Sunday, June 11, 2017

Happy Birthday to the Queen!

This week started off with a Holiday. The Queens Birthday to be exact. What do you do on a holiday? You dance the Zumba with the whole Ward. Yes that is Elder Bartlett in the brightly coloured shorts doing the Zumba with the Ward. The instructor went so fast that we had a hard time following. What do you do after the Zumba? You fill your face with bacon, eggs, and buttered bread of course! It was a fun time.
What a wonderful way to spend a Preparation day. We visited some hot springs with another Senior couple and tried out the warm water on a cold day. Lava Pool was 48 degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) so we opted for the Sapphire Pool which was 40 degrees (104 Fahrenheit).
There was also a beautiful beach there by the hot springs so we had to go see. What do you do at the beach on a cold day? You collect seashells of course. You also chase the silly birds that are standing on one leg. When you approach them they take about 3 hops on one leg before the put down the other leg and start running from you.
We were privileged to go to Zone Conferences once again this week. Since our first was in Whangarei we were on the road a little before 6 am and this day turned out to be foggy. This is from a hill top across a valley on the way to Whangarei.
The Relief Society Sister's put on a great feed for the Missionaries at Zone Conference in Whangarei. The food was wonderful and it was fun talking to some of the Sisters. They are so gracious.
We love to be around these Elders and Sisters and get to know them. This is the Whangarei and Kaikohe Zones.
While at Zone Conference Nurse Sister Bartlett had to check out how one of the Missionaries was doing. She burned her hand in an accident and this is what it looked like several weeks after. Still some healing to do. She gave me permission to show this picture. Ouch, 3rd degree burns from the oven.
Sometimes one rainbow is just not enough. The Lord gives us two for good measure. All for our enjoyment and to make us feel better.
I feel like mostly what I get pictures of is food. At the next Zone Conference we were treated by the Relief Society again. This group made a volcano with the Cheese, Tomatoes, and lettuce. Very Clever.
This group had loftier thoughts and wrote the Plan of Happiness. Complete with the three degrees of glory. Ask your LDS neighbor to explain if you don't understand.
These are the Missionaries of the Chinese, Henderson, and Harbour Zones.
Sorry this is smaller, but it was the way it was sent and saved. This is the Panmure, Waterview, and Manakau Zones.
This is Sister Bartlett talking at Zone Conference about how to avoid colds, or at least not spread them. Also how to lessen the effects of colds. Retire to thy bed early and arise early. Drink plenty of water, exercise, and work, work, work.
Elder Bartlett or course talked about bikes. This time safety and security. About 10% of Missionary bikes are stolen, and most within a few months of the Missionary entering the field. Mostly because they are new bikes. The other problem is the bikes are being lost because they leave them at their last flat and they seem to disappear.
Not to worry, we found the Missionaries lost bikes in this bike art one day. One of the Missionaries actually thought her bike might be there. We assured her it was not. At least we know where to get an extra bike when we need one.
This is the Otara, Tamaki, and Papatoetoe Zones.
Our Otara Zone Leaders decided that all of the Elders in their Zone should have matching Island ties. This is a picture of us in our Island ties. Awesome! Even President Balli was in on the ties.
We were able to spend another Preparation day and went to the Kelly Tarlton Sea Life Aquarium. It is completely underground and is pretty amazing. This one is for Luke our grandson who loves to hunt for ghosts. Luke, I found these ghosts for you.
Have you ever seen a penguin pillow. This little fella likes the hard pillow.
They also had very flexible necks and it appears this one has no head.
Beware of sharks Sister Bartlett, there is one hovering over you. We asked about scuba diving with the Sharks. We could have done it for half off. That would only be about 140. The reason it is so cheap is that it saves on food costs. Just kidding.
There were times when we felt that the Sharks were too close. Yum Yum said the shark!
This octopus was able to take pictures with some underwater camera equipment. Pretty clever.
The seahorses are mighty cute even though they are very small. By the small and weak things of this earth many great things can come to pass. The Lord gives us strength the do whatever He calls us to do. I know He has called us to New Zealand to serve Him and to serve the people of New Zealand. We are weak and through Him we can become strong. This is why we are here.
Love you all! Elder and Sister Bartlett

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