And The Winner Is….

There are many people and things on this mission that have truly been outstanding and worthy of recognition.  I reckon this is a good place to sing their praises.  I will address them in categories.

Best Student

It has been a privilege to work with all of the seminary and institute students.  We love each and everyone of them.  However, there has been one who has consistently risen above her class.  She read every word in the institute manual.  Her comments in class were always helpful, informative, and spot on.  When we had game nights to review the material we had covered, her team always dominated the competition.  Last week, after family home evening, she told story after story about the prophets we had studied.  I think she remembered every word we ever uttered in class.  And so, for excellence in her pursuit of gospel knowledge, here is Alyse James, winner of the PAUL V. JOHNSON scholarship. 

Being a PAUL V. JOHNSON scholar means a full-ride scholarship until she graduates from institute.  Alyse is the first ever recipient of this high honor. 

Best Kiwi Thanksgiving

We had an honest-to-goodness Thanksgiving dinner this year thanks to Margo and Kenny Neider who rounded up all the Americans from Ashburton and the Christchurch zone for turkey and all the trimmings.  We ate until we were stuffed, chatted until we were hoarse, and stayed until we were tiresome.  It is interesting how quickly and deeply I’ve grown to love these people.  There is an instantaneous level of understanding when you’re far from home, sharing concerns, and experiencing the same feelings.  Thank you, Neiders.  We love you.

Margo Neider, Me, Terry (a recent convert from Georgia), Sister Nation, and Sister Chelius.  Sisters Nation and Chelius arrived this week from the U.S.  They are family history missionaries sent to Christchurch to photograph records.  Sister Chelius was a Munns from Orlando, Florida.  Her father and mother were friends of my parents and her brother was Andrew’s mission president in Boston when he was waiting for a visa.  It’s a small world. 

Great Kiwi Family and Home

Hare and Suzanne Pitama and their son Te Tera are a delightful family from our ward.  They have been teaching the ward young adult Sunday school class  and the mission prep classes for the stake.  They are bright, well educated, witty, fun, and marvelous role-models for the young adults.  Their home is beautiful and a place of welcome for so many people.

I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to the Christmas decorations mingled with shorts and flip flops.

Hare Pitama

Suzanne Pitama

Best Correspondents

I have often heard missionaries tell about how they received many letters from friends and family for the first few months but soon felt forgotten as mail became more infrequent.  Living in the age of technology, we have never expected letters.  However, when I first started this blog, I sometimes had up to 23 comments and responses.  As the months have passed, that number has dwindled to 2 or 3.  Our faithful followers have either become bored (I really can’t blame them for that), or they have forgotten us (out of sight, out of mind).  I want to give a shout out to those who have made us believe they were interested.  I have tallied the responses and have designated winners in several categories.

Children: Jill Dickey.  Jill only missed one blog entry.  She has a total of 57 points—nearly twice as much as her closest sibling.  We will see that the inheritance is distributed accordingly. 

Siblings: Kathy Thatcher with a total of 38.  Brad was a close second with 33.  It is a good thing that no one in this family is competitive—especially not Brad.  He won’t mind being second.  I’m sure he’ll just be happy for Kathy.   And the prize is…a weekend hideaway at Brad’s cabin.

In-laws:  Rosie Johnson.  No one else even came close.  Rosie, you win free room and board for as long as you want to stay in Christchurch during the month of January, 2012. 

Cousins: Terri Weidman. Terri, because you have proven to be so faithful and caring, you have won the right to be matriarch of the Johnson-Holmstead dynasty.

Friend: Krista Langan.  Krista has commented on my blog, via email, every single week.  Your prize, Krista, is dinner and an evening of conversation at a restaurant of your choice as soon as I get back. 

This really is not a competition, but I do want all of you back home to know just how much I appreciate your support, your strength, and your love.  Thank you for your interest in our lives and for cheering us on.

Driving, Driving, and More Driving

It’s been a wild week and a half.  We have traveled from the southern tip to the northernmost part of this island to attend seminary graduations.  They have been hurried trips with no time to stop and take well-planned pictures.  The only photos have been shot from the car window as we drove 100 km per hour (that’s 60 mph and the maximum speed limit in New Zealand) down the road.

Nothing but blue skies, fluffy white clouds, green paddocks, sheep, and gorse.

Gorse, the yellow plant covering these hills, is a major invasive weed that covers almost 2,000,000 acres of this country.  It was brought by the early settlers from Europe in the 1800’s who intended to use the plant for hedges.  However, the climate here caused it to spread so rapidly that it has become a big problem; impossible to eradicate and costly to control.  The seeds can lie dormant on the ground for 50 years and methods for removal like burning or bulldozing create ideal conditions for its germination.  Big problem—reminds me of Dyers Wode and the wonderful family outings we had chopping that nasty stuff.

Although the distance between Christchurch and Nelson is only about 240 miles, it takes a good 5 or 6 hours to get there.  The roads are winding and narrow with slower speed limits through every small town.  We also ran into many one way bridges.

The bridges are approached very slowly to make sure there are no vehicles coming in the other direction.  They are barely wide enough for our Toyota Corolla and I’m wondering what happens when a big diesel truck needs to cross.  It must be quite the squeeze.

Seminary graduation in Nelson was wonderful and I got to meet up with four of my online students.  These kids were consistent, dependable, and thorough in their seminary work and I love each one of them.

Jeron Prasad, David Schaumkel, Justin Prasad, and Laura Taylor

I believe I mentioned Jenny Reneti’s son, James, who reminds me of Jonathan.  Here he is—Jonathan with a Maori body…

I have loved being surrounded by all these beautiful brown people; Maoris, Samoans, and Tongans.  Pakehas are definitely a minority here within the church.  Some of my kids will say to me, “It’s okay.  You can’t help it that you’re white.”  They are all proud of their heritage. They can laugh at some of the more comical characteristics of their culture, and they certainly don’t wish they were white.  I, on the other hand, am jealous of their beautiful brown skin, mops of thick black hair, and their warm and colorful personalities.  We seem washed out and colorless beside them.

Sister Yu spent several nights with us last week as her companion, Sister Posala, was in the hospital with an infection in her leg.  I got a chance to learn a little more about her life.  Sister Yu comes from a city in northeastern China.  She is an only child and much loved by her parents.  The limited exposure she had to Christianity, came from her mother’s older sister.  This aunt had spent some time in Colorado where she was converted to Christianity.  She took her devotion with her when she returned to China.  When this aunt became seriously ill with cancer, Sister Yu took care of her everyday after school.  Sister Yu and her mother did all they could to make the woman’s final days as comfortable and peaceful as possible.  When the aunt asked them to go to her church to pray for her and give some donations, they gladly did it.  They noticed the peace this simple act brought the dying woman.  Her other exposure to Jesus Christ was not as positive.  One of her uncles was also married to a Christian, but this woman caused such trouble in the family that no one considered being a Christian a positive trait.

When Sister Yu finished high school, her parents learned of a school in New Zealand.  They saved and sent their daughter to Auckland.  Upon arriving, she found that the school was a sham.  Crying and homesick she called her mother for guidance.  Her mother made a strange suggestion, “See if you can find a church.  Someone in a church will help you.” 

Sister Yu said that she prayed to “God” the next morning, “If you’re really there, help me find your church.”  She walked down the street a short distance and saw a Chinese man (she spoke very little English) sitting on a bench at the bus stop.  For some reason, this man looked up at her and smiled—something quite unexpected.  With all the courage she could muster, she said, “Could you help me find a church?”  The man said that he knew two young men who could tell her about a church and introduced her to the Mormon missionaries.  She studied, she boarded with a Mormon family, she believed, she was baptized, and then she wanted to be a missionary herself.  She had a problem though, telling her parents was not going to be easy.  She prayed and talked to her parents every night for several days, but never found the right words.  Finally, her mother said, “Are you trying to tell us that you want to be a missionary?”  When Sister Yu answered in the affirmative, her mother said they would help her.  Her parents, neither of them members or even Christians, work and pay for her to fulfill her dream of being a missionary. 

She told me that she dreams that one day her parents will go to the temple to see her married there.  I have confidence that this dream will come true.  Sister Yu is full of simple and profound faith.     

As we head into this Thanksgiving week, I just want to express my thanks to my Heavenly Father for every single person in my life.  I love my family; my faithful and unselfish husband, my marvelous children—no mother ever had better ones, my adorable and perfect grandchildren, my fun-loving and entertaining brothers, sister, and in-laws, my nieces,  nephews, and cousins.  I have been blessed with some of the best friends in the world, kind and helpful everyone of them.  I’m also thankful for the new people in my life.  I may have only known them for a year, but my love for them is eternal.  You have all enriched my life and made it worth living.  I cherish each and everyone of you.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We will be thinking of you with much love.

Happy Holidays

We know that friends and family back home are planning and preparing for Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays.  Once again, it has been difficult to feel the usual enthusiasm when all of the trees are fully leafed out and the bushes are in full bloom.  People have finally converted to shorts and jandals, and the university is out for the summer.  However, as we traveled to Invercargill a week ago for the first of the seminary graduations, we ran into this…

We both burst into song, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”.  We felt it.  We felt the spirit of Christmas, at least for the hour it took for us to drive through this mountainous stretch.  Now we’re back in Christchurch and this is how it looks out our front window.

Sister Neider wants to have a Thanksgiving dinner.  She started pricing turkeys and found out that a very small one costs $75.00.  Perhaps we’ll come up with a modification on the traditional menu.  She has also been trying to get me to buy a Christmas tree.  She found some good ones at the thrift store for very little money.  She doesn’t know me well enough to know that at home my daughter has to force me to put up a tree.  “Mother, you do have grandchildren you know.”  She’s unaware that I’ve been called the world’s biggest Scrooge because I take the decorations down by noon on Christmas day.  Christmas just isn’t the same without family, and a tree won’t help any, so I’m going to resist the non-existent urge.  Thanks anyway, Margo, I’ll just enjoy yours.  It has been a great thing to have Kenny and Margo down in Ashburton.  We get to see them often and they are wonderful friends.  I remember Mom and Dad really loved the couples they served with on their mission, and we thought we were going to miss out on that aspect of the senior missionary experience.  The Neiders will be our friends in the years to come and I’m sure we will become more familiar with the road between Bountiful and Idaho Falls.

As is always the case around here, we have been celebrating some holidays.  Last week we had two; Cup Day and Show Day.  Cup Day is a day at the races, horse races that is.  New Zealand is very much into horse racing.  Cities of any size at all have race tracks.  On Cup Day, women and men don their finest clothes and head to the races.  Women wear skimpy dresses and ‘fascinators’, headpieces of every variety with bows, ribbons, flowers, and feathers.  Here is a cheap example from the $2.00 store.

The racetrack does not seem to be the main attraction of the holiday, the booze is. 

Friday was Show Day in Canterbury.  This is the A&P Show; A&P for agriculture and pastoral.  Similar to our state fair, people go to see huge pigs and prize winning sheep, etc..  Here, though, everyone gets a day off from work.  It is a HOLIDAY for crying out loud.

I was sick last week and feeling quite miserable.  I needed to play for choirs and congregations during several sessions of stake conference this past weekend and was so grateful that after John and Kenny Neider gave me a blessing, I started to feel better quickly.  There really is no time for sickness right now.  We have to go north this weekend for the Nelson District seminary graduation on Saturday and then hurry back home for the seminary and institute graduation in Christchurch on Sunday night.  I have kids from my online class taking part in all of the seminary recognition programs.  I’m so pleased that 12 of them managed to earn a certificate of completion for this year.  Institute numbers are way up also.  I hope things will just keep moving in that direction.  

We’ll be thinking of you all bundled up and going over the river and through the woods to share Thanksgiving with each other.  We will shed sweaters and nylons in an effort to keep cool as we share chicken and give thanks from this part of the world.  From the bottom of our hearts we thank our Heavenly Father for his goodness and mercy to us.  We thank him for the wonderful people in our lives; people on both sides of this world.  We hope you feel his love as we do. 

On Being A Faithful Mum

My granddaughter, Mimi, said to me one day when she was only three years old, “Grandma, I’m really good at multi-tasking.”  I was always checking her to see if she understood the big words she used, and so I said, “I don’t think you know what multi-tasking means.”  “Yes I do”, she replied before defining it as well as Webster could, “it means doing lots of things at the same time.”  It is a skill that will come in handy, especially when she becomes a mum.  Mums are usually outstanding multi-taskers.  I have been amazed as I make it through all the things I must do each day over here, that I have still managed to think about my children and grandchildren nearly every waking moment.  They are never out of my mind.  Sometimes I’m remembering precious moments, sometimes I’m laughing about funny things they say and do, sometimes I’m wondering how they’re feeling, and often I’m praying for their well-being.  I have to admit that I am a skilled and accomplished worrier.  I have spent many hours honing the skill before and during this mission.  

In 1833, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were called on a mission. The work had to go on—nothing could stop it. On October 11, Joseph wrote in his journal, “I feel very well in my mind. The Lord is with us, but have much anxiety about my family.”

Joseph, as a missionary, had the same worries that I have—his family. The Lord’s response to his anxiety came the next day in a revelation found in section 100 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Verse 1 says,  “Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends Sidney and Joseph, your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.”

I found this scripture before I left for New Zealand and it gave me great comfort, for I knew it applied to my family as well.  However, I think I misinterpreted it.  I read the words, “they are in mine hands”, and then skipped to, “in me there is all power”.  Somehow I expected that with the Lord taking charge in my absence (like he wasn’t in charge all along), he would simply do all the things I would do for them and more, because he has more power than I do.  In short, the next 18 months would be smooth sailing for those left at home.  I would do what I could on this end, i.e. fast, pray,and do the Lord’s work here, and he would calm the troubled waters of life at home.  You who are smarter than I am are laughing at my naivety. 

This past year has been a lesson in faith; what it is and what it is not.  About a year ago there was something I wanted desperately to happen for one of my children.  It seemed like a righteous desire, one that would be a blessing.  So I fasted and I prayed.  I hoped and I prayed.  I obeyed and I prayed. I exercised my faith and I prayed.  And, it DIDN’T happen.  Surely the problem was mine.  I didn’t have enough faith.  I didn’t fast enough.  I didn’t obey enough.  How could I develop faith strong enough to make things happen?  I was angry, I was discouraged, I was shaken.  And then the Lord started tutoring.  I learned that no matter how much effort I put into it, I cannot generate faith on my own.  Rather, it is a gift from God. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)  I have come to realize that I have already been gifted great faith, and the next step in this learning process has been to understand that faith and how to exercise it. 

I learned that faith is not just positive thinking or unwavering personal will or resolve.  Faith is the power of God and can only be used to fulfill his purposes.  It can never be used in contradiction to his will.  Bruce R. McConkie taught, “Faith cannot be exercised contrary to the order of heaven or contrary to the will and purposes of him whose power it is.” 

Those of you who are far ahead of me in spiritual development will find that very elementary, but to me it was earth shattering and pushed me to a whole new level of understanding.  If that is true, then I can stop beating myself up for not having enough faith or being good enough to qualify for some of the things I have been desiring for a very long time.  Perhaps it’s not about me.  Maybe it is about God’s plan and his will.  Then, what am I to be doing with this faith, with my prayers, with my fasting?  I am to find out the will of God and then exert every effort to help him achieve his will.  McConkie again, “Men work by faith when they are in tune with the Spirit and when what they seek to do by mental exertion and by the spoken word is the mind and will of the Lord.”

I can and will seek for direction and guidance, and I can and will act with courage and forthrightness when I know his will.  And when I am unsure…I can trust.  I can and will ‘wait upon the Lord’.  (I loved Elder Hales talk in conference. It is some of the mortar that is helping me build my impenetrable wall of faith.) Those who are not worry-driven or anxiety-ridden can never understand the peace that follows that understanding.  I am only expected to help the Lord in his mighty work.  I do not have to work with all my energy to convince him to help me do mine.  I do not have a work.  It is all his.  And he has such a vast view and understanding. 

It is not easy for a person who feels the need to control and who wants to know the end from the beginning to let it all go, but the trade off is well worth it.  I have had moments of sublime peace lately.  The problems have not all been solved, but I do know that he is working on them in his own way—”as seemeth me good”. Those are the key words in that scripture, the ones I had overlooked. 

To my family, I love you all, as does he.  I’m absolutely sure of it.