We made a quick trip to Nelson to meet with the seminary teacher there. Jenny Reneti invited us to her home for dinner, a lovely spread with all kinds of vegetables and peaches with passion fruit/mango yogurt for dessert. We always enjoy visiting with Jenny and her husband James. They are a wonderful Maori couple, very devoted to the gospel and their family. Their son James is a black haired, black eyed, brown skinned, replica of our Jonathan. His mannerisms and expressions were so familiar, and he and his sister made me homesick for my grandchildren.
We have always taken the coastal route when traveling north. This time we went up the middle, through beautiful farm country and Lewis Pass. It was raining all the way up, but I did manage to get a picture of some mountains for Brad.
On the way back, we had clear skies and interesting patches of fog.
It was a beautiful drive. Spring has brought with it the vivid green that will forever remind me of New Zealand.
Thursday, the kids planned a BBQ before institute to celebrate John’s birthday. He thought they were having a dinner for Martin Bourne who was teaching his last class that night, and was quite surprised with birthday cakes and a special gift…
…an All Blacks jersey. These things are very dear, but he looks flash as in it and Bob’s your uncle. (Those of you who took the last vocabulary test will be able to interpret that last sentence.)
We watched conference this last weekend. It was recorded off the satellite and there were some technical difficulties, but we enjoyed what we heard. I will definitely want to read it when I get my Ensign to pick up the parts I missed.
I am surprised, but I quite like attending conference at the chapel with rows of YSA who pass bag after bag of candy up and down. They also plan a picnic between sessions. Working with YSA pretty much means party after party. What’s not to love about that?
I love that jersey John is wearing. Could he play for the All Blacks?
ReplyDeleteYour description of conference with the YSA with a picnic between sessions reminds of a branch in Wisconsin that I used to visit. They were having trouble getting people to come to the satellite broadcast of conference so the Branch Presidency decided to host a pot luck meal between sessions. Lots of people came as soon as the pot luck began -- right after the first session ended -- and left as soon as the pot luck was over.
We just watched a documentary on the All Blacks. I think Uncle John would fit right in with that team. You look awesome in the jersey.
ReplyDeleteI am completely jealous! Those jerseys are not cheap. I've looked into it. Not cheap in American dollars, even more because the American dollar doesn't mean much there right now. Nothin' better than YSA pot-luck meals, treats and linger longers. I love when the church invests in food for youth- especially as I supervise said activities.
ReplyDeleteDad, your hair is really gray! You do look really sharp in that jersey though. Nice pictures of the mountains. New Zealand is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI think my kid would have enjoyed conference more if I had passed around bags of candy during it.