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.