Powerful experience

Once again, we are reminded of the Lord's closeness in our daily lives. As we have been feeling like we should have maybe been 'on to Australia' and 'on to Tonga to serve', and maybe 'staying to long here', we have been reminded of the 'Lord's time'. Last night gave us an experience that reminded us that it takes 'time' for 'good things' to happen. We know that an important exchange of knowledge took place and that possibley it was the most important reason for us being in New Zealand.

So.......... may we just say again that we do not always know why we are where we are, or why we are doing something until later, and then when we look back on the experience we can see the Lord's hand in it all. It is never "lucky", it is never a "coincidence", nor is it "just an interesting experience", it was you being used as an instument in the Lord's hands to take care of a need in one of His chosen children's lives. We give gratitude to Heavenly Father for this experience. We have both felt this happen here as we have had time to talk and meet with people that Dick knew many years (49 years) ago. We love the gospel and the Lord's way.

In a small coastal town

On one of our "tiki tours" - tiki means small, going in all directions. The country side is beautiful, green and rolling. Fences are hedges of bushes and look so pretty (our camera was on the blink, we'll try again)

Sister Matthews hugging Dick.

AND WHEN SHE SAW HIM AT CHUCH SHE KEPT HUGGING HIM AND SAYING "DON'T GO, DON'T GO". DICK KNEW SISTER MATTHEWS AND HER HUSBAND WELL 48 YEARS AGO.

Tauranga

SISTER MATTHEW GIVING DICK A TRADITIONAL MAORI WELCOME (HANGI - KISS).

New Zealand

TOM TATA AND HIS WIFE AND SISTER TARAWA, WHOM WE SPENT THE NIGHT WITH IN TAURANGA.
We attended church with them and several of the member were so excited to see him

Land of the Long White Clouds

Well, we are having a great time meeting with people that Dick new as a missionary in 1961-62, and they are great just like he said. We have been to Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Rotorua, abd Whangamata and are now back in Auckland at Sally's home.

We have had the official Ceremonial Maori welcome in the Maori Sacred House. Pretty impressive.

This picture above is of the Black Sand Beach on the western side of NZ, the color comes from the iron ore in the valcanic ash in the sand. Pretty cool. On the other side of the island the sand is white.

While in Whangamata, where Cindy and Terry - Sally's sister and her husband live) we walked the beach every day and it was beautiful. I think that the most important thing that has happened since we arrived is that while we were at Cindy's home, Dick spent about 20 minutes on the computer and was able to find 4 generations of her fathers line and also got a number for her brother, whom she has never met nor talked with, he lives in North Dakota. She was not read to dial him, but you know Dad, he said, "well I am". He dialed the number and she was connected with her brother, and 2 1/2 hours later she got off the phone from talking with him. She was soooooooooooooo excited to get acquainted with him, even if on the phone. So, next year Sally and Graham, and Cindy and Terry will come to Idaho and we will drive them to ND to meet her brother. Pretty exciting for her and all her family. The Lord's hand was definately in it.

Sally is taking us on many "tiki tours" (small drives from her home) and we are sure enjoying it.

Land of the Long White Cloud (NZ)

Our trip here to New Zealand was really difficult, because we were changed to 1ST CLASS, and the difficult part was learning how to work all the "buttons and bells", individual TV's, headphones, lounge chairs,, footrest, gourmet food (including raw fish), and all the attention from the "New Zealand men stewards" (who were great). Oh well, it is really a great way to travel.

We had a short stop in the Cook Islands, and it so reminded us of Am. Samoa, hot, humid, beautifully green and the smell of the ocean. We had instant flashbacks that were wonderful.

Landed here in New Zealand on Tues. at 11:15 and Sally was waiting with her big smile and hug for us. It took us a couple of days to acclimate and now we are off to see favorite spots of Dick's each day. He spent much time calling and was able to arrange some meetings with some of the people he knew from 48 years ago - AMAZING, and exciting for him.

Tomorrow we leave Sally's to see other parts of the island and will spend a couple of days with Sally's sister, Cindy, and her husband at the beach home on the east coast of NZ. It is proving to be as exciting as we both expected and we are having a great time with Sally and Grahame.

We went to the west coast today and saw the Tasmanian Sea with its black sandy beaches. The black sand comes from the iron ore in the sand. It was so beautiful and we loved walking in the sand barefoot, and watching the waves come in. It was hard to leave.

We will not be able to post pictures until we get to Tonga and can use our own computer, but we will do that then.

Remember our phone is working here and you can call us as if we were in Boise. We'd love to hear from all of you.

All our love, Dad and Mom