We love the Proclamation, The Stables, and Impromptu Speaking Opportunities

Although we didn’t travel to any exotic places—which, of course, is not the norm—the week was filled with memorable experiences. As is always the case, each experience proved helpful in teaching us about our mission, ourselves, our family, and our dependence upon our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Early in the week, we were reminded that The Proclamation on the Family is twenty years old. That was significant. This inspired document has provided insight and understanding to our family and to countless families in the twenty years since it was issued. On the Church’s Newsroom website, we viewed an article and video clip about the Proclamation with President Gordon B. Hinckley speaking at Women's Conference. He spoke in behalf of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve to issue this scriptural proclamation.

As each of you know, the Proclamation has become historic in many ways. It is no surprise in our modern day that Satan's assault on families is in full thrust. And, in retrospect, I know it was not coincidental that they chose to first announce the Proclamation to the women of the Church. As I watched and listened to the video clip and President Hinckley's remarks, I was very touched by his words. So much so, that I thought of my own daughters and daughters-in-law, and of the tremendous role they play in the center of their families’ lives. No doubt there are probably many, many times when these young mothers wonder if they can continue to carry on, because the challenges before them are so formidable.

To me, President Hinckley's words to the mothers in Zion and to fathers in Zion are particularly moving, insightful, and comforting. Indeed, he was a prophet of God in every respect. By remembering this important day, I believe President Hinckley’s words can be reassuring once again to each of us. 

So, if you are interested—and I hope you will be—here is the link:

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/family-proclamation-20-year-anniversary

Then we learned that Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve had passed beyond the veil of life. Although not a total surprise, because he has reportedly been experiencing declining health, nevertheless his departure brought sadness and reflection. It is likely that every person who has ever listened to or been counseled by him has been blessed because of his sensitivity to the Spirit and his testimony of the Savior. Many of his exhortations about life’s challenges remind us of a scripture we studied in Sunday School yesterday that seems particularly appropriate:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 2 Corinthians 4: 7-10

On a happier note, after work one evening, Susan and I decided to drive into downtown Auckland from our apartment in Takapuna, which is only a fifteen-minute journey.  We did so because the stores were open just a little longer than their normal 5:30 p.m. closing time. When we are at the office each day until 4:30-5:00 p.m., it is basically impossible to shop for needed items, other than Saturday. We were hungry after shopping and learned about a unique restaurant called The Stables. Actually, it’s a consortium of small restaurants that surround a large central eating area in what was reputed to be horse stables in days gone by. (Think upscale, old-world food court.) All kinds of foods were offered, ranging from Indian to Italian, French to Spanish, and so forth. Susan chose a New Zealand seafood offering and I couldn’t resist the German bratwurst. The atmosphere was festive and the packed eating area interesting to watch the people and the progress of the evening. We liked it very much and decided when family or friends come, we would like to take them there to experience it for themselves.

The Stables

Once outside in the evening air (wasn’t raining, for once!), we looked up in the sky and noticed the Auckland Spire towering above our heads; it was lit in a beautiful blue color, and it was quite striking from that perspective. It was interesting to be so close, since we see it in the distance every day from our apartment windows.

The Auckland Tower

Sunday morning we arose early—because Daylight Savings Time started—and drove across the Bay to Glen Innes where we attend church.  We have missed several Sundays there because of Public Affairs assignments of one kind or another, so it was nice to be in our “home ward” once again.

I got a little surprise when I entered Priesthood meeting. At the beginning of the High Priests Quorum, the leader who is Samoan said, “Now we will turn the time over to Elder Preator who will give our lesson.” Say what?! Lesson, what lesson? Elder Preator was running the question frantically through his mind!

Not knowing anything about such an assignment, I simply gulped hard and said, “Oh, fine; let’s begin.” It’s called impromptu! Or perhaps, think fast! And what subject, what scriptures, what points to make, etc.? Well, how fast can one make such decisions with a group of contemporary, Pacific area brethren from several nations looking on expectantly, like, “Go ahead, Elder Preator . . .” Well, I got it done.

We were also very happy to hear this week from our dear friends, the Fords, who are serving a Public Affairs mission in Uganda, Africa. They were in our Public Affairs training group in Salt Lake City at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in late July. They also experienced the Missionary Training Center week with us in early August. In those two weeks, we became close friends. And Michael Ford and Barry were bishops together in the BYU 2^nd stake about 30 years ago.

Their Public Affairs missionary labor sounds a lot like ours, perhaps even more challenging. Just a sample, “ . . . We were able to travel about 2 hours out of Kampala to Jinja a District which is on its way to becoming a Stake and train the District PA Council there. This weekend we are helping with an Open House in Kalooga Hills (4 hrs away) on Saturday also trying to get in some training while we are there, then back to Nairobi for a Stake fireside “Meet the Mormons” video screening and some social media training. Honestly, we drop in bed each night and before we know it we are up again and running for yet another day.“ And so it goes . . .

On the weekend, we drove to Raglan, New Zealand on the west coast. The day was clear and the countryside beautiful as we traveled to yet another part of this incredibly gorgeous country. A few pictures included will tell the story better than words can describe.

The town of Raglan

A Raglan Farm

The hills above Raglan

The mountain adjacent to Raglan

Caught a rainbow near Raglan!

Tasman Sea near Raglan

 Tonight we enjoyed our bi-weekly Family Home Evening and dinner with the senior missionary couples from the Auckland New Zealand Mission. President and Sister Balli spoke to us about being in the pattern of learning of the Savior by asking questions, just as Joseph Smith did during his life and ministry, as did Jesus also while he walked the dusty paths of the Holy Land, teaching by parables and the metaphors of tangible things in the world around Him.

“Teaching is not talking—it’s asking good questions.” He and Sister Balli had been taught these principles by Elder and Sister Bednar when they attended mission president training in the MTC the summer of 2014. It made a lot of sense, and the Spirit confirmed that we should do more of this in our teaching of and interactions with those around us.

Finally, we look forward to General Conference this coming weekend to be renewed and refreshed in the words of the servants of the Lord. Being in the mission field will make it particularly sweet for us. And we hope it will also be sweet for each of you! None of us could better spend our time than to listen to a prophet’s voice. Until next time, we love you.

Elder and Sister Preator

Our Fiji Adventure

Our Fiji adventure last weekend was one of those life changing experiences we get every once-in-a-while. We will never forget the friendly people, the humbling spirit, or the panorama of pictures. We were on assignment to attend the first planning meeting of the Suva Fiji Temple Re-dedication Committee. And WHAT a planning meeting it was!!

We arrived in Nadi (pronounced Nandi) Friday around noon, rented a car, and drove east along the southern coast of this small island nation (approx. 7,000 sq. miles compared to Utah’s approx. 85,000). We passed through many of the island villages (as they call them) where you see small houses tucked among the tropical foliage. They are made of a variety of materials…wood, corrugated tin, plastic tarps, and concrete blocks…sometimes all on one house. Some have electricity, some do not. Some have piped-in water, some do not. Most of the cooking is done outside over a fire, the smoke wafting through the air as you drive by. Life is definitely simpler, without all the “necessities” we are accustomed to.

 After three hours of driving we found ourselves in Suva, the capital city of Fiji, with modern buildings, hotels, and houses and all the hustle and bustle of 74,400 people.The open market stalls were colorful and crazy. Our Holiday Inn oceanfront accommodations were lovely, but it was the friendliness of the staff that was truly remarkable. Everyone greeted us with big smiles and hellos (bulavinaka in Fijian), offers to help, taking every opportunity to make our stay enjoyable. (They don’t have tipping, either!) They are just generally happy, friendly, helpful people (at least all that we met). Some even commented on how that is especially interesting given their cannibalistic history (yikes!). ;)

Early Saturday morning we could hear children singing and walked out on our patio to hear them. A group of about 12 middle-schoolers were standing by the pool singing a cappella (as is the custom) and sounding so sweet. As we were finishing breakfast and getting acquainted with our cute waitress she pointed outside and said, “There is our Prime Minister [of Fiji] coming in to speak at the education conference here this morning.” Of course, that caught our interest so we slipped in behind his contingent and were ushered to our seats as if we were expected and welcome! (We later learned that church LDS Charities has been helpful in various causes and our missionary tags “made us VIPs”!) It was a fairly small audience of educators and government leaders with a nice buffet (of which we didn’t partake).

The meeting was the formal ceremony for the “Launch of the National Framework of Digital Literacy for Fijian Schools Programme”. It is a partnership with Reach 4 Your Future Foundation (Intel, HP, and Microsoft) that donates all the technology. After the “Garlanding of Chief Guest” (the PM) we got to hear the children’s choir again and a few speakers talking about this great initiative to bring their kids into the 21^st century. It only lasted an hour and then we had a chance to visit with the HP (Hewlett Packard) Global Director and of course introduce him to Imagine Learning. (Still selling!)

We then drove to the Suva Temple to see how it was progressing. It is still four months from completion date, and we were fortunate to arrive just in time to join the planning committee on a hardhat tour. It was heartwarming to see the fruits of our son-in-law Kyle’s labors as we viewed the baptismal font which he and his team built last spring. It is just now being tiled so we could still see his concrete foundation! We could also see that the temple is going to be beautiful.

That evening we joined our Fiji Public Affairs Director in a small group for dinner. The conversion stories we hear over dinner are simply amazing and faith-building. We then met with her committee where they received instructions from Salt Lake regarding their part in the upcoming temple activities. We were very impressed with both the quality of instruction and the humble willingness and skills present in the committee members called to be photographer, social media, opinion leaders or interfaith outreach, finance, etc. Pretty eye-opening to see what goes into these events.

Sunday was The Day To Remember. We were invited to join Elder Adolph Johansson, Area Seventy, (Tongan) and President Qaqa (say Gonga) of the Suva Fiji North Stake, along with members of the temple committee from Salt Lake to travel “into the bush” to attend church there. We jumped at the opportunity, though with some trepidation, not knowing what we would encounter. Words really can’t convey the many feelings, impressions, sights, and sounds of this very spiritual and sacred experience. But we will do our best to describe what we can.

We set off in three four-wheel drive vehicles. Our journey took us close to two hours, with the last hour on dirt/gravel roads through scenic tropical forests up into the mountains of Fiji. We saw many rivers and waterfalls, crops being cultivated, animals grazing without fences, and waving villagers as we passed by. When we reached our destination we were greeted warmly by a few local saints and a pair of young elderswho led us down a narrow red dirt path to what at first appeared to be an animal shelter of corrugated metal, but became to us like the humble stable where the Christ child lay. Truly, it was a sacred place.

 We left our shoes outside the door and were invited to sit on the large woven mats that covered the floor. There were no inner walls in this home, only a light fabric curtain hung in one corner to conceal the family’s belongings.

A priesthood brother was quietly preparing the sacrament on a small tabledraped with a white cloth. There were a few sisters sitting against the back wall with several children surrounding them.

They didn’t seem to speak English, but I imagine they were the home’s occupants. The little children surrounded us, sitting cross-legged on the mats, a few eager to share their hymnbooks with us as we began to sing. We arrived half an hour early, so we filled the time singing the songs we love, in common. I noticed that the vigor and volume of this “choir” was larger than our whole congregations at home. Only the language was different and we did our best to sing out in Fijian!

 Other Saints filtered in until there was a congregation of forty to fifty filling the room. The meeting was conducted in Fijian but two of the Salt Lake visitors were invited to speak with the aid of a translator. Elder Johansson also spoke in English with a translator. The spirit was so strong throughout the meeting, and at times we wept. The messages delivered were inspired and tailored specifically for those saints in that far-removed, humble setting. How can they have a sense of belonging to this world-wide, fast-moving, modern-day church? How can they reconcile their traditions with the principles of the gospel? How can they participate in missionary work, genealogy, and temple ordinances? Those who spoke to these sweet saints answered those questions in profound and moving ways.

Later that night we met a young mother (now an accountant) who told us she had grown up near there. At the time, they didn’t have a unit (what they call this smaller-than-a-branch group) and her father was the bishop of the ward they attended. It was a three hour walk each way to church every Sunday. (THREE HOURS!!) She recalled, as a child, walking sometimes just with her brother as her father had gone ahead for meetings and her pregnant mother stayed home with the younger children. Can you even imagine that kind of courage, faith and dedication?! Are we so spoiled, or what?! We complain when we have to go a few blocks to church in the rain or snow. It was indeed a humbling experience.

 As we were leaving, the youth surrounded us, and we women dug through our purses to find any treats we could leave with them…gum, candies, the small lotions, shampoos, and soaps we had snatched from our hotel room, anticipating this. We so wished we would have known the day before and been better prepared to share. But they seemed thrilled with everything we handed out and loved posing for pictures. We left there richly blessed and changed forever.

That night we met with the Temple Re-dedication Committee for four hours to discuss every small detail that goes into making each of the events the super-special events they are. Each member has a specific assignment: parking, security, food, cultural event, ushers, historian, music, dedication service, tickets, finance, etc.

 It was impressive to see the organization, level of detail, and order in all the planning. More impressive was to see the strength, faith, and willingness of each committee member as they were instructed on the very large responsibility that will be theirs over the next five months. Our small part is to help our Public Affairs committee member with the VIP and interfaith invitations and open houses, which take place the first three days before the public open houses.

Most touching was the tone of those from the temple committee who have done this so many times. They spoke of the care, tenderness, and courtesy each member was to show in all their interactions and manner of speaking as they share their temple with the guests, never speaking sharply, even if children begin climbing over the altar!

Monday, we returned to our now luxurious-appearing flat in Auckland, having experienced one of the most special weekends of our lives. We hope to never forget what we felt and our love for the good people we met.

A New Zealand Father's Day, Beautiful Scenery, and the Hamilton Temple--Week Four

Kia Ora from a land down under, New Zealand! (Kia Ora means, " . . . literally, be well/healthy in the Maori tongue and is translated as an informal ‘hi’.”)  Another week has come to an end in our missionary labors. Like the previous weeks, our time here has been full of activity and learning of every kind.  We are regularly reminded of the need for humility, attentiveness (to the Spirit), and hard work.

This past Sunday in New Zealand (Saturday back home) when we arrived at our ward in Glen Inness for Fast and Testimony Meeting, we found out it was also New Zealand’s Father’s Day. Many of the testimonies revolved around expressions of love for fathers and fathers’ bearing testimony that they wished to be “better” fathers. There was a strong spirit in the meeting, and many tears were shed regarding families, challenges of various kinds in families, and the desire of the saints here for all of their family members to be part of the restoration of the gospel and the recipients of God’s covenants with His sons and daughters.

The spirit of that meeting continued in our Sunday School lesson, and Brother Riwai-Couch, who taught the lesson, bore his testimony in an emotional, sweet way at the conclusion of class using the words from two verses of a favorite LDS hymn, O My Father:

I had learned to call thee Father,

Thru thy Spirit from on high,

But, until the key of knowledge

Was restored, I knew not why.

In the heav'ns are parents single?

No, the thought makes reason stare!

Truth is reason; truth eternal

Tells me I've a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence,

When I lay this mortal by,

Father, Mother, may I meet you

In your royal courts on high?

Then, at length, when I've completed

All you sent me forth to do,

With your mutual approbation

Let me come and dwell with you.

His testimony and the witness of the Spirit after listening to the beautiful lyrics of this beloved hymn were powerful.

We have now had an opportunity to see just a little bit more of this beautiful contry. An example is a peninsula located just south and east of where we live and work in Auckland. The area is known as the Coromandel Peninsula. We were fortunate to have a partly cloudy day for our journey where the sun could periodically punctuate the long white clouds (after which this land is known, Aotearoa, which means the land of the long white cloud), and the ever-present showers that abound.  Along the way, we visited the villages of Hikuai, Whitianga, Kuaotunu, Coromandel, Whakatete Bay, Thames, and Kaiaua.

Hills above Coromandel

Hills of the East Coast of Coromandel Penninsula

Pacific Ocean on the East Coast of Coromandel Penninsula

Lots of pigs on Coromandel

Village of Coromandel

We arrived in the tiny hamlet of Kaiaua just at sunset and found there a fish and chips shop recommended by previous senior missionaries. Their recommendation was faithful and the food was excellent.  We ate our dinner meal sitting next to a Maori fellow about our age who turned out to be a bus driver that had frequently transported Mormons and others to Hamilton, New Zealand and the Temple which is located there. Our dinner chat was fun and educational in many ways. This good man was fond of sharing with us pictures of his family and his ancestors which he had stored on his cell phone. Of course, this prompted an opportunity for us to reciprocate and share images of our family with him. In the end, we found a new friend, which is quite easy to do in this land.

We also travelled on assignment to Hamilton where the temple is located. There we participated in an inter-faith evening sponsored by the local Muslim community. At the meeting were representatives from these churches: Latter-day Saint, Catholic, Muslim, Anglican, Protestant, and Baha'i faiths. Representatives from each faith gave a presentation on humanitarian work in which they engage, in harmony with the tenants of their respective religions. Each presentation was excellent, and the evening provided a great opportunity to make new friends and extend understandings. We also found great commonalities in the service rendered to humanity.

The Hamilton Temple

We were also fortunate to visit the Hamilton Temple and Visitor Center, and do some temple work there. The temple certainly sits in a most beautiful setting, on a prominent hill which overlooks the surrounding countryside. And even though it is still winter here, the flowers around the Vistor's Center and the temple were beautiful!

The Hamilton Temple Visitors' Center

Temple grounds

It truly is a blessing for us to be here and to play a very small part in the work of the latter-day restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We feel the blessings of the Spirit each day as we go about our assignments. For that, we are most grateful.

Please know that we know: the Church is true, Jesus is literally our Savior, and we do have a Heavenly Father who loves and knows each one of us personally. We also know that He is desirous of helping us every day of our lives, if we will only let Him do so through our prayers to Him.

We hope that you and yours are happy and well.  Until next time.

Elder Barry and Sister Susan Preator

A New Assignment, YSAs, and a great Share Expo--Week Three

We’ve had a BUSY week! We were just beginning to feel like we could take a breath when we were called in and given a new assignment--coordinating the Area Communications Committee. Exciting and challenging! Just what we love… (chuckle). As we left the office Barry said, “the pool just got a little deeper.” 

But, we are too busy to even take our temperatures. We get up every morning ready to tackle another day and have new experiences, because no two days are alike. Today, for instance, Barry ended up submitting three (THREE, mind you!) articles for our mormonnewsroom.org.nz website. Good job!! That must be some kind of record. One has already been posted, and you can check it out. It’s the one on the Wellington Stake’s 50^th anniversary. He has another article below it on the Liahona Stake’s 35^th anniversary. My article on an outstanding young Mormon basketball player heading to USC is up this week also, along with my article about mobility aids in Kiribati. So we feel we earned our pay this week! (‘Course that may not be saying much, given our pay… ;))

We were also involved in plans for the Fiji Temple Rededication activities coming up in January and making arrangements for a Catholic Sister to attend a symposium at BYU next month. Never a dull moment.

Speaking of that, last weekend was jam-packed with fun and faith! We traveled with our northern New Zealand Public Affairs Directors, the Samuelas, to Whangerei (say fong-er-ay) in beautiful rural north New Zealand. Wow. Green doesn’t get any greener. Of course, the buckets of rain that fell all weekend promotes that. But our spirits were not dampened by the rain.

We set out early Saturday morning with this most fun group of young people, our YSA team from the Auckland area. They included among others, an engineering student, a civil engineer (female), a pre-med student, a young service missionary who led the group, and a young woman who has sailed the ocean from island to island with her family. (I can’t imagine getting on a little sailboat and sailing seven days, on the vast and powerful ocean, to the first island.) We watched with awe as they led training sessions for two stake public affairs committees…Whangerei and Kaikohe stakes.

Our YSA team!

Sunday evening they conducted a stake Share Expo where the members of the stake were invited to come learn (hands-on, games, and prizes for posting) how to use websites, Youtube, Instagram and Facebook to help spread the good news of the gospel throughout the world. It was well-attended and everyone had a fun and productive evening. As the scorekeeper (and lollipop rewarder) I was especially proud of the “older” generation that completed the tasks and came by to collect their prizes. I even posted my first Facebook blog complete with pictures!

A busy Share Expo

 We met early with the Whangerei stake presidency to talk about their needs and goals and how we could help. Then President Poutu invited us to go with them to the Hikurangi ward, driving even farther north into the beautiful countryside, which we were happy to do. The early spring flowering shrubs are in bloom and the camellia bush outside the chapel there was just gorgeous. President Poutu was to speak and he asked Barry and Sister Samuela to bear testimony before he spoke. They all did a wonderful job.

Sister Samuela, President Poutu, and Elder Preator

The church in Hikurangi

I just had to take a picture of Brother McDonald sitting across the aisle from me. I wish I could have videoed him with his darling three week old son, Miller, sitting on his knee while he sang just to him, “You can make the pathway bright, fill the soul with heaven’s light, if there’s sunshine in your soul.” It was the sweetest thing ever. The baby was looking right back at his daddy and trying his best to sing along.

 We arrived home late Sunday night, exhausted, but filled with gratitude for a wonderful Stake President who spent the whole weekend with us and the members of his stake (what an example!), for brilliant, fun, and dedicated YSA’s, for committed and hard-working directors of public affairs, for valiant members who accept difficult callings and do their best to perform them, and for a Heavenly Father who loves us, who watches over us, and wants all of us to live righteous lives, to bless and help each other, so that we can return to live with Him when this life is over.