From Wellington

Greetings from Wellington! This is our new friend a Weta bug. Cute! I think it is only found in New Zealand, aren't you glad. A friend gave it to us so we could see what one looked like, once the pictures were taken, Tom released into the wilderness next door. Who ever thought we would be spending the holidays in New Zealand, and not only that, but also during the summer. Christmas trees decorated with sunglasses and sandals, school out for the summer, and people planning their summer vacation. All a little strange, but by next year I am sure that it will all seem normal. On Nov 12th we drove up, with the Overtons, to Paraparaumu. That is a little town about an hour away from Wellington to have dinner with 2 other senior couples and also watch a family be baptized. The baptism was great, a husband and wife both from Samoa, were baptized and they have 4 children some already baptized some who will be later. Three young ward members sang, "Families can be Together Forever" and " I am a Child of God" all in Samoan, and then one of the sisters gave a talk, also in Samoan. The picture is of the Chapel in Paraparaumu. This room in the chapel, then after Sacrament, it is converted into the Primary room, and them it can be changed into the cultural hall for ward dinners and parties. I took the picture with by back against the back corner, so it is very small, but functional.

On Nov 16th a delegation from Tonga of government officials came to the Archives to meet with Mike Higgins (our boss, he is the one with his arm on the chair ) and see how the records are digitized. Mike is trying see if Tonga will let the church come in and film their records. I think, how it works, is, the church will film the records, Tonga will get a copy and the church will also get a copy. I don't know how it turned out but it was an interesting morning. We went to a morning tea in one of the meeting rooms in the Archives, it started with a traditional Maori greeting, which we didn't understand at all, but it was beautiful, the men all sat in front, women in the back, that is left over from men sitting in a position to protect the family, then a song in Maori, beautiful again, but again not understanding a word. The delegation came down to our little room to watch us film and some even tried filming. It was very fun.

Here is Dad and Don Overton holding one of the interesting items we get to film every now and then. It was a map of someones property drawn on a piece of fabric.

We had two Thanksgiving Dinners, both were wonderful and delicious. One on the actual day of Thanksgiving with Americans from church, and on Saturday with President and Sister Kezerian, our mission president, and 5 other senior couples and Pres. Kezerian's sister, her husband and their daughter, the Upchurchs. They are from Birmingham, Alabama, but live in Wellington now. I didn't get a picture of the feast before we started, but this is what is left over.

At this table are the Chesley from Orange County, the Overtons from St George, the Patchetts from Mesa, and Pres. Kezerian for Orem Utah.

Our table, Sister Kezerain, us, the Brazzeals from St George, Br Upchruch, his wife who you can't see, and the Farens from Utah. We had a great time getting to know the Chesley and the Farens who we had not met yet.

Thanks to dad, we have decorated for Christmas. This little tree was left in the apartment, so we brought some ornaments and had fun decorating the tree.

Dad also wanted it make it festive in our little room in the Archives, so he pick up lights and garland around the room. Without dad we would be bah humbugs.

We had a ward Christmas party a on Dec 10th. Luckily it was one of the few beautiful days we have had. It is hard to tell, but there are 4 elders out there in there white shirts and ties, and a some youth from church. We had a great time getting to know more people from church and also realizing that if there is a party or get together anywhere you serve sausage with buttered bread and tomato sauce (sort of ketchup).