Regularity

Dear Readers,

The time between posts is not because we haven't been doing things, rather,

because we have been kept quite busy doing many things.

We have been here for three complete months. Seems like only yesterday  and 12 weeks.

We are just about settled into a routine.

Monday is theoretically our preparation day but we have done other things.

We spend a few evening hours in the pottery shop. We are learning to work

with clay; not to forget about the interesting people we meet there too.

George is the director and teacher, though he does not like to be called

that. He is an expatriate from Wisconsin that has been in New Zealand for

probably 30 or 40 years. He's a master teacher and  Ruth Ann's favorite thing 
about the "non-class". He has this way of telling stories while he demonstrates
 making something out of clay  and when the evening is over we realize we have been 
well taught . We'll include photos of him and our work once they have been fired.

Tuesday is the day we travel to Rotorua for a missionary district meeting.

That takes most of the day. In the late afternoon we spend about an hour

cleaning our chapel. Some days we have help and some days we don't. We were

teaching a man after that but he has fallen by the wayside. We love him and

stay in touch but he must work through his difficulties as we give him some

space.

Wednesday, when we can, we spend a few more mid-day hours in the pottery

shop. We have the facility to ourselves with George. We often teach

the new-member lessons to a wonderful young woman. The sister missionaries

join us, usually there is a meal such as waffles and fruit - not common in

NZ. In the afternoon we teach a temple preparation class.

Thursday has no regular commitments right now but we'll tentatively do an

addiction recovery class soon.

Friday is our day to go to the Maori school (Te Kura o Hīrangi). We have

been helping 6th and 7th graders read. They are very enjoyable. Their

skills vary so we think we can do some good there. They were reading an

Ogden Nash poem about a dragon and a pirate. Very interesting  choice, but the
more we work with the students, the more we realize there is much to be learned by a first time English reader. When the students break for lunch we go over to the RSA to mingle with the 'Older' folks. We have to leave some wiggle room as some may think we're old. We stay for lunch.
Ruth Ann has taken an interest in Rummikub. Tim plays Snooker with three other men. His

team actually won on Friday! After RSA we go back to the school for some

more reading.

Saturday is our 3-hour turn at the Hospice second-hand store. We work with

three other wonderful ladies. It's amazing how many people shop there. We

don't believe there is any stigma to being seen inside. We sort the

donations, place a price tags on those that aren't junk, and find places on

the shelves. It's fascinating what we see. There are very high end items

such as gold-rimmed, fine crystal, stemware down to dirty t-shirts that can't even be

used as rags. Today we came across  some salad tongs that were made from

false teeth. Not very appetizing. We found a hard-cover edition of 

"To Kill a Mockingbird" with a stamp from a library somewhere in the country. 

Sunday is busy too. Tim has been called as the first counselor in the

branch presidency - probably should say 'only' counselor. We do just about

everything that needs to be done. In the evening we drive to Taupo to teach

English class. Our first two students have decided to drop out because they

felt to much pressure to change there religious beliefs. The class is not

about proselyting but the local missionaries take time after the class to

teach gospel principles. We're sure we'll have more as time goes by.

On all days when we have time we go out to mingle with the community. We

seek out members of record that don't attend church services. It's amazing

that just by walking around  we meet someone and have a good

conversation or find some other opportunity for teaching or service. Tim says:
"The doing ... is in the going." (Adaptation to 1 Nephi 3:7)

Now that the weather has warmed, we are spending more time on our

bicycles, go walking, or visit some place we've not yet been. We try to swim

two or three times a week. The pool is indoor and heated. We almost always

have swim lanes to ourselves.

The mission has looked a little different than we thought it would. Our American fast pace life is not shared by the people of Turangi, We're finally starting to see that loving the people means accepting offers for "Tea". Here, "tea" means stopping what you're doing, sitting down and genuinely connecting with those you are with in conversation.  It could include a meal, but always includes a warm drink and some biscuits (cookies). People are totally fine with us drinking water, herbal tea, Milo, but they are not fine with a "no thank you" and continuing to work. It took that "work until you drop", Baxter work ethic awhile to pick up on this. We find that it takes time, and our favorite moments are when we feel like we have made a difference for good in someone's day.

We hope you are all well as we march out the rest of the year.

There will be more to follow in the future...

This is our entry in the Halloween
"Trunk and Treat". It's a fishing trunk!

This was a woman we met who had a
pink tree in her yard.

Lovely ladies at the Hospice Shop.

The hot pools and steam vents near us.

This place has some interesting facilities.

The branch conference-viewing breakfast.

Anglican Minister - Mormon Minister.
Both women are exceptional people. 

Wairere Falls.