Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Christmas, 2019

I thought I'd open this posting with the response from Francis Pharcellus Church, newspaperman for the New York Sun on September 21, 1897 to the Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon.

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

This being our first Christmas in New Zealand, we have to examine the question, perhaps, as did Mr. Church. Is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge."

"Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, ..."

Let's start with the run-up to Christmas

Christmas Cards from Maori Students:
We spent time helping the 6th and 7th students with their reading. The last day of class before the Holiday break, they gave us hand-made Christmas Cards. These kids are so sweet. Here is a sample of one.

December Christmas ("Santa")  Parade
Our branch council wanted to enter a float into the Towne Christmas Parade aka "Santa Parade". Apparently it is a annual event which travels about 800 Meters down the main street and ends at the High School where the evening festivities are held. It was not solely our work. Two great women did the majority of the planning and work to promote the idea, gather the materials, and organize the helpers.

Our theme, The Nativity,  was the only religious-themed entry. All the others were secular or even commercial entities. Of the dozen or so floats, I think three were from the local fire brigade. There were a couple from clubs and I know the one in front of ours was from a real estate firm. We were met by a panel of three judges who could barely contain their optimism.

As the parade started we moved at a comfortable walking pace. We had the two missionary sisters from Taupo and the Senior Missionary couple from Taumarunui join us. There were also two or three sisters from the ward plus Ruth Ann and I walking alongside passing out candy and invitations to our special Christmas worship service. We delivered over 200 invitations. Unfortunately, none came to our Sunday service. They did, however, know who we are. In fact, we were judged first place and the award was given at the celebration that evening in front of, perhaps, 3000 people.

The parade participants

We Won First Prize!

The float builders. No, I'm not held at gunpoint.

Nativity Float complete with  angels, shepherds, and wise men bearing gifts

Really good fireworks in
 the evening

Building the Float

Float Participants

Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve day we drove to Rotorua for a Missionary District Council Meeting. We had training, a nice luncheon (Pizza and Fruit), and a "White Elephant" gift exchange. I needed the laughs that resulted from the exchange. It was comical that many had never participated in a white elephant exchange; and those that had, had differing rules. However, the game was hilarious, the gifts and  wrapping were creative.

Following that, we went to a rest home to do some caroling. The residents sang along with us. I had the impression that Christmas caroling is not a normal activity for them. They all sang along and clapped. I suspect it was the highlight of their day.

White Elephant Exchange

There were some reluctant participants

And perhaps some questionable gifts!

Caroling at the rest home

After Rotorua, we were invited to a wonderful Christmas Eve Dinner at the house of our good friend's, Kim and Jim. We had a familiar roast beef meal and excellent company.

Jim and Kim and RAB

Feeding the Town on Christmas Day
We arose early on Christmas Day to help prepare for the community Christmas Dinner. It was extra special considering our float winnings were donated to the church that provided the meal. The meal was sumptuous consisting of ham, turkey, roast pork, potatoes, cole slaw, roasted vegetables, gravy and apple sauce.

A ham serving the ham.

Around 200 served

Volunteers. There were about 20.

Feeding ourselves on Christmas Day at the Tokaanu Hotel! The Metekingi whanau were so kind to think of us on Christmas Day. True to New Zealand tradition, a family 'barbie' is in order. With immediate and extended family plus a goodly number of guests, I would estimate there were 30 people there. We felt extremely welcome. The meal was definitely New Zealand cuisine. We had smoked trout (no doubt locally caught), lamb, beefsteak, many delicious salads, and traditional desserts like: "Ambrosia",  Pavlova, custard pudding, and some chocolate eclairs.

President Metekingi is an
AWESOME Barbie Master

Merry Christmas from the Metekingi's

Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a new holiday for us. It is the holiday celebrated here on the day after Christmas. For us, it was another day to do our missionary work.

It may be winter where you
are but it's garden time here.

Our Boxing Day Guest.
He is a good friend.
Ruth Ann served a waffle brunch.

Yes Virginia, we found that there is a Santa Claus in New Zealand. Even though we hardly saw lights, house decorations, or decorated trees, we did see the manifestation of true Christ-like love, generosity, and devotion to those who have little resources at this time of the year.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families. We wish you a prosperous New Year (Tau Hou koa).

Elder and Sister Baxter

Is It Really December?

IS it really December?!

The first week of December has been like a fast roller coaster ride, lots of highs and lows. Not sure where to start....

A visit from the David, Annie and Hans Baxter family was a definite HIGH. they brought with them a little bit of Christmas and we spent Thanksgiving with them exploring a "Living Thermal Maori Village" in Rotorua and our Thanksgiving meal was cooked in a steam vent. We were graced with the Pohutu Geyser showing off. WE also tramped the Tongariro Crossing,  the Track which is rated the #1 one day walk in the world. It was a beautiful day!

The biggest low came when we received word that Jeanne Cameron’s fight with pancreatic cancer ended. She is An amazing example of what a disciple of Jesus Christ looks like. Evaluating life and what I would change if I only had 3 weeks to live has been sobering. Her life speaks to the kind of quiet service that she endlessly performed. Our family has received MUCH from her.We are so blessed to have Brendon Cameron as part of our family and know his mother will be greatly missed.

With heavy hearts we traveled to a 3 day Mission Christmas Conference where all 200 of the New Zealand Hamilton Missionaries met for celebration and instruction. This group included beautiful young (and some well seasoned) missionaries from all over the world. We were overwhelmed by the power and spirit these missionaries carried with them, and we came away feeling uplifted and ready to go back to work.

We got back to Turangi and received word that our Kentucky grandson, Atticus, had taken a fall and would need to stay in the hospital until his surgery to set the  broken bones in his wrist and elbow.

Word came again that even though the broken bones took a little more to pin than expected, our prayers had been answered and Atticus was doing well. The real job is now up to Audrey to keep this little man quiet for a week at home before the hard cast can be placed on his arm.

Another text arrived alerting us that David Annie and Hans, who left the North Island to caravan tour the South Island were stuck between a washed out bridge on one side and a washed out road going the other direction. In New Zealand this road closure could last for a couple hours, days, weeks. They are on day 3 and have already missed their flights home to the US. We are hoping it won’t be many more days. A coworker in the hospice thrift shop told us yesterday that the last time this happened , the tourists ended up being helicoptered out. At least David and Annie are keeping the tradition of taking the “Baxter short-cut “ way home.

We said goodbye to the children at the Maori school. They will start their summer break next week. They gave us some pointers on the best swimming spots in the river and cautioned us to be careful of the fast current. Later that day they surprised us with handmade thank you Christmas cards. Elder Baxter helped cook a "sausage sizzle feed" for their lunch.

Happy 10th Birthday to grandson Sam Harris who sneaked a birthday into the middle of this roller coaster week.

Sometimes it is hard to be far from those you love especially when some extra help would be appreciated. I am grateful to my children, family, and friends who have supported all these happenings with prayers, and worked to sustain those in need. I wish I could have been present to celebrate Jeanne Cameron’s life. Thank you to all who were there! I will cherish the email she sent me last Sunday where SHE lifted MY Spirit with kind words  and encouraged me to keep working hard.

I know that Jesus Christ Coming to this Earth and giving His Life that ALL of us will live again is what sustains me in the “lows” and fills me with JOY in the”highs”of life. Merry Christmas to you all! HE is the reason for this season of celebration!

Kia ora! From the land of the long white cloud (Aotearoa)!

With Much Love,

Sister Ruth Ann Baxter

Sausage Sizzle at Kura O Hirangi!

At the Mission Mission Conference

Our Student Readers

Post surgery

 Hans brought the tree and David delivered the olive tree Nativity from Jerusalem!

Pohutu Geyser

Lake Rotopunamu

Sisters Nelson and Leilua going home soon

Beautiful Sisters

The missionary attire is definitely "island"

Missionaries From The Philippines (plus one)

Thanksgiving 2019

Dear Readers,
We hope that you are prospering wherever you are.

We have passed one of our most cherished holidays - Thanksgiving. While it is celebrated elsewhere at different times and ways, it is most prominent in America. The most noted was the celebration at Plymouth, MA in 1621. Sister Baxter's ancestors were there.

It is not recognized in New Zealand, I am sorry to say, but we celebrated it nonetheless. We were pleased to have our son, David, Annie, and mokopuna Hans with us. We celebrated the day in the city of Rotorua where we had a traditional Maori meal cooked in a hangi (a geothermal steam vent). Our meal consisted of chicken, potato, kumara, cabbage, stuffing, carrots, corn on the cob, and steam pudding. No turkey but the rest of the menu seemed appropriate.

While the whanau were here we did a number of interesting things that you can see depicted below.

Sincerely,
Elder and Sister Baxter

Pumice Lifting!

Taranaki Falls 

We had extra help with a missionary teaching event.

Posing with King Tawhaio in Taumarunui

David and Tim at the Summit of Red Crater (6188')

Tongariro Crossing - Mt Ngauruhoe in background

Hangi Kai on Thanksgiving Day

Practicing our Haka Faces

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.

Too Good Not To Share

Nga mihi ki te katoa mai i a Aotearoa (Greetings to you all from New Zealand)

The theme for this post is somewhat random. We have had some wonderful experiences that we must share with you in pictorial form.

Catfish are outlaws here.

Not what you think!

Getting to the ROOT of the problem!

It is what it looks like!

Taken October 4th.

An NZ Hot Dog! A giant Vienna Sausage and a slice of bread.

Rainbows are commonplace.

That's a lemon picked from a neighborhood tree.

Corn. A rare commodity.