Christmas Nativity

On December 19th we went to the Takapuna Ward Christmas Party (our ward in New Zealand).  The evening began with dancing and was followed by a nice potluck dinner.  After dinner we sang Chrismas carols and finished with a reading of the Nativity story from the Book of Luke.  It was very fitting that our ward bishop was a shepherd.  

Our ward had to use a doll as the Baby Jesus, but the next day we got a picture from one of our daughters.  It was of the nativity at their family christmas party.  They had a  "real" baby (Fitz) who played the part of Baby Jesus. The wise man on the far left, the lamb, and the shepherd on the far right are also some pretty great kids.  

We are pretty sure there was a similar re-enactment at our daughter's home in Canada as we were blessed with two new grandsons this year (Arizona and Alberta).  

This time of the year is probably one of the hardest times to be away from loved ones, but we have our ipads and "FaceTime" and know without a doubt, that this is where we need to be at this time in our life.

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you;  Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. " Luke 2:11 -12

We're Dreaming of a White Christmas

We are now less than two week till Christmas and you can see signs of Christmas everywhere.  Thursday afternoon we went to the Hamilton Temple.  Earlier this month a team of volunteers and missionaries worked to finish installing 280,000 colored light bulbs in trees around the temple grounds.  The lights on ceremony was Saturday night, December 12th.  

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.nz/article/volunteers-prepare-to-brighten-christmas-season-of-tens-of-thousands

Friday night we went to downtown Auckland to see the Auckland Symphony Orchestra Christmas Concert.  Performing with them was the Choir from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.nz/article/auckland-symphony-orchestra-and-church-choir-share-christmas-spirit 

It was great very entertaining.  We had great seats and enjoyed singing Christmas Carols.  We sang "White Christmas" and noted that in New Zealand, all we can do is - 'Dream of a White Christmas'.

On our way to the concert we passed Farmers and Smith & Caughey's (department stores).   Farmers had a large Santa and his reindeer and Smith & Caughey's had decorated their store windows with the story of 'The Night Before Christmas'.

As we stopped to look at this window, a little boy about the same age (5) as two of our grandsons turned to us and commented on the elves on Santa.  He was delighted with the display.

Saturday morning we went with two other couples to check out Mahurangi Bay Regional Park.  It certainly does not look like Christmas there.  However the Pōhutukawa Trees (New Zealand Christmas Tree) are blooming and it is warming up. 

We had our Area Office Christmas Party this past week.  It is always fun to see everyone, relax and get into the spirit of the season.  During the holidays most people take some time off and vacation, as school is out (summer vacation).  We even have an adventure planned to the South Island over Christmas.  

We have put up a few decorations in our apartment and have started to play Christmas music to try and get in the spirit of the season.  The warm weather makes it an interesting experience.  

"Christmas is what we make of it.  Despite all the distractions, we can see to it that Christ is at the center of our celebration.  If we have not already done so we can establish Christmas traditions for ourselves and for our families which will help us capture and keep the spirit of Christmas." Thomas S Monson, Christmas Devotional 2011

  

Gratitude

The Saturday after Thanksgiving the senior couples gathered together at the Area Office and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.  We had 50 people for dinner and everyone had a good time.  They do have turkeys in New Zealand, but they are hard to come by and they are not cheap.  A 12 - 13 pound turkey can cost $65.00 to $70.00 dollars.  Some of the other things that are harder to find in New Zealand are ready-made pie crusts and canned pumpkin.  Can you tell that Susan likes to go the easy route, and not make it all from scratch.

We had four different ladies cook the turkeys, make the stuffing and the gravy.  All the others had food assignments to feed 15+ people.  Cooking a turkey is also a challenge, as most of our apartments have small ovens.  A few apartments have larger ovens, so they cooked the turkeys.

Several sisters volunteered to decorate a table.  This required them bringing dishes and tableware for 8 from their apartment.  There are some very creative people in our group.  Check the sea shell decorations out at one of the tables.  We gathered together on Saturday afternoon, so no ties allowed except the mission president who had a baptism to go to afterward.  We let him off the hook this time.

We truly have much to be thankful for.  We enjoy good health, have a comfortable apartment, and a beautiful country to live in.  We have two new grandsons and all our family are doing well.  With all these blessings, we are reminded often to be positive about the challenges we face in life.  There really is much to be thankful for.

Christmas season in New Zealand falls in the summer.  We went with some other senior missionaries to a Christmas craft fair in a neighboring town.  All the decorations and the trees are out, but the weather does not look or feel like Christmas.  After our morning adventure we came back to our apartment and decided it was time to put up some decorations.  They may be quite sparse, but it is okay - we have an adventure planned for Christmas.

  So now it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our apartment anyway.  

"Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's will never be the same again once you have celebrated them while serving a mission...The twelve or eighteen months will seem as a small moment, but the memories will last through the eternities."  Vaughan J. Featherstone, April General Conference 1992

Family History

One of the goals our Area Presidency gave to us at the first of the year was to help members and friends to record 15 family names of direct ancestors in 2015.  We had already done our four generation (15 direct ancestors) work several years ago, but felt that we could still find other family names.  We were told by the Area Presidency that can we increase our faith in Jesus Christ and love for our family through submitting and performing temple ordinances for family members who have passed on.   Not only will we have the eternal gratitude of our loved ones, we will be bound together as families for the eternities to come.  This past year we have been able to find and submit several family names and then go to the temple and perform the temple work for them.

Two weeks ago we left the office early and drove to the town of Hamilton.  Upon arriving there we went to the home of Vic and Rangi Parker.  We had previously been invited to spend the night at their home which is minutes away from the Hamilton Temple.  We dropped off our bags and went to the temple to participate in family temple work there.  After the session we stopped to take some pictures of the Christmas seasonal lights which are already on at the temple grounds.  While in the parking lot Gary offered to take a picture of a couple.   Coincidentally,  the couple (the Shurtz) had just returned from Tonga where they had been volunteering in the humanitarian dental clinic with Elder and Sister Johns, who just went to Tonga to direct the dental clinic in September.

We then returned to the Parker's home for the evening.  Elder and Sister Parker have undertaken the task of writing the history of the Church in New Zealand.  We had a delightful visit with them.  She showed a fascinating movie about the life of Matthew Cowley an early missionary in New Zealand and later member of the Quorum of the 12.  We had a great nights sleep and in the morning went back over to the temple to participate in another session.

After our session, we drove home, stopping several times on the way at stores and shops that we are usually too busy to visit.  We figured we better check some of these places out sooner than later, as we will be going home before we know it.

Dr. and Sister Shurtz

View of temple from Parker's home

Vic and Rangi Parker

"The first thing that everyone should do is to gather all possible information about himself that might be found in the home and from close relatives.  The purpose of this is to identify yourself as an individual and to know from whom you have descended."  Howard W. Hunter, Primer in Genealogy, Ensign, February 1971

Post Script - This post was finished and ready to be published, but as we typed the thought above, we had the impression to share a bit of family history that we discovered recently.  Last week our daughter went to a Remembrance Day Program at the local elementary school in Raymond, Canada.  During the program they showed pictures of veterans.  One of the pictures was of a young man who looked like her brother.  The name on the picture was George William Winters.  She inquired if Gary's father had been in the service (his name was George).  We said no, but thought we could check with a cousin who had relatives from Raymond and see if there was any connection.  We sent out an email and heard back the very next day that yes, George William Winters was the son of Gary's grandfather's brother.  But now, the story gets even better.  The person who gave his cousin all this information about George Winters was a man named Ray Court.  Ray Court was a cousin to our son-in-law's grandfather.   It is indeed a small world.

Welfare Specialists

LDS Charities operates 7 "signature programs",  www.ldscharities.org.  They include Clean Water, Wheelchairs, Benson Food Initiatives, Emergency Response, Maternal and Newborn Care, Immunization, and Vision Care.  In our area, we sometimes call upon welfare specialists from the USA to help us develop projects or provide training on these signature programs for communities and local in-country humanitarian couples.

Church couples who have an expertise in a particular area have been called and set apart as welfare specialists.  Most of these couples are retired, but some may still work part time.  Depending upon their expertise they are assigned an area to which they help in carrying out the signature programs.  The following is a description of what some of the specialists do.

Maternal and newborn care specialists give "train-the-trainer" instruction to medical personnel and birth attendants.  They provide lifesaving training and equipment to help medical people resuscitate babies born with breathing difficulties, support the care of newborns, and improve maternal survival.

Vision care specialists provide training, equipment and supplies to help local eye care professionals and develop programs to improve eyesight.

Wheelchair specialists help assess individual needs, select and fit people to appropriate wheelchairs, and train individual wheelchair users, their families and caregivers.

Clean water specialists help provide communities with clean water sources, as well as improve sanitation facilities and teach proper hygiene techniques.

Recently we had Elder Jim and Sister Karen Greding come to the Pacific Area.  While here they visited Samoa and Tonga to help develop clean water projects.  The water needs are as different for each country as are the ways they get water.  Elder and Sister Greding went out with the humanitarian missionary couples and staff and visited many potential water projects.  Then they write reports which helps our area to prioritize the water projects in different countries.  We are thankful to have specialists that we can call on to help our couples with their projects.

The Gredings have traveled to many places in the world, but most of these countries are not "vacation destinations".  Remember most countries do not have the water systems that we enjoy in the more developed world.  Getting to these water projects sometimes require hours of travel and many different modes of transportation and can be a little bit of a challenge to visit. 

"I am deeply grateful that as a church we continue to extend humanitarian aid where there is a great need.  We have done much in this regard and have blessed the lives of thousands upon thousands of our Father's children who are not of our faith as well as those who are.  We intend to continue to help wherever such is needed."  Thomas S Monson,  "Until We Meet Again",  April General Conference 2009
   

Emergency Preparedness - "If ye are prepared...."

Part of our assignment as Area Welfare Specialists is to help prepare the Pacific Area is for possible disasters.  The spring and summer season (cyclone season) is approaching the southern hemisphere.  Because of the current El Niño weather patterns, weather experts predict up to 19 possible cyclones (hurricanes) in the South Pacific this season with as many as half of those being "category 5" (200 mph winds) storms.   There is no way to tell which or when one of those cyclones could hit land.  Hence "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" or you will be much more ready for what might come.

We had 5 emergency response containers filled with emergency supplies in different parts of New Zealand.  We have shipped one container to Tahiti and hope to send the other 4 to various locations in the Pacific.  These containers are not needed as much in New Zealand, as supplies here are readily available, but not so in many of the Pacific islands.  The Pacific Area Office welfare team  has been inventorying these containers in preparation to send them to the islands.  

Friday morning we drove 2.5 hours north to the town of Hikurangi Northland to inventory the container pictured below.  Once a container is inventoried we can have it packed and shipped to another island.  We think this one is about ready to go.  Destination unknown.  

 "And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice lightnings, and the voice tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea having themselves beyond their bounds." D&C 88:90