LDS in NZ

Church was pretty neat. We ended up attending a branch an a town south of Hamilton. We've had multiple people tell us we should go to (or live in) Cambridge. So, we stayed here last night. The branch had 50 people in attendance. When I talked to the branch president later, he said they typically have 80 people. But today is New Zealand's Father's Day, so people go see their families.  As an interesting side note, he was the branch president in a small branch near the beach areas of the north which only had 10-12 people.  It was fun and amazing. We could literally feel the faith of the people. We are having dinner with the branch president's family later this afternoon. The kids doubled the size of the primary today and everyone was SUPER nice. I think your prayers have been answered. Yesterday, we spent an hour or more with Brother and Sister Baker. They are couple missionaries from Sandy.  The husband is originally from England and his wife is a Kiwi Mauri. But, they have been in Salt Lake since the seventies. Brother Baker sat us down and went over a ton of information about the local customs and history. . .particularly the history of the church. We also met Elder Hollis. Elder Hollis was called at 15 years old to help build the church college and the temple. He's the only surviving member of the generation called on a labor mission at such a young age. He eventually became an English teacher for the college and then was recruited to be a seminary and institute teacher. The branch president said Elder Hollis was his seminary and institute teacher.  "Ironically," we met another set of couple missionaries, the Goodmans, at the branch today. It just so happens their responsibility is to find housing for the missionaries. We've tried looking for housing, but its been a bit overwhelming. They are going to help us in the morning. We are so excited about that.  They are from Mesa. So, we had a good laugh about getting access to Mexican food and other funny idioms. It was ALSO funny to learn that they know Charlie--well. He married their niece who lived with them since she was a child when her parents passed away. Meeting them today has felt like a true answer to prayers. The police, Elder Papple (Employment Center) and the Goodmans all said the same thing. So, we are getting to know areas better. We are learning there are some pretty sketchy neighborhoods in Hamilton.  The emails are not expensive. I just prefer typing on a keyboard instead of my phone.  But Ryan made his phone a hotspot, so we can use the internet anywhere and I can type on a keyboard.  Ryan has been doing all of the driving. I'm completely freaked out to drive this huge thing and to drive left. Ryan has  been doing extremely well. He did make one mistake when he drove on the wrong side of the road. Luckily, we were in a small subdivision.  The grocery stores are tiny and pricy. We did find a store called Pack-n-Save. It's better pricing and has a few more options. The food is definitely different. Very few additives and coloring. Everything is pretty natural and most everything is made from scratch--like Jamie said.