Missionaries

We were just visiting a family here in Turangi today, not far from our apartment. As we approached the gate we met one of the family members; he greeted us and invited us to wait by the gate while someone put away the dog. He said to the woman of the house: "The Elders are here". We are known as "The Elders" everywhere we go. At first it seemed inappropriate for Sister Baxter to be called one of "The Elders". However, that is the common view of us. We asked ourselves why is this?

First, I think Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ have been here for a long, long time. I know that because we received a phone call from a couple who have just been called to serve in this mission and the husband served in this town in the 1980's. This is a small town, about 3000 and the physical size of the town (or towne as they write it) is just over 1 square mile in size. Most people have been seeing missionaries walking, riding, and driving around town and they know who we are. In fact, the family we visited said they followed us while we drove from Taupo yesterday. Initially they knew we were from "out of town" because no self-respecting kiwi driver would use the brakes while driving around the hair-pin curves on the road that parallels the lake shore (more on that later). They then recognized the car we drove because it looked just like another missionary car in a different city. The brother said he was "cracking up" when he realized it was us.

Second, they don't think there is a gender distinction with the term: "Elder". To them, the title represents any badge-wearing missionary from The Church. We are OK with that. It's an exclusive club.

We mentioned "driving". It is a challenge. We find the roads are winding, narrow, and the drivers tend to go very fast ... kind of like Kentucky ;-). There are relatively few miles of what we would call "freeways". So most roads are two lane with occasional passing lanes. We are often horrified that people will pass vehicles - even big tandem-trailer rigs with a line of cars behind then. They will pass on blind curves, wet roads, even cars doing the speed limit. We did learn that there is a driving rule that says "If you are travelling slower than the speed limit and there are vehicles following you, you must pull over as soon as it is safe to let following vehicles pass." So we are pulling over occasionally.

We have been supporting, interacting, meeting, teaching, assisting, and generally spending significant time with the young missionaries. We have no reservations saying that they are truly amazing. They have seemingly boundless energy on their P-Days. When teaching, they are confident, spiritual, and hard-working. They are teaching us a great deal about this generation of Saints. Surely President Nelson is correct when he said: "They are the children whom God chose to be part of His battalion during this great climax in the longstanding battle between good and evil—between truth and error. ... They loved the Lord so much that they promised to defend His name and gospel during this world’s tumultuous winding-up scenes. One thing is certain: They are of the House of Israel and they have been sent here to help gather God’s elect."

The ratio of sisters to elders is about 1/3 in this mission. The number of non-american missionaries is significant. Many are of Polynesian descent. They come from Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, and "The Islands" as they are called. To a missionary, we have grown to love them, enjoy being with them, and they give us energy and vitality.

Three very good sister missionaries

Rotorua District (6 Aug 2019)

The Rotorua District (12 Sep 2019)

Our first baptism.

P-Day at Tarawera Falls

Lunch following the baptism. 

P-Day for the Tauranga Zone (16 Sep 2019)

Mission President Making Missionary Milk Shakes!

Missionary mischief (before) ...

After

Mission Sisters: Preparation Day is a Play-Day

New Zealand Food

This posting is dedicated to New Zealand Food

In the spirit of full disclosure, we are Americans. As such, we carry the baggage, rightfully or wrongfully, of all the stereotypical food habits of Americans or the American Food Industry. With that said, we are probably not the typical consumers. We generally don't buy highly-processed or pre-prepared foods.

The familiar are here: McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway, more.

Why go to American style food places when there is so much to sample in N Zed?

High Spots:

• Chocolate
• Fresh vegetables tend to be lower in price when in season. We have had very good results with oranges and apples. They are far better in taste and slightly lower in price especially honey crisp. 
• Yogurt is better quality and cheaper in NZ.
• All dairy products are better tasting, fresher. 
• Ice Cream is smoother and softer. We don't need the industrial strength ice cream scoop to get it out of the container. And better tasting. The down side is there are not as many choices in flavors; maybe about 1/4 of the choices one might find in a big US store. 
• Cold Cereal (breakfast) is more expensive but much better in taste and lower in sugar and preservatives. 
• The number of choices are limited. In fact, across the board, the number of choices of any food type are limited here. But then, I don't understand why we in the US need to have dozens of different sugar-laden breakfast cereals?
• There are not that many corn-based foods.
• No Mexican food.
• Hot Chocolate with Coconut Cream (Non-Dairy)

Low Spots: 

• I have checked the price comparison tools which seem to say that NZ food prices are lower than USA. We have data points in three different food chains and three different cities. Even when considering the "red-hot: dollar ($1 NZD = $0.64 USD) our experience is that food prices are higher. Perhaps it's what we buy, but on average, we say food is more expensive here. 
• Meat, Eggs, Milk are all higher here. Meat can be double the price. 
• Tomatoes are about $4/LB, for example. 
• Not many corn chips and those there are, aren't as good as we are used to. 
• Can't find dried beans. In fact, when we asked people about beans, they give us blank stares. 
• Bacon is called "streaky bacon" while sliced ham (6" x 4" oval) is called bacon. And Streaky Bacon is $9.50/LB. I haven't been able to find bulk breakfast sausage. The link sausages are not like anything in America. Thank you , thank you Jimmy Dean.
• No Mexican food.

Why is this?

We have been told that New Zealand prices in general are driven by the European Union but, oddly enough, the Union is not the major trading partner. The dairy industry went wild sometime since WWII. They are the world's 8th largest milk producer. That's astonishing when considering the country  has the same area as the state of Colorado (same population as Oregon).

It's heritage! The Maori cultivated a type of sweet potato (Kumara - which looks like a sweet potato but tastes more like a potato. They harvested what they could find in the forests, rivers, lakes, and ocean. The British colonizers (pakeha) brought the foods they were used to eating. That probably explains why there are not many food items like corn, hot peppers, dried beans, etc.

Prepared Food:

Most places have "Take Aways" which are usually places with little of no seating. Hence: you buy  the food and you take it away. They come in in many cuisines: Fish/Chips, Chinese, Indian, Mediterranean,

Dairy Stores = Ice Cream Places
Bakery = It is what you think of a bakery except you can get savory dishes such as meat pies, sausage pies, etc.

Random Food Terms:
Mince = Ground Beef
Kai = Food, Meal in Maori
Pumpkin = What we would call squash
Hangi = Slow cooking underground - Unusually a volcanic geothermal steam vent

Food from a Chinese "Take Away"

Banoffee Pavlova and Chocolate Mousse

Yes, that's a duck hanging in the background

Hangi

Kumara - Kinda' Sweet Potato

Roast Lamb 

Hamilton Mission "Red Neck Milkshake"