U.S. Marine Corp Band Performance - Friday, Sept. 16th, 2011

Friday evening we noticed while reading the newspaper that the U.S. Marine Corp Band was going to be playing in St. Paul's Chapel in Wellington that night.  We hurried down to the chapel and were treated to a wonderful hour of band music.  They played a number of John Philip Sousa marches and a few more popular numbers like the overture to Carmina Burana We got a few photos shown below.

Interesting to note, since June 1942 the American and Marine Corp flag have flown in this chapel as recognition of the U.S. coming to protect New Zealand during WWII.  The 70th anniversary of this will be recognized in June, 2012.

This plaque is also kept in the chapel telling why the Marine Corp flag is flown.

Here you see the band conductor and the U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand.  A great looking representation of the United States!  The ambassador opened the show in Maori and then went into an English welcome.

During the course of the evening this Master Gunnery Sargent keep the audience advised of what the songs were and meant.

Here's the conductor of the first half of the program.  Talk about dressed right, this marine was fantastic!  While conducting, besides his arms, nothing moved AT ALL.

In contrast, the final and lead conductor, an officer, was full of fun and humor.  He comes from Montana and has been with the band a number of years.  Here he's directing the audience in clapping.

The most entertaining group in the band was percussion!  The marine on the far left playing the drums was all smiles and great expressions the entire show.  You should have heard him do a Bennie Goodman drum solo!

Of course the brass section was most impressive!  Especially the flutists and clarinetists.  All in all, the band was great.

From the expressions on their faces you can see that these marines really are having a fun time.  The marine on the right was playing the part of the marching horses.

You would not believe this marine who did the piccolo solo of Semper Fedilis.  It was amazing!  When she concluded...out of breath...she holstered her piccolo just like she was on parade and putting it away!

Tawatawa Service Project - Saturday, Sept 3rd, 2011

On Saturday, September 3rd we also participated in a Ward service project.  This was an interfaith activity about 10 miles south of Wellington at the Tawatawa Landfill.  The project was to plant small indigenous plants on the hillside.  And when I say hillside I mean the side of a hill that had about 70 degree pitch.  It was really steep!  There were other Christian faiths represented along with a couple from the Jewish synagogue and the Hindu faith.  It ended up being really fun and we had a great view of the ocean from the hillside.

 

Elder Niutua has always got a smile on his face!  He can tackle anything!

Here's Elders Purcell & Lammi with Daniela Muller.  You can get a sense of the steepness from the pictures.

Elders Lammi and Niutua after the project getting a little rest and adding humor to the activity!

Here's Tom on the hillside with Paul Eagle from Wellington city council in the red striped shirt.  We started early and didn't pick-up one of the yellow shirts. 

Here's Ann and I just after the project concluded.  We didn't bring any work clothing in our luggage because we couldn't afford the weight and space.  A quick stop at the thrift store (like Goodwell) produced boots and warm-wear for Ann.  We were there too early to get the yellow vests, but that's ok.

Had to show this view that we had from the side of the hill we were working on.  It's looking pretty much due south.  You might think that you'd see the south island of New Zealand, but actually due south from Wellington, a few thousand miles, is Antarctica.  The south island of New Zealand is actually west and southwest from Wellington and the north island.

Mt. Victoria Trip - Saturday, Sept. 3rd, 2011

Saturday morning, September 3rd we took off on a little trek to the top of Mt. Victoria which overlooks Wellington.  It was really just a matter of going maybe 5 kilometers (3 miles) but it was our first adventure.  Actually Roy Ditchburn had taken us up to the top on Thursday night and the view was fantastic so we had to return when we saw that we had beautiful weather.

Here we are with the city and port just behind us.  The picture is taken looking off to the Northwest.

Here's the same shot without our interferance.  You've got to agree that the view is fantastic!  The greater area of Wellington has nearly 500,000 but Wellington proper is only about 200,000.

This shot is looking due North with the Wellington Bay in the foreground.  The Hutt Valley is off to the left in the distance.  You can see one of the four ferries that travels to the south island.  The trip takes about 3 hours and costs nearly $300 one way for an auto plus five travelers.

This picture is looking off to the Southeast with the Wellington airport in the middle right of the picture.  Ships coming into the Wellington port come in the channel that you can see at the base of the hills in the distance.

Very similar to the preceeding picture, this is a little more directly south showing the airport and parts of Wellington surrounding the area.

This pic is looking southwest at the southern suberbs of Wellington.  The downtown city is immediately to the right of this picture.  This view is of Newtown.

Here we are back looking at Wellington.  Way off in the distance (west) some 60 kilometers is the south island.

From the top of Mt. Victoria the jet traffic is pretty awsome.  I had to take this picture with the zoom lens.  Should be turned in to the airlines marketing department don't you think.

Had to take a closer look at the airport.  It is know as one of the most difficult in the world to perform a landing.  The wind constantly whips over this small piece of land.  Frequently the planes appear to be going sideways as they approach the runway.

On the way up to the viewing platform you pass by this 18th century cannon so you've just got to take a photo.   

Here's a closer look at the city and the bay that the city sits around.  It's absolutely beautiful.

When Roy took us up on Thursday night, we took a couple pictures.  It's very difficult to get something that's focused very well.  This was our best shot of the bay and city.

Also along the path to the top is this Maori war statue.  You can see Wellington off in the background.

Here's a closer picture of the ferry coming into port from the South Island.  This scene repeats itself about 8 times daily with two ferry companies having 2 ferries each.

The USA plays Australia in the Wellington Stadium in World Cup Rugby on Friday the 23rd of September.  We look out on the stadium from our workplace lunchroom (tearoom as it's known in New Zealand).

Denver to Wellington - July 30 to August 15, 2011

On January 6th, 2011 Ann and I received our mission call from a prophet of the Lord to serve in the New Zealand Wellington Mission assigned to do Family History Records Preservation.  We couldn't be more excited about this calling!  We expected Europe because I had previously served there, but being called to New Zealand and especially to a mission with Family History implications confirms that our
Heavenly Father is in charge and knows each of us personally!

Here we are with opened calling letters from President Thomas S. Monson, the prophet of our church.  In these letters we received our assignment.  The entire family was on the phone as we opened the letters and no one quessed the right calling!

Finally, after seven months of waiting, we're packed and ready to head to New Zealand.  We'd said our Denver goodbyes, proceeded to Salt Lake to say our Utah goodbyes and we were ready to get into the Mission Training Center in Provo.

We arrived at about 10am Monday, August 1st at the MTC in Provo.  There we were taught from Preach My Gospel for a week and then the second week we were taught how to digitise records.  Quite the experience for the two weeks we were there!

One of the traditions at the MTC is to stand in front of the world map and point to the location you've been called to serve in.  Here we are pointing to New Zealand.  Everyone was envious of our assignment!

After two weeks in the MTC, we're ready to head off to New Zealand.  Here we are holding the doorknob hanger that indicates we've departed on our mission.

Saturday morning, August 13th, we were shuttled from Provo to Salt Lake to catch the plane to Los Angeles.  As we approached the United gate in SLC, who do we run into but Brian Stein and Doug Legg from Sports Authority.  What a special treat!

Here are copies of our tickets from Los Angeles to Auckland.  The flight really wasn't too bad.  Although we were in the middle seats, the other person on our row moved so we had all four seats to spread out in.  I watched two movies during the flight which lasted 13 hours and that's all I can remember.  Ann was much the same.

We flew on a Boeing 777 landing in Auckland about 5am in the morning.  We proceeded to Customs then caught a bus from the International Terminal over to the Domestic Terminal for the flight down to Wellington.  It was a snowy morning and all the South Island airports were closed.

When we arrived in Wellington, we were greeted by a snowstorm.  It was the first one seen in Wellington in over 50 years.  Not much stuck to the ground, but it was exciting for the folks who'd never seen snow.

Here we are atop our flat in Wellington.  You can't see it, but the snow is falling at least a little anyway.  We're ready to get going with our assignment.