Cheese and Fish-n-Chips--Week Two

Hard to believe that in just a few days we will have been serving on our mission for one month. It has been a month filled with activity and learning, of every kind!

Over the last week-plus, we have found ourselves very busy each day. Our activities have included such things as working each day at the Pacific Area Office of the Church, writing news stories, researching background bios on key church and government leaders, meeting with various members of Public Affairs Coordinating Councils (Church callings), participating in senior missionary family home evening, meeting with President and Sister Bali from the Auckland Mission, attending church at the Glen Innes Ward (as assigned by President Bali), attending church at one of the Auckland Young Single Adult wards, trying to furnish our apartment, buying groceries and getting used to different foods, etc. Seems as though there is never time that is not filled with something.

And we learned yesterday that we will be participating in the first planning meeting for the upcoming Fiji Temple open house in connection with the re-dedication of the temple after its recent renovation. That will be exciting, and we are sure we will learn a great deal from the experience.

We did have an opportunity this past weekend to take a ferry ride from the North Shore where we live in a community called Takapuna, across the bay to the Auckland harbour (the way it's spelled here) where we had a wonderful dinner with another missionary couple. Also, on Saturday we drove with Elder and Sister Fugal (see the attached photo of us with the Fugal's in our office setting) to a community north of where we live to enjoy a Saturday outdoor fair, the Matakana Village Farmers Market. Later in the day we also had lunch in a small community, Puhoi, at a famous cheese factory outlet. Don't think either of us have ever eaten so much cheese or cheese products in our entire life; it was all delicious but just a little overpowering! Oh, and while at the cheese factory, we noticed the beautiful native flowers in full bloom—in the dead of winter, no less! So far, winters here are not like those at home.

The Pacific Area Office with Brother and Sister Fugal

Matakana Farmer's Market

The gorgeous flowers at Matakana

Yesterday, we received our first packages from home; like all missionaries, we were very excited to see them come, especially since they were filled with grooming and food items which are not available here, and which we have grown accustomed to using. Could have made it without them, but it's so nice to have them now. We took these packages up to our apartment using a grocery cart. Whenever we have bulky items to transport to our third-floor apartment, we take them up using a grocery cart, several of which are always available in the parking garage on the lower floor; never thought I'd be so grateful for a grocery cart!

Finally, we were interested in coming to New Zealand to find out about the rumors we heard so often after we received our call but before arriving here. Those rumors suggested that the fish and chips here are even better than they are in Scotland. For an old missionary from Scotland (49 years ago, to be exact!), that was a bit hard to swallow for Elder Preator; and even Sister Preator—who has become a convert through her several trips over the years back to England and Scotland—was a bit skeptical.  So, we've now tried fish and chips from three different chip shops here in New Zealand. The verdict, so far: the first two experiences were good, but in truth they failed the test. The third, which was earlier today, came awfully close! Aaaaah, finally we are approaching the mark! Perhaps real vindication lies yet ahead; we will see.

Hope all is well with each of you at home.

With our love and best wishes,

Elder and Sister Preator

Getting Settled In--Week One

The view from our balcony

Tomorrow marks our first week in beautiful New Zealand, and it has been a good one. As exotic as it sounds to be in New Zealand, we have found it to be very comfortable and familiar. Since we are in Takapuna, a suburb of the city of Auckland, we have yet to see the NZ “countryside.” But the city reminds us of other coastal cities we know…San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, or Honolulu. The biggest differences are: we get to drive on the (not “wrong,” but “other”) side of the road which is a little nerve-wracking, but Barry is experienced and doing great; the grocery stores are an adventure as we try to find familiar foods packaged differently; likewise for the restaurants, finding foods we like to eat; and attending church meetings where the talks and songs come in a variety of languages and our Brothers and Sisters are beautifully colorful.    

After a very long but relatively comfortable flight, we were met by our “trainers,” Guy and Paula Fugal of Pleasant Grove. They have been wonderful in getting us settled, showing us around, and orienting us to the work. We love them already! Our flat (NZ word for apartment) is much nicer than we had expected. Our third-floor balcony boasts the classic view of the Auckland skyline, with the Sky Tower front and center. In 800 square feet we enjoy two bedrooms, two baths, and an office in addition to the “open floor plan” living, kitchen, dining areas. The BEST thing about it in this chilly winter weather is the bathrooms have heated tile floors. Ahhhh.

We have been kept busy with several events, beginning with a Hamilton Mission Conference the day after we arrived, with David Archuleta and Brad Wilcox as the guest speakers/singer. It was really wonderful. And, being the event “press,” we were privileged to be “backstage” with them, where the Area Presidency presented each of them with a copy of the newly printed Maori Hymnal. Both guests were so gracious and warm, and we very much enjoyed our time with them. Their messages were moving, uplifting, and memorable.

Greeting President Nielsen

Archuleta speaking

Archuleta and me

Two days later, I was able to attend the day-long Time Out For Women with many other Senior Missionary Sisters (the Senior Elders called it Time Out From Women!). It was also a wonderful event. We heard from Sisters Elaine Dalton, Heidi Swinton, Hillary Weeks, Sandra Turley, Melanie Riwai-Couch, and Sheri Dew, along with Brad Wilcox and David Archuleta. Just great. I wasn’t familiar with Sandra Turley but purchased her “Broadway” album during the lunch break because she has a gorgeous voice and her person is even more beautiful inside and out. We were able to get more acquainted with her and her handsome husband the next day at church where they had been assigned to visit and speak to the ward we have been assigned to by our mission president (Balli). Awesome.

As wonderful as church was, the three highlights were…being able to sit in the chapel and watch the sailboats bobbing out in the harbor; hearing “Oh How Lovely Was the Morning” sung in Samoan by the ward that meets after ours; and being invited to eat lunch after the block with the ward leaders in a classroom that held a banquet table of food prepared for the Turleys. We learned it was a last-minute idea and the sisters had somehow managed to rush home and return with all this food. Very impressive and enjoyable to begin getting acquainted with members of our “home ward.”

That night we joined hundreds of others in a packed stake center for a missionary “Come and See” fireside. Hosted once a month by the Auckland Mission, missionaries bring their investigators to learn more about the church. A cute little Vietnamese family, new members of the church, each spoke about their conversion and testimonies. Even the children did a wonderful job of expressing their feelings. We served punch and biscuits (NZ word for cookies) to all present.

We have each written our first articles for the mormonnewsroom.org.nz website, so look us up! Mine was on the Kaikohe Stake’s Relief Society multi-cultural evening and Barry’s was on the Genealogical Society’s meeting. We are responsible for covering public affairs in the Auckland area, part of the Wellington area, and the islands of Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati (pronounced kitty-bus!) and the Marshall Islands. It promises to be exciting and interesting as we travel to the various areas and learn more about them. We hope to help open the doors for the missionary work to continue to go forward.

Our love to you all…

Kicking Off Our New Zealand Mission Adventure!

It's hard to believe 7 months have finally passed since receiving our missionary call to the beautiful land of New Zealand! We are eager and excited for the new adventures, learning, growth and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ that surely await us. We hope this blog will serve as a central place we can keep in touch with family and friends (both old and new!), and share the experiences of our mission for the next 18 months. So, POROPOROAKI to our beautiful Utah mountains and KIA ORA to the green shores of Auckland! (Better start learning those Maori greetings now, right?!)

The classic MTC photo

Lunch during our training week at the MTC