And So It Goes

I keep thinking about two lines from the Billy Joel song:  “And so it goes, and so it goes, and so will you soon I suppose.”  One of the hardest things for me about working with the young single adults is their ever-changing lives.  I just get attached to them and they move on. Each one leaves such a big hole in the group and in my heart.  We’ve had to say goodbye to two of the best lately and we’re in mourning.

Hayley Lee finished her course and is now a pharmacy tech.  She studied in Hamilton and then came to Christchurch to finish.  Hayley settled into her flat in the middle of the city a day or two before the February earthquake. Frightened and shaken she fled to Oamaru to be with her sister and escape the damage and aftershocks. She planned to return home to Hamilton.  On our trip south that same week, we met Hayley at church in Oamaru.  She told us her story, we gave her our address and phone number, and told her that if she decided to come back to Christchurch we would look after her and introduce her to some wonderful young adults.  Several weeks later we got a phone call.  It was a Monday night.  One of the kids went to pick her up for family home evening and, ‘poof’, she added her magic to that of all the others and we became better.  She is caring, loving, funny, smart, and all other things wonderful.  We tried everything to get her to take a job here in Christchurch, but she felt strongly that she should move back closer to her family.  As much as we love her, we don’t want to interfere with the workings of the Spirit or with bonds of family.  And so it’s goodbye Hayley, hello skype and facebook.

Maverick Wetzel has to be one of the finest young men I know.  He is intelligent (just graduated with a degree in engineering), spiritual, gentle, loving, and handsome.  He brings fun and laughter to every activity and reason and understanding to every class discussion.  He is returning to Samoa where he plans to submit mission papers after the first of the year.  Here again, as much as we would like to keep him, we would never want to interfere with missionary work.  He will make a huge impact wherever he serves.  His parents hosted a graduation celebration.  We were so glad to be included.  Maverick talked of the people in the room, of his love for each of them, and his hopes that we would meet together many times in the future.  I would love that too, but sometimes when I think of seeing these kids again, I realize that it might be far into the future…in a life beyond this one.  We will stay in touch.  We will always love them.  And we WILL see them again.

We spent three days in Auckland this week.  It was our first exposure to that city.  We were in meetings most of the time with other New Zealand coordinators and the CES ‘big wigs’ from the area offices, so we didn’t do much sightseeing.  We did take a short tour of the harbor on a gray and windy day.

‘The Cloud’ built for the World Cup festivities to the cost of several million dollars.  I had a hard time seeing where all the money went…rather unimpressive in my uninformed opinion.

Half of the New Zealand navy.  The other half is a bit to the left, out of camera range.

The Hilton, an expensive piece of property built to resemble a cruise liner.

Not a very good picture, but this is a Pohutakawa tree.  They are New Zealand Christmas trees which bloom at Christmas time with bright red blossoms.  They grow mostly on the north island and the west coast.  Nature expends much more time and energy in her yuletide décor than most kiwis.  Here is this years sampling of holiday sparkle.  Oh how these places could use Jalaine.