Stake Conference in Rotorua

We were asked to speak at stake conference in the Rotorua Stake last week.

Poor Lonne had been asked to speak the week before in Taupo, and the week before that, we both spoke in Turangi!  Now, we are the featured speakers at a fireside in Tokorua this coming Sunday! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! You'd think we'd be really good at it by now, but we're not!

Bruce and Sandi Spackman have been our sweet friends in Taupo.

Bruce was called to be the Stake Patriarch on Sunday.

They wanted us to come with them as he was set apart.

He is such a sweet, humble, man.  

The perfect Patriarch.

Sandi, Bruce, President Brown and us

Sister Brown is the Stake President's wife. She has been so sweet to us.

I think she is the reason we are in Taupo! She is originally from Gisborne.

She came to visit her family in Gizzy last October....she said she was going to tell her husband to ask the mission president if we could come to their stake...

two months later we got the call! They have been soooo appreciative of our service in the Taupo area!

President Brown is a wonderful Stake President.  He has such a gift for speaking!

The Browns want to come see us at home next fall....we sure hope they do!

We found our first "WENDY'S" in New Zealand!

Why is it that anything "American" tastes so good to us!! You would have thought

we were two kids on Christmas!  We ordered chilli and a FROSTY!!!! Oh my! It tasted so good!

They don't make milk shakes the same as we do at home, so we haven't had a milk shake the whole time we've been gone....(like we NEED milk shakes!?)

Oh, and I almost forgot....the large coke was actually a LARGE coke like at home! 

Most larges over here are the same as our smalls....we were so shocked to see the big huge 32 oz. cup!

Luckily, we only ordered one!  The whole meal was so simple, but tasted sooooo good to both of us!

We ended up going there the next day before we left Rotorua! We couldn't get enough of it! Ha!

Lonne insisted on eating while he was driving....dangerous?!

When we got back to Taupo, there was snow on the mountains....it was beautiful!

P-day with the elders in our zone....

These guys never come down to Taupo..it's too far for them to travel, but they made the trip down to see us and to go to Huka Falls.  It was fun to see three of our Gisborne Elders....

Elder Petty, Elder Webb, and Elder Leatham.

We really miss working with the Elders on a daily basis.  We have a lot of fun with them, and I miss cooking for them on Sundays.  I wish we lived closer to them:(

Frances and Peter Burt drove to Taupo (5 hours) to see us one more time before we leave.

They are so good to us!  We had a fun visit with them and then they headed off to Lake Rotoiti.

Lonne was so jealous, he wanted to go with them to go fishing!

On Tuesday, we went to Hamilton to work at the Visitor's Center, and took a detour back to Taupo...

Yes, we took a detour through Lake Rotoiti so Lonne could fish for a few hours with Peter one last time!  They didn't catch a thing! They were so bummed! 

But it sure was fun to spend some more time with the Burts! 

I think this is about our 50th picture at Huka Falls! 

We never get tired of going there...it is so beautiful!