One Month Already!

Jan. 27 - Chelsea Estate Heritage Park (and Costco)

We took a lovely walk in this park, a local in-town nature reserve. Here we saw our first kauri trees. They are native to the North Island and are described as "among the mightiest trees on earth." They can live up to 2000 years and reach heights of 50 m (164 ft) tall and have circumferences of up to 16 m (52 ft). They once covered much of the island, but the Europeans of the 18th and 19th centuries decimated the kauri forests to make ship masts and spars, as well as timber for buildings. Now they are being carefully preserved. Here is one of the ones we saw; it's only a baby of 200-300 years in age.

We also found the only Costco in New Zealand, which for some reason is about 20 minutes north of us instead of being closer to Auckland. We probably won't go again because we don't really have the storage space or need for Costco-sized purchases. It did have some fun products, though, such as fried fish skin snacks, which I haven't seen in the USA. Here's another product that I've never seen before: date and snow fungus soup.

Feb. 2 - Milford Beach

After church, we decided to take a walk on Milford Beach, which is only a few minutes away by car. It's a beautiful sandy beach with lava rock interspersed. We saw a weird tree (look at the branches and leaves) we had never seen before. It's called a dragon tree and is native to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. (Because of my Google Lens app, I can point my camera at something and it will tell me what it is. It's a real help for identifying all these new things!)

Feb. 4 - Hamilton Temple and Pacific Church History Centre and Museum

We drove south to Hamilton to attend the temple here for the first time. It was beautiful.

We also visited the Pacific Church History Centre near the temple so that we could show the workers our digital copies of Larry's father's pictures, stories, and journals from his mission here in 1925-1928. We weren't sure they would be interested, but they were, so we let them copy our digital files.

We were especially happy to meet an elderly couple, the Parkers. When Sister Parker heard about one of the towns where John William Dewey (see picture below) served, she became excited because that is where her family is from. She told us their name, and sure enough, when Larry read through the journals later, they were mentioned several times. He has been emailing Sister Parker since then. Within a few days, she had looked through the pictures, and she recognized many of them. We can hardly wait to go back this Thursday to talk with her again and have her help us identify the pictures.

Feb. 6 - Waitangi Day

We learned that Waitangi Day, celebrated yearly on February 6, is New Zealand's national day, just as July 4 is in the USA. It commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on February 6, 1840, officially founding New Zealand as an independent nation.

We saw this sign high up on a wall, which we thought was particularly meaningful:

From Larry:

The first day I got to New Zealand, I began working with a young elder serving out in the islands. His mission president referred him because he had called and said that he was looking at a big kitchen knife and thinking about stabbing himself with it. 

It became clear to me that he was having OCD-like, ego-dystonic, intrusive thoughts of self-harm. We took some immediate safety actions and started counseling together. I will not outline the details, but because he did everything I asked him to do (exercise, treat his companion better, try to make fun of the intrusive thoughts, read and comment on conference talks, etc.), he quickly improved. He emailed me the answers to every question I asked him.

Here is one example. I asked him to read the following conference talk and then answer two questions.

“God’s Intent Is to Bring You Home,” Patrick Kearon, April 2024 General Conference

·        How is the speaker trying to get me to think differently?  

“He wants me to think of Jesus as a liberator and not a roadblock. He removed all the things that were blocking us from being able to come to the Lord. God loves us and His plan is to save us.”

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

“God is there for me, and I don't have to worry about being too far from him. He is there, and He is actively removing any roadblock that is in my way. I don't have to be afraid or worry about the roadblocks.”

He created equally important responses to the other talks. Finally, he said this: 

"I have not yet taught people about BLUE, but I will try to do that before our next appointment. I am doing fine. I have also been trying to find humor in my thoughts, and it has helped. I feel like I have had fewer thoughts that are about suicide or self-harm. I have definitely felt less affected by them. I have still gotten upset, and then my mind just says over and over, 'die.'

I asked a few times the question, 'Why does it matter if I live?' I kept thinking of all the blessings promised after I am dead. I thought of all the joy I could just skip to if I die. I kept having this argument with myself, trying to convince myself that there is no point to life and that I would be better off in the spirit world. I don't remember all the arguments that I made, but that was the general idea. That way of thinking lasted a few days.

However, I was going to bed one night and I felt a strong spiritual feeling that Jesus loves me and that He wants me to live. He gave me this answer after all my questioning. Then one night, I just got the answer that things that are worth it will be hard. If I want to have the most joy possible, I have to live. If I die now, I would still be happy [after death], maybe even happier than I am right now, but the Spirit told me that I will be happier in the end if I keep living. So, I will keep doing that. I am going to keep living."

I believe Jesus visited him in this moment because 1) he was doing all that was asked of him and more; and 2) he persisted in asking God for help and was completely honest with God about how he was feeling.

In conclusion:

We hope you and we will turn to our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, for meaning and joy in our lives. Christ made His great atoning sacrifice so that we can return to our Heavenly Father.