Kia Ora

Meeting the Neighbors

 

Last night we attended a farewell party for the managers of these apartments, Jim and Margaret. We met the nicest neighbors, notably, Ken and Merryl Gayfer, who golf, entertain dignitaries and he served in the NZ Air Force his whole career.  They've lived all over the world, including Washington DC and she gave great advice about what we'll need to bring from the US that we can't get here (wide, heavy duty, aluminum foil) and invited me shopping to get all the wonderful things we CAN get here--along with recipes for how to make local delicacies.  All in all a great evening with very nice people. The Gayfers celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in June and plan a jaunt around the world from late August till early October to celebrate more!  Fun people.  Hopefully we'll continue our friendship with them.

The scenery is beautiful, the people are wonderful. We spoke at an area-wide devotional for all Church Employees yesterday and had a luncheon afterwards. Everyone greeted us warmly and we then had our photos taken for public affairs and any publications needed forever. The Area Presidency secretaries, Debbie and Sali are jewels! The new executive secretary and his wife, Breretons, are great. Patsy asked me to help her with food for all area executive dinners--starting this weekend. She felt inspired to ask me, especially to help with decor and table settings--talk about perfect inspiration!  I drove for the first time yesterday--a bit daunting--in rush hour traffic.  Getting to my destination was easy as GPS worked perfectly.  Coming home was an adventure. I pushed what I thought was our home destination and ended up nearly crossing the huge bridge back into Aukland proper!  took awhile to figure out how to get back home but I made it--a tad unnerved but much wiser and ready to tackle any future driving. 

We're healthy, happy, and honored to be serving the Lord among his choice Pacific Area children!