Merry Christmas

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas. It is hard for us to think it is Christmas. With it being light until after 9:00 pm and the cost of electricity here, we have not seen a Christmas light. The decorated trees we have seen are all artificial and they use much gaudier materials than I am used too. We have to speak in church in Westport this Sunday so I have been working on a Christmas talk which has been helpful in getting into the spirit.

We spend two hours each week at the library down town doing community service. We enjoy the experience, except it is a little hard these days reading the dewy decimal system on the bottom shelf. Here is a picture of the staff we work with every week. We have not figured out why Ollie is the only one that uses a name tag. One of our most interesting projects there, was removing all the historical photographs from plastic sleeves. They covered from the late 1860's thru 1990's. It was a great history lesson of the area.
Saturday we attended the baptism of one of our English students. When we first met him the only thing he would say to us was, "I speak Tongan." He could speak some English but was self conscious about it. He is doing very well, and will have a better opportunity than his parents.
Here is another report on the Kinikini tomato plants. We have found only one tomato so far and very few blossoms. We were just told by a local that they do not produce edible fruit until the end of February.
On our P day we took the ym/yw to Hokitika Gorge. We thought they would enjoy the beauty of the place but I don't think they noticed. Instead I think they just wanted to find a place to jump in. It was a cool, rainy day, but that didn't make any difference. This first picture is after those who brought a change of clothes had changed. We and the Elders only got wet from the rain. Sister Hoagland did bring some towels which helped to get them home.
These soggy girls were waiting to get changed behind a bush.
Sister Hoagland and Sister kinikini on the swing bridge. You may notice that Sister Hoagland is hanging on with legs spread with help from Sister Kinikini. We were so thankful for her driving the kids in her van.
The first one in was Ana in blue who was pushed by her brother. I am standing on some big rocks above where they went in. I was not agile enough to get down to the beach area. Not long after this the sand was flying too.

Here is part of the trail to the rocky spot. Part of the trail is very difficult, but we made it.
This is our second trip to the gorge and this is the second time we met visitors from Germany.
This couple were from Chile. We have yet to see anyone from New Zealand there.
Ana is not doing a dance, she was regaining her balance on the swinging bridge. It moves up and down and from side to side.
Here is Elder Bair with his new companion Elder Tamale who is just new from home in Auckland.
We took this picture of the Kinikini's after Sunday dinner. George, on the left, is working hard to get his permanent work permit so he can bring his family.
We put up our tree on the 13th.
This is only the third time we have gone out to eat. This turned out to be a wonderful place as all the hotels in town were booked for dinner with bus tours. Sister Hoagland had a delicious chicken dinner. I asked Sister Hoagland why we were eating out and she said this was our Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner.
I had the ribs, which were fantastic. What you see now on our plates is what we took home. We had two great meals for Sunday. The plate on the edge of the table contained the bones from the ribs.

Good bye to Elder Palanite

We were awakened around 12:40 am Monday morning with a tap at our door. It was Elder Palanite asking if he could stay with us that night. He had taken Elder Bair to the hospital with his infection flaring up again. They decided to keep him overnight and put him on a IV drip. When they treated his Bells Palsy they took him off his antibiotics. Not a good decision. He is a real trooper and is doing much better.

I drove 60k's east of here where I had the privilege of teaching a lesson to a members (Doug Thoms) grandson. Elder Bair's bottom was not up to the drive. It was in a beautiful valley with high mountains and filled with dairy farms. It would have been a wonderful picture taking event had the clouds not covered the mountains almost to the valley floor and if I had brought the camera. The location where they lived is called Inchbonnie, and to get to the house we had to go down an unpaved drive. Just before we got to the house we had to stop for two hundred cows to meander on their way to the milking shed. Elder Palanite had never been that close to cows before and one did her business right next to us. Elder nearly lost his lunch. These dairy farms are not like the ones in Oregon where they eat all day in a barn. Most of the year they feed only on the plentiful grass in the paddock.

The mother of our investigator is excommunicated but she is very friendly. With them living so far from town it is important that they come to church before we can make the effort to teach Scott any further. It was sad to see that he had no discernible knowledge of the bible. We have ordered a bible story book from the mission office.

This was Elder Palanite's last week here in Greymouth. He was transferred on Thursday. He as been given a district with three other Tongan Elders who have been less than hard working. He has been given a challenging responsibility to get them on track. We love Elder Palanite and seek the Lord's blessing in this assignment. We took him to the Hokitika airport Thursday and while we were waiting for the arrival of Elder Tamale, we took some pictures around town. This was taken above the airport, which is itself located on a bluff above the city.
We did some shopping at the local grocery store and also bought some sandwiches. We had our lunch right next to the beach. When we visited my brother Gary in Sedona, Ar., we went to a beautiful national monument there and found thousands of these stacked rocks along the creek. They were supposed to have some significance to a cult like group that frequented Sedona. I can't remember all the details. Anyway, here at the beach at Hokitika I found this some what delicate version of what we saw in Sedona.
We also found lots of Asians doing what we see them do all over the world. I guess you're thinking I don't have much room to talk. This is at the mouth of the Hokitika river where it empties into the Tasman sea. For those people in my ward back home, I have had to correct the spelling from Tamsin to Tasman several times. Hi, Tamsin Stubbs. I'm not sure that's how you spell your name either.
The seagulls are much smaller here and sound even more annoying. The sea was like a lake that day.
This was our good bye to Elder Palanite. When we went to the hospital to pick up elder Bair, I took the Dec. issue of the Ensign where they have a New Zealand news insert. There was an article about Elder Spencer J. Condie, Pacific Area President, presenting NZ Prime Minister Helen Clarke with her family history record. Elder Palanite remarked that he loved Elder Condie. Being surprised I asked him how he knew him. He said he often attended his ward in Auckland. Elder was working to become a regular police officer, and the police station and the church offices are right next to each other. He said he used to look through the window and wave to Elder Condie, who had told him he was glad a member was in the police force. Auckland is a very big city with many inner city problems like LA and elsewhere. He said he loved catching people.
This was taken from our driveway about 8:45 pm.
The moon was almost straight up, just a little north.
You may remember these two from Nov. 29 post (see below). This is what they were going to wear for the primary program, but grandparents in Tonga sent some beautiful native costumes. Hola's mother made these dresses. Mele is on the left.
During primary they all took a break and went outside to have another picture taken. Mele's little sister is in the stroller. My little buddy on the right is Iraiah Langi. He is left to himself most of the time and can be seen often in our pictures. We help his brother Nuku, the big kid in front, with his reading. He loves us to come and has made some good progress. My job is to keep Iraiah occupied while Sister Hoagland teaches.
Our daughter Jenni has Santa age children. Thought you might enjoy some pictures from her blog which demonstrate how wonderful this internet age is for families who are far apart. We are so grateful to have these pictures to show us what they are doing and how they are growing up. Here is Chase showing Santa exactly what he wants for Christmas. I don't remember taking the Sears catalog with me to Santa. Pretty good idea.
This is Jesse with Santa.
Taylor looks lovingly at Santa
Here is one of our Thanksgiving pictures. They each put these turkey's together by themselves, except our Zach who does his own thing. Between Zach and Jesse are their cousins Tanner and Alissa Allen.

First Week of December

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Elder Joseph B. Worthlin early this week. We had the privilege of viewing the funeral on BYU-TV on line at 8:00 am this morning. He was a special man who was so humble. Reading his conference talks where inspiring and at the same time a delight.

Sister Toli is in Australia working until mid January, so after Mele's piano lesson we offered to put on their family home evening. I showed Manase all the FHE helps available on the lds.org site. It is so easy, with all the lessons, activities and even a program preparing site. The church has made it so there should be no excuse for lack of resources.

They told us of Mele's swimming meet on Thursday so we showed up for support. Here she is warming up before the races. They have one race right after another for the different age groups. Mele was in two. She has some work to do on her free style form, but her breast stroke is pretty good.
Here she is winning her second race.
This is Hannah, Sister Iriah's foster child. She has come to church some, but not lately.
A couple of weeks ago While Sister Hoagland was teaching Ana's brother reading, I put together her new bed. She was given a beautiful bedroom set for her graduation and 18th birthday. This was my first chance to take pictures. The girl on the bed with Ana is Tupo Tau. She is 13 and a non member who comes to church often. We are trying to set her up with piano lessons. Her father is an obstacle to the family joining the church. The mother is a member.

Here is the dresser, which is already well occupied with teen age stuff. Her brother Sione is in the mirror. He is our only deacon.
After lessons with Nuku Langi, we stopped by Sister Carpenters for a visit. She is still having some bad days and is off work from her son"s death three weeks ago. After a good visit she indicated that she was going to the church later to set up for the Relief Society Luncheon Saturday. We offered to help if she needed it and she called us a short time later. It took us an hour to set it up so it would have taken her at least three hours if she could have moved the heavy tables herself.
Saturday morning the Elders came by around 8:00 am. Elder Bair was in some distress as he could not close his left eye and the left side of his face was numb. The hospital is only 3 minutes from here so before he could come in the door I sent them off to emergency. Of course it was "Bells Palsey". It should take six to twelve weeks to clear up. Sister Joliffe called and wanted us to reassure him so that he should not have undue concern. I fed them lunch as Sister Hoagland went to the RS Luncheon. They are good missionaries and went out and worked this afternoon.

Before the luncheon today we took a short drive to south beach to a high ridge we had noticed from the Toli's home. The Sun was just right and we got these pictures. This is looking south.
This is looking west and I wanted to show some of the homes being built on this new development. The best of homes here have clothes lines. This is looking down on South Beach.
This is looking north east from the ridge.
The Relief Society Luncheon. The Sisters from Westport were also in attendance. There were about 15 Sisters. Sister Hoagland made chocolate revel bars.

Sister Hoagland promised the primary an ice cream and potato chip party for the children who participated in the primary program. Only six boys showed up and they had a good time. You will notice they use the chips to scoop their ice cream. Yum! Do you remember the potato chip sandwich a few months back?
Here is the result of the party. They kept saying they felt like they were pregnant, as if they new. Notice how bright the light is at the window. We were having a beautiful day today.

Birthday party and Primary Program

Sister Hoagland and I have been able to do some walking exercise this week. On one of our walks we trekked up a rather steep hill to the view point we had taken pictures from before. This is a view of the Tasman sea and the Grey District Hospital. It looks pretty good from the outside, but is rather old on the inside.
From this picture, when you blow it up you will see a big yellow tent where the circus has moved from Hokitika to Greymouth. You can also see the High School complex just beyond the left corner of the rugby field. A new swimming pool is being built to the right of the school and their lawn hocky field is just this side of the swimming pool.

While Sister Hoagland was teaching a reading class inside, I snuck out the back and watched them prepare a couple of pigs prior to cooking. When I got out side this one was still twitching. They were washing off the blood.

You cook a pig and Tongans come from everywhere, members and non-members alike. I do not know who this person is but they have spread gasoline on the pig and lit it to burn off the hair and first layer of skin. The occasion is the birthday party for two 18 year old girls.
This is one of our seminary students, Pony Langi, washing the pig after the burning. You see paint on him as well because he was painting their kitchen earlier. The Elders painted the ceiling a couple of days before.
The next morning several men came to cook the pigs. This was a seven pig party. Wow!
Someone has to constantly turn the pig by hand. This was done at the Cobden beach. The surf was 30 yards behind me. The men just love getting together and talking and laughing. They all work together in the forest.
Here is another pig cooked in the Kinikini yard. This is George, the latest from Tonga. A very good man who is faithful and looks to be a talented leader. He left his wife and four children in Tonga to see if he couldn't make a better life for them. He is very homesick so we hope he can stick it out before he can bring his family over. The branch could use his strength.
While at the Kinikini's thought you would like an update on the tomato plants. They seem to be doing very well and from the looks of the structure built for the vines to climb on they expect them to be very tall. This is like the end of May in Oregon.
All this for about 75 guests. They had the food in their garage and then most took it outside. We sat at the table in the back. We did not over due this time except Sister Hoagland had two bites of her ice cream and "made" me eat the rest. The was taken before all the food had been brought out. To get meat from the pig all you need do is pull some off with your fingers. The happy birthday strip also played a very high pitched happy birthday over and over and over.
The birthday girls cutting their cake.
All that food and cake and ice cream too. Aho Langi with a little ice cream for desert.
Our primary gang. These are good boys who worked hard to learn their parts for the primary program. Maui & Taufa Kinikini, Nuku Langi, and Salesi & Lesili Langi.
Sunday we had our primary program. Sister Hoagland has worked very hard on this program and we have helped a couple of the boys who can not read to do their part. We were surprised at how they came dressed for the program. Three of the boys came in while we were singing the Sacrament hymn and Sister Hoagland was so amazed at how they looked that she forgot where she was in the hymn. The big guy in the back is Sione Langi, second counselor in the branch presidency. He is so shy and self conscious of his English that I have never had a conversation with him.
Two best friends, Hola Langi and Mele toli, who go to school together. Hola lives with the Toli's during the week to go to school with Mele. Their fathers have been best friends since Single adult days.
Sione Langi family. Sione, Eleni, Iriah, Pony, Sione, and Nuku. A friend of Ana Langi's, Ofa Lamipeti, and Ana. Ofa is a beautiful girl, who was raised by her grandparents who are Catholic. She has a mother, who lives 4 hours from here, and is active and she was baptized as a child. Grandparents want her to be catholic and are very anti. We teach Nuku reading three times a week. He is doing very well.
This is the Aho and Manui langi family. Front row is Mele, Meleani, Salesi, and Lesili. Back Row, Hola, Manui and Aho. We work with the two boys on their English. Lesili has a hard time but is progressing.
This is the Emili and Ola Langi Family. Ola is the primary president and Emili teaches the Tongan Sunday School class. The boys are 'Apolo, Richard, and David. Ola's parents sent these outfits from Tonga last week. As you can imagine, we love these little children and are thankful we are able to work with them.