People & Places

 I thought I would just snap a few pictures of some of the 

people and places 

we have met while doing missionary work!

One of the places we visit A LOT is:... the "Veggie Truck".

We stop there every couple of days to get our supply of fruits and veggies.

Our refrigerator is extremely small, so we just buy enough for a few days.  

The ladies who work at the veggie truck are sisters.  They are very sarcastic, and don't seem to appreciate our business, but they are the cheapest in town, so we just grin and bear it!

The majority of the fruits and veggies are grown locally....

 Lonne tries his hardest to get a smile out of these two women, 

but they're just not falling for it! Ha! One time he was just making 

conversation with them, he was telling them that we have a small fridge, and that's the reason we come so often...the lady answered, "Don't tell us about your problems!"  

These women are two hard nuts to crack!

We were given a whole sack of Kiwis this past week.
They have a golden flesh...unike the green ones we are used to.

Mmmmmmmmm they are soooooo good!!
They taste alot like a Mango (but better)!

We traveled about 30 miles to the home of one of the ward members.

The Autumn leaves were so beautiful! I just had to stop to take a few pictures!

Three wild turkeys in a paddock (pasture) along the road...

The river was filled with flood water after a long hard rain

A beautiful evening in the Lloyd's back yard in Whatatutu, NZ

This is the Lloyd's home in Whatatutu.  The front part is their family "Marae" (Maori gathering place)

The youth had a pioneer trek for a youth activity.  They walked about 20 K's.  

Their destination was the Lloyds house.  We were there to meet them at the house when they arrived. We also helped prepare the meal for lot's of hungry kids and leaders!! 

The Lloyds also held a "Wananga" for members and nonmembers alike, to learn how the Mormon beliefs coincide with the beliefs of the Maori culture.  It was very interesting and very spiritual.

A picture of some of the youth in the Gisborne 3rd ward after their Pioneer Trek
Most of these kids are converts to the church...most of them have been baptized in the last 6 months.
The ward is growing soooooo fast!  These kids are awesome! We absolutely love them!
(eight of the twelve kids I can see in this picture are new converts)
Isn't that awesome? The gospel is spreading like wildfire in Gisborne!

Some of the ward members

This is a mural on the wall of the Lloyd's home.  

It tells the story of their family's geneology
 (Whackapapa... pronounced Fockapapa)) 

from the beginning of time in New Zealand.  

There were lots of carvings in the house. The outside of the home was very similar to Lonne's barn.

There is no insulation in any of the buildings here, and we about froze to death! 

Our feet were like ice cubes!

The Elders came up to Whatatutu the next day at lunch time.

This is Elder Keyes and Elder Jenkins (our zone leaders).

Some of the ward members invited us over for dinner on Sunday.

back to front: Me, Louisa Henderson, Francis Burt, Peter Burt, Lonne and Dave Henderson

We had a great time and ended up visiting with them from 3:30 in the afternoon till 9:30!

Louisa is a really good cook...she made a venison dish that was delicious! I usually HATE venison!

This is Tess...

I finally decided to get up the guts to get my hair cut in Gisborne.

I have been putting it off and putting it off...I finally just took the plunge!

For those of you who know me...you know how fussy I am about WHO cuts or colors my hair!

I am not daring at all when it comes to new hair doo's, to a FAULT! 

I just have a phobia about it!! So it took all I had to let this girl cut it. 

 I took a picture of my hair with me, so she would know the length I like to wear it.  

It has gotten so long and out of control!  I knew it needed at least an inch cut off.

Well.....

She snipped and snipped...

and thinned and thinned...

till finally I asked her if I was going to have any hair left!!

She said, "You have LOTS of hair!!"

Ummmmm

I USED TO HAVE LOTS OF HAIR!!!

 I about died when I looked a the floor!!! This picture doesn't show the depth or the width of the pile of hair!! It looked like a huge cat laying on the floor!!

Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 This is the final product....a little thin on the ends, but it will grow.

She thinned out lots and lots of hair.  It's not bad, but I'll like it better in about a month!

 Isn't she just the cutest little girl??? She is one of my little buddies!

She likes our "lollies" (candy)!

This is William

We just met him today. 

His girls have just started coming to church.  

We had a really good lesson with William. 

We hope to get him to come to church with us soon.

This was definitely an interesting lesson....

We always love our visits with the Green family! They are so sweet! We especially love it when their "Nan" (grandma) is there! She can talk more than I can! 

Josh and Anahera were baptized right before we got to New Zealand. 

Little sister, Tia, is absolutely smitten with Lonne! She always dresses up in her princess clothes when she knows we are coming over to teach them! She calls him Papa Gubler! She just comes right over and climbs up in his lap as soon as he sits on the couch.  She also finds us at church every week, and comes up to sit on his lap.  He loves it! 

Papa Gubler and his little Princess Tia

Our little grand kids sent us the cutest Easter Package!

It came late, but it came on an afternoon when I was having the worst day....

A few tears.... and then....

 we walked by the front desk of our apartment, the girl handed us a package.

My mood changed immediately! Amazing!

There were notes from my babies, candies, pictures...

all the things a grandma and grandpa need when they are feeling a little home sick:)

Thank you, kids, for brightening our day!

You don't even KNOW how good those speckled eggs tasted!

My kids know all the things their mama likes!!!

And Lonne's favorite things Andes Mints and Coconut Raffaello's 

YUMMMM!

(If  you've never tasted one, you better not get started!)

We LOVED LOVED LOVED our Easter package!!!