NZ PLaCeS & FaCeS...

It's transfer time!!!

Elder Wiggington is getting transferred to the far north of the Island.  We are sad to see him go :(

I have to remind myself that I can't get too attached to these boys...they're here one day and gone the next! We have three new missionaries coming to Gisborne.  We will have three companionships right here with us, and one companionship south of us in Wairora.  We are getting an extra companionship! Our area is on fire, so I guess President Porter decided we needed more missionaries so one of the companionships can travel up the coast to the small branches more often.  

We can't wait to meet the new Elders!

Elder Wiggington and Elder Cooper cleaning their flat for the new missionaries to move in to it!

Our last district meeting together...

Left to Right

Elder Burton, Elder Johnson, Elder Gubler, Sister Gubler, Elder Tatuiaki (Elder T), 

Elder Cooper, Elder Amy (leaving) and Elder Wiggington (leaving)

This is one of our investigator families...

Wendy (the mom) is getting baptized on March 26th.  

Left to Right: Elder Gub, CJ, Shedayne, Skye, Sister Gub

Front: Hailey, and Wendy

The ward is doing the Kapa Haka for Elder Callister when he comes for Stake Conference this 

coming week-end.  This is a picture of one of the practices.  Elder T is Tongan, and we 

love this kid!  He and Elder Gub get along pretty good!  We are trying to talk him into coming back to Dixie State to play football!  The kid is huge! His hands are triple the size of mine!

This is one of my little buddies!  I LOVE her eyes!  She is half Italian and half Maori & her whole family is beautiful!!! I have lots of little buddies in the ward!  The little girls all come running to me when I get to the church to give me hugs!  So cute! The youth have activities at least twice a week.  There is something going on at the church ALL the time! The leaders here give LOTS of time to their callings.  Way more than we do at home!  They are trying to keep the youth busy and out of trouble.  

It's awesome!

We traveled up the coast to the Waipero Bay -Tokomaru Bay Branch.

President Robinson took us around to meet lots of the members and less actives. It was a beautiful day, so we took a few pictures along the way!

This is the little chapel in Tokomaru Bay. It is so cute!  It's miniature! The chapel is about the size of our primary chapel in Santa Clara.  They don't have pews, just chairs to sit on.  It was so nice and clean!

This is the first CLEAN chapel we have seen! The people here definitely don't take care of their chapels like we do at home. Sad....

President Robinson wanted to take a picture of the two of us! I don't know what the deal is, but my eyes are either squinting or closed in every picture lately!  The more I concentrate to keep them open, the more they close!!! Aaahhhhhh!

This is the OLD Mormon Chapel in Tokomaru Bay!  They used this until about 1980! 

This is one of the less active members, Sharon.  She lives RIGHT on the beach! I told her that her property would sell for millions of dollars in the states!  She has a huge yard!  She says she doesn't even notice the ocean! She's so used to it!! I guess we all take our beautiful surroundings for granted! We are just as guilty! We hardly notice our beautiful red mountains!

Sharon was mowing her HUGE lawn with a push mower.  It was about a foot long!

This tractor was just in her yard...I thought it was cool!

These plants weren't planted on it, they were just kind of over-taking it....I think the tractor has been sitting there for a long time!!!

And THIS is the house she lives in on that million dollar property right on the bay! 

Her house is caving in!  The members offered to help her fix it up, but she wouldn't let them.

Her brother lives in the trailer on the left.  He has been a really active member of the church until this year...he says he's taking a year off! Ha!  Can ya do that??? He said it's kind-of like a sabbatical! The branch president asked him why he wasn't mowing the lawn for Sharon...his answer, 

"She needs to lose weight, I don't!" I guess he just lives  by his own set of rules!

President Robinson, the Relief Society President & me (squinting again!) 

We are in this lady's yard overlooking Tokomaru Bay.

This is a cool old church in Waipero Bay....

Another view of the church and the cemetery next to it.  All of the headstones have nice pictures of the person.  It must be quite a new burial plot because they were all in color.  

This is a typical Marae (pronounced MaRye) They have a few of these in every town.  It is where the Maori people gather for events...kind of like a cultural hall.  They also have funerals here.  This was right next to the cemetery and church....about 100 yards from the bay.

I am absolutely amazed that nobody lives in these beautiful places along the coast!!! There are about 20 houses, and they all look about like Sharon's.  This is a neat looking old building...just to give you an example of how "deserted" the town of Waipero Bay is! It's crazy!!! There's just nothing to do for a living there, so everyone has moved out to the bigger towns and cities.

Waipero Bay  (right next to the Marae, cemetery and church)

Driving back to the south....Tolaga Bay.

This is where the movie, "Whale Rider" was filmed. It is just north of Gisborne.

Another view of Tolaga Bay. The beaches here aren't groomed like our beaches in the states.  There is lot's of drift wood on every beach.  I just feel like taking a front loader and cleaning it all up!!!

The old Tolaga Bay Pier