It is a wonderful world!

We had a wonderful lunch last Saturday at the Genghis Khan Mongolian BBQ with some of the Senior Couples that serve in the New Zealand Auckland Mission area.

Pictured are Elder and Sister Briggs, Elder and Sister Freeman, and Elder and Sister Smith. Like I said before, the food is very international here.

We really love the ice cream here and in the Mongolian BBQ they served it with pancakes with lots of toppings, which we couldn't resist. We can feel those pounds just pouring on.

We were able to take part of our Preparation day after seeing sick Missionaries to take a drive around the north end of the Manukau Harbor which borders on the Tasman Sea. Yes we have the Pacific Ocean on the east side of New Zealand and the Tasman Sea on the West.

This last Friday we had to go to Zone Conference in Whangarei once again. We decided to spend some time up there so we stayed over a couple of nights and this is us having dinner Thursday with Elder and Sister Stahle and Sister Graham.

We were welcomed to the Mission along with some of the other new Missionaries with a rendition of the Mission Song. During part of it they scared us a little. I kind of knew something was going to happen when the Elders were looking a little sheepish.

Saturday morning we visited Whangarei Falls again with Elder and Sister Stahle. It is more fun when you share with others the beauty of nature that God and Christ put here for our enjoyment.

Everything around us testifies that there is a God and His son Jesus Christ. Nothing in this beautiful could have happened by chance. Of course I am speaking of Sister Bartlett. She will not get a chance to edit this before I post it.

On the 6th of February 1840, the Waitangi Treaty was signed between the Maoris of New Zealand and the British Empire. Since the Maoris were comprised of many tribes each with a chief or ruler they had to have many of them sign the treaty. These long boats were part of the ceremony on that day and are made from a large Kauri tree, which was about 10 feet across.

This the Waitangi Treaty house where the treaty was actually signed in 1840. Many of the Chiefs did not really know what they were signing even though the treaty was translated into Maori. Several of the words had no good translation in the Maori language. It caused some contention when the British flag was raised instead of the flag the Maoris had chosen to represent New Zealand.

The area around Paihia, New Zealand is called the Bay of Islands. We hopped on a boat at Paihia with the Explorer company and toured these Islands by water. The Stahle's researched this and took us with them.

That is our boat in the background. It actually has several levels including an inside so you can get out of the rain, which started shortly after the trip started. It only lasts for a short time and then there is sunshine. There are about 141 islands in the Bay of Islands, a few are inhabited, but most are too small.

I caught this sailboat just between these two islands. There are sailboats all over which seems to be a favorite pastime for those who are able. It would be a wonderful way to see these islands.

This is a lovely picture, and the island in the background is lovely also. As you can tell it was a bit nippy but at this point not raining.

They told us we might see Dolphins and we did! There we people in the water snorkeling and these dolphins are curious animals. I do believe they put something in the water around the boats to attract them. This picture is a bit blurry since I blew it up from another picture. At certain times of the year they also have orcas in this bay (at least it shows them in some pictures).

There were so many islands and we would love to send all the pictures, but you would not have time to see them all.

The most famous island in the Bay of Islands is the Hole in the Rock. We understand that they can actually sail through the hole if the conditions are right. We had fairly choppy water so we were not anxious to go through.

Our tour included a stop for dinner at this spot named Otehei Bay on one of the many islands. We took a hike to the top of one of the hills around the bay and took a few pictures.

This picture is at the top of the hill overlooking Otehei Bay. You can barely see our yellow tour boat in the background. Sorry you have to look at me also. At this point we had been sprayed by ocean salt water and were feeling a little crusty.

This swordfish sculpture was at the wharf where we boarded our tour boat in Paihia. There are also fishing boats to take people deep sea fishing. Perhaps we will try that one of these days. The Stahle's spent about 10 months in Niue Island, which is part of our Mission. They told us if you take a fishing charter there it costs $600 and all the fish you catch belong to the charter and then you buy the fish from them. Maybe we will just fish off shore.

Sister Bartlett loves some of the traditional things the people wear to church. This young lady is wearing a traditional Tongan girdle around her waist called a Kiekie. These are traditionally woven from leaves of the Kiekie plant. These are worn on semi-formal occasions (church). On more formal occasions both men and women can wear the Ta'ovala which is a heavier solid woven mat tied around the waist. We have seen them mostly at funerals.

This post has many pictures but it is only a few of what we have taken. We have tried to bring our experiences to life for you. We enjoy working with the people here. We can't pronounce most of their names but we hope to get better as time goes on. We had a fun Family Home Evening with the whole ward which also included a potluck dinner and a movie. Of course it was Moana. Most of the children had already seen it, but they loved the songs and mostly the screaming which they did enthusiastically.

Until next time, Kia Ora (a traditional Maori greeting) from Elder and Sister Bartlett.