Departure, branch conference and a baptism

We sent our senior missionary leader home after p-day events and transfers. Then a baptism and a branch conference to round out the past few days. And the work continues.

Elder Johnston has been the senior zone leader these last months. He and his companion are the right hand of the Mission President in moving the missionary work forward here. He is gifted in seeing talents in others, in using music and fire sides to invite others to 'come to Christ' and in administration of all the details of keeping things going. He is also a great eacher.We miss him dearly although the work seems to progress nonetheless. He left a week ago on Wednesday morning. Just before his departure, many of the missionaries gathered for a p-day picnic and kickball game. Pictures are nearby as well as a film clip of the old man in the hat running the bases.

Then it was transfer day as other missionaries moved into their new responsibilities with his leaving. Lots of tender emotions as teams that had worked hard together were sent off to take on new opportunities. we marvel at how these young men and women work together learning to help each other, take advantage of each others strengths to the mutual benefit of the companionship, and then move on when asked without missing a beat. We will see a little more of this just before Christmas as we send two of the sister missionaries home as well as another elder. We anticipate the arrival of new missionaries to replace them.

Evidence of the work's progress was another baptism, Madeleine Tui on Saturday. She is a young, educated women from Vanuatu where she was a teacher. To re-certify here is a 3-year process. With her young children she is challenged to take that time. An avid reader, she was anxious to learn about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Read everything she could find including the Book of Mormon. She was eager to be baptized and is anxious to serve her friends and family with her new faith. The newly found joy in her life is evident in the accompanying picture.

In the midst of all was another branch conference. These annual events bring the district leadership into each local congregation for training. This weekend it was the Noumea 2 branch which meets in the chapel in Magenta near our little office. Events started Friday evening with a snack provided by the branch and then teams formed between branch leaders and district leaders to visit those less active or otherwise in need. Elder Mautz was paired with Frere Bearune, a counselor in the Elders' Quorum Presidency. Also the son of the Branch President in Mare. He is a returned missionary and young father. A delightful evening getting to know each other and some of the branch members.

We rejoined the branch leaders Saturday morning with a petit dejeuner of hot chocolate, croissants, then leadership training for the morning. A sports day followed all afternoon and then a Soiree de Talent that evening. Quite a day. Pictures and film clips nearby will share presentations from each of the auxiliary organizations including the Primary and Young Women as well as the Relief Society and the Elders' Quorum. The entr'act was provided by a 'Tahitian' band which the branch president plays in also. The weekend's events were dampened by the Friday night car accident involving a branch member and his young family. A head-on. They were fortunately in a pick-up truck that protected them. The German-make sedan that hit them in their lane head-on exploded on impact killing its four occupants. Prayers for those who lost loved ones as well as gratitude for the protection of family were evident throughout the weekend.

One event from Branch Conference also stands out. Elder Mautz visited the Aaronic Priesthood young men during their hour. Inasmuch as there was no Priest present, the younger Teachers' Quorum President conducted with no advance warning. He capably stood, selected an opening hymn and someone to direct it, welcomed us all, called on another young man to share a favorite scripture as the spiritual thought. Then thanked everyone for what they had done and called on the visiting District Young Men's President to give a lesson. Delightful for a 14-year-old boy. A picture of the group is at the end of the 'Soiree' slideshow.

The weeks slip away with lots of activity. We will welcome a new missionary shortly as well as celebrate holidays and a zone conference with our Area President. One at a time Heavenly Father gathers his sheep back into the fold.

Some fun clips from the P-day picnic and a traveling Elder Morrill.

Missionary departure and Travels

Scarcely time to update the blog these last few days.

A week ago we sent Elder Blucker off on his Mission serving in Honolulu, Hawaii. We enjoyed a family home evening with his family at home, set him apart as a missionary and sent him off. Our son, Chris met him in SLC amidst a snow storm and 2 1/2 hour late flight. Elder Blucker was traveling with another missionary not from our District, also going to Hawaii who spoke no English at all. They were on a shuttle for the MTC promptly. Chris reports they were quite animated even after the long flights and layovers. And their first experiences with snow.

The Bluckers are a delightful family. Elder Blucker is the oldest of their 5 children. Another son is a year younger and then 3 daughters. The younger brother will depart in a year and before his brother returns. Their father served a mission when he was in his 30's. So he is now 66 and sending his oldest son off to serve. In the meantime, they are building, largely themselves, a new home quite large by local standards. They have moved into it although it is not yet finished. Mild climates facilitate unfinished ceilings as long as the roof is tight. Kitchen and bathrooms are moderately functional. I admire even more their clean white shirts each week!

Pictures nearby present the family and our time with them. We will have left before Elder Blucker returns from his mission, but we hope to be able to help his younger brother.

We are in the branch conference season here. The first was in Tontouta 10 days ago. The usual agenda for the conference weekend is a reactivation effort with branch leaders on Friday night

followed on Saturday morning with training by district auxiliary and Priesthood leaders with the local branch leaders. These are adapted to local needs. In the afternoon or evening the branch hosts an activity of their own planning for the branch members. We do know how to party. Nearby is a film clip of the Samoan group doing some singing as the activity begins.

There is a video clip at the bottom of the blog.

We split forces for the weekend while Elder Mautz traveled to Mare (pronounced mar-ay) and Sister Mautz attended a baptism in Noumea. the pace of the missionary work seems to be picking up a bit. These good missionaries are working quite hard. The sister who was baptized this week is a caregiver. She had been attending many different churches over the last few years trying to find the truth. One of her 'patients' is a member of the Mont Dore branch. She noted some pictures of latter-day prophets and asked about them when she visited this patient at home. Six months of study with the missionaries ensued culminating in her baptism last weekend. Her children, all young adults, attended both her baptism on Saturday afternoon and her confirmation on Sunday. Her first contacts with the Church were in the Mont Dore branch where her patient lives. However, she lives in the Riviere Salee Branch and was taught by the missionaries there. We are grateful for the co-operation between these teams of missionaries

In the meantime, Elder Mautz was off to Mare, another of the 'Loyalty Islands off the east coast of New Caledonia. Like Lifou, the island of Mare is largely flat, heavily wooded and sparsely populated. A small branch of the Church continues under the faithful leadership of President Bearune. He runs 3 small retail establishments on the island as well as a small towing business. His large family, primarily grown now, has served missions. Some of them are in Noumea, others in Mare. On his property is the small meeting room as well as his own home with an apartment for his aging parents.

He met us at the airport at 7a as we landed and spent the day visiting with us various members of the branch and friends of the Church who were desirous of learning more. His commitment and personal testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was humbling. No expectation of any reward or blessing for what he does. Just love for the people around him. True charity.

We checked into our 'hotel' just after noon and prepared for a fireside we would present that evening. The hotel was a step up from the one in Lifou with a small separate building for each room. Ours had its own bathroom and was air-conditioned if we needed it. Normal beds, although the Tahitian zone leader put his mattress on the floor! Sister Mautz would have been more than comfortable there including the nearby restaurant. We will have to return.

Our visit including the fireside, Church meetings on Sunday and then a presentation of the recently released video on President Monson, filled the days particularly when filled in with visits to homes of members and friends. We slept hard each night. Now catching up on some lost sleep.

An interesting physical characteristic of Mare is that the surround reefs are much closer to shore than either Lifou or where we live in Noumea. As a result, the surf crashes close to shore and can be heard all the time. Here in Noumea, by contrast, the reefs are many miles from shore and the breaking waves are a mere ribbon of undulating white at the horizon. We never hear it. So Noumea has large lagoons with moderate water action other than the tide. We were lulled to sleep both nights by the breakers.

We are grateful to see the work progressing and to be strengthening Heavenly Father's Kingdom in this part of the world.

Conferences

We are at the end of a two-week period of General Conference followed immediately by our District Conference and a Missionary Zone Conference.. In the middle of all this, at home our stake presidency was re-organized and our ward was divided. Life in the Church certainly moves on!

General Conference here follows by a week the conference itself. A re-broadcast on Saturday and Sunday, October 9 and 10, bring all of the sessions into one of the buildings. We start Saturday with the Saturday evening Priesthood meeting and them both Saturday sessions with one-hour breaks between them. And the Sunday sessions the next day. The building was full on Sunday. Re-broadcasts are in both French and English in separate rooms. Encouraged to study in their native tongue, the English-speaking missionaries watch conference in English unless they have 'amis de l’eglise’ who are also attending.

The universality of the Gospel message including the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, through appropriate Priesthood authority, is evident. Our members and their friends are eager to listen to living prophets.

One of the speakers, a native African, spoke of the liberation to his people by the Gospel because the very-expensive custom of dowry, which forces many in his country into co-habitation makes marriage too expensive. Temple marriage eliminates all of that. The people here understood those issues very well. Some of the tribal customs still exist in the northern part of the country.

District Conference for the Noumea District loomed much larger for us. Priesthood leadership meeting Saturday afternoon. For the Priesthood leadership session, I spent 40 minutes in front of a ‘white board’ leading a discussion on branch councils and presiding over them. Then talks Saturday evening and again Sunday morning. A deep breath when all was finished. And a delightful luncheon provided by one the branch Relief Society organizations. Pictures nearby don't begin to catch the flavors of the cold repast. Raw fish marinated in lemon juice then added to a salad of cream and raw vegetables. Perhaps one day I will learn...

But the highpoint of the entire district conference was Sister Mautz’s testimony Saturday evening. She had 5 minutes and she prepared well and worked for hours on her pronunciation. As we always do on this island, she started with 'Cher Freres et Soeurs, bonsoir' with the congregation responding likewise. And then a small child’s voice responded just enough too late to be all alone and clear. There followed complete silence during her entire talk. Nobody wanted to miss a thing. After the session, the choir of sisters also on the stand crowded around for kisses. ‘No more English for Sister Mautz' from one of the branch presidents. Still talked about a week later, and these wonderful missionaries were proud of her and grateful for her efforts.

We enjoyed a zone conference following. We move to a support role in those meetings. We were bidding farewell at the end of this conference to two of our seasoned leaders, both from Tahiti. It is interesting to watch those who remain and know that they will be asked to step up and take on leadership roles they have not had before. These new leaders will be non-native French speakers and know the challenges they face both with the language and leadership. However, they also know that with Heavenly Father's help, they will grow into these new roles and provide the great leadership the work of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ requires. One of the departing Elders, Elder Aiho, was of great help to us as we arrived a few months ago getting us settled and then learning our office duties. He was asked in the last 6 weeks of his mission to work with a branch where the missionaries aren't always well received and turned things much more positive. We have worked together, counseled together and now will likely not see each other again. Sweet associations because of the opportunity to serve Heavenly Father's children.

We did take a morning to visit a local cultural center dedicated to the memory of M. Tjibaou who has done much to preserve the local, Melanesian culture and support the political kanak movement. The architecture catches the eye with delicate symmetry of wooden rib-like trusses in the air. In the morning sun they look like metal glinting in the sun. The center includes these structures as well as a 'typical' Melanesian village with a chief's 'case' and other related buildings. Pictures below will give you flavor of the place. The political overtones are unmistakable

Lifou

The bookends to the week were a family home evening with a family from the Noumea 2 branch and then a trip to the island of Lifou with the senior zone leaders for Elder Mautz.

As we get to know the members better, we are more often now invited to their homes for a family home evening. The Trutruns are members of the Noumea 2 branch which meets in the chapel just adjacent to our office. He is a self employed contractor. When he has made enough to sustain his family, we often see the whole family at the chapel working at maintaining the grounds or cleaning the building. This particular evening, the local sister missionaries, Sister Carter and Sister Swapp were also invited as were some recent converts and friends of the Church. We made quite a group. We started the evening playing a simple game with the younger children. Sister Swapp had brought with her a series of Gospel picture cards which we could turn picture side down on the table. By turn each tried to find a matching pair of pictures. As the players succeeded at this, they 'won' the cards and could then retell the story depicted. The children were quite engaged in the game. After a dinner with too much good food, we enjoyed a viewing of a dvd of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Brother Trutrun invited various of us to share our feelings and testimony about the restoration and the blessings in our lives resulting therefrom. An edifying evening for all of us.

In these situations, we often sit outside to eat, watch the film and then talk together. The climate is such that the house and small yard are easily all apart of the living space at the same time. As a result, homes don't need to be as large because the outdoors is part of the living area.

Saturday morning, I flew to Lifou to join the senior zone leaders who had gone the previous day. Our objectives were twofold. First to visit with and strengthen the local small branch. Second, to evaluate the situation and formulate a recommendation for our Mission President as to putting a team of missionaries back on the island. The last had left in February, 2008. Sister Mautz stayed at home to the disappointment of the saints in Lifou and the surprise of those in Noumea. As she explained to the District president, 'Elder Mautz spoils me and doesn't make me go camping.'

We stayed in a small, Lifou-version of a bed and breakfast. Our 'room' was a case (pronounced 'caz'). This is a local dwelling with a thatched roof supported at the perimeter of the building by a wall made either of stone, concrete or sticks. The roof slopes up from this supporting perimeter to a peak usually 10-15 feet overhead. In those used entirely for living space, a fire pit is in the center. Smoke therefrom fills the upper part of the case seeping out through the thatch. I am told this leaves a layer of 'clear' air from the floor up to the point where the roof starts sloping in to the peak. The inside of that roof is coated with the soot accumulated over many usages. Ours did not have the firepit nor the soot. Pictures nearby will give you the idea.

Lifou is a large island off the east coast of the 'grande terre' or main island of New Caledonia. It is part of the country, flat, in contrast to the mountains of the grande terre, and heavily wooded from one end to the other. Sparsely inhabited, a couple main roads join the small villages and run the length and width of the island. The island is rocky with some beautiful beaches, clear, blue water and beautiful bays. Pictures nearby will show you a few shots of the landscapes and seascapes.

At my arrival, we went directly to the branch president's home for lunch and some planning for the two days I would be there. The Seikos are a remarkable story in themselves.

You will recognize the name as they have two children currently serving full time missions here on the grande terre. They are both working very hard and great missionaries. Meeting the parents told the story.

President Abel Seiko grew up on Lifou but went to Noumea as a young man to work. He and his wife both had good jobs in Noumea. But when he felt impressed to return to Lifou to strengthen the Church several years ago, they both quit these jobs and moved their family of 5 children of their own and 3 others to Lifou. The tribal system granted them a large tract of land covered with scrub woods. They have cleared all of that, built a case for sleeping quarters and another small building housing the kitchen, computer and a working space. Sister Seiko now has an enormous garden where she raises lettuce, tomatoes, papayas, pineapples and whatever else she believes she can sell. She tells me she is making more with her garden produce than she did in her business of providing transportation for school children when they lived here. As she showed me her garden and their living quarters she turned to me and said, 'Elder Mautz, je suis contente.' She wanted me to know she is happy with all of this change in her life.

President Seiko rides a bicycle to work. He bought the cycle from Elder Freddy Axelgard, a good friend of ours. Readers may recall our meeting him at the MTC while we were there. He was back from his mission in New Caledonia as we were leaving and served in Lifou for 6 months. Left his bicycle behind with the Seikos.

I thought their life showed a new dimension of serving Heavenly Father with all their might, mind and strength as the Savior instructs us. Pictures nearby show some of the yard and garden.

The season of late Spring here is the time when amaryllis bloom. They are planted here like tulips would be in the States and are striking additions to a garden.

Before lunch, we harvested fresh coconuts from high in the palms, opened them with a knife-like instrument with a 30-inch blade to chop it open. the milk' is drunk right from the coconut as well as being used for cooking and salad dressings. Quite a delicacy. Pulling one of these down from a tree was quite an art also so as not to get one on the head. Elder Huuti was a master at it.

The rest of the day was spent visiting members of the church, as well as those that Elder Johnston remembered from the early days of his mission when he worked in Lifou for 3 months. His memory was impressive as he navigated us over the island in our little rented Peugeot. We held a fireside that night and then slept very hard. Sunday brought Church services with the branch and then temple recommend interviews with most of the adults in the branch. They will join the members here in Noumea for the annual 3-week trip to Auckland to the Temple there next January.

And then, suddenly, it was time to fly home. I reflected on the lessons of this island with a lifestyle very different than any I have lived. Simple and agrarian. However, the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ including faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, obedience to Gospel principles, families joined together eternally and founded on the scriptures are quite as important to these good members as anywhere else in the world.

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.