Two baptisms and a birthday

The week slipped away amidst lots of small tasks and efforts. And with much anticipation for the weekend.

Fridays bring for us a meeting with the zone leaders. During that meeting we discuss overall needs in the mission work in New Caledonia and any concerns for individual companionships as well as what we might do to help. We also discuss the overall status of the work. At our last meeting we discussed the status of each new convert during the last 12 months as well as what we might expect for the rest of the year. The number of active friends of the Church attending Sacrament Services and actively studying with the missionaries was almost double the number of baptisms thus far this year. Many of them were families and most had friends already members of the Church. I suggested they put together plans for each one. Our meeting was delightful.

The weekend brought two baptisms in two different places at the same time of day. Senior couples get stressed over such conflict. Nearby pictures show you both baptisms, One in Tontouta and one in Riviere Salee. The first, in Tontouta has been scheduled for some time. Marceline Boa’s young son was baptized just a few months ago shortly after our arrival. Due to the difficulties of tribal customs here, she and her ‘husband’ had never legally married. That was completed last month. He is a good man and attended the baptism. I had a chance to speak with him a couple times. I urged him to prepare himself so that the two of them could then be married forever in the Temple. He is getting himself ready. A few things in life to change. We parted good enough friends that he will invite me to his baptism. A good number of family members were also present.

Meanwhile in Riviere Salee another baptism was taking place. Again with a chapel full of members, friends of the Church and missionaries. This time the baptism was performed by Brigitte’s husband, so we were completing a family. She has been studying the church for some time. They too are looking forward to the Temple in a year. These good people, from different ethnic backgrounds grasp the same universal principles and eagerly anticipate full activity in the Church. Members are eager to welcome them. Home teachers are in place. We want to take good care of these new converts.

We watch the work with wonder. We also observe how faithful these young missionaries are. Two quick examples.

A young elder in Ducos has been thrust into leadership earlier than he might have felt prepared. Conducting his first district meeting with 7 other missionaries present, he has planned a discussion to train us, conducts the meeting entirely in French and suggests some ideas in response to questions that arise from the teaching going on in his district. He successfully navigates the language finding ways to express thoughts when he doesn’t always know exactly the vocabulary he might want to use. He arrived just after we did and is working hard. We are grateful for him.

In the Sunday class for those studying the Church another young elder is teaching a lesson about the importance of families. Among the concepts he teaches is that of families working together to care for their home. Discussion follows with questions about what to do if the children don’t want to work in the home. He sights his own family and how grateful he is for his own mother. At least, he notes, he knows how to clean his apartment, wash the clothes and iron his shirts. Perhaps the only remaining question was ‘Have you thanked your mother and told her you love her?’

The last event of the week was Sister Mautz’s birthday. With her permission, we note it was the 60^th. And we were in a French speaking country just like for mine! On Monday, the missionaries’ p-day, we had cake and a good group of them gathered to sing ‘Happy Birthday’. They are pictured nearby. No sound clip. It was all spontaneous. Birthday cards and all.

Much of our work is seeing what needs to be done and getting it done. Whether that is government visa issues or training local leaders or supporting missionary activities. We do what we do because the Lord has asked it of us. We love Him and our Heavenly Father. What more can we say?

Three little experiences

Missions for senior couples are interesting. Sometimes you wonder if you are doing all that you should be. And then Heavenly Father blesses, sometimes in an overwhelming manner, to let you be of service and share in bountiful experiences.

By the beginning of the week, we were rested and recovered from the conference experiences. And we had a list of things to fix in the apartments. So off we trekked Wednesday morning, tool kit in hand, like 24/7 repair people to fix a washing machine and a phone. The washing machine was flowing water all over the floor of one of the sisters' apartments, the phone was full of static such that it couldn't be used to make appointments or follow up on meetings. We had taken our car in for servicing, so we were even driving one of the little white panel truck Berlingos. We looked like repairmen. Sister Mautz demurred on the picture of this one. You will have to use your imagination.

The washing machine was a quick fix by cleaning out the filter. In these machines the filter is hidden behind a panel at the bottom of the machine. The sisters were very grateful. As were we to have the fix be so quick. The phone took two tries. We were pretty sure it was the machine and not the line. And so it was.

Later in the week we also supplied insecticide to kill cockroaches (cafards) that are infesting two apartments. (Don't ask!) The elders were triumphant. A quick spray behind the washing machine and refrigerator and out they all came scampering to their demise. This is the apartment with the new refrigerator as the cafards had infested the insulation in the last one.

Real success. Now for the 3 experiences.

Experience 1:In addition to washing machines, phones, cafards etc, one of the apartments needed a new iron.

An easy purchase which we did while doing our weekly grocery shopping. However, to get the 3-month warranty, the purchaser has to go to a 'help desk.' I couldn't be bothered. But Sister Mautz was insistent. 'What if doesn't even work?' she queried. Then she took the iron out of my hands, sent me to the car with the groceries and did it herself. (Don't think 'little red hen.') We speak French here. I was awed at the confidence and let her take it. She returned triumphantly shortly thereafter telling me they had asked for the sales slip, she had asked if they really needed it, they said no and she had it all taken care of. Just think about that a minute.

Number 2:

Saturday morning was a double baptismal service. The 8-year-old grandson of a loving, member grandfather who did the baptism. And a new convert who brought his whole family including brothers and their wives. More than 50 in attendance including several teams of missionaries all with friends of the Church with them. At the end of the service, the newly baptised are invited to share their testimonies as new members of the Church. Both these were articulate and great feelings. The young boy is Primary age, knew what he was doing and shared his feelings of knowing that he had done what his Heavenly Father wanted of him. The second, Sylveste, quoted Biblical and Book of Mormon scripture, promised his family that he was sincere and that the new man they were encountering was for real.

The missionaries who are teaching him recount that now that he has started moving forward with his Church membership, he teaches them as fast as they teach him. he has read the Bible through and quotes back to them scriptures passages as he now understands them with the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He will undoubtedly enjoy holding the Priesthood so that he can bless his family.

We lingered and then came home to catch up a little. Later in the day we visited a local town museum tracing the history of Noumea from the French arrival in the mid-1850's through the two world wars. The political themes woven into the presentations were hard to miss. First conscriptions of the local Melanesian population in WWI. Veteran benefits denied them for a lengthy period of time and finally granted shortly before the start of WWII. The focus was clearly on the local population and its war heroes. History sounds a little different from this point of view. However, the Allied influence in building Noumea, providing sanitation facilities, hospitals, a railroad, airport etc. is real and quite evident even today.

The building itself dates back to the late 1800's and was built as a bank. When it went bankrupt the City bought it as the town hall and then it became this museum. Since it is so old, the architecture is reminiscent of pre-air conditioning with broad porches on two levels to provide relief from the summer heat. A few pictures are nearby. The poster of Charles DeGaulle is clearly of a later vintage.

Experience 3. Later Saturday evening, we met with a just-returned, radiant sister missionary for her release. Her family was with her. What a tender experience as she shared highlights from her 18 months in Montreal. Be obedient to your leaders. Heavenly Father is waiting to bless you and provide all that you might ever need. Not because you have earned it, but because He loves you. Just be obedient and ask in prayer. Her faithful parents and younger siblings are delighted to have her home. A difficult moment as she was released and had to remove her missionary name tag that has been her identity these last many months.

And so we look back on the last few days hoping that we in some small way have contributed and grateful for the opportunity to be here to share in the lives of these great people whom we love.

Zone Conference, BBQ and travel

We spent the week welcoming our Mission President and his wife. They arrived Wednesday evening. Much of their time is with the young missionaries whom they both individually interview. During these hours we spend time arranging for meals, being sure we know who is to be where and when. However, during this week there was also a fair amount of member interaction as we traveled once again to Bourail and then on to Houailou to meet with members needing his attention.

Friday morning President Ostler and I were off early for the 3 hour drive to Houailou. We stopped in Boulouparis, 90 minutes north, to pick up two of our missionaries who were meeting one of their friends of the Church. Dropped them off in Bourail to wait for her and picked up two others who accompanied us the last hour of the trip across the island to Houailou. There he was to interview three members for their first opportunities to be in the Temple in New Zealand in just a few weeks. Their excitement at the prospect of having their families joined together as a family unit forever including after death was a feast in itself. They had carefully prepared themselves knowing the fundamental requirements to be worthy to enter the Temple. Family relationships and ties are very strong here. The Gospel of Jesus Christ promising that these ties can endure beyond the grave is worth whatever sacrifice of money and time is required. Humble people who save all that they can for the trip and then are helped by brothers and sisters who share the cost of such a trip with them in gratitude for the Savior's atonement, making possible such great blessings as families being families forever.

We also enjoyed renewing acquaintance with these good people whom we have not seen in several weeks since our last trip north. Lots of kisses on the cheek and warm embraces. These good people know how to say 'hello!'

Our good elders in Bourail prepared a lunch for us before our return trip. We arrived home from this trip about 3 hours later than we had expected. By then, Sister Mautz was hosting 'Sisters' night' at our apartment, so we brethren were 'not allowed' until they finished up. A few pictures nearby present them as their evening concluded.

This visit from the Ostlers was a longer one, so Monday, the missionaries' P-day brought them all in for a few hours in the middle of the day for a BBQ. We asked one of the members to come cook for us. The missionaries provided salads and desserts. Volleyball games, basket ball, football and lots of visiting. Perhaps you are wondering just what the sister missionaries did. Always glad to see each other, they had lots to talk about and also more than held their own in volleyball. The wind was strong so the weather felt almost chilly, but we all had sunburns by the end of the day.

Sunday sent us to Mont Dore for meetings. I continue to attend each branch on a rotating basis to see how things are going and to do temple recommend interviews. I was pleased at seeing the results of my training from 10 days earlier as the Elders' Quorum President distributed the Family Guides to each father present, taught the Quorum members a Priesthood ordinance and then presented the organization of his home teaching assignments by team and to whom they were to report. I got reports from two other branches that similar lessons had occurred. These good brethren are eager to learn their duties so that they can bless the lives of their quorum members by serving them.

Visas have been a particular fascination this week. Two of them. One for a missionary departing from New Caledonia, Elder Blucker, to serve in the USA in Hawaii. He, of course, needs an American visa. The other for a member from Vanuatu needing a French visa to come to New Caledonia. We waited an extra 2 months to get our French visas, allowing us to prepare a little better both in language with our MTC tutor and in getting a few things taken care of at home, but also introduced us to several people in SLC who are knowledgeable in US visas. We have made good use of those contacts over the last several weeks for Elder Blucker. So there WAS a reason for all of that waiting. His departure to the US has also been delayed two months waiting for the processing in the US. And then we find that after the visa is done, he must present himself at a US Embassy, in Fiji, it turns out, for an interview and to have his passport 'stamped.' Those interviews happen only twice a day and only on certain days of the week. The earliest available date is October 1. I was grateful we weren't waiting for a medical procedure! Never again shall I complain of the French bureaucracy after dealing with the US brand.

Our Vanuatu Elder just needs to know how to proceed. Nobody in this part of the world really knows how to get a French visa. The US elders get SLC support, the Tahitian elders are already French citizens and don't need a visa. Again, much that we learned going through the process in the US ourselves has helped here as we learned how to get the proper documents signed and send them off to him. A trip to the Office of Foreigners helped us find the right forms and information for our Vanuatu Elder to prepare. Patience while our Heavenly Father prepares us for things we can't yet see.

We completed the week with the Zone Conference itself on Tuesday. In the accompanying pictures you will note the difference in the appearance of the missionaries between p-day attire and their 'conference dress.' As always, we enjoy being taught both by the missionary leadership as well as by President and Sister Ostler.