This week we have been following the Holy Week pages of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Grow Your Relationship with Jesus Christ during Holy Week," with scriptures and videos of Jesus's life. The videos are accurate to the New Testament and very affecting.
Also the Easter Week page, "Easter Day by Day," #Because of Him.
Autumn anemones growing in a crack of the rocks. It is Autumn here (Kiwis don't use the word "Fall") and getting colder by the day. I am sad to see the warm days leave!
Ruby, mother of Waaka who was baptized a few weeks ago, was baptized on Saturday. Here, Leonie, the Relief Society president, is welcoming her to one of the largest and oldest women's organizations in the world.
Sunday evening we attended a musical fireside in honor of the birth, life, atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for the Rotorua Stake. Here a group from the Tarawera Ward is singing in beautiful island harmony.
I played the accompaniment to Conrad and Rebekah Myler singing the ethereal Kenneth Cope song, "More than Just a Boy," about the baby Jesus. Also I sang harmony with a group of young elders and sisters serving in the Rotorua Stake, including the Tarawera, Fairy Springs, Taupo and Tokoroa Wards, singing the Primary children's song, "Gethsemane."
Elder Rooks gave the most important part of the narration in his soft yet deliberate voice, about the prophesied death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that he might save the people, for this is what he came to do.
At District Missionary Council Meeting, one of the sisters had a flag of New Zealand, which I haven't been able to find yet. She got it at Coin Save downtown. Here you can see the Korean proprietor on the sidewalk. It was a dollar-store setup, and since then I've seen all sorts of Korean-operated dollar stores downtown, as well as souvenir shops.
So I bought the New Zealand flag, with its British Union Jack and the stars of the Southern Cross
... and a couple of writing books, including the Hangarua Pukapuka Mahi, or Recycled Work Book. Mahi is a favorite word of the young missionaries who want to "get to work!" and a Pukapuka Tuhi, Writing Book. My other books are getting filled up.
The Kiwis use the A4 paper size, along with the entire rest of the world except for the United States and Canada. The 8.27" x 11.69" A4 paper (a bit taller and narrower than our Letter size 8-1/2" x 11") can be smartly sized along with all the other sizes. It is very handy, and I wished we used the A4 size if for no other reason than I can fit more writing on it.
It is so easy to say "I want that in an A5 size (half an A4 sheet) or an A3 size (two A4's next to each other), and everyone instantly knows the dimensions.
On the way home we passed the Sulphur City Soapery, fortunately, because I was running low on scented volcanic soaps, if you can imagine. I also got some scented bath salts which are very nice. I have to be careful of the darker colors because my terrycloth washcloths are no longer so white as they once were.
We passed some bicycle racks, for "Paihikara." In Maori, P takes the place of B, and R takes the place of L, K is an approximation of C, (since they don't use the letter S,) and all words end with a vowel.
Spectacular clouds on a windy day
Sis. K. wanted a nice fish and chips dinner, so we found out when the Sister missionaries would be doing some service in her back yard, and brought a Number One Special from Wendy's Fish Shop. Sis. K. loved it. She made a green salad and a carrot cake to go with it.
Here, Sis. Sorensen and Sis. Nessen getting more garden detritus into the undersized trash can, a common activity among missionaries helping Sis. K with her large yard. We had to end up taking the fish and chips wrappers and box home to put in our own trash can, which we didn't mind.
I am still practicing weaving with Harakeke. This kete is a lot better than my earlier efforts, but still not much to brag about. I will put music in it since it will fit the A4 sheets sideways. We will be singing the beautiful song "Gethsemane" again on Easter Sunday.
A little basket I made to put stuff in on the dresser next to the bed. Elder Rooks took a spill and hit his forehead on his side dresser, so we took a few days off for the colorful under-eye bruise to clear up.
He spends days like this transcribing headstones for Billiongraves. There are several requests for headstone pictures for the Rotorua Cemetery and Crematorium, so the next time we go, we will attempt to locate these few requests among the 12,000 memorials for individuals buried there.
Saturday Market on Easter weekend was busier than I've ever seen it. Lots of people from all over. I heard Chinese, French, Indian, and Dutch, I think. We visited Grandma Lolo and kept on going, since we had a delivery of unused clothing to make to the Salvation Army.
Elder Rooks wore his Aviator sunglasses and you hardly noticed the bandage. He keeps telling everyone I gave him a punch in the eye.
I checked the Cutz 4 You in case I could get a haircut, but it was completely full of people so we passed it by.
These two ladies saw us looking at the phone gps for directions and helpfully gave us some, which almost got us to the right place. We had to look at the phone again for the last bit.
The Salvation Army was closed for Easter Weekend, which we hadn't thought of. So we gave the bag to a homeless lady on the sidewalk next to her trolley full of blankets and clothing, along with several other people in the same situation. She said she would take care of it for us. We hope she found something useful.
Second hand stores in New Zealand are called op shops, or Opportunity Shops, like this one at Saint Luke's Anglican Church. It was closed for Easter Weekend as well.
Ms. Pukeko seems to have dragged Mr. Pukeko off somewhere, since we haven't seen or heard from either of them for several days. We suppose they are nesting near another geothermal stream.
