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.