Kia Ora from Aotearoa
It has been a busy two months since I last posted, so I will stop at the end of April in this post.
First, a Barrier Transfer Machine. I had never heard of this, but we saw one in action on the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Since the bridge carries 170,000 to 200,000 vehicles each day on 8 lanes, the flow needs to convert from 4 lanes each way to 5 and 3 lanes during rush hour traffic. The huge barrier transfer machine, which looks like a cross between a bus and a locomotive, picks up 16 concrete lane barrier blocks at a time, runs them at an angle through the machine, and drops them one lane over. Each block weighs 1,653 lb., so that's 26,448 lb. at a time. The machine can cross the bridge in 20 minutes while traffic flows slowly past. In the picture, you can see how the lane barrier has moved a full lane from front to back of the BTM. Fascinating!
We pass the First Church of Christ Scientist on our way to work each day. I love the mural painted on the front wall: "You are loved." See if you can make out the individual letters. It took me a while.
April 5 - Tom Hansen, who did his psychiatry residency with Larry, and his wife Kim Manley, stopped by to visit with us in Auckland while on a tour of Australia and New Zealand. It was great to eat dinner together and catch up with them.
April 16 - Rick and Susan Hafen, senior missionaries, served in Hong Kong right before we got there, and we overlapped for a short time with them here in New Zealand. This was their last day in the office. We miss them!
April 20 - Easter Sunday - We visited Faatili Toala and his wife Nolini after church because he was recovering from surgery. Nolini made us Samoan hot cocoa. The cacao beans are grown and processed in Samoa. They are then crushed with a mortar and pestle and used to make a hot cocoa with rich bits of cocoa hidden inside.
April 21 - And now for another tree picture. This is a big camphor tree in a nearby park next to Lake Pupuke. The heart-shape freshwater lake fills two adjacent ancient volcano craters and is 57 meters (187 feet) deep!
April 25 - Anzac Day. This national holiday is a day of remembrance in both Australia and New Zealand. During World War I, the soldiers from those two countries were called Anzacs, short for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Before dawn on April 25, 1915, they landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in what is now Turkey in an attempt to move on to the Black Sea. The battle, with heavy casualties on both sides, went on for 8 months and ended in defeat for the British-allied forces. Anzac Day commemorates the Anzac's heroism and sacrifice, as well as all those who have defended New Zealand and Australia since then.
We attended the Auckland memorial service with our dear missionary friends, Grant and Penny Owen, who are from Australia. Penny's brother is our good friend Ian Carroll; he and his wife Linda served as missionaries with us in Germany. Small world! We got to the Auckland War Memorial Museum by 5:15 a.m., where we joined a few thousand other people who were standing quietly around the memorial plaza. The moon and Venus (and before I took the picture, Mercury) were shining in the night sky as soldiers lined up below.
Red poppies were sold by veterans' groups, just as they are in the USA for Veterans Day. The ceremony included a military procession, a group of older veterans, prayers, speeches, musical numbers, and the laying of many wreaths at the War Memorial. Both English and Māori were used in prayers and speeches. At the end of the ceremony, Māori dancers performed the haka, which is a war dance but also a dance of cultural pride, strength, and unity.
Dawn was breaking over the harbor as the ceremony ended. We were inspired by this memorial service, and it caused me to remember my father's heroism in World War II and the Korean War.
The pictures below were taken before and after the ceremony and show us with the Owens.
April 26 - A group of senior missionaries went on an excursion to the Parry Kauri Reserve near Warkworth, about a half-hour drive north. We first visited an outdoor Saturday market and a small museum, and then we walked through a beautiful forest of kauri trees.
In the above picture, we are standing in front of the "McKinney Kauri," which is 800 years old. The museum has several pieces of kauri gum, shown below. The Māori used it to start fires and make fishing torches. Europeans dug out old lumps of it in swamps and sold it abroad as an ingredient in varnish and other resin products. Now it is rare and therefore expensive, so it is used to make jewelry.
It was fun for me to relive some of these experiences through pictures. You're just hearing from me (Teresa) this time, but we will have news from Larry and, hopefully, more inspiring missionary messages next time.
