This is to show that winter is still here. This snow fell last night. It was really cool here today and yesterday Invercargil had snow for the first time in November in 30 years.
Elder Palanite's Uncle moved to the branch last month. He was on the high council in his stake in Tonga. He is working for President Kinikini in the forest industry. He does not like the cold.

This next group of pictures should be in reverse order. We attended a wedding this evening for Puta Langi, one of the single brethren of the branch. This is a picture of his nephew Lesili having ice cream after the feed at his brothers house. We teach him English.

And these two cuties are his nieces, Mele and Hola. Mele is 5 and sharp as a tack. Hola is doing very well in school and has taken some piano but we have some trouble getting to teach her. She does not live close to the piano available to her. We are also teaching their mother English. Mele sits in on the lessons some times and picks it up much faster than her mother. School is helping her as they don't teach in anything else but English.
Tongan men and women do not socialize at these get togethers. The women were in the house and the men were outside in the cold evening. On the left is Manase Toli, Sione Langi, President Kinikini, and George.
The wedding party.
The bride and groom. Puta Langi and Tama'a Hausia Langi. A most interesting wedding, which was more like sacrament meeting without the sacrament. Opening Hymn, "Love at Home"a prayer, two talks by friends, the wedding ceremony, and rather long talks by the bride and groom. A closing Hymn, "Families can be Forever", and the closing prayer. Everything was done in Tongan except the hymns. They hope to be married in the temple but Puta needs a sealing canceled. Tama'a speaks English and has served a mission. We have no idea how they got together, all we know is she was here three weeks ago and were informed that they were getting married.
We took a wonderful hike on the "Elizabeth Point Walk" north of town.
Here is Sister Hoagland on the trail. The first part is a walk through the bush. Very pretty. The first part of the walk is mostly up steep trails and then it is fairly level the rest of the way with only a few big ups and downs.
Here is a more open part (no canopy) of the bush.
One of the views on the trail. We met 4 people coming the other way on the trail. Three were running and the other walking. It takes 5 hours round trip if you walk from one end and back.
This view point is as far as we went on the walk. We volunteer at the public library every Monday at 2:00 for a couple of hours so we had to get back. It took about an hour and a half to get to this point and only 45 to get back. After this, the library and some English classes and we were whipped by the time we got home. Below from the lookout, you can see the small village of Rapahoe which we travel through on our way to Westport. You may also see the hiway close to the beach.
We were sad that the day turned so gray. This is from the view point where we turned back. You will notice a lack of sea birds here. We did see birds but not very many. As you can see the rocks are not covered with droppings like you would see on the Oregon Coast. Sea Gulls stay close to town.
Elder Hoagland in the Bush.
Here we are with the Elders. The Elders in the past have been very very close to the members, having been here for long stretches. This pair looks like they will be really focused on the work. We had a wonderful district meeting with them this week and made some good plans and goals. They are also getting a car because of the size of the area we cover.
Yes they do trick or treat here. These cute young ladies were the only ones to find our door. They do not decorate their homes like we do and it is pretty low key right now.
Elder Palanite at Hokitika gorge.
I was proud of Sister Hoagland who does not like bridges in general, who ventured across this swing bridge which moves up and down and side to side as you walk. It was much more stable than the one you saw at Buller Gorge.
We had this taken on the other side of the bridge. We met a couple from Germany and another from England. As each couple came at different times we were all surprised to see each other.

Happy Birtday Eric

We are proud of Eric who is doing well in school and we think a very good trumpet player. Have a happy birthday Eric.

Spectacular views

Our first beautiful picture is of our grandaughter Taylor in her halloween costume. On her right is cousin Alissa.
On Thursday, your Wednesday, we took Elder Wilson to the Hokitika airport. He was being transfered to Wellington after 7 1/2 months in Greymouth. His replacement would not be here for another 5 hours, so what to do?
Thought you would like to see how they move baggage at Hokitika airport.
The following is what we did. While as you can see below, the weather did not look promising. We headed south east of Hokitika to "Hokitika Gorge". We passed dairy farm after dairy farm. Now I know why there is a huge milk processing plant in Hokitika. That is where all the milk trucks on the west coast end up. The cows here do not need supplemental hay as there is grass all year long. They do stop milking for two months in the winter.
We ended up on a gravel road that led to the gorge. We knew we were in the right spot because there was good signage. The gorge river is fed by glacier waters which are filled with the minerals extracted by the glacier which gives it this beautiful color. We were blown away. This picture is taken facing north from a swing bridge shown later. We took other pictures from the rocks on the right.
This picture is looking north from the bridge.
Looking west from the rocks.
Elder Palanite looking north from the rocks.
After we left Hokitika gorge we back tracked a few K's and continued on to lake Kaniere, a lake surrounded by tree covered mountains. As we traveled we passed more and more dairy farms and the road got narrower and narrower and then became a one lane gravel road. Still having faith, we pushed on and were rewarded with these beautiful views of "Dorothy Falls". That is when we knew for sure we were on the right road. This first picture is from the bridge crossing of all things, Dorothy creek, which emptied into Kaniere lake.
Elder Palanite enjoying the falls.
Notice the little falls at the top of the picture.
Then we walked down the path next to Dorothy creek and came to the lake. While it looks like a bright sunny day, behind us were some heavy clouds.

We came to this beautiful spot where the road became paved and there were finally facilities for us older folks. There weren't any at the gorge.

Happy Birthday Amie

Labor Weekend and Nelson Trip

Action-packed week! Pictures at bottom are of our trip to Nelson with our seminary students. These are of a "Labor Weekend" activity this last Monday. We had forgotten that it was a holiday and showed up for our community service at the library and it was closed. Later we went to teach reading to the bigger boy in this picture and found a Tongan feed going on. It is too late for a candid shot when Tongan's see the camera. They are great. I had my first raw fish that day. That little boy in the bottom left is so cute and ended up in a lot of pictures. Watch for him.
I am going to show you the progress on the little garden. Tomatoes look pretty good from last time.
The men gathered round the cooking fire. No pig today. They really enjoy each others company.
Here are the Sisters enjoying the food and the conversation.
Taufa is on the far right. This is his trampoline and he finally did a complete forward flip this Wednesday when we came for piano lessons.
For the scripture chase the had three teams. President Venables participated on the middle team. They won. President Rob Venables and his wife, Sarah, moved from England 2 years ago for her health. He is an executive with Sealord, a fish packing company. We stayed in their lovely new home that evening. Sarah is from South Africa and is most charming. Their kitchen is equal to any up scale kitchen in the US.
Here are our students waiting for lunch. I guess Pony did not see me with the camera. The Nelson District leaders did a wonderful job with the lunch and then our dinner. They are just wonderful people who also feed the missionaries at zone conference. Because there are so few really talented members they are asked and willing to do far and above the call of duty.
For a couple of hours in the afternoon the kids played games. Our Tongans did not do very well, having never played the games before. During the board race below, they won the biggest laugh maker award. The girls just could not figure out left and right. Pony on the back was so frustrated.
From Left to right, our mission car, Pres. Venables, a good sister who organized the games (sorry we did not get her name), and Brother David Bell, the CES coordinator for the south island.
Potty brake at Merchison, on the way to Nelson. The roads are very windy in a lot places and particularly in the Buller River Gorge. I was following President Kinikini who was in his truck and I thanked him for that "Grand Prix feeling" he provided Sister Hoagland and me. I was glad I was not in the back seat with those kids. They were packed in there like sardines. Pres. & Sis. Kinikini were in the front. We could not take anyone with us (mission rules).

More pictures from Last Week

A week ago last Saturday we were invited to dinner at the Kinikini's after the video conference (general conference). This picture was taken while we waited for dinner to be ready (we served ourselves). Left to right is Tim (Peki) a seminary student, Elder Palanite, Taufa (hidden), Elder Wilson, whom we just learned his transferring to Wellington to be a Zone Leader, Maui, and George, a newly arrived Tongan who is working for Pres. Kinikini. I asked him today how he liked his work and he replied it is too cold here. He has a wife and family in Tonga that he also misses very much.
Here is dinner, with barbecued sausage, and chicken in the dark blue pan, mussels, and potatoes. The white container has a very thick fruit (pineapple, coconut Orange), drink. You chewed it more than you drank it.
Here is Elder Hoagland being dramatic about his first taste of mussels. Very nice!
Above is Sister Paula Carpenter with her scrapbooking talent. We thought Jenni would enjoy this picture. Paula spent considerable time and money on her vacation to Hamilton in pursuit of this hobby. She also enjoyed the temple. She plans to move back there in April.

Had a lot of comments on the flowers from last post so here are a couple of more. The first is a rhododendron flower. They grow to amazing sizes here, from trees to very large shrubs.

Don't know what this flower is but we saw lots of them on this walk around the neighborhood.
Here is a view looking east from the Brunner Mine on the Grey River.
Here is Sister Hoagland looking across the river. She didn't want to walk across the bridge.
I took a walk along some trails on the mine sight and found this water fall.
This is taken from a short walking trail near our flat. Walking is about all the exercises we get and we limit that to fair weather.