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