Our lives passed as if it was a dream before our eyes.

The last two weeks have flown by. Normally, I write a weekly update for various family and friends to keep them updated on what we are doing. This week, I decided to do a blog post of our daily adventures for the last week.

Last Friday, March 28, Eric and Suzanne participated in a 'Parade of Nations.' We didn't have much in the ways of 'traditional dress,' but we had some red, white and blue...and a flag. We counted about 39 different nations represented at our children's elementary (primary) school. It was a wonderful experience and really fulfilled the reason we wanted our children to have the opportunity to attend school in New Zealand. Now, how to overcome the to bullying Suzanne is receiving at school? While we love the diversity, we also see the problems it can cause. Today she was "choked" at recess but is afraid to tell the teachers. Time for a MAJOR mom intervention.

That evening, Suzanne played in her last cricket game. She's loved it. 

The next day, Saturday, Luke spoke at a baptism. It was a bilingual service in Tongan and English. 

That evening, we picked up a beautiful woman and her children to take them to the "Night Glow" for the Balloons over Waikato festival. They are recent refugees to New Zealand. They came from Ecuador, but are original from Columbia.Ryan's been working as a Spanish translator for the Ministry of Education and for the LDS missionaries. It's been wonderful to watch him do work so fulling. He's truly blessing the lives of others.

Eric and Luke playing 'air guitar' to the music playing with the fireworks!

On Sunday, I brought Eric home from church early because he'd been sick. We bought himself a new game--snakes and ladders (instead of chutes and ladders). We had fun playing together.

I had to laugh when I saw Suzanne writing the date in her journal. For her, life in New Zealand is like living in two different worlds.

April fools came next at our house. We had a great time together thinking of funny practical jokes.  I had an American student in one of my classes played a lame joke on me too. This is the joke Luke played on Ryan. He taped a piece of paper on the bottom of Ryan's smart mouse so it wouldn't work. When he looked at the bottom of the mouse to problem solve the issue he found this note: 

Luke found the idea off the internet. How cleaver!

That evening, Ryan took the kids to an activity while Eric and I stayed home.We short-sheeted their beds and put cups of water on the doors. Eric was so excited for them to come home! I was busy cleaning and forgot the cups of water where on the door. I quickly remembered when water drenched me as I opened the door. Eric laughed and laughed. He said, "I saw your face!" Eric and I re-rigged the door. We got Suzanne with the cup of water and Luke with the short-sheeted bed!

The rest of our week past quickly and intensely. Teaching and researching is an overwhelming load when I try to be as available as I can as a mother and wife. This is complicated by the constant translation work Ryan is doing for many organizations--but blessing the lives of the refugees who are struggling to negotiate their new homes. I acknowledge this is the time crunch we all feel. Among other things, we found out today our renters will not be renewing their contract which left us at an unexpected crossroad.

Today, is Luke's birthday. He's ELEVEN! Dean and Angeli sent him a birthday card and Filipino money. He was so excited to get $1000! :) Too bad NONE of banks in NZ will convert the money into NZ dollars. Ryan went with him to exchange the money and was told the New Zealand banking system won't deal with Filipino pesos. They'll have to use a commercial money exchange business. Oh, well! It's a great souvenir and Luke can say he has a $1000 in his pocket. :)

Happy Birthday, Luke!

 

We had a small birthday party with "family;" which includes us and the interns here from BYU. Our kids love having them around, and we do too. They've been a HUGE blessing to us. We also fed the Elders again. Luke picked the menu...pizza and 'American' brownies with ice cream. (Not really brownies, more like a chocolate fudge cake, but they are delicious!)

After we ate, Luke put together some new legos! (Thank you to his BYU friends and Grandma/Grandpa Reynolds!) And ended with Luke's movie choice, Lord of the Rings.

hurch 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. 

And yes, the church has wireless. Elder Baker told us we could come to the visitor center and use the internet whenever we needed. 

You can text me. You can text my Google Voice number. Ryan had Angeli text his number to see if it worked and it worked just fine with no cost to us. 

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. 

My favorite thing so far is a pizza joint called HELL.  I took a picture of the store because I was laughing so hard!