'It's The Job That's Never Started As Takes Longest To Finish"

And boy have we started! First things first. Last p-day. (Last Monday) After I sent out emails, our district all went over to Whangarei falls. At first, it was not all that spectacular. You didn't have to hike to it or anything. It was just a short walk on some grass from the road. Don't get me wrong, it was gorgeous(you can Google image it), but it wasn't, like, breathtaking or anything. But then we found a trail near it, and our whole district(6 of us. 6 Elders and 2 Sisters, though one of the companionship of Elders lives way far away so we hardly ever see them. Even in district meeting they had to speaker phone call in. So usually when I say district..I mean everyone except them....) went on this hike and followed all the back-trails and we really got in it. Went over fences and everything. That's a strange difference there. Back in the states, if you see and fence or a gate, you stop. Cause you aren't supposed to go there. Here, you just climb over the gate. It's funny. There was actually steps specifically built to allow you to get over a big wooden fence. And it is the same at people's houses too. Almost all of them have these big "you shall not pass" sort of looks, but then you open it and pass anyway. Heh. 

But back to Monday! So we went on a big hike, did some awesome stuff and had a great time. And after the hike, after we got back to the falls, they looked a lot more spectacular. And then I did one of the coolest things ever that was totally on the bucket list. Elder Palmer and I (one of the Elders in the other companionship in our district[that was there], with his companion being Elder To'angutu) climbed on the rocks closer to the falls, and ended up just going all the way behind them and around. It was SOO COOL. I have ALWAYS wanted to go behind a waterfall. And man it delivered. I was wearing Converse, and they do not have the best grip. Ha. So we were slipping around on the very wet rocks. One part we even had to sort of wedge in between a rock and another to climb across. (Nothing dangerous or hard. For Mom's benefit. For everyone else: yeah it was super dangerous there were thousands of alligators and native people were all trying cannibalize on us and the water was actually lava and we both had malaria and had to carry orphans) But we got really wet and muddy. OH, I super loved it. 

And then we went on trade off's with the other Elders that had come to the falls with us. For those of you who don't know, trade offs is when you swap companions with another companion ship. So, Elder Palmer and I stayed in my flat, and my companion went with Elder To'angutu down to his area, or Bream Bay. The reason Elder Fanger went down there is because he is district leader and he had to give a baptismal interview to a girl who got baptized on Saturday and only the district leader can give the interview. It did not go well because apparently her dad was drunk as all get out. Which is not surprising because the Maoris really struggle with substance abuse sometimes. It can be really hard to get people to stop smoking and drinking when they and everyone else have been doing it since they were six, UGH it's frustrating. Anyway, I tangent. So, because it did not go well, the trade off was unusually long(Wednesday morning till Thursday night, they don't usually get longer than 24 hours). 

Neither me nor Elder Palmer knew our area well. So I found a list of people in our ward that we needed to visit and I found a mostly helpful map and we just found people that lived near to each other, we drove out there, and then just walked around a bunch. Both days we did that. Wednesday went much better, but Thursday was good too. Wednesday rained HEAPS. It was torrential. All day. Like it looks like it is going to do all day. But all the days between today(Monday) and Thursday have been way hot. Actually, we were going to hike a place called Mount Manaia(sp?) today, but it is raining. So we will have to find somewhere else. 

Anyway, once the trade off was over on Thursday night, Elder Fanger came back quite sickly. So Thursday night and all of Friday he had a headache, some very minor vision junk, and vomiting, it was not the best condition. But he's all good now. But on most of Friday, he just slept it off (he had permission don't worry), so I just sort of hung around the flat and took care of things. 

We had an appointment with a family around 6 though, so we went over to their house, and it was not completely a house... cause they live on a boat. YEAH. Oh it was awesome. It was a nice boat too. A lot more space than I thought it would have. So yeah, we stopped by, ate dinner, and shared a message. We actually might go help them with some service or something on Saturday. I am actually kind of hoping, and it's actually a strong possibility, that we will actually get to "swab the deck". Holy cow. What's a chore for them, would be so cool for us. All I know though, is if we did, I would have no control over at least humming various pirate shanties. "argh!" 

But it sounds like we may do a lot of service this week, which is both good, and exciting! Saturday and Sunday were both good. Our ward, and actually, its the entire South Pacific area, had a special fast yesterday, and it was mostly for the benefit of a special church meeting that every ward is having on the 30th of November. Mostly, it is going to be all about Jesus, but after that, it is up to the individual wards to decide what else they are going to do. But it is supposed to be something we can invite everyone, both members and non, to some see. I think it is going to be really cool and not something that happens very often. So we are pretty darn excited. 

But when we got home last night, we broke our fast and went all out for dinner. We had lots of meat and eggs and such that we needed to use. So we made some of the most unhealthiest, most densest, most delicious scrambled eggs ever. There was so much sausage (the sausage here isn't as good), bacon (the bacon isn't anywhere even close to near as good as american bacon, it's mostly just like, really really good ham), eggs (12 of em), cheese (it says cheddar but it's white like Parmesan so it's also not as good. Doesn't taste as strong or just the same sort of wonderful), and butter (now that is really good here). Haha!

Actually, speaking of food being better, the food here is great (not in price), but yesterday my companion and I were just talking about food in the states. Mostly doughnuts, pizza, and Taco Bell. They just don't do it the same!  But it is all good, at least the fruit here is amazing. And the nuts are good too. We got a big bag of nuts almost two weeks ago, and she said they were walnuts, and we accepted it, but then we realized that they were not walnuts. They're still really good. We think they're Macadamia nuts. 

But anywhos, it was a good week, and I think it shall continue to be weeks of like goodness! I don't have my journal with me, so anything I missed, I apologize for, and I will either send next week, or never.  ;P Anyway, thanks guys! I love getting your emails and I am grateful for your friendships! Love you all and stay da bestest! :D

P.S.--AH. Ok, just to answer some questions that I have received or that you may not have even known you wanted to know the answer to. Yes they have Halloween in New Zealand, but it is not NEARLY as big. Which is both shocking, and disappointing. Actually though, when we saw that family on the boat, that was Halloween, and they do it mostly cause the Dad is from Canada, and it was kind of themed and nice. But it was kind of sad cause these kids would have their bag of candy and just think they got the biggest haul ever, when really, in America, that would have been like a street. And just an average one, not even one of the biggest ones. But Elder Fanger's family sent us a huge box filled with American candy and some themed decorations. We gave a lot of it to some of the kid's we have been visiting, cause they love to try the American candy they don't have here, but we ate some and already it was nice to sort of touch of home. Man I am sentimental. Hehe. 

I guess I am against the social faux pas just a bit here, because over here it isn't candy, it's "lollies", but I refuse to say that! Haha. My companion and I have talked about it several times. We aren't against the culture, there's just some things we won't change over. Lollies is one of the worst. But there are some other weird ones: Ground Beef=Mince. Soda=Fizzy. Trunk(as in a car)=boot. Hood(also a car)=bonnet. Haha! Those are just a few examples. I mostly pick up the inflections and some other conveniences. I already talked about as meaning more so. But heaps is another one people use. And a lot of people say "bro" here, but it's different. It is in a Kiwi accent, so it just sounds so different. Not in sound, just, it's hard to explain. It is definitely an interesting accent. It's quite soft, but still very recognizable. Quite hard to imitate or pick-up. Course, I can just come home and speak pretty much any accent and not many people will know the difference. ;P Anyway, all that sappy "love you guys" stuff again. ;) :)