Report from Greymouth

Church Sunday was a little disappointing, as many families were gone because of rugby. I guess they had their awards presentation during church. Next Sunday some of the older primary boys have games in Christchurch. We will be in Westport, for our monthly speaking assignment. Sister Kinikini has taken the blame for her children's participation and says it won't happen again. Two weeks ago there was an article in the church news about two New Zealand Sister's who played on the New Zealand Olympic Team. They made it known that they did not play or train on the sabbath. In spite of that, the coach selected them to play on the team. Their last game of the Olympics was on a Sunday against the US. They did not play. They truly have a wonderful example in the two fine young women. We printed that article for our seminary students and gave a copy to the president.

After Wednesday's piano lessons, we drove the few blocks to the Jetty at the mouth of the Grey River. It was another beautiful day and we spotted this heron. Sister Hoagland took this picture through the open window of the car.


The picture below is of a Home Depot wanna be store called Mitre 10. We did not know what the display was for in the parking lot, but we do know that they are not back yard sheds. They do have good selection of tools, lighting, paint supplies, yard equipment, etc. Their merchandising skills do have a lot to be desired. They have close out tables in the front that makes it look like a flea market.


This rainbow was just up the river from Greymouth, on the east side of the small gorge the river runs through. The picture was taken on the Greymouth side of the Cobden bridge. You can see the bottom of the hills on both sides that make the gorge. It has the same effect on down town Greymouth as the Columbia gorge has on Troutdale and Portland. When the east wind blows it is very cold. Fortunately we live 2 kilometers south of this gorge where it does not effect us.


Friday was President and Sister Kinikini's 17th wedding anniversary. We provided them with cake and ice cream to celebrate. It turns out they have not celebrated their anniversary much in the past and they were grateful for us to remind them. Back in July when everyone was having birthdays they mentioned when their anniversary was and Sister Hoagland remembered. The little girl in presidents lap is a child they watch every once in a while. Taufa and Sis Kinikini are to their right. President Kinikini is very slim as you can see. He works very hard. He told me on Wednesday he had planted 1200 seedlings on the side of a mountain. He carries 120 seedlings with him. He starts at the top and plants straight down and then goes back and forth until he has twenty seedlings left, then he works his way back up for more seedlings. That is what all the Tongans do here. I think he is better at it than the others as recently he became self employed. Eventually he can have his own crew.

Now that winter is over, a new coal stove was installed in their home this week. I think they will have to get used to a warm house now. They had all the windows open when we got there. They said it was because they wanted to get rid of the new stove smell before we arrived. I guess the fumes also set off the smoke alarm. Sister Kinikini says she is now looking forward to next winter.
Here are Atu, Taufa, and Moni dishing up the cake and ice cream. As usual, all was consumed before we left. We brought two fudge brownie cakes and one marble cake and the tub of ice cream you see for the 7 of us. Their teen age son was at work. I think they left him some cake.

We do not yet have pictures of the Langi's family we are teaching English. First time we did not bring the camera and the second time we had left the photo card in the computer. We are having some difficulty with our teaching because there are so many children running around or want to get involved. We need to find some way to isolate our students. We are also very primitive in the materials we have to teach with. We are working on that and we sent an email to the Helquists who were the missionary couple here almost a year ago. They are lingquist and had helped the adults learn enough English to get their drivers lincenses. They called this morning and were helpful with ideas and also where some of the materials they used were kept. Sister Langi expresses so much appreciation for our help it just warms your heart. We just hope we can be successful enough that they she can be comfortable at church, etc.

Here is a little video of our trip to the jetty.