music 7 months ago.  I think they’re amazing.

Anniversary and Father’s Day

Yesterday, Sunday, September 4, was the one year anniversary of the big Christchurch earthquake and New Zealand’s Father’s Day.  For one solid year, these people have been through one upheaval after another.  Someone told me there have been 8,533 quakes, and that number keeps going up.  We have had 15 since last Tuesday, including a 4.9 on Friday morning, and 4.4 on Sunday evening. Earthquakes are not new to New Zealand, but Christchurch has been relatively untouched by them for many years.  I believe they will be a fact of life from here on out.  Evidently the government feels that way too, because they are going ahead with plans to rebuild the city.  We all have our fingers crossed that any future quakes will be of the mild type we have become accustomed to.

I’m not sure why New Zealand celebrates Father’s Day in September (Mother’s Day is the same as ours), but they do.  Yesterday, the young adults did a great job of fussing over John.  Many of them wrote him touching letters of love and appreciation.  They told him what a blessing he has been in their lives.  So many of them have never had such a great example of a loving husband and father.  The girls said that, because of him, they have a clearer picture of what they are looking for in a spouse.  John has that effect on people.  I know that Jill always said she wanted to marry someone just like her dad.  She did a good job of finding one, I hope these girls can do the same.  They also cooked him dinner and made his favorite dessert, canton, a creamy, puddingy, chocolatey, concoction.  A rousing game of ‘Fruit Ninja’ finished the day off perfectly.

I did want to make a comment about teaching.  Teaching callings have always been my favorites.  I have enjoyed the study and preparation time as well as the classroom experiences.  Even the most intense calling, gospel doctrine teacher, required only one lesson preparation per week.  This mission is a whole different ballgame.  This past week I taught a New Testament lesson (the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and prodigal son) on Wednesday, a lesson in Presidents of the Church on Thursday, a Doctrine and Covenants lesson for seminary on Friday, a Relief Society presentation for Stake Auxiliary Training on Saturday, and another New Testament lesson (I Corinthians 11-16) for Young Adult Sunday School on Sunday.  There was surprisingly little time to prepare for any of these—I am unable to spend hours reading and pondering as I have in the past.  I go into each class feeling somewhat unprepared, a little nervous in the stomach, and with a fervent prayer that the Holy Ghost will help me.  He never lets me down.  I’m not sure that He tells me what to say, but somehow He helps these kids feel the Spirit of the lesson.  They feel a desire to forgive, or to partake of the sacrament more worthily, to be more unified, to overcome feelings of jealousy, etc.  I watch them work on their challenges and I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost who is teaching me right along with them.