Easter in the Fall?

There’s something that just doesn’t feel right about that.  I’m used to daffodils, tulips, and blossoming trees.  Instead we have…

Beautiful, but not spring with all its promises of new life.  Fall is not a suitable backdrop for the story of the resurrection, but it will have to do for a couple of years. 

Easter weekend has been interesting in New Zealand.  Good Friday is a national holiday, and by law all businesses are closed with the exception of necessary services.  Necessary services are gas stations, eateries, pharmacies, and video stores.  That’s right, video stores are necessities.  Many businesses are angry at the law and stay open in defiance of it.  They pay the fines and figure they make a little profit.  Our New Zealand friends think it strange that we do not celebrate ‘Good Friday’.  They think we are lacking something in our religious observance.  Stores were open on Saturday, and on Easter Sunday Riccarton Mall was packed.  To me that seems a little backwards, but what do I know?  Monday, today, is also a holiday.  It is Easter Monday (another public holiday) which also happens to fall on ANZAC day this year.  ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.  It is similar to our Veterans Day.  I believe that the stores are only open for half a day today.  The university is out this week so things are a little slower for us. 

Last week, we had our day in the sun with the film crew sent from Salt Lake and Auckland.  They were very nice men and seemed to know what they were doing. 

John and I will not be moving to Hollywood after this mission.  We are not great in front of the camera.  John rambles and I stammer.  The producer, Quinn, said that our speech patterns will be easy to edit; at least we have a beginning and an end to our sentences.  I will also be grading Rick, the one who does all of the editing (blue shirt), on how young and thin he makes me look.  I wish them lots of luck.

Friday night David Campbell baptized his girlfriend Sarah Newton.  Sarah has been coming to institute class and has been wanting to be baptized for about a year and a half.  Her father would not let her join the church until she turned 18.  It was a happy night for so many people. 

Sarah is a very nice girl and will be a great addition to the Opawa ward.

We are sharing the institute building for a couple of months with Brother and Sister Malupo. 

Brother Malupo has been a counselor with LDS Social Services.  They were in the process of moving from Hawaii to Arizona when they were asked to come and help New Zealanders recover from the earthquakes.  They are lovely people, and I wish we could be their friends but that will be impossible.  You see, when they first arrived, I went out to meet them in the foyer of the institute building.  I laughed, and smiled, and pranced around in front of them.  When I went back into our office, John pointed out that my skirt and slip were tucked up in my pantyhose and that my rear end was very exposed.  There is nothing else to be done, I must avoid them.

Brother Bell drove us over to Sumner one afternoon this week.  Sumner and Lyttleton are where the bulk of the quakes are happening.  John says that the island is trying to shake off that little wart that you see sticking out near Christchurch.  We were amazed at the changes since we were there last.  The beautiful rock on the beach that we photographed our first week here…

now looks like this…

Some other scenes of destruction…

So many beautiful old churches are in ruins.  So sad.

We still have aftershocks all of the time, but we don’t even notice them anymore unless they are over 4.0.  With winter coming on, we are hoping that there are no more big ones.  People are already living in less than ideal circumstances.  Cold weather would make things even more difficult. 

Speaking of cold…we have discovered why everything shuts down so early around here.  New Zealanders spend their evenings in bed.  Bed is the only warm place, and it is warm because of these…

Electric blankets go on top of the mattress and under the sheet.  We turn ours on two hours before going to bed, and when you get in, it is snuggly and warm.  It is the best feeling.  The worst feeling is leaving that warm bed in the morning to turn the heater on.  I let John do that.  There is no central heating, no way to maintain a steady temperature.  Heaters can heat a room or part of a room rather quickly.  I’m grateful for their placement all over home and the institute building.

So, as all back home head into spring and summer, we are pulling out our winter clothes and figuring out how to stay warm.