Bikes and Bites

Elder Bartlett finally found a souvenir that he wanted. We went to a place that was recommended by some Missionaries who served in the Henderson area of our Mission. Some of the Missionaries had done a service project for Tiki Souvenirs and so they gave us a break on this hand carved Maori club. We had them put 2017-2019 which are the years we serve here in the NZAM (New Zealand Auckland Mission). We only want one more souvenir and that is the Putatara (Maori Conch Shell Horn). We are trying to find a place to buy one.

There is a really good burger place here where they have the best burgers. It is called Burger Fuel. We went to lunch with the one in Takapuna near the Mission Office with Elder and Sister Stosich who are an office couple. We struck up conversations with the staff and found that one of them was from India and another from Russia. Wow this place is international. They posed for this photo.

We visited the Auckland Museum art and we really enjoyed the portraits of some of the Maori Chiefs and prominent women. We didn’t quite understand the more modern art.

We really enjoyed these displays of children’s cardboard creations. There were thousands of them. Several children who were there with their parents were looking for their creations from previous visits and somehow found them among the thousands and were so excited.

Now I did say something about bikes and bites. Since this transfer began we have had two Missionaries crash on their bikes. One resulted in a broken wrist and the other some scrapes and bruises. This last week we had three Missionaries bitten by dogs. When that happens we are supposed to get them to the doctor within 8 hours of their bites, so we spent several hours of our Preparation day at the urgent care getting them looked at. Nothing serious thank goodness.

We couldn’t leave you with that sour note so we will leave you with some natural beauty. These we were told are named King Protea and are $25 a stem in the US. Here they are just growing in the yard across the street from our flat.

And to close out this session we just had to post this picture. Why you might ask. Any of you who know Elder Bartlett, know that his first name is....? You guessed it Sammie just like this ice cream bar. We don’t know why? Well that will just have to be one of the mysteries. We love you all and enjoy sharing our Mission Experience with you all.

Love Elder and Sister Bartlett

Over and Over Again

It is time again for Missionaries to come and go. It seems like we do this over and over again. These are all pictures of the Missionaries leaving to go home from our mission. From top to bottom, left to right we have Sister Lubigan and Lonesa (Phillipines), Elder Kraft. (US), Elder Plowman (Arizona US), Elder Murphy (Canada), Elder Chung (Tahiti), Sister Tenishcheva (Ukraine), Elder Siew (Malaysia), Sister Park (Korea), Sister Turner (New Zealand), Elder Franco (US), and Elder Tongi (New Zealand).

This is our new group coming in, I will not go through all of their names but they are from all over the world. They are so excited to get started. Below is the new Missionaries with their trainers.

When we get to take some of the Missionaries to the airport sometimes we get a parting shot with them as I did here with Elder Kraft.

Sometimes at the airport we run into Missionaries from the New Zealand Hamilton Mission which borders our Mission to the South. In this case I met Elder Ete, who has a sister serving in our Mission. His sister is Sister Ete who I taught to ride a bike and made her this bicycle cookie. You might remember her in the previous blogs.

Right after transfers we start Zone Conferences and we have great opportunities to rub shoulders with the Missionaries. They love the selfies so we did our own here with Elder Sanf-Walters and Elder Leao.

These Sisters love to see each other during Zone Conference and love to have pictures taken for their scrapbooks.

I am not very good at this selfie thing as you can tell from this photo.We were organizing for our group shot for Zone Conference and a selfie broke out. Aren’t they just so fun.

Not all Missionaries go home on the same transfer day as is with the case of Elder Siew who went home about a week after the other outgoing Missionaries. We were able to take him to the airport and wait since his plane didn’t leave till about 11:00 pm. Some members from areas they served come to see them off and present them with leis as you can see.

We have completed 3 of our 4 Zone Conference so far. We love seeing the Missionaries, even though it is usually when they are sick or have bicycle problems. Sister Bartlett has contracted some of their cold and flu symptoms. We love being here among these Missionaries and among our Ward members.We hope to do it again after this Mission has ended. After we have spoiled our grandchildren for awhile.

Love you all Elder and Sister Bartlett

New Zealand Temple

We are sad to say the New Zealand Temple in Hamilton is now closed. We did get to go through a session the day before the last day. We still have 5 1/2 months to go so we will miss going to the Temple.

We were blessed with a beautiful double rainbow that was right next to the Temple.

The Young Men and Young Women in our Ward had a special Mini Mission activity. They were separated into companionships and left their families to stay with other families. They went and visited with inactive members. Sunday evening they had a devotional complete with refreshments.

We haven’t had much chance to attend our District Council meeting which is each Tuesday because of our schedule. We decided to take a few photos. This is Elder Mahu’inga and Elder Tuala.

We decided on a funny picture with Elder Peresetene, Elder Mahu’inga, Elder Taeiloa.

We try to bring some fresh fruits to our meeting so they decided a funny photo with the fruit was appropriate.

We finally got the Sisters involved. Sister Faatuai and Sister Falute.

We didn’t have to much exciting going on the last few weeks. Just lots of colds and flu and several sprained ankles from playing sports. We did have one ingrown toenail operated on. We have had to pick up several bikes that were badly rusted after being left out in the rain. It is the middle of the winter here and yet there's still something blooming. We found this one interesting. The blossom is red and then opens up and blue and green come out. We never are disappointed in the beauty this country brings. We love you and miss you all even though the time passes quickly.

Love Elder and Sister Bartlett

Zoned In!

Since transfers are over it is now time to start with Zone Conferences. This is our Mangere Zone and Mount Wellington Zones which was our first Zone Conference.

Of course when you hand a Missionary a phone to take a picture you get a selfie. I told Sister Willcocks that this would end up in our blog. She didn’t mind.

Our next stop for Zone Conferences was the Waitemata Zone and the Auckland Zone. Sister Bartlett talked about Health issues concerning Colds and Flu. Sorry, no selfies at this conference.

Another stop on our Zone Conference tour was the Ferguson Zone. This is actually our Zone. We told you what Sister Bartlett talked about. Elder Bartlett did his part on bicycle safety and security. At this point we had seven bikes stolen this year in the mission. Shortly after this conference 2 more bikes were stolen in the Mount Wellington Zone so the tally is 9 for the year. Elder Bartlett does not like that part of his calling, but it is better than them crashing and hurting themselves.

We did have some selfies, compliments of Elder Tonga with Sister Park in the background. To the right is again Elder Tonga, with Elder Tongi in the background. We love the selfies, it shows the lovable nature of the Missionaries.

The last Zone stop was in Northlands Zone. These Missionaries get to enjoy the beauty of the land and people north of Auckland. We always love to go up there and enjoy the Missionaries and the beauty. We stayed a little longer to fix a few of the bikes we have up north.

Sister Tapu got hold of our phone and had a good time with Sister Garrett and Sister Ufi and with Sister Blandford and with Sister Ufi and Sister Malo. Finally with Sister Tenischeva (from the Ukraine).

Then Elder Tonga confiscated our phone again and took this selfie with Elder Kraft in the background.

One of the young adults in our Ward, Sister Fametau was married in the Temple yesterday. She and her family are stalwarts in our Ward. Her father was in the Bishopric when we started our Mission and now is the Elders Quorum President.

They love to dance and this is their Wedding march.

We had a drizzly day at the golf course on our day off but it was worth it when this rainbow appeared.

Remember there is a rainbow after all that rain.

Love and best wishes from Elder and Sister Bartlett!