Happy Birthday and Anniversary!

Perhaps someone here is still celebrating Christmas or maybe Easter or perhaps my birthday? We did find this tree all lit up.

For our Family Home Evening with the Senior Missionaries we decided to go to the Kauri Museum. The Kauri is the largest tree in New Zealand and is only found in New Zealand. The only tree larger is the giant redwoods in California.

This large butter churn is made from Kauri trees. That would make a lot of butter.

This Kauri is only about 800 years old but there are Kauri which have been aged to over 40,000 years which have been found buried in ancient swamplands and dug up to be used in carvings since it is now illegal to cut down living Kauri trees.

After our trip to the museum we had a gourmet dinner prepared by the landlord for one of the Senior Missionary couples. He believes in ionized alkaline water and very fresh ingredients in his food. 

Since it was St. Patricks day we had some green decorations including some flowers made by some friends out of flax. They were still green but will eventually turn brown when they are fully dried.

We took the opportunity to take this picture out our back window. The golf course is finally taking shape behind us.

We also have some fall flowers blooming around the yard.

This was my birthday cake, mango cheesecake with passion fruit topping. Yum!

We were able to visit Pacifika this year which is a celebration of all the Pacific island culture through dance, food and crafts. Probably some you have never heard of these from the Cook Islands.

You probably never heard of these islands and neither did we until we came to New Zealand. What you may not know is that Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand.

We enjoyed what entertainment that was provided by the different islands.

We also liked the watermelon sundae.

After Pacifika we went to the Relief Society birthday program for our Stake. This is our Otahuhu Ward performing a Maori song. We enjoyed the performances and the food.

So this is how we celebrated my 67th birthday and our 45th year of marriage. We feel so blessed that we have had this many years together. The Lord is with us and watching over us.

We love you all. Elder and Sister Bartlett

The Love of a Prophet of God!

Sometimes Missionaries are here just temporarily while they wait for the Visas to their respective Missions. Such was the case with Elder Powell who is headed for Adelaide, Australia. He was a pleasure to have him for a short time. You may notice the decorations in the background. They do celebrate the Chinese New Year here since there is quite a number of Chinese immigrants.

Here is another evidence of the Chinese New Year. They were having a lantern festival in a downtown park. We didn’t have time to go but we drove through and took some pictures.

On our journey through life, sometimes we have to pause and look around us and see the wonders that our Father in Heaven works. For those of you shivering from the cold. We are on the other side of the world and flowers are still blooming.

We have had a wonderful couple of Zone Conferences and have heard the inspired words of our Mission President. Here some of the Elders do a farewell Haka for Elder Taranaki one of our Assistants who will be going home to New Zealand this next transfer. Yes he just lives a few blocks out of our Mission in Manurewa.

We also have the wonderful opportunity to have a special Missionary Conference in which Elder Clayton, Senior President of the Seventy came to speak to the Missionaries. After shaking hands with all the Missionaries he said that in the Temple, President Nelson gave them the specific assignment to tell us that he loved us. He indicated that the Covenants made to Abraham by the Lord were being fulfilled since right in our Mission many nations are represented. As it says in Mosiah 3:20 "And moreover, I say unto you, that the time shall come when the knowledge of a Savior shall spread throughout every nation, kindred, tongue, and people." There are Missionaries and people here in New Zealand from countries I can’t even point out on a map. How about Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Nuie, the Cook Islands, or Kiribati. The Lord loves his people from all over the Earth.

On another note, we are kind of waiting for another Cyclone to hit New Zealand. The last one hit way south of us, so we didn’t get much but a lot of rain. Don’t know how this one will be. We will let you know once it comes. I guess it's time to say so long for now. We love you all and pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you. Love Elder and Sister Bartlett.

We are over the Hill!

Yes everyone we have passed our one year mark and have only 11 months left! We celebrated our one year mark of entering the Mission Training Center in Provo on February 13. We also passed our one year mark of landing in New Zealand on March 1. It seems that time flies when you are having fun. The gospel is truly fun and exciting when you see people develop faith in their Savior and his atonement, repent, get baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. That is the case with Tapu on the left who was baptized in February. She has good friends like Nadia who helped her along the way.

Sad thing is that this experience has to come to an end some day. Such is the case with Sister Tanuvasa who went home to Hawaii.

Sister Fuimaona is also left us and went home to Hawaii.

Sister Okada went home to Japan.

Elder Molimoli and Elder Teputepu went home to cyclone ravaged Tonga. They will have plenty to do to help their families and neighbors to rebuild.

Elder Poole went home to Australia.

Sister Petty in the flowered dress went home to Australia also. Pictured here with her companion Sister Tenischeva from Ukraine.

Elder Tahitua went home to Tonga.

Sister Moser went home to Utah.

We will miss all of these Missionaries who have served so faithfully. They will be a great asset to whatever part of the world they are going.

Luckily we have a whole batch of new Missionaries who came to our Mission. We are excited to get to know them and see them grow. They are young and enthusiastic and ready to serve. We welcome them from all over the world and even some from New Zealand.

In our Otahuhu Ward it was Ward Conference and we had a huge choir that sang and Elder and Sister Bartlett were there singing with everyone else. It seemed there were more in the Choir than in the congregation. The Sisters wore a pink scarf and the Brothers work pink ties.

Sister Bartlett and Elder Bartlett in our matching tie and scarf.

On occasion we have Missionaries who serve temporarily in our Mission because they are waiting for Visas to their Missions. This was the case with Elder Powell who left last Monday to his Mission in Australia.

Missions are so short and we are left with our heads spinning and wondering where has the time gone. We love you all and pray for you. May God bless you and keep you! Love Elder and Sister Bartlett.