McVey Kiwi News: Pg 6 - Missionary Activities - as of 16 March 2013

Some old remembrances and New Missionaries

Elders Ma'u and Niutua served in Wellington while we were there. They were very special to us!

Elder Ma'u - New Zealand

Elder Niutua - New Zealand

Elder Ames - Missouri

Elder & Sister Freeman - St. George

All below this point is pre-January 2013

Lots going on with the missionaries the past few months.

One of the stories that we'll treasure for every came from a most unlikely place....Elder Windhausen from southern Germany had his father pick him up. We invited them to a dinner and chat. During the dinner we learned that they were 5th generation LDS...WOW! We also learned that brother and sister Windhausen had been called to work in a youth center in Soloturn, Switzerland (in their stake and where Ann and I stayed doing the Mollett family history). Anyway, they had to travel 2 hours each way two their assignment 3 times a week. They were released because a couple from the USA was coming but then the couple never showed up because "they had been re-assigned"! Was this our first assignment and then changed? The timing was January 2011 right on the nose! We'll never know but it's a great story!

Father Windhausen and Son Torbin

We also got to meet a few new seniors

Nom's - Hamilton, Overton's - Utah & McVey's - Colorado

Nom's are headed to Papau New Guinea

Thought you might like to meet the McVey's

We added all sorts of new missionaries to the list of those we've met. What a fun time!

Sister Nowers - Utah, Sister Fitisemanu - New Zealand & Sister Tuifelasai - Samoa

Elder Cottle - Utah

Elder Fonua - Tonga

Elder Greer - Utah

Elder Leendertz - Australia

Sister Taleni - Australia

Everything below is pre-November Update!

I don't think that we could have been busier than we've been the past three months! What's detailed below is just a sampling of what's been going on so enjoy.

Elder Windhausen is from Germany and we'd promised to put together a full German dinner. We had Roladen, Red Cabbage, Spatzel, Vegetables and Potatoes. It came off really authentic!

There's the spread

Elder Windhausen looks ready to dig in

Is that a look of satisfaction or what!

In fact, all that attended had a great meal.

We've kept up our monthly gathering of Senior Missionaries and this was a visit to Fisherman's Table

The setting is always a home run!

Ann and I had full fish dinners. They were great!

Seems that everyone was pretty happy with the outcome.

Here we are all lined up after the feast.

We caught the office elders hard at work one afternoon!

Elder Armstrong venting his frustration!

Elder Florian making like he's been caught!

In August we had Elder's Christensen and Pearson visit the mission. We had a two-zone conference and then got to go to dinner with them all the seniors.

Niue is a small protectrate island of New Zealand. The High Commisioner, Sister Jacobsen is a member of the ward and invited all over for dinner!

This is Logo. He's a great member, fun to be with!

Then during the three months we met all sorts of new missionaries and here they are...

Elder Alofipo - Samoa

Elder Eneri - Kiribati

Elder Heinricks - Canada

Elder Hopoate - New Zealand

Elder Key - Auckland

Elder Lu - Taiwan

Elder Neill - Australia

Elder Ross - Utah

Sister Nowers - Utah

Elder & Sister Turner - Colorado

Elder Vaemolo - New Zealand

We've had lots of mission activity the past three months. We're not out proselyting ourselves, but it's fun to watch and listen to the missionaries as they tell their stories. We've seen a number of friends head home and new friends appear in their places. We continue to work with the missionaries on advancing their education plans when they get home. We've not had any make it into BYU Hawaii yet and that's bothersome! We'll keep at it.

Among dozens of meals, here are a couple example of the fun!

Here's an example of some the rugby talent in the mission. Elder Mau was an all-star player. He's about as solid as a wall of steel

Here's some quick photo's of those new that have come to the apartment.

Sister Fetu'u - New Zealand

Elder Hemi - New Zealand

Elder Christensen - California

Sister Tuifelasai - Samoa

Elder I'aulualo - New Zealand

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(Everything below this point was posted pre-July 2012)

One of our favorite Elders is Elder Bonnefoy-Jenkinson from England. He was here in the office when we arrived and transferred in December to the South Island. He departed for home in April.

With the April transfers we had the chance of meeting Bro. Nelson, father of Elder Nelson from SLC. He came over to tour the south island prior to taking his son home. Funny thing, he's a cousin of Neka Roundy, one of Ann's great friends and it would seem that when Bro. Nelson was 10, Ann met him. Here they are joining for a "Last Mission" dinner.

One of the fun things we've mentioned that we do is organizing dinners for the Sr. Missionaries within about 4-hours drive from Wellington. We all love to get together monthly at some resturant for a great dinner.

Doesn't look like a resturant we'd frequent. Nope, it's McVey's flat for February dinner and then we showed "17 Miracles" in our "Movie Room" after dinner....story of the Mormon Handcart Company going west in 1856.

Here we all are..Kezerians, Hirshi's, McVey's, Shepherd's, Chesley's, Overton's, Brazzeal's and Patchett's at "The Avenues" in Levin.

Here we all are at "Fisherman's Table" just outside Paraparaumu.

"Fisherman's Table" is on the West Coast of New Zealand so it provides some wonderful sunsets as you can see below.

Elder's Finlinson and Ma'u had a baptism in March. We got to help teach a couple lessons and had Mario over for dinner a number of times. He's a very humble man!

The Elder's cutting up after the baptism!

We also had a Zone Conference in March. That was fun to see a number of our friends and hear from President & Sister Kezerian.

Here we are getting ready to sing a "Thank You" song to the sisters that prepared our dinner.

Have I told you of the food put out by the Samoan Sisters for the Zone Conferences. There's no end to it!

Here's those Samoan Sisters humbly waiting for the missionaries to eat and then they partake of the leftovers.

Some of the new Elders we've met include:

Elder Florian - Conneticutt

Elder Kasala - Kearns, Utah

Elder Kaumavae - Tonga

Elder Ma'u - New Zealand

Elder Murphy - New Zealand

Elder Nelson - Utah

Elder Tukuafu - Tonga

We had too many dinners to detail with photo's so here's just a couple:

Dinner with Michael, Elder Armstrong, Elder Lott, Mario, Elder Finlinson and Elder Masalu

We had to interview three of these four so we invited them down from Hutt to have dinner...Elder Murphy, Elder Kasala, Elder Tukuafu and Elder Kaumavae

In February President Kezerian was inspired to get the missionaries out into the areas seldom contacted. It was called "Farmers on Friday" and all missionaries had to go afar to door knock. Super successful with lots of new contacts!

Just where do the "Office" elders go...the biked 20km outside of town towards Makara Beach and contacted as many as possible. Elder's Lott and Armstrong here!

It was uphill & downhill getting there, but mostly uphill coming home so we went out and picked them up in our car.

Here's our Wellington Missionaries that we love and have to dinner weekly! Elder Armstrong, Elder Lott, Elder Masalu and Elder Finlinson.

Elder Bonefoy-Jenkinson went home in April to England. His humor and good nature will be missed...especially by us!

Elder Lott is now one of our Zone Leaders and serves in Tawa. We see him every now and then so that's fun!

Everthing below this line was posted prior to 2012

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We've had heaps and heaps (lots and lots) of missionary experiences while we've been out. Some of the funnest are noted below.

On December 22nd we had a Four Zone Conference for Christmas. It was great! There were nearly 80 missionaries together. The meal we had was awesome. It was 1/2 a chicken (a big chicken at that) and you could see the Elders going back to get seconds! These boys can really put it away! What a spirit there was. They truly love one another and look forward to getting together. It was about 2 1/2 hours north of Wellington in Palmerston North.

Here's a few of the dinner tables with no comments:

There are missionaries from across the South Pacific including New Zealand, Australia, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati and a couple other small islands. Here's their rendition of a partial "Haka".

The funnest off all activities were the District Skits. There was entertaining music and other fun stuff.

We've also had the blessing of inviting missionaries into our flat for dinner. Normally this is a once a week activity and we have either 2, 4 or 6 Elders join us for dinner. We sure hope that they enjoy the time with us! Here's a few that have come over.

Elder Aiono - Samoa

Elder Armstrong - Minnesota, USA

Elder Windhausen - Bavaria, Germany

Elder's Purcell (Austrailia) & MacTavish (New Zealand)

Here's a fun group for a Christmas Dinner (front to back, left to right)

Elder Lott, Elder Lekias, Elder Niutua, Elder Bonnefoy-Jenkinson, Elder Masalu, Elder Lamalu

These are a hard working group. And they wear out their socks all the time. Needless to say, a great gift opportunity!

Elder Masalu is from Tonga. He's got to be one of the sweetest and hard workingest here! A little R&R is warranted for sure!

Here's the "Office Elders" (mission would not operate without them), and the Assistant to the President Companionships! These are top notch elders. And back just to the left of Ann is Guy! He'll be off on a mission in a year.

Another special treat was Thanksgiving Dinner at the Mission President's home with President and Sister Kezerian. That was a treat with other Sr. couples there!

Dinner was potluck and was outstanding. Not the quite the same as home turkey (a 12# bird here will cost nearly $75) but there was great food to be had!

From the front around the table - President Kezerian, the Patchetts, the Overtons and the Chesleys.

From left to right - Sister Kezerian, the McVeys, the Brazzeals, the Upchurchs, the Farnes.

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Everything below this line was posted prior to 2012

During our 23-months in New Zealand we're sure that we'll meet a lot of great missionaries and have a lot of great experiences with them.

We hope to share those moments and meetings with you.

Well, all good things do have to come to an end but will be resumed at a later date. Here the digi-lab staff bids farewell to Sister Lupe Pulu who's on her way home.

We will miss Lupe for sure! She brought a lot of fun and humor to the workplace. God speed to her and what a lucky couple we were to have gotten to know her!

Bye Lupe.....

Here's our entire zone. One item that really should be visible is that if you were able to see each up close, you'd find that excluding senior missionaries there are only 2 from the good old USA. New Zealand is covered by missionaries from the islands!