Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from New Zealand!

From Teresa:

Above is our Christmas picture, along with our sincere wishes for your health and happiness at this season and throughout the coming year. Behind us is a pōhutukawa tree, often called the New Zealand Christmas tree because its stunning red flowers bloom in December.

This blog covers October through December 2025, so it's long. Sorry about that! As usual, I didn't put in pictures of us working at our desks, but I promise that is what we do most of the time. 

9 Oct.    This is a "koru"--a developing frond on the mamaku tree fern, the largest fern in New Zealand. The koru is one of the iconic symbols of the nation. It represents new life, growth, strength, and peace. The first picture shows the frond, and the second picture shows how it is represented artistically.

12 Oct.    We traveled north to the Bay of Islands, a beautiful holiday location with 144 islands. It got its English name when Captain James Cook sailed into the bay to escape a storm. We were able to take a short tourist cruise around the bay. The first picture shows "Hole in the Rock," and the second gives a glimpse of the largest island, Urupukapuka, where the boat docked to allow people to wander into sheep pastures and see views from the top of the island. 

On the way home, we stopped near Whangārei to see the Otuihau Falls. Again, beautiful.

23 Oct.    These two sister missionaries serving in our Panmure Ward are from Kiribati and the Philippines. They are lovely women both inside and out.

25 Oct.    Pūriri trees are endemic to the North Island. They are associated with mourning and burial in Māori culture, and but are also seen as a symbol of joy. This group of 4 is in Smiths Bush, a wooded bush park near our home.

31 Oct.    Our senior missionary zone enjoyed a Halloween party, but with a twist. We had to come dressed as a scriptural character. Several dressed as sheep, but some must have ordered costumes online. Here are Moses and King David. Who says senior missionaries are over the hill?!

3 Nov.    We senior missionaries gather for a monthly Family Home Evening (FHE). This time, one of the Area Office employees and his wife and daughter taught us a little about Māori language and culture. Then they taught the men how to do a haka (ceremonial dance) and the women how to do a poi dance (swinging balls on ropes while dancing). It was hilarious to see us fumbling around, but we enjoyed learning about these customs.

11-12 Nov.    We were invited to the yearly Mission Leader Seminar in Sydney, Australia. We learned more about the growing number of young service missionaries, the mental or medical challenges they face, their great contributions, and the way they are serving alongside the young proselyting missionaries. All the mission leaders and the service mission advisers were there. Here is a picture of the leaders on the hotel stairway. Our area presidency members are in front, along with Elder and Sister Boom from the Netherlands on the far left.

13 Nov.    Our friends Ian and Linda Carroll live outside Sydney, so they came to visit with us one afternoon and evening. We took a ferry ride across the harbor. I got to see the iconic opera house, as well as the skyline and harbor bridge.

16 Nov.    Our friend Sheryl Caduyac is from the Philippines. She and her three teenage children were all baptized in the past several months. We have been teaching her more English.

23 Nov.    Each fall, the Primary children (ages 3-12) around the world provide a sacrament meeting program. It's a really important day for the children here, and they all dress in white. I managed to get a picture of some of them after the program. They spoke and sang beautifully.

6 Dec.    Larry and I went to a garden downtown known for its beautiful roses. We were a little late; the roses had begun to fade. However, we saw an enormous pōhutukawa tree. Only part of it shows here!

12 Dec.    We enjoyed our ward's Christmas party, which featured tons of food, a nativity program, and karaoke singing. Below is a picture of our bishop, who is from Fiji, and a long-time member of the ward.

13 Dec.    Steve and Kathleen Alder recently arrived; he is the new Area Medical Adviser. We went over to the West Auckland coast, where we walked on the black volcanic sands of Piha Beach and then hiked to Kitekite Falls.

20 Dec.    The Alders and we went for an adventure about 3 hours north. We stayed overnight in Dargaville, on the west coast, and went to see the forest where the oldest and largest remaining kauri trees live. We saw many that were about 1000 years old. The oldest and biggest are Te Matua Ngahere ("Father of the Forest") and Tane Mahuta ("Lord of the Forest"), both somewhere around 2000+ years old. As I walked through the forest, I found myself thanking each tree for being alive, as well as thanking God for them. I had a sense, there in the forest, that we had entered into sacred space.

29 Dec.    We took a 5-hour trip south to New Plymouth so that we could visit Mount Taranaki (Mt. Egmont), a beautiful volcano that Larry's father, John William Dewey, climbed twice during his mission to New Zealand in 1925-1928. Covering clouds made it difficult to get good photographs, but we had a short window when the whole mountain was visible. It was a meaningful journey for us.

 From Larry:

I met a 24-year-old missionary from New Caledonia just after he started serving in Tahiti. He had been baptized as a youth but had long since stopped attending church. His father was a member, but not his mother.

Prior to becoming a missionary, he had been making a living for five years as a boxer. He used alcohol for several years, but no street drugs or tobacco. His mother then became gravely ill; she was hospitalized and not expected to live. He fasted and prayed for her for three days. His mother miraculously recovered and came home from the hospital. He felt it was God blessing her because of his prolonged fast and prayers.

He then prayed with fervor and sincerity, asking God how he could thank Him. He clearly heard two divinely uttered words, “Come home.” He knew it was God asking him to return to his faith. He immediately stopped all alcohol use and began faithfully participating in the Church. He began to feel that God also wanted him to serve a mission, and he applied to do so. He was called to Tahiti. One month before he left for the Provo MTC, his mother asked him to teach and baptize her.

I was asked by the Tahiti mission president to assess him for possible ADHD. He struggled with severe ADHD symptoms and generally could not concentrate well enough to read for more than a few minutes. This condition had never been diagnosed and treated. We were unable to get him methylphenidate but did finally get him bupropion in the form of 150mg Zyban tablets. After taking 75 mg a day for seven days, all of his ADHD symptoms astonishingly remitted. For me this was as miraculous as his mother’s recovery and his reconnection with God.

Spring is here!

From Teresa:

September 27. Our senior missionary zone attended the Bledisloe Cup rugby match between arch-rival national teams: New Zealand's All Blacks vs Australia's Wallabies. I took a crash course on YouTube before the match because I knew nothing about the sport. It paid off; I actually enjoyed the match. The strength, ball handling, team work, agility, and running speed were great to watch. I especially liked the way the game moved from one play to another without time-outs. New Zealand won, which made it even better!

Another thing I liked was that we all sang the Australian and then the New Zealand national anthems--a friendly gesture before a hard-fought game.  

In the New Zealand anthem, the first verse is sung in Māori and then again in English. We include a link here because we like the music and the words in both languages. This version from YouTube was sung at a different rugby match, but it is similar to what it sounded and looked like at the game we watched.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhCgcZ0efAA&list=RDmhCgcZ0efAA&start_radio=1

We also include the English lyrics for all 5 verses because they express many of the desires and feelings we have for our own country.

Now, back to July and August:

July 7. Beautiful sunsets can be found everywhere. Here is one I captured from our balcony.

July 21. Our daughter Karen came to visit us for about a week. We enjoyed exploring nature with her, including a cruise on the Hauraki Gulf on a dolphin and whale-watching boat. We lucked out and saw both! This is a Bryde's whale--similar to a blue whale but smaller.

We saw dozens of common dolphins:

July 23. We took a ferry over to Tiritiri Matangi Island, a special bird refuge. Here is Karen with a kererū, a really large pigeon endemic to New Zealand.

July 23. A couple of months ago, our car suffered an anonymous fender dent while it was parked, and the office had us take it to this business. In New Zealand, auto body shops are called "panelbeaters." A good, descriptive name! In the background is the tallest building on the North Shore, just one block away from the Area Office.

Aug. 13. Three pictures. The first is of Ra and Rick Chadderton, new missionary friends. They are from New Zealand, and Ra is of Māori descent. They were here at the Area Office for a couple of months while waiting for their Papua New Guinea visas. We really enjoyed their time here, and they both helped Larry a lot with his father's pictures and journal entries. Ra even found some of her ancestors among his pictures.

I took the second and third pictures at Costco.

I thought dried New Zealand ling fish maw must be a strange Pacific snack, but it isn't. A maw is a fish's swim bladder. It is rehydrated and then used as a highly nutritious food ingredient or a skin collagen booster. It costs about US $160 per pound!

The picture above shows durian fruit, which grow in southeast Asia. Each piece is bigger than a football and costs $100 NZ (about $60 US). When cut open, its smell is so strong that it is banned in some places. Some people think it smells like raw sewage or rotting onions, while others think it smells like tropical perfume. Weird!

Aug. 22. A young sister missionary serving in Tahiti had been ill with a respiratory virus, but she didn't get better. She became so exhausted and weak that she had to use a wheelchair. Tahiti didn't have the medical care and testing capabilities to find out what was wrong, so she needed someone to escort her home to Minnesota. I volunteered since I wasn't that busy with work. Because of flight scheduling, I had a day in Papeete (the capital of French Polynesia). Unfortunately, it wasn't a tourist visit, but I did swim in the hotel pool and take a picture. It was a privilege to escort that dedicated young missionary home to her waiting family.

I asked to be routed back through Salt Lake City in order to have some time to enjoy family and take care of some stateside work. Here is our youngest grandchild giving me the spa treatment,

From Larry (He is writing about some of our actual mission work so that you won't think we're just out having fun all the time):

"My work on this mission is mostly a distillation of all the most difficult types of emotional problems missionaries face. This includes serious suicidality, psychotic symptoms, severe depression, and severe OCD. In many ways this makes the work both more important, but also more discouraging and less satisfying. At the same time, it needs to be done.

I just completed a long interview with a remarkable woman whose mother has uncontrolled bipolar disorder and whose paternal grandfather has severe OCD. She has some symptoms of both. In some ways, this mission allows her to safely face both issues. In the end, she may have to go home for care, but if she does, she will have a much greater and more hopeful understanding of these illnesses. 

I also continue to enjoy doing our French-Canadian genealogy. Sometimes I am given astonishing guidance from God in order to find and correct many of the records in Family Search.

We love interacting with the incredibly diverse group of people who make up the congregation we attend here. This week Teresa and I, with two young sister missionaries, held our first free English class for immigrants at our Panmure church building. The 11 people who came included 6 from Sri Lanka and 5 from the Philippines. Ten of them were not members of our church. It feels good to provide this service for the community. The friendly, safe learning environment seems to help them have the courage to continue coming."

We wish you all the best! Elder Larry and Sister Teresa Dewey

 June Thoughts and Adventures

Thoughts from Larry:

I remain adequately busy. My missionary clients and consults are invariably interesting and often serious. In the last two weeks, I have been consulted on or worked with missionaries serving in many locations, including Japan, Kiribati, Fiji, NZ, Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Vanuatu, Cambodia, Tahiti, Australia, and Taiwan. They have come on their missions from all parts of the world. I now also do some mental health training with all the missionaries in the NZ Missionary Training Center every three weeks. People consult with me when the diagnosis is confusing, medications seem to be needed, or something "bizarre" is going on with a missionary. 

Our grandson Adam Richards stayed with us for two weeks. We took a lovely hike together almost every day. What a delight it was to have him with us! The astonishing thing was that the weather was cool and sunny almost the whole time. It only rained at night. Adam taught us some great word games, and I taught him my father's favorite two-person card game, which he called "High, Low, Game." It’s the first time I have played that game in many years!

Adventures:

7 June - The senior missionaries went to Howick Historical Village in Auckland as a zone activity. We had fun churning butter, making beeswax candles, and learning about the early British settlers in this area.

10 June - We made delightful Australian friends, Ian and Linda Carroll, when we served missions together in Germany. Imagine our surprise when we met Ian's sister Penny and her husband Grant Owen, who are serving here in the Area Office. The Carrolls came for a visit from Australia, and all six of us had fun together. In the picture, from left to right, are the Carrolls, Owens, and Deweys. 

13 June - Adam arrived! His suitcase had been badly damaged, so we waited at the baggage office while his claim was processed. The sign lists several airline companies that we hadn't seen in other airports. How many do you know?

18 June - We took Adam south to see some tourist areas (our first trip past Hamilton). First stop - Hobbiton! All but one person on our guided tour were Lord of the Rings fans. Our guide knew tons of details about finding the location, building the road into the set, etc., etc. It was such a great Hobbit nerd experience! The land is beautiful, and the sky was blue that day.

19 June - We traveled south to Rotorua, where we spent the next two days. Rotorua is known for its geysers, hot springs, mud baths, and Māori culture. We started the day with a hike in a redwood forest. The redwoods were brought from California and grow well here. Then we went to Te Puia, a tourist attraction on Māori land, with geysers, a Māori craft workshop, and a kiwi restoration program. We got to go into a dark building and actually see kiwis up close (they are nocturnal). In the evening, we attended a hangi (traditional underground oven) dinner and cultural program at Mitai Māori Village, another tourist attraction. It was a full, educational day amid natural wonders.

20 June - We hiked around Blue Lake outside of Rotorua and enjoyed some more scenery.

21 June - On our way back home to Takapuna, we visited the Hamilton Gardens, which we had heard good things about. We discovered that it includes 18 enclosed gardens, each representing a different time and culture--from ancient Egypt to China, Japan, Italy, and Māori. Even though it is winter, it was fascinating and beautiful. We took so many pictures! This was the last section we visited--the surrealist garden.

28 June - Adam left on the 27th to fly to his next family adventure in Alaska. On Saturday, we went to "Last Night of the Proms," an Auckland Symphony Orchestra concert that our friends the Owens had organized. I expected a mix of classical and pop music. The reality was way beyond that! This is a British tradition, and the attendees wore British costumes, waved English flags, and brought noise-makers. We enjoyed the orchestra, choir, bagpipers, highland dancers, and a talented soloist. We sang "God Save the King" and the New Zealand national anthem (which is beautiful). At the end, balloons and streamers were released and bounced around the audience. It was a new, very fun cultural experience for us.

In conclusion - back to our real purpose for coming to New Zealand:

Even though I've highlighted the fun things we did in June, we don't ever forget that we are here to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. I will close with a poster I found online that illustrates a favorite scripture.

 May: Late Autumn

Teresa: May was a good, busy month for us. We attended the new Auckland Temple, gave talks in church, and attended a Mother's Day luncheon. I also taught a study class and wrote the senior newsletter. I'm still working on preparing the 2024 Pacific Area History, and I help teach English each Tuesday evening. Last night, our class included people from Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Burma (Myanmar), South Korea, and China. It's really fun to help them and see their confidence grow.

I titled this blog as late autumn, but it's hard to tell except for small differences. We are having more rain and wind, and the temperatures are in the 50s and 60s. The trees and grass are green and flowers are blooming. We have found wild banana, orange, and lime trees. I looked up some latitudes. Auckland is almost 37 degrees south, and San Francisco is about 37.8 degrees north of the equator. I think that is why their climates are somewhat similar. 

Larry: I have been working with a faithful sister missionary who had three serious concussions before her mission and then two more recently while on her mission. She has developed post-concussion symptoms and is now unable to do regular missionary work. We kept her at rest in her apartment for two weeks, but unfortunately, this didn’t cure her symptoms; and last week she had to return home.

While she was cooped up, I counseled with her and asked her to evaluate general conference talks by answering the two key questions below. I received the following response from her (shortened here) about one of the talks: “Your Repentance Doesn’t Burden Jesus Christ; It Brightens His Joy,” by Sister Tamara W. Runia (April 2025 General Conference).

How is this person trying to get me to think differently?

Sister Runia wants me to view things from God’s perspective. God is concerned about us. Not our mistakes. He doesn't ask us questions like, "Why didn't you do better? Could you have tried harder to resist?” Those questions are cruel and focused on the past. They come from Satan. What God does ask us is, "Are you okay? What are you going to do now? Will you let me help you? Will you let me take your burden?” God is focused on the one. He sees our potential. That is why He feels joy every time we repent and pray. Our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, love us.

And if I thought that way, how could it change my life? 

If I thought this way, I would find joy in all circumstances. I would be focused less on what's happened (the past) and be focused on how I will choose to react now. This will cause me to be anchored to God and Jesus and become an affectionate covenant keeper vs. a reluctant or fearful covenant keeper. It will cause me to repent because I love God and Christ.

Larry: I responded by emailing the following back to her. "What you wrote and what Sister Runia says reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures--Paul's words in Hebrews 4:14-16."

14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

And now for some pictures:

3 May - We took a ferry to Rangitoto Island (the newest volcano near Auckland), and hiked to the top. Here are two views--toward Motutapu Island next to Rangitoto, and on the opposite side, Auckland:

7 May - While visiting the Auckland Museum, we saw this cute sign on the lawn:

9 May - See if you can find the bunch of bananas in this photo:

10 May - For Mother's Day, a group of Relief Society sisters attended the temple together on Saturday. We arrived at the church to carpool at 7 AM, and the men fed us a nice breakfast. We paused for a few minutes at the temple, and I took this photo of our group. Then we went back to the church, where the men provided a "lunch" (feast) to honor the women.

11 May - We gave rides to these young missionaries after church. From left to right, they are from the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and the USA. We love their big smiles.

17 May - Another tree picture. This is the silver tree-fern, seen from above. It is endemic (grows only here in New Zealand) and has been a symbol of national identity since the 1880s. The fronds on the underside are silver, and the Māori people would use them to see trails at night. 

25 May - A young woman from our ward just returned from the Australia Sydney Mission. She is wearing a lovely Fijian salusalu (the brown and tan garland), which is given for special occasions.

25 May - We had a "Linger Longer" after church. In the USA, we occasionally have these, but they feature something like a bagel or other snack. A "linger longer" in our ward here is an occasion for a big feast, featuring a whole roast pig and many potluck dishes.

30 May-1 June - On Friday, we took time off to visit the beautiful, mountainous Coromandel Peninsula east of Auckland. We stayed in Whitianga, a small resort town on Mercury Bay. Here is a view of the bay and cliffs from the beach.

We saw a funny dog sign in front of a restaurant.

31 May - On Saturday, we took a boat cruise along the coast from Whitianga. The boat captain told us that Mercury Bay got its English name when Captain James Cook landed here in 1769 to make measurements of Mercury as it transited in front of the sun. This observation helped establish their longitude as well as the distance from the earth to the sun. The next transit of Mercury fully visible from New Zealand will occur in 2052, so it's lucky that he had the opportunity when he did! 

Our boat visited Cathedral Cove, which has been featured in movies. We saw many other beautiful rock stacks, sea caves, cliffs, and rock arches.

1 June - On Sunday, we drove farther north up the east coast and crossed the mountains to attend church at a small branch in Coromandel Town. We stopped at a viewpoint. The first picture is looking to the west across the Firth of Thames, with Coromandel just visible on the shore in the center of the photo. The second picture shows the interior of the peninsula from the same viewpoint. We enjoyed meeting the members in Coromandel, but I don't think I'll ever go there again, because the road terrified me! The rugged terrain on the west side of the peninsula forced the highway to be extremely narrow and winding. In a few areas, the highway even narrowed to one lane! 

2 June - King's (or Queen's) Birthday is celebrated as a holiday on the first Monday of June each year, regardless of the actual birthday of the English monarch. When we got up on Monday, I thought the busy street next to our apartment building must be closed, because there were no cars at all for a minute or more. Eventually a few cars passed. I realized that all those poor commuters must be taking a well-deserved rest from driving. It was good to pass a quiet day.

All our best to you--Larry and Teresa